What states should have a drum corps?

[acvulm87]

Ha ha that's now added to the list

[GlassmenBtone]

I have heard two people say it Louisiana needs one. I'm in North Louisiana and there are many DCi folks around here. 3 high school band directors and 1 college (that I know of) are regiment alums. Dr. Rinehart at ULM is the brass caption head for the glassmen. Northwestern state has multiple members in regiment and in cavies. There are a bunch who have marched corps in LA and some that have the ability but the distance is the biggest concern. We could support it most of the bands in North LA are strong and so is South LA if we had one I'm sure it would take off....as long as the words gator, swamp or Cajun stay out of the name

The Bleu Raeders are from New Orleans even though they aren't currently active they used to make world class finals from what I understand. Any you dinosaurs remember them??

[PepsiTwist]

we have the Thunder, but it'd be great to have another corps, world class, here in Washington state. It may just bring more contests/corps to the pacific northwest. There are some incredible band programs up here (including in Oregon and Idaho). I assume that due to the nature of tours hovering more in the mid-west and east coast, cost would be a major factor. I love my home - but when it comes to DCI, I seriously feel like I'm in another country and half a world away from everything. Oh well... makes for a great excuse to take a weekend trip to CA.

[The Other Mike]

The Bleu Raeders are from New Orleans even though they aren't currently active they used to make world class finals from what I understand. Any you dinosaurs remember them??

I believe I explained it in an earlier post.

[DrumCorpsMom]

The correct answer, of course, is ALL OF THEM.

And every province in Canada too!!!

[GlassmenBtone]

Wow, and yet you left out Moe Latour ?

Start with The Crescent City Cadets / Southernairs back in the 50's and early 60's that turned into the Masquaraders / Crescent City Rebels / Stardusters

In the late 60's it was Southern Rebels / Masquraders / Stardusters

In 72 the Blue Raeders were formed and harvested members from the other three and went on to place in finals at the first DCI. However, as this was the first experiment in a BoD run corps as opposed to a one man show, many good people like Moe Latour and Marty Hurley left for other DCI corps where people with the heart for competition were running the corps. During this same time period, the Golden Shields came into being as a youth group of the NOPD but never made it to the field for competition. Of course there was also the parade corps that was associated with Prytania school but was really nothing more than a winter guard and parade corps.

Of course Stardusters and Bleu Raeders merged for 74 and were called Regiment Militare until splitting again for the 75 season.

Southernairs reemerged to take DCI calss A championships in 81 ? 82 ? I can't remember.

Later Expressions emerged out of Hammond Louiaiana and lasted for a few years.

For a time, large groups of kids from Louisiana marched Blue Stars,Phantom, Cadets and later Troopers ( as well as many individual kids marching in almost every marjor corps.

Louisiana and New Orleans has a rich history in drum corps and to think at one point there were five active corps in New Orleans.

The biggest problem with drum corps in this area is politics, heat and humidity.

Thanks for the history of Louisiana corps. If your not here to tell it to me I will never know. And your right all days in this climate i almost see as next to impossible. I can remember stopping in Louisiana for just one day last year and it being hell and thinking i live here. The air is so dam thick and hot you can barely move. Until we get a world class corps Louisiana kids are going to continue to go to other states to march. We have some of the best musicians in the country here.

[MetalTones2012]

Recently I was sitting around and reflecting on the story of the Academy and how they came to be and a great inquiry arose...

Part of the story I heard was Mark Richardson met with fellow drum corps fanatics to talk about starting a drum corps in the greater Phoenix area. Some of the questions that came of this meeting was generally something like this: 'Why does Phoenix (the 5th largest city in the US) not have a drum corps? Why do music students in Phoenix have to travel out of state to obtain such an experience?'. I kind of got to thinking about other states that now have a similar situation. For example, New York has a reputation for being one of the best states for music education but yields no drum corps (then again you have to consider that the east coast has quite a few of them, but still...). New York City is also the most populated city in the US. Or even a state like Utah where it is beautiful in the summer! Also, the ammount of Mormon families in the state could help with sustainability. Though it may be a generalization, Mormon families always seem to support their youth's activities to the bitter end. These are just two completely random examples.

So all this left me with this question: What states (or cities) do you feel should have a drum corps that currently do not have one?

Opinion away...

The areas within New York City's borders are definitely not suited for a drum corps rehearsal! Even if there is a place to rehearse that doesn't cost a fortune and months on a waiting list to rent, you have the problem of disturbing the locals. As for the areas next to NYC, here is a list of corps in that area:

Sunrisers (Long Island)

Caballeros (Northern NJ)

Fusion Core (also Northern NJ)

Bushwackers (once again, Northern NJ)

and corps within a 2 hour drive:

Windsor Regiment (Central NJ)

Hurricanes (Connecticut)

Raiders (Southern NJ, formerly yet recently Northern NJ)

Jersey Surf, The Cadets (and Cadets2), and the Reading Bucs require slightly longer commutes, but they're close enough to see and get back to NYC in less than one day. Oh, and the Empire Statesmen are in Rochester, which is nowhere near NYC but still in the state.

NOW THAT ALL OF THAT HAS BEEN SAID.....

I think the Salt Lake City area would be a beautiful place for a new drum corps. The west (excluding California and Cascadia) definitely needs more exposure to this activity, and there was just recently a very big show there. I'd also add New Orleans, Kansas City, and anywhere in Canada to that list.

Edited July 8, 2011 by MetalTones2012

[The Other Mike]

Thanks for the history of Louisiana corps. If your not here to tell it to me I will never know. And your right all days in this climate i almost see as next to impossible. I can remember stopping in Louisiana for just one day last year and it being hell and thinking i live here. The air is so dam thick and hot you can barely move. Until we get a world class corps Louisiana kids are going to continue to go to other states to march. We have some of the best musicians in the country here.

No problem, I'm glad someone is interested. I might be off a little bit on some dates but thats pretty close.

The Greater New Orleans Drum Corps Associatin gives out some scolarship money each year for kids to march. one scolarship each in brass, percussion and guard. There have been years that no money was given out because no one applied for it. I'm proud to say one of my students received $500 towards his tour fee this summer with Blue Devils.

They have been doing some fundraising and social events as well as a baisc feeder type corps for younger kids to learn the basics of marching so later they can audition for an open or world class corps. GNODCA also sponsors a winter guard and a drumline as well.

What ever happened to the DCA type corps from North Louisiana ? Masqueraders I think, and for a few years there was an all age corps out of Jackson Ms. but I have not heard anything lately.

At one point I was very involved but after an illness in 04 that put me in the hospital for 69 days, I've just not had the energy.

Theres alot of interest in the state but it's not like the old days when people came together and did a few loans on their houses and bought a set of horns and drums and 2 used buses and called a practice. Without serious money, it ain't gonna happen. While I love what modern corps have done, we really killed many goups chances of starting up with the costs of 2 trucks, a huge pit etc.

Now, if we could do a "retro" division that followed along the lines of say 1980 DCI, it would be much easier to get up and running. ( and I bet it would add fans into the stands to see and enjoy the throwback shows )

Keep the spirit

[Rick Schumann]

Geez, didn't know anyone out there ever heard of Na Koa Ali'i (even with the correct spelling and translation). You're correct though, in that we (Mark Dewine & Rick Schumann) started the corps back around 1976-77 time frame. Mark & I were both in the US Marine Corps stationed at Kaneohe Bay, HI at the time. Mark's MOS (Military Occupational Speciality) put him in the US Marine Drum & Bugle Corps - as a drummer, while I was fixing helicopters as an avionics technician with MAG-24 H&MS-24).

It was Mark's idea to start-up Na Koa Ali'i. He came up with the name, the logo was designed by an US Air Force graphics artist name Patrick Girade, along with his wife Jane, had a daughter Angela who was in our guard as a silk/flag bearer. Pat designed the logo and silk-screened them ontol bright red buttoned windbreakers. The kids wore white trousers and we ordered a white SCV style hat with a yellow ostrich plume and a yellow 'dickie' for around their necks. That was our uniform. Mark  & I would travel around the island (Oahu) looking for sponsors (i.e. money). Mark purchased a film sold by McCormicks of Chicago (remember them?), that featured the SCV 'first year member' who the film followed him through his first year with Vanguard. It was an actual 16mm film - about an hour long. Mark & I would cart that film with us wherever we went and played it for anyone who we could get to watch as either a recruiting tool (when we showed it to HS bands around the island) or if we showed it to businesses or foundations when we were trying to raise money. We had 'big plans' on taking the corps on the road, if not to do anything else but to perform in exhibition, One of our hair-brained ideas to get the corps to the mainland was hoping a ride back to the mainland on a Liberty House department store cargo jet that flew to and from the mainland weekly to deliver merchandise for Liberty House department stores. Didn't get too far with that one :-)

We just wanted to get the kids back to the mainland at the time to allow them to experience what drum corps was all about. Unfortunately, we never made it off the Island. The corps was together for about 4 years before both Mark & I left the islands. I believe at the height of our corps, I *think* we fielded about 20 flags, a color guard, maybe 6-8 rifles, around 20-25 horns and 4 bass, 2 cymbals, 6 snares, 2 tri-toms (quads were either too expensive or unavailble - not sure which). we primarily marched in local parades, opened an Islands semipro baseball game, and performed exhibitions of HS marching competitions. We didn't have any drill at the time - other than what it took to march onto the field into concert formation, play or songs, then march off. Our 'street time' cadence was provided to us by the Reading Buccaneers, warm-up by the Blue Devils and Vanguard, and dreams of 'what could have been' from Mark & I.

Mark left first around 1979 and eventually, I  left around 1980 with my wife who I met in Hawaii. Our good friend, John Min was our percussion-head during these times and took over the reigns for a brief period after we both left. John being an early student of ScoJo (Scott Johnson of Blue Devil fame). I think it was John who got the Blue Devils drumline to sponsor a 'bowl-a-thon' fund-raiser once for our fledgling corps at the time. Blue Devils and SCV gave us support & encouragement from afar back then. I distinctly remember meeting Steve Jeffries (of Milpitas CA). Steve just made the SCV snareline the year we met in Waikiki with his parents while vacationing. Steve helped and encouraged us from afar. Another SVC percussionist (tonal bass line) Rick ??? (crap, I'm getting too old to remember - sorry Rick)  hung our with us for a brief period and helped with our percussion section. Both Pete Emmons and Fred Sanford (RIP) traveled to Hawaii and spent about a week there, with us, primarily working with a local high school (Mililanni - Ron Hirai band directory). We got some of our corps members from Mililanni HS Trojan band) during that time.

All of these guys were rock stars to our corps members (as they still are)  and to Mark & I :-) too. Those were some of my best memories of being stationed in Hawaii. The Na Koa Ali'i name still lives on today since leaving. The corps has dis-banded, but the name is now associated with the Hawaii All State high schools band program.

Sorry, I wanted to paste/upload a photo of our corps logo, but this site only allows a link to an image via a URL - which unfortunately, I don't have posted anyware. Maybe in the future.