Archive for June, 2009

Hello, fellow drum corps enthusiasts

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Hey, and welcome to my blog. Here, I will be documenting my 2009 tour with the Oregon Crusaders drum and bugle corps. Let me introuce myself.

My name is Mike, I’m 18 years old and this is my first summer marching drum corps.  I’ve been ‘playing’ drums sincemesolosmall 5th grade, but I never took it seriously until my junior year in high school when I seriously thought about trying out for drum corps.  I started practicing rudimental percussion my freshman year in high school but, again, never took it seriously until a couple years later. I went to my first drum corps show in 2006, the summer before my sophomore year. The corps that were features were Santa Clara Vanguard, Blue Knights, Seattle Cascades, Spokane Thunder, and of course, Oreon Crusaders. This was my first time being exposed to this activity however it didn’t really touch me at the time.

So Novemeber of 2008 came around and I decided to give it a shot. At the first camp, nobody was cut. After a couple camps of being allowed to return, I soon figured out that the line was being set. I had made the line! Keep in mind that this was my first time ever auditioning for anything, so this was a big deal.
And that’s my short story. =] I’m marching on the Oregon Crusaders 2009 snareline.coolsmall

I can’t tell you for sure what our repertoire is, because I don’t know the exact names of the songs. However, the name of our show this year is Equilibrium, and I can tell you that we’re playing arrangements of music featured in The Philadelphia Story.

For more information about the Oregon Crusaders, or to see our tour schedule, visit the Oregon Crusaders website.

Hope to see you guys at some shows this summer.

-Mike

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Jubal 2009

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Hello all!

My name is Geert-Jan and I will write a blog here the next months! This time not about the DCI competition but about DCE, the European drumcorps competition. First I will introduce myself a little.

I’m Geert-Jan, and I life in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands (If you see some wrong sentences, you know why). I’m 20 years old, and this is my second season to march with Jubal. Jubal is a drumcorps, founded in 1911 in Dordrecht the Netherlands. Before Jubal I marched with DAP, a marchingband from my hometown. One of my instructors there had marched Jubal, and The Crossmen in DCI tour in 01, 02 and 03. He told  me about drumcorps and Jubal. Since Jubal had the best European drumline over the last 5 years with exception from 2007, it was no hard decision to choose where I would march. I did audition and made the snareline for the 08 season. After 3 months I was asked to fill a spot in the tenorline, to make 4 in total. That year we toke the High Percussion Award, and placed thirth in DCE Finals.

At this moment were into the 2009 season. We just had our first DCN (Drumcorps Netherlands) contest in Goes. We scored a 66.60 score and took the 1st place. Our percussion score was a 7.85, a tenth below the score of 2008 DCN Finals. A real good start for this season. We’re now preparing for the next big contest, the 27th of June. The dutch top five is present at the contest in Huizen

I will try to take some pictures or movies of the rehearsals. There are a some movies at in the media section. By this blog is a movie of us tracking the opener of our opener Verdwijning/Houdini. The show theme is”Goochelaars & Geesten” which can be translated in something like Magicians & Ghosts. There are 5 parts:

Verdwijning/Houdini. Translated Disappearing/ Houdini
Geesten Ghosts
Zwevende Handen Gliding Hands
Trucendoos Trickbox
Verschijning Appearance

Jubal DCN Goes part 1

Jubal DCN Goes part 2

Jubal Fieldpercussion 2009

I hope you like these movies, and that you have an impression of what the european drumcorps is like. Feel free to ask me some questions because I haven’t talk about a lot of things yet. I will try to give some updates during the season!

Greetings,

Geert-Jan

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Greetings Earthlings

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Hey fellow SS readers… My name is Zac and I’ll be marching this summer with Teal Sound from Jacksonville, FL on 3rd bass . I’m the section leader and a 2009 age-out. This is my second season with Teal. I’m not bringing my own computer this summer, but I’ll try to update as much as possible with the borrowed kind. I hope to give everyone a first-hand perspective about what its like getting closer and closer to the end of an era…

I’ll be in touch.

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End of May Update from Carlton at the Raiders

Monday, June 1st, 2009

So we had our final May camp this weekend and it went GREAT! Everything is very quickly coming together. In comparison to last year the corps is a more mature and efficient group. The show itself is being put on the field at a great pace. For example last year we had learned the first 8 sets of our closer by the end of june. However, this season we will be putting atleast the first minute of the closer to the field by next weekend. Thus far the full corps has the first three movements on the field; spinning, playing, and marching. Its a great feeling to have this much on the field and know that we’ll be cleaning very soon.

The corps got a true workout this weekend as the staff stepped everything up into high gear. With a 630am wakeup followed by a 5k run saturday morning the corps started off the day ready to go. By the end of visual block the second movement was finished. Following lunch the percussion section moved into sectionals, cleaning drill and parts on the field. The line is really coming together quite well as all sections are improving rapidly. That night the full corps ensembled the first two pieces on the field along with the guard.

Sunday was a very productive day as the entire ballad was finished and ensembled as well. The design team has begun adding in body movement and choreography to the show to really embody the theme that they are going for. At the end of camp a full run through of the first three movements was performed to an audience of fans and parents at our concluding “show-and-tell”.

As we prepare for our debut in two weeks the corps is pushing forward into the summer and stepping up their performance level in all aspects. Both staff and members are feeling very good about this show and the season and are looking forward to getting on the road. I cant wait to get on the road and start competing.

There is truly nothing like drum corps. And if you have not experienced it yet, I highly suggest that you check out a corps and march. Its life changing and you’ll never trade those experiences for anything in your life. I love every minute of it, and cant wait for the next 4 years I have left in DCI.

Raiders Battery 2008 on the field at World Championships

2008 Raiders Battery on the field at World Championships


-Carlton

P.S.: 12 days till our first public performance


Carlton Haelig's Facebook Profile

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