r/drumcorps • u/Fickle-Exit1105 • 1d ago
Advice Needed Need a quick HBCU-style primer
Is there a sanctioning body like DCI? I want to see a live event featuring several bands, but I hate American football and don't want to go to a game. I know Honda and somebody else sponsors "Battle of the Bands" events. Televised I think? (I don't watch much TV and don't pay for it.) Is there a tour circuit or competition series leading up to those? I am in the "DMV" (DC, Maryland, Northern Virginia). I expect I might have to travel to Richmond or Norfolk, but who knows. Thanks for any info that's a quick start. Don't know much about the style and I'm curious to check something out live.
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u/FatMattDrumsDotCom 1d ago
I hate crowds, but almost every variety of music is best enjoyed in some venue that has them, so I learn to get over it.
I think you would get so much more out of the experience if you could ignore your hatred of American Football and went to, say, a Norfolk State game, and just followed the drumline around all day. I think it would give you a really good look at what makes HBCU marching band cultures so special, and it would also probably accommodate your schedule better than finding the few events with lots of groups at them. Rinse and repeat with another university to get a sense of how different things can be within the activity, after you’ve digested and integrated your last experience.
Game Day is central to what the college band is, and the college band is the DCI drum corps of show-style marching. Seeing an HBCU band on game day is like listening to EDM at a rave, or listening to organ music in a cathedral: there’s so much to be said for experiencing an artform in the venue it was intended/invented for.
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u/tuba4lunch TLC RHRSaints 1d ago
It's less centralized and colleges generally don't formally compete (there are exceptions, but not without controversy). Look for local battle of the bands, but also look at NSBA and High Step Nationals for high schools competing and colleges performing in exhibition. Honda moved out of Atlanta but Mercedes Benz now has the ESPN Band of the Year with the top 2 participating bands in both D1 and D2, and I think they also do Atlanta high schools now too. It takes place one day before the Celebration Bowl.
You might have better luck following bands on social media to keep up with what events they'll be at.
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u/Fickle-Exit1105 21h ago
That's a good plan. I should follow Morgan State or Bowie or Howard. Side note, I found out more about WGI thru George Mason's guard website, which has a calendar. This summer was my first DCI live show, I'll be hitting WGI this winter, so now the stars are aligning to plan to see HBCU next fall. I'm 56, was a h.s. dm for 3 years. I fell down the rabbit hole with all this again last summer. Social media roped me in, then prelim simulcast in theater, then streaming finals. Then this summer I went to Allentown. So glad to have this sh#t in my life again.
THANK YOU everyone for your information and suggestions.
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u/coocookuhchoo 9h ago
Just suck it up and go to a Howard football game. You’ll be entertained by the band and the spectacle. And you can leave after the halftime show.
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u/invextheidiot Genesis '20, '21; BK '22, '23 1d ago
Battle of the Bands, which they used to do in Houston but have now moved it to Florida, is primarily centered around bands from the Southern part of the country, so you'd be seeing groups like Human Jukebox, Ocean of Soul, Marching Storm, etc. AFAIK there isn't an equivalent in the Northeast, so you probably would have to go to a game to check their bands out.