Drum Corps

[dashDustin]

I thought we had a thread on this, but the search revealed nada.

This past weekend I went to DCI Southwestern, which was my first time to see a competition since 2000. I pretty much stopped paying attention once electronics were allowed. Nowadays, electronics have become common, as well as amplified vocals, which I'm not a real big fan of. However, despite the electronics and vocals

Drum Corps remains one of the most fascinating events I can watch. It's captivating and mind blowing. The precision and timing, sound quality. It's unreal.

We got there just in time to see the Madison Scouts, and even after all these years, they're still the entertainers they were 15yrs ago. Forget sports, this is where I want my (step)kids to go. Their first hit...the wall of sound...there's nothing like it.

Having never been a drummer, but always wanting to be, that's where my attention was. I've known plenty of good corps drummers...mostly snares. I've watched them practice hours on end. Still, to see the performance, 8 folk is perfect unison, matching stick heights, judge all up on them. Incredible. Even the oft-made fun of pit is beyond comprehension.

Most amazing, despite how awesome I thought the shows were, the scores were still 10pts under where they will be in a month and a half at Finals.

This stuff gives me goosebumps. I'd post a video, but DCI has pulled them all from Youtube. I don't know that there's anything that can take me to my happy place like drum corps.

Surely some of y'all have been a part of some corps somewhere at some point in time.

[spopepro]

Surely some of y'all have been a part of some corps somewhere at some point in time.

[dashDustin]

BD ring

What year?

College roomie freshman was 98 Phantom, 2001 - 2003 Cav snare.

[spopepro]

What year?

College roomie freshman was 98 Phantom, 2001 - 2003 Cav snare.

99-2001. 98 phantom was really good. 2001 cav... not my favorite for probably obvious reasons. Can't help but feel like we lost the whole thing on thursday night.

[zetroc]

I grew up rooting for the Blue Devils in my hometown of Concord. Cool stuff.

[dashDustin]

99-2001. 98 phantom was really good. 2001 cav... not my favorite for probably obvious reasons. Can't help but feel like we lost the whole thing on thursday night.

BD 2000 is probably the 2nd most listened to mp3 on my computer/ phone/ iPod. I think that's one of the most ear-pleasing pieces from beginning to end that I've heard/ seen.

[spopepro]

BD 2000 is probably the 2nd most listened to mp3 on my computer/ phone/ iPod. I think that's one of the most ear-pleasing pieces from beginning to end that I've heard/ seen.

Everyone is always partial to their own shit, but 2000 was the best show ever and we couldn't ever play it right. The 3 weeks in europe really messed with our preparation and the show was just too hard. The opening was 170 with tied whole notes. 30 seconds in and you can't even breathe. We couldn't hardly do the show on damp fields because of so much jazz-running. The studio recording sure was nice though.

We had it right for one night. If anyone was at the show in Erie PA, that was the best we ever played it. There were thunderstorms so our warmup was all messed up and we basically did the show cold. It was electric and tight and everything that it needed to be. We thought that we finally got on top of it and the championship was our for the taking. We weren't ever able to do it again.

[deano]

Drum Corps is indeed sweet. I was in a pretty showy high school marching band growing up in Ohio. It erred more toward pops (Sting, Earth, Wind & Fire, etc.), but our director was huge into drum corps and the best of our musicians did a bit of that after high school, or if they could, were in the OSU marching band.

I'd like to think we have high school marching bands, DCI, etc. to thank for providing so many talented multi-instrumentalists to round out the hipster bands/orchestras popping up. Need a tuba for your indie folk outfit? An oboist? They're around... As twee as some of the acts can be, some are really great, and it's nice to see music getting away from the 'only guitars and boot-cut jeans allowed' club. So, yeah, band.

[Bob Ross]

Drum Corps remains one of the most fascinating events I can watch. It's captivating and mind blowing. The precision and timing, sound quality. It's unreal.

What really blew me away was how so much of that captivating/unreal precision and sound quality is evident when you don't watch, but just listen.

When I was an undergrad at music school one of my bandmates hailed from Georgia, where Drum Corp and Marching Band were a huge way of life. He once invited me over to his apartment to listen to some recordings of his alma matter high school band.

I thought he was crazy. I'd played in marching band during elementary school and junior high, I'd seen enough halftime shows on TV to know (sic) that without the fancy choreography this was just gonna sound like Stars & Stripes For Fucking Ever.

But Tom usually had some good weed, so I went over anyway. Holy crap was I in for a surprise:

The thing that was so shockingly mind-blowing was how deeply entwined the choreography and the musical arrangements were. You want the sousaphones to get quieter and a little darker? You don't just write "mezzopiano" on their parts, you have them all turn around 180° and march away from the listener! Just brilliant use of space as part of the orchestration. I was supremely impressed.

And that was >30 years ago. Now I'm a complete sucker for any Drum Corp, Marching Band, Fife & Drum etc. Dem crispy snares, HNNNGGG!

[spopepro]

Yes, auditions happen in November typically and are "open", but some have a video screening to try and keep people from making a trip when they have no chance. My audition year we had around 300 new brass players auditioning for maybe 20 open spots. Most vets are invited back for the next year, but not all. BD has (had?) a rough policy of not wanting to take minors on tour with the A corps. I started with the BD B corps in 98. My youngest brother started with the C corps (they are the amazing!). People audition from all over for the top corps. I marches with Linda (an alto) from the UK, Otto (guard) from the Netherlands, we would always have 2-3 from Japan, not to mention pulling from all over the U.S.

For horn players, most of the audition is marching. Nearly everyone who shows up can play (I was an exception... I'm a bassoonist!), but not everyone can keep their feet in time at 190bpm and look good doing it. That's how I made the 99 A corps hornline... only to get cut in February. I went back to the B corps, marched the whole season there (we ended in early July at the time) wandered over to watch the A corps rehearsal field to watch the run through at the end of the night and Gino (the instructor who told me I was cut in feb) told me to grab a book and charts because they had someone unexpectedly quit and I was back in the A corps. It was 3 days before leaving on tour. My first show was about a week later in Denver.

Rehearsals are all day on weekends and 2-3 times on weekday nights starting in January. Memorial Day weekend is the start of the summer, and from then on it's everyday 8am to 10pm. The time commitment is a huge barrier for many. Tour means ~6 weeks on the road. We sleep in HS gyms (when we get floor rest), and are sometimes in a new state every day. Typical tour day: 9-12 rehearsal, 1-4 rehearsal, 1.5 hours for dinner, pack up and clean up the school, and pack the bus and the truck, go to show site and play the show, snack after the show, leave around 11pm, arrive at next site ~3-4am depending, get a few hours of sleep in the gym. Rinse, repeat.

It's a hard thing to explain to people, because kids don't generally do stuff that takes this kind of a commitment. We would have fun laughing at the Texas HS football teams that would come onto their campuses for their "grueling" 2-adays after we had been going for a couple of hours and leave before our dinner break. We would start our mornings running a mile in a block, feet in time, and breathing together (8 steps in, 8 steps out) and then go march for 10 hours.

It's also a hard thing to deal with when you age out. For most, it will end up being the hardest thing they do, and their greatest accomplishment in life. It might be my greatest accomplishment. I toured Japan in 98, won a world championship in 99, toured Europe in 2000, signed autographs and am in countless videos and pictures of others. And once you turn 21, it's gone and there's not a graceful transition to the next thing. It's just over. I actually didn't march my age-out year. We had 2 days of rehearsal on the hardest AstroTurf field I've ever been on in Rome NY in 2001. I inflamed and tore my lateral meniscus during rehearsal (had done the other knee years before, so I knew exactly what the issue was). The last week and a half was a shot of cortisone, toridol shots, and survival. Surgery the summer after kept me out, but years later, I'm totally ok with that.

Anyway, the point is that it's a pretty special activity, and you don't really get a sense for how crazy it is until you see it live. Even better is finding a HS near the show and watching a bit of rehearsal.

[dashDustin]

Wife and I went to Big, Loud, and Live last night (or whatever they call it...). Basically, the Prelims are on a live feed in theaters. The multiple camera angles was pretty cool, and actually seeing the formations. Music was, obviously, flat, given that we were in a theater. It was cool to see the changes that have been made to various shows since I started this thread. Good shows have become great. Great shows have become "holy shit".

[dashDustin]

The point at 3:27 is quickly becoming one of the more enjoyable bits from the shows this year. Out of the context of the show, it doesn't quite have the feeling.



Seems as though DCI and Tresona Music are at odds, and as such, all show vids are being removed from YouTube, and are, at this point, not being sold by DCI. It's an unfortunate situation, and I'm hoping it gets resolved, as I'd love to own the 2015 shows.