Norwood Park Imperials Alumni Forum
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From time to time, our alumni post references to "real drum corps", especially when comparing drum corps from the 60s and 70s to that being seen now in DCI. 
Found the following "Ode to Real Drum Corps" on the website for the Blue Rock drum corps. It is a hoot .... 
ODE TO REAL DRUM CORPS
I think that I shall never see,
A drum corps as it used to be.
Where fun and spirit filled the stands,
Instead of DCI marching bands.
When lines were straightened by design,
Else you found a foot in your behind.
And symmetry revealed the skill.
Of poor kids with naught but will.
When heads and bodies marched as one
Instead of playing on the run.
When competition wouldn't yield,
You kicked their asses OFF the field.
We had practice; they "rehearse";
We got better; they get worse.
Country & flag: not to despise;
Close order drill, NOT jazzercise.
Flamaques and pada-flafla's
Military bearing; not tights with no bras.
Bugles in the key of G
Not saxophones nor calliope.
Not semi-vans, just an old bread truck -
And we could tell our foes, "YOU SUCK!"
When judges ticked to seal your fate,
Not conductors who "adjudicate."
American flag, and proper guards!
Not sidelines looking like junk yards.
Drums rest on legs, like times of old.
And drum majors didn't need a scaffold.
A little effort to raise the knee
Was worth the crowds that came to see
and shout and holler with a beer -
But now, "Be quiet, so we can hear!"
Stadiums are not symphony halls,
And "forte" notes do not have balls!
B-flat major? Gimme a break!
"Blow in plumbing, music make!"
Start on the left; end on the right -
Blow your brains out with all your might!
Athletic "sport?" - no freakin' way -
That's why baseball's here to stay.
And so, my friend, you understand
Why drum corps are nothing more than bands
That take the best and then corrupt it.
So join an alumni corps and just say "f____ it."
Author Unknown
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What did you do in the Corps? drummer; later- quartermaster 1964-66; asst. drum instr. 1964-70
What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63
While we can identify with the original "ODE", here is a slightly different perspective from a friend who marched in 1960s drum corps and also with the RARC in 2002. I think you'll enjoy it....
REAL DRUM CORPS - ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE
9-5-2011
First, a story from a RARC member:
Several weeks after DCI in 2002, I was at work and talking with the mother of a patient. Somehow we got on the subject of Madison and she said she had just been there for DCI. I asked if she had been at semi-finals and saw RA and she had and enjoyed it.
Well, her dad had been there too and had marched in the '40s in drum corps. In fact, he was sitting in the lounge and she wanted me to go talk with him. So away I went, very full of myself because here was a 70-something year old man and I am just betting the RA had given him the thrill of his life.
WELL, WRONG! When I started talking to him about seeing the real way drum corps should have been, like back in the perfect time of the 50s and 60s, he looked at me like I was crazy! He said we knew nothing of REAL drum corps with TRUE MILITARY MARCHING and REAL INSPECTION! We were the ones who started ruining the whole thing!
Wow, I never looked at it that way before. I thought when I had marched, drum corps was at its peak of greatness. His comments gave me a whole new perspective on what we did. Truman Crawford was a traitor to old drum corps and he moved us along the path to ruination!
The truth is: EVERY drum corps generation feels that way about THEIR era … and that the new drum corps isn’t “real” drum corps.
SO, just what IS drum corps??
Drum Corps is passion, sweat, tears, triumph, defeat, hard work, laughter, disappointment, friendship, life lessons, music, and much, much more.
. Drum corps chews you up and then spits you out onto the field to do it "one more time and get it right".
. It puts you into situations that you never dreamed of and you think you will never survive and not only do you survive but you thrive and grow.
. It gives you the ability to face anything that comes your way in the rest of your life because you did drum corps and you can pull out that last reserve you didn't even know you had and face whatever is out there.
. Drum corps gives you the chance to learn what true passion is for
something you love. How you cannot wait for the weekend to go to camp or practice and see all those people again, even some you absolutely hate but learn to work with to put the show on the field.
. Drum corps gives you friends for life, who have seen you when you aren’t at your best, but are still your friends anyway.
There is no other feeling like standing on the field in those moments before you start your show, whether it is on a starting line or in the middle of the field, and are ready to enter that magic world of the drill and the music and the passion one more time.
So, do not talk of how much better we were …. as it is not the field programs, the drill, bugles, drums and dancing or even an American Flag section that makes it drum corps. It is you and me and those who went before us and our sons and daughters and those who come after us that make it drum corps.
Drum corps is a living thing, an activity that evolves like everything else. I am proud of what my part was in drum corps in the 60s and 2000s. I am also proud of being a traveler with a corps and sewing, nursing and working the cook truck. I loved every minute of it - even when I questioned some of the crazy stuff I saw.
Drum Corps is US! 
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What did you do in the Corps? drummer; later- quartermaster 1964-66; asst. drum instr. 1964-70
What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63
Note that Steve Vickers published Joanne's story about drum corps in the latest (on-line) issue of Drum Corps World!! 
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What did you do in the Corps? drummer; later- quartermaster 1964-66; asst. drum instr. 1964-70
What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63
