Drum Corps Vets

[nativepdx]

Would like to hear from any Drum Corps Vets on this forum..

Corps, years marched, instrument

what chance does Rolands RMP-12 have of making it into the top-12


my own...
Royal Lancers Junior Drum and Bugle Corps Portland, OR
1971-1974
Tenor, Tympani, tri-tom


thanks
native PDX

[Grazza]

Not so much Drum Corps but full-blown military staff band - The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (now Logistics Corps) from 1976 - 79 (even still remember my number!). Quite a lot of marching stuff, including beating retreat, massed bands, you name it, we played it. Around 60% of our workload was concert work though, with a huge variety of music from standards to cutting edge chart and film arrangements.
There were two percussionists - English military bands have a very traditional set-up, so I played snare on the march with the other guy and we coerced the oboist onto cymbals and the sax player onto bass drum - NOBODY wants to play that on a wet and windy day: absolutely knackering after 10 minutes!

For the life of me, the point of the Roland marching stuff escapes me I'm afraid.

[corpkid]

Marched Cadets (of Bergen County) from 93-94. DCI champions in '93 baby!)

Played quads in 93 and did pit in 94 for West Side Story. Oh how I miss those bus trips LOL (NOT!) It was a very "formative" experience.

[stickinthemud]

I don't think you could call my experience "Drum Corps". Jr. High and High School marching band drum lines. Snare and Tenor. Escaped the Bass Drum and Cymbals for the most part. This was back when everyone still marched in geometric formations, and there was no such thing as a pit.

Why edrums for marching band or drum corps?

My kids were in marching band and things are very different now. The percussion pit is huge, and performances include vocals and instruments like electric guitar. I could see an e-drum replacing a lot of the things in the pit, and allow for radically different voices throughout a performance. Personally, I have grown tired of the current fashion of tuning - it sounds to me like a 22 caliber pistol shot rather than a snare drum. Also, edrums would make it feasible to introduce voices of more exotic instruments that either would never have the volume necessary to carry to the stands or would be too expensive to buy, expecially for a one-time-use situation. For many of the same reasons they are such a boon to kit drummers.

Seems to me the real bug-a-boo would be amplification. While in most situations, a band already has a PA to plug the drums into, or separate amplification is reasonably affordable, amping drums for a stadium performance is another thing entirely. It seems to me the wattage requirements would be staggering. Do you point speakers to both sides of the stadium, doubling the cost? Using the PA speakers at the stadium is a non-starter, IMO.

How about it? Anyone here use edrums in an outdoor performance? How's that working out for you?

[Fullback32]

Edrums for marching band? I don't see how that could possibly work. Ok, they would have to be wireless, but if they are they only instruments amplified over a stadium PA, it wouldn't mix well with the rest of the band. The drums would be in the stands and the rest of the band on the field. I just can't see that ever working. Doesn't make sense to me. Now granted, I was never in marching band; I played football, so maybe I'm missing something. I did play percussion in concert band and maybe you could use edrums in that environment (although it still doesn't make sense to me), but not in marching band.

[craigy66]

Marched in and instructed the Sky Ryders and Blue Knights (1970 - 1990). DCI percussion caption judge from 1990 - 2000.

[V(ader)DRUMMER]

tri-tom

I hated carrying those damned things around.

I lacked the funds and the chops to march DCI, but I marched toms and snare line back in school (traveled from the U.S. to tour Australia and New Zealand - performed at Expo '88 in Brisbane; consecutive state finalists, Governor's Cup winner, etc.).

I camped with the Blue Devils one year and enjoyed a nice big slice of humble pie. Had buddies in Velvet Knights, Sky Ryders, Suncoast Sound, Santa Clara Vanguard and Madison Scouts (but I cheered for Phantom Regiment the whole time).

I still get excited when I hear a drumline warming up in the distance.

[3Cup Candy]

Seems to me the real bug-a-boo would be amplification. While in most situations, a band already has a PA to plug the drums into, or separate amplification is reasonably affordable, amping drums for a stadium performance is another thing entirely. It seems to me the wattage requirements would be staggering. Do you point speakers to both sides of the stadium, doubling the cost? Using the PA speakers at the stadium is a non-starter, IMO.

I just love watching and hearing drum and bugle corps play. I had friends that played in them and tried to go to their competitions or other performances all through high school and college, and try to catch the Florida Brass (a sorta unique alumni group) Drum and Bugle Corps when possible every time I visit my mom.

That said, what just puts chills up my spine and makes the full effect of drum and bugle corps are the sounds echoing, changing direction, changing volume, and all the other things that you associate with that. Especially in a stadium.

From what I understand, the choreography is designed or at least considered to take advantage of how many of the sounds are projected at any given time for a certain effect to the audience (wherever in the stadium) and with a lot of thought of how it hits the JUDGES.

If the drums were edrums, the sounds of the drums and the sounds of the brass would be coming from and going different places and directions, and there'd maybe be time lags and uneven echos that disrupt the music. I'd think that those sounds' final projection point and other things would be changed so much that it would probably ruin the performance's effects?