If you were at Memorial Hall in Plymouth last November 23rd, the answer to the titled question would be a resounding, “YES!”
It was a great indoor show featuring the Alumni Corps of Revere, Mighty St. Joe’s of Batavia, NY, the Hawthorne Caballeros, Racine Kilties, and the formally attired Crusaders Senior Corps with undoubtedly the top drumline of the night, under the direction of the ageless Al “Cisco” Colleameno.
Last time, we explained that because the fifers and drummers were the signalmen of their day, they had to be at once identifiable to the commanders. Because of this, they were uniformed in the reverse colors of the infantry. But this was not the only reason for that. Very often the martial musicians of our Revolutionary War were young boys, and in any case, non-combatants. Generals of that era were members of the aristocracy, and although men still got stabbed with bayonets and had their heads blown off by artillery shells, war was a much more gentlemanly affair in those times. As strategically advantageous as it would have been, it was considered very bad form to shoot a musician (By the way, it still is!).
As drummers, early in our training, we learned that the drum was not able to sustain a tone like the non-percussive instruments or the human voice. The drummer’s tool for sustaining a tone was the roll. In drum and bugle corps, circa 1945-1980, we marched at about MM=128. A one count roll was a 5 stroke, two counts was a 9 stroke, and a three count was a 17 stroke roll. (Beyond that, a four count roll was known as a four count roll, etc.)
Colonial soldiers walked everywhere. Many of the soldiers at Yorktown, Virginia in the final battle had walked there from New England and other distant places. They marched at MM=92 if the commander was in no great hurry. In fact, this tempo, at that time was called a quickmarch! It was a dignified pace and made twelve hour forced marches possible day after day.
Well, guess what – a 5, 9, or 17 stroke roll at that tempo does not sound like a roll! That is why colonial drumming uses different count rolls. In colonial drumming, the one count roll is the 7 stroke, the two count is the 11 stroke, and the three count is the 19 stroke roll. Those two extra strokes squeezed in create a roll sound as opposed to a more staccato sound you would hear if you played a 5, 9, or 17 stroke roll at that tempo.
In drum and bugle corps, the sixteenth note was the foundation, subdivisionally speaking, of the roll in a duple meter and the eighth note in tertiary meter. A diddle is a double stroke played by the same hand. By diddling the sixteenth note in duple, or the eighth note in tertiary meter, we not only got the roll, but a good, solid, easy to hear subdivision that allowed us to pulsate the roll in time and play the interior diddles together.
To any of you, who like me, thought that because colonial drumming is played slower and is not as flashy as drum and bugle corps drumming, it isn’t as hip, check this out. In colonial drumming, the subdivision for the 7 stroke roll is a sixteenth note triplet, the subdivision for the 11 stroke roll is an artificial grouping of 5 (a quintuplet). For the 19 stroke roll, the subdivision is an artificial grouping of 9 – spread evenly over two counts.
You have all probably heard that on the evening of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere, William Dawes, et al. rode the Massachusetts countryside throughout Middlesex County spreading the alarm by yelling that “The British were coming!” This is comical. Americans of that time considered themselves British. What Revere, Dawes, et al. were yelling was that “The Regulars were out!” This meant that the regular British army, sailed from England and encamped in Boston, were on the march and headed this way. To yell that “the British were coming” would have been totally meaningless to the colonial farmer of 1775. The typical response to such a cry would most probably have been, “What does that mean?”
So our drumming was originally of British origin. Then along came a Prussian named Baron Von Steuben whom George Washington promptly appointed to the position of First National Drill Instructor. After Benedict Arnold spurred the Americans to a victory at Saratoga, New York, the French, who had been interacting with the Swiss, and when they were not at war with them, the Germanic states, said, “Hey, maybe these Americans can beat the British after all,” and entered the war on our side. American drumming became at once what the country was becoming – a melting pot.
As the American culture would do in the years to come, American drumming assimilated the best of the British, German, Swiss. and French styles.
American Martial Music would evolve over the centuries. The War of 1812 saw the introduction of the bass drum. The bugle was introduced around the time of the Mexican War. The Civil War saw the first multi-instrument bands, forerunners of the American Marching Band. In the late 1800s, John Philip Sousa raised the marching band to prominence in the American military, and by his many public tours and concerts, in the American culture.
Drumming, though it evolved some as a skill, remained largely unchanged until the 1960s. If you don’t think this is so, take any drum and bugle corps snare drum part played prior to 1960, substitute 7s for 5’s 11s for 9s, 19s for 17s, play it at MM=92.
Whistle “Yankee Doodle” as you play – Tricorn is optional.
To be continued…
We all know that the marching activity has been a valuable means of getting young (and not so young) people off the streets… and into the parking lots. Here are a few tidbits of parking lot history:
In this debate on the state of drum corps today, one corps – Star of Indiana – has been a flashpoint. To many, Star is the strongest example of what ails the activity. They look at the corps’ progressive programming and financially firm footing and think that this somehow will bring drum corps to ruin.
That’s ridiculous!
When my good friend, Rick Connor, called and asked if I would contribute an article for his new publication, Masters of the Marching Arts, (actually, he said, “aahticle” and “maahching aahts,” but I lived in Boston for many years and learned the language, so I knew what he meant), I responded the only way I could ….”No!”
On Saturday evening, August 31, 1996, Mr. Al Saia was inducted into The World Drum Corps Hall of Fame, founded in 1976. This is a most prestigious honor, as Al joins fellow New England corpsmen Scotty Chapell, Dom Bianculli, Earl Sturtze, Vinnie Ratford, Pepe Notaro, Alan Smyth, Tom Long, Darcy Davis, Dominic Del Ra, Joe McNaught, Ray Samora, Jack Whelan, Duke Ducharme, Ed Trainer, Cliff Fisher, Jim Pinette, Gerry Shellmer, and Gil Silva.
Al’s drum corps career had its start with the Sacred Heart Crusaders of Malden in 1937 and a life-long relationship began with Arthur “Scotty” Chappell, and the corps’ spiritual director, Father Sheehan. He started out in the horn line, but early on the powers-to-be spotted something special and he was promoted to drum major.
(more…)
To hear some say it, there isn’t a lot that’s right with drum corps in 1996. But while some would want to bring us back to the days of valve-rotor bugles, company front opening sets, and every other corps playing “National Emblem,” the fact is that there is more right than wrong with drum corps today.
It’s easy to fixate on the old days, in which (it seems) every local community had a corps and, of course, almost every corps was wonderful. The old days, however, weren’t necessarily better. They were just different.
As I grow older, I am truly amazed that I continue to learn a great deal – a fact that is astonishing considering that I was quite certain that I knew it all some 35 years ago. One of these revelations is that almost nothing is what it is for no reason. If you trace anything backwards in time, there is almost always a person or an event that starts, alters, or puts something on a path where permanence is established. Although we are told that drumming is as old as man, the adoption of the drum by the military is one of those momentous events.
The national drum corps scene had a decided New England flair this past season in that several participants in several top corps have Massachusetts roots.
Amy Grelle, daughter of Frank and Elaine Grelle, is a 20-year-old Senior at Merrimac College, majoring in psychology, and she is a National Champion, having captured the title this past season while marching with the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps, who tied the Blue Devils in Orlando at the D.C.I. World Games.
Gerry wasn’t like the other drummers and instructors. Hell, he wasn’t like anyone you ever met before, a unique, creative, intense and driven genius. He now resides in Wilmington, Delaware and his current passion is sailing. He screams at the waves, the seagulls, the sails, the sun, and anything else that amuses him.
New England has had more than its share of innovators going back to Chappell in the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s and too many others to mention here, but along with Chappell and George Zingali, the visual giant, Gerry Shellmer changed the face of marching percussion for all time.
(more…)
However checkered its history in winning championships may be, Massachusetts has traditionally featured many national contenders. From the late 1950s to the mid 1980s, this state had a formidable national presence that resulted in intense – often bitter – local rivalries.
In the 1950s, the nationally contending corps were I.C. Queensmen, Salem P.L.A.V., St. Thomas More, the Holy Trinity Cadets, Most Precious Blood Crusaders, and the Braintree Warriors, with Cambridge Caballeros, St. Kevin’s, Majestic Knights, and St. Rose Scarlet Lancers just reaching national maturity. (more…)
Dear Aunt Mildred,
You’re probably wondering why I sent this letter to you care of Masters of the Marching Arts. I happen to be a personal friend of your nephew, R.C., and he gave me the inside track on this new gig of yours and told me that you don’t get paid if there are no letters in an issue. Whereas this is the first issue, how could you be expected to have letters? He sure is one smart dude.
Anyway, my question is this: What is the story on the 27th Lancer Alumni Corps? I think they’re the greatest! I was a little disappointed this year to see them at the Lynn and Beverly shows and then to find out later that there was some kind of a rift – the drummers were mad at the buglers or vice versa? What gives?
Sincerely,
Brownie