The 2013 DCI Open Class World Championship was held at Ames Field in Michigan City, Indiana, about an hour around the Lake Michigan shore from Chicago. Blue Devils B entered the Prelims competition having won all 11 shows in which it had competed with the Vanguard Cadets, but then lost to its California brethren by a quarter of a point in Prelims and just under a half a point in Finals. The Devils took honors for Best Percussion for the fifth year in the row while Vanguard Cadets won the rest of the caption awards. Genesis won the award for Most Improved Corps in the class, capturing 3rd place and the corps’ first DCI medal. The first thing one noticed about Blue Devils B’s intentionally creepy show, titled, “Warped,” was that it was performed partially upon a large tarp that altered the yard lines between the 40s. This changed the paths of the marchers as they moved down those lines, while five big parabolic arch props served to lift the yard lines into the air as if something out of a Salvador Dali painting. Eerie electronic sounds wafted across the field as the corps was introduced, leading into a segment from James Sochinski’s “The Legend of Alcobaça,” a work originally written for concert band in the early 1990s based on a 14th-Century Portuguese tragic love story. “Dom Pedro’s Revenge,” the fifth movement, opened the show with the anguished strains of a brass trio playing the vengeance theme of Dom Pedro. At the climax of the opening, twirling umbrellas with black and white spirals created a dizzying effect reflective of an increasingly schizophrenic mood. That same spiral effect was seen on the bass drum heads and referenced on the stripes on the left arms of all the members, as well as the shells of the drums. The umbrellas would return from time to time, enhancing the maddening tendencies exhibited by the progressively agitated corps members. Those tendencies were manifested by imagery of members struggling as if in straightjackets.
A quirky segment from Danny Elfman’s “Serenada Schizophrana” was next. Elfman was lead singer and songwriter for the rock band Oingo Boingo from 1976 to 1995 and then commenced a successful career writing television theme songs. He’s also written movie scores for most of Tim Burton’s films, including mega-hits such as “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” and “Batman.” The American Composers Orchestra commissioned “Serenada Schizophrana” in 2004, which became Elfman’s first extended classical composition. Michael Daugherty’s big band rock-infused “Bizarro” was a musical motif through much of the show. Written in 1993 for the University of Texas Wind Ensemble, the work is based on a story about Superman, recounting how Superman’s foe Lex Luthor created a strange, twisted, spike-haired copy of the caped crusader via a duplicating ray. The original composition included scoring for three rock ?˜n’ roll drummers and merrily went on its way until dissonantly spiraling out of control. Drum corps fans will be interested to know that from 1962 to 1967, Daugherty marched as a bass drummer with the Emerald Knights from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and as a tenor drummer for the Grenadiers from Belmont, Wisconsin. Color guard members provided special effects to a trio of brass players by utilizing white disks imprinted with black spirals as mutes against the bells of the horns. This introduced the second half of the show that was largely based on the Elfman music.
A visual theme throughout the second half of the production was created with corps members creeping around in pods and filling in drill forms that instantly dissolved, seemingly negating the efforts of filling in the forms. The music interspersed smooth melodies with jagged outbursts, reflected in the gentle curves of the drill interrupted by jagged forms and equally jagged body motions. Some music composed by corps arrangers John Meehan, Dave Glyde and Brian Dinkel was thrown into the mix, including a percussion break. A new set of props rose up the 50- and 40-yard lines across the back of the field, extending the vanishing point of those yard lines as they disappeared into the horizon. The parabolic arches kept moving around, connecting different yard lines to each other. The entire closer was a 200-count spiraling drill phrase reflecting the design of the umbrellas seen earlier in the show. The maneuver sent corps members backing up blindly through the archways. The show concluded with the brass players and color guard members on the ground, many writhing in confusion as to the madness that just happened.
For this week only, you can save on the DVD that contains this complete Blue Devils B performance, along with other corps from the 2013 Open Class World Championship in Michigan City.
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(Available this week only for 20% off. Regular price: $29.95.) DVD offer ends Monday, March 16, 2015.
Michael Boo was a member of the Cavaliers from 1975-1977. He has written about the drum corps activity for more than a quarter century and serves as a staff writer for various Drum Corps International projects. Boo has written for numerous other publications and has published an honors-winning book on the history of figure skating. As an accomplished composer, Boo holds a bachelor's degree in music education and a master's degree in music theory and composition. He resides in Chesterton, Indiana
