Feeder corps

[cantgetenoughcorps]

Just wondering with Vanguard Cadets, Blue Devils B&C, and Colt Cadets, how many of these kids move up to march with their division I corps? I have heard that alot of Colt Cadets over the years have gone on to march either Colts or Blue Stars. But I never hear too much about Vanguard or Devils moving on up? Any numbers from anyone involved with these corps?

I also just found out recently that Madison Scouts and Cavaliers used to have feeder corps. I remember seeing Phantom Legion as well up into the late 90's. Any idea why these corps stopped having a feeder corps? I do remember hearing talk that Legion kids almost never made Regiment(this was at the home show in Rockford in the late 90's) I also heard rumors that the reason Phantom stopped was because of the financial strain. I had also heard that Scouts feeder corps joined an all female corps to become Capital Sound, so I suppose that they no longer were then considered a feeder corps. Especially now since they no longer fall under the Madison Umbrella.

So anyone with any experience with these corps care to share some details? I just wish that more corps were able to support feeder corps.

[DrumCorpsMom]

There was a recent video on Blue Devils website and the person interviewed stated that he was one of only 2 or 3 people in A corps that had been in C, B and A. If you can find that video, it might give you a better idea. Also if you read the BOD notes for Vanguard about 2 years ago, they had information on the number that move on to the Div I corps (in both cases it was not a significant number).

[SkyDog]

If you count the people who are currently in the Blue Devils A corps who've come up through the B corps *and* C corps, the number's probably pretty small. But the number likely goes up when you remove the C corps from the equation. I don't know what the numbers are recently, but using the 1990 Blue Devils B Corps as an example...

Out of roughly 25 brass players, 6 went on to the A corps.

Out of about 16 percussionists, 4 of them went on to the A corps.

Out of something like 15 guard members, 5 of them went on to the A corps.

Assuming I didn't miss anyone when I counted, that's 15 out of 57 members, meaning more than a fourth of the B corps went on to march with the A corps. And that doesn't take into account that there were a few B corps members who went on to march with Open Class (D1) corps other than the Blue Devils. Offhand, I can think of BDB members from that year who went to play with the Freelancers, SCV, and Blue Knights.

[BDAlumniParent]

I wish the numbers of those from BDB going on to BDA were as high as they were in 1990. If I'm not mistaken, this year there were only 2 guard and 1 brass from BDB to go into BDA.

[Phan Doris]

Back in "the day" there was the CCI (Cadet Corps Int'l.), which was comprised of several feeder corps from the Midwest. For example, the Phantom Regiment Cadets were so good that they won the VFW National Championship in 1984 and beat the Canton Bluecoats on July 3 of that year too. :)

Blue Stars Cadets, Cavalier Cadets, Colt Cadets, Cadets of Dutchboy, Guardsmen Cadets, Kiltie Kadettes, Madison Jr Scouts and the PR Cadets all were feeder corps for their A corps. There were also a few CCI corps that were not aligned with an A corps. I hope I did not leave anybody out of this list.

Drum Corps Midwest (DCM) had a rule that each member corps had to sponsor a DCM contest every year, which caused increasing financial hardships on organizations like Phantom Regiment when feeder corps were invited into DCM membership. For instance, Regiment and the PR Cadets each had to host separate contests and Regiment had their DCI home show too. Three Rockford contests every year, with appearance fees for all participating corps, as well as the usual other expenses. Eventually the strain got too much and, one by one, the feeder corps went inactive. <**>

In their heydays, feeder corps members really did "graduate" to their A corps -- as well as to other A corps, much like kids today who jump from corps to corps. Phantom Regiment membership often was comprised of about 25% former PR Cadets. There were even some former members of the PR Pre-Cadets, who began their corps experience at age 7, who eventually made it all the way to the Regiment. Talk about burnout! :P

It is really sad that in 2006 no current member of Phantom Regiment is even from Rockford, let alone a former PR Cadet member. :(

[Musical_Spinner]

It is really sad that in 2006 no current member of Phantom Regiment is even from Rockford, let alone a former PR Cadet member. :(

Wow.

[SkyDog]

I wish the numbers of those from BDB going on to BDA were as high as they were in 1990. If I'm not mistaken, this year there were only 2 guard and 1 brass from BDB to go into BDA.

Just to be clear... That wasn't the number of BDB members who went from the B Corps to the A Corps between the 1990 & 1991 seasons. That was the number of 1990 BDB members who made it up to the A Corps over the next few seasons. Some made it in '91, some made it in '92, and some made it in '93. I didn't check years after that, which come to think of it, would've added another percussionist -- Camden McConnell played in the A Corps after a stint with SCV.

Something else that might affect the number of members moving up to the A Corps is that 1990 happened to be a really good year for BDB. The corps didn't go to DCI, but nearly went undefeated and were regularly beating the eventual champions by a few points. There were some really talented players that year.

Edited August 4, 2006 by SkyDog

[PeeWee]

I think Vanguard Cadets > Vanguard is a significant amount. Some pit, battery, horn, and guard members in the A-Corps have all come from the Cadet Corps.

Blue Devils B and Vanguard Cadets also feed the other side - BDB members join Vanguard, and Vanguard Cadet members join BD. One of the perks from being so close to each other I suppose. :)

[Northern Thunder]

During the Racine Kilties heyday as a junior corps, back in the 1960's, the VAST majority of its members came through the Kiltie Kadets.

In researching corps from the early 1960's I've seen examples of some major eastern powers of that era having upwards of 90% of its members from its feeder corps.

[melritz]

In their heydays, feeder corps members really did "graduate" to their A corps -- as well as to other A corps, much like kids today who jump from corps to corps. Phantom Regiment membership often was comprised of about 25% former PR Cadets. There were even some former members of the PR Pre-Cadets, who began their corps experience at age 7, who eventually made it all the way to the Regiment.

Just some support to this comment. I went "up to the big corps" in '89 (Regiment). I would say that at least 10-15% of that corps had marched PRC at some time. In addition, there were 13 rookies in PR '89 that had marched in PRC in '88. TImes sure have changed if now none of PR 2006 are even from ROckford. Hmmmm...