Vagabond Skyliner Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 (edited) This probably has been done before....Where did you learn about Drum corps? I learned about drum corps from My Father. Tom Ryan Marched in a Drum corps out of Ridgefield Park NJ called Rienzi I'm sure I didn't spell that right. He would always start his story with that name and I never got him to write it down. Beleive it or not he tells me the corps was named after General Sherman's Horse from civil war fame. (Rienzi was also the name of Wagner's Third Opera but the horse thing sounds more veteran like LOL) He Played tenor drum. He and some friends heard about this new corps in Hawthorne NJ way out in Passaic county NJ and decided to go check it out. He went in 1948 and left in 1966 I guess he liked it. The trips my brother and I were on during that stretch of time were enlightening to say the least. So that was my intro to DC. The Caballeros. I'm sure that there are alot of similar stories out there what are yours. Mike Ryan Caballeros 1975-2007 It was June of 1960. I lived 2 blocks from the High School. I saw all the bus's going over to the Stadium. School had been out for 2 weeks. So I walked over and found the New Jersey VFW State Championships. (Free Admision). So I went in. Got to see at least 3 National Contenders. I was turned on to the stuff. Went down to the LOCAL VFW and joined a parade Corps that was going Field Corps the next year or so. The Asbury Park Hurricanes. Here are the scores from that contest: NJ VFW state Championship Asbury Park,N.J. 1 Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights - Newark,NJ 86.500 2 St. Vincent's Cadets - Bayonne,NJ --------------- 86.400 3 Garfield Cadets - Garfield,NJ ---------------------- 85.340 4 Bracken Cavaliers - Bristol,PA -------------------- 81.450 5 Vagabonds - Haddon Hights,NJ ------------------- 78.150 6 Our Lady of Lourdes - Patterson,NJ -------------- 76.250 7 St. Patrick's Cadets - Jersey City,NJ ------------- 74.860 8 Paterson Cadets - Paterson,NJ ------------------- 73.220 9 Belles of St. Mary's - Glouchester,NJ ------------ 72.580 10 St. Lucy's Cadets - Newark,NJ ------------------ 70.520 11 OLPH Baysiders - Bayridge,NY ------------------ 67.270 11 Woodsiders - Newark,NJ ------------------------- 67.270 13 St. Nicholas Girls - Egg Harbor,NJ -------------- 59.950 14 Bellaires - Bellmawr,NJ -------------------------- 51.960 Edited October 22, 2006 by LucysSkylinerAlumni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cabstuba04 Posted October 22, 2006 Author Share Posted October 22, 2006 This probably has been done before....Where did you learn about Drum corps? I learned about drum corps from My Father. Tom Ryan Marched in a Drum corps out of Ridgefield Park NJ called Rienzi I'm sure I didn't spell that right. He would always start his story with that name and I never got him to write it down. Beleive it or not he tells me the corps was named after General Sherman's Horse from civil war fame. (Rienzi was also the name of Wagner's Third Opera but the horse thing sounds more veteran like LOL) He Played tenor drum. He and some friends heard about this new corps in Hawthorne NJ way out in Passaic county NJ and decided to go check it out. He went in 1948 and left in 1966 I guess he liked it. The trips my brother and I were on during that stretch of time were enlightening to say the least. So that was my intro to DC. The Caballeros. I'm sure that there are alot of similar stories out there what are yours. Mike Ryan Caballeros 1975-2007 Funny Thing when he reached Hawthorne He decided that playing a brass instrument would be easier on his back. So did he play soprano NO he played baritone. Go figure. Man the responses are cool. Family and friend connections are what makes our activity so strong. By the way I met my wife, Terry Knott, at a local indoor guard show. We celebrated our 25th wedding anniverary this past July. My daughter started marching in the Cabs in 1998. All in the Family. Pretty cool. Mike Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 My story is also a "drum corps in the family" story. My brothers Lenny and Marty joined the Raiders of 88 junior corps of Highland Park, NJ (next town over from Edison, where we lived), for the 1967 season. I joined in the fall of '67.... the corps folded shortly after that. Lenny and Marty marched with the Little Falls (NJ) Cadets in 1968.....I gave it a shot for a brief time in the off-season, but the one-hour drive each way to practice turned out to be a bit much for a 9-year-old. Lenny then joined the Manville (NJ) Sacred Heart Crusaders in '69, and Marty enlisted in the Air Force. My parents and I followed the Crusaders at various shows in 1969 and '70...including the Wildwood VFW and American Legion States shows. The first really big show I remember seeing was the World Open in 1970. My first season marching with Manville was 1971.... and I've been involved in drum corps, in one way or another, every year since. Fran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susantaylor40 Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 I lived out in the country until I was 10, and there was no exposure to drum corps out there, but my parents had me enrolled in dance lessons at the nearest town from the ages 4-12. Then we moved to a fairly large city, and I was unhappy with the dance programs that were available. The KW Santa Claus parade hooked me into drum corps.... I traded my tap shoes for drum sticks, so I guess I never lost my rhythm, just transfered it to another part of my anatomy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camel lips Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 My high school band director use to have us sit down at the end of band camp and have us watch DCI on public television. I started going to DCI contests after that whenever they were in the local area.Nashville at one time use to have several DCI shows in a single season. I will never forget seeing BD and Spirit peel paint with those bugles.Boy what a day. As far as getting introduced to DCA.I sent a email to DCA requesting a corps in my local area.I got a responce from Tom PEashey telling me about MCL and Corpsvets.The rest as they say is history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSbassdrum9091 Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 In 9th grade I had moved from a small town with a rinky dink band to Carlisle, PA who were just becoming the dominant band in Group Four. It was like going from JV football to the NFL overnight. The whole band staff were former Bluecoats player/ instructors and from there on out, it was all about drum corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kay Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 (edited) Also a Family thing. My brothers joined a local parade corps - The Pequa Redmen, then my sister followed, then my Dad became director. I begged to join, and as soon as I was tall enough to hold a flag I was there. By the way - our drum instructor was one of the "Original" Sunrisers - Cal Meyers. Edited October 22, 2006 by irishcab95 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skydrummer9 Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 Father has been marching for over 30 years. I never really went to drum corps shows. Only to Sounds on the Susquehannah because it's close to home and championchips. Even those shows I never sat and watched the entire thing. I only watched New York. And people often tell me that I was drawn to that corps because my dad was in it but I don't think it was the case. When I was young and went to watch him in Sky back in 94-95, I used to fall asleep in the stands. But I always woke up when Sky started their street beat and didn't fall back to sleep until the left the field. It wasn't until I started marching in 2003 when I got into drum corps and still I won't watch anyone except Sky and Sky Alumni. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dwight Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 One Saturday evening I was bored and decided to see what the crowd was going into the HersheyPark stadium to watch. Two years later I was marching with the corps. It was the precision, music, pageantry and entertaining aspects. Up until that time, I had never done anything musically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LegalEagle50 Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 through my college marching band. Dave Dion (Hurcs) & Chris Szabo (Sun) were students at WCSU with me. George & Debbie Maloney (Hurcs) were on staff. Dave Smith, our director, had marched Interstatesmen (hope i got the name right). i couldn't have been introduced to it by a better bunch of people. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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