Niagara Militaires keeping drum corps tradition alive
Band seeks to build membership with recruitment drive
If you’ve been to a parade in Niagara during the past 12 years or so, you’ve probably seen them: marching in colourful uniforms with sashes, trumpets and trombones gleaming as they play.
You’ve probably also had the unstoppable urge to tap your toes as they walk by, playing upbeat songs such as “Phantom of the Opera” and “Sweet Caroline.”
They’re the Niagara Memorial Militaires Alumni Drum Corps, and if you know how to play brass instruments or different types of drums or glockenspiels, they want you.
The talented group, made up of members from across Niagara, is just like other service clubs across Niagara and Canada, seeing its membership dwindle of late, due to aging members. But Militaires member Rick Allen, who arranges the percussion end of the band, said the band is determined to keep the rich tradition of a drum corps alive in Niagara.
“Back in the 1950s and 1960s, and into the 1970s, almost every town had one,” he said. “There were 16 drum corps in Niagara alone. It was a big activity.”
In late 1948, a group of former sea cadets in Niagara Falls who had aged out of the cadet program decided to form a band as a living memorial to the fallen service members from the region who died in the First World War and Second World War, Niagara Militaires records show.
Known as the Niagara Memorial Militaires Drum and Bugle Corps, the group had the name of a fallen serviceman on a plaque on each of their instruments, and uniforms were made from Canadian army tunics dyed to resemble navy attire, with army belts and gaiters dyed white with liquid shoe polish.
Gradually, the heyday of the drum corps died off in Niagara until they were all gone. In 2006, under the leadership of founder Ron Jones, the drum corps movement was reborn in Niagara with the new incarnation of the Militaires.
But the group has seen its numbers drop of late to only 15 or 20 members now. “Our average age is probably 70,” said Allen, who is recovering from knee-replacement surgery.
“We’re really down in numbers due to people having to leave because of old age and having to move away,” he said.
The group has launched a determined recruitment drive for new members aged 16 and up — trumpet players in particular. Allen said people who used to play in high school bands will be able to quickly adapt to the different key used in drum corps.
People also won’t have to worry about if they have the physical stamina to march in parades while playing: the Militaires are switching to have members take part by playing their instruments sitting atop a float, as of this year.
“We’ve played in parades where it’s 95 (Fahrenheit) in the shade and in parades where the valves in the horns froze up,” said Allen. “It can be brutal at times, but if you’re sitting on a float you can play. Start marching at 120 beats per minute down the street, and it’s a lot different.
“There’s people out there who can probably still play but they can’t hump down the street anymore,” he said.
New members won’t have to fork out any money: the uniforms and instruments are provided for free. That’s good news when the corps’ biggest horn, resembling a tuba, costs a cool US$14,000, said Allen.
Unknown to most people is the fact that almost every drum corps that plays in parades gets paid to appear, to cover costs such as uniforms, instruments and maintaining those, said Allen.
As for why the Militaires do what they do, he said the answer is simple.
“We love doing it,” said Allen. “It’s in our blood. Most of us have been doing this for most of our lives.”
The tunes belted out by the Militaires are an eclectic collection. “We cover everything from marches to popular music to Broadway show tunes and songs from ‘Ho the west was won,’ said Allen. “One of our most popular songs is ‘YMCA,’ and kind of our theme song is ‘Downtown,’” a 1960s smash hit by Petula Clark.
Allen is hoping the full-blown recruitment drive will keep the corps alive for years to come.
People interested in joining can contact him by email at rallen8236@gmail.com or at 905-8078236, or contact corps president Mary Anne Walton by email at waltonmaga@gmail.com or at 905-646-2071.
The Militaires practise Tuesday nights at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 479 on Spring Street in Niagara Falls. Practices are to restart on March 26.