We know there is still quite a bit of confusion and misunderstanding about us. In our small town, the OHHS NJROTC Color Guard is much more familiar to everyone since they’ve been here longer. Plus, we are in a military town and so it kind of goes hand and hand with it.
Although OUR Color Guard is still quite new to our area, it’s not new to the rest of world. We want to help everyone understand what we do and why our marching band has their own Color Guard.
Many American universities had marching bands prior to the twentieth century, which were typically associated with military ROTC programs. In 1907, breaking from traditional rank and file marching, the first pictorial formation on a football field was the “Block P” created by Paul Spotts Emrick, director of the Purdue All-American Marching Band. Spotts had seen a flock of birds fly in a “V” formation and decided that a band could replicate the action in the form of show formations on a field. The first halftime show at an American football game was performed by the University of Illinois Marching Illini, also in 1907, at a game against the University of Chicago.
In ancient time, armies would march into battle carrying flags bearing the symbolic colors or insignia of the ruler they were representing.
The military color guard which is the direct inspiration for civilian color guard came to be in Europe in the 17th century. This was the time in which the modern nation states of Europe, with their modern armies, were forming; it was also the time when firearms such as muskets and rifles had begun to play a prominent role in European warfare.
Because marching in formation was an important part of military tactics in early modern Europe, soldiers carrying flags bearing the regiment’s colors would be placed at strategic points in the formation so that soldiers could see them and position themselves relative to the standard. The soldiers who carried the regiment’s colors were often highly skilled; thus, capturing the enemy’s colors was very difficult and, if one managed to do it, was a decisive victory.
In 1937, Olympian Franz Hug of Lucern, Switzerland, came to America and introduced flag swinging. Flag swinging, or Fahnenschwingen was developed in late 17th century in Germany. The flag waving (or flag game) was an old popular sport, in which a person would have a short pole, with a heavy handle and a flag attached. They would raise, then throw the flags and catch again.
In Switzerland, flag-waving is part of the classic folk festivals and customs, such as yodeling, alphorn ballooning, country music or swinging. Flag swinging is a iconic event in the Rutli meadows in Switzerland. Everyone gathers on August 1 just to see the event. (This is where we get our Swing Flags from, 48″ poles with flags as long as 70″.)
During this time much of the impetus for the evolution of the modern Color Guard came from the arena of competitive drum and bugle corps. Pioneers from these corps traveled to other areas of the country to teach, introducing Color Guards to more traditional bands. In 1962, Vincent R. DiNino, Director of the Longhorn Band, “The Showband of the Southwest”, at the University of Texas began the use big 4’x6′ flags in the school colors (orange and white) as a group marching with the band at halftime shows at football games. The flag poles were made of lightweight dowel wood purchased at a local lumber yard with flag holders purchased from a local army-navy surplus store.
In 1965, Leonard Haug succeeded in combining the swing flag with a baton. It was an idea on which he had worked for years. He called his invention the “twirl-flag” baton.
Although it didn’t catch on like flag-swinging, you can do a quick search on “pep flags” and you will see that it too is a thriving and amazing sport!
The use of big flags spread throughout the Southwest Conference. The band directors at the University of Memphis (Memphis State), Dr. Tom Ferguson and Art Theil, recruited music major Sam Shaw to start one of the first collegiate color guards in the South, the “Bengal Lancers” in 1974. Director of Bands at Northwestern University, John Paynter, was also one of the first to add a color guard to the marching band when he hired Bugle Corp specialist George Parks in 1976.
As you already know, the Color Guard is a non-musical section that provides additional visual aspects to the performance. The Marching Band and Color Guard performance generally takes place on a football field. The Color Guard performs alongside the Marching Band at football games and most guards regularly compete in competitions during the fall. The purpose of the Color Guard is to interpret the music that the marching band or drum and bugle corps is playing via the synchronized work of flags, sabers, rifles, the air blade, and through dance. The Color Guard uses different colors and styles of flags like swing flags and tapered flags to enhance the visual effect of the marching band as a whole. Color Guard also may use backdrops to bring color and scenery to the field as well.
Winter Guard is pretty much the same as Color Guard, except the performances are indoors on gymnasium floors through the winter season. Music is no longer live, but pre-recorded. The gymnasium floor typically is covered by an individually designed tarp (called a floor mat or floor by members) that generally reflects the show being performed on it. Occasionally the floor only acts as a backdrop so that the audience is drawn towards what the members are doing. Depending on the show, we may perform barefoot, wearing jazz shoes or modern dance shoes.
Many elementary, middle school, high school, colleges and universities have a Color Guard and/or Winter Guard program. Those associated with schools are called a Scholastic Color Guard. There are also independent organizations that run Winter Guard programs. A quick search will result in amazing shows, both indoor and outdoor.
There are amazing competitions for the Bands and their Color Guards – regional, state and national. We are so excited to be a part of this community.
Winter Guard International, known as WGI is the organization that refers to Winter Guard as the “Sport of the Arts” due to the equally athletic and artistic nature of the activity. Teams from all over the world work to create and perform complex sequences of dance, music, and use special equipment, such as sabres, rifles, and flags. The goal of WGI is to organize and standardize the activity by creating skill levels, scoring systems, venues, and competitions, which they have done. Today, groups participating in a WGI event are placed into one of eight categories. WGI hosts many regional competitions which lead up to the World Championships, a three-day event in which hundreds of winter guard groups come together to compete. WGI Championships is held in Dayton, Ohio.