Interlude is a relatively new section of DCI.org dedicated to periodically telling the longer, more in-depth stories of the drum corps experience. If you have a longer drum corps essay that perhaps metaphorically relates to larger life, this is the place for it (writers seeking an online clip, here's your chance). Send your completed essays, along with a brief bio and even a picture (and your own e-mail address, if you so choose), to content@dci.org with the subject line "Interlude." We look forward to hearing from you!
Jennifer Lindsey of Lubbock, Texas, sent in this note about how much she loves drum corps.
"I'm probably the biggest band nerd/drum corps fan ever that doesn't know how to play an instrument. The sad part is, I'm not even kidding. I can't read music, I don't know what all these words mean, all I know is that I love drum corps and I think it's the most awesome thing I have ever seen. I don't have a picture, but this is the only place I knew of to find an e-mail address so I could contact someone and say my little two cents.
"I first was introduced to drum corps in the fall of 2002 when my now best friend, Andrea Kile (who marches SCV), was listening to it and I was interested by the type of music. I knew about marching bands, everyone knows about marching bands from high school and college, but not a whole lot of people in the area I'm from knows about DCI. "So I went into her dorm room one night and she was practicing her trumpet and I was just floored. I had seen the trumpets in my high school band and such, and had always wanted to play the drums, but never had I seen a person practicing it in person! It was like I was meeting Michael Jordan, I was awestruck. I just thought it was the coolest thing to see a person only practicing on her mouthpiece. I just couldn't believe my eyes and ears, it was so cool!
"So I basically lived in her room and we talked a lot about drum corps and what it was and what it meant to her to be a part of SCV and the show and the time and effort she placed into that summer. She played the video from 2002 for me on a little TV she had (that thing was so small I had to squint, but it was awesome nonetheless) and I couldn't even speak. All I could say after watching it (besides asking "which one is you?" the whole time) was "Cool, that was so cool." "After she went off to Santa Clara for their camps and brought back the music for it and practiced it (day and night, I swear she practiced more than she did homework), I knew the horn section from back to front. She came back from one of her camps and started telling me about the show itself and how awesome it was with the drums and pit (that's one of my new vocabulary words -- pit) all in it, I was so anxious to watch her perform.
"I finally got to see a show when DCI came to San Antonio on July 19, 2003. I made my mom go with me and sit there as long as I could. I wanted to go to the whole show, but she didn't want to sit there and watch all of the other corps perform all day when I only knew one person out of 1,000. "So we watched the evening competition and Vanguard came up last, at something like 11 p.m. I bought four cameras just to have two backups because I knew I was going to be taking lots of pictures, but I never expected to take as many as I did (I ended up taking over three rolls worth of pictures). When Vanguard came out on the field, I started shaking, I was so excited. "It's AMAZING to see your best friend do the coolest thing you have ever heard of, and the one thing she loves more than anything. I wanted to scream my lungs out, but her family told me to calm down and watch the show. I keep straining my mind to remember that night, but it all went by in a blur. I took about one and a half rolls of film on just Vanguard that night, and I still look at them and ask Andrea which one is her. I already had their whole music show memorized after it first came out on CD, and I still can't get enough.
"I hope I haven't made too much of a fool of myself and I hope I didn't embarrass my best friend too much, but I just love drum corps so much. "By the way, when I was talking about my friend's dorm room, we're both students at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. She's a senior and I'm a junior after this semester. So there's my little two cents about how much I love drum corps and I hope I've made someone smile, because I do whenever I think about it. "I made a CD of every Vanguard song I could come by, and it lives in my truck's CD player. Don't think all I listen to is Vanguard now, because I also really enjoy the Blue Devils and Cavaliers and everyone else. I'm not too biased, I hope, just because my best friend marches Vanguard ... wait, maybe I am."
"I first was introduced to drum corps in the fall of 2002 when my now best friend, Andrea Kile (who marches SCV), was listening to it and I was interested by the type of music. I knew about marching bands, everyone knows about marching bands from high school and college, but not a whole lot of people in the area I'm from knows about DCI. "So I went into her dorm room one night and she was practicing her trumpet and I was just floored. I had seen the trumpets in my high school band and such, and had always wanted to play the drums, but never had I seen a person practicing it in person! It was like I was meeting Michael Jordan, I was awestruck. I just thought it was the coolest thing to see a person only practicing on her mouthpiece. I just couldn't believe my eyes and ears, it was so cool!
"So I basically lived in her room and we talked a lot about drum corps and what it was and what it meant to her to be a part of SCV and the show and the time and effort she placed into that summer. She played the video from 2002 for me on a little TV she had (that thing was so small I had to squint, but it was awesome nonetheless) and I couldn't even speak. All I could say after watching it (besides asking "which one is you?" the whole time) was "Cool, that was so cool." "After she went off to Santa Clara for their camps and brought back the music for it and practiced it (day and night, I swear she practiced more than she did homework), I knew the horn section from back to front. She came back from one of her camps and started telling me about the show itself and how awesome it was with the drums and pit (that's one of my new vocabulary words -- pit) all in it, I was so anxious to watch her perform.
"I finally got to see a show when DCI came to San Antonio on July 19, 2003. I made my mom go with me and sit there as long as I could. I wanted to go to the whole show, but she didn't want to sit there and watch all of the other corps perform all day when I only knew one person out of 1,000. "So we watched the evening competition and Vanguard came up last, at something like 11 p.m. I bought four cameras just to have two backups because I knew I was going to be taking lots of pictures, but I never expected to take as many as I did (I ended up taking over three rolls worth of pictures). When Vanguard came out on the field, I started shaking, I was so excited. "It's AMAZING to see your best friend do the coolest thing you have ever heard of, and the one thing she loves more than anything. I wanted to scream my lungs out, but her family told me to calm down and watch the show. I keep straining my mind to remember that night, but it all went by in a blur. I took about one and a half rolls of film on just Vanguard that night, and I still look at them and ask Andrea which one is her. I already had their whole music show memorized after it first came out on CD, and I still can't get enough.
"I hope I haven't made too much of a fool of myself and I hope I didn't embarrass my best friend too much, but I just love drum corps so much. "By the way, when I was talking about my friend's dorm room, we're both students at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. She's a senior and I'm a junior after this semester. So there's my little two cents about how much I love drum corps and I hope I've made someone smile, because I do whenever I think about it. "I made a CD of every Vanguard song I could come by, and it lives in my truck's CD player. Don't think all I listen to is Vanguard now, because I also really enjoy the Blue Devils and Cavaliers and everyone else. I'm not too biased, I hope, just because my best friend marches Vanguard ... wait, maybe I am."