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