“Author Archive”
Stories written by Frank DorritieFrank Dorritie is one of the legends of the activity .... a performer, instructor, arranger, adjudicator, and observer over the past 5 decades. Frank has been playing the bugle and trumpet since the 1960s, and has performed with artists like Billy Cobham and Maynard Ferguson. He has instructed and/or arranged for the Blue Devils, Cadets, Santa Clara Vanguard, Cavaliers, Chesterton and Tenri High Schools, the Bushwackers, Bridgemen and a host of others. His audio production honors include 9 Grammy Nominations, 2 Grammy Awards and membership in both the World Drum Corps and Buglers Halls of Fame. He is active internationally as a clinician and adjudicator, holds the DCA Soprano/Trumpet/Tenor Individual titles for 2003, 2005 and 2006. Frank also chairs the Department of Recording Arts at Los Medanos College. His popular brass method book, “Power and Endurance”, is available from
Xtremebrass.com. The opinions expressed in this column are strictly those of the author.
It’s just before sunrise on a summer morning in 1861 in New York Harbor. A solitary bugler, having been roused by the corporal of the guard sounds the brief series of notes that will, in a matter of minutes, summon all the other buglers, drummers and fifes to assemble for the playing of the Reveille […]
July 14th, 2008 | Filed under Inside the Arc | Read More »
So, does anyone get the amplification thing right? Well, sort of, but not really. It’s almost impossible, and here’s why: 1) Current logistics promote (virtually guarantee) frequent failure. Performers will routinely take an hour or so off stage to warm up, tune and stretch but are then allotted about 180 seconds to access power, place […]
January 24th, 2008 | Filed under Inside the Arc | Read More »
To begin with, full disclosure: some of this is my fault. In 1977, Rich DeCola and I heard Joel Kaye’s New York Neophonic Orchestra (a kind of Kenton-meets-Maynard group) perform “I Don’t Know How to Love Him”, the signature ballad from Jesus Christ Superstar. It rocked, and seemed a natural for Garfield’s book as we […]
December 6th, 2007 | Filed under Inside the Arc | Read More »
Twyla Tharp has written a fascinating book. You ought to know who she is, especially if you are interested in the great debate over the past and future of Drum Corps as we know (or knew) it. Actually, any thinking person should know lots of strange-named folks, like Ezra Pound for instance or Dweezil Zappa, […]
September 12th, 2007 | Filed under Inside the Arc | Read More »
(The basic facts of this particular story are true. Variations have played out throughout the land for years. May it ever be so.) Once upon a time, in a more or less remote corner of the drum corps world, a group of good folks convinced the local law enforcement authorities of the benefits to the […]
July 29th, 2007 | Filed under Inside the Arc | Read More »
One bright May morning in 1958, a cub scout stood on 221st Street in Queens, in front of Sacred Heart Church, awaiting with great anticipation the start of the annual Bazaar Parade. His uniform was meticulously pressed, and the gold piping matched the polished Rexcraft G Bugle he proudly carried. The scoutmaster had asked him […]
May 16th, 2007 | Filed under Inside the Arc | Read More »
Once upon a time they were ubiquitous, those neighborhood corps: the Carter Cadets, Smithtown Freelancers, Blue Max, Seaford Golden Hawks, Page Park Cadets…. Any kid off the street could join, learn to march, to play, spin a flag, and get some valuable lessons about teamwork, commitment, loyalty, and life itself in the bargain. They practiced […]
April 4th, 2007 | Filed under Inside the Arc | Read More »
In his recent bestseller, “The Tipping Point”, Malcolm Gladwell makes reference to the theory of “Six Degrees”, the idea that everyone on earth is connected by acquaintance in no more than six steps. This is a fascinating notion, and I wonder if it’s true. (I suppose it really depends on how one defines a connection.) […]
December 12th, 2006 | Filed under Inside the Arc | Read More »
Randall’s Island lies just a few hundred yards from the epicenter of the Harlem Renaissance, in the shadow of the Tri-Boro Bridge. I used to imagine that Ellington’s music could have drifted over from 125th Street back in the day, or Basie’s, or perhaps even a few licks from Bird or Dizzy, practicing in the […]
October 17th, 2006 | Filed under Inside the Arc | Read More »