Corps keep spring tradition alive with virtual rehearsal camps

The end of April is traditionally when drum corps season gets underway in earnest. After the completion of the winter color guard and drum line activities, the last weekend of the month marks the first opportunity for corps to bring all sections back together as they prep for spring training rehearsals that are only weeks away.

With the cancelation of the 2020 DCI Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one would expect a void of activity that’s typically marked by drum lines warming up under blooming spring trees and the sound of a metronome counting off corps members as they take their first marching steps on rehearsal fields across North America.

Despite the inability to get together in person and without the prospect of the 2020 DCI Summer Tour ahead, a surprising number of ensembles across the country kept their April tradition alive, as corps members instead booted up their computers to take part in virtual instructional sessions.

Santa Clara Vanguard kept its efforts focused on the color guard section this past weekend. April would have been the corps’ callback audition camp where it would determine final placements for the performers in advance of this summer’s would-be tour.

“With WGI being canceled and then pretty much everyone’s season who was doing winter guard work, and then the DCI season not far behind that, one of the first things that we did was have a call with those corps members just to check on them and see how they're doing,” said Santa Clara Vanguard color guard caption supervisor Daniel Riley.

After that successful meeting, Riley went to his fellow staff members to see how they could take things to another level, in an effort to keep both current corps members and those who would be joining the corps for the first time in 2020 engaged.

Those staff members developed a packed three-day virtual camp that featured interactive instruction over Zoom video conference, as participating corps members set up their computers or mobile devices outside in their yard or in an indoor location where they had plenty of room to move and spin their color guard equipment.

Friday night began as a typical in-person camp would. But instead of traveling to California, corps members simply logged on in the evening from home for a two-hour session on dance technique and choreography. Saturday got underway at noon with a lengthy seven-hour itinerary filled with dance, flag, saber and rifle instruction, in addition to opportunities for Q&A with the instructors.

With upward of 50 participants on the Zoom conference who were spread out across the country — even as far away as locations like Taiwan and the Netherlands — fifth-year Vanguard color guard captain Justin Sheedy said that he was surprised at how effective the online instructional approach worked.

“I feel like I almost learned more through the computer than I would have in person because it made me focus so attentively on the small details like where exactly every pinky (finger) should be while spinning,” Sheedy said.

He spoke highly of how personal the instruction felt as staff members worked to describe the nuances of the skills they were teaching and to field questions throughout.

“Instructors would give us blocks of time to ask questions or you were free to ask during the instruction just by unmuting yourself,” Sheedy said. “You could also type it in the chat and some of the other staff members who were also in attendance were able to describe how to fix issues we might be experiencing all while we were trying to learn the choreography or other skills they were teaching.”

Jersey Surf is another corps that gathered over the weekend for online instruction, but took things one step further by inviting more than 120 members of the corps, including the color guard, brass and percussion sections. The New Jersey group certainly had an idea of how to pull things off after being one of the first to take its rehearsals online in March.

Surf heads to the web for innovative March brass camp

“The brass section had their virtual camp last month and it was a great success,” Jersey Surf program coordinator Tom Kershaw said. “The staff members nailed it on the first at bat, so they set up a great process for all the sections to follow going into April. We were able to take the model that they presented and tweak it a little bit, since now we had some unique situations. For example, instructing color guard performers is a lot different than working with brass musicians.”

Friday night for Surf began with meetings where instructors made introductions and laid out the plan for Saturday’s sessions. The next morning kicked off bright and early at 8:30 a.m. with sectional and sub-sectional rehearsals, while the afternoon centered on a visual rehearsal block and staff members providing one-on-one instruction. A corps meeting with all participants closed out the day.

 

“I'm just impressed at the corps members’ level of maturity to see this situation for what it is. The idea that there’s nothing anybody can do about it, so let’s make it the best,” Kershaw said. “That they're going into this with that mindset says a lot about our activity and the kind of person that's attracted to our activity.”

Without the prospect of a 2020 drum corps season ahead, it would be natural to wonder why corps are going out of their way to continue to grind away during an otherwise uncertain time.

With the pursuit of excellence ever-present, for members of the Vanguard color guard it’s all about staying connected and looking ahead to 2021 without missing a beat.

“It’s obviously challenging to start a season like this in such a weird way,” said Sheedy. “To have another year of having these people by our side before we go into the season is going to help us tremendously. That's the kind of energy we thrive on.”

For Kershaw and the Jersey Surf, throwing in the towel until next season even without the DCI Tour ahead hasn’t been a consideration.

“We never said, ‘Alright, well, we're done now. Let's just pick it back up in November,’” Kershaw said. “That was never part of our discussion."

“I think drum corps is a great tool to keep people positive," Kershaw added. "Looking forward, because it is a group thing, we can't do it by ourselves. So if we can pull each other along to get through this, then I think drum corps and the way we're going about it serves with that intent; to keep it together and have each other's back and be the sunshine in the day for the weekend.”

Other DCI corps recently in action

Blue Devils

 

Blue Knights

 

Bluecoats

 

Boston Crusaders

 

The Cadets

 

Music City

 

Raiders

 

Seattle Cascades

 

Spirit of Atlanta