Story and Photos by Ross Coyle
Not all thunder that rolls across the Midwest each summer comes from storms. It also embodies the echoes of hundreds of snare drums, timpani, trumpets, tubas, and the roar of thousands of fans.
Drum & Bugle Corps, or drum corps, are marching music ensembles that rehearse in the winter and perform from June to mid-August. Corps are typically individual non-profit organizations popular in North America, Europe, and Asia. With a rich history that spans almost a century, the drum corps activity attracts hundreds of thousands of fans worldwide.
Each summer young musicians leave their homes and tour across the United States and even Europe as a part of a performing drum corps. Comprised of percussion, brass instruments, and color guards, these ensembles spend roughly ninety days on the road, sleeping in high school gyms, rehearsing during the day, and performing at night.
“If you go back to the early days, it was bugles, drums, and color guard,” says J.W. Koester, tour director of the Santa Clara Vanguard drum corps from California. “They marched in parades and transitioned into marching field shows.” Today, Koester says, it remains the same. “It’s still all brass, and they do a lot less parades and a lot more field shows.”
To say corps life is stressful and difficult is an understatement. “It’s definitely challenging mentally,” says Ryan Edmunds, a baritone player. “It’s so much to think about all the time. You need to think about field coordinates, technique, playing, and nuances with the music. It’s an unbelievable amount of things you have to be on top of all the time.”
Edmunds’ colleague, David Tatarakis, agrees the stress of performance is compounded by the demands of tour. “This is such a weird environment, staying in a different state every night, sleeping in a gym, and using another schools’ locker rooms. It can be pretty stressful at times”
Corps arrive at a housing site sometimes as late as three or four in the morning. They’ll have only four hours of sleep before breakfast and then another grueling day of rehearsals and shows. Personal time is extremely limited, and often is only found on the buses at night.
A drum corps show is typically twelve minutes long and a complex, precise, and demanding musical-activity. Shows require fast motion that can range from a jog to a walk.
“On top of the physical challenges they pile on top of us, we have to control our upper bodies to create good sound while we’re playing and running at the same time,” says participant Anne Sullivan. “You never get a moment’s rest as long as you’re doing it.”
Some routines may require a simple extended leg while others demand musicians sprint backwards on the field while playing, executing sharp direction changes and threading through other performers. For many fans, this is the reason to see a show.
“What set them apart from other marching band shows is the marching and precision,” says Randy Davidson, who – while never marching – has attended drum corps shows for more than 30 years once his marching band involved sister introduced him to the activity.
Drum corps rely upon a support staff and massive fleet of vehicles.
“Someone walks up and says ‘oh my god, two big trucks! Five busses!’” says Koester. The Santa Clara Vanguard drum corps fleet includes five busses, two semi trucks, a Penske box, a portable souvenir stand, and two SUVs to transport the corps across the country. “Ms. Amana”, a kitchen on wheels is used to feed the corps, and the equipment truck boasts enough square footage to rival a small music classroom. Setting up a corps can cost more than $100,000 for instruments alone, said Mr. Sesh, a Canadian director starting his own corps.
Corps are supported almost exclusively by volunteers. Some have sons and daughters involved while others volunteer because they love the activity. Veronica Cuhna, whose son marches with the Vanguard, was herself a member.
“What keeps bringing me back is the whole organization, being able to be a former member and now being on the other end as support staff,” she says. “It’s out of love and passion for the whole drum corps world.” Cuhna is one of roughly twenty support volunteers that includes cooks, drivers, souvenir volunteers, a doctor, and a seamstress
Despite stress, sacrifice,and little rest corps members return year after year.
“It feels great – performing great music in front of big crowds. It’s like a high,” says Nick Ogden, a percussionist. For some, it’s the excitement of the crowd that drives them to perform their best and compete. Others return to maintain friendships that, as some alumni say, last forever.
“There’s always a reason to come back in terms of wanting to be better, or getting to march with friends,” says Deepak Natarajan, bass drum player.
Casey Lindorfer, who plays the baritone, agrees: “I like working really hard but the main reason is because this is my family, in a sense. Sometimes it feels more like a family than my family at home. I can trust anybody here.”
Check back mid-September for more on Ross’ time with this summer’s Drum Corps.
