Take a second...

[grey0487]

Take a second to write down why you are a drum corps fan... Why and how drum corps has changed your life... Past, present, and the future... Tell us some of your experiences that make drum corps what it is now...

I can say that as an alumni, and forever fan that drum corps is the hardest and best thing that has ever happened to me. I can easily remember what it was like to finally be apart of something great. How everything outside of our corps, besides family didn't matter to me at that moment. A new family was created that will never break up. The feeling of a cold gym floor, and slightly compfortable bus seat never leaves my memory. The best feelings in the bus and in the gym were when you were cuddled next to someone you really cared for you didn't even know a few months prior. The sweet taste of drum corps food never leaves my taste buds. The smell of drum corps skin never leaves your senses. You laugh, shower, cry, smell, grow, sleep, eat, change, and compete together. I still remember tears falling after our final performance, and tears falling when we said goodbye. Not only am I proud to have marched, I am proud to be a fan of all of you... Thanks for giving me and all of eachother the greatest performances of our lives.

[SoCal04]

Wow. What a topic. There is so much to say... where to begin?

My sophomore year I got roped into my high schools' indoor drumline by this cute girl I had crush on and thought that if I joined, I could get her to like me. I had no real prior musical education in anything and had never touched a pair of drumsticks in my life. I remember the first time she asked me to join, I looked at her like she was crazy and had no idea what a drumline even was.

I think it's safe to say that there wasn't really anything special about me when I graduated high school in 2005. I wasn't going to an Ivy League school. I wasn't striving to be a doctor or a lawyer. I had no girlfriend, no job, no real aspirations for the future. In those 3 years I spent in high school drumline I learned a lot, but would never have described myself at being even remotely close to a good musician. I sat at home towards the end of that first summer after high school saying goodbye to my high school friends, watching each of them leave for their own endeavors in different places and institutions one by one. I was stuck at home, still living with my parents and barely taking a full class load at a crappy community college. By my own definition I was a loser.

When that same girl I joined drumline for in high school told me to come with her to audition for a drum corPs (yes I pronounced the P) I politely laughed and told her that she was crazy and that I was nowhere near skilled enough to even be considered for an organization as distinguished and profound as the Crossmen. (I am from the Philadelphia area and Crossmen held this incredible aura over everything I knew about drum corPs) Alas though, in another pathetic attempt to get this girl I was still crazy about, I followed her to an audition and after 3 incredibly stressful camps of just waiting to be cut... it never happened. I was never cut. (ironically, she was, hah)

I understand I'm ranting now but I swear I'm getting to my point. So, 2 summers of drum corPs later I have come to this conclusion. That first summer of corps, I came home from Madison a completely changed, brand new person. I returned from tour a new man. The summer had completely and utterly changed everything I was and everything I believed in and stood for. It changed how I acted, how I dressed, how I thought, how I worked, how I played, how I treated others and how I treated myself. I had an incredibly renewed passion for improving myself and others around me. On the plane ride home from Madison I decided that music was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I transferred schools, changed my major, moved out of my parents house and finally worked up the courage to tell this girl I had loved for years (the same one from high school) how I felt. I know this all sounds incredibly cheesy, but that summer ultimately took the loser I was and made me somebody. It gave me something to be proud of. It gave me something special.

Before I left for my new school in August of '06, my mentor and very dear friend told me how proud of me he was for what he watched me accomplish over the summer, even though I know he didn't understand the activity at all. Two months later he was diagnosed with late stage leukemia. He flew across the country against doctors orders to see me perform in the Rose Bowl this summer. He passed away in September 2007.

Now that it's nearing 3:30 AM on Christmas Eve (Christmas Day now I suppose), and I'm nearing the end of my story, I can say that the 2 (soon to be 3) summers of drum corps I have been priviledged enough to experience have given me so much that no amount of trying to describe it to you could even come close to what it has meant to me. I am 2 semesters away from graduating with a music degree and am planning on proposing, to that same high school sweet heart who got me first to play drums, on New Years Eve. The performances, rehearsals, laughs, tears, sprained ankles, sore backs, smelly buses and sweltering heat has taught me about so much more than beating a drum and marching a set. It's given me strength, confidence, passion, and above all, an appreciation for everything and everyone around me that makes what I love to do possible. I miss my friend very dearly, and I know that my performance Saturday night on Lucas Oil Field will be for him, for my family, and for every person who has ever supported what I love to do.

I know this was incredibly long. If you made it all the way through, kudos. Thanks for reading. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas.

[Piper]

Like a lot of people on DCP, I was born into the activity. While growing up I thought that school was just something that kids did in their spare time. I can't remember too many of my classmates, but I can remember my old corpsmates like it was yesterday. I guess that's why I keep in touch with it. It gets in your blood and never goes away.

[Michael Boo]

I will never forget the best reason I ever heard for why people do drum corps. Right after he assumed the position of DCI Executive Director, Dan Acheson asked the DCI Board of Directors at a board meeting during the WGI World Championships in Dayton, Ohio, why each of them did drum corps. The directors went around the circle of chairs and when it was his turn, Colts' director Greg Orwoll said, "I do drum corps because I don't know how not to do drum corps."

I've never been able to come up with a better reason.

[dianeh]

I started in drum corps at too late an age to benefit from years of marching, but like most made many lasting friends and memories and taught/was involved with marching bands and drum corps from age eight in the UK and got to march once at Wembley!

20 odd years of being involved in this amazing activity came alive when my daughter stepped out on that field at the Rose Bowl this year to perform. I can't describe how that felt, it was more than amazing and hopefully many more will get that experience

Edited December 28, 2007 by dianeh

[ToferVis]

SoCal04, I applaud you, and congrats.

[bstar82]

My first exposure to drum corps was watching the 75 finals on PBS. I remember telling my parents I wanted to do that, but I had no idea really what it was. It was the summer before my freshman year in high school and I had never marched up to that point except for a introduction to marching in 8th grade band class a couple of days. I was amazed at my first hs rehearsel the sound that the horns were able to play with. That started my journey. Well I did the marching band, concert band and jazz band thing in high school and I recall my band director stating we would switching to a corps style show next year. It was a really up and coming thing. My first thought was as a sax player, I would be eliminated. How naive I was!

I can point my interest in drum corps really taking up speed when a kid moved here from PA. His name was Clay Long and he would wear an "Iron Cross drum and bugle corps" jacket around school. He came in to school and was immediately the best trumpet we had and the best marcher by far. We became friends and he would tell me about the long hours and hard work. Well, we were made co drum majors of our high school band my junior year and the summer before he had convinced me to go to the DCI show here in 1977. I was under the assumption it was the local DATR show which I had seen advertised many times but never attended. He pointed out this was the world championship and everybody would be here. For some reason he never brought up going to prelims though. How lucky was I to see the 77 and 78 finals in my hometown as my first two show and the seats were not difficult to get as I remember. We went to a Denny's after the 78 show and we could see bus after bus going by on I-70 east and I remember thinking, "this is something I am going to do". I ended up marching with the Velvet Knights and the Blue Stars and after 79 and 80, I can remember playing those LP's every single day after tour for months. I can still sing and hum the music to every top twelve corps to this day. My friends started calling me Mr. drum corps. They would see the museum I have in my house, but they were more fascinated by the knowledge of drum corps that I have. And they were also very impressed when I would take them to a show, I would end up talking with 50 or so people at any show we went to.

Well for many years, I didn't do much other than attend the local shows. But I had told my friends that I really felt the need to give back somehow, someway. Well I have come full circle now as I became known with some folks of my local corps, one gal in particular who took a chance of becoming friends with me. We would exchange emails and she shared with me the stories that I had lived 20 some odd years ago. It was like going back in a time machine. But the one story that broke my heart and made me realize this is the time to give back is when she mentioned how she would ride a bus here alone 20 some odd hours for winter camps. And I used to do the exact same thing and remembered how much I hated being on a public bus like that. They stiil attract some scary people and I was so impressed that this gal had the courage to do this on a regular basis. So after months and months of emailing and sharing stories, I knew she didn't have a place to stay for all days and I took a chance and asked if she would like to stay here along with any other folks who she felt comfortable with. I have ended up housing her and two others for the last two summers, worked bingo for them( being from out of state) and they were the greatest summers of my life. I refused to take a dime from them and paid the corps all their fees for their last year. I figured it was time somebody did something nice for them and I have never felt better in my life for what I did. We continue to stay friends which is the best part of this and I continue to work bingo even though they have aged out and I will probably house others if asked, but nothing will compare to the connection these kids gave me. I can honestly say, If I pass away tomorrow, this has given me the greatest satisfaction of my life and I will leave this earth with no regrets. I have absolutely no idea where my life would be without drum corps.

[JimF-LowBari]

Heh, joined a Senior corps that was trying to get back on the field after disbanding two years before. We had a full gamut of ages, characters and life experiences. Being 16 and never having done anything outside of my little comfort zone of high school or church it was an eye opener. (Nothing like hearing the guy next to you B-word about the Veterans Administration holding up his "wounded vet status" paperwork to give you that real world feeling. ) OK, everyone was different (some VERY different) but we were all working together trying to do something that hadn't been done in the Senior world at the time.

Since then I've been overseas and across the country for my work and have been able to work with just about anyone in spite of different cultures, etc. Outside of work I've dealt with people who have led lives totally different from mine by I see them for the person they are and not the lives they lead. Still think it all goes back to that 16 year old thrown into that Senior corps.

[Jim Alberty]

Take a second to write down why you are a drum corps fan... Why and how drum corps has changed your life... Past, present, and the future... Tell us some of your experiences that make drum corps what it is now...

What a great question - I hope I don't burn the oatmeal while writing my answer!

I first heard about drum corps when my HS band director, 2 drum majors and the student show designer fell out of the director's car late on the Monday of my band camp, Junior year (72/73) - they had just driven straight from Whitewater WI, where Mr. Wilson had bribed his way to the top of the pressbox (independantly corroborated) and they had filmed the various performances at the very first DCI Championships. Lesson number one - it's always easier to apologize than ask permission.

God, I wish that Super-8 film still existed.

So we became one of Tulsa's first "corps style" bands. The students in that car had belonged to the Young Tulsan's All-CIty Band (Blue Devils were not the first to win at Kerkraade - YT had done so twice in the 60's), which had a drum corps for a short while.

That was where I first heard the name "Truman Crawford" as the YT's director had hired him to write a show based on "Oklahoma" (what else?) for use in the old Great Plains circuit. Mr. Lawless always did his homework - lesson number two.

Then I joined the only corps in the area, the Valiant Knights of Enid OK - spent a summer with other "imports" (we even got special "import house" t-shirts) and spent my days rebuilding a miniature railroad, about half-a-mile, driving spikes on standard rails, by hand with a 3 pound sledge.

Carrying a baritone was nothing after that. We placed second at the 1975 VFW Nationals in LA. Lost out to the Flamingos. There was this small group selling corps shirts in the souvie area - an outfit whose alumni group you might have heard perform in Pasadena.

Yeah, the Kingsmen, barely on life-support, selling shirts that said "Still Alive in '75!".

As we trooped through the souvie after retreat out I considered that my career in corps was over and my head was bowed. Suddenly a BIG voice yelled out at me, right in my ear..."DON'T LOOK DOWN!! DON'T EVER LOOK DOWN!!!".

Lesson number three. Taught by a big African American kid selling shirts just to keep his corps alive and who was probably on one of those shows my director had bribed his way up to film.

God, I wish I still had that shirt.

Thanks to the very first 1976 BOA championships in Whitewater (I actually got to stand on the pressbox my director has bribed his way onto 4 years before) I met Gary Czapinski and got a lead on a baritone slot for my last year of elegibility - some outfit on the coast called the Blue Devils.

So I flew out and thanks to Mr. Lawless' insistence that everyone in the YT's learn to sightread bugle music I got into the Blue Devils for the 1977 season.

And it was hard, really hard - I was lonely and convinced myself that I couldn't do it - I was sitting at a party, planning what I could do to leave when Mike Moxley, drill guru and arguably the coolest person I'd ever met up to that time (I was from Tulsa, you know) convinced me to hold off making my decision about whether or not I could do something until after I was finished doing it - then decide.

Lesson number four. I used it just the other day on a trumpet player who then switched to flute and is happy as a clam at high tide.

I did mess up in my finals performance - you can see me crush an interval in the bari feature of Channel One, right before the drum solo - felt bad about that for years.

So, comma, after doing grad work in conducting I moved to Maine and helped BD out as Equipment Slug (manager) through the 80's - it was fun and the resume item opened doors for jobs and schools. I met some very interesting people, both in Concord and out - my two favorites being Gail Royer and Mr. Jim Jones - both of whom showed me how class and rough edges are perfect matches.

And Uncle Jerry. He went beyond the word "favorite"

Lesson number five - watch your elders. This is also a Native American lesson - you don't have to be them, but pay attention to them.

I've had two bad experiences teaching HS, one was irrational and the other was my own arrogant fault - but also I've taught in one program for two decades, made it very successful and now teach in a program that uses all my skills as a writer, teacher, singer, actor and musician.

While here in Maine I decided to start a corps, Atlantic Guardian.

Even with material help from Steve Vickers it didn't really get off the ground - partly to circumstances, mostly to my own tenuous leadership.

But in doing I met some wonderful, wonderful people who were involved with Maine drum corps back in the historical days - my apartment is down the street from the Andrews American Legion post, who sponsored the H.T. Andrews drum corps, later the Andrews Sabres.

I got a picture of the Andrews corps on the steps of City Hall, dated 1933 - right after the corps very first parade on Memorial Day - the note said it came from a boy in the second row, holding a soprano. Now he was in his late 80's and dying of cancer and wanted the picture to be shared.

Lesson number six - draw your own conclusions. Find your own lesson here.

I walk by city hall fairly often - I always stand facing the steps for a second, sometimes I salute, sometimes I just think for a moment.

Not just about that photo - but about the whole thing. How, even in the darkest, most confused moments of my life I've never really believed it couldn't be solved, worked out - that every problem had a solution if you were willing to do what it took to get there (which is a separate issue).

And that nothing brings people together like music and theatre - which is why I'm on the board of the Children's Theatre of Maine and also spend time writing shows.

Yeah, if you let it then drum corps can set a pretty deep hook into you.

Go figure - I've got to eat my oatmeal and then get moving.

Merry Christmas - best regards - Jim

[2000Cadet]

Take a second to write down why you are a drum corps fan... Why and how drum corps has changed your life... Past, present, and the future... Tell us some of your experiences that make drum corps what it is now...

Excellent question. I'll try to keep this short and sweet.

While in elementary school I acquired an interest in playing an instrument. I started off on trombone and after a year of playing that and coming to the realization that my arms weren't long enough for the instrument, I switched to trumpet the next year.

One of my friends told me about this small drum corps in my hometown that he wanted me to join. I didn't know what a drum corps was so being the very impressionable young man I was, I went along with it. It was kinda tough my first time because I had no marching or playing experience, hell, I couldn't even read music. But after a lot of practicing, I became good at it.

Then another friend introduced me to DCI. He showed me some of the performances of 1995 World Championships. Immediately I was drawn to The Cadets. I knew I wanted to march there from that moment. So I worked my ### off for the next few years to develop my marching and playing abilities so I could audition. I finally made it in 1999 and finished in 2000.

I honestly can't say why I did drum corps except that I was just looking for something to do after school. Drum corps has taught me a lot about life, working hard, working as a team, and achieving goals. I look back to the summers I spent in hot weather, passing out from not drinking enough water, sleeping on hard gym floors and uncomfortable bus seats and ask myself if it was really worth it. HELL YES IT WAS!! It kept me off the street and helped make me into the man I am today.

I've made a lot of friends along the way, some with whom I am still in contact. I continue to follow the activity because I appreciate and respect the talent and the work that goes into performing a show in front of thousands of people after working hard to perfect it. I loved to be apart of making the crowd go bonkers at the end of the show and I want to be the one going bonkers for the kids out there today. There is not another activity like it and I think I will continue to follow it until the day I leave this earth.