Bill Schaefer recently posted an interesting comment in another thread about watching other corps as a corps member:

Last summer, at a show, I got talking with a young man who marched with Phantom the year before. I asked him what he thought of the other corps in '06. He said that the first he saw of them was on the post-season DVD, that DCI produces. He said that none of them ever saw another corps. He said he couldn't believe "Machine," by The Cavaliers, when he saw it on DVD, but that he had never seen it, in person. Isn't that pretty sad!

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That reminds me of all the times that we watched the performances of other corps. Sometimes, as they were on the field before us! Sometimes, after we had performed, we watched them. Sometimes, we saw their practices when we were at the same high school field.

But, we got to know the field shows of all the other corps. At least, those which we saw locally.

What did you do in the Corps? drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63

I think corps spent more time together in the old days. You would generally have a parade in the afternoon, then the show at night, and several (if not all) of the corps were staying at the same school. You weren't always worried about packing up and moving as part of a tour - you carried one little "ditty bag" with your bucks and a clean t-shirt, and that was about it. So you really only had to worry about your performance, and after that, you were free to watch other corps.

What did you do in the Corps? Snare, Drum Major, Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

Bob is right. We used to "hang out" at the high school, or go into town for lunch. Often with other corps people around or with us.

Could watch their practices at the high school. Get to know some people.

Of course, we also watched their performances at the contests. Sometimes from the "starting line" while they performed .. sometimes from the sidelines or backfield after we had performed.

One of my best memories of the Madison Scouts is from the starting line at a show in Wisconsin about 1960 (I think it was Racine) when they played "You'll Never Walk Alone". Seeing and hearing that from the starting line was amazing.

What did you do in the Corps? drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958- 63

I always enjoyed watching the other corps. It showed us how good the competition was and gave us more reason to work harder. I also enjoyed going out to where corps were staying and watching them rehearse when we had free time. I remember being with about 25 other Kilts watching Anaheim practice when they were in Racine for the show and stayed an extra day. We essentially went to see if they were really that good, but ended up staying to late in the evening talking and having a good time with them. They were great people and good friends. There was a mutual respect between the corps. That scenario happened between us and quite a few corps (Santa Clara, Troopers, Madison, 27th Lancers, Bridgemen, and many more). I think we probably practiced less than the corps do these days, but we made a whole lot more friends and had a great time.

What did you do in the Corps? Brass Instructor, Corps Manager

We practiced MUCH less than today's corps in the summer, but we also practiced once or twice a week during the winter, which doesn't happen anymore.

I did drum corps both ways. Touring all summer in 1980 was fun, but I think partly because it was my final year. I think doing weekend shows and touring only at the end of the summer (like I did my other 10 years) was more enjoyable. I don't think we felt as much pressure in the earlier days. And we made more friends, because we saw each other all year. Many members went to school together as well (Joliet was considered far away from Skokie or Park Ridge in those days, so I didn't have that experience). But I'm STILL friends with people I marched with, and I'm not sure that happens as much these days. I think we had more FUN, even if we weren't nearly as musically or visually "perfect" as corps are today.

What did you do in the Corps? Snare; Drum Major; Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

Dave,

I had the chance to experience all three travel modes when I was in Drum Corps. When I first started out with the Royal Lancers in Michigan we were strictly regional and pretty much stayed in the state or Canada because the corps was running on a slim budget and there was roughly 40 corps in Michigan and the Canadian border corps to compete with. It was fun but we didn't travel extensively. I think the longest trips we took was to Toronto or Marion, Ohio for US Open. We did very few out of the area gigs.

In Kilts, we traveled but not like the DCI touring of today. The most we would be gone would be a week to ten days at a time, either out east for World Open and CYO, Shriners etc, out west to the Troopers show and Drums Along The Rockies or the Nationals Trip to wherever Nationals happened to be that year. It was a non-stressful tour schedule. I liked this tour schedule the most because we could still have a life and sleep in our own beds most of the summer, instead of a hard gym floor.

Then I did the extended tours down south, east, out west etc, with Guardsmen. It was tough on the kids, staff and all those associated with the corps back then. It seemed like we would play a show, jump on the busses and travel 400 miles to the next show. Very little of our schedule was regional and those shows were early in the year. I like this form of touring the least out of all my experiences.

The thing that I liked the most was the opportunity to meet many of the members of the corps that we competed against and make some lasting friendships. I don't believe that the kids today have that opportunity as much as we did.

What did you do in the Corps? Brass Instructor, Corps Manager