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Hi! I'm Beth. I'm 22 and a music education major here in NJ.

I've got kind of a weird backstory. I played violin as a kid, then for high school I went to an all-girls boarding school with virtually no music program, and DEFINITELY no band. Went to college as a voice major, picked up sax my sophomore year, now I'm a sax player first and foremost. I adore instrumental music and ESPECIALLY marching arts, which is weird because I knew absolutely nothing about them prior to college. I march with a local parade band, but it's not really enough for me. I want to teach high school marching band, and I feel ridiculous because I don't have the real-life experience. I did have my boyfriend, who was drum major in high school, teach me field commands, and I'm good at it, but that doesn't help too much. I've known about DCI/A for a while but never, EVER thought I'd be good enough to march a corps, because 1) lack of marching experience and 2) I don't play a brass instrument. Also, I'm super super out of shape. :|

After having a dream where I was doing a field show, waking up, and wanting it so badly it physically hurt, I decided to bite the bullet and look into DCA corps for next year. There are none in my immediate area, but plenty in the state. Because of proximity and good things I've heard, I reached out to Fusion Core and Windsor Regiment, and both corps said they gladly teach beginners over the winter sessions. Excited, I got on Ebay and bought an old beater mello (a good one, and for cheap!). It's still in transit but I'm basically living at the front door, waiting for UPS...

I'm ready to start training, both musically and physically. One of the biggest reasons I finally chose to do corps is because I want to embrace the attitude. I have a lot of anxiety and self-esteem issues, and I think corps can help that as well.

I'm happy to be here among the DCI and DCA fans and would appreciate any advice you could throw my way! :)

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Beth,

Welcome to a wonderful and life changing activity! You won't be sorry. I'm an old guy, but I started with all of this at age 16. I have met hundreds and hundreds of people. Some have remained close friends, PLUS, my wife came to me through drum corps.

The marching aspect will probably address your "out of shape" thing without you realizing it.

You CAN do this, and I'm glad to hear you are driven to try. Frankly, it's an essential background to teaching. It's an activity that provides the discipline and leadership qualities you'll need to teach others. How do I know? I am a retired school teacher!

Best wishes.

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The activity can be life changing. It's one of the reasons I taught at Milton Hershey School for nine seasons with their Drum and wind Corps when it was actively competing.

Fusion is a good place, with people who understand and who can definitely teach you up if you keep at it. they need more team players like you- and will work with you and get you up to speed. For you, it's mainly brass technique. Hopefully musicality is already in you, and that's usually the most difficult thing to teach.

Heck, even now about the only time I feel good about anything is when I'm with Westshore Alumni. One of two places where I even feel I really fit in.

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