britdrums

I thought Colin was head last year also with Tom just arranging? Could be wrong though.

Cool to see you guys tuning in during the early part of the program! hope you're enjoying the European corps.

yeah it's an often discussed thing but never happens on a regular basis. Many moons ago we used to have the British Youth Band Championships which were held at the prestigious Wembley Arena and invited entrants from all marching arts organisations in the UK. When that stopped however there wasn't really anything in it's place. A couple of years ago there was an event held in Peterborough, in conjunction with the Glassmen's European tour, where there were corps and bands from both organisations, in a non competitive event which was very cool. There is talk of something similar happening in 2009, possibly in conjunction with a visit from the Blue Devils. It's a shame we wait to have one of you guys over though before we do our own thing!

Hi Jay, corps that enter DCE from the UK don't just come from DCUK. In the UK we have two organisations for Drum Corps and Marching Bands. There's DCUK and BYBA (British Youth Band Association). Both have drum corps' in their ranks who chose one or the other or sometimes both dependent on what they want to do with their season and what they want from the organisation. So some of the corps competing at DCE in a couple of weeks compete solely in DCUK, some solely in BYBA and some in both. Hope that clears it up.

DCE, DCN and DCUK are all open age activity's currently, with the exception of DCUK's National Junior Class which is aimed at younger performers.

I know it's been said but maybe it needs a lot of people to say it for people to actually do it! lol. March somewhere. Anwhere you can. You will learn something - you will get better as a drummer/musician. You will gain valuable experience. For sure. Too many people set there hearts on marching one or two corps and then when they don't make the cut they abandon their dream for a little while (quite often forever!) do something to improve on all those areas mentioned above. Just sitting home with your Heavy Hitter pad wont, believe it or not, make you a better drummer. Getting out there and drumming anywhere, in a real drum corps, with real people, WILL. Don't sit back, ever. Get out there and Make It Happen! If you put your mind to it you will march Phantom at some point.

The Drum Corps Netherlands Finals were held this past Saturday night in Dordrecht, Holland. the results were as follows: Open Class: Jubal 86.15 1 Northern Star 85.05 1 Juliana 79.85 2 Wölper Löwen 77.25 2 Federatieband 71.20 3 Starriders 68.90 3 Tambourijnen 60.45 4 The results are a little odd as they show two classes integrated, the open class and the international class. The first one usually indicates the open class and the second for the international class: i.e. Northern star were first in the International (non-dutch class) but second overall.

Bob is a regular at DCE and was/is the judges chairman. Also to add to Harrolds list (Hi mate) Scott Koter came over in 2003.

Personally I prefer the natural/natural feel heads, and I simply wet the thumb a tiny bit and then trace around the edge, right over the wood. Not tried the beeswax thing before, have to give it a go. Agree also about not pressing too hard. I did this at first and it gets you no where!

Some times people forget one essential thing when drumming, and in particular those people who struggle to relax. Breathe! It keeps you alive plus it helps you to drum better by feeding your muscles with oxygen and helping you stay relaxed. Check yourself out and see if you're breathing as normal whilst drumming. Lack of breathing is very closely related to tension. Just hold your breath now and you'll see what I mean. Breathe!

If the issue's pinching at the fulcrum, which from what you say it is, then what you really need to do is REEEEEELAX. :) Play double stroke exercises nice and slow, get used to how things feel, nice and relaxed at the fulcrum and all through the hands and wrists. Then as you start to move the tempo up don't change things, stay relaxed, make sure everythings contributing in the same sort of way, but most importantly STAY RELAXED. The Cavaliers teach that "Tension is your enemy", a philosophy that I would fully endorse in drumming.

The Cabs were due to come across this year too but that all fell through somehow. Probably something to do with the sponsors but I'm not sure. Similar to the Cavaliers who were due to come across also.

Hey you guys, really enjoyed the show in Dordrecht. Glad the rain stopped for showtime! Timmey you're right it is going to be an exciting month in September and I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully I'll get to see you guys at one of the shows. I think the first time I saw you last year was at DCN Finals in Oss so maybe in Dordrecht 2, or rotterdam! Harrold, was great to see you again buddy, smahe you couldn't have stayed longer in Vorst! Maybe next year. Make sure yuou let us know when the little one arrives.

Is niiice! :)

Huh? Where does that analogy come from? How "many post-modern era British corps" have you seen lately?!? LOL Personally I like whats hinted. I like the darker helmet, and of course it's totally different. It's showing a different side to Bluecoats this year already and I like what I see. Just hurry up with the rest why dont ya!!

Matthew, it is essentially to accomodate open age drum corps that are now starting to emerge in the UK. It's an attempt by DCUK, I think, to try and cater for the open age activity alongside the standard junior corps activity.

Hi Cainan, thanks for the props. I didn't realise you were no longer with the corps. I think that if they love to perform, which I know and have seen for myself, then thats one reason that they would love DCE. The crowds totally respond enormously to "performers". I think they'd go down great in front of a big DCE crowd, and there's no pressure "really" in DCE, I guess, until you get to maybe the top 4/5 places, and even then... :)

Having just stumbled on this post can I ask.. is it possible to contradict something that's never been said, confirmed, or written in rules other than in certain peoples mind. If it's simply a "virtue" of drum corps that members lose their individuality then does that not in itself mean the conformity of an individual to a set of principles? Also is the whole loss of individualism not merely an aesthetic thing? So the whole drum corps looks the same? Underneath the shako/aussie/bandana whatever there is a whole spectrum of different individuals all heading towards the same rainbows end? Or am I way off here?

Yeah to some extent thats how DCUK became. BYBA have a vast majority of their corps and bands in the lower divisions and so cater for all levels. As for reasons for going age or putting out a below standard corps, we at Northern Star made the decision to go open age because the choices for us were either that or fold. We didn't have the numbers without it to realistically put out a show and as you say Cainan, recruitment sometimes in the UK is very difficult. Where we are in Leeds we have historically had a rubbish time recruitment, not just into our main corps either, recruiting for our cadet unit is also very difficult. You guys in Cheshire have a great base of kids there and you seem to do some great things with them too. Are you in BYBA this year? I know you're not doing DCUK, they simply don't do enough for corps like you? Have you thought about DCE? Even if it was just for the experience, your members would love it I'm sure.

Hey Timmey, all I can tell you about the schedule is that we will be staying in a town called Vorst, near Antwerp I believe. We will be there for the most of the week, from Sunday 17th June. We then move into Holland on the Friday I think to prepare for the DCN show in Dordrecht Saturday night.

I think with DCUK is there have been a few corps folded and a few have left the organisation for one thing or another. They are going through a very tough period just now at DCUK. The class structure has just changed and some corps are not yet sure if it's going to work or not yet. On teh flip side don't let these statistics fool you into thinking that the activity is dying out in the UK. BYBA (the British Youth Band Association) has around 47 registered organisations competing in 2007. A healthy dose of these are drum corps. The reigning BYBA champions, Northern Star, are a drum corps and one of the top corps in Europe, having placed 2 at DCE for the last 2 years and being BYBA champions the last 3. (yeah they're my corps too but hey!!) Britain is also very well represented on the European scene, Northern Star compete on the Drum Corps Netherlands circuit aswell as BYBA and DCE. Also at DCE, as Harrold mentioned will be the Senators, Kidsgrove Scouts, Distant Thunder, the Black Knights, and making their European debut this year will be Poynton Commodores. So British Drum Corps is still strong it's probably just going through a period of change right now!

totally, Will be a great show in Dordrecht that's for sure. We can't wait to get on the road again from England and see all our dutch friends on and off the field. We'll be rehearsing in Belgium the week before the show, contact me if you want to come and visit. Where are you from Timmey?

The first DCN show of 2007 took place in Den Haag on Saturday night. The placings were: 1: Beatrix 65,80 2: Jubal 64,55 3: Federatieband 51,75 4: Showband Marum 51,25 Beatrix took the music, brass, percussion, ensemble and visual captions with Jubal taking the effect caption.

My advice would still stay the same. It is indeed a natural tendency but one that should be avoided. Watch some of your favourite DCI drumlines and notice how they stay connected all the time. This is vital in maintaining control. As for loosening the wrist make sure that you stretch and flex your wrist and forearm after playing. Just like working out at the gym, you wont get any benefit if you don't stretch. Other than that keeping on drumming to build up the strength, remembering to stretch after - plus stay relaxed.

I would kinda sorta agree about using more finger when playing faster, I think it's more what Tristan says about using smaller muscle groups to play faster. I would say though don't even think about "dropping" your pinky or ring fingers. All fingers should still kep connection with the stick, otherwise you lose the control of the stick you have. You should NEVER lose contact with the stick/fingers.