Drum Corps

Okay....I have this SLIGHT addiction to drum corps.

It all started my freshman year in high school, my best friend and I joined the Argonaut's Summer Marching Band.  Little did we know that we'd never be the same again.

During that time we discovered the joy of marching, and the agony of your feet (after a long day of marching).  We discovered that there is nothing more exhilorating then a show well marched, and nothing more embaressing then crying out "No one look, I'm changing." then watching everyone within hearing distance turn to look at you.  We discovered Hell Week, also known as Band Camp.  We discovered 3rd degree sunburns, and the sweet perfume known as Aloe Vera.  We made codes for everything that we didn't want the boys to know about, like periods, and pads, and tampons. *giggles* We discovered there is nothing more humiliating then bleeding through your white marching pants.

We learned to live on a tour bus, and we learned that the ONLY bus to ride was bus 3, the party bus.  And party we did.  I remember quiet time starting at midnight, and I remember Joe running up and down the bus aisle at 11:59 shouting, "One more minute!!!"  We discovered that Ryan would make out with a bus window on a dare, and that you NEVER wanted to be the first one asleep... you might wake up with more makeup then you went to sleep with.  I remember locking people in the bus bathroom, and pushing things through the hole next to the window, just to scare them.  I remember the bus wars, where someone from bus one would come in and decide to take a crap in *gasp* OUR bathroom, just to stink it up.  So of course, SOMEONE had to return the favor.

But the one thing that I remember more then anything, is the feeling I got from watching the drum corps preform.  And of course, my favorite drum corp was The Concord Blue Devils.  I would fall asleep each night listening to a tape of their show, and wake up each morning humming their opener.  I dreamed of one day becoming a Blue Dev.

Unfortunatly, that just wasn't meant to be.
I was a flute player at the time, and as everyone knows, there are no woodwinds in a drum corp.  But, I was going to play french horn in band the next year, so I could still dream.

As I learned to play horn, my admiration for the horn line in the Blue Devs grew.

And as I advanced in band, my admiration for the whole corp grew.

Now, I'm 21 years old, and will never be a Blue Dev.
But I still get a thrill whenever the name in mentioned.
And in my mind's eye, I can see the drill being executed perfectly,
and I can hear the drums and the horns.

And the next thing I know, I'm rolling my feet and humming one of their shows.

All the pictures are from http://www.bluedevils.org/

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