Will Mother Nature co-operate for Easter Parade?

http://www.towncrieronline.ca/main/main.php?direction=viewstory&storyid=2044&rootcatid=&rootsubcatid=

The bands lined up include the Toronto Signals Band.

"The best darn drum and bugle band in the City. They're smart looking , they have bright uniforms and spirited music," said Ferguson said.

I think the Second Sigs are the only drum corps in Toronto. All you Ambassadors alumni know that the Second Signals were the origin of the original Marching Ambassadors after which the Newmarket/Aurora Ambassadors were named don't you?

I appear to have won the battle of the italic tags. Who knew you had to close each one?

Apparently the Burlington Teen Tour Band is a drum Corps now...

Members of Ontario drum corps liked film Drumline but it's not their style

Canadian Press

Monday, April 14, 2003
TORONTO (CP) - Members of the award-winning Burlington, Ont., Teen Tour Band loved the film Drumline, but the "smoky" music and flashy showmanship shown in the movie is just not their style, says band leader Rob Bennett.


http://www.canada.com/ottawa/story.asp?id=068A22C1-F347-4D19-B496-52304913770C

Drum Corps World is trying to complete their archives. You might be able to help them out and clean out your basement at the same time:

Old drum corps publications sought

Drum Corps World has an extensive collection of historical drum and bugle corps publications that have been published over the last 50-plus years. We are missing a few issues of the following newspapers and magazines. We are asking fans visiting our Web site and who subscribe to our newspaper if they have any of these editions and would be willing to help us complete the files by sending them to us.

On a number of occasions, individuals from corps have come to our office in Madison, WI, to research their organization's history. We also used the issues for research in preparing "A History of Drum & Bugle Corps, Volume 1." That is why we maintain the collection. Anyone is welcomed to use our archives at any time.

http://www.drumcorpsworld.com/articles.cfm?id=188

Found it! It was on the Drum Corps World site

Bleah. It's pretty bad:

Beginning in 2004, amplification of pit instruments and the human voice will be allowed in Drum Corps International shows. The proposal, presented by Youth Education in the Arts director George Hopkins, passed by a 12-8 vote at last weekend's board of director's meeting held in Orlando, FL.

Also beginning in the 2004 season, division II and III corps will have a new minimum show length of eight minutes and 30 seconds. This will allow the corps to spend more time working on segments of the show and should increase the quality of the performances. The proposal passed unanimously, as did a boundary violation clarification. This clarification, which will be effective for the 2003 season, states that performers may stage or drop equipment over the boundary line but may not perform there.

http://www.drumcorpsworld.com/articles.cfm?ID=212

That's not the same as making it a marching band but it sure sounds more like a stage show than a Drum & Bugle Corps. I guess "Blast!" had an affect. Does this mean that Celine Dion is a drum corps now?

Sam

I can't find anything to substatiate this rather wild rumour, which I admit I received third hand. I had a look 'round RAMD but I couldn't find any discussion of it there, (not that this is a reliable source). Perhaps it's old news.

Here is a link to a discussion by Dave Gibbs (my old M&M instructor!) of the Blue Devils of the B-flat instrumentation rule change from 1999 for those old farts like me who haven't been keeping up: http://www.bluedevils.org/about/press/multikey.asp

I'll keep looking...

Sam