Klarinet Archive - Posting 000224.txt from 2002/10

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Re: Not what I expected
Date: Sun, 6 Oct 2002 10:27:16 -0400

--- William Wright <w9wright@-----.net> wrote:

> This afternoon, my daughter asked me to chauffeur her to a marching band
> competition.

> ... I'm here to tell you that the winning band this evening, in addition
> to keeping absolutely straight marching lines --- including on the diagonal
> --- also played cleaner music than our local professional symphony orchestra
> does on occasion, despite playing outdoors in a football stadium as the sun
> set and the temperature dropped.

The DCI (Drum Corps International) world championships were held during the
first two weeks of August this year, so I suspect you weren't watching a DCI
competition. Since you enjoyed and were impressed by last night's event, I
recommend that you keep your eyes open for an opportunity to attend a DCI
competition, or even just watch the championships on TV. It is an experience
unto itself, I assure you. These are the cream of the crop of drum and bugle
corps organizations. Much like the groups you saw last night, DCI corps mem-
bership has an age range, in this case 14-22, which opens the door for college-
level musicians to participate. Probably unlike the groups you saw last night,
membership in DCI corps is by national audition, where these groups scour the
country looking for only the most accomplished brass, percussion, and color-
guard performers to join their ranks. When they come together in groups
like the Concord Blue Devils and the Santa Clara Vanguard (being from Cali-
fornia, I'm partial to these particular corps, among the four winningest
corps in the history of DCI), you're watching the pinnacle of drum corps
technique and showmanship.

People who poo-poo marching bands simply have no concept of what's possible.
Most importantly, of course, is the experience for the participants themselves.
Preparation for Summer competitions begins in late Fall of the prior year. Dur-
ing the summer training period, it is an unpaid fulltime 8+ hour day job for
these 14-22 year olds, who work their tails off and develop discipline and a
teamwork ethic, in addition to lasting friendships and memories that will en-
dure for a lifetime. Having marched for only three of my four years in high
school, and being drum major for two of them, I still developed a great appre-
ciation for the excitement and benefits of competitions like these. It's the
one reason I can imagine feeling any regret about being a clarinetist instead
of a percussion or brass major in college (no woodwinds in DCI corps). But
that's a fleeting consideration at best. I had the good fortune of membership,
as a young clarinetist, in one of the best youth orchestras in the world, an
experience I wouldn't trade for any DCI organization experience anywhere at any
time. Nonetheless, DCI competitions are amazing, and I recommend to anybody who
has the opportunity: see one live if you can. Watch one on TV for sure. And if
you're young enough and good enough, for goodness sake go to an audition and take
a chance at a musical and human experience like no other.

Neil

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