1973-1974 Drum Corps Photos
by Tom Scheffler
In 1973 I attended my first DCI Championship in Whitewater, Wisconsin. I was 13, and my family was there to see my brother Jim march in the DCI Prelims with the Bleu Raeders from New Orleans. They didn't make finals. On Saturday night I was in the audience at Whitewater to see my first DCI Finals, and I took a few pictures.
In 1974 my family traveled around the country to watch my brother Jim play baritone bugle in the Bleu Raeders, who had recently merged back with the Stardusters and changed their name to the Regiment Militaire. DCI didn't observe the name change, and still announced them as the Bleu Raeders because they were still a DCI member corps, having made finals in 1972.
I took lots of pictures while traveling around the country to drum corps shows with my family. We went to the 1974 DCI Championship in Ithaca New York. Once again my brother didn't make finals.
After watching the 1974 DCI Finals contest, I was obsessed with drum corps, and I knew I had to join a corps someday, when I was a little older. (I was 14) But which corps? I couldn't decide.
