Marching after Midnight

[CourtOfHonorMember]

What kind of punishments has the staff made an individual member or entire corps do in your corps?

In my corps last year, kids were talking so the leaders made us get up out of our sleeping bags and make us high mark time to our show. Man that was brutal! As for individual member, we had to do pushups, run laps (they never made me run luckly), practice alone from the rest of the corps, or sit with the adults in the front of the bus.

[Mordomer]

Nothing more fun than the long run to the distant object to inform it I made a mistake.

[Morgoth Bauglir]

How about running to where another section of the corps is practicing and telling them what you did wrong. Or even worse, in places like C-Ville OH, where more than one corps is at the school. Running to another corps drumline and telling them what you did.

[GGarrett]

Some time ago (more than a year) I started a thread like this with a similar theme..."punishment"

All the kids that started straight into corps like BD or Cadets responded by saying things like:

"Well, we never had problems like that when I marched" or "no need for punishment, we punished

ourselves when we screwed up" ... which is all well and good, and very admirable.

But those of us who cut our teeth in little corps with guys who were vet's out of corps like the Cavie's

or Des Plaines Vanguard felt the pain of their form of discipline... ie:

-One drummer in a corps I was who would never shut up or stop tapping on his drum had to stand at

attention while the M&M instructor threw his sticks as far as he could off the field for the rest of practice.

Kind of humiliating in front of the whole corps. He went on to be a dedicated member.

-Another drummer who just could not stop tapping on his drum, even when asked to stop repeatedly, was

duct taped to a post for an entire practice one time (two hours or so...then cut down) (chronic ticker, too)

(btw...this guy cleaned up his act so dramatically after that, that he was given most improved at ourbanquet

the next year...went on to be a really good drummer and a good guy...)

-Full corps up at 2:00 am or so to stand at attention...then mark time for 15 minutes. Then up at 6:00 am

for a full day of rehearsal. Punishment for not quieting down when told to. It may have been a problem

when that nerf ball that was being tossed around in the dark hit the chaperone in the face.

These were "over the years" things...not all in one year. But by todays standards instructors would be in

jail for those things, and lawsuits would be a plenty because precious child suffered mental anguish and

stress over his comeupence...

I have told this before, but I recall walking by Cavaliers one time...a few guys holding push up position. I

returned past them some time later to find the same guys, still holding the push up position.

[Mr Chadwycke]

"Air Only"

"DAHHH!"

"What part of air only dont you understand?"

"Sorry!"

"Once again, AIR ONLY!"

"DAH!"

"25, on the ground, lets go!"

*after pushups*

"For the third time, air only."

"DAH!"

"Go run and tell the drumline you're stupid. now!"

[BorisTS]

"Air Only"

"DAHHH!"

"What part of air only dont you understand?"

"Sorry!"

"Once again, AIR ONLY!"

"DAH!"

"25, on the ground, lets go!"

*after pushups*

"For the third time, air only."

"DAH!"

"Go run and tell the drumline you're stupid. now!"

Did Frank Williams ever have to bring out the shoebox for anyone last summer?

Frank has a punishment he first used in Cadets 1992. It was named the "Chris Allen Memorial Dumb-### Award," after the member it was first used on. (For those keeping track, yes, that is the Chris Allen who taught Glassmen for a few years and I think Crusaders last year. Frank liked bringing this up to annoy Chris).

This "award" is reserved for the most deserving. Not people who just tick a lot-- these are people who forget and leave their horn somewhere (at a housing site, in the parking lot, etc.). In 2000, we had a guy who left his baritone in various places when it needed to be with the corps. He managed to do this three or four times. The last time, he left his horn in the parking lot after a show instead of putting it on the truck or taking it on the bus with him. Frank got wind of this and obtained the horn. By morning, the kid was pretty nervous. We were stretching in the morning before visual block when Frank walked out with a shoebox. He handed it to the young man and told him that since he couldn't be trusted with a baritone, he would march with a shoebox that morning. During rehearsal, every once in a while Frank would ask the kid a question (about the music, marching, or drum corps history). For every question he got right, he earned a piece of his horn back; for every question he got wrong, he lost one. We're talking tuning slides, valves, springs, mouthpiece, and finally the body. If the guy hadn't earned his horn back before he needed to play it later, Frank implied there would be #### to pay. I think the guy got his horn back before then, though.

Other than that, we really weren't big on "punishment," so to speak. It mostly wastes rehearsal time.

<filter circumvention removed: Dave>

Edited March 9, 2006 by Dave

[PR_ducky]

I seem to recall Bob Smith telling someone to run laps and getting laughed at.

[liebot]

Never had to do anything that bad... Just running, since our corps director decided that we weren't allowed to do push-ups... In 04 one kid dropped the f-bomb during practice and our vis. caption head got ###### off and made the corps run two laps around the field while he stayed in his spot. Needless to say more profanities were thrown his way as we went back to our spots.

And then there was the infamous day in Tennessee. Laundry day some members of the corps got in a little bit of trouble (it was most of the brass bus) so we woke and got #### for it... We were at a place that we could've fit 3 or 4 football fields on and we started off running 3 laps around that field (probably 1/3 of a mile)... Then we broke off in sectionals and our caption head was less than excited... We would run 8 counts of our figure 8 box and he'd stop us, tell us to put our horns down and take another lap.... We got back, he'd tap us off, we'd take 1 step and be stopped again... All in all I'd say I sprinted about 2-3 miles before breakfast... Then in the afternoon our brass staff decided it was "hornline conditioning" day so we spent most of our rehearsal block running... I remember hearing "Go run and touch that pole and set up for the end of the show" quite a few times... I was dead by the end of that day. Best sleep I think I've ever gotten in my life.

[HoltonH178]

"Air Only"

"DAHHH!"

"What part of air only dont you understand?"

"Sorry!"

"Once again, AIR ONLY!"

"DAH!"

"25, on the ground, lets go!"

*after pushups*

"For the third time, air only."

"DAH!"

"Go run and tell the drumline you're stupid. now!"

That was the first thing I thought of. God bless Dennis Laorenza.

Did Frank Williams ever have to bring out the shoebox for anyone last summer?

Frank has a punishment he first used in Cadets 1992. It was named the "Chris Allen Memorial Dumb-### Award," after the member it was first used on. (For those keeping track, yes, that is the Chris Allen who taught Glassmen for a few years and I think Crusaders last year. Frank liked bringing this up to annoy Chris).

<snip>

We were somewhere in the deep South this last summer--I believe Georgia--when a contra player got it. That was the only time it happened all year that I can recall. It was a good day, though :).

Edited March 9, 2006 by Dave

[kmanv]

That was the first thing I thought of. God bless Dennis Laorenza.

We were somewhere in the deep South this last summer--I believe Georgia--when a contra player got it. That was the only time it happened all year that I can recall. It was a good day, though :).

mostly push ups when i marched. running was a regular part of horn block so it was'nt really punishment. It was ment to build stamina. and it worked(thank you rob dunham :) )