DRUM CORPS QUOTES

By Jerry Dreva
DCN Aug. 29, 1962

Congratulations to the Cavaliers on their victory at Nationals and to all the corps that survived the morning competition to make finals.

This year saw one of the finest arrays of top-notch drum corps competing for the coveted national title. Many really fine corps were eliminated by only a few points in prelims. Corps such as St. Joseph's, the Purple Knights, Phantom Regiment, St. Raphael's, and the Vanguard showed that they will be the corps that will have to be beaten in the years to come.

To those who did make the finals, it can only be said that they are today's cream of the drum corps world. In the night show, we saw the veterans of national competitions - the Cavaliers, Garfield, Blessed Sacrament - and we also saw the newcomers - Racine Scouts and Beverly Cardinals. To all of us who saw these twelve corps put forth their very best efforts, I can only say it was a show that will not be soon forgotten.

Commenting briefly on the evening show, the RACINE SCOUTS were obviously a victim of circumstance. A six point tabulation error in the prelims had them thinking they had not made finals. It was only an hour and a half before the contest that they were notified they were to go on first. When they did get on the field, they appeared to have a bad case of the jitters; and the show they put on was far from their best. The crowd loved their "Sweet Georgia Brown" and also their too-short concert of "Maria." Congratulations are due to Color Captain Gary Pauly and his guard for taking third in the tough guard competition.

The ST. MARY'S CARDINALS had, without a doubt, the most beautiful drill of the night. Wide open throughout, I doubt if there was an inch of field not covered by them. Music-wise their show was weak, mainly due to a rather unappealing repertoire. Best song was their opener of "King of Kings". They used a very large color guard that worked very well with the corps. Their assistant drum major, marching his first contest in that spot, did a very nice job. Their horn line of 42 was the largest of the night, and I think they had about the youngest corps present. You can expects big things from the CARDINALS in the future.

The BLACK KNIGHTS lost quite a bit when they cut their horn line from 39 to 27. Their music lacked power and in "Serenata" the inner parts weren't coming through at all. As always, they featured a very smooth marching style; and their strutting DM held the crowd's attention. The bugles demonstrated great dynamics and volume control in their concert of "Sherwood Forest."