One Foot in Both Worlds: A Drum Corps Fan in Blue Band

Perhaps one of the most difficult parts of being woodwind player is exclusion from drum corps. I can do Blue Band, which I love, but I look at those brass, guard and drum players around me and yearn to be part of their world (cue the Little Mermaid music).

I absolutely adore being a part of the Blue Band, but often, I’ve had difficulty with reconciling my idea of a high quality marching ensemble, such as a drum corps, and a college band. Blue Band is high quality, don’t get me wrong, but it lacks that certain something, that electricity, that I get from just watching a drum corps. Not being able to just work on one show all season, but instead having to do a new one every weekend, is impressive, but it doesn’t have as much potential for expression and perfection that a drum corps show does.

Courtesy of Tom Mairs

So how can I get over this mindset, that drum corps is better than college band, and that I can never be a part of one?

Luckily, I found a fantastic article, written by a current assistant band director for Ole Miss’s marching band, and a former member of Spirit of Atlanta (a drum corps), Bill Dejournett. He detailed the benefits of having college band members march corps, which include a better work ethic, improved endurance and musicianship, as well as the trend that corps members typically rise to leadership positions within their college bands.

I, however, would like to focus on the last section of the article, which goes over common pitfalls of drum corps members while they participate in college bands. The second piece of advice: “keep in mind that the typical college band’s mission is not the same as a drum corps’ mission. If you come to your college band expecting 30 pages of drill in the opener and pushus for every error made, you are bound to be disappointed.” It goes on to say that college bands serve to a different “clientele”, one with both corps members and “casual” members, more in it for the social aspect than the marching aspect.

Courtesy of Bluecoats Pinterest

This caused me to consider most of what I had disdain for with Blue Band. I find myself getting annoyed when people do not take it seriously enough, or who don’t put any effort in at practice. But the purpose of college bands isn’t to put on the highest quality performance, knocking the audience’s socks off and getting a near perfect score (like the DCI second place winners, the Bluecoats, are doing in the above picture); it is to entertain the audience and to provide its members with a quality experience.

And that’s okay. Not everyone in Blue Band has decided to make band their life (like me), or is interested in spending thousands of dollars to march all summer (like some members of Blue Band who march corps), but they are just there to be a part of a great organization, to entertain audiences at Beaver Stadium and to have a great time. There’s nothing wrong with that, and perhaps it isn’t college band that needs to change, but my perspective that needs to change.