Once again, my uncle Bruce and I joined forces in his West Salem compound to pay tribute to a great drum corps, this time the Cavaliers. We didn’t have a specific format to our show choices, choosing to simply pick shows throughout the Green Machine’s history that we enjoy and remember fondly. We also had a special guest as my cousin Molly joined us for part of the tribute.

1992

The first 20 years of the Cavaliers saw them grow quickly from a wet behind the ears Boy Scout drum and bugle corps to six national titles and the rise of the Midwest in the drum corps activity. The 70s, however, saw the corps hit hard times as DCI and the activity moved forward with the west coast taking point. The 80s started out looking positively bleak for theGreen Machine as corps founder Don Warren faced the all too real decision to fold the corps.

The Cavaliers fortunes changed significantly in 1981 when Rosemont mayor Donald Stephens offered the corps the resources and funding to not only keep the corps afloat but to build them into a contender. As we’ve seen, shows like 1989 and 1991 brought the Cavaliers to the highest levels of DCI.

In 1992, just over a decade after their partnership with Rosemont began and 25 years after their last national title, the Cavaliers could call themselves world champions for the first time, winning over a surging Cadets of Bergen County and defending champions Star of Indiana with Revolution And Triumph.

The show wasted no time hitting audiences with sound and intensity, opening with Jack Stamp’s Gavorkna Fanfare. The soprano line showed their technical skills with high speed double tonguing while on the move, mirrored by the fast paced Steve Brubaker visual program. With Brubaker’s passing from brain cancer in 1993, this would be his final gift to the drum corps world, and it’s only fitting that his drill helped the corps win the title.

The show shifted to the music of Malcolm Arnold. A lone rope tenor drummer solemnly introduced the 4th movement of Arnold’s Cornish Dances, with the bass drums exhibiting Celtic drumming techniques during this section of the show. An increase in tempo and volume led the corps into Arnold’s English Dances, a lighter and more uplifting selection which finished the first half of the show.

Arnold’s Peterloo Overture starts with the corps playing backfield with the classic Cavaliers sound reflecting off the back stands and around the stadium. While many corps made use of backfield playing, the Cavaliers were masters at utilizing that sound and pairing it with the right music. Peterloo was no exception, though the tension of the piece rose as the percussion began playing a martial rhythm and the brass turned more discordant. That tension built into a crescendo before a moment of silent drill led into harsh melodies, musically depicting them Peterloo protests and the ensuing tragedy and death which occurred.

At some point, the cymbal line switched to bass drums, literally doubling the size of the bass line. For the drum solo, the snares and tenors took opposing sides of the field, trading features like the fight between the striking workers and the British Cavalry, while the rest of the corps marched drill with fast paced pass through moves. The percussion built to a climax before the brass returned for one final impact before fading out, a lone concert snare tapping another martial rhythm, as if to depict the cavalry leaving after the massacre ended.

Fortunately, the “triumph” in Revolution And Triumph came with the closing moments of the show, reprising the main melodies of the Peterloo Overture, this time in celebration as the human spirit overcomes adversity, as well as the Cavaliers celebrating their triumph as they achieve history of their own.