What is mini-corps?

A historic piece by Ken Norman of Kilties fame

I joined the Kilties in the fall of 1961, with aspirations of eventually progressing beyond marching membership. Not long afterward my mentor - music director Emil Pavlik - called me over and said "You want to write? They're starting something new called 'Small Corps'. Here's the info. Get to work." The Kilties were one of the flagship units of the Badgerland Association, which had around 50 Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota corps during the peak of its membership. South of the state line, the Illinois Association was a similar size. The "Small Corps" contests were unique to Badgerland. The rules allowed a maximum of 12 players - no guard, and no marching allowed. (A Drum Major could be one of the 12.) Shows, to my recollection, were 5-7 minutes. Units were judged in bugling, drumming, and GE. The contests were always held in conjunction with I&E and guard shows, sometimes occupying the better part of a day.

Often, A social event for the participants was part of the package, and sometimes an open bar at the host facility added another interesting dimension to the entertainment. So I got my "baptism by fire" - as an 18 year old rookie I had to recruit, design, and manage a unit. We won the first-ever Small Corps contest, and most of the dozen or so that followed for 2 winter seasons. Typically there would be 6-8 units in a show, with a couple of Illinois groups occasionally competing. There was one attempt in February 1962 to hold a marching Small Corps contest, on a gym floor. Our Kiltie Kadets feeder unit was the only entrants, no other units wanted to invest the time necessary to learn and polish an indoor drill. The Madison Scouts had a comedy version, the "Berlin Golden Eagles", who would exhibit at their Spring Spectacular,(With some drill.) This unit actually existed prior to the time of the competing Small Corps, and probably is what inspired this activity. As the 60s progressed, I moved on to other instructional and design responsibilities, but the Kilties' Small Corps continued to dominate the pack. It was always managed and instructed by the members themselves, and served as a training ground in this regard. Somewhere along the way the size of the competing groups was increased to a max of 12 bugles, 3 drummers, and a Drum Major. Competitions existed at least through 1971, as I recall actually judging such an event that winter. Then DCI was formed, and the individual state associations were replaced by DCM. I&E events continued to be held after the DCM championships and at some guard shows, but no more Small Corps. The growth of WGI also meant the end for the various regional guard circuits.

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