Chapter 6 parts played in units. To illustrate how serious the unison, and for competition had become, prizes for best g e g e d by Rick Beckham d the technological individual drummer included gold-tipped advancement of drum sticks, a set of dueling pistols, a safety v v n The rudiments and styles of n the instruments bike, a rocking chair and a set of silver loving n n i 3 i drum and bugle corps field i and implements of cups, none of which were cheap items. percussion may never have been i field music The growth of competitions continued a t a invented if not for the drum’s t competition. and, in 1885, the Connecticut Fifers and functional use in war. Drill moves i Martial music Drummers Association was established to i that armies developed -- such as m foster expansion and improvement. Annual m competition began t the phalanx (box), echelon and t less than a decade field day musters for this association h front -- were done to the beat of h following the Civil continue to this day and the individual snare the drum, which could carry up to War, birthed in and bass drum winners have been recorded e t e t m a quarter mile. m Less than 10 years after the p Civil War, fife and drum corps p u u w organized and held competitions. w These hard-fought comparisons r brought standardization and r o o m growth, to the point that, half a m century later, the technical and d d r arrangement achievements of the r o o “standstill” corps would shape the g l g drum and bugle corps percussion l c c foundation as they traded players , a and instructors. From this comes the , a f f t development of allowing all t h percussion instruments, no matter h the genre, into the pageantry that o o t n t is modern drum and bugle corps. n Mattatuck Dr(upmho Btoa nbdy ,M Jouely K2n9o, x1 9fr6o7m, othne t hceo loleccctaiosnio onf of the organization’)s. 200th The development of anniversary Drum Corps World r r field music competition e e the state of since its inception. s s i The first major development for i Connecticut. Sam Hawkins from the Mattatuck Corps i field percussion was the i The first was awarded first place snare drummer at the organization and explosion of written account of first Connecticut Fifers and Drummers field b b s m competitions. The desire to s m a competition is day held on August 2, 1885, in Wallington, i quantify the skills of field i 1872, in CT. E.R. Parry from the Sassacus Corps was musicians in order to find “the Wallingford, CT, 1 awarded first place bass drum. o o best” had the added unplanned e and the earliest To further illustrate the seriousness of e d benefit of setting the stage of field d reference to prizes these competitions, J. Burns Moore, who later h music progress, for the individual h occurred in 1876 became the first president of the National h h skills of the performers in their u when a silk Association of Rudimental Drummers, style development and training u banner made by became incensed after placing third in 1893 p techniques, for the skills of the p T r the Ladies of and bet $25 that he could outplay the two group pushing the envelope of T r Rockville was gentlemen selected as first and second. 4 r executing increasingly difficult r awarded for “best Connecticut would remain the nexus for drum corps.” 2 rudimental drumming competitions for o “Best drummer” almost a century, producing prodigal o awards were given drummers who would be largely responsible to representative for improving the drumming in the bugle individual snare corps. “The rudimental explosion did not m m and bass come in the drum and bugle corps. It began drummers in the standstill fife and drum corps in the selected from all 1930s,” according to Ken Mazur. 5 a a the competing Military music contests rapidly grew t t e e m m (Above) (photo by Moe Knox); (right) Connecti(cpuht oHtou rbriyc aMnoees ,K Anuogxu, sbto 2th7 ,p 1h9o6to7s from the collection of Chicago Royal Airs, August 24, 1966 Drum Corps World). 56 during the period between the Civil War church or other organization and World War I. As the bugle replaced would now be independently the fife as the instrument of choice in operated. the military, the number of drum and The influential son bugle corps increased. of Connecticut John Philip Sousa, who helped Earl Sturtze was born in popularize brass instrumental martial 1901 and began taking music starting in the 1880s, insisted on lessons from Carl Frolich, a strong rudimental technique before one Burns Moore student, when would even be considered for a position (photo by Moe Knox from the collection of ). he was 10 years old in as a percussionist in his band. 6 27th Lancers, 1980 Drum Corps World Hamden, CT, playing with the As Sanford Moeller later commented, requirements; a corps only had to be Fire Department Drum Corps organized by rudimental drummers were the only sponsored by an American Legion Post. his father. He set the standard for rudimental drummers who could play the difficult Dwindling membership within the VFW excellence. quicksteps. The growth of rudimental forced it to drop the senior competitions in Though he won many local and state drumming pervaded and dominated the 1964. The following year, Drum Corps individual titles and taught many winning percussion community. Associates was formed in Scranton, PA, as an drum lines, his biggest impact was as teacher. “In the professional field, drummers were independent organization dedicated to the He would teach more than 5,000 students in taking the drum rudiments seriously enough continuance of senior corps competitions. his lifetime. to argue about them where previous to 1918 The last VFW nationals for junior corps A list of some of Sturtze’s students is an they had been slighted.” 7 was held in Chicago, IL, in 1984. The impressive five decades of individual Drum and bugle corps continued their American Legion sponsored a senior and champions and winning drum instructors. growth following World War I. During this junior corps national championship until The list included Frank Arsenault, a period, several classifications of corps 1980 and then discontinued the contest for three-time national snare champion who later competed: fife and drum corps, drum and 17 years. In 1997, the AL once again began transformed Midwest drum lines into bugle corps and corps made up of fifes, bugles sponsoring a national competition, for senior national prominence; Bobby Redican, and drums. The fife and drum corps also corps only, and continues to this day in two-time national champion, winner of 45 divided into the Ancients -- those that played conjunction with the DCA Championships. contests and said by many, including Eric tempos at 110 -- and the Moderns, playing at During the latter part of the 1960s, several Perrillioux, to be the best rudimental 120 beats per minute. junior corps directors felt discontent at the drummer of all time; Hugh Quigley, two-time A state contest would normally consist of rigidity of the rules. People, some who never national senior AL snare champion and 100 units of the various categories, as well as marched drum corps within the VFW and AL six-time recipient of the Dan English Trophy, individual competitions on drumming, organizations, were deciding how the corps senior class division; Mike Stefanowicz, a bugling, fifing and baton twirling. would be judged. Corps staff felt the need to national champion who became a Ludwig expand the creative envelope; clinician and wrote many method books and to swing the pendulum from articles on style and technique; Ray Luedee, the militarily judged system who steered the Connecticut Hurricanes where execution, inspection senior corps drum line into winning the and precision marching were American Legion national contest and taking the deciding factors, toward top drums at DCA four years; and Gary one that allowed more Pagnozzi, three-time winner of the VFW creativity and expression. snare individuals, junior division. In 1971, the Combine, a As for the accomplishments of his group of corps directors students, consider this legacy. It is said by determined to control the many that Arsenault’s move to the Midwest is direction of the junior drum the biggest reason for the spread of quality corps activity, was formed and, rudimental drumming to the rest of the nation. Arsenault taught Mitch Markovich, (Cphhioctaog ob yC Mavoael ieKrnso, xA ufrgoums tt h2e7 ,c 1o9lle6c7t,i oant Aomf erican Legion Nati)o. nals in Boston, MA three-time Drum Corps World national VFW Competitions continued to flourish and, in 1972, the junior snare by 1921, the American Legion held a national Combine champion competition for senior corps in Kansas City, became from MO, during their convention. The Veterans Drum Corps 1961-1963 of Foreign Wars followed suit, holding its first International. who went on national contest in 1928 at Indianapolis, IN. With the to teach the Junior corps were added to the VFW creation of two-time National competitions in 1936 and to the AL independent national (photo by Moe Knox from the collection Nationals in 1937. There were very few drum corps oBfl essed Sacrament G)o. lden Knights, June 3, 1962 champion differences between the AL and VFW rules, organizations Drum Corps World Chicago but for membership, the AL required that -- DCA for the seniors and DCI for the juniors Royal Airs (1965-1966), a corps that stunned marchers have served in the military, while -- the bonding that existed between the two many with an incredible display of VFW members had to have served on in the VFW and AL days would dissolve.