Drum Corps Archives - Justin Foell

March 11th, 2020 to me, felt a lot September 11th. Thousands of people didn’t die in one fell swoop, but it was when Coronavirus shifted from concern to cancellation. What once seemed far away was at our doorstep. A grim reaper coming that would rack up a worldwide death toll two orders of magnitude greater than September 11th.

As trivial as it sounds, WGI was cancelled on March 11th. With units traveling to Ohio from several countries (including Japan) and all over the US, it made sense to cancel it. Should we all be sitting in close quarters in a poorly ventilated arena? Probably not. Sites like is it canceled yet? had been tracking canceled events, and this was just another notch on the bedpost.

Maybe I could still enjoy some local live music? I had tickets for the orchestra that Friday, March 13th. It was to be canceled too, but not entirely. The orchestra would play – without a hall audience, and they would broadcast it on Minnesota Public Radio. The repertoire? Shostakovich’s 7th – The Leningrad Symphony.

I tuned into the broadcast and sat in darkness to soak in the sounds. You can listen to the historic live broadcast on the MPR site.

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Music is one of those things that gives people hope that there will be better days, no matter how bad things get. Shostakovich’s 7th was no stranger to tough times, having been both composed and premiered under dire circumstances.

Connection to Drum Corps

My love of classical music was reinforced through my 4 years marching in the Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps. I loved playing music that was new (to me), then researching a composer’s other works. I relished finding great recordings, which would further fuel my curiosity.

The obvious connection from Shostakovich’s 7th to my corps, is their 2002 program entitled Heroic Sketches – but long before that program ever took the field, I heard a piece that begged to be performed by a strong hornline. One that wound up being a cornerstone of 2002 show…

Back in the day…

The 1996 Phantom Regiment show Defiant Heart opened with a different piece by Shostakovich called the 4th Ballet Suite. As always, I would find recordings of the music we were playing to hear the original, and to hopefully hear something new.

I bought a recording of the Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Neeme Jarvi on the Chandos Label. It also included Symphony No. 10 – boy was I in for a surprise. I had never heard that Symphony, let alone the second movement Allegro, and it is a thrilling performance.

One of my favorite things about classical compact disc recordings (if they’re included) is the liner notes. Sometimes they have a history of the composer and the piece, and I would often use that as a basis for more research, or just to simply help paint a picture of what the music was about. From this CD the liner notes read:

The second part, the scherzo, is a musical portrait of Stalin

And here is the Phantom Regiment hornline playing an excerpt during their finals warm-up in 2002:

Simply amazing.

Symphony No. 7

That same 2002 program closes out with Shostakovich’s 7th. While researching that piece in 2020 during quarantine, I came across this recording which is stupendous.

I don’t have the CD liner notes to reference, but the comments on the YouTube video are worth reading. This one is my favorite of the bunch. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I choose to believe it is.

The story goes, Leonard Bernstein was in failing health and he knew he was never going to stand in front of the Chicago Symphony ever again. Apparently there has been a long standing tradition of never encouraging the brass section of the CSO; not even looking at them or else they’ll blow you off the stage. During the end of this concert, and being a helpless romantic himself, good ol’ Lenny not only looked at the Chicago Brass, but he asked for everything they had. And the rest is history!

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While I proclaimed myself to be the 40 year-old WGI virgin, I’m really not new to the whole scene. I’ve been a member of several marching organizations, both winter and summer, since 1991. I’ve also had the privilege of working on the instructional staff of a few groups. One thing a new instructor can do correctly out-of-the-gate is being prepared. Here is what is in my bag that I bring to every rehearsal. There are some extras that you can include for summer drum corps & marching band as well.

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Gock block

The Latin Percussion Jam Block Medium (Red) is the gold standard of all things pageantry.

Drum stick

You’re going to need something to hit said gock block. I picked up a pair of marching snare sticks at a drum corps show. They’re much beefier than a normal snare stick and you can tape them with electrical tape for even more durability.

Hearing protection

Some people say they can’t hear all the detail with earplugs in. It’s probably time for an upgrade. I have a set of Earasers and they’re amazing. Yes, they’re $50 and they’re worth it. Also, if you loose one, you can buy the missing side for $25. Personally I can hear more detail with them in as it filters out a lot of the background noise and echo.

If $50 is too steep, at least get a free pair of the foam plugs offered at literally every music venue. It will save your eardrums from all that gock-blocking you’ll be doing.

3-ring binder with drill and music score

I’ve tried electronic drill books on e-readers and tablets, but a printed score and drill sheets never run out of battery. Also, they’re visible in bright light and you can easily annotate them with changes. Sometimes old school is the way to go. Even if it’s not your preferred choice, it’s a great back-up. I put my pages in sheet protectors and always print double-sided to keep the weight (and waste) to a minimum.

Pencil

For making annotations, duh. Also good to have if your members forget one – and they will.

Competition Badge

Being on staff, you probably have a badge to get into shows. They don’t give out replacements, so always put it back into your bag so you have it on contest days.

Valve Oil

This is more of a courtesy to brass players. Yes it’s their responsibility to oil their own valves. But inevitably someone will need something in the warm-up arc before a contest, when their case is a million miles away. I bring this to warm-up at the contest as extra insurance.

9v Battery

This is for Dr. Beat. Love him or hate him, the doctor is in the house, and he’s here to stay. If you are a percussionist, you probably already have a Dr. Beat – if not, get one. If you’re everyone else that relies on someone bringing a Dr. Beat, do them a solid and bring an extra 9v battery for it. That thing can go through a 9v like nobody’s business.

Pro-tip: instead of clicking “stop” on your Dr. Beat at the end of your rep, get in the habit of pressing the power button for extra battery savings.

Smartphone Apps

Here are my favorite apps:

Peterson iStrobosoft – Best, easiest to read, stand-alone tuner app. Period. Yes, it’s expensive at $10. Best $10 tuner you’ll ever buy.

TonalEnergy Tuner – Wicked awesome app. Fantastic tone generator for getting your drone on. Great for members as well – put it on a tablet and start practicing and it will tell you what is out of tune.

Metronome – lots of choices here. I’m currently using Frozen Ape’s Tempo.

Competition Suite – A service for judges tapes. Make sure you’re set up with the right permissions before you go to your first competition.

Voice Recording – whatever voice recorder app is included is fine. Useful for making rudimentary recordings or even doing a mock judges tape.

Spotify – Or something else to play music if you want to do a visual warm-up to music (or just jam out in general).

GroupMe / Facebook Messenger – Something to keep in touch with the other staff.

Notes – An app to make notes for things you’d like to fix (and how) and ideas for next rehearsal. I like Simplenote.

Drillbook Next – I prefer printed charts, but that’s me. If you’re going all-in with paperless make sure everyone is on board.

Headphones & Adapter

Bring your headphones if you want to listen to judges tapes before critique. If you’ve got an iPhone, don’t forget the 3.5mm dongle adapter in case you want to plug it into a sound system and blast to some tunes.

Bluetooth Speaker

Useful for listening to judges tapes aloud with staff or for sharing them with the members.

DCT

I’m old school. I love DCT for keeping lips working. I keep it in my winter bag because it can be very dry, even indoors. A must for summer – bonus that it has sun protection built-in.

Summer Stuff

These are things I add to my bag when summer rolls around. Most of this is for weather – in particular the sun.

Hat

Must have – keep that sun off of your face.

Sunscreen

There are some dummies out there that are still looking to work on their tan. Skin cancer is real. If you’re planning on marching or teaching for multiple summer seasons and you want to have a normal lifespan, put some damn sunscreen on, and do it on the regular. I consider SPF-50 to be the minimum, 30 if there’s absolutely nothing else available. If I can, I go for SPF 70-100 broad spectrum.

Sunglasses

While you’re at it, protect those baby blues.

Sun sleeves

These are the best inventions ever. Put on a t-shirt, then put on your sun sleeves. Columbia has these wicked Freezer Zero sleeves that have a cooling sensation when they get wet (from sweat). Fantastic, 💯, A+, would wear again.

Rain Poncho

This doesn’t have to be fancy, just something that will keep you dry. Ideally it can roll up and be stashed in your bag without taking too much space.

Extra socks

For when it’s rainy. Never underestimate how miserable you’ll feel with wet feet. Fresh, dry socks are the answer to a rainy day’s misery.

Anything else?

Did I forget something? A small first aid kit comes to mind, but I bet there’s more. Let me know in the comments what you consider essential.

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After graduating from Irondale High School in 1995 I went on my first tour with the Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps. I wasn’t just a band geek I was an audio geek as well. I purchased a MiniDisc recorder in 1994 and I brought it on tour in 1995. Even though I was playing Euphonium with the corps, my friend and Irondale alumnus Aaron Fisher (who was on staff) was able to set things up and record a couple rehearsals and performances.
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Winter Camps

I think most of these recordings were from the March camp, because we went outside for the April camp and these are definitely indoor recordings.

One of the concert pieces we played during camp was an irish traditional called The Minstrel Boy

Here is the hornline singing The Minstrel Boy

The 1995 Program – Adventures Under a Darkened Sky

Capriccio Intro and Symphonic Dances

18th Variation

2nd Piano Concerto

Percussion Interlude and Caprice Bohemian

About the tracks on this early recording of the 1995 program:

1. The capriccio introduction and Symphonic Dances remained relatively unchanged throughout the season (minus tempo changes).

2. The ballad – Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, 18th Variation remained relatively unchanged throughout the season.

3. This introduction to the 2nd Piano Concerto remained relatively unchanged, except by the time we got to DCI finals, the last note was a whopping 24 counts 😁

4. Jeff Prosperie, our percussion arranger at the time, is a visionary. Phantom Regiment was doing very innovative (and sometimes crazy) things with percussion design in the 90s during his reign. One of the things I had almost forgotten about was the “pots and pans” tenors. Jeff had a set of tenor drums made with what I can only describe as pots in place of the drums. It was a wild idea that never made it to the field, but you can hear them in this recording.

Also this version of the closer has the longer original arrangement of Caprice Bohemian. Later in the season it was shortened and the Allego from the 3rd Symphony was inserted as the new percussion feature.

Summer Tour

We did a fairly extensive east-coast tour in 1995 and participated in some sort of concert-in-the-park standstill performance with the Cadets.

1995 Phantom Regiment Cadence

1995 Phantom Regiment East Coast Standstill – this show has an earlier arrangement of Rachmaninov’s 3rd Symphony – before the notes got watered down on the road to finals.

1995 Cadets Cadence

DCI Finals

At finals in Buffalo we recorded the Blue Devils on-field warm-up. It was a variation on their “west coast warm-up” to reflect their Carpe Noctem show:

And also America / O Canada – led by the Cavaliers who had been crowned champions that night.

Do you remember?

If you remember any more of the details of this stuff let me know in the comments and I’ll update it. Otherwise, enjoy!

Extras

Here’s another post about Shostakovich’s 10th Symphony. I have a CD that I bought in 1996 of the 4th Ballet Suite (which we played that year), and it also included Shostakovich 10. My regular jam was to gather original recordings of all the music we played in the summer – including concert pieces, etc. I’d listen to those recordings before and during tour to get to know the composer or the piece a little better.

Check out that recording and an interesting comment from the CD liner notes. The password is a 4-letter acronym that holds meaning to Phantom Regiment members and alumni.

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I just got back from my first WGI Color Guard finals ever. Not sure how I avoided it, considering I’ve been married to a guard girl for over 15 years. But it finally happened – squeee!

Because of my competitive side (which is sometimes hard to suppress), I always want to just go see the best of the best. In this case it means Independent World Class. But Jessi always chided me, saying there’s more to WGI than Independent World. Indeed she was right, but let’s work backwards from IW.
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Independent World

To be honest most of the IW class shows were either too serious, or too complex (or both) to really connect with me. However, Aimachi and Pride of Cincinnati were both equally amazing, awesome, inspiring, <add other adjectives here>. To give you an idea of Pride’s show, just look at this clip:

Whoever is in their prop department is a genius as this isn’t the first time they’ve built amazing props like this.

Then there’s Aimachi. I’m sad that their guard won’t be back to WGI in “quite a while”:

I’m also kinda irked that they don’t get credit for spinning those batons as crazily as they do, but at the same time I’m glad that they don’t let the rules box them in. Hell, they were less than 3 tenths from winning in 2017 even without getting any credit for their baton twirls.

Then there’s Fenix Independent. Turns out I marched with their one of their creative staff back in the day. I’m humbled to see peers from my generation not just staying active in color guard, but creating ground-breaking shows. Their show included a giant box (different from Pride’s cube), that was both simple and incredible:

I was so glad they were able to jump enough spots to make it into finals because it was a great way to kick off the show, and they wound up being fan favorite.

The other IW guard I thought was amazing but didn’t make it out of prelims was Invictus. They had a “tray” with water that they appeared to fill using a dishwasher on a dolly.

It was groundbreaking but the water may have done them in. They received a 2.5 point penalty in prelims for taking too long to clean up some of the water that was spilled. 🙁

Ultimately though many of the IW shows were just too much for me. Too abstract, too busy – especially for me seeing many for the first time.

A Class

I found a bit of solace in A class where MBI Winter Guard competed. While some of the seriousness of IW is creeping into A class, I was glad to be associated with a guard whose program was nothing but fun.

Also, the only guard that bested MBI, FIU Winterguard, had an amazing show that was still somewhat abstract, but not so much that anyone wouldn’t get it. It was like half Miami street-racing and half kick-ass color guard.

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A friend I met while living in Las Vegas would say something is “Life Changing” when it’s better than good. It’s the best thing you’ve ever experienced in that realm. So much that it would cause you to mend your life, and alter your ways.

It can apply to anything. Caribou Coffee’s hot chocolate is good, but you can get life-changing hot chocolate at Angelina’s in Paris near the Louvre.

Since the 2017 WGI season is kicking off, it’s fitting I share a story about a drumline show that for me was life changing. It all coincides with my first trip to WGI. I’ve loved winter guard and winter drumline since I first saw them both in 1993. But strangely, my first pilgrimage to Dayton for WGI finals was in 2016 for percussion and winds finals.

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It was incredible being there in person. Like the first time I went to DCI finals, I was in awe. So many great performances, and some were huge productions. The Cavaliers Indoor wowed me with their floor, backdrop, cliffs, bridges, story-line – not to mention some fine percussion work. Music City Mystique had an amazing display of color with cleverly choreographed lights.

Sure, most people that year will probably talk about RCC’s timing penalty during semi-finals. It put them in 14th (out of 15 that make it to Saturday night), when they should have been near the top. They jumped from 14th to 2nd. Could they have taken the championship if they were seated higher? Maybe.

I liked RCC’s show but the performance that changed my life was the 3rd place finisher. Broken City from Orange County moved me with their 2016 production titled “Cage.”

They didn’t have a huge array of props. Yes they had some Czech Hedgehog looking structures that they moved, but they weren’t flashy or extravagant. They were rather abstract. They required some imagination to even figure out what they were or what they symbolized. Also intriguing was the single Edison bulb, standing lonely within the front ensemble.

More than a drumline I felt like it was a metal band with battery-percussion ensemble playing backup. They had two great set drummers and an electric guitarist. They used a vocal track from one of their founders, Adam Watts, not to tell a story, but to set a tone. The raw emotion combined with their fantastic playing is what got me. They reached out and grabbed me. I had pretty cheap tickets, so it was a long reach – but they brought everyone there with them.

I came across this essay by Alexander Lee about Cage. His musings about this show validate why I like it so much. At its heart, it is drumline. But it is also so much more. It is life-changing.

If you saw it in person, you know what I’m talking about. Video doesn’t do it justice, but it will give you an idea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGm-SnKYn-Q

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Justin Foell

Technology, Bicycling, Hobbies, Kids, Life.

Category Archives: Drum Corps

Heroic Sketches

Connection to Drum Corps

Back in the day…

Symphony No. 7

What’s in my WGI (Drum Corps/Marching Band) instructor’s bag?

Gock block

Drum stick

Hearing protection

3-ring binder with drill and music score

Pencil

Competition Badge

Valve Oil

9v Battery

Smartphone Apps

Headphones & Adapter

Bluetooth Speaker

DCT

Summer Stuff

Hat

Sunscreen

Sunglasses

Sun sleeves

Rain Poncho

Extra socks

Anything else?

1995 Phantom Regiment Recordings

Winter Camps

Summer Tour

DCI Finals

Do you remember?

Extras

The 40 Year Old WGI Virgin

Independent World

A Class

Life-Changing Drumline Show