Is it really an Alumni Corps if.....

[jojo]

SCV's alumni corps (SCVAC) is composed of past marching members. I believe the rule is that you had to have completed at least one season, in uniform. We only play music from our past ... at least so far. And sure, it takes months of practice to do that well ... to blend the styles, the attitudes and the egos of the various "generations" of Vanguard. The first time we fielded an alumni corps we did it to celebrate Vanguard's 30th anniversary ... so it was a "tribute". The last time we fielded an alumni corps was 2002, followed by the TOR corps. The goal, as I understand it, is to try and field one every five years ... so 2007 if the planets align once more. If the alumni corps only existed to bond together the generations it would be well worth the effort. I now have "friends" who marched Santa Clara ten, twenty and even thirty years after me that I never would have met were it not for our participation in the alumni corps. Collectively, we KNOW that we are incredibly LUCKY to be able to do this ... to pull an alumni corps together comprised entirely of marching members is only made possible by the fact that our corps has been able to survive where many others have not been as fortunate. That being said ... I wouldn't dare rain on anyone else's parade (no pun intended). If a group of people want to get together and call themselves an "alumni" corps, then so be it. If they have the organization's permission to use the name and they respect the spirit of the corps and its' traditions, it's up to the participating members what they call themselves. I'm not sure all these all-age, junior, senior, alumni tags should mean so much anyway. Other than true junior corps, it's getting a little difficult to figure out where to draw the line ... IMO the tags don't really matter as long as what's being done is increasing participation increasing the fan base and furthering the activity. And of course, everyone should be having a great time doing it ^0^

[Scerpella]

Kilties Sr. started out from a reunion performance at 93 DCI in Madison. The first corps to hit the field after that was largely alumni and all male like the jr Kilties. Alumni reunion corps can as you can see lead to something lasting. Kilties today blend the old and the new, the alumni and non alumni, the men and women!

[felixh]

SCV's alumni corps (SCVAC) is composed of past marching members.  I believe the rule is that you had to have completed at least one season, in uniform.  We only play music from our past ... at least so far.  And sure, it takes months of practice to do that well ... to blend the styles, the attitudes and the egos of the various "generations" of Vanguard.  The first time we fielded an alumni corps we did it to celebrate Vanguard's 30th anniversary ... so it was a "tribute".  The last time we fielded an alumni corps was 2002, followed by the TOR corps.  The goal, as I understand it, is to try and field one every five years ... so 2007 if the planets align once more.  If the alumni corps only existed to bond together the generations it would be well worth the effort.  I now have "friends" who marched Santa Clara ten, twenty and even thirty years after me that I never would have met were it not for our participation in the alumni corps.  Collectively, we KNOW that we are incredibly LUCKY to be able to do this ... to pull an alumni corps together comprised entirely of marching members is only made possible by the fact that our corps has been able to survive where many others have not been as fortunate.    That being said ... I wouldn't dare rain on anyone else's parade (no pun intended).  If a group of people want to get together and call themselves an "alumni" corps, then so be it.  If they have the organization's permission to use the name and they respect the spirit of the corps and its' traditions, it's up to the participating members what they call themselves.  I'm not sure all these all-age, junior, senior, alumni tags should mean so much anyway.  Other than true junior corps, it's getting a little difficult to figure out where to draw the line ... IMO the tags don't really matter as long as what's being done is increasing participation increasing the fan base and furthering the activity.  And of course, everyone should be having a great time doing it  ^0^

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks jojo...those are my sentiments exactly...it is actually an honor to the Kingsmen that anyone would want to join us in our alumni celebration....that just goes to show you the type of folks that are involved in this great activity we know as drum corps....maybe someday we can put together a California All-Star Classic Drum Corps, and compete against different regions of the country, (ie. Mid-West All-Stars, East, South,..etc),....the possibilities in this activity are never ending and IMO just beginning. I am not a big fan of what I hear today on the field, yet I am not going to knock the kids who work their butts off every year as we once did....but there is room for everyone in drum corps, even us old farts (speaking for myself of course)....I am excited for the future of drum corps in our country B)

[greggmanX-Kingsmen]

I think I have a problem with calling an Alumni Corps a "Alumni Corps" when they use outside members to march and play. Can someone from the Kingsmen, 27th or other "Alumni Corps" tell me how they justify the use of the name "Alumni".

Do the actual marching Alumni have any problems with non-Alumni marching next to them calling themselves Alumni? This is not ment to negitive in anyway. I would love to see the Kingsmen again, but would they be the Kingsmen or just people with Kingsmen uniforms on?

Thanks

GABA

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Kingmen haven't marched in finals in over 30 years, been an "Associate Corps" in 28 years, or fielded a corps at all in 20 years. It's hard to find all those people that marched that long ago, let alone alumni that are willing and able to march again. SCV has been a consistent organization forever and has a much bigger pool of people to draw from than we do. If we want to let a percentage in the Kingsmen that never put the uniform on, we can, and we can call ourselves whatever we want. The bottom line is; we will enjoy performing again and treat the drum corps world to old-school, kick-###, drum corps.

[Tansea]

The Kingmen haven't marched in finals in over 30 years, been an "Associate Corps" in 28 years, or fielded a corps at all in 20 years.  It's hard to find all those people that marched that long ago, let alone alumni that are willing and able to march again.  SCV has been a consistent organization forever and has a much bigger pool of people to draw from than we do.  If we want to let a percentage in the Kingsmen that never put the uniform on, we can, and we can call ourselves whatever we want.  The bottom line is; we will enjoy performing again and treat the drum corps world to old-school, kick-###, drum corps.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What he said....plus...the people I have invited to march with us loved the Kingsmen and probably would have marched with us had we not folded. Now I marched with SCV and the Kingsmen and I agree with the rules set down for SCV, because they have had since 1969 until today to draw on, then Kingsmen, not nearly as long.

You can call it The Kingsmen Chicken Soup corps if it makes you happy....h@##, I don't care, but the show we put on is all that matters.

To much Caffeine, not enough psychotropics.....deeep breeeaaaaths. b**bs

[FHBob]

One of the most rewarding things about putting this alumni corps together has been to find out how many fans the Kingsmen STILL have, all across the country. So many people who are jumping at the chance to march with a corps that they really wanted to march with 30 years ago but just were not able to. It's also really interesting to hear the comments that others make about Anaheim - the uniforms, the marching style, the color guard - things that we may have taken for granted at the time, but now feel a strong appreciation for.

[ptr250]

Now I marched with SCV and the Kingsmen and I agree with the rules set down for SCV, because they have had since 1969 until today to draw on, then Kingsmen, not nearly as long.

OK Mike which corps are you going to march with if AK & SCV field a alumni corps in 07? Just my 2 cents an alumni corps should only contain alumni of that corps. How about the AK celebration corps? After all that's what you're doing, celebrating the memory of the great AK.

Edited September 26, 2005 by ptr250

[FHBob]

OK Mike which corps are you going to march with if AK & SCV field a alumni corps in 07? Just my 2 cents an alumni corps should only contain alumni of that corps. How about the AK celebration corps? After all that's what you're doing, celebrating the memory of the great AK.

Paul - in an ideal or best situation an alumni corps should be made up of exclusively alumni of that corps. This is never an easy thing to accomplish, but is still much easier with a corps like the Vanguard (along with many other corps) which is still in existence 30+ years later. Please remember that the Kingsmen have not existed at all since 1985, and have been out of the top 20 since 1978 and out of the top 12 since 1974. It's REALLY difficult to pull this off when you do not have an unbroken stream of alums who have marched in the last ten or so years. For many reasons we desire to field a very large group and that size group will likely not be possible if we are exclusive. Last count, I believe that 17% of the persons registered with Kingsmen Alumni Corps are not Kingsmen alumni. All of them are (with I believe two exceptions for family members) drum corps alumni. So in our opinion it is truly an ALUMNI corps.

I hope that Mike is marching with AK but I'll let him answer that himself. BTW, if you look back on this thread there is a lot of very good discussion about the use of the word "alumni" in this context.

[up4479]

I march with 27th and the 27th "Once More IN '94" Alumni Corps.

1) The terrm Alumni Corps was in use before we reformed for '94. It was, IMO a default term describing several corps that represented reserected, non competitive corps comprised of age outs that may not have marched with that particular corps. We used this term because the '94 corps was organized by former 27th people (marching members, management, staff, supporters and even die hard fans) in order to reserect the 27th Lancers as a non competitive corps of various age outs with a single purpose of performing at the '94 Nats.

2) The corps last season was 1986. In 1992 when the invitation to appear at the '94 Nats. was first proposed to George Bonfiglio (27th corps director) by Don Pecione (then director of DCI), the organization had ceased to exist. While the people were still around, there was no formal contact except in small, informal groups. We had a daunting task of contacting members of the 27th family going back to the fall of 1967. We contacted what we felt was more than half of that group directly. Over time, the word got around and more people came out of the wood work. Don' forget that most former members could not or would not participate despite our abundant excitement.

3) From the first organizational meeting we decided to do a full field show, make all new uniforms, play actual 27th charts, perform actual 27th drill moves and recruit people that had not ever marched with 27th. Recruiting non 27th people was natural for us as that's how 27th (and IMO any other corps) always operated. You have to find and accept outsiders to replace your losses in order to continue on with your organization. The people that we recruited were for the most part known former "hard corps" drum corps participants that jumped at the chance to march with 27th. While some old 27th people were not convinced in the beginning, in the end we were and are still very happy to have had these people in our ranks. They only made our corps stronger and better as had those that were recruited when the corps was active. In '94 we had about 42% "non 27th" people. That 42% were some of the best people drum corps ever had to offer. Through rehersals and social events, the Lancer culture was reborn and shared amongst the "Jurassic" former 1967 members, those that marched in '86, every one in between and the new members. We all shared and learned from each other and formed a unified group. We all were taught or retaught a 27th stlye of marching, the 27th philosophy of playing, the 27th method of handling guard equipment, the 27th way of rehersing, how to wear the uniform, all taught by actual 27th instructors.

4) Review the tape of 27th's performance at the '94 Nats. Is there any question in your mind as to who was on the field that night? There's no question in our minds. Call us what you may, it was 100% 27th Lancers!

[ptr250]

Growing up in Santa Clara County I’ve always loved Stanford, the beautiful campus, rich traditions etc. I would never call myself a Stanford Alum even though I always wanted to attend and went to a school not very far away. Of course I realize it would be almost impossible to form an alumni corps to honor an organization that has been gone over two decades, so why try? The current AK effort and the past 2-7 efforts where in reality celebrations of the rich histories of both organizations, so what’s wrong with the term celebration corps? I was in attendance the night 2-7 did their wonderful performance. I remember thinking how great it was that so many alumni has such great love for their corps that they would take the time to participate. The glow of that experience was somewhat dimmed when I discovered I had been lied to.

In today’s society telling lies seems to be an accepted practice. This is a very sad state of affairs. When I marched the DC environment was all about history, tradition and honor. Do you think you are honoring your organization by calling your efforts the Kingsmen Alumni Corps when they are truly not? Would it lessen the experience if you performed as AK celebration corps?