The Toronto Star, Tuesday, May 15, 1984
By Fiona Gilchrist
NEWMARKET -- Ten years ago, the Ambassadors drum corps donned paper cowboy hats and glued stripes to their pants for their first show.
Returning home from that debut competition in New York, the 15 member corps had high hopes for its future. Despite the paper hats, or perhaps because of them, the judges had awarded the Ambassadors the prize for the most promising drum corps.
"There were enough of us to fill a Volkswagen van," says Stirling Munro, an original member of the group founded by Bev and Paul Ranson in 1973. "When the corps first started, we had pants from another corps. We dyed them a different color and glued stripes down the sides. In the first rain, the hats came down over our eyes."
The Ambassadors of Newmarket Drum and Bugle Corps now sport some of the most "distinctive" uniforms in Canada, says director Bob Middleton. The colors are blue, black and white.
And the group long agon lived up to the opinions of its first judges.
"It has grown and it's better," Munro says.
From 1975 to 1981, the corps won six out of seven Canadian championships. With about 74 members carying drums, bugles or other instruments, the corps competes in Aclass contests. Only "open" class is more difficult.
Members range in age from 11 to 21 and no previous musical training is necessary.
"If they want to belong, they're welcome here," Middleton says.
The only thing demanded of members is dedication. Being "dedicated" means practising for 2 1/2 hours twice a week durung the winter, with more frequent and longer sessions as competition season approaches.
In addition, corps members attend weekend camps once a month. The camp is set up in a school and the Ambassadors practise for two days straight.
| High steppers: The color guard of the Ambassadors of Newmarket Drum and Bugle Corps, fromt Leigh Norris, 16, centre from left, Kathy Tugwell, 17, and Gill | Farmer, 19, and rear, Kelley Mitchell, 17 and Nancy Sibb, 18, do their flag raising in style as they practise during one of their twice weekly sessions. |
From June 16 to Aug. 25 this year, every weekend is booked for a show or competition except for one Saturday, when the young musicians will spend about 12 hours rehearsing Middleton says.
"It's a worthwhile youth recreational activity," says the director who is not paid for the hundreds of hours he works for the Ambassadors. "In all the time I've been here, I've never seen a kid get in trouble with the law or hung up with drugs.
We don't allow alcohol. From that standpoint it's good for kids. And getting then away from Mum and Dad, believe it or not, is good for them too. It makes them mature.
The rigorous pratice schedule does take a toll. The Ambassadors have a 30 per cent annual turnover of members and Munro says most youngsters stay with the corps for only two or three years because they get "burned out".
"They just get exhausted by the way of life," he says.
The corps no longer fits in a mini-van, but the youngsters spend a lot of time on the road in three highway coaches, attending competitions in Canada and the United States.
While the trips are exciting and interesting, they too can become a trial after a few years. It costs about $90,000 a year to keep the Ambassadors in uniforms, instructors, instruments and in the running for the top awards, Middleton says. The membership fee for the corps is $75 and the group runs fund-raising events in addition to bringing in money by marching in parades and shows at sports events. Newmarket also provides a lot of support the director says. Performing in half-time shows at Blue Jays and football games is a "real highlight" for many youngsters, Munro says. Middleton is hoping to book the Ambassadors into more of these events this year. "They don't care how much work is involved," he says. "We compete at a very high level. That's where the intensity is." |
Ready to roll: James Douglas, 11, a member of the corps' drum sextet, concentrates as he and other members of the group get ready for their busy summer. |
That intensity shows in the members' faces as they practise -- the all-girl color line twirling flags, the horns sounding cleraly, drums carrying the beat and the whole blaring roomful marching in time. But smiles are there too, even for a tiny Ambassador playing a set of kettle drums that reach almost to his armpits.
The corps now rehearses at Meadowbrook Public School, but with warmer weather, they will have to move to a new practice field at Bayview Ave. and Mulock Sideroad.
The one thing that haunts every drum corps is the difficulty of finding a place to practise. The Ambassadors have gone through almost as many fields as they have hats.
Bands are, by nature, noisy when they rehearse and irate residents, tired of hearing bass drums booming in their ears, have forced the Newmarket corps to move from one spot to another. There is no solution, Middleton says.
"There is just no place in Ontario," he says, recalling a time the residents of Toronto Islands complained about the noise drum corps made when they rehearsed under the Gardiner Expressway. "They complained it came right across the bay."
