The Birth of The Pit
by Tom Scheffler
Tracing the Evolution of Melodic Percussion in Drum Corps, from the introduction of marching timpani in the 1960s to the establishment of the front ensemble in the 1980s.
As the Drum and Bugle Corps activity grew through the 1940s and 1950s, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion emerged as the most prominent organizations governing drum corps, setting strict rules for their competitions. These rules restricted the instruments that were allowed on the competition field. Drumlines had a few snare drums and one bass drum at first, but as drum corps grew in size, cymbals and single tenor drums were added, along with more snares and bass drums. All of these instruments had to be carried at all times, with drums strapped to the drummer’s body with slings.
The VFW and American Legion were determined to keep drum corps rooted in its traditional military past, but over the years, after persistent lobbying from corps directors, the governing organizations gradually allowed rules changes that increased the musicality of drum corps. Valves were added to bugles to enable hornlines to play a wider variety of music. Multi-Tenor drums were added to drumlines. Eventually corps were allowed to play a few minutes of music while standing still, without needing to march the entire time. A new standstill portion of a corps’ repertoire became known as the “concert” number. But this was strictly limited in duration by a rule known as “Stop Time.” A drum corps performance needed to be between 11:30 to 13 minutes long, and the corps needed to be marching for a minimum of 8 of those minutes. The “Timing and Penalty” judge kept track of the timings with multiple stop watches. If any corps member stopped marching, stop time would begin to accrue. A corps would get penalized if they were marching less than 8 minutes during their show.
Marching Timpani
During the early 1960s, a few daring drum corps would occasionally experiment with using unapproved “illegal” instruments while performing in exhibitions and competitions that were not subject to the strict rules of the VFW or American Legion. There was no universal set of rules for drum corps, and the VFW and American Legion had different rules. In the mid 1960s a few corps used timpani, vibraphones and bells in a few shows, but they had to put them away when competing in contests where those instruments were considered “illegal.”
In 1968, VFW and American Legion rules changes legalized marching timpani. This added a whole new sound to the drumlines that were daring enough to try it, including the Des Plaines Vanguard and the Boston Crusaders.
The Ludwig Drum Company, a major manufacturer of copper pedal timpani for symphony orchestras, also made inexpensive fiberglass timpani for school concert bands. These timpani used a hand crank tuning mechanism instead of a pedal, which made them relatively light weight. (About the same weight as a 21st century set of multi-tenor drums)
Adventurous drum corps percussion staff found that these fiberglass timpani could be strapped to a player’s body using snare drum slings.
Timpani Tuning Guage
To enable these new drum corps timpani players to make timpani tuning changes in the middle of a show, the percussion staff soon began installing Ludwig timpani tuning guages. These tuning guages were drumhead pressure sensors mounted just below the rim of the drum. As a timpani player cranked a drum from the lowest note to the highest note, a spring-loaded mechanism made a needle point higher or lower as the drumhead got tighter or looser. Before each show, a corps staff member would calibrate each tuning guage by tuning each timp to every pitch needed, one at a time, and mark the precise spot on the guage where the needle was pointing for each note. During a performance, a timpani player would crank his timpani until the needle on his tuning guage reached the required pitch. Tuning guages enabled timpani players to make very fast tuning changes during a show. One player could be playing a note while another player was tuning his drum to a new pitch.
Brass instructor Jay Knebel calibrating a tuning guage for timpanist Tommy Ross. 1974 Bleu Raeders
In 1969, several more corps added marching timpani to their drumlines, including the VFW champion Racine Kilties. In 1970, nearly every drum corps featured marching timpani. Some drumlines added timpani melodies to their traditional rudimental drumming showcase, known as the “Drum Solo” portion of the show. “Good Night Ladies,” and “Pop Goes the Weasel” are some of my favorite tunes from the golden age of marching timpani, melodies that could be played on four timpani. The best marching timpani lines played very intricate parts, similar to a bass drum line, but with a lot of tuning changes between notes. It took four players to play all those notes, and some players would be retuning while someone else was playing. A few corps expanded their timpani line to five players to add more notes to their range.
The players had to march on and off the field with their timpani, but they didn’t have to carry them the entire time. The rules allowed marching timpani to be set down on their legs in the middle of the show, but doing so would incur stop time. Drum corps staff soon developed three different ways to play timpani during the standstill “Concert” portion of the show:
Santa Clara Vanguard
1) Don’t set the timps down. Keep them strapped on all though the concert number, with each player playing his own timpani, just as they did while marching. They didn’t even need to put legs on the timpani, saving a few pounds of weight. The Santa Clara Vanguard used this “legless” method from 1969 all the way through the 1970s to their last marching timpani line in 1980. Santa Clara only put legs on their timpani for drumline sectional rehearsals.
Madison Scouts
2) Set the timps down on their legs, but have each player continue to play his own timpani. The players get a break from carrying the timpani, but nothing else changes.
Blue Devils
3) Set the timps in a semi-circle and have one player play all of the timpani, like a timpanist in an orchestra. This was the most popular method of playing timpani during “concert.” The Blue Devils did this, along with many other corps. The other timpani players could play other small percussion instruments, but as soon as “concert” was over, they needed to strap the timps back on and get ready to start marching again.
The DCI Era Begins
Drum Corps International was founded in the fall of 1971 by a group of corps directors who wanted to start running the drum corps activity, tired of being limited to what the VFW and American Legion would allow them to do. For their first season in 1972, DCI kept most of the VFW rules, but they ended the dreaded inspections, where a drum corps could get penalized for every wrinkle in a pair of pants, and every lock of hair touching a collar.
In 1972 DCI kept the traditional “starting line.” Drum corps began their shows lined up in the left end zone and marched across the field during the show. At the end of their show, the corps exited through the right end zone. (From the audience perspective)
End Zone Entry
DCI enacted a few minor rules changes for the 1973 season, notably the addition of the Musical Analysis caption to give more credit to the hornlines playing the most difficult music. A new starting line was also created. Corps could still enter the field from the left end zone, and they could also have some of their members start from the left half of the rear sideline. This “corner entry” was used by most corps in 1973. The colorguard could start the show already on the field, but the members playing an instrument still had to start behind the starting line.
Corner Entry
After the 1973 season, DCI held its Rules Congress, and more rules changes were adopted for the 1974 season. The starting line was changed again. Corps could still enter through the end zone, or the back corner as in 1973, or they could enter the field from anywhere along the back sideline. Corps could now start marching forward right away, instead of having to march from the end zone to the middle of the field first.
Back Sideline Entry
Mallet keyboard instruments were legalized in 1974, a maximum of two per corps, but they had to be carried at all times. Many corps fielded a xylophone player and a bells (glockenspeil) player. Several 1974 corps played a chimes feature, sometimes played by drummers who had a chime strapped to their back for most of the show. The Kingmen’s show included a chimes solo, played by the xylophone player who had two chimes mounted on his xylophone harness. These chimes had to be carried though the whole show and could not be set down.
The addition of mallet instruments began a trend of percussion features built around xylophone melodies. Marching timpani mostly played background parts, giving up their role of playing the melody. Xylophones could play a lot more notes and complex melodies.
27 Lancers, Bells and Chimes, 1975
In 1975, the 27th Lancers became the first corps to include a full time chimes player, who marched around carrying a set of eight chimes mounted on a rack. A number of corps began playing a marching vibraphone instead of xylophone, and every corps was fielding at least one mallet player, even the Phantom Regiment and Garfield Cadets, who hadn’t used any mallet players in 1974. Most corps had two players on mallets, one bells player and one player on xylophone or vibraphone.
At the DCI Rules Congress, the only major rule change for 1976 involved the gradual phase-in of two valve bugles that would begin in the 1977 season. But there were some subtle rules adjustments that would affect marching percussionists in 1976. All percussion instruments still had to be carried onto the field. But instruments could now be set down onto the ground temporarily without incurring stop time, as long as they were carried off the field by the end of the show. This enabled the Cavaliers cymbals players to set down their cymbals and play the chimes they had strapped to their back the whole show. And it allowed the Guardsmen timpani players to play chimes that the cymbals players had strapped to their back the whole show. The Guardsmen timpani players finished the 1976 show playing timpani that were set down on the ground, but they still had to march in place (mark time) to avoid incurring stop time.
Guardsmen timpanists playing chimes, 1976
I Want to Play Timpani
After playing bass drum with the Guardsmen in 1977, I decided to move up to timpani in 1978. Why would I want to march around with one of those things? Because I thought it was a great instrument, and I noticed that timpani players got a lot more camera time than bass drummers did on the annual live TV broadcast of the DCI Finals. My ultimate goal was to be the timpani player who got to play all of the timpani during “concert.”
At the DCI Rules Congress in the fall of 1977, several new rules changes were made for the 1978 season. The starting line was changed again. Drum corps musicians were allowed to start the show anywhere on the field, just like the color guard had been doing for years. But drum corps members couldn’t walk across the front sideline to get onto the field, and they couldn’t march “out of bounds” during the show. They had to stay within the sidelines and the end zones.
As a side effect of this 1978 rule change, percussion instruments could be parked on the field for the entire show, though few corps took advantage of this at first. Anyone playing a grounded percussion instrument still had to march in place (mark time) whenever the rest of the corps was marching, to avoid incurring stop time.
After a disappointing finish out of the DCI finals in 1977, the Guardsmen got off to a very slow start in the winter of 77-78. Most of the 1977 members were gone. Twenty horn players and a handful of drummers were showing up for rehearsals. I would have no problem auditioning for timpani - I was the only member who wanted to play it. Our drum instructor, James Campbell, was already thinking about stationing one timpanist at the front of the field, especially after we heard about the Racine Kilties' recent purchase of a set of orchestral pedal timpani.
By the spring of 1978, we did manage to patch together a shaky four man marching timpani line. When the season began, we got our first look at the Kilties’ brand new set of beautiful copper pedal timpani. The pit was born. The 1978 Racine Kilties have the honor of being the first drum corps to use concert pedal timpani on the DCI competition field.
1978 Racine Kilties
After watching us struggle at the beginning of the 1978 season, Jim Campbell decided that marching timpani lines were hardly worth bothering with, now that there was a better alternative. In June he made a major change in the second half of our show. We continued to march with our timps during the first part of the show, but then for the rest of the show, I played all four timps at the front of the field, while my fellow timpanists played cymbals. When we changed our closer to Greensleeves in mid-season, I also got to play a set of chimes. And I didn’t even have to march around with them! They were set up on a green wooden stand at the front of the field. We finished in 11th place at the DCI Finals in Denver, and I got plenty of camera time on TV.
Me playing chimes, 1978 DCI Finals
The Kilties were the only corps in 1978 to use pedal timpani. Only one other DCI corps, the 27th Lancers, took advantage of the new rule and used stationary timpani during their entire show. The 27th Lancers came up with a very creative concept, using two timpanists on the front sideline, each stationed on opposite 40 yard lines, twenty yards apart, each playing sets of three hand-cranked timps. At times they played in unison, sometimes they played different parts, and it created an interesting stereo effect.
Other 1978 corps, such as the Bridgemen and North Star, set their timpani down at various points in their shows, more than they had done in prior years. The North Star had a few additional percussion instruments set up along the front sideline. The new rules also allowed a corps to have four players on mallet keyboard instruments, although no one was setting them down yet in 1978. The Spirit of Atlanta had two mallet players in 1978, one playing bells and the other playing a unique combination xylophone / vibraphone rig. Xylophone keys were mounted on one side of a custom rack, and when the player flipped the rack upside down, he played vibraphone keys mounted on the other side of the rack. He flipped back and forth between xylophone and vibraphone during the show.
Spirit of Atlanta percussionist playing vibraphone
Then flipping it over and playing xylophone
Grounded Percussion -
A Failed Experiment?
As odd as it sounds now, the 1978 experiments in grounded timpani were considered a failure at the time. In 1979, the Kilties went back to using a marching timpani line. So did the 27th Lancers. Only Jim Campbell decided to continue down the path to the pit. The Guardsmen were the only 1979 DCI Finalist that didn’t have a marching timpani line. We still had a marching mallet line, with two xylophones, bells, and a heavy marching vibraphone. In my new job of multi-percussionist, I stood alone at the front of the field, playing timpani, congas, chimes, and various percussion toys. I was the only full-time front line percussionist in the entire 1979 DCI Finals. During our Greensleeves closer, I was joined by xylophone player David Sander, who played a beautiful four-mallet accompaniment part on a full size symphonic concert xylophone stationed at the front of the field. To the best of my knowledge, this was the first time that a full-sized concert xylophone was played in a drum corps competition.
A few other corps played a bit of grounded percussion in 1979. During Phantom Regiment’s Malambo number, one of their drum majors played a large gong that had been preset along the front sideline. The Madison Scouts played a gong at the end of Bohemian Rhapsody. And when the Cavaliers played Somewhere Over The Rainbow, a mallet player took off his marching xylophone and played a set of grounded chimes at the front of the field. The 27th Lancers still had someone marching around the field with a set of chimes.
The Guardsmen couldn’t afford concert pedal timpani, so I had to hand-crank a set of fiberglass marching timpani that were set up at the front of the field. Even with tuning gauges, it was tough to play in tune if you had a lot of fast changes to make by yourself. If you listen to the 1979 Guardsmen, you will hear what I mean. I really could have used a set of pedal timpani! And I still had to march in place while I was playing all these instruments at the front of the field, to avoid any stop time.
Me playing congas, 1979
Today, we take stationary percussion for granted, but in 1979 we encountered resistance from every direction. Many people in the drum corps activity were against the concept of drums being planted in one place. And the instruments got in the way, since they had to be on the main field, not over the sideline in the coaches box. At a spring rehearsal, a member of our rifle squad insisted that one of my drums was in her drill spot. During the 1979 season, a Percussion Analysis judge told us he was giving us a lower score because “It’s easier for one person to play timpani than it is to get a timpani line to play well.” At some contests I barely had time to set up my instruments before our show if the previous corps took way too long to march off the front of the field after their show.
On the strength of our great horn line, led by our Hall of Fame brass instructor Tim Salzman, the Guardsmen finished 7th in 1979, and other corps began to notice what we were doing. For the 1980 season, the DCI champion Blue Devils bought a beautiful set of concert pedal timpani, and the days of marching timps were numbered.
No More Stop Time
DCI made more rules changes during the 1979-1980 rules congress. They eliminated stop time. Now a corps could legally stand still for the whole show without a penalty. (If a corps did that, they would get a 0 in Visual General Effect)
When I heard about that rule change during a fall rehearsal, I immediately stopped marching in place while playing timpani. No more stop time!
In 1980, several drum corps followed our lead and eliminated their marching timpani lines. Most of them couldn’t afford to buy pedal timpani yet, so they did the same thing we did, setting up their old marching timps at the front of the field and leaving them on the ground for one person to play. These corps were realizing the advantages of not fielding a marching timpani line - they could shift personnel to other sections of the corps. That’s why the march to the pit was led by grounded timpani.
The two greatest marching timpani lines in DCI during the late 1970s - the Santa Clara Vanguard and the Phantom Regiment - were holdouts for a while, but in 1981, Santa Clara began using pedal timpani, and Phantom did in 1982.
The Pit
In 1981 the Garfield Cadets set up their “marching” xylophone and bells on horn cases at the front of the field, grounding them for the whole show. The Spirit of Atlanta parked a full size concert xylophone and an orchestral vibraphone on the field next to their new pedal timpani. Almost every other corps still fielded a marching mallet line in 1981. Most corps were using copper pedal timpani that year, and a few were using grounded crank timpani. The Cavaliers put a jazz drum kit on the field. Now that grounded timpani were finally accepted by most corps, DCI established the “Pit” area for the 1982 season. The percussionists got their own place, out of the way of the hornlines and colorguards. People called it "The Pit" because it reminded them of an orchestra pit in front of a stage.
In 1982, five of the twelve DCI finalists were still fielding marching mallet lines, including Santa Clara, Phantom Regiment, Madison Scouts, Cavaliers, and Crossmen, their members still marching around the field carrying vibraphones, xylophones and bells. Other corps bought full size concert marimbas and vibraphones and parked them in the new pit area with their pedal timpani.
The last DCI corps to field a marching timpani line was the 27th Lancers. They had been one of the first to experiment with stationary timpani in 1978. The 27th Lancers were still fielding a marching timpani line in 1982. They still had a four man timpani line in 1983, playing and cranking their fiberglass timpani, but in 1983 they played them grounded in the pit for the entire show.
27th Lancers' last 4 man timpani line, 1983
Santa Clara Vanguard, playing steel drums, 1983
In 1983, every DCI finalist was finally using grounded mallet instruments. No marching mallet lines. The Garfield Cadets used crotales in their large front ensemble, the Santa Clara Vanguard played steel drums, and the Blue Devils played a set of small tuned gongs. In 1984, some of the Garfield Cadets percussionists briefly put on marching xylophones and marched across the field while playing a segment of “West Side Story,” one last good-bye to the era of marching mallets.
In 1985, former Guardmen instructors James Campbell and Tim Salzman were part of the creative team that put together the Cavaliers' legendary "Planets" show that propelled the corps into the top five at DCI finals. In 1992 they led the Cavaliers to their first DCI Championship. James Campbell and Tim Salzman are now in the DCI Hall of Fame.
Now in the 21st century, some people assume that the transition away from marching timpani and marching xylophones happened overnight because DCI immediately realized those instruments were way too heavy for young people to carry without destroying their backs. That’s a myth. The marching timpani of the 1970s were about the same weight as the marching multi-tenor drums carried by today’s DCI corps.
I was there on the field in the 1970s and early 1980s when all of this happened. After a lot of resistance, one corps after another finally broke with tradition and stopped using marching timpani lines because it took a lot of practice time and instructor hours to get four or five people to play together as a cohesive marching timpani line. Assigning one person to play timpani freed up valuable instructor and member resources for other things. Copper pedal timpani are much better instruments than fiberglass crank timpani. It had nothing to do with the weight of the instruments.
It wasn’t until marching timpani lines had nearly disappeared in 1982 that most drum corps finally accepted the radical idea of grounded percussion and began phasing out marching xylophones. The mallet instruments of the late 1970s didn't sound as good as full size orchestral instruments, built with a narrow range of notes in an effort to keep the weight down. When drum corps finally accepted the new era of the pit, percussion staffs were eager to replace inferior marching xylophones with symphonic quality concert marimbas and vibraphones.
I was lucky enough to be there on the field at that moment in history, 1978-1980, when one era was ending and another was just beginning. In five short years, the “Pit” evolved from a radical idea in 1978 to the establishment of a whole new section of the corps - The Front Ensemble. When I watch the amazing pit players of today, I sometimes think back to 1979, when I was the only full time “pit” percussionist in any DCI corps. Of all the percussionists who performed in the 1979 DCI Finals, I was the only one who had the luxury of just playing, without having to march around with any heavy equipment. I had no drill to march. It was a radical idea that we now take for granted.
I would love to hear from other drum corps members who were also involved in this grounded percussion transition era, especially the people mentioned or pictured in this article.