DrumCorps21

Hi, long time lurker, rarely poster here on DCP. I remember the moment when I stopped reading RAMD. It was after DCP had first started and there were about 5 people posting on here and when Catherine started posting obituaries from around the world of every human being who had ever been involved in something like a drum & bugle corps. There would be just dozens of posts every day of some random person who died who once played a valve-rotor bugle back in the day in some community parade corps. That's when I stopped being a RAMD lurker and came to DCP. CRAZY memories from when I was in high school and college!! Ok, back to lurking...

Interesting concept. I'm looking forward to seeing if this will be better than the Goodbye Blue Skies show... my favorite DCA show to date as of now. Is this the trailer for the movie? If so, I think I might try tracking the whole movie down and giving it a watch before DCA this year.

Wow... 2005, 2007, 2008: Three shows that have blown me away just hearing what the repertoire will be!

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about Surf when I was putting it together. I know MartyBucs suggested some stuff with featuring a moon, but isn't that one of the symbols SoCal Dream uses? I guess the trouble is developing a unique name/symbol/identity that isn't too close to anyone else.

This is what I thought up today.

I can work on a Myspace; I'm pretty good at making them, or I was when last I made one. The high notes are all yours, Mike, since I'm a mellophone player. I also think I have a pretty amazing arranger who might be very interested in writing some great charts out. One idea I had toyed around with for a name was Borderlands. I'm not terribly attached to it, but I think it could work. Tri-State Diamonds has some possibilities. Anyone know the history or tradition of Delaware being called the "Diamond State"? I know there is a diamond shape on the state flag, but that's all. Anyone up for some wikipediaing?

I had thought about that one, but didn't want to be the "other" Statesmen. One is enough, I'd think! There are still plenty of possibilities for names for a corps, though I think getting an organizational meeting first would be more beneficial than figuring out a name. Though, for those who just drool at the chance to name a new mincorps, here are some ideas to bat around a bit that might, in some way, lend themselves to a name: Delaware The first state Diamond State Huge chemical industry thanks to DuPont Tax-free shopping Interesting names of bodies of water like Brandywine Creek and Murderkill River Former jr./sr. drum corps: Blue Rock from Wilmington, DE Delaware/Maryland Mid-Atlantic states Chesapeake and Delaware Bays Connected by a lengthy canal "Border States" in the Civil War Both (with part of Virginia) on the Delmarva Peninsula Bohemia and Elk Rivers on the eastern shore Just some ideas. Mike, perhaps it will soon be time to start an email list-serv or yahoogroup so we can keep in touch better and bat around ideas? Also, it would be a place to focus our energies towards having some form of organizational meeting in the fall.

I've been talking to some buds of mine who are coming down to the area, some of whom play brass. If we can get like, even 10 people together who are really interested in growing an eastern shore minicorps, I think we could have success. Just need to start getting that interested core of folks together at some point. Maybe not this summer, but definitely get something in the works for next. There are a lot of great names already suggested; I don't think I have any quality ones to add at the time.

I think the area could definitely produce a minicorps. Plenty of drum corps alums down here but no drum corps since the Crossmen left Newark years ago. I'm up in northern Delaware, but wouldn't mind trying to get something going down south a bit.

Glasgow High School Marching Band is looking for percussion instructors for the 2007 season. We are looking for a drumline instructor and a pit percussion instructor to work with our developing program. There is a lot of talent in our percussion section with many students taking private lessons and with the right instruction this could become a truly great program. If you are interested, please PM me through this site or email me at rogalskim@christina.k12.de.us. Thank you. Michael Rogalski Director of Bands Glasgow High School Newark, DE

The Glasgow High School Marching Band program is looking for a colorguard instructor for the 2007 season. An instructor with experience working with smaller groups is preferred as this is a developing program. If you are interested, send a PM through this site or an email to rogalskim@christina.k12.de.us. Thank you. Michael Rogalski Director of Bands Glasgow High School Newark, DE

Make sure you let the DCA I&E crowd know how to say Leb'nin, PA, as opposed to that Middle Eastern country way of saying it.

Well, DCIguy01, there are a lot of things to consider with a DCA corps. Distance is definitely important, especially since you'll be commuting every weekend in the spring and summer for rehearsals and competitions. Think about how many miles you might have to drive, divide that by however many miles per gallon your car gets, and then multiply it by $3.50, $4.00, or more for next year. But tell us what you like in drum corps? What music would you like to march on the field? Classical (mainly Romantic period), Symphonic Band style, Broadway, Jazz, Swing, Latin/Spanish, Rock, Movie scores, a little of everything, or no preference? If you really have your heart set on a style, then that could help you figure out where you might want to go. But seeing a lot of corps live is the best bet for finding a match, especially if you can get to a rehearsal or two before a show and see how the different groups rehearse. From personal experience rehearsal jumping prior to a show, there is a HUGE difference in rehearsal style from one corps to another. Some more things to consider... do you want to be in a long-established, large corps that has a well-cemented identity? Do you want to join a corps on the move, growing every year and beginning to make waves? Or perhaps you want to get in early with a brand new corps and have a huge impact on the future? Answering those questions will also give you a better idea of where you want to go. But do remember this is DCA. There is no "touring" so although there is no tour fee in the thousands of dollars, you will be forking over a lot of cash if you drive a good distance by yourself or even with a small carpool. Just some ideas. Answer those questions, and you might have your mind made up pretty easily once you realize what it is you want from a drum corps.

Actually, I do believe that Buc Field is a couple hundred feet outside of Reading city limits. I was curious about that one day and, thanks to Google Earth, it looks like the little stream that runs along side Aviation road is the border between Reading and the neighboring township! Technicalities.

That's an amazing story from one hard core drum corps fan! It's great to see the Jolly Roger flying so far away from Reading. But all the better that it's in the hands of someone making so big a sacrifice of time and effort for the sake of something that much bigger than any drum corps.

It's a shame that most of the world doesn't get to experience the Mummers every New Years Day. At least no one complains "I think that brass players are being denied an opportunity to march down Broad St. on New Years." And, actually, that is what they call the sax section of the ensemble: the hornline.

The Bucks, from Reeding, PA!

Maybe from a design standpoint some of the best bands out there might stand a chance of hanging somewhere at DCI finals. But get a BOA video and watch feet. Even the best bands never have everyone in step the whole show. It's easy to BOA and be overwhelmed by the power of 200, 300, or more on the field. But when you look at individual movement technique, and especially the composition of what the colorguard is doing or the skill set of what the percussionists are doing, there really is absolutely no comparison to the corps at DCI finals.

There were 26 different competing corps at DCA this year and I'll wager you'll find 26 different ways that younger folks can be allowed to march in a responsible manner. Also, anyone else think the setting of an arbitrary age limit on All-Age Corps kinda contradicts the whole idea? Let individual corps police themselves. If no young lives are being destroyed, and no corps is being sued, then why fix what isn't broken?

I think this is an ultimately appropriate analogy for DCA.

Senior corps does not tour, to begin with. Whether or not a corps regularly will feed their members depends on the corps, and depends on your definition of "feeding" its members. Most don't have a kitchen truck like in touring DCI corps, again for the reason that DCA corps do not tour. Everything is on the weekend. Some corps will stay on gym floors on a longer weekend trip, some prefer to have their members put themselves up in a local hotel. Again, it all depends on the corps you march with. I know my rookie year with the Buccaneers, the Bucs, Brigs, and Bushwackers all shared the gym floor together at some school in South Jersey one night. Host families... I don't think there are too many people in DCA who are in a corps that is so far away from their home that they'd require a host family. My years in corps, the majority of people were between 1 and 2 hours drive, and the max was about a 6 hour drive with a lot of carpooling going on. Hope that helps. PS... My suggestion is to find the nearest DCA corps and find out how they handle things for their particular season. The answers you recieve could really vary dramatically from corps to corps.

Whoops. My Canadian geography isn't too great. I'll fix it when I make my next update. I'm making a map of the "state/province/national influences" on DCA through its history. I ranked corps by if they are active or inactive, if they made finals for most of their stay in DCA (or Open vs. Class A), how many years they were in DCA, if they won a championship... etc. Should be an interesting graphic, even though my criteria are pretty arbitrary and subjective. Hope I don't get flamed too much. Mike

Alright... I need some more information. What corps projects are underway? I know there was a thread about it earlier this summer. If I can get the name of the corps (if it's available at the stage it's in) and the city and state located in, that would be great.

I saw someone else do something like this earlier but it wasn't quite to scale. Boredom and way too much free time on my hands got me to make this. It's not perfect, but it does give a general idea of where the corps that made it to DCA championships this year are from, both the competiting field corps and the alumni field corps. If I have still more free time, I'll add the minicorps that came, and then the corps that couldn't make it this year, and finally the places where new corps are starting up. It's just my personal fascination with maps... hopefully a visual representation of where we are, where we were, and where we hope to some day be as a senior/all-age corps activity. Give me time. Comments are welcome. Click map, or click here

"Drum Corps for the People" is definitely an intelligent idea and I hope that DCA runs with it. I noticed that on the website they said that the traditional DCA logo will be getting an overhaul as well. Maybe the "Drum Corps for the People" concept will be part of it. Senior corps... All-Age Corps, however DCA has marketed, I think someone stumbled on something good with the "Drum Corps for the People" idea. I'm just not a big fan of flash intros (but there is a "skip intro" button, so I just use that)