There’s more to marching bands than meets the eye. In this series, Jason Wicks of Morristown High School ’09 & Appalachia State University will take us behind the scenes as he participates in a top 12 World CLass Drum and Bugle Corps in his quest for marching and musical perfection. –Doug Rutan, Morristown High School Music DepartmentMy name is Doug Rutan and I am one of the band directors at Morristown HIgh School. I was involved in an activity called Drum and Bugle Corps. It’s like marching band but at a much higher level. Anyone who has ever been involved in the activity will tell you that it is a life altering experience.
My former student Jason WIcks had a dream three summers ago to become a member of the Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps. With this in mind I set him on the path to fulfill his dream. Through a lot of hard work and determination, this summer, Jason will be living his dream. We would like to share his experiences for anyone interested. So from now until August you can follow Jason across the country as he lives his dream as a member of the Carolina Crown.
Two summers ago we chronicled the last two weeks of Jason Wicks as he marched his way to Indiana for the Drum Corps International World Champioships in Indianapolis Indiana with the Open Class Corsp from New Jersey the Jersy Surf.
This year as a college freshman at Appalachia State University in Boone North Carolina, Jason has succesfully auditioned for the Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps from Fort Mills, South Carolina. Last year the Carolina Crown finished second in DCI World Class Competition. Together Jason and I are going to take you through the entire season from auditions to training camp to tour to championships.
Tomorrow I will post Jasons first entry that talks about the audition process to become a member of a World Class Drum and Bugle Corps. Today was “move in day.” The entire corps moves into a college facility where they will spend the next four to five weeks conditioning for the season and learning the visual (marching) portion of their show puting that portion together with the music. They will practice from 12 to 16 hours day until they pack up and leave for tour.
But I’ll let Jason tell you about that for the next several weeks. I hope that you enjoy this blog and if you wish to learn more you can find information at www.dci.org. If you wish to catch a live show you can check the schedule on that web site. Shows close to us are June 29th at The College of New Jersey in Ewing, DCI Eastern Classic in Allentown Pennsylvania on August 6th and 7th and in Clifton New Jersey on August 8th.
