The Beat of the Drum

Tuesday night my wife and I attended a Drum Corps competition at the local high school stadium.  It was great fun.  While it is called a Drum Corps, the truth is each group include a flag line and brass horns along with the drum line.  Each corps puts on about a 12 minute show (basically a football half-time show) and they are judged on their performance.  There were corps from Iowa, Wyoming, Texas, Wisconsin, and South Carolina.  Members are between 16-22 years of age.  They must try out for the corps and pay a fee to help defer the expenses.  Here are a few images from the evening.

This is the entry from Casper, WY and were one of my favorites of the evening.

I really liked their uniforms.

This is the drum line of the corps from Iowa.  I thought they had one of the best performances of the night.

   There are some sharp uniforms and polished instruments.

There are some tense moments and serious competition.  All in all, it was an enjoyable evening.  These corps teams tour the country during the summer, competing against one another.  It all comes to an end in August when they have a national final competition.  If you hear of such an event in your area, I would encourage you to check it out.  I think you will enjoy it.

Now there is always an inspiration for these types of groups.  Some that inspiration comes from military precision drill teams.  Another source are the true Drum Corps, like the Top Secret Regiment from Switzerland.  Take a look at this.