Marching Tympani

[Ahamay Oton]

You ever try to pick up one of those suckers with your shoulders and lower back, and then march, crank and play all at the same time for 11 13 minutes?. I never did, and boy was I thankful for it. I'll bet some of my former tymp corpsmates are still spending their time and money at their chiropractors's office. Better to keep them in the pit with one player on the set.

(Corrected quote for length of shows in the marching tymp era.) :)

Edited September 22, 2006 by Ahamay Oton

[vibraphonusrex]

Tell that to my drummer of the year trophies. Once again, yes i carried one, yes, I loved playing on a tymp line, and, yes things have changed and marching tymps are a thing of the past. We were just kids who marched to the beat of a different drum... and lived to tell the tale. b**bs b**bs

OK, I'll tell that to the drummer of the year trophies, and to my performer of the year award. I loved timp lines and loved playing in one. I just hate to see the instrument that rules the orchestra hall diminished into what it was when I marched. There were some really great lines out there, and a lot of bad ones, but even the really great lines did little to bolster the individuals' timpani technique.

Bob Blomberg

Geneseo Knights, '79-'83

Kilties, '01-'02, '04-'05

Bridgemen, '06

[Roark1]

Are you serious? During the classic countdown, people in the audience started to laugh out loud everytime they showed these things.

I wish I would have been there so that I could have "enlighted" them.

What a bunch of PUNKS.

[Walter]

If a corps had more money than they know what to do with, I guess they could carry both !!

[BASTimpanist]

The Kingsmen Alumni Corps is marching tymps in the field show and parades...

How come the jrs can't do that anymore?? :(

uhhh....i want you to do something.

go stand over a 32" timpani...and then decide to strap it on.

then send me a picture of you 6 seconds after when your back gives out and EXPLODES.

[markdewine]

jonnyboy-Granted, our modern military does not use muskets or horses, etc. But there are well over 100,000 re-enactors who portray American military history, with every bit of the same passion we in drum corps have. Why? Because they remind us of things that need to be remembered. Just like marching tymps need to be remembered in the history of drum corps.

Do I think today's competitive corps should carry tymps on the field? Of course not. Should Alumni corps carry them? Absolutely!

[JimF-LowBari]

Are you serious? During the classic countdown, people in the audience started to laugh out loud everytime they showed these things.

Depends what they were laughing at. Watched Classic countdown on a bus trip with people some of whom marched in the 60s/70s. Even had a guy who marched tymp across the aisle from me. Almost all of us laughed or at least snickered at some of the stuff we used to do (marching tymps and bells, high mark time with white stripe on pants, mid-field stripe only).

And lets face it, if you've never seen a marching tymp before it is a wierd ###ed sight.

Edited September 22, 2006 by JimF-xWSMBari

[jojo]

I wish I would have been there so that I could have "enlighted" them.

What a bunch of PUNKS.

I'm with you ... and I hope I'm still around in 20 years or so to go to the countdown again where everything done "today" will be considered cheesy as ####.

the only constant is change and what goes around, comes around B)

[susantaylor40]

I'm with you ... and I hope I'm still around in 20 years or so to go to the countdown again where everything done "today" will be considered cheesy as ####.

the only constant is change and what goes around, comes around B)

Amen, sister.

[PJS53]

I'm with Susan in the department of enjoying playing in the tymp line. Yes they were heavy and awkward and I bruised the heck out of various parts of my anatomy wrestling with those things but... playing split parts was quite a challenge as the music got more sophisticated. Most of the tymp parts I've heard from the really early lines were fairly simple but both SCV and Kingsmen were in the forefront of changing that. By the time we got into the mid 70's parts were becoming quite interesting and the really good lines were playing with pretty reasonable technique and intonation considering the limitations of the instrument. I was a music major at the time I played in the line and know we spent a lot of time working on things like ear training and proper technique. I distinctly remember picking out notes in the horn charts that we could use as reference pitches to check our tuning or get close enough to the xylophone player to pick up a pitch from him. By 74 we were carrying tuning forks with us and using them to check pitches when possible.

As far as the original question is concerned. I agree that the usefullness of marching tympani is long gone and can see no reasonable purpose for bringing them back in any form other than nostalgia. Cool to hear that Kingsmen will be using them but in todays competitive corps they have no place.

I do think there is a special "fraternity" among those of us who carried those beasts. Even when I marched we seemed to have a kinship with our fellow competitors in other tymp lines.

Ok, off to the chiropractors office.