Drum Corps International (DCI) has been 'alive' since 1972, the year I
was born. But Drum and Bugle Corps' have been around since the early
1930's. A few "father's" of these corps, in the late 60's early 70's got
together and wanted to preserve the future of Drum Corps, and came up
with what we have today as
DCI.
I have known about drum corps since 1987,
but didn't see a real live competition until August 1990. DCI
East in Allentown, PA. I saw for my first time the Cadets of
Bergen County, Blue Devils, Phantom Regiment, Madison Scouts, Crossmen,
Dutch Boy, Boston Crusaders, Freelancers, Magic of Orlando and the
Troopers. Everyone I was with were pretty much rooting for the
Cadets, but my favorite that year were the Blue Devils. Cadets won
that show by .30 of a point.
In
October of 1990, while riding back from a high school band competition,
I talked with a friend who graduated from my high school, and who
marched with The Cavaliers, about the drum corps activity. He told me
how much fun he had his two years of marching, and thought that I should
make the effort and audition at the opening camp.
I went with him to the camp in November to audition for the Cavaliers. Over 100 people came
for 64 positions in the horn line. Some of the "holes" would be filled
by returning members, others by 'new guys'. I don't even know how many
other people were there that weekend auditioning for the
drum line, the guard, and
the pit, but boy was the gym floor crowded that weekend!
During that November
camp, the newly appointed drum major, Rob Wis, came up to me and said I
looked like Sluggo from the cartoon, "Nancy and Sluggo".
The nickname stuck, and so everyone in the corps started calling me by
my "new" name.
It felt good having a nickname, made me feel like part of the corps.
Anyway, I tried
out that weekend, and surprisingly, was able to take a bugle home to
practice for the next camp in December. I didn't think I did that great.
I'm a Trombone player, and didn't know how to key for the valves, but
the instructors insured everyone that as long as you were willing to
learn, and practice hard, you MIGHT get a spot. During my
audition, the instructor, who I later found out was John Timmons-Drum
Major for 1990, helped me out with the fingering of the horn! There are
three camps that are designed for auditions: November, December and
maybe January. Needless to say, I took that horn home and
practiced my little heart out for the next few months.
I
had a lot to learn. I was in one of the best High School
marching bands in the State of Virginia, the James Wood Marching Colonels
from
Winchester VA. But
as fate would have it, the hard work we put into practicing and
performing, never prepared me for the long hot summer days of practice. Unless you marched drum corps, you wouldn't believe the long
hours we spent in the hot summer sun, marching from goal line to goal
line on our heels, on our toes, and then going from the backs of our
heels to the tips of our toes. This would give the effect that you
would get as if you were watching people on a moving sidewalk. We
would do this for hours and hours, perfecting our walk/marching
technique. This is after 2 1/2 months of marching goal to goal, learning how
to make a seamless effort from walking/marching step by step! This would
help us with the tone quality too. You would learn to be almost seamless
instead of hearing the huffing and puffing through the horns like you
would with some High School bands.
One of the people that
would really make sure that this technique worked was a former marching
member of the Cavaliers, Scott Seal. Scott
had marched with the Cavalier Cadet corps, and continued up through the
ranks to the Cavalier Junior Corps. If you had problems doing
something, Scott would come over, look at your coordinates, look at
the field, and march it. If he couldn't do it, then no one
would be able to, and so the drill was changed. If he did make the spot, then
you pretty much looked like an idiot because you just wasted the corps' time,
and most importantly, his time.
The reason for perfecting the marching
was to help us smooth the transitions of the designs that we made on the
field. We would work on how many steps, what size of steps, and the
direction of steps we would take in marching from set to set. Each individual on
the field has their own 'dot' co-ordinance to learn. It would normally be
around 80-90 sets (around 200 today) you would have to learn for a 10 minute show.
We would practice the different moves, over and over until it was second
nature to march this without flaw, or close to it. Sometimes, depending
what the judges feel of the formations we make, we would have to change
sets and re-learn new ones. With all the practicing and running around
we did, we averaged around 21-24 miles a day. Now this is not just
limited to the Cavaliers, I assume that all the other top 12 corps
averaged similar distance.
On
an average day, we would wake up around 7am. Between 7-8, we would have
breakfast/shower and get ready for exercises. From 9-10, stretch, do
sit-ups, jumping jacks, push-ups, and run approximately 1-2 miles. This
was always a task since after the first lap, we would do coordinated
breathing. (next time you jog, try doing this....breathe in for 2
seconds, breathe out for 2 seconds, then breathe in for 4 seconds,
breathe out for 8 seconds, then start over. It is very hard to learn
this...oh, don't make any noise while doing this, just breathe.)
After the jog, we would have a break, then probably start on marching
basics. From
10-11, we would work on our marching, posture, holding the horn up/down,
marching back and forth on the field. We would march 8 steps per 5
yards, (this is the marching step for all types of marching) then 6 to
5, 4 to 5 and sometimes just for kicks, try 3 & 2 to 5 yards. From
11-12, we would work on some drill. We would try to work on any
corrections the designers felt we needed to work on. From 12-1,
LUNCH/rest. From 1-3, more drill design work. From 3-5 we would start
working on music. Usually for the first 30 minutes, we would warm up,
and the last 30 minutes warm down. Five comes around and it's dinner.
Six-Ten...This would consist of the full corps usually, putting
everything together. Music/Drill. Before the end of the night, usually
did about 2-3 complete run-throughs of the show. A full show would last
between 9-11 minutes.
Nights of a contest are a little
different. The afternoon would be shorten to allow music/drill together.
Usually around 5-6 your on the road to the show site. Then you warm up
physically/mentally, then music wise, and march to the show and compete.
After the show, you would get together with other corps for a snack, and then travel
to the next city/town. Roll in around 4-5am, go sleep on the gym floor,
wake up around 10am, and the day starts all over again.
Now, do note that it has been around 13 years since I last did this, and
I'm writing all of this by poor memory. Things are probably around the
same, but I'm sure the schedules are more harsh these days.
It takes time and dedication to learn
and study the drill of each show. As I stated above, from February-May,
your learning the drill for the first time. Usually by the time tour
starts, middle of June, there have already been significant changes to
the drill. Possibly the drill didn't fit the music, or the music didn't
sound right, so they changed the music. Constantly throughout the
summer, the music changes, and the drill changes. It is possible that by
the time the championships come around, a corps is doing a completely
different show than what they started off on. This isn't just with the
composer/designers ideas, it's also from being judged during the
different contests. The judges give their perspective on the show and
say something like, you need to change this, or the flags didn't look
right, or WOW, that was awesome! After the contest, the instructors
listen to the adjudicators tapes to see what the corps needs to work
on for the future.
We really saw the
country on tour. Well, actually we saw many high school gyms, and high
school football fields. When we would pull in, in the weeee hours of the
morning, we would go sleep on the gym floors. We each had our own little
spots to sleep in. They weren't assigned spots, it's just a place that
you find comfortable in the gym. Mine was usually under the basketball
net inside the 3-point area with four other friends. First thing in the
morning, the field staff would be out scouting the area for some great
locations to have a make-shift football field to practice on. They would
go out and spray paint the grass, usually about three of them. One for
the Guard, one for the percussion, and one for the horns. This way
during sectionals, each group had their own field to work on. While one
group was working on drill, another could be working on music. It worked
out well most of the time. Once in a while, they had to have the fields
over lap, but it wasn't often.
Here
is a picture of me when I marched in 1991, this picture was taken at a
Preview in Madison, WI. Who would have known that 12 months later, we
would come back to Camp Randall stadium and win The DCI World
Championship for the first time in our Cavalier history. The two years I
marched with the Cavaliers have been the best two years so far in my
life. I wish I could devote more of my time to be with the corps, but my
full time job calls!
One interesting tidbit about this corps is one of
it's nicknames: Green Machine
It has been told
that when the corps is moving, it looks like a never-ending motion and
the designs look like gears of a machine at work. This was a nickname
that was given to the corps back in the 60's/70's. During tour,
you really start to learn a lot about the history of the corps.
History that you normally wouldn't hear about in public. A lot of
it you learn your second year. With the Cavaliers, you get
initiated during your second year of marching. If you are a first year
member, but are an 'age-out', then you can be initiated too. The
Cavaliers figure that if you
come back a second year, you are more dedicated to the corps. I would go
into talking about the initiation process, but I would be killed by my
fellow brothers! So, you will have to go and march to learn what it
takes to be a Cavalier.
Here are two letters
written after the summer of 1992 and printed in the CABA newsletter.
It congratulated the members of that corps who won the DCI World
Championship for the first time.
Cavaliers
1992
