No frills drum corps. Just raw power from the brass and precision from the drum line, while at the same time wearing traditional uniforms and head gear. And playing music that has a real melody. This is what attracted me to march drum corps.
I am what you consider a "newbie" to Drum Corps. Since I live in Madison, I search the archives to learn about the history, the prolific sound and knowing that I support the very best Corps EVER!!!! MYNWA my Corps!!!! YOU rock MY WORLD!!
Wow, the power. That was my first year to march and it sucked the breath out of my lungs to hear them! Thank you for posting this; you have no idea how much I needed to hear and see this today!! Scouts are celebrating their 75th year and I saw them the other night and was mighty impressed, but the Scouts in 1975 just broke my heart, they were so good!
I dunno how much Id want brought back considering it my primary section front ensemble exists now and isnt just an add on to battery. and the use of amplification allows for a more nuanced creation of parts, as well as a better way to convey these softer tender moments. but certainly bring back elements, get some bugles in for some features, play that style of music, chill the fuck out on some of the mics, definitely bring back someold school uniforms. I fucking love this era a lot, i just love being in front ensemble more and not having to hit an instrument so hard it gives me irreparable carpal tunnel
I was in Phantom Regiment that year and we played at this show too. We traveled to many of the same shows with Madison. I remember giving half of my sandwich to the guy that played the big bass drum, those guys were so hungry. When the other Madison guys saw that sandwich they swarmed around like a bunch of seagulls. But yeah, they were awesome! That's when drums corps was best!! Thanks for posting.
I was so envious of you guys, I loved Phantom Regiment. I was a snare drummer for a Class A corps from Cedarburg, Wisconsin, The Thunderbolts. We folded in 1979...very sad day for all of us. I had a chance 5 yrs later to have all the uniforms and equipment for FREE if we wanted to form a new corps w/out the Thunderbolt name, but my friend Dave was stubborn and we lost out while I was finishing my time in the service overseas. Unfortunately, drum corps has changed to much, am not the NUT I used to be
It's funny I marched Scouts in the late 80s and we made an art of scavenging food from other corps too....we were a little behind in the food truck arms race.
We also had a hunger to win every sow we were in. It wasn't anything that needed to be talked about, we all just felt it in our bones. We hadn't finished what we started in 74. It had to be 1975. We had an incredible staff, but not like the kids have today. It's amazing how much we got done individually or just in our section. We didn't have the food the kids have today either. Drum Corps was a much leaner, meaner animal in the 70's than it is today. I still love REAL drum corps of today.
'75 & '76 were great years for DCI. I can only imagine how thrilling it must have been at Franklin Field for finals nights. Folks had to know they were seeing a new era in the activity.
that is who that guy looks like ! ! been wanting to ask but felt a little awkward, hopefully he is reading this AND not offended. . . . dude was (probably still) a monster player.
Now they write their own music to go with the marching routine. They don't take any recognizeable music and build a routine around it. I guess it's good if that's what you know now,but I liked it better the old way. Hear them start a tune I know, hear their rendition, and see they show they built around it.
Wow... I needed this to deal with depression. I loved watching the Scouts and MF (live) when I lived in Madison til 73... and love this classic look and sound of that era. Now back in Madison again (my roots)... getting to see the Scouts again (and the 2006 alumni project). Very special... though different. A serendipitous encounter with their 75 director (Bill Howard) a couple years ago felt very fulfilling... a chance to honor someone who gave me so much.
To this day, Madison’s “MacArthur Park” remains a high-water-mark in DCI ❤! Totally unhinged wailing by soprano bugleist Chris Forbes (then known as Chris Metzger), who eventually became a band director himself, somewhere in Wisconsin, I believe. MYNWA! ❤️😁
One of my all-time favorite drum and bugle Corps, I used to play their records from the late 50s over and over again, at that time they had glockenspiels, in their ranks marching on the field. I never cared for them even back then, Scout house was the only other from court that use them at that time. I remember Madison Scouts not fully complying with DCI rules and regulations, consequently they were being penalized in their scores. I was at a competition where they were competing, and I was talking to a couple of their members and they told me how they would being penalized. I also purchased from one of the scouts my volume two of Drum Corps history book. I have both volumes 1 and 2. They were using it as a fundraiser I believe might cost was $85 After Time, let's stop that I was speaking to inform me that it was available volume to I immediately, ask him where can I get one he said we have them, I told him I'd like to purchase one and he went right to their, souvenir truck and brought one back to me . I don't remember the exact year, but the following year they started to conform and their scores continue to rise. In my opinion DCI is the reason for the demise of what was one of the greatest youth activities in North America. They have turned it into a marching band competition, superimposed on a three ring circus. Today July 1st 2023, we no longer have real drum and bugle Corps. May they all rest in peace.
Back in the day when a 20 year old looked like a 49 year old father of 3. Also, this would have received a total score of 0.00 in 2021. Just kidding around; trumpets were insane and props all around…I was 3 then so I don’t recall. But when I was 5 years old, I was obsessed with the HS marching band at our local football games. Had to wait until the 7th grade; yes, thick glasses and pants that never fit, ultimate band geek. But who cares, it’s what I loved. We were a tiny band of like 35 instrumentals and 10 color guard; never placed in any competition…but we practiced like everyone else. Sorry, no climax to this story whatsoever.
well drum corps now still doesnt use woodwinds. and they did have marching xylo and bells, as well as marching timpani, and a cymbal line, which more or less fills the roll of pit close enough for the kind of music they were doing. granted that means pit had to slam the fuck out of their instruments, and brass had to fucking beam their sound to the press box. but it goes to show that some of our modern methods are a little overkill. Certainly not all of it, after all I'm in pit and my section exists the way it does for mics, and without amplification it makes it a lot harder to convey those soft tender moments and swells effectively. but theirs something about the raw unadulterated power of this early stuff that makes me kinda smile.
Thats a soprano, thats the way the valves used to be before they moved them to the top like today. Thats the type i started with when I stared in drum corps in 1979
