Top Secret Drum Corps

[cloudy]

I know that we have a few band geeks here, and wondered how many had seen the Top Secret Drum Corps out of Switzerland.

I marched with Phantom Regiment one year while I was in college - yep, did the whole DC International thing. I twirled a rifle, and I think I spent the entire summer with layers of blisters on my hands, and at least four or five big knots on the sides of my head. If you've never twirled a rifle, don't laugh until you've tried. They're weighted/balanced with lead so that they twirl and toss smoothly, and those fuckers will hurt you if you even make a tiny tiny mistake.

http://x88.xanga.com/c7dd96e078630139216726/z102452823.jpg​

Anyway, Top Secret Drum Corps, although fairly small compared to PR, or the Cavaliers, or Blue Devils, is still awe-invoking to watch. I don't think I've ever seen a tighter drumline. These guys are amazing. Give it a watch.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

If they aren't the best in the world, they're definitely in contention. Magnificent!

 

[Katyusha]

I know that we have a few band geeks here, and wondered how many had seen the Top Secret Drum Corps out of Switzerland.

I marched with Phantom Regiment one year while I was in college - yep, did the whole DC International thing. I twirled a rifle, and I think I spent the entire summer with layers of blisters on my hands, and at least four or five big knots on the sides of my head. If you've never twirled a rifle, don't laugh until you've tried. They're weighted/balanced with lead so that they twirl and toss smoothly, and those fuckers will hurt you if you even make a tiny tiny mistake.

You WHAT???

Wish I'd known that sooner. I have a very good friend who marched with Phantom Cadets and the Cavaliers, and one of the TA's we had for two years for the Pride at the University of Arizona was with Phantom. And about a squillion Pride members were in drum corps around the country. I wanted SO BADLY to audition for the Vanguard and was never able to make it out there. My husband and I like to go to DCI finals every year.

And yes, I know about spinning rifles. I was colorguard for years on end, spun both flags and rifles (also did cymbal line a few years) The blisters, the knots on the head, the bumps and bruises elsewhere...been there, done that. Thanks for the link.

 

[Handley_Page]

Pure Magic.
Rifle drill? been there, done that (with a normal .303 Enfield), the bruises have faded but not the 'fun' of doing it.

 

[cloudy]

You WHAT???

Wish I'd known that sooner. I have a very good friend who marched with Phantom Cadets and the Cavaliers, and one of the TA's we had for two years for the Pride at the University of Arizona was with Phantom. And about a squillion Pride members were in drum corps around the country. I wanted SO BADLY to audition for the Vanguard and was never able to make it out there. My husband and I like to go to DCI finals every year.

And yes, I know about spinning rifles. I was colorguard for years on end, spun both flags and rifles (also did cymbal line a few years) The blisters, the knots on the head, the bumps and bruises elsewhere...been there, done that. Thanks for the link.

Yep...I spent the entire summer working my ass off - I was so thin when I got back to school in the fall that none of my clothes fit me. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything, though.

The captain of our drumline in college marched with the Cavaliers every year - he was scary good - and I was captain of the rifles/colorguard the last couple of years I was there, so he somehow managed to talk me into auditioning. I really didn't think I would make it, but I did. We had a bunch of band members that marched in drum corps around the country, too. A bunch went with the Cavaliers, a bunch with the Blue Devils, and there were two others that marched with Phantom the year that I did.

I don't think anyone understands how damn hard it is to put on a show like this (from 2008) unless they've actually done it. My first husband and I started dating in college, during the spring, and he used to really give me a hard time about being a "band geek" until a few weeks before the fall quarter started, and then he realized how many hours a day we were out on that field (Tennessee in August is not pleasant), and how damn hard we worked. I guess he thought it was like high school band, and it's so, so different. We did a completely new show every week, and just had that one week to learn it.

I loved it, though, and my season with Phantom Regiment got me more jobs than I could take (and enough extra cash to buy a really nice car) choreographing and coaching high school band camps for the next summer.

I wish I could go to DCI finals, but it's just so far away that its tough, and I don't have anyone to go with me, damn it.

 

[Liar]

Last minute and a half was pretty sick.

I saw these guys in -08 in Zurich. But they were only half the crew that time. Still impressive as dammit.

 

[Guest]

I've shown them to my students before. They are indeed amazing. Plus we always watch DCI finals every year. The finals were even fairly close for two years - then they realized it was too hot in this part of the country in August - lol - and moved it back to cooler clime.

Young students don't quite get the level of musicianship and practice required, but they are always in awe.

Best man at our wedding marched Madison Scouts every year until he aged out, and one of our roommates (yes, we were two girls and a guy in an apartment - sort of Three's Company) was three years with the Cavies. He sucked on mellos but it was his second instrument - he played flute at our wedding.

I always hired guard members to work with my flag and rifle corps. We put them up for a week and got all routines written and rehearsed during preseason.

I miss doing marching band off and on. The early mornings? No. The loading of equipment? Hell, no.

But the Friday night lights and the Saturday sound of the stadium? Yeah. I do miss that.

 

[cloudy]

But the Friday night lights and the Saturday sound of the stadium? Yeah. I do miss that.

There's nothing quite like it, is there?

We used to do a run-on in pre-game, and I taped it once, just to see what it looked like from up in the stadium (down where I was it just looked like very loud chaos). It was so cool to see it: 400+ band members yelling at the top of their lungs, running onto the field from all four sides with no discernible pattern to it, and then they all just stop, freeze in place, horns up, at attention, and then you see the drill pattern. I'm still not sure how our band director (he was so damn good) got it to work, but it did.

My favorite, though, was when we did exhibitions, and we got asked to do quite a few of them when I was a senior. We went in six or seven chartered buses usually, and our band director would always have the drivers stop at the first liquor store on the way home so that we could have a rolling party all the way back to our home campus.

 

[Guest]

There's nothing quite like it, is there?

We used to do a run-on in pre-game, and I taped it once, just to see what it looked like from up in the stadium (down where I was it just looked like very loud chaos). It was so cool to see it: 400+ band members yelling at the top of their lungs, running onto the field from all four sides with no discernible pattern to it, and then they all just stop, freeze in place, horns up, at attention, and then you see the drill pattern. I'm still not sure how our band director (he was so damn good) got it to work, but it did.

My favorite, though, was when we did exhibitions, and we got asked to do quite a few of them when I was a senior. We went in six or seven chartered buses usually, and our band director would always have the drivers stop at the first liquor store on the way home so that we could have a rolling party all the way back to our home campus.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

There's nothing quite like it, is there?

We used to do a run-on in pre-game, and I taped it once, just to see what it looked like from up in the stadium (down where I was it just looked like very loud chaos). It was so cool to see it: 400+ band members yelling at the top of their lungs, running onto the field from all four sides with no discernible pattern to it, and then they all just stop, freeze in place, horns up, at attention, and then you see the drill pattern. I'm still not sure how our band director (he was so damn good) got it to work, but it did.

My favorite, though, was when we did exhibitions, and we got asked to do quite a few of them when I was a senior. We went in six or seven chartered buses usually, and our band director would always have the drivers stop at the first liquor store on the way home so that we could have a rolling party all the way back to our home campus.

Is there anyway you could get that up on YouTube? I would love ot see that.

 

[Handley_Page]

Is there anyway you could get that up on YouTube? I would love ot see that.

Have a look at the Top Secret Drum Corps at the Edinburgh Festival.
Brilliant.