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Company Front – Issue 11

Drum Corps (truly) International What started years ago as local community-sponsored (often by the local American Legion and VFW posts –  and  local parishes) corps has grown into an activity whose accomplishments, achievements, and fan base reaches all over the globe. While the fans may range from many different nationalities, the members themselves (for mostly […]

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Company Front – Issue 10

Old Ghosts After aging out of the Santa Clara Vanguard in 1998, I soon married and moved far from home. While visiting my home town recently I was astounded when I realized that I had not been to the Vanguard Hall in five years. Amazing how time passes. I decided to pay a visit to […]

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Company Front – Issue 9

Drum Corps International: Building a Strategic Partnership for Success Most people associated with drum corps are finely tuned into ‘on the field’ decisions being made for the upcoming 2008 season (such as amplification) or the number of seats on the Drum Corps International Board of Directors. However, others are focused on ‘off the field’ issues […]

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Company Front – Issue 8

From Murder to Music They are the kids better left unseen. They have performed acts of violence that would raise the ire of any person with a conscience. They have lived a life void of hope, kindness, true friendship, or direction. I began doing therapy with these former gang members as an intern at a […]

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Company Front – Issue 7

Tour Event Partners: Working to make tour great Thousands of people have experienced the drum corps activity at one time or another. Some of them are still around and continue to support the activity as directors, instructors, tour managers, board members, sponsors, volunteers or drivers. These people play a key role in helping drum corps […]

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Company Front – Issue 6

DCI – Back to Basics “As the audition dates grow near and you’re having doubts, go for it! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Nothing is impossible.” Irina GonzalezSo…you’ve been to the shows and competitions, you’ve tracked your favorite Corps all over the States and beyond and you have decided that this […]

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Company Front – Issue 5

It was late May of his age out year. Ray Valarde was marching his second year in the Vanguard snare line. His identical twin brother, Art, was the top bass drummer. Art and Ray were inseparable, living a drum corps dream they never thought possible back in their days with the Sound Machine Youth Marching […]

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Company Front – Issue 4

An Unlikely Lesson I deliberated for some time about what amazing and unique topic my first Drum Corps Planet article would cover. My fellow columnists had covered such a wonderful array of topics, I wasn’t sure where I was going to fit in. Then, late one night it suddenly occurred to me – luggage! (And […]

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Company Front – Issue 3

Drum Corps: Through Triumph and Regret In doing research and interviews for my book, Not for the Fain of Heart: My Journey to Manhood in the Santa Clara Vanguard, I made a surprising discovery about the lives of drum corps alumni and the drum corps experience. My research focused mostly on my years in the […]

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Company Front – Issue 2

The Winter Season of a Drum Corps Lifer Drum corps kids have called Don Warren “the Old Man” since he was a teenager. Sixty years later, the nickname fits like plume to shako. Warren, founder of The Cavaliers and their president since the Truman administration, is as classic as a single-valve G bugle. But don’t […]

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