Solve, create, share and talk about jigsaw puzzles

THE ATHLETICISM OF DCI MEMBERS

Bookmarked Bookmark Solve this jigsaw puzzle later
ShareShare with your friends
ReportReport as inappropriate
28 pieces
23 solves
Solve puzzle

Thanks for sharing. Here is your html-code:

Why are you reporting this puzzle?

Go to link to watch Drum Corps in action, The Top Ten Coolest DCI Moments;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF1O6e9Ool4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9zxphrznik

It is the middle of July. The sun is hot; you just want a nice cold glass of iced tea and a cold air conditioned room to lie down in.

Nope, none of that for you, if you’re a DCI member. You have to stay out in the hot sun from 8 am to 10 pm with only breaks for meals, and maybe a couple of water breaks, if you’re lucky. Not only are you on the hot turf, but you might have a heavy silver horn in your hands, a drum strapped to your shoulders, or a heavy flag in your hand. You have to move across the field, stay up with perfect posture and keep in precise tempo. If you’re a color guard member, you have to spin, jump, leap and dance while throwing heavy objects in the air and catching them.

One of the sections that has it the hardest out of all of the sections is the tenor drums. Here is a picture of a tenor line from the Cavaliers.

Another consideration when contemplating the physical demand on drum corps member is the air power needed to play a brass instrument. Not only are they moving more than the average walker, but they have to blow an immense amount of air to get sound out of the instrument. Also, the instruments are pretty heavy, and horn line members must keep their horn at the perfect angle, so everyone looks uniform.

So what application does this have to the marchers that you know, whether in college or high school?

Even though our drill is easier and a little less strenuous, we still spend some of the hardest months, in summer band camp, in hot weather, and we still have to carry our instruments. We still have to blow air through our horns, remember our drill and our music. We carry the same horns, flags, weaponry and drums that DCI members carry.

So next time you’re at a football game, remember that it’s not easy being out there. It’s not just a bunch of dorks playing their instrument and walking across the field, but it’s a group of musicians who not only can play well but can move with finesse.
Why this advertisement?

Leaderboard

  1. hilda451:12
  2. jbprols1:20
  3. satyr1:24
  4. hartlova1:28
  5. patsquire1:29
  6. JoAnn51:52
  7. pwk1:52
  8. coverlet651:59
  9. dfwkrw2:01
  10. Docdee3:13

Comments

Please sign in to comment. Don't have a profile? Join now! Joining is absolutely free and no personal information is required.

jbprols

You are welcome, Doc.

Docdee

Thank u B

Max_Tooney

I did. Not anymore. I'm convinced that brass instruments caused my reflux issues which have plagued me for the last twenty five years.

jbprols

I'm impressed! So you play more than one instrument?

Max_Tooney

At that time, trumpet.

jbprols

Thank you Pat! Have a restful sleep...Bernadette
@patsquire

jbprols

Good morning Max! What instrument did you play? @Max_Tooney

Max_Tooney

I used to be involved in this. I remember after marching in the Orange Bowl parade (a long time ago) getting really sick from heat exhaustion, even though it was late December.

patsquire

The description written above captures some of the spirit and effort, but maybe the true experience can't be described in words. It's more intense than this writer makes it seem, and also a lot more fun. When he mentions the size of the drum corps instruments and compares the band instruments to them he misses a big point. In general band instruments are much much lighter that the horns and drums of the corps. (Clarinets, flutes, piccolos, even the saxes have a strap around the neck to take weight off the arms.) Every horn above the soprano bugles weighs more than all but a few band instruments, and most of them are huge and heavy. Maybe you noticed that the hugest horns, called contra-basses are played by the big guys. This is really apparent in the 1812 Overture concert.

I'll say this now about the video. Some of the corps names still send chills down my spine. They've been so great for so long that revered isn't too strong a word, and there are SO MANY ALUMNI! (The Madison Scouts were actually Boy Scouts when they started their corps.) Anyway, at the end of the Santa Clara Vanguard show all the color guards collapse, and I took that as perhaps an homage to the fainting I described.

I'll write more observations about the video tomorrow, but now I'm hitting the sack. ☺

jbprols

These people blew me away!

patsquire

I'm watching the half-hour clip now!!!

jbprols

@patsquire

Why this advertisement?