Fabulous. Flashy. Fierce. Loud as hell. That’s not a critique of the newest drag queen on RuPaul’s TV show. During this weekend, it’s just a few words trying to describe the biggest and brassiest show to tour through Atlanta this year. Totalling over two-thousand performers, the Drum Corps International Southeastern Regional Championships will fill the Georgia Dome with unparalleled precision and pageantry.
Put aside any images of some mere football game halftime show. Drum Corps International is called the Major League of Marching Music for very good reason. The contest on Saturday, July 25 will gather 30 elite drum & bugle corps from all over the nation to present their rigorously rehearsed programs, including the Blue Devils (CA), Troopers (WY), Phantom Regiment (IL), Boston Crusaders (MA), and Carolina Crown (SC). Also, both of the country’s only all-male corps, Madison Scouts (WI) and Cavaliers (IL), will take the field in spellbinding synchrony.
Each corps is comprised of up to 150 members, each no more than 21-years old. The group is divided into three parts: horns (sopranos, baritones, contras, etc), percussion (snare drums, tympani, xylophones, plus others), and color guard (with flags, rifles, sabers, and more). The corps performs a 12-minute show which is adjudicated by judges located both on the field and in the stadium’s press box. You’ll find no woodwinds, like saxophone or flute. They are not permitted in DCI.
For most corps this regional contest is simply another of many stops during a season that started in June and ends with the world championships in early August. Yet, for some, their visit to the Georgia Dome is indeed a homecoming. To members of Alliance, Atlanta CV, and world class division Spirit of Atlanta, this glittering city is theirs. Some have traveled a very, very long way just to march here.
“When I visited Atlanta for the first time we went to the Georgia Dome,” says 20-year old Spirit of Atlanta snare drummer Rik Doktor, from Ysselmuiden in the Netherlands. “To come full circle now, to perform our show in that dome filled with hometown fans, will be one of the most impressive experiences of my life.
Over 10,000 miles of bus travel is common for a DCI corps during the summer tour. Accommodations are spartan. The corps management will arrange for the use of high school gymnasiums and locker rooms along the road. Here, exhausted performers will bathe and sleep on air mattresses & in sleeping bags. Meals are frequently served from one of the group’s tractor-trailers converted into a kitchen on wheels.
The corps staff includes composers and music arrangers, instrument technicians, drill designers, choreographers, and instructors, along with bus & truck drivers. Clearly, this is not a cheap enterprise. Top-level drum corps will have a yearly budget reaching into the millions of dollars.
Each DCI performing organization will compete in several dozen contests during the eight week season. The venues stretch across the map, from Mesa to Murfreesboro, from Pasadena to Pittsburgh, from Boise to Buffalo, and Kalamazoo.
Amongst the miles, meals, and marching are seemingly endless hours of practice and rehearsal. The schedule is daunting, if not crippling. Sacrifices are many. But, the personal payoff is powerful. “The first time I saw a DCI show my only thought was, ‘How amazing must it be to be part of something so special that can make an audience feel so many emotions?’,” recalls Susana Rivas, a 20-year old baritone horn player from Chatsworth, GA. “From that moment on I had decided that I wanted to be a part of something like that.”
Show biz is incomplete without splendid costumes. DCI is no different. Phantom Regiment is about elegance in all white or black. The Troopers found inspiration in the 11th Regiment Cavalry. The Madison Scouts wear uniforms reminiscent of their Boy Scout troop beginnings. Spirit of Atlanta is always bedecked in their signature baby blue. For the color guard, which provides visual enhancement to the music, uniforms can be almost anything; perhaps poodle skirts, business suits, or skintight spandex.
Nathan Gregory and Jacqie Rotch, both aged 21 and in their final “age-out” year with Spirit of Atlanta, have developed a kinship and sense of true belonging in the corps. “The members and staff here are so much more than a drum corps,” says Gregory, the Horn Sergeant hailing from Gallatin, TN. “We are a family and I wouldn’t give them up for the world.”
“At first I chose to come to Spirit of Atlanta because it was the closest drum corps to me,” explains Rotch, who travels from Mobile, AL, to lead the corps as Drum Major. “I’ve stayed because of the life lessons it has taught me. I’ve felt the unequivocal sense of family between members and alumni.”
At the heart of drum & bugle corps is music. The Blue Devils specialize in jazz, while Phantom Regiment is devoted to classical works. This year, Spirit of Atlanta plays Southern selections from “Gone With the Wind” and “Music from the Redneck Songbook II.” Drum corps have a vast dynamic range literally created for stadiums, from whisperingly quiet to chest-thumpingly loud.
For the thousands competing Saturday, especially those corps who call this place home, chests will pound for different reasons. “The feeling you get in the tunnel of the Georgia Dome, before setting foot on the field, is unmatched,” says Drum Major Rotch. “Compared to other drum corps, Spirit has an enormous following in our hometown of Atlanta and we are very fortunate that our home show has such a huge baby blue turn out.”
The Drum Corps International Southeastern Regional Championships are Saturday, July 25. Competition begins at 2 p.m. with top class corps performing into the evening. Tickets are $30 to $65, available at the Georgia Dome box office or online at DCI.org.
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