In previous articles I have talked about what it is like performing in a drum corps color guard. I have also said before I am apart of the Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps that has been running for 62 years now. We are one of the most respected drum corps in the open class world. Not many people know what Drum Corps is so I'm here to educate you the most important things you should know about what I do since I love it so much. I could honestly go on for days on end about this sport but I won't bore you with those details. So here are 12 things I think you should know about Drum Corps!
1. What Drum Corps actually is.
Drum Corps is a traveling preforming arts group consisting of about 150+ members that all march together during the summer and compete at the World Class Championships in August of every year.
2. Marching band and Drum Corps are similar, but not the same thing.
Although Drum Corps is a marching band, it is a special kind of Marching band. Marching band has woodwind instruments whereas Drum Corps there is no use of woodwinds. But there is a drum line, pit, brass, and color guard in both.
3. Drum Corps breaks down into two classes.
So DCI breaks down into two different classes. Open Class (which is what my Drum Corps is) and World Class. Open class there are no auditions except for horn players and drum line. World Class an entire audition process.
4. People from all over the world have marched in Drum Corps.
In my corps we've had people come from other states, Canada and England. Some corps hold people from China and Ireland in their cores!
5. DCI World Championships take place at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Every year at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indiana, home of the Colts, the World Class Championships happen, and if an Open Class core scores well, they also get to compete against World Class corps!
6. You are stuck with the same people all summer.
Pretty much from April to August you see the same people every weekend getting better and achieving goals. If you're in World Class you pretty much spend from Spring Training to August together which is about four months.
7. The cost of tuition depends on what Corps you march.
Open class cores usually cost from $1,000 to $2,000 and World Class can go from $3,000+ but man, is it worth it when you put that uniform on.
8. Anybody can do Drum Corps.
As a person speaking from this experience, I didn't have any experience going into Spartans. We even have people who have never spun in our color guard before.
9. Drum Corps is a sport.
Many people think that Drum Corps isn't a sport because it's the same thing as a Marching Band but it isn't. We spend countless hours rehearsing and by countless I mean 16 hour rehearsals three days a week, then go on tour for 18 days. We are running, dancing, spinning, holding an instrument, counting, playing music, preforming. Pretty much doing weird crap to our body that nobody would think was possible.
10. Sometimes you preform in front of 10,000 people plus some.
Especially if you're in a World Class corps they usually fill college football stadiums, you can imagine how many people that is. Open Class gets quite a few but it depends on where your corps is from. 10,000 or even 1,000 it's still a lot of people.
11. A show can run from 10 to 20 minutes depending on the story.
Again it all depends most World Class corps have longer shows because they are more advanced at everything. My last show I did was about 10 to 15 minutes, but honestly you never keep track during preforming.
12. You do things with your body that you never thought was possible.
Like I said before, we have flexible bodies, we learn how to dance and we spin and twist in ways that hurt, but once you get the hang of it everything looks so good. Running around for 16+ hours a rehearsal is intense but you need to in order to get things done.
