Re-hash of an old complaint...

[Eggbert]

Have we just given up on differentiating between a drum and bugle corps and a marching band? 

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Apparently so.

Is this some way of advertising the fact that now a high school band student can go out and buy the very same trumpet that the Cadets or Blue Devils or Cavaliers use?  Are we selling our drum corps soul for marching band profits? 

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Here lies the ugly reality of DCI. It's not the first time. The pit was driven by similar motives. Saxamaphones are next. Get this... you can call saxes soprano, alto, tenor and bass. They need to reserve those words for the woodwinds section.

Staff guys and corps directors have been selling this thing out for so long it's beyond recognition. But, what can we expect when the directors and instructors are high school and college band directors nine months out of the year? If you want a drum corps, hire drum corps guys, not band directors. I know a lot of those band directors are drum corps guys too, but there is a conflict of interest.

[Boof96]

Again, technically speaking...they have ALWAYS been trumpets.  Until 2000, they were trumpets in G, but they were still trumpets.  So why did we call them soprani back then?

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Because back then corps didn't have exclusive endorsements from horn manufactuters like they do now. Why are they called tubas and trumpets? The answer is because king,yamaha,dynasty and everyone else wants them to be called that. This makes it easier to market these products to there target audience; High School Band kids that want to play on the same instruments that their favorite corps uses. Kids who have never marched corps don't know what sopranos and contras are, however they do know what trumpets and tubas are. It's marketing plain ans simple.

[year1buick]

Amen, Nickk. This has always driven me crazy-- they haven't been true "bugles" in a long time. It was mostly out of tradition and, as you correctly stated, reference to the instruments' relative voicing. I could even (begrudgingly) go along with others calling them "tubas" and "trumpets." But I've never agreed with the folks who've actually been offended by the continued use of the old terminology-- as if we were insulting them somehow. Granted, I remember reading this more around the time the, ah, BUGLES went to B-flat.

I still (and will continue to) only use the terms soprano & contra.

--Corey

[RB Ripley]

I still (and will continue to) only use the terms soprano & contra.

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Support the Troopers and you won't have to worry about this problem!

:)

[BorisTS]

Because back then corps didn't have exclusive endorsements from horn manufactuters like they do now.  Why are they called tubas and trumpets?  The answer is because king,yamaha,dynasty and everyone else wants them to be called that.  This makes it easier to market these products to there target audience; High School Band kids that want to play on the same instruments that their favorite corps uses.  Kids who have never marched corps don't know what sopranos and contras are, however they do know what trumpets and tubas are.  It's marketing plain ans simple.

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Not necessarily just to this guy, but anyone who said something like this:

That would imply an actual effort on the part of the staff and members of the corps to stop referring to instruments as "contras" or "sopranos," and at least in my corps, I haven't seen that...people just usually say whichever term slips off their tongue first. Nobody ever 'corrected' themselves or each other when they used one term or another. If you prefer one term over another and think to say otherwise is laziness, that's fine, but the whole marketing conspiracy is a little out there-- we were never instructed to say "trumpet" and "tuba."

I use "sops" and "contras" myself, and I understand how certain little things can be annoying-- everytime somebody misspells "corps" as "corp," I want to suggest cutting people who don't know how to spell what it is that they're joining.

[Kimberly]

Oooh - oooh - Can I be a sopranosaurus?!!!!

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I'm one, too.

[madscout96]

Because back then corps didn't have exclusive endorsements from horn manufactuters like they do now.  Why are they called tubas and trumpets?  The answer is because king,yamaha,dynasty and everyone else wants them to be called that.  This makes it easier to market these products to there target audience; High School Band kids that want to play on the same instruments that their favorite corps uses.  Kids who have never marched corps don't know what sopranos and contras are, however they do know what trumpets and tubas are.  It's marketing plain ans simple.

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I think you've hit the nail right on the head.

I was very concerned when DCI legalized Bb's 5 years ago. I thought it would be the beginning of the end. But I now realize that drum corps hornlines have finally begun to catch up with drumlines. Hornlines can get endorsements too. Hornlines can play on state of the art equipment too. Back in the 90's it didn't seem like this was the case. Drumlines always had the best stuff to play on (and the free Tshirts, stickers and whatnot). Hornlines played on junk. I had a hard time convincing my college professor (a past president of the International Trumpet Guild) that marching drum corps would be a good thing. "Oh, you're going to play in a bugle corps? Well don't overexhert yourself much less you'll ruin your embouchure."

I am planning on starting another thread on this, because I personally believe that hornlines in DCI have improved dramatically over the past 5 years, and that this is tied, directly and indirectly, to the advent of Bb's. Hey, I miss calling them "sops" and "contras" too. In June I met a brass instructor of the corps I marched with and told him I was an alum from the 90's, and when he asked what I did in the corps I said "sopra... er... trump... er... well, you know".

I don't see calling them trumpets and tubas, or getting endorsements from using Bb's, as "selling out". I see it as beginning to get recognition that drumlines have been getting WAY longer than hornlines have. I think it's about time we've caught up.

[Jim Clark]

I don't know. I've heard Contras called a lot of other names... :)

[manoloblahniksabre]

You're a raptor, baby! YEeah! ^0^

Ok...I know that I've said all of the following before.  And I know that a LOT of current members don't even know that we once called them sopranos (or contras, for that matter).  And yes, I am fully aware that stating the following relegates me to "old dinosaur" status.  I don't care.

I say to-mah-to, you say to-may-to; I say soprano…you say….trumpet?

Have we just given up on differentiating between a drum and bugle corps and a marching band?  Is it simply too difficult to hold on to one last little bit of tradition in the face of all the traditions we have already kicked to the curb.  Are we too lazy to continue this particular tradition?  We’ve already rid ourselves of the traditional 128 member rule.  We’ve rid ourselves of playing the corps off at retreat.  We’ve rid ourselves of some of the traditional corps themselves!  So why must we rid ourselves of such a small, harmless, innocuous tradition?

I am, of course, referring to the disturbing trend I have noticed of corps’ staffs calling the instruments in their horn lines “trumpets” and “tubas.”  What gives? Is using “tubas” more efficient because it has two fewer letters than “contra?”  Is using “trumpet” easier than using “soprano” because there is one fewer syllable and it rolls off the tongue faster?  In the words of Vince Lombardi…”What the heck is going on here?”

Yes, I am aware that the G bugle was the one we commonly referred to as a “soprano.”  If it is an issue with semantics, calling a Bb Trumpet a “soprano” is not incorrect.  The “trumpet” is the soprano voice of the choir (in this case, a drum corps).  The “tuba” is the bass/contrabass voice in the choir.  So why is it so difficult to maintain one rather cool little snippet of drum corps history?

In my day, which was not long ago (1991-1994), calling a soprano a “trumpet” was a bando way of doing things, and was likely to get you dirty looks.  Calling a contra by the name of tuba prompted the standard quasi-Schwarzenneger response from “Kindergarten Cop” (paraphrased): “Eeet’s naht a tooooba!  Eeet’s nah-thing like a toooba!”  Are we sucking up to the instrument makers?  Is this some way of advertising the fact that now a high school band student can go out and buy the very same trumpet that the Cadets or Blue Devils or Cavaliers use?  Are we selling our drum corps soul for marching band profits? 

Can someone tell me a good reason why certain corps stopped calling their sopranos sopranos, and their contras contras?  I just want one good reason.  And don’t give me that rationalized garbage I have heard before about not wanting to confuse band kids who come to clinics…that is lame.  That is the drum corps equivalent of “A dog ate my homework.”  For years kids came to clinics and heard the mystic words like “soprano” and “contra” and it added to the allure of a drum corps (I know it did for me).  When I saw the Cadets clinic in Orlando a couple of years back and they called them “trumpets,” my spine cringed and has not moved back since.

Have you ever seen the Seinfeld episode where Costanza complains that if “Relationship George” meets “Bawdy, Fun George” they will kill each other? “WORLDS ARE COLLIDING!!!” screamed Kramer.  This is the same thing.  I don’t want corps to be more band-like.  I don’t want bands to be more corps-like.  I don’t want WORLDS COLLIDING.  I just want a well-performed show, with props kept to a minimum, with gimmicks kept to a minimum, with great marching, great playing, great drumming, great spinning…a classic drum corps show. 

I am a dinosaur...hear me roar.  Hopefully I can be one of the cool dinosaurs, like a raptor or an allosaurus.  :P

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[Tsar Nikk]

You're a raptor, baby! YEeah!  ^0^

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Is this my sign? :P

Heh heh.