My Drum Corps Summer 2006 in Review

[SoonerFan04]

Thank you!

I was kind of worried you didn't enjoy Memphis' show as much this year having not seen anything about it yet. lol I have always been a huge fan of your posts - you always provide something I wish there was more of on DCP. You have a real love and appreciation for drum corps and your support of Div. II/III has been awesome. I love how you notice the smaller things as well that might usually got un-noticed here in the review section.

Thank you for taking the time to write such nice things about all the corps you saw this summer.

[JustABandMom]

oh, I have a "story" about this corps ... courtesy of the family from Iowa. I'm still shaking my head about the way my grandson actually talked these nice people into making time in their vacation plans to meet us in Madison to share his newest passion. Since he was alone with me and they had a son his age, with twin older sisters who were probably thirteen/fourteen, both boys were in need of someone to hang and play with at the waterpark. The boys just hit it off well and I understand both families are permitting them to stay in touch via internet correspondence ... anyway ... They all came to see the Division II/III Finals on Saturday knowing nothing about drum corps. The girls, being young teenage girls, were enjoying all those tanned, handsome teenage boys in uniform and they started keeping some elaborate personal ranking system when Memphis came on the field ... to decide which guard they wanted to join. Well, when all was said and done, they decided that "Memphis ruled." I figured they were just passing the time. But my grandson told me when I visited recently that, according to their brother's emails, both girls joined the colorguard at their high school this year and that they are still saying they want to join Memphis Sound someday.

more memories later ... must get some work done ...

What a nice story, and how nice these things are to hear. Curious as to your grandson's age and if he plays an instrument? Seems like he might have aspirations of his own. I just love to see kids find their way into this activity -- both marching band and drum corps. Seems like no finer activity for kids. They have fun, hone their craft, and it builds fine character -- all at the same time.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights. Been a pleasant read...

[oldguard]

Thank you!

... You have a real love and appreciation for drum corps ..."

You are welcome and yes, I do and I am sorry I was remiss not letting you are your corps know how much I enjoyed your show this summer.

After seeing and enjoying Memphis Sound for the first time last year, I was very much looking forward to your show this year. It was well worth the wait.

Memphis Sound is a drum corps I much admire. In just the few years you've been around you have accomplished much. You are well into establishing your own identity and are putting on a highly entertaining show; you're a good-sized group of very talented kids and your staff is teaching you well. Your administration is putting together a great tour for you, sending you out on what looks to me to be one of the most, if not the most, shows for a Div II corps, giving you plenty of performance opportunities ... and you just keep getting better and better.

I really see a bright future for Memphis Sound and hope I am always able to catch your show somewhere. I look forward to seeing you next year.

And from what I have read on these boards you are good kid and it looks to me like your corps is full of good kids and your staff is helping you to all become great kids.

To me, that is what a successful drum corps is all about.

[oldguard]

What a nice story, and how nice these things are to hear. Curious as to your grandson's age and if he plays an instrument? Seems like he might have aspirations of his own. I just love to see kids find their way into this activity -- both marching band and drum corps. Seems like no finer activity for kids. They have fun, hone their craft, and it builds fine character -- all at the same time.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights. Been a pleasant read...

Thank You.

I was happy this summer to be able to take my grandson and his younger sister to their first drum corps show this year. I was even happier that he was able to come along with me to Madison and that he was so enthusiastic. He has a couple of more years before he would be old enough to join. Right now, he plays trombone in his middle school band. Drum corps has already had a positive effect on him. According to my daughter, he and the three buddies he talked me into taking along to a show last season have greatly pleased their instumental music teacher with the fact they have been practicing and they have actually brought a couple of other kids into the band. Yes, he does have his heart set on joining a corps someday.

more memorable moments soon ... must get back outside and enjoy what is left of this bright, colorful, warm, beautiful sunny day in the northeast ...

[ravedodger]

All I can say is thank you for sharing such a wonderful and moving review.

I have always had hopes that a child of mine would become even remotely interested in drum corps. I don't know that my daughter ever will, but you give me hope with grandchildren--since my daughter is only eleven, I hope I don't have grandchildren for at least another fifteen years.

Anyway, you're a very lucky man. You have a gift in your grandson and talent in your writing.

Edited October 10, 2006 by ravedodger

[oldguard]

All I can say is thank you for sharing such a wonderful and moving review.

I have always had hopes that a child of mine would become even remotely interested in drum corps. I don't know that my daughter ever will, but you give me hope with grandchildren--since my daughter is only eleven, I hope I don't have grandchildren for at least another fifteen years.

Anyway, you're a very lucky man. You have a gift in your grandson and talent in your writing.

Thank you for your kind words. Sorry, it has taken me a few days to respond. I am something of a weekend person at this point in my life when it comes to drum corps (must be why the Div II/III corps just seem to suit me so much) and it has been a busy week.

Also, I admit that I have been staring at that word "lucky" for a few days.

Yes, I am a lucky man ... I have the gift of my three grandchildren, my beautiful, strong daughter and her well-chosen husband. My daughter dutifully took piano and dance lessons for her mother, my late wife, for ten years, but her heart was never to be found there. Nor did her yearnings take her onto a drum corps field and so I just let her find her own way and followed at a distance. In her youth, she threw a fierce softball, sat a fine horse, skied like the wind and later, in college, rowed with rhythm and power. Now, she is a country veterinarian specializing in large animals and, actually, she still can pitch, ride, ski and row. Sometimes, we share a ride, ski a snowy hill, paddle a river, or have a catch together. Sometimes you learn things you never thought you would just to be with your children. I suppose some parents learn about drum corps that way.

My grandson took up his horn and joined the band on his own. My granddaughter loves her dance lessons. Last summer, my daughter suggested I take the two older kids to a show and, for my grandson, at least, there appears to be no looking back. Time will tell if he or his sister decide to push to march. I suspect they would have to push, too, as distance will be a problem. It is much too soon to tell with the youngest boy who is only two.

Anyway ...

More Memorable Moments:

Blue Knights beautiful hornline sound ... so rich and thick it just poured like melted dark chocolate ... so many twists and innuendos and hidden, almost forbidden, pathways in that show ...

Cadets ... so many good horn players jumping off ridiculous (excuse me) pink benches ...

Vision Elite ... speaking of good horn players ... these kids were great ... Earth, Wind and Fire and Quincy Jones music ... I just loved it ... and what a drumline ... and in the early season their guard added dimension ... most of their guard and some of their hornline did not make the trip to Madison (probably one of those "I have things to do you know, like work" problems) ... I am hoping to see much, much more of this corps in the future ...

more later ...

[oldguard]

"'The time has come,' the Walrus said, 'To talk of many things ...'"

In reflection, that which remains most vibrant as time passes, is that which is truly memorable. So the time has come to talk more of Spartans and that unforgettable performance at finals ...

It was at Bridgeport that their brooding, dark theme stepped, literally, into the light. Suddenly, that which was shrouded in doubt was filled with hope. The Spartans had hit their stride and were on their way. This show was called "Advent Rising," after the music that was chosen, but what it really was about was the making of the hero. And the Spartans play "Hero" with a capital letter. Oh, the promise was there in the beginning, in Nashua, although there it was muddy and bumbled ... I actually saw a flag clock one of the cymbal players who hit the ground in the closing and even the wonderful mello soloist bobbled the beginning ... but he pulled it out with that long clear note at the end and thus the seed was laid for what was to come. This is a corps who will take anyone who cares to strive into the hornline and teach them to play and to march and enable them to find the hero within ... for that, clearly, is what the Spartans are about. I've said before that the Spartan themes are explorations into the human psyche and this show told perfectly about what it takes to examine one's inner being, embrace the flaws, and find the strength and stamina to rise above. And rise they did.

After Bridgeport the hero journeyed southward and I did not see them again until Madison, where they simply amazed me with their growth. And still they strove. Something happened during that week that can never be explained to me with satisfaction. But I tell you without the shadow of a doubt ... I witnessed triumph in the Spartans on Saturday. When they came on the field they wore their hearts upon their sleeves, the hero bloodied, but unbowed. The very air was filled with the vibration of their passion to perform as they stood silent on the field stretching backward in their opening visual. It was intense. Their performance was literally breathtaking. Every caption reached inside themselves and gave the performance of a lifetime. The hornline was blended and powerful; the pit and the drumline played as one; the guard ... that beautiful and strong guard ... truly played the muse. The visuals were perfect. The soloists gave their best and their best was amazing. The moment when the mello soloist saluted us with his horn, the hero said, "I have come to save the kingdom" and the hero went forth into the heart of the whole corps and the last two movements and they slew the dragons. There was even a moment of playful joy when their spirit soared. They truly left it all on the field that day and that I shall always remember. Even now, it catches in my throat and my eyes tear up. When they left the field, like good soldiers, they gathered their casualties and carried them away. At the end of the day, my grandson raged (in front of the good people from Iowa) and he had his first lesson in what is truly waged and fought and won on a drum corps field. When he was calm again, he looked at me and asked, "Will they play Fire and can we go?" I thought it over and said, "Yes, I think they will and, no, this one is for themselves alone." He brooded on this a few and when he looked at me again in his eyes I saw the man he will become and he said. "Someday I am going to be a Spartan and then I will have earned the right to be there."

Next year, Spartans, we will be there and waiting …

Edited October 17, 2006 by oldguard

[oldguard]

No, I have never been a member of the Spartan organization.

I know because I marched many years ago in a corps that was such as they and that has made all the difference in my life. I was a street kid who somehow found my way into the corps hall, where the good people there enabled me. I doubt very much I would have even graduated high school, much less gone to college, were it not for them ... and for drum corps.

[... Postscript: Because the walls have eyes, I still have friends in Madison and I cared to find out ... I learned that, yes, they did play Fire for themsleves. The Spartan hornline stood in uniform on the platform entryway to the Kohl Center waiting for everyone who needed to be there to make the long walk back from the stadium and to assemble. When the Academy marched by on the street below them, they put down their horns and went over to applaud them as they passed. Then they went back to the arc and when their muses, who were rightfully spent, finally arrived, they cheered them and then they played ...]

Someday, should he chose, I would trust them with my grandson.

[oldguard]

Please excuse another public response to a private post:

Really, I am just a drum corps fan. I have never even spoken with anyone in your corps or corps management beyond courtesies exchanged at your home show last July and the few posts such as this one on these boards. I have more or less decided to keep it that way for the time being in the interest of trying to remain an impartial observer. But I have been around drum corps long enough to know the real deal when I see it.

Certain corps at certain times over the years have been able to just pull me in with their commitment and dedication and energy expended in the effort ... it's called "heart" ... and because of it I have always been able to see all the details more clearly ...

... and, right now, I suspect I saw you raise a flag at the fifty in your opener last summer ... and you looked up at your audience and did a mental "this is it ... my last dance for you" ... and you poured all ten years into that moment ... and it was truly beautiful.

Ten years ... what an amazing run.

Congratulations and best wishes for the future ...

and may you go on to teach others what you have learned.

[BozzlyB]

What a great thread. If only we could experience more threads like this throughout the season. It is amazing how much negativity is posted on DCP at times. I think sometimes we forget to look back and remember, and understand that people too numerous to mention that have touched OUR lives in a positive way are likely looking back and share a memory that puts a smile on THEIR face, thanks to numero uno (insert own name here). The experience of marching drum corps would be nothing without the name and faces we attach to all the wonderful memories. Mork, Joe, Hansen, Route, Weeks, Furlano, Butler, Conniff,.........the list goes on forever...........