Corps Director John Dimick of Distant Thunder Show Corps from bedford is excited to announce a new partnership with musical arranger Tim Gardiner, one of the creative talents behind DCUK champions The Senators.

Nick Angelis has been appointed Colts percussion arranger and caption head for the 2006 season. Next month, Angelis will fly to Europe for a snare masterclass in both The United Kingdom and Belgium.

The new supply of patches for the DCE Championships 2005 has arrived. On the day of the Championships in Rotterdam the patches were sold out in no time and a new order was immediately placed with the supplier. Patches for the 2004 Championships, which were previously sold out, are also available again.

The Senators Percussion Ensemble present their 2006 production 'Root Canal'. The percussion ensemble will take the audience through their worse nightmares as they explore the pure fear of the dreaded dentist's chair.

As the sound echoed away from the last rehearsal of 2005 on the day before DCUK Finals, the whole of the Senators members and staff were presented with the 2006 show announcement. The new summer production is called 'Is This the Real Life: A Queen Symphony'.

The French percussion unit Showband USA from Hellemmes is pleased to announce the theme of the new show for the 2006 season: 'Star Wars Adventures'. With the same objective as the group's previous show ('Disney Wonders'), Showband USA has decided to please the audience again with well known music and more particularly this movie piece of work from the two trilogies.

The Color Guard Nederland (CGN) Individuals & Ensembles for brass, percussion and color guard will be held this Saturday (October 15th) in Huizen - The Netherlands. It will be the largest I&E event ever held by CGN. More than 60 performances are scheduled.

The Senators Drum & Bugle Corps from Eastleigh have announced they have entered into a strategic partnership with the software notation company Sibelius. Whilst performing at the Yamaha Expo in Milton Keynes, John Barron from Sibelius approached John McNamara (corps co-ordinator of the Senators) and muted the idea about the possibility of the corps moving its complete notation requirements over to the Sibelius brand.

Executive Offficers of Drum Corps United Kingdom (DCUK) and Drum Corps Europe (DCE) are delighted to announce that a new strategic partnership has been developed over the last three weekends.

Northern Star from Leeds (Division 1) and Distant Thunder from Bedford (Division 2) took home the BYBA National Championship trophy following an awesome performance that leaves both corps undefeated in the British Youth Band Association this year.

The Kidsgrove Scouts website has been updated with the plans for the marching band and drum corps community in 2006 and a report on last weekends Drum Corps United Kingdom Championships where the corps successful captured the High Percussion and High Colour Guard trophies.

BDEntertainment, a group made up of current and former drum corps veterans, is currently headed to Seoul - South Korea, where they will perform with groups from all over the world as part of the Seoul Drum Festival, playing both classical and ethnic percussion as well as some fusion.

Following lengthy review of the current status of the corps, the Troopers board of directors decided that in the best interest of the corps, they will not field a competitive corps for the 2006 season.

Senators Drum & Bugle Corps from Eastleigh took the crown on Saturday as DCUK Open Class Champions 2005. This is their seventh DCUK title, and the third in a row. Despite the Senators' strong head start earlier in the season, the Kidsgrove Scouts still narrowly missed catching them up. In the end, there was less than one point difference between them.

Like previous years, a DVD and CD will be produced of the DCE Championships 2005. As of today it is possible to order your copy - we will start shipping late December. This year the DVD includes an additional feature: viewers will be able to choose not only the edited version, but also footage from the camera with a complete view of the shows.

The popular patches of the DCE Championships 2005 are now available in the online store of the DCE website. During the event last week, all patches were sold out before the end of the day. New stock will be delivered at the end of this month.

The Americanos from Menasha - Wisconsin, are ready to return to the field of competition for their 70th Anniversary. Founded in 1936 as the Sons of the American Legion, the Americanos are one of America's oldest drum corps still in existence.

At a recent meeting of the Board of Directors of DCI, it was decided that the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps would be removed from Division I membership status due to the organization's lack of compliance of the requirements necessary to maintain membership within DCI.

Several galleries with pictures of the DCE Championships 2005 have been published on the internet. We collected the web addresses and made an overview of them.

After a few years in the Hague, the Big Day this year is at 'The Castle' in Rotterdam. Has it been a successful relocation? Definitely. The Sparta stadium is a wonderful place to enjoy the drum corps shows. The sound is absorbed by the roof superbly, ideal conditions to watch a full day of top competition as spectator. I also spoke to various people who all described playing on the field in this big(ger) stadium as a wonderful experience. A report by drumcorpsmedia.com reporter Niels Merkx.

A breathtaking musical and visual show in the Sparta Stadium in Rotterdam yesterday ended with the crowning of four European champions. DCE European Championship titles went to Beatrix Hilversum (Open Class), Strängnäs (A-Class), DrumSpirit Dadizele (Percussion Class) and Jong Beatrix Hilversum (Cadet Class). Dutch, Swedish and Belgian winners in a shimmering arena.

If you don't have tickets yet for the DCE European Championships, don't despair! There will still be enough tickets available in the open sale. Although the presale exceeded all expectations, the stadium is large enough to guarantee every enthusiast a seat.

DVDs of the DCE Championships 2005 may possibly include an extra feature, whereby viewers will be able to choose not only the edited version, but also footage from the camera with a complete view of the show. Drum Corps Europe is looking into the possibility of this additional option.

This year there is a very special souvenir for visitors and participants of the DCE European Championships 2005. Drum Corps Europe is bringing out another patch, but this year the embroidery contains a very distinctive design!

It has been announced that High Brass will once again be bringing their merchandise stand to the DCE Championships. High Brass was present in 2004 as well.

The presale of admission tickets for the DCE European Championships, to be held in Rotterdam on Saturday, has been very successful. No less than 1500 tickets have been reserved via the webshop, an increase of almost 30 percent compared to last year. There will also be a sufficient amount of tickets available at the gate.

Distant Thunder Show Corps from Bedford finished the regular season at the BYBA Upton on Severn Show Saturday with another stunning performance. Taking all captions at the show, the corps broke through the 800 barrier scoring 817 points finishing 89 points ahead of the second placed corps.

Next year, other criteria will be used to select participants for the DCE Championships 2006. Date of registration will no longer be used as the basis for selection. Last year, the DCE Championships were full within six days, even though there were many more applicants. Good enough reason for another system to be implemented.

Wölper Löwen Drum & Bugle Corps from Neustadt am Rübenberge are the new champions of Drum Corps Germany. With a score of 79.88, the corps topped the Drum Corps Class in the Weserbergland Stadium in Hameln last Saturday. The Starriders came in second.

Top drummers and clinicians Bill Bachman and Nick Angelis will lead the master classes during the Masters of Percussion event in Antwerp - Belgium on November 20th. This big percussion event is run by InCorps, a partner organisation of Drum Corps Europe.

An enthusiastic audience cheered for the 6 corps performing at DCF first national festival in Saint Quentin - France, last Saturday, September 10th. Inside the huge sports hall Pierre Ratte of Saint Quentin, Showband Amis Réunis ('United Friends'), Edelweiss Drum and Bugle Corps, Showparade Creutzwald, Showband USA, Show and Marching Band La Vaillante and the international guest Jong Irene from Ede - the Netherlands, made the crowd stand on their feet at the conclusion of the festival, around midnight.

This year, the European Champions of the DCE Championships 2005 will receive a championship flag to take back home. For years, these flags were a tradition for many drum corps organisations. DCE, however, has never had a championship flag.

Audience measurement results from the broadcast of the 2005 Drum Corps International World Championship on ESPN2 last week indicated that the program achieved a viewership exceeding 435,000 U.S. households.

Presale of tickets for the DCE European Championships will end this Saturday, September 17th. Please order your tickets now if you want to be sure to have tickets for the Championships.

The time table of the DCE Championships (Rotterdam, September 24th) has been published on the Drum Corps Europe website. It will be a long day full of show and music at 'The Castle'.

Drum Corps Planet has partnered with Drum Corps Europe to provide enhanced coverage of drum corps events from the European activity. This new agreement allows DCE to directly post news, scores (and soon pictures) for the DCP audience.

The broadcast of the 2005 DCI World Championships on ESPN2 (last Tuesday) was the first time the program has ran on prime time commercial network television. In past years it has only appeared on select public television stations. The two-hour ESPN2 broadcast focused on behind the scenes interviews and features, and presented only short highlight clips of the performing corps.

Distant Thunder Show Corps from Bedford started the second half of the UK season with a huge victory at the Southern Youth Band Contest at Basingstoke - United Kingdom. They took all major captions.

The Black Knights have won the DCUK show in Grantham. They scored 71.2, topping the Brass and Effect captions. The Forgemen ended in second place (70.5), followed by Poynton Commodores (66.7), and Phoenix Coventry (64.3).

The Buccaneers from Reading - Pennsylvania completed an astounding undefeated season by winning the DCA Open Class World Championship, sweeping all captions. Their 98.45 score is the second highest score ever recorded at DCA Finals. The Bucs' victory also comes on the 25th anniversary of their last win in 1980.

Jubal Drum & Bugle Corps from Dordrecht has topped the Open Class of the DCE show in their home town last night. The other winners are Showband Calypso from Zwevegem (A-Class), Harpe Davids from Zoetermeer (Percussion Class), and Jong Jubal from Dordrecht (Cadet Class). Northern Star was the biggest surprise of the day.

Do you need tickets for the DCE 2005 Championships, but haven't had the time to order them yet? During the DCE contest in Dordrecht you will be able to order your tickets for the European event, with the DCE Ticket Service.

Santa Clara Vanguard has announced Rick Valenzuela's resignation as director of the corps, effective October 31st, 2005. The Santa Clara Vanguard greatly appreciates Rick's 20+ years of commitment to the corps, the SCV organization, to Drum Corps International and most importantly to the marching members.

The ticket presale for the DCE contest in Dordrecht this Saturday is now closed. However, you will still be able to buy tickets at the gate on the day of the contest. For those wanting a seat but who have not yet ordered tickets, the advice is: don't arrive too late. Standing tickets are also available, however.

A new study of adolescents by researchers from Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo is demonstrating the health benefits of participating in musical sport. The research initiative is in partnership with Kitchener's Dutch Boy Drum & Bugle Corps. The project is the first Canadian study to research the health effects of drum corps involvement.