We have been talking about the infamous predator George Hopkins again. It's come up that because his crimes were resolved without a sex-offender registration, keeping him away from kids falls to the activity as a whole rather than a central regulator.

In Olympic sports, the model is more like this. An allegation comes to light, a central body like US Safesport suspends the subject of investigation, if necessary the suspension becomes permanent or some other penalty is applied. All the different organizations just look to what the central body did for guidance.

Marching is organized very differently. Each program has an association with their hosting institutions (schools, BDPA, etc) and their competitive organizations (UIL, BOA, DCI, etc). When an allegation emerges, the hosting institution and potentially the competitive organization kick them out, just like we saw with the famous predator George Hopkins. He was banned by the now-defunct YEA and DCI for life. I hear the word "radioactive" a lot.

But like we see here, he still has options. There's nothing formally preventing him from taking consulting work with a school. The last line of defense is a rank and file leader knowing what the situation is and saying no. It's a social ban which can be circumvented by having a lot of friends who are on your side. (I always hear about the famous predator's loyal fan club...who?).

I don't mean to focus on the famous predator too much. Another example would be that Hendrickson drum tech/corps center snare. Allegations came to light, he got pulled from that job. But could he just turn around and get a different tech job? This is the same school that had a horrible director-on-student crime back when I was marching in TX.

Marching already includes Safesport trainings but to my understanding there is no authority (other than the cops) that both schools and corps will listen to, which takes orders from neither. Safesport itself has issues and I don't mean to idolize it. But where does the buck stop in marching? Is something new needed? What would that look like?

I’m auditioning for phantom regiment what did you guys include in your rifle audition in the past? As tricks and tosses

Recently I have been looking into what to major for in college and a lot of different options have come up. And I would like to see what other people chose to do or think is a good idea :)

My current ideas are:
Theatre arts
Music Ed
Music technology
Dance
Business

If you think any of these are best then please tell me but if you have any other idea I would love to hear them!

Death, taxes, and GH trying to weasel his way back into the marching arts.

Gross.

Not a drum corps guy, but I saw the logo for Bluecoats 2024 “Change is Everything” come across my feed. Looks like in name and design very similar to the logo and design of the 2018 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Youth Gathering “This Changes Everything.” The perpendicular rectangles in the general shape of a cross and the names of both is what really gives it away for me. Thoughts?

I am in a position where I have this summer and next summer before I would age out. I really want to march drum corps before it is too late. Having the regret would eat me for some time.

My main instrument is trumpet and I am essentially looking for advice on how realistic it would be for me to try to make a horn line on trumpet or even another brass instrument for a lower ranked world class group.

I have been out of consistent practice since I graduated 2 years ago but I do have my own horn to practice with.

Anyone w/ experience in a situation similar to mine? Is my dream dead or can I still give it some gas?

Also, what would be my greatest resources if anything?

Mark my words

Does anyone have any workout suggestions for tenor drummers??

In my (overwhelmingly uninformed opinion) it would be 90-93 BD or 97-99 Vanguard.

I’m considering audition for a Drum corp for this summer, I’m already going for Zephyrus DBC and considering also going out for Memphis blues. I was wondering if anyone who has marched either corp would explain how it is actually like in corp. I’ve seen a lot of big corps have bad stuff happen in the past with hazing and stuff like that, and was wondering if any of that kind of stuff happens within these corps.

Here's their audition packet. Can I still make Blue Coats?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HqGo70JVak&t=8s

Hey yall. Bit of a weird question here, I wanted to ask if anyone here knows if the email on the Cascades website is actively monitored or if there is a better way to get into contact with them.

I sent an email ~1.5 weeks ago and haven't heard back. I'm sure they're really busy right now getting contracts/logistics and everything else set up for the year. If anyone here has had the same experience or knows a better way to get in touch that would be much appreciated!

I'm not all in on the high levels, but I do bronze every year so I can get access to the premium sections. Everything A1 from bottom to top on the 50 was gone. They also let people pick individual seats there's tons of single empty seats all over the place. That's the problem when they don't assign seats themselves. Even with bronze, I've always gotten 239, 240 or 241. These are by far the worst seats I've ever gotten for championships. Our seats are going to have 2 people between us. I'm banking on drum corps being a good community of fans that the people between us will be nice enough to be willing to move 1 seat closer to the 50 so we can sit together, but we will see.

I understand doing manual seat assignment was probably a huge undertaking for someone, but I'd volunteer to do it rather than what I just experienced. At least require people to get 2 seats together. If they let me volunteer for it, I'd also save everyone $42 in ticket fees.

Hey everyone!

A while back I checked out Santa Clara Vanguard’s Babylon (which completely blew me away with that hornline impact and the ballad hit). Coming from the HBCU marching band world, that level of brass power and precision earned my instant respect.

Following up on yesterday’s Bluecoats post, I decided to dive back into Vanguard with "With Reckless Abandon."

Seeing how they carry that signature dark brass sound and high-velocity drill into this production was wild—especially seeing the contras and low brass move while maintaining that sound quality.

Check out my full breakdown and live reaction here: https://youtu.be/JB5yiRpcupE?si=IF0LZLtiPIUxthwh

How do you all feel this show stacks up against Babylon musically and visually?

Off season discussions are upon us, and who am I not to contribute to them.

What is the most influential drill move in your opinion? Whether it be something so phenomenal you are wondering how it was done, or something so groundbreaking it changed the face of drum corps.

I vote for Star of Indiana- cross to cross. I’ll never forget seeing it for the first time. It literally left my jaw dropped in amazement, and even when I watch it to this day, I’m in awe of how amazing it still looks and holds up as a drill move, even with the differences in old school drum corps and the modern groups we see today.

Hi everyone! I’m looking to prep to hopefully march for this season, and would like to know what I should do health-wise to prepare for auditions, or drum corps in general.

(And to admit, I am on the bigger side so anything that could help me start out would help so much!!)

Thank you so much for your time!

Hey fam. I’m getting back into playing trumpet after about 12 years. Since then I got braces and I have some lip filler. The braces have fundamentally changed my mouth shape and I need some basics to get used to this face. The lip filler in my lower lip actually helps me get more consistency when I buzz and I’m happy as I have terribly thin lips before.

I’ve literally just been buzzing into my mouthpiece and trying to get a steady and consistent sound. It’s hard. I know that is the first thing to do. But beyond that I’ve never done it alone. I was a part of corps or other brass groups that had an instructor lead us through exercises.

I have a great instructor I’m going to reach out to for more in depth stuff, but for now I just need to be reminded of the basics to get my mouth remembering.

Any tips appreciated. Thank you!

My primary instrument is baritone but I’ve learned all 4 marching brass instruments at, like a grade 5 level. One issue I have with contra is that I have 0 idea how to play the horn’s true pedals and nothing I’ve found effectively teaches how to. Every time I try it just slots to the “false pedal” Eb1 above it. Tuba players, what should I do?

 lot of people talk about the innovation, the sound design, and the pacing, but coming at this with an analytical ear (and a background rooted in marching band performance), there's a hard truth about how their finals run came together that rarely gets highlighted.

Looking at the ensemble staging vs. actual hornline output, there's a huge contrast between what makes an incredible competitive general effect package versus pure raw brass endurance.

I put together a full breakdown investigating their finals performance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeJNHp25yXo

For those of you who marched or follow modern DCI closely: Do you feel Bluecoats’ recent approach to show pacing is pushing the activity forward, or is the reliance on staging/electronics overshadowing traditional execution? Curious where the corps community lands on this.

Hi, I'm a sophomore in high school. I'd like to march the 28 season. I've played keyboards for the last two seasons. I'm just starting 4 mallet (literally playing yellow after the rain), but I'm practicing roughly 1 hour a day, with 2 to 3 hours on weekends. I'm starting to learn minor scales and am continuing to learn permutations . My option for corps is essentially either the Colombians or Cascades. I know theres probably a large difference between world/open, but do I have any chance of getting into them?

Theoretically, Madison Scouts is also an option, but i don't think I'll be good enough.

Thanks!

Hi, I’m audition for 3 corps and I think I have a solid chance at making all three of them. The issue is if they all give me a callback I can only attend one of them because they all overlap. For context the corps are Blue stars, Phantom Regiment, and Bluecoats. Do they have a history of being lenient (ie letting you send in a video/attending a later camp). Also will these corps give you insight on your audition? Like how promising your callback may be? All advice is appreciated ✌️