Drum Corps Season
Prior to the advent of DCI, many locals corps were a year-round youth activity. Still, the competitive season generally ran from Memorial Day to Labor Day, which essentially coincided with the school systems' summer break.
Today, drum corps is often still a year-long activity, but not in the same manner. Where once memberships were almost entirely local, many corps now have a membership drawn from all over North America and the world. Therefore, off-season activities occur during "camp" weekends. At the early camps, potential members audition for membership in the corps. Later, the members gather monthly or bimonthly to work in preparation for the summer. As the season nears, many corps go into intense, full-time camps, with the members "moving in" and spending days on end in preparation for going "on tour."
At the present time, the competitive season begins in mid-June and ends with the DCI World Championships during the second week of August.
For members of all World Class corps and the most competitive Open Class corps, the activity is a full-time summer commitment. Members travel from show site to show site, performing in competitions and parades across North America nearly non-stop until the DCI Championships. Corps travel by coach buses in convoy with semi-trailer trucks holding equipment and field kitchens. Once on the road, members generally sleep on the buses as the corps travels at night, and in sleeping bags on school gym floors when their next destination is reached. The corps practice their shows for as long as the schedule allows during the day, and then they go to the stadium for the local competition. After each show is over, the cycle repeats, with only a few breaks in the cycle for laundry days and an occasional free day for relaxation.
Some corps have neither the finances nor the member commitment to spend the entire summer "on tour." Some of these corps restrict themselves to local competitions only. Others may delay the start of their touring, marching only a short season on the way to the DCI Championships.
Read more about this topic: Drum Corps International
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