Posted by Wade on August 28, 2003 at 19:21:30:
In Reply to: Re: Kings new BBb Contra posted by dp on August 28, 2003 at 18:49:51:
Yes (ding, ding, ding!!!)! You are correct. By DCI's own definition c. 1972, a bugle is to be considered a brass instrument unable to play a fully chromatic scale. Bugles used in competitions for the VFW and American Legion originally were natural sopranos (like an Army Bugler would play). It was in G. Later, after WW I (I THINK!!) a single, horizontal piston was added, and the baritone came into existence. By the late 1960s, a full family of two valved G instruments was in common use. These had a horizontal piston (1st) operated by the right thumb and a rotary (2nd) for the left hand. Sometime in the late 1970s (1978??) the use of two vertical pistons was allowed, with the piston/rotor horns to be outlawed a few years later (except for contrabasses, due to the extreme expense).
Some years after I had left the activity (1993?) three valved, fully chromatic instruments were made legal, but had to be in G, and later in G or Bb. I no longer know what is kosher.
DCI ceased to be what it had been starting with the elimination of the old "tic" system of scoring, replacing it with a really stupid "build-up" system that caused hugely inflated scores and the ingress of sloppiness in all captions. It was a lame PC change that killed the nature of the activity by removal of any means to criticize (and deduct for) errors. It took away the pressure. And it coincided with the push to make the activity more of a mass-appeal thing; money. DCI ruined itself by getting rid of the bugles, inflating the scores, and attempting to appear to be some sort of high-art. Phooey. And that, Dale, is Wade's unauthorized (and unrequested) rant on the history of DCI. Print it, roll it up, and smoke it. It is worthless. But is is pretty true.
Wade "opening a beer and serving up a bowl of tasty Jambalaya" Rackley