Download of the Week: 2009 Troopers

The Troopers were one of the perennial top corps prior to the early days of Drum Corps International and in DCI’s first few years, placing as high as second at the 1973 DCI World Championship. The corps placed within the top 12 from 1972 through 1975 and four times between 1979 and 1986. Considering that it had been 23 years since the corps’ last trip to the biggest show of the season, it really got the fans’ attention when the Wyoming group did so well in 2009 and popped into the Finals by just three tenths of a point after the Semifinals. Few who were there can forget the roaring standing ovation in Lucas Oil Stadium when Hall of Fame announcer Brandt Crocker, himself a product of the Troopers management team (and married to a former Troopers color guard member), announced the corps at the Finals. A prolonged standing ovation—unlike anything I’ve witnessed in my 35 years in the activity up until that time—clearly demonstrated how meaningful the accomplishment was to the fans. The 12th place 2009 show, “Western Side Story,” seamlessly blended works from the Leonard Bernstein musical, “West Side Story,” with more contemporary works for wind ensemble. The gist of the show was the classic love story between two lovers from different worlds. The Troopers re-imagined “West Side Story” with a western twist of a cavalryman falling in love with a Native American maiden, as love attempted to rise above the turmoil of the fight between their cultures. The show began with members of the brass and percussion sections in poses suitable for the Wild West such as sleeping on the range and eating around a campfire, while the color guard members, dressed as Native Americans, were vigilantly on the lookout for the U.S. Cavalry. The repetitive four-note ostinato theme of Russell Peck’s “The Cave” opened the show over a bass drum heartbeat; with very short solo brass quotes from “Maria” and “Somewhere” wafting over the field. A charging cavalry of brass players interrupted the sound of the heartbeat, instantly raising the tension level. A percussive mallet intro to “America” (from “WSS”) and Joseph Curiale’s “Adelina de Maya, Mvt. 2” introduced the hopes and dreams of both the sides. However, both would soon be fighting a turf war over who controlled the West, with each demonstrating aggression toward the other and engaging in mock hand-to-hand combat. The brass and percussion sections formed what one thought would be the corps’ trademark “sunburst” visual formation, which was a fake out, as it didn’t “burst” during the full-corps treatment of “America.”