My Favorite Drum Corps Show
If you have not heard of what Drum & Bugle Corps is - Do yourself a favor and start looking it up now.
It’s NOT the same as the live experience (WAY too much POWER in a drum corps for any device to capture - Take my word for it).
So, I marched drum corps years ago (due to my love for music, then band, then marching band, and then the rest is history) and it was one of the most difficult and yet most gratifying experiences of my life (aside from adulthood LOL!!!) and I encourage anyone who is reading this and is thinking of either becoming a musician or having their child or a friend or anyone they know who is really into music - Tell them about Drum Corps (pronounced “Core” not “Corpse”).
Drum & Bugle Corps basically took what my high school marching band program had already established and it took it a LEAP forward. I mean, we toured the U.S., PAID a ton of money to do it (Thank you, Mom & Dad), and we had to work ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL THE TIME!
Weird tan-lines galore, there’s a WHOLE subculture out there - almost a friggin’ CULT (I swear man) of really, really AWESOME and CRAZY kids out there (and even more insane instructors and tech’s who are all trying to get their careers as Educators or what-have-you all started up to share the gift of music & the marching arts - YES it’s an art-form, ABSOLUTELY - 100%).
If I were to belong to any cult - It would be Drum Corps (LMFAO!).
Origins of a ton of these corps dates back decades, and I’m talking some of them started from the Military Bugle Corps from wars - and others starts from Churches, Scout Troops (Boys Troops and Girls Troops to maintain the Scout Standard), Police Departments, etc.
I first came across drum corps because I happened to be flippin’ through channels, and I was like a freshman and I had JUST finished my first year in marching band (proudly/we did a rendition of Crossmen’s 1992 show, “Songs For Planet Earth” - AMAZING show and I had the honor to be in that show - still makes me cry every time I hear the closer because that show required SO MUCH HEART) - and there it was - Santa Clara Vanguard’s 1999 show.
I ran to grab a video tape, and I came back just in time to record Blue Devils’ show “Rhythms... At The Edge of Time” which I watched over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again - I’m talkin’ like I could not believe there were people who were literally doing what I thought was IMPOSSIBLE.
With the most insane irony (or maybe it was fate) - I ended up being taught by Gino Cipriani, Wayne Downey, and like Jeff Sacktig, and like it was a variety staff like a real motley crew ya know? It was a DREAM TEAM staff - and my dreams came true - and I will never forget how much it meant to me to be able to march with friends from my high school (some who had already graduated before I could march with them at high school) and have my band director there the whole time and like - it was just such a dream come true. We ended up breaking the mold of the class divisions (Magic of Orlando Drum and Bugle Corps - Division II World Champions with record breaking score of 99.05 - which the Cavies happened to break 99 AFTER us LOL like we had A DAY where we made history and had the highest score in Drum Corps International HISTORY!) and the funny thing is - I remember at the beginning of the season we literally were trying to get everybody and their brother (and sister lol) to JOIN because we had like NOBODY lol!
Well, we had a good size corps, but there were patches missing in some sections ya know? I mean, there was literally a camp when we had 9 Trumpets and Gino was like “Yeah... We’re gonna have to do something about this” because this guy came from like The Cadets who had been DCI Div 1 champs like a ton, and prior to that he friggin’ was the brass caption for BD - I’m like - Dude, yeah, the staff and Kim & Rod were the necessary Leadership required to make Magic happen in 2002 (after not being on-field for like 2 whole consecutive years).
Either way, when I marched, I was not able to afford any more seasons, so Magic 2002 was and still is one of the biggest blessings in my life (aside from my family of course) and like if it was not for my really crazy summer that year - I wouldn’t have the mindset that the impossible CAN be Possible. Good things can happen to people if they put their hearts and minds to it...
...So...We were truly the “Cinderella Corps” of that year, and yeah I know we dropped from 10th to 11th for Finals but honestly - that accident with the Tenor Drummer who had his drums fall on his face when he fell on his back during finals - that literally NEVER happened all year. We were undefeated all season, no one expected us to make finals - even on our brass bus like we were talking about how some of the staff was even makin’ a pool of whether or not we made finals - whether that was true or not, it was a necessary motivator to push us and you know what? We did it. And the rest, as they say, is history. I left drum corps and the marching activity years ago - I tried a DCA corps and ended up getting burned badly from them - so bad that I just turned my back and walked away from drum corps and decided to never look back.
...Until I saw Carolina Crown’s 2013 show. I was inspired again. I had never heard a BRASSLINE that was SO AMAZING. Literally, BECAUSE OF THIS SHOW - my faith in drum corps had been restored. I only wish I could have seen this corps live - it must have been an absolute DREAM to be in this corps and in this show.
Carolina Crown was always a corp I paid attention to, although I always admired other corps more (BD 96-99 OH and PHANTOM & MADISON 1996!, need I say more?) - anyway, I actually used to live in South Carolina (a piece of my heart is still in South Carolina to this day - very, very fond memories of my childhood there/one of the places I was stationed). So, needless to say, I was always keeping my eye on Crown, and I have friends who marched Crown - but, I knew there was a very powerful change when I saw them in 2008 in Atlanta - the first time I ever saw a corps that pleased me as a drum corps nut more than BD - of course Phantom was AMAZING (”I AM SPARTACUS!”) - but I remember a bud of mine David was marching Tuba in Crown and I always gave props like DUDE Crown’s brassline - HOLY SHIT (LOL!)
I could go ON and ON about that BRASSLINE. They are SO beyond amazing - especially this year, 2013! THEIR BRASS LINE LITERALLY GOT A PERFECT SCORE AND THEY REMAIN THE BEST BRASS SECTION IN DCI HISTORY - uh yeah - THAT’s saying something considering how much detail-oriented work goes into these shows just on an individual level, let alone a massive level of epic proportions with the size of the corps these days. .....Every Time I hear this brass section, I just start to melt - I’m like.. “I want to go to there” lol!...I am TELLING you.. This show inspires me every time I watch it - I literally have PHYSICAL REACTIONS to this SHOW! ...Like - I swear...that brass line performance.... I’ve had orgasms (LMFAO!!!) ...ANYYYY WAYYYYY hhahaha I highly recommend watching the entire FINALS show on Youtube (ya got like 10 minutes? lol “LET ‘ER RIP!”) and seriously - even though I’m not too huge on the narration in drum corps these days and the over-saturation of certain effects - I gotta say - this is one of those drum corps...it’s just like... poetry.
...You know how certain things just like, transcend their normality? Does that make sense? Like... In my humble and personal opinion - Drum Corps exists so that this show could have been made. This is one of many, many, many fine shows, but for me personally - this show is ELECTRIC (and like really profound). Even if you’re a die-hard drum corps dude like me (WHADDUP PEEPS?!), go ahead and like check out the friggin’ announcements and the crowd reaction from when Crown WON Finals Night! It is absolutely breath-taking because for any drum corps kids, we all dream of being Champions. We all strive for Perfection, and we always catch Excellence in the process.
It always makes me get like super emotional when I think about Crown winning, and it’s just so nice to know that the underdog can win, too. And, just knowing that those kids put their whole heart and faith into their work and their teamwork (a truly remarkable group) and they walked away Champions is absolutely wonderful. And the icing on the cake was how the corps was represented in receiving the Trophy, by their Drum Major, Linda Harvey - she was just so classy, and down-to-earth, and had such poise, and exemplified how honorable a Champion can be when it’s their turn to be number 1.
God bless Carolina Crown, God Bless everybody who has ever volunteered, watched a drum corps show, supported by investing in the youth programs for kids like me who believe in music and the power of inspiration and giving an audience something worth enjoying. Without drum corps, I would not have been able to believe in myself as a Musician today.
- ATOMIK 1
P.S. It has always been a dream of mine to one day own my own Drum Corps. I was always like, how would I do it if I ever had the opportunity to have my own corps - and I decided - I would totally have it be like Star of Indiana - you know, I’ll be like an older dude who’s got the bread and then I’ll just make sure it’s a well-oiled machine - and then have the quality of Star, but be designed like Velvet Knights (LOL!!!! YES!!!!) ESPECIALLY because they were the most FUN drum corps on the field and literally went the zany and quirky route instead of the super serious and militant way (and dorks like me rejoiced hahaha). ...chuck taylors and all LOL.