The highlight of my 2003 summer happened when I was sitting in the bleachers of some high school in Dallas.
That day was an amazing musical experience -- better than any concert I've ever been to. I was at a national tour stop of several drum corps from Drum Corps International (DCI).
No, drum corps is not the same thing as marching band. In fact, some people describe drum corps as marching band on steroids. In technical terms, there are no woodwinds in drum corps, meaning there are no flutes, clarinets or saxophones. Also, some of the brass instruments are built differently. If you want to get to the heart of the matter though, the differences are much harder to describe in words.
A drum corps show is intense. The combination of drums and brass is enough to blow somebody out of his or her seat, especially in the loud moments of a particular piece. DCI sells DVDs of each corps after every season. The DVDs from the World Championships are slightly pricey but amazing to watch. The footage is recorded with very high quality that makes the performances really come alive. The DVDs don't compare to actually attending a live performance, but they come pretty close.
I had an incredible experience at the live DCI show 2003. One of the groups at the tour stop in Dallas was the 11-time DCI World Champion, Blue Devils, which performed a stationary encore. The musicians arranged themselves in a half circle on the fifty-yard line and played their show for a second time. I happened to be standing in the bleachers in the middle of the arc, and I swear I could feel a huge wave of sound almost knock me over. It's an experience that's unique to drum corps shows. I haven't been able to find it anywhere else, even when standing in front of the speakers at the Bryce Jordan Center.
The Blue Devils is just one of many corps in Division I of DCI. Divisions II and III have fewer members and the performers are younger. The musicians in all Divisions of DCI are eligible to perform as long as they are younger than 21 before June 1, and Members of Division III corps can be as young as 10 years old.
Loudness is definitely not the only appeal of drum corps music. The quiet moments can be just as impressive. Instead, it's all about the feelings the music evokes. Just like listening to songs with lyrics, instrumental music can produce the same effects when played correctly.
The high squealing of a trumpet or the low rumble of a contrabass can produce joy, sadness or unrest when notes are played in discord. That aspect of the music makes drum corps shows so entertaining. People don't just sit there and watch -- all of their emotions are involved.
The Blue Devils show that year was called The Phenomenon of Cool: Unsquare Dances and it lived up to its name. It was both cool and a phenomenon, and it remains my favorite corps show to this day. The music never had a boring moment.
Every year, all the groups try to outdo each other in originality of the music and drill formations. To make these intense shows, corps members spend weeks on end rehearsing all day during the summer.
