1970's Were the Zenith of Drum Corps

I remember being fourteen in nineteen-seventy-four. I played clarinet in the Seattle all City Marching band. It was during a local parade that summer when I got my first look at a Drum and Bugle corps. Marching Bands and Drum Corps, as they're called for short, differ in ways. Firstly, most Marching Bands are associated with high schools or colleges whereas Drum Corps are freestanding organizations. Marching Bands have a woodwind section and Drum Corps are all bugles, drums, and a full Color Guard.

A brief history of the Drum and Bugle Corps; in European battle, a Fife and Drums would accompany the troops into battle, a Flag- bearer would also march into battle in the front lines, a dangerous and honorable position. America carried on the tradition during the Civil War against England. It is the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion who created youth organizations where youngsters could learn and join Marching units to display the Flag and preform drills at military ceremonies, celebrations, parades, and competitions. Honor guard refers to those members within the Color Guard who carry the American Flag, the State Flag, and a saber, or rifle. A color guard in a Drum Corps consists of a rifle line, a flag-line, and a Captain. The Color Guard is part of a Drum and Bugle corps and consists of ten to twelve rifles and twenty to twenty four flags. Color Guards were composed of females unless the Drum Corps was an all male Corps.

The Corps flags, not a part of the Honor Guard, are six foot aluminum alloy poles with flags of a strong shiny fabric such as tents or windbreaker jackets are constructed of. The rifles used in a Color Guard are military training practice rifles that could be purchased in the 1970's for $12.00 at military surplus stores. I've broken a few back in the days when learning how to do the airborne spinning and catching maneuvers. There is a weak spot where the handle meets the barrel so we reinforced it with strong fiber packaging tape, then covered it with white electrical tape to look nice. Most Corps had white or silver rifles because they are more visible.

A rifle is spun in the right hand with the palm upwards in a counterclockwise direction. The thumb moves it along and steadies it. the spinning rifle can be single-hand tossed into the air for one rotation and caught with the right hand without stopping the motion. For double rotation air spins, or triples, the right hand pushes and the left arm lifts to send enough force to complete the toss. A regular single rotation, not a toss, just a spin is about the length of one step, when the left hand is used and the rifle rolls over it that's called double time and the rifle spins faster.

The rifles and flag lines can coordinate to do more intricate maneuvers such as the head chopper. This is where the rifles toss doubles and bend down and the flags swoop over their heads and under the airborne rifles, then the rifles catch their tosses while on their knees. Audiences really like that.

When I joined the Seattle Cascades Drum and Bugle Corps in 1974, I was a flag and I won the Rookie of the Year Award. We were the latch-key generation and Drum Corps kept us out of trouble and well supervised. For a musical sport born of wartime, Drum Corps was a peacetime pass time of pure pageantry. It required a lot of teamwork and dedication. My second year I made the rifle line and marched until 1977 with the Cascades.

Color Guards practice all year long and during the wintertime they have indoor competitions with other Color Guards doing drills in gymnasiums or VFW, or American Legion halls.

Bugle Lines consisted of approximately sixty bugles of various sizes, all of a silver or chrome in appearance. Bugles in the 1970's were all non vertical two valved, slide piston and rotor piston G bugles. There were approximately 20-24 soprano bugles, a dozen tenor bugles, eight or so flugelhorns, several French horn bugles, six bass, and four to six contra bass bugles.

The drum line consists of eight to ten snare drums, four to six toms, four or so cymbals, five or so bass drums, four or five timpani drums, and one or two xylophones. Sometimes bells and chimes.

In the 1970's Drum and Bugle corps wore uniforms of a traditional military style. Long trousers for the drum and bugle lines of a twill fabric. Pleated or round skirts of knee length for the Color guard, unless the Corps was an all male Corps such as the Madison Scouts. some Corps wore kilts for example, the Black Watch Drum and Bugle Corps from Auburn, Washington. Leather Oxford shoes in black or white called buckskins for the drum and bugle lines and mid calf white drill team style boots or English style knee high riding boots in black for the Color Guards. All Color guards wore leather gloves to keep a grip on their equipment.

Corps could wear shirts or jackets and most wore cumberbunds and sash's. There were spats, and gauntlets, hats, helmets, shakos, and plumes of all shapes and colors. Despite strict standards there was a plethora of ways to create an original style for every Drum and Bugle Corps of the 1970's.

Most Corps had three busses and an equipment truck to transport them and their equipment to the competitions. The Cascades called their's the Sixty Six or beater bus, as it was an older worn out thing and also my favorite as I got sick from the newer vinyl smelling busses. There was the Orange Flex and White Flex where the more advanced experienced members rode, but as I said, I always rode the Sixty Six beater bus.

Before the competitions Drum and Bugle Corps must line up for inspections of their uniforms and equipment being in good form. Shoes must be polished, uniforms clean and pressed, horns polished, nothing torn, damaged, or dirty, or points would be taken off. Afterward the Corps would warm up, tune their instruments,

do stretches, and try to relax and focus before the show. The Corps lines up and gets ready to take the field.

When the Corps is on the field the judges will ask by name, Drum Major, Is the Seattle Cascades Drum and Bugle Corps ready to take the field of competition? The Drum Major steps forward and salutes and then signals the Corps to begin. When the first note is played the starting gun sounds and the judges begin.

Drum Majors wear white gloves and use their hands and a whistle to command the Corps unlike the Drum Majors of Marching Bands who direct with a baton.

The classic Drum Corps of the 1970's performed the traditional precision military marching style drill formations, blocks, company fronts, symmetrical formations, and dynamic potent moments.

The judging during the 1970's was a strict system of ticks, small points that were deducted for noticeable errors in execution, missed notes, improper marching lines, incorrect step heights, minor timing issues. Heavy emphasis on technical proficiency.

The major categories judged were brass, percussion, color-guard, and overall marching.

The show is called a repertoire and begins with an opening fanfare that is followed by an, "off the line" number that brings the Corps to mid field. Then there is a color presentation where the Honor Guard presents the National Flag in accordance with the United States National code. The next piece of music in the repertoire can be performed with the drums and bugles at a stand-still and is called the concert piece. Following this is the out of concert piece, and the exit song which takes the Corps to the opposite side of the field where they play their final fanfare before filing into single or double file to walk past the stadium and salute the crowd which is called, "troop the stands" from audience right to the audience left.

The drum line plays a cadence, informally called a walker. A cadence can be as simple as the drum sticks tapping on the rim every left step or two. This simple cadence is used when other Corps are performing as a courtesy to not make noise interrupting their show.

The pistol will fire two shots at the 11 1/2 minute mark of the repertoire and the judges will stop judging at that point except for the general effect category. The show must not surpass 13 minutes or it is overtime and points will be lost.

I remember my days of being in the Color Guard of a 1970's Drum and Bugle Corps with gratefulness as it is only recently I came to realize they were the best times of my life. I never expected those times were also to be the greatest times in the pageantry of the precision military musical marching style known as the classic Drum and Bugle Corps. I bid you a final farewell as you leave the field for the last time and march with cadence into the eternity of history, chin high, shoulders back, who will play taps for you? I hope whomever it is uses the oldest Bugle they can find.

RIP Classic Drum and Bugle Corps.