Bob mentioned that Blessed Sacrament is going to field a Jr. Corps again. If I remember correctly, Blessed Sacrament was (is?) an east coast Corps. Is this correct?

This brings up a question that I have. On several occasions in these discussion threads..the east coast Corps have been mentioned about as often as the midwest Corps.

How often did the east and midwest meet up and who traveled the most? I'm not picturing long tours in the 60's, so this would mean a lot of "day trips" to national competitions. Am I correct?

What years were you a Corps member? 2nd Sop in 1979

Wow! Keith's questions reminded me how little the people who marched in the later years (and indeed, those who march now) know about the HISTORY of drum corps.


Yes, the Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights were a church sponsored corps from Newark, NJ. They were often referred to as "Blessed Sac" or "BS" (nothing bad intended there!) They were formed in 1952 and won their first national in 1955! They were champions in VFW and Legion Nationals many times ... and were known for having an EXCELLENT horn line, an EXCELLENT drum line and great marching.

No, corps never did "tours" until DCI started this idea in the mid 70's. It was rare to see an eastern corps travel to the midwest, but some did it for a few shows. Ditto for midwestern corps going east. Most corps just attended shows within a few hundred miles of their "home base".

But, most corps did try to make a "tour" to attend nationals, wherever they were held. And, shows were held along the way ... great fun!

Drum corps was "way different' in those days. Most corps were made up of local kids, often taught by the corps. Most turnouts were local ... and only on weekends. Kids had summer jobs, attended summer school and got to know their families .. even going on summer vacations with them!!!

Drum corps even did OTHER stuff ... like corps picnics, baseball ganes against other corps,going to practices of other corps, etc.

What did you do in the Corps? member 1958-63, asst. instructor 1964-71

What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 63 drum line

BTW ... drum corps really STARTED in the east, as an outgrowth of the fife and drum corps activity and the SENIOR corps activity (which began after WWI).

The east had HUNDREDS of drum corps in nthe 30's, 40's and 50's. Midwestern corps didn't really start to make a mark until the late 1940's .. when corps like NORWOOD, MADISON and the KILTIES started to appear and compete successfully! But, it was (I believe) the (ugh) CAVALIERS who actually became the first midwestern junior corps to win a National contest.... beating the best of the east to do so in 1957.

What did you do in the Corps? member 1958-63, asst. instructor 1964-71

What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 63 drum line

Keith...Being a member of the Royal Air Reunion Corp, you will get to see the Blessed Sac alumni corps in Scranton this August. They did not do a drill as the Royals do, but their horns and drums will absolutely thrill you. You'll love 'em.....guaranteed!

What did you do in the Corps? Soprano

What years were you a Corps member? Cadets 61-62/Imperials 63-67

I admit that I'm a little weak when it comes to knowing things from that era. For me, and for a lot of the kids I marched with, there has always been a DCI.

I think marching with NP gave me the opportunity to see something that I'm sure wasn't happening much in the late 70's. We still did a lot of local and state contests and our tour was really just two events (and the events that surrounded those contests...parades..etc).....VFW Nationals and American Legion Nationals.

As a side note...we did "tour" in style. Wow!! Air conditioned coaches and hotels. No kidding! I NEVER saw that kind of treatment again.

What years were you a Corps member? 2nd Sop in 1979

During the winter months as corps were learning new music there were a number of standstill exhibitions that featured local corps. These were held at area high school auditoriums and were a great way to test new arrangements. During the mid 60s there were a couple of standstills held at the Chicago Civic Opera House. These exhibitions included corps from the east and midwest including senior corps. For many of us it was our first chance to experience east coast senior corps. Ah the good old days.

What did you do in the Corps? soprano

What years were you a Corps member? 1963-1973

I have a few interesting points to add to this,the
eastern corps,especially the top junior and the senior
drum corps had this reputation that we here in the
midwest always heard about,and everything we did read and hear about was very true,and they lived up to that
reputation in every way.My first experience with the
east happened at the 57 Nationals in Miami.Seeing St.
Vincents for the first time was a experience I'll never forget.There was a lot of controversy,plus a fight that St.Vinnies started with the Cavaliers,because of the judging,which they felt they should have won the contest,I myself and many others to thought St.Vinnies should have won that one.They even filed a formal protest,but it didn't do any good.The outcome remained the same.Guess where I was during the battle that took place after the scores were read,I was so tired I went on one of our buses and fell asleep,someone came on the bus and said there was a big fight going on,and told those of us that were on the bus to stay.They didn't have a Grand Finale because the weather was starting to get bad,so they just had the Drum Majors from each corps line up in the front of the judges table and than they read off the scores,after that than all hell broke loose.
The first time that I can remember seeing a eastern
corps in the midwest that competed in one of our contests was Garfield,I think that year they were in Woodstock and than at the Cavalier show,this doesn't include 58 American Legion National's in Chicago when everyone from the east was here.What a show that was.Dave do you remember that one it was at Hansen Stadium?Also they held an exhibition I think it was the following night at Soldiers Field.If I'm not mistaken they only had the corps that placed in the top 3 or 4 spots from the seniors and juniors.
Dave you mentioned earlier about the corps using
fifes at one time,I'm sure everyone else will be interested in this,my sister Jerry who was in Norwood
in the later 40's started out playing a fife,and she still has it.Now she's going to donate it to the Norwood Park Historical Society.It will be put on display at the Crippen house in Norwood Park,thats the oldest house in Norwood and also the headquarters
for the Society.

What did you do in the Corps? soprano and than french horn

What years were you a Corps member? 1957 through 1963

Rich raised a number of great points!

Yes, the EAST was the hotbed of drum corps until the late 50's. That is where most corps activity started.

The 1957 VFW was the first where a midwest corps won .. and it was a closely won victory. And it was disputed! the dispute might have been looked on more favorably if the St. Vincent Cadets had not started a huge fight!

Note that, because of the fight, St. Vinnies was BARRED from VFW compettion for 3 years. They never recovered from this either, disbanding in 1961. Too bad, they were a GREAT corps!

Yes, the 1958 Legion Nationals were held (junior corps) in Hansen Park, Chicago. No prelims, just 30+ corps doing their full show. Blessed Sacrament beat Garfield by ONE TENTH of a point. And that, after Garfield borrowed Cavaliers instruments, wore make-shift uniforms and basically hitch hiked to Chicago for the contest! (They lost their church sponsor 2 weeks bedfore!)

The evening show was the SENIOR contest, held in Soldier Field. The winning junior corps gave an exhibition there.

That show was really good!

What did you do in the Corps? member 1958-63, asst. instructor 1964-71

What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 63 drum line

Let's go the other way. Other than Troopers, were there Corps' out west that used to travel to the Midwest?

I find it interesting as far as drum corps history goes that the Blue Devils, Santa Clara Vanguard, and Anaheim Kingsmen just seemed to "pop up" when DCI was formed. Is this correct?

What years were you a Corps member? 2nd Sop in 1979

Keith asked about WESTERN corps coming to the midwest and east. Yes, most of these corps DID just "pop up" in the late 60's and early 70's. BUT, it wasn't DCI which did it ... it was the fact that the western population was growing and, most importantly, a large number of eastern and midwedstern corps people were moving there!


It was still fairly rare to see the western corps come through here .. they usually did it around the 4th of July .. and on their way to Nationals. Of course, when DCI started their "grand touring" ideas, drum corps travelled everywhere.

Now it is so bad that you only see the Cavaliers and Phantom at their own shows
each year!

What did you do in the Corps? member 1958-63, asst. instructor 1964-71

What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 63 drum line

Keith,

I remember first seeing California corps in the midwest in about 1969 to 1972. I recollect seeing Santa Clara, the Kingsmen and the Stockton Commodores. I seem to recollect seeing the Vanguard at a show in Niles and another in Delavan. At that time the Vanguard was doing it's "Fiddler on the Roof" music. As I recollect the Kingsmen, they were better than anything I had seen before. The Stockton Commodores looked like the Mariners of the 1964 to 66 time frame but sounded better.

I think these corps were part of "the Combine" which is what the initial DCI organization was called. I do not recollect any west coast corps during my time (1959-66) in Norwood. The Casper Troopers were about as far west as it got (actually Casper is probably closer to Chicago than it is to the West Coast).

Its my observation that there still are very few bugle corps on the west coast. There are only about six junior corps and one senior corps (which is relatively new) of any quality. Although the names change, the number of quality of junior corps seems to remain about the same. With the exception of the Blue Devils and Santa Clara, the other juniors seem to come and go. The Sacramento Freelancers seem to have vanished along with the Commodores and the Kingsmen and Velvet Knights in SoCal.

Also, these corps are spread out from Seattle to San Diego so when they do get together there has been significant travel for all but the host corps. Because of this the DCI tour apppears to have become their thing. I don't know why this has occurred but suspect that financial demands of touring with DCI and attracting members are main reasons. (Because of the weather younger kids get into outdoor activities year round--baseball, soccer, swimming, football, hiking, horses, mountain climbing, surfing, scuba diving, dirt bikes,etc.--and aren't inclined to focus on music or learning to play an instrument.)

What does seem to be fundamental is that the west coast corps that do compete in DCI, seem to do well. I haven't gone to the DCI site, but it seems to me that California based corps have won more than half of the 30 or so DCI Championships and that corps from Sacramento, San Diego, Blue Devils B Corps and Santa Clara B Corps have won at the Division II and III levels. So those organizations that do compete in the activity really make the effort.

One point I forgot to mention about the East vs the Midwest that made them stand out from the Midwest was their style of M&M,which was very different from ours.It just added that much more to their drill.I don't even know if they had a name for it,but it was
great the way they did it.

What did you do in the Corps? soprano and than french horn

What years were you a Corps member? 1957 through 1963

Just a few words about Blessed SAC,Dave you might
remember this,at one time they only had 27 horns for
awhile and it was the finest,clearest and best sound
around.I remember hearing Denny Shannon mention about this drum corps from the east and their 27 horns,that's when I heard the name Blessed Sacrament.
I thought to myself that's hard to believe,until I
saw them for the first time,I couldn't believe what
I was hearing from 27 horns,every word Denny said was
true ana than some.

What did you do in the Corps? soprano and than french horn

What years were you a Corps member? 1957 through 1963

Well...... those 27 horns were ALL playing! And, they must have had great instruction on breath control, because they had VOLUME and control!

The same was true of St. Kevins and Holy Name (Garfield).

Gee, maybe all those Catholic corps had "special help"? After all, they all crossed themselves on the starting line!

What did you do in the Corps? member 1958-63, asst. instructor 1964-71

What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 63 drum line

Dave,

The "special help" that Sac had was brass arrangers/instructors who knew how to write for the bugles of the late 1950s-early 1960s. They also taught dynamics and breathing. There was no one else comparable to Sac and their sound in that time frame.

The Sac arrangements use all voices (soprano, baritone, french horn and bass). Most of the other corps from that time frame have the first sopranos play the lead and the other voices play WAA-WAAWAA-WAA-WAA as loud as possible,usually out of tune, and without any perceivable phasing (breath taken in just plain weird places in the music). Frankly, I really can't listen for very long to recordings of any of the other corps before 1963 because of the intonation problems (I guess I was fortunate that during my time in Norwood we didn't practice in small rooms so I still can hear).

I recently got a copy of a CD which includes 1960 Sac, Garfield and the Cavaliers plus 1959 St Kevin's--this is a CD produced from the "master" of the old Fleetwood record "Bugles Up." The St Kevin's, Cavaliers and Garfield bugles aren't close to Blessed Sacrament. I will say that St. Kevin's, like Sac, had some good french horn players and the arrangers made use of that voice. Fortunately something seems to have happened in the 1963 to 1965 time frame and the brass arrangements and "sound" for most corps tended to improve.

Although I'm not an "expert" on drum sections (in fact, for me an ideal corps is 64 horns and a bass drum), the Sac drummers from 1960 sound pretty good to me.

Re: brass lines. John Andersons comments are "right on". Blessed Sac had a great line.

Their drum line was oghf the same quaklity. They were "at the top" in the late 50's and early 60's, thanks to their instructor Bobby Thompson.