The next big innovation on the drum corps field

[Michael Boo]

That is pretty impressive!

I've always dreamed of having Drum Corps on Ice.

You could have the same amazing drill, but for that extra high

GE score, you could have triple axels!

Axels on axles?

[zachariaswmb]

I posted this in response to a picture of Crescendo in another thread:

Hey, it's the crescendo bicycle band! We had a member at Empire this year who travelled over from Holland to march, and he has been "marching" with crescendo for years! This was his first year over here, but his brother and a friend of his brother's came over in (I think?) 2002. They're fantastic, and Leonard was a ton of fun to have around. If you watch videos of Crescendo the that site (and I highly recommend it), you'll see a member doing solos on a unicycle. That would be Leonard. He brought his unicycle over to the states, and would ride it around everywhere. There are videos of him riding down suburban streets (he stayed with corps members), and playing his horn, with the local kids following him around on their bikes. A great guy, and a lifetime worth of stories involving him from his summer here.

[BRASSO]

I think the bigger innovation in this corps has to do with instrumentation.

All these things simply go in cycles.

But if we're not careful, the wheels will all come off on the activity.

[Michael Boo]

All these things simply go in cycles.

But if we're not careful, the wheels will all come off on the activity.

(Groan.)

[JohnD]

I had the great pleasure of being at the World Music Contest in Kerkrade, Netherlands in 2005 and witnessed the Dutch bicycle band rehearse, then perform before a packed stadium. As you might image, the crowd went NUTS for them.

Yes, some of the players use specially-modified bikes - which allow the use of both hands on the instrument. Yes, they wore traditional costumes and wooden clogs as they rode (in formation) and then marched on the field.

Bottom line - it made for a very entertaining evening.

More information on the Crescendo Bicycle Band

[Michael Boo]

I had the great pleasure of being at the World Music Contest in Kerkrade, Netherlands in 2005 and witnessed the Dutch bicycle band rehearse, then perform before a packed stadium. As you might image, the crowd went NUTS for them.

Yes, some of the players use specially-modified bikes - which allow the use of both hands on the instrument. Yes, they wore traditional costumes and wooden clogs as they rode (in formation) and then marched on the field.

Bottom line - it made for a very entertaining evening.

More information on the Crescendo Bicycle Band

John, from what you witnessed, does it look as hard in person to maintain balance as it seems to me from viewing the videos? I can't imagine myself pulling that off. Or, are there tiny little transparent training wheels we can't see in the videos?

[BRASSO]

(Groan.)

This thread's not all THAT bad. It's interesting to have a discussion thread comparing DCI Corpsbands with Europeon bicycle bands. In my view, we have a few things in common with Europeon bicycle bands but I did notice that the bicycle bands had no guard, nor flags, so maybe the brass and drums playing in the Europeon bicycle bands gets more brass and drums playing credit on the score sheets compared to the DCI score sheets of today. But who knows.

[Michael Boo]

This thread's not all THAT bad. It's interesting to have a discussion thread comparing DCI Corpsbands with Europeon bicycle bands. In my view, we have a few things in common with Europeon bicycle bands but I did notice that the bicycle bands had no guard, nor flags, so maybe the brass and drums playing in the Europeon bicycle bands gets more brass and drums playing credit on the score sheets compared to the DCI score sheets of today. But who knows.

My groan was addressing your puns. I didn't mean for the thread to shift gears and send it coasting downhill. These threads sometimes follow a certain chain of thought, pedaling all over the road and sometimes getting flat tires. I'll try to keep things pumped up.

[BRASSO]

Very impressive and in some of the footage, they appear to be wearing wooden shoes.

And here I was was thinking how hard the parades with steep hills used to be when I marched.

I can just imagine being in a bicycle band doing a parade with step hills on a bike with tuba.

Uphill :..... push, push, push

downhill. :...' everybody the hell out the the way !!

[Jeff Ream]

DCA's Empire Statesmen in 2002 had a couple of guys from a Dutch bicycle band... I'm pretty sure it was the band mentioned in this thread... in their corps that summer.

The two bicycled around the field playing sopranos, and generally causing mayhem....LOL... during the Statesmen's version of "Officer Krupke" that year.

that was fun to watch