THE PRICE OF GOLD - BSGK

 

“Bobby Thompson was a horn player first.  He played a straight ‘G’ bugle before he was a drummer in the New York Daily News Corps.  His first instructor was Vince Mott, the 1936 American Legion champ.  I lived two blocks away from Bobby.  We’d use his car to go to practice as I didn’t have one.”      Ed Olsen  (Charles T. Kirk, The Company of Fifers & Drummers)

 

“Blessed Sac was scary good!  It was not until DCI that I saw that kind of precision again.  Other corps had a similar style – they looked good - but it was not exact.  Bobby was exact! They wanted to be the best in the world and they were.  Nobody I ever saw as contemporaries were even close!  Rich Nardelli was as good as Billy Cobham.  He was a freak - a monster drummer.  Marty Hurley and his brother came from there.  Sac had monster chop guys.  A drummer’s drumline.  They were scary clean!”     Paul Mosley  (Toronto Optimists)      

 

“I judged through the 60’s and 70’s.   I must have seen the Hurley brothers a thousand times.  Blessed Sac had a specific style.  They all looked the same.  Others didn’t look as close.   Parks had a definite style but he didn’t enforce it.  Sac was on the line and you just look at them and they would come on out and dare you to tick them.  “If you can find something - go ahead – but you ain’t going to get anything.”  You could see it in their faces.   Shoulder high attacks and WHAM!  They would blow you away!  Bobby was the first one to be that uniform.  Sac looked like a machine.  No one else did that. “      Bill Kaufmann

 

“I judged Sac with Walter Mullins, a good drummer from a Long Island ancient corps; he was a well educated gentleman.  We had the same tolerance - almost identical.  At Boston prelims of the World Open, we had five or six ticks on Sac at prelims.  I didn’t even have to look at them but uniformity was a big thing then.  They had unbelievable dynamic work, great hands – so even!  Their parts really fit the horn music.”  

 Bobby Redican

 

“I judged Sac many times.  The line with Jimmy and Marty Hurley was immaculate.  They would go off the field all the time with only 8 or 9 ticks yet they played everything you could think of.  Bobby Thompson had them doing dynamics and expression that was awesome.  Sac did a 16-count roll at double forte height down to nothing [pp] without changing their stick height – 14 inches off the drum yet soft. Today they hide technique.”     

“I liked to be behind the snare line.  If eight excellent lines were out there you do what you have to do to get it right.  You go behind where it was easier to hear.  I would pinpoint who made the errors for the instructors from back there.

"It was like heaven out there judging those lines!  In ‘58 or ‘59, Blessed Sacrament had five snares on the line.  Ginther and me judged that one.  What we didn’t see was a row of drums in back.  They had ten. At the end of the show I walked over to Harry [Ginther] and said, “Hey Harry, I think I screwed up.  I only got six ticks!. “ “No you didn’t screw up. I only got seven!”  Geez, we were around and underneath them and everything!  Just flawless!”       Jack Cassidy

 

“Blessed Sac had three ticks in prelims one year - played extremely well.  Pretty hard stuff too.”       Bobby Redican  

 

“Sac was becoming a powerhouse in 1953, ’54, ‘55.  I drummed with their drummers.  After shows it was always “who could play the hardest stuff.”  Liberty Bell had a good horn line.  Our horn players would march with Sac in some of their parades.  We would all go back to the Legion post after shows and play all the standard solos….  We had standard pieces.  It was more fun because everyone knew the same sticking.  Everybody knew everybody.  That’s what’s missing today.  We stayed in corps till 21.  Today they stay a few years and quit.”   

 Dick Filkins

 

“There were a lot of Swiss, Inverts and intricate runs coming in at the time of the rudimental bass.  We had all the stick flicks in the independence parts. It created a renaissance.  Our quartet piece from ’59 and ’60 used them, all original Bobby Thompson arrangements.”

  Bill Lundy (Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights)

 

“Bobby would always do five or six things for GE. He did everything the sheets asked for. Bobby knew how to compete!  We would see Bobby a lot because they couldn’t use Mallen to judge as Joe Mallen’s son was in Blessed Sacrament.”    Don Mihok

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“In Archer Epler there were four snares in 1954.  You had John Dowlan, Reamer and Jack Corey, the guy who beat Redican once.  They won Philly nationals at the VFW. It was a time when Blessed Sacrament - Bobby Thompson’s line – came out of nowhere in 1954.”

                                                                                                           Bill Bernert (Audabon)

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The Blessed Sacrament Golden Knight drum line was the envy of competitors.  Bobby Thompson’s satin gold and black line came from out of nowhere in 1954 to dominate drum recaps after only two years of competition.  Prospects started in fourth grade – the same age Sturtze used – at the Blessed Sacrament Grammar School allowing them to march next to each other for years.  Fife and drum corps instructors were competing against each other, spreading good basic form and technique to many drum and bugle corps. When the Sons of Liberty marched in a parade, young drummers met and together watched their instructors perform. As opposed to Les Parks book-under-the-arm method, Thompson used powerful arm motion. He tuned their drums to sound the same, something needed to hear 32nd and flam grace notes in evermore complex writing.   There was less risk in time, similar to how a great billiard player sets the cue ball up to make his next shot easier. This allowed maximum difficulty giving Thompson a better risk/reward ratio.  Joe Marrella patterned the 1971 Blue Rock eight-man snare line after Bobby’s low grace note technique, but with a much lower accent height.

 

Thompson used the Sons of Liberty idea of balancing hand bone masses, moving the elbows back for better efficiency in the angle to the head - use of the arms.  Blessed Sacrament players assimilated the Son’s smaller stick angles (45º) and massive attack strength while holding down grace notes and the equal positioning and angles of the forearms close to the body - about ten degrees from perpendicular.  For the first time, sticks and forearms were symmetrical in a style across the line. The arm bone weight could more effectively propel the sticks, grip strength holding down powerful accents for interior execution between accents, rendering superior articulation. Drummers taught this method keep soft taps and grace notes low even with increased speed. Earlier efforts of J. Burns Moore, George Lawrence Stone, Moeller and even Sturtze did not have this efficiency.  Those with different planes of motion chanced more errors; the “around-the–tree” method could no longer compete.  Two inch grace notes were at much greater risk than Bobby’s quarter inch wrist flick, allowing better execution  and faster playing with reduced energy.  Bobby’s secret helped execute difficult flam passages, the competition rudiment.

 

“If you can play flams, you can play anything else.  It separates the men from the boys.”    Rob Carson  Santa Clara Vanguard

 

“If there is one rudiment that could get an award for being responsible for more headaches, worry and frustration, than any other, that rudiment is the flam.”    Mitch Markovich  Cavaliers/Royal Airs

 

“The Flam is an extinct rudiment yet the Flam defines the rudimental snare drummer.  The challenge is to put a bead down right before the accent.  If you can’t play Flams, you can’t play rudimentally.  My solo in ’77 had the first half filled with them.  Chorazy wrote the second half of it.”     Terry Shalberg  Blue Devils

 

 

The Knights started as a small junior co-ed parade corps in 1946, adding a glockenspiel in 1947.  The name Golden Knights was adopted to enter 1952 field competitions an all-male corps.  Sac practiced in the tough South Ward of Newark, New Jersey, headquartered in a 15 x 40 foot part of a basement near a boiler room - "The Drum Room" - that also stored equipment.  Their first national championship came after only 26 months of battle – both VFW and AL titles - knocking off Les Parks at St. Vincent's, Holy Name, St. Joseph's, and Reamer at Audubon.  The corps was a powerhouse in ‘55 and ‘56 winning nationals both years just as Arsenault’s Cavalier line was starting to make their mark.  The “Golden Robots” won 20 of 21 contests 1958 with new uniforms, a cross-through drill and Thompson parts to National Emblem March. The ‘59 VFW and ’60 AL titles went to the black and gold.  The next two seasons saw them in 2nd and 4th at VFW, but BK won the first World Open and another nationals title in 1963, the drumline extending its winning streak into the 1960’s.  Sac won prelims at the 1969 American Legion nationals, 2nd in VFW National Prelims, 4th in finals in 1970, winning high drums at the World Open.  Their last competition was in 1972.  The Knights captured nine national championships, 19 State Championships, 11 of 14 Dream Contests, placed 1st or 2nd in over 82 percent of their contests from 1954 to 1972 and were top 5 in 19 of 21 nationals, winning 9 of 13 nationals entered from '54 through '63. As backsticking was coming into charts, new rudimental bass drum parts and more difficult Flam rudiments, the 1958 to 1963 Knights placed first in 112 out of 135 contests.  In all, BSGK won about 246 shows, relying on the corps strongest section – the drumline. 

 

Thompson’s prize student was Richard Nardelli, 3rd in 1957 to winner Rita Macy Bernert of Audabon, 2nd in 1961 and 8th in 1962.  Nardelli was considered unbeatable on the east coast, the player early 60's New Jersey drummers idolized. 

Bill Lundy: “Nardelli was very talented – a true musician.  He played professionally after corps - a drum set guy.  In ’63 we had a trap set on the field for him.  Ricky sat on Jimmy Raia’s knee. They made a trap set having a tenor and bass in front without a bass pedal.  Brian Fallon played the bass drum part.  I was 4th at the VFW individuals in ’58.  Ricky [Nardelli] missed rehearsal.  He wasn’t allowed to compete. That’s the way it was back then. At the end of practice I was told, “Get ready, you’re going into individuals.”

Chew Gernandt: “I grew up with Richard Nardelli. We were all from Newark but with him in Sac we just didn’t talk drum corps!  He was an excellent set drummer.  He was the best snare of the time.  At individuals he would go out and play five minutes for a two minute solo.  They’d be flagging him off and he’d still be going!”   

Gary Pagnozzi (P.A.L. Cadets): “Blessed Sac was without a doubt they the best junior corps line I ever saw, much better than the Cavaliers. They executed cleanly and took more chances - played more demanding stuff.  Sac played low, tight, and crisp. They had backsticking in 1960 with Ratamacues and Paradiddles and were first to use rudimental bass in ’62.”

“Connecticut drummers were arrogant.  They wanted every chance to go against Nardelli to prove they still ruled. Nardelli wouldn't travel up to New England for individuals so the Connecticut drummers had to go to New Jersey and Pennsylvania….. In the early 60's Richard Nardelli was the icon of the east coast. He won many contests and was considered unbeatable. People said he was clean and fast. Nardelli was considered a god in New Jersey. I was shocked when Markovich beat Nardelli at nationals in '61. The only time I competed against Nardelli was when I was 13, in Hawthorne NJ and Nardelli won. I won silver. I was "scared as hell" at that contest because it was my first one.”            

 

“I heard going to Nationals in '61 that Nardelli was the one to beat. His reputation traveled from New Jersey all the way to Chicago.”      

                                             Mitch Markovich

 

“Richard Nardelli’s last dying wish was to hear the ’58 Air Force drumline. I talked to the man who was there. Blessed Sac had unbelievably good drummers.”           John Flowers 

 

Thompson and the Sons of Liberty used prepatory movements to get energy and therefore power and speed into opening notes to carry through a musical phrase, starting the engine before the car moved, making musical gears switch easier.  Blessed Sac became famous for this articulation. Don Freising took the method to the Connecticut Hurricanes.

Bill Kaufmann (Reilly Raiders): “I teach prepatory motion a sixteenth before an attack.  It makes more sense. Now kids just drop the stick at the head - no control!  Teaching high school band, it sounds like our drums fell off the back of the truck.  How do you get through a show with that technique?”

John Bosworth (Air Force):  “You have to move before you hit the drum.  There is a slight hesitation when you lift for a Seven. The fastest path to the head is a straight line, not an arc.”    

Bruce Tiegten (Cavaliers):  “The young kids today don’t lift at all.”   

Don Freising (Sons of Liberty, Connecticut Hurricanes): “In the era of the Sons of Liberty in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, we were teaching almost all the major M&M corps.  Bobby was mostly with the juniors like Blessed Sac, St. Catherines of Sienna (Long Island) and was with the Syracuse Brigadiers Senior Corps.  I was teaching the Criterions, Newburgh Ambassadors, the Hurricanes, Babylon Islanders, St. Ignatius all girl, and O.L.P.H. Loreto Knights.   Les was with St. Vinnies and the Hawthorne Caballeros.  He was not as active.  Bobby and I taught every night of the week.  We all used to talk about it.  “We are finally getting them to drum.” The quality was improving in the late 1950’s.  There was a drum corps on every corner.  I had a full time job as did Les but Bobby was teaching all the time. We kept telling him, “You had better get a day job Bobby. This isn’t going to last.”

            “By now everybody was getting the kitchen sink into the show for the difficulty mark.  You had Les Parks, Perilloux, Bobby Thompson, John Flowers over at Reading Bucs and the Yankee Rebels…  Lines got small in the late 50’s but there was a credit of half a point for more drummers in the build- up caption. If you added a snare you had an extra half point.  There were 5 points build up for difficulty and 15 for execution around 1960 to 1962.  Many of the judges were from standstill [fife and drum] drum corps. One of the better ones was from St. Mathias corps, an army officer with a good drum background. He commented very intelligently.           

“We had much more syncopation with the Hurricanes. The style was not as high but the grip was the same. You held the stick at the center of gravity.  Knuckles were flat and the back of the hand was a little loose.”     

 

Gary Pagnozzi (P.A.L. Cadets): "The Hurricanes of ‘67 ‘68 and ‘69 were fantastic."  

Alfred Merritt (Connecticut Yankees): “The Hurcs under Ludee became a jaggernaut.”.

Joeseph Gillotti:  "I believe, as do many others, that Don Freising was writing the most complex, rudimental drum parts in the drum and bugle corps world at the time. He was let go as drum arranger mostly because the stuff was too hard and the corps - the Connecticut Hurricanes - could not get good drum scores. There were grace notes on seemingly every beat. Ironically, my later drum instructor, Fran Germinaro, stated that Don's drum parts were ahead of its time. The minimalism that one sees in snare drumming today proves that to be the case!"

( Joe, Ray and older brother Red Ludee were Sturtze St. Francis students.)

 

John Grogan (Blessed Sacrament): “I was a tenor drummer when the BSGK’s won their first national championship in 1954.  We practiced in a classroom on the top floor of the schoolhouse.  Unlike today where everyone reads music, Bobby would show us what we were to play and we would remember the rudiments.  He had a world of patience and would spend as much time with an individual as necessary.      He was more like a friend than a drum instructor.  Some of us even went to New York to watch him play with the outfit he was in.  If he had a private life - and I'm sure he did - we didn't know it. He was drum corps all the way.  He was also quite a mechanic.  He got more out of his students than any instructor with reams of sheet music could.” 

“Bobby T never told us how much to practice.  Our aim was to please him and become the best drum line on the field.  Starting in 1954 we were.  We started with an eight-man line - four snares and four tenors.  In 1954 we went to three and three.”     

            “The first attempt at rudimental bass drumming was our 1953 drum quartet: Grogan. Wyra, Porta and Carlton. Gary Carlton was the first to try it using Singles, Parradiddles, rolls etc.  We even had a contest within the corps itself at the Blessed Sacrament school.  I have the medal from that event.  At the time Bobby was deciding whether to go to six drums rather than eight. We were losing guys to the service. I went into the Air Force in late 1954.  You couldn't play in a senior corps – legally - unless you were a veteran then.” 

 

Bill Lundy helped build Blessed Sacrament’s reputation, an eleven-year member.  He was in the 1958 line that helped win two state and two national championships alongside Joe Porta and Richard Nardelli.

            

Bill Lundy (Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights): “Sticks cost 25 cents.  Bobby Thompson instructed at the school from 1952 to 1970.  He taught several corps then, a full-time instructor, great drum instructor – always a gentleman. That’s all he did. He never complained – very soft spoken and intuitive.  He recognized the unusual gift of talent he had at our corps. I joined in 1954 and made the Squires feeder corps.  They marched about forty with 15 drummers.  We would practice afternoons after school.  At seven o’clock on Thursday nights, the big corps practiced.  Bill Hayes did the hornline.  Bobby worked well with him - strict disciplinarians.  We did four weeks of close order drill, squad obliques and company fronts.  We marched and marched and marched – drilled and drilled.  That’s how they taught Sunday nights from 7 to 9. 

“ I don’t know of a drumline as good as we were between 1958 and ’64.  Cavies were great.  We were with them a tenth here and there.  We did twenty contests a year for seven years, winning the drum caption 130 of 140 times.  The judges were right on top of us. If we didn’t get an 18.5 [out of 20] or a 23.5 [out of 25], we didn’t do a good job!”

            “Bobby was very strict with technique. You learned to play right. He was very exact with what he did; he never took a short cut. All of the fingers were on the stick!  It wasn’t like Perrilloux who let go of the back of the hand.  The tip of the stick had to be turned up with the wrist as well as the arm.  The wrist and arm both moved. Our attacks were with prepatory motion. Bobby encouraged us to play on pillows. Our warm ups were a Single-Double-Triple Paradiddle, Five Stroke Rolls with 8th note Flams and a few others.  They were meant as warm ups, simple to work attacks and releases.  We would see if we could go through whole routines without a mistake. TOTAL PERFECTION!  We had a good group of kids that had played drums together since 6th grade, on baseball and football teams too..”

 

            “Rick Nardelli and I could play clean forever together. It was Rick, me and Jimmy Raia in ’61, ’62 and ’63.   

            “Rudimental bass started in 1962.  We had 3 snares, 3 tenors, 2 rudimental bass, 2 straight bass and a cymbal.  Nobody used rudimental bass in drum corps.  It was a new tonal quality.  The two players were Brian Fallon and Tom Schefter, former tenor drummers who really worked hard"

“We wore Reilly raider uniforms to compete with the seniors quartets. We were really close to Reilly for some reason.  Our guys didn’t march Hawthorne.  They went to Reilly if they  marched senior corps.  We were 14 years old and everyone knew we were from Sac.  Some people really got pissed off at us. Our quartet was 2ndin ’58, 1st in ’59, 2nd in ’60 and 1st in ’61."

 

Blessed Sacrament snare Bobby Craig played from 1965 through 1970 after hearing the corps practicing, starting his rudimental instruction later than most, at age thirteen.  He taught the “almost DCI finalist” Polish Falcon Cadets from Elizabeth, New Jersey, (whose drumline finished much higher), from 1969 through 1975.  He was taught, and still teaches the “pinky curl”.

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Bobby Craig (Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights): “I was involved since I was 12 or 13 in a little corps on Hollis, Long island. I come from the little black corps.  We didn’t play rudiments. It was more getting a beat going.  We moved to Newark.  I was walking down the street when I heard Blessed Sacrament practicing.  It took me a few weeks to find them. When I saw Blessed sac, I thought, “WHAT KIND OF DRUMMING IS THIS?”  It was unbelievable!  I had to catch up. I’ve always been catching up.  These were the national champs in ’63.  I joined in ’64 and worked really hard.  Bobby told be to join another corps and come back next year.  I cried.  I wanted to be in so bad. I went to Father Garner, pastor of the Blessed Sacrament church.  I burst into tears, I was so devastated I didn’t make the corps.  My mother even went down to talk to him, but it was too late. Bobby was laid back – very fife and drum.  Richard Nardelli, he was THE PLAYER.  He taught me.  I stood and watched the corps everyday.  Nardelli came up and asked me, “What do you like?”  I said, “DRUMMING!.” He took the time to show me.  When I did make it in, my grades went from B’s to C-minus.”

 

The Knight bass drum tandem that practiced practice every night of the week, was the duo of Interdonato and Sepe. Don Interdonato was a Golden Knight from 1963 to ‘69 and in 1971 and 72.  Tony Sepe could have played snare, but with talented veterans always returning, settled for Thompson’s fast rudimental bass parts between 1962 and 1970.

Don Interdonato: “Monsenior Kiely was in charge of the corps.  It was formed in 1947 or so as the Blessed Sacrament Cadets and I’d say ninety percent church financed. Kids were recruited from the 4th grade at the Blessed Sacrament School… 

            “Bobby would start you with four beats on each hand at eye level.  You did that until you got it right.  I did it for a year and a half.  There were kids who couldn’t get beyond those four beats!  We all had friends in it. We would get a cardboard box and a [drum] belt and beat on the box. Joe Porter of the big corps came in to teach us in 1958 and ‘59.  I marched tenor drum for a few years - a 3 and 3 line…  In ’62 we were winning drums all the time.  That was the line with 3 snares, 1 tenor, 2 rudi bass drums and 2 straight basses.  In ’63 the sticks came up.   Forearms were up there. We won a new set of Rogers drums at World Open that year. In ‘64 and ’65 we marched 3 and 3, two rudi-bass and 2 straight again.  The charts were fairly difficult.  We would win on difficulty.  GE drums was not our strength.  In ’64 we won 26 of 28 shows in drums. We had no real set exercises - played a lot of lesson 25’s, 7’s and a tap, Ratamacues…  They used to do rudiment breakdowns. St. Lucy’s was our competition, a similar style line with Danny Raymond Sr. instructing…..  Our attitude in ’66 was to beat the Cavies.  Heck, we didn’t tacet till the exit somewhere."  

            “I played rudi bass in 1966 to ‘69 and in ‘71.  We were doing everything, even Ratamacues.  Tony Sepe and I practiced every day of the week.  We would go in front of the glass door so we could see ourselves and work for hours. We played so many years together that we looked like one guy.  Our drums were tuned the same.  We were doing Ancient fife and drum corps bass drum swings with the sticks and twirls too.  You name it!  Don’t forget that the bass drum parts then were all unison – JUDGABLE - something we did until the corps folded.  

"Goodhart would come walking up at nationals.  We’d be doing 32nd note rolls. Tony started it then I would drop my stick down so we were actually playing a split part, my left hand - Tony’s right.  Goodhart looked at it and walked away!

            “In ’96 my son tried out for the Crossmen.  Mark Thurston was there and I told him I was taught by Bobby. He said, “I was taught by someone who was taught by Bobby too.”

 

Tony Sepe (Blessed Sacrament):  “Bobby had a house at Apacton New York.  His wife was Ginette. He had three daughters and an in-law living with him.  He said all these women, at times, drove him nuts.  Bobby used to fix oil burners.  He had a drum pad made for him by William F. Ludwig.  It was a drum with the bottom cut out and cymbal padding in its place.  It sounded like a real drum.  He carried it with him everywhere.

“Blessed Sac was a tough corps – intense rehearsals.  One time, one of our guys went on the Garfield bus and challenged the whole corps ON THEIR BUS.  We would have fights on the bus as we pulled into a stadium to intimidate the other corps.  It was the front of the bus verses the back of the bus.  Hitting a horn player in the mouth was a no-no.  Can’t hit ‘em in the lips.

“Sac was a Cinderella corps in ’54.  We didn’t win all the shows.  I think we won only eight of them, but we won all the important ones and nationals.  We were beating St. Vinnies and Garfield. Harry Ginther was judging us.  We had 5 and 5 in 1967 and were the first to do it.  We were getting beat the first shows. The judges told us to drop the line down to 3 and 3.  Bobby asked us what we wanted to do.  We said no.  We practiced all week – very intense.  We tore that field apart.  We tore ‘em up - won the show.  In the final number, Ginther was walking next to us.  He had nothing.  He smiled and was going - WOW!  Gave us a thumb’s up and put his pad down.  Later, at the parade, he was judging and came down two blocks to see us.  They had all gone to the bar beforehand; he was blasted.  He put his pad down and gave a thumbs up and marched along with us, dancing in the street.”     

 

Marty Hurley (Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights): “It’s true.  Blessed Sac had the front of the bus fight the back of the bus. It was a tough corps. For initiation, they would take you downstairs after practice and beat you up.  If you were tough enough, you could be a member.”   

   

            The Hurley brothers were Golden Knights by 1964 and typify how all of us 'got hooked' on precision drumming.  Marty was older, but Jimmy was a monster at playing high and hard, both with Sons of Liberty style.  Danny Raymond Sr. was one of their instructors in earlier years.  Jimmy Hurley would later teach DCA 1990 and 1991 Snare Champion Danny Raymond Jr. in the Meadowlark's of Secaucus, New Jersey.  

 

            Marty Hurly is best known for Bleu Raeders, Bellville Black Knights and Phantom Regiment drumlines. The Phantom Regiment of Rockford, Illinois hired Marty Hurley after an 11th place finish in 1975 and low drumline placement.  Hurley would stay some 15 years. Like Bobby T, Marty challenged students, winning perfect 5.0 demand marks from Danny Raymond Senior at the 1972 World Open and the 1978 Phantom Regiment at DCI finals. After the 1972 DCI prelim recaps were read, Gerry Shellmer gasped, “Who the hell are the Bleu Raeders?”  They were Bobby Thompson grand-students…  Earl Sturtz’e great-grandstudents.

 

            "My father was in the Jersey Rangers in the late 1940's and early 50's from the Asbury Park VFW post.  He was taught by Bill Bowden of Brooklyn, New York and marched with the Jersey Joes.  He would take us to practice when I was about five or six.  Loved it!  Later I marched with O'Brien's Major Police Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps in Neptune New Jersey.  We had wooden drums and calfskin heads. I was in six different corps before joining Blessed Sac in the fall of 1964 and stayed through 1967.

            "Bobby taught us to turn our left hand over and keep the elbow in.  I had developed an "around the tree" style before Thompson, prevalent from Pennsylvania instructors. Bobby was very relaxed with excellent technique. Both me and my brother could sight read - that helped. Nobody screwed around when Bobby taught.  He was teaching you so much.... The world opened up when Bobby taught.  He was laidback but demanded a lot. 

            "The rudimental bass we had were heavily muffled to produce a flat sound. It gave the parts a more solid sound - like there was something behind you.  I liked having them back there.  Two of them played the same part.  We had two straight bass drummers also.  There were some trade off in the voicings with snare and tenors.

            "Our parts were very difficult.  At the end of National Emblem March, there were Pada-fla-flas and Inverts.  We did a lot of Swiss rudiments as well… Many of the judges didn't know what we were playing..….. Later with the Bleu Raeders [1972]  I used the difficult stuff we used to do in quartet competition to see if a line could play it.  They did." 

 

            Jimmy Hurley was into individual competitions, going head to head with Gary Pagnozzi.  The black, gold and white 1968 snares were:  Bob Messineo, Pete Jackson, Bobby Craig, Jimmy Hurley and Jimmy Mallen.

            “My father started the Neptune Shoreliners.  I was seven and Marty nine.  It was a small corps.  The drum instruction wasn’t the best but there were lots of good ones around, mostly Cabs: Les Parks, Danny Raymond, Doug Klienhans and George Lopez.  Lots of kids learned that style.  There was a big circuit then with New York-Penn-Jersey corps….. Jersey Cyclones, Springfield Marksmen, Pittston Cavaliers, Magnificent Yankees, Monarchs, Woodsiders …..  We never switched corps unless it folded. Danny Raymond was over at St. Lucy’s. It was like playing little league baseball; there was a drum corps in about every town. Half the kids were in baseball and the other half in drum corps. There was a big demand for Thompson.  He could really play.

            “There was about 2 1/2 months till the season and I tried out for Sac.  Bobby said we would be gentleman about it.  I should work hard and if I didn’t make the snare spot I would play where he needed me. I bumped out one of the kids and they moved him to tenor.  He beat me up one day.  Marty was a tenor that year in ‘65.  We both played ’66, ’67, and ‘68 in the snare line.

            “Bobby used to say,“you should take from every teacher and refine it.”  He was the one who refined Les Parks’ style.  He had a wonderful ear.  His parts complimented real well.  McCormick used to listen to his stuff to get ideas. Bobby understood phrasing.  There were mixed triplets, rudimental bass and 7’s against rolls all the time.  People said “you can’t do that”, but it was not clutter, it was a voice. He still stands alone.

            “Bobby knew how to teach fundamentals. He held his arms further back which gave a better playing angle to the center of the head.  Drummers used to “play around the tree“, their arms out and forward.  Bobby refined this.  He also had the left hand index finger over the stick and exact movement of the palm. The thumb was there only for support.  His left hand technique was outstanding.  The bead was always down to the drum.  He held down accents.  You only needed three inches to turn the wrist.  The wrist turned up first and the forearm moved second.  There was forearm in the style, not mechanical like it is now.  The bead always moved up first.  

            “There was always a twinkle in his eye.  He brought out the best in people. A real gentleman. If we lost he would just work us.  We would work all day learning technique. As an example…. I was from a national champion drumline, now  becoming a judge.  I thought I was a hot shot!  At my first contest I zeroed out three lines.  Bobby comes to the critique and says, “You were really workin’ hard out there.  By the way, which of these three zeros were better?”  Even at critique he was teaching.  I felt like I had egg on my face.

            “The good teachers have a way.  Bobby would let kids in the line write parts.  If overwritten, he would change them to work.  Other corps drumlines passing by would laugh at us breaking down rolls at practice.  Those that knew what was going on would stay, watch and learn.  After 1970, teachers in drum corps didn’t want to compete with technique. They wouldn’t do it because it took them too long.

            “Eric [Perrilloux] couldn’t compete with Bobby by the end of the season.  Those lines had hands below the rim using different angles and playing arcs.  At Sac, the left hand was the same.  Those that weren’t never hit the drum at the same time.  The style is cleaner.  It has no wasted motion and is controllable at triple forte.  Eric interrupted me numerous times at a clinic once.  He said “I have my sticks here.” I said “So do I Eric. All right, come on up here. Let’s be gentlemen about this.”  We played and I showed him how his arcs had changed.  His hands were moving below the rim.  The audience agreed with me.  He bought me a beer afterwards.

            “In ’66 VFW individuals were held under a tree outside Roosevelt Stadium.  I won the Flam Paradiddle and Long Roll, solo execution and repertoire.  I lost saluting!  Rodney Goodhardt was the judge.  He gave me a 7.5 out of 10!  Can you believe that?  Pagnozzi from PAL was going to Nam in the airborne.  He was chewing gum and talking!  He drummed well though.  But they threw the contest!  It devastated Blessed Sac.

            “We (Marty and I) both had dark sunglasses on.  Marty was on one side of the line and I on the other.  Goodhart thought it was me and says to Marty “Sorry about what happened yesterday.” Marty told him, “That was my brother you ******* screwed yesterday!”  I never competed in individuals again.”  

            This explains the walking-on-eggshell atmosphere of critiques having Marty, the author and Goodhart after he judged the Phantom Regiment in the late 1970’s. What Hurley says is partly true. Pagnozzi recieved a 9.5 in Military Bearing to Jimmy’s 7.5.  However, he didn’t win the Flam Paradiddle as Pagnozzi received no errors.  He only could have tied.  Military Bearing is no way to decide a drum contest.)

​

Gary Pagnozzi (P.A.L. Cadets):  "Bobby Thompson's line played close to the drum.  CRISP!  Their accent height was 12 to 14 inches off the head.  The rest was lower and executed very beautifully!"  I saw them when I was 7 or 8 years old.  They were good even back then."

Danny Raymond Jr.:  “My introduction to the music of Blessed Sacrament happened around the age of five through my father around 1969 and 1970.  I grew up listening to and learning to play such corps tunes as “El Cid”, “Eleanor Rigby”, “Great Gate At Kiev”, and my favorite “Free Again.” What really sparked my interest in the corps, however, were those drum solos, especially the first one in the 1969 show, which is a great example of various single and double-stroke combinations that flow from beginning to end…. Their use of Drags, Flam Drags and double- and single- stroke roll variations is still relevant today, and in some cases, their approach is being rediscovered and applied by current players and lines.”  (Percussive Notes February 26, 2004. p.26)

  

All drummers from the Sons of Liberty lineage are flam drummers and write for them. Blessed Sac quickly learned Air Force backsticking, implementing rudimental bass drumming sometimes having snare drum difficulty. Grace notes of Flam Ratamacue-Drag-Swiss combinations and accent rebound control now separated execution scores, the technical catalyst for competitive rudimental writing of the 1970’s. The field of good drumlines and individual players was getting crowded.

 

Lorne Ferrazzutti (Toronto Optimists): “Sac was about execution and the skill of drumming.  You couldn’t tick ‘em.  They did rudiments put into combinations."

Ken Norman: “In ’65 the Royal Airs, Cavies and Kilts found places in their music for backsticking.  “We have to do this - LOOK!”  But you might end up doing it marching to the back of the field!”           

Tony Sepe (Blessed Sacrament): “We had our first drum solo playing all this hard stuff going to the back of the field.”

Paul Mosley (Toronto Optimists): “Bobby hid their rudimental basses behind the line until the second number.  Suddenly you had tenor drum parts on bass.  Right after the opener they freaked everybody out!  Everyone gave them a standing - O!  A bass with two sticks – nobody expected that.  The fife and drum influence was detectable. Sac looked clean and sounded clean. Boston had an incredible book but wasn’t clean like that. Sac had texture. They were still playing Seven Stroke Rolls!  It was Sousa that said the most important members of a band were the bass drummers….. Thompson and Parks were leaving the airstrip writing a lot of tough drumming.”

 

Joe Wormworth gained reputation as performer, instructor and rather terse judge.  A Syracuse Brigadier from 1973 till 1994, he was with the first line to march eight snares and six tenors in 1966, and taught the Magnificent Yankees till 1967.

“I learned the pinky out method from Bobby Thompson in the Brigs in the early 1960’s. I taught the same way and would tape kids hands to get the fingers right.  We used Popsicle sticks to do that.  I used balls of paper placed inside the palm of the hand to make sure the hand couldn’t collapse.  We used to practice on pillows.  It was just a three-three-two line back then, but soon, more wanted to drum.  In 1966, Brigs marched the first eight-man snare line, six tenors and four bass.  John Flowers at Reading Buccaneers saw it. Some big lines were coming out.  I did not change the heights at all.  I never tuned anyone out. You could lower the bottom head sound but could also choke it off too much. You know you’re a pioneer when you don’t get much credit for it. By the end of the season, we were up there with Hawthorne.”

            “Bobby Thompson was very professional.  All serious drummers are.  We respected him so much. We couldn’t wait for him to come into town.  He was in one or two times a month and wrote the book.  Steve Gadd was over at the [Rochester] Crusaders.  We drummed a bit together after shows!”

 

Steven Ventre (Bayonne Bridgemen): “Bobby would teach the feeder corps at Bridgemen. He would have us play on pillows and one time asked for a pail of water.  He said to keep the technique while just hitting the top and not break into the water; get as little a ripple as possible but still hit it.  It is a very physical technique with a 3S stick and elbow motion.  Bobby always taught his players this and the old fife and drum music to teach technique.  That’s how Swiss drumming was taught to us.

“He would clean the line by having us do breakdowns to his tempo alone and as a line.  He would start with one of us and go to 126 or 128 bpm then add a person till there were 4 or 5.  Musically, he would take everything apart slow.  If you can’t play it slow, you can’t play it…..  At slow speed he told you to “grab and concentrate”.  

            “DeLucia loosened Bobby’s Thompson’s grip. Dennis was a set drummer who could play 4 different time signatures at once.  He would be talking to me and be playing 3/8, 5/8, 5/4 at the same time - a phenomenal set player.  He had us 4 to 5 inches off the head and the middle finger was wrapped around the stick a bit.  The right hand was a ride type of hold. DeLucia lost the feel and look of Bobby Thompson instruction.  Dennis had no use for it. Dennis was Hollywood.  Bobby was a humble soul.  Our height of rise under Thompson was 5 to 7 to 9 inches.  With DeLucia it was 2 to 4 to 6 at most.  

             

Frank Zeigler: “Mark Thurston had Joe Wormworth come in a few times during the winter at Crossmen.  I would always ask him questions after rehearsal.  I told him I was having trouble with my left hand opening up. He told me to fill a bathtub of water and play on top of it.  He told me to really think about the inside notes and my movements by playing rolls – breaking them down – with an accent on the second beat.  I would lean over the tub and learned better control that way. It worked. I used to do the same thing in a sink at Crossmen practices.”

            

Frank Nash (St. Rita’s Brassmen, Skyliners, Bushwackers): “John Marino, a former Bridgemen snare from ’74 to ’80, could play a pretty good roll on top of water.”

 

The Sons of Liberty were doing Drag-a-diddles and Swiss Triplets by 1962.  They had Paradiddle variations and could smartly rattle off left-handed 7’s. The 1962 solo by Thompson is a reflection technical prowess transferring to field M&M corps drumlines.

 

John Neurhor (OLPH Ridgemen 1964-1968/Skyliner Alumni, DCA snare champion 1988,1996 and 2004): 

 “I was eight years old when I walked into my first rehearsal and "Mr. T." put a pair of snare sticks in my hand. Bobby Thompson also taught their feeder corps.  I soaked it up and was told I was a "natural"….. Mr. T - my hero - kept me off the streets and gave me what I have today.  He was a great, great man.

“Teaching technique is a lifetime commitment.  Bobby was so adamant about the fingers being in the right place.  At the time I hated him for it but now I know - stay with the basics and you never have to go back to them…..  Mr. T. was cool - laid back -  hip and jazzy was the impression. He harped and harped on finger position on the left hand; the right hand had to be flat and parallel to the ground. He isolated all the rudiments - one at a time - over and over.  There is no other way.

 “Bobby’s favorite line was "practice man, practice. That's the only way to Carnegie Hall".  He said it constantly.  He would call us "percussionists" when he was pissed at us.  He would say it with disdainful. He would say, "All right you PERCUSSIONISTS" line up!" 

“Mr. T. didn't talk about winning and losing... just be the best you could be."

 

Brian Pentony:  “Mr. Thompson was the best teacher I ever worked with. He said:, "Drumming is 99 percent mental." He would point to his head as he said mental. The other one percent is playing.  A great drummer devotes 99 percent of his time to proper technique and approach. The other one percent will take care of itself. That's why it's so easy to tell a Thompson student, as they have all been a part of the same great rudimental family.”

 

Bobby made comments to the author during private instruction:  "Play a one handed paradiddle. Now put them back to back stopping after each one.  RLRR RLRR RLRR RLRR.  Now, put the right hand on the cymbal.  R, RR R, RR R, RR R, RR.  There!  Jazz coordination - just like that!”    

 

Fife and drum and drum and bugle split apart again after twenty years of bliss.  Thompson would not make the transition to the uncompetitive political nature of Drum Corps International’s  “orchestral field percussion”.  DCI moved to stop judging contests by technique and execution – what the performer did – and allow a staff’s arrangements to decide contests. This was not Bobby’s way.

 

Ken Norman (Kilties, Famous Corps Arranger):  “We were at a rules congress at the time.  DCI had brought in a timpanist to talk about pitched percussion.  Some of these people had no perspective of drum corps - or what we were doing.  I was talking to Bobby Thompson.  He was cross-legged on the floor in the hall, showing stick tricks and rudiments to some 14-year old kid.  I looked at that and saw right there you had a tremendous gap.”                  

                                                                         

The transfer of fife and drum knowledge was so strong, Duke Terrari and Bobby Thompson are in the drum and bugle and fife and drum hall of fame.  You have to wonder what price Bobby paid to make time for all his students. He had three daughters.  Later in life, Bobby still drove an oil truck, an oil-burner repairman lugging heavy equipment to earn a living.  As long as he was drumming, it didn’t matter.  Every student of Thompson swears by his knowledge, temperament and utmost commitment, used to his rolled up shirtsleeves and coffee cup in his left hand.  Bobby’s fatherly way of reaching into his pocket and sending someone to get candy or bringing coffee for the entire line before the start of an early rehearsal was his way. He would criticize intelligently, always looking for an opportunity to improve his students. Bobby didn’t leave this earth a rich man.  He remains imbedded in the hearts and minds of all his student’s, something he probably knew is worth more than the price of gold.

 

The 1955 junior VFW National’s at Flamingo Park, Miami Beach, Florida.

 1) 92.683 - Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights (Post #302), Newark, NJ  (Bobby Thompson)

 2) 91.833 - St. Vincent's (Post #52), Jersey City, NJ   (Les Parks)

 3) 91.283 - Garfield Memorial Post #255, Garfield, NJ    (Les Parks)

 4) 89.050 - Little Flower (Post #81), Baltimore, MD

 5) 87.766 - Chicago Cavaliers, Chicago, IL  (Frank Arsenault)

 6) 87.516 - Belmont Grenadiers (Post #597), Chicago, IL

 7) 86.983 - Norwood Park Imperials (Post #740), Chicago, IL 

 8) 84.250 - Grantley Post #156, Baltimore, MD

 9) 82.316 - Paterson Cadets, Paterson, NJ

10) 81.150 - McKenzie Cadets, Bayonne, NJ

11) 80.116 - Vanguards of Mel Tierney, Park Ridge, IL  

12) 76.500 - Argonne Rebels (Great Bend Post #190), Great Bend, KS

13) 76.216 - Ardennes Post #895, Chicago, IL

14) 72.983 - Lozar-Mrache-Loushn Post #248, Ely, MN

15) 72.683 - Legion Cadets, Bath, ME

16) 65.883 - The Greater Miami Boy's D&B Corps, Miami, FL