Looking back on 2006

In 2006 we saw the Glassmen coming to Europe, the first season of Drum Corps Netherlands, major changes in the UK, and the most exciting run for the European drum corps title so far. We listed some highlights of the year in this article.


JANUARY

Drum Corps France (DCF), the federation for drum corps and marching bands of France, has begun 2006 with the launch of a brand new website. DCF Webmaster Bertrand Chauvin has spent long hours to ready the new official site for the public.

During the autumn and winter months Cadence from Guildford have undergone a huge recruitment drive. With door to door leaflets, four school assemblies and a live show on BBC Southern Counties Radio their numbers have grown from around 18 to about 62 youngsters.

It seems that Italy has discovered color guard. The Millennium Marching Band from Verdello and Giuseppe Verdi from Lonate already have a guard, and two other Italian marching bands have announced that they will be setting up a guard group next year. European guard instructors are being asked to help with this.

Northern Star Drum & Bugle Corps from Leeds - UK have announce their new logo and website. Northern Star decided to freshen up their image as they continue to push the corps forward on all fronts into 2006.


FEBRUARY

Due to many reasons, Pegasus Drum & Bugle Corps from Havant/Waterlooville have decided to call it a day. The corps has been involved in DCUK and BYBA for over 10 years and have had a great time and experience.

The Kidsgrove Scouts have announced a strengthening of their partnership with Dynasty for the 2006 season which includes a new marching brass line. Over the last weekend the Scouts took delivery of new Bb trumpets, baritones, tubas and F mellophones.

In the weekend of 4th-5th February, Drum Corps Germany and Drum Corps Europe jointly organised the second edition of the annual training weekend for European judges. Judges from Germany, Great Britain and the Netherlands took part in the training course.

The videoclips from the DCE Championships 2005 were published on the download page of the DCE website. Within four days after the clips were added, fans dowloaded them 5,000 times from the server.

An agreement has been formulated that will provide a blue-print for the way forward in terms of relations between the youth organisations of DCUK and BYBA and the open age activity in the UK. Over the last year the drum corps activity has been faced with the issue of open age corps in the United Kingdom.


MARCH

Total Percussion is a new UK-based service aimed at the drum corps and marching band percussionist. The company is the official UK dealer for Tapspace Publications - authors of works such as 'Virtual Drumline 2', 'Parking Lot Etudes', 'Simply Four', and 'Up Front'.

The UK event with The Glassmen will not be a DCUK or BYBA contest. Many people on the DCUK Discussion Group wondered why this decision was made and by who. Jean Paul Ratajczak, President of the Belgian company Muremo, confirmed that he made the decision because he was taking the whole financial risk for the event.

Northern Star Group from Leeds has announced the launch of Star Academy. The internationally renowned performing arts organisation is launching Star Academy to give young people performing arts skills that will enable them to become world class performers themselves.

The Italian Millennium Marching Band from Verdello will be transformed to a drum & bugle corps. Next October, Millenium will become the very first drum & bugle corps of Italy. This has been confirmed by Assistent Director Cristian Barbarino to Drum Corps Europe.


APRIL

Sheffield-based Concord Drum & Bugle Corps has announced that they have been invited by the Maltese Tourist Board to participate in their annual Historic Cites Festival during October 2006.

DCE has added a new service for registered members of the European drum corps community drumcorpstalk.com. Members can host their own photo albums on the Drumcorpstalk server free of charge. Each member will get up to 300 MB of web storage and 3 GB of monthly bandwidth.

The Troopers have been preliminarily approved to rejoin the ranks of DCI in full Division I competition for the 2007 competitive season. Final approval is expected later this year when the full DCI board meets to vote on the matter.

Drum Corps Europe has activated a new domain name: drumcorpseurope.org. This will be the new starting point from where visitors of the DCE website can proceed to their own language (English, Dutch, German or French).

As a result of the loss of performing members and staff, combined with the need to recruit and rebuild the corps, Forgemen from Sheffield will not take the competitive filed in either BYBA or DCUK this year.


MAY

Drum Corps United Kingdom has announced the release, for the first time, of DVDs from DCUK's history of Finals. The years 1984 to 1988 are now available to purchase from the website, with later years to follow in the future.

The color guard of the Giuseppe Verdi Marching Showband from Lonate Ceppino - Italy have performed a winterguard show before an audience of 200 people. It was the very first winterguard show ever in Italy.

Southern Aurora from Brighton have withdrawn from competition for the foreseeable future. After a series of set backs in the past two months, it has become clear that the show that was written cannot be performed by the members.

Drum Corps United Kingdom have been approached to help in an independent survey entitled 'Safeguarding the Future of Drum Corps in Great Britain'. The survey is being undertaken by Ian Scaife.

Jubal Drum & Bugle Corps has topped the Open Class of the very first Drum Corps Netherlands contest, last night in Dordrecht. The corps scored 63.6 points, followed by Juliana from Middelburg (56.75) and Northern Star from Leeds (51.75, 6.2 penalties).


JUNE

The Senators and Drum Corps United Kingdom have confirmed that the corps will be taking an active role within the DCUK 2006 summer calendar. The corps will however not be participating in the competitive arena at DCUK shows.

The Black Knights have topped the first Drum Corps United Kingdom contest in Warrington. The corps scored 65.0, 1.2 points ahead of the Kidsgrove Scouts. Phoenix Coventry won the A Class.

Strängnäs Drum & Bugle Corps from Sweden will not enter the DCE Championships this year. Due to low membership in the hornline, they are not able to field a corps.

The Grenadiers from Kingston, Ontario have decided to go inactive for the 2006 Drum Corps Associates contest season as they work to rebuild their organisation. The corps wants to return to competition in 2007.


JULY

The Glassmen and several European corps performed at the East of England Invitational in Peterborough. Many drum corps fans attended the big event.

Millennium Marching Band from Verdello are the Italian 2006 show champions. It is their third victory in a row. The championship event was held in the Sinigaglia stadium in Como.

There have been problems with the final production of the WGUK 2006 finals DVD. Some of these problems can not be fully rectified as it was a live-mix, but over the last few months WGUK has been working with the production company to see how the DVD can be improved.

Winning Music Effect, Performance Visual and Color Guard, Ensemble Music and Percussion captions, Blue Devils scored 85.525 at the DCI Indianapolis Central Division Championships, to become the sole undefeated corps so far this season.

No time to visit drum corps websites, but interested in drum corps news? Drum Corps Europe is offering a new service: drum corps news in your mailbox. The new service is free of charge.


AUGUST

At the recent meeting of the DCUK Board of Trustees, it was agreed that a proposal that had been presented by the WGUK Board would be put to the membership for consideration. The proposal involves a re-organisation of the charity to provide greater representation for the winter guards.

Following the successful BYBA Think Tank event, first conceived back in February this year, and held on Saturday 29th July in Leicester, it was recommended that the British Youth Band Association facilitate an open age division within its competition circuit.

'VK will be back...' After a very successful meeting with the Staff/Program Director, Mr. Joe Miller, and in the quest to reach their initial goal of possibly fielding a corps in 2007, VK Youth Arts Organization has announced the start of rehearsals and auditions for a return in 2007.

The Cavaliers have won their seventh DCI title in Madison with a score of 97.200. Phantom Regiment (96.850) surprised Blue Devils (96.550) and came in second.

Trumpeter Walter 'Maynard' Ferguson died on Wednesday at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura - California. He was 78. Ferguson's death was the result of kidney and liver failure brought on by an abdominal infection.

Drum Corps Europe presents a new service for the DCE Championships. As soon as the scores of both the prelims and finals are announced, they will be texted to mobile phones via SMS.


SEPTEMBER

Drum Corps International announced attendance milestones for its 2006 Summer Music Games Tour. DCI sanctioned a total of 143 competitions in 39 states this past summer, taking place over a 58-day time-frame. Total combined attendance for all events is estimated at more than 375,000.

The Reading Buccaneers Drum & Bugle Corps finished its 2006 competitive season where it began it â?? as undefeated world champions. The Buccaneers bested twenty-four other competing units at the 42nd annual Drum Corps Associates World Championships, held this weekend at Paetec Park in Rochester - New York.

Drum Corps Europe broadcasts a TV commercial to announce the DCE Championships 2006, to be held on September 23rd in Rotterdam. The commercial is aired for one week on the regional television channel 'TV Rijnmond'.

The Executive Director of Drum Corps International, Dan Acheson, has accepted an invitation from Drum Corps Europe to come to Rotterdam this Saturday. This is the first time that the DCI top man will be present in person at a European drum corps event.

Jubal Drum & Bugle Corps has been crowned as the new DCE European Open Class Champion. It was a closely fought title, as the difference between the champions and the number two, Northern Star, was minimal - 0.05 points. In the Percussion Class, DrumSpirit won for the second year in a row, with Jong Jubal coming out strongest in the Cadet Class.

A European color guard and indoor percussion organisation has been formed. Drum Corps France (DCF), Winter Guard United Kingdom (WGUK), Color Guard Nederland (CGN) and the Royal Dutch Music Federation (KNFM) have taken the first steps for the new organisation.

The Caballeros Drum & Bugle Corps from Hawthorne - New Jersey, have announced that a trip to Europe for the 2007 Competing Corps has been finalized. The competing corps will tour The Netherlands, France, Belgium and Germany.


OCTOBER

The Black Knights from Gravesend are the new champions of Drum Corps United Kingdom. With 92.7 points, their 'Infinite Knightmares' program received the highest scores from the judges. The Kidsgrove Scouts came second with their Spanish program 'El Art de la Danza'.

Northern Star took the Division 1 title of the BYBA Championships yesterday in Coventry. A score of 915 points was attained by the DCE runner-up in the Butts Park Arena.

The decision of the Kidsgrove Scouts to go open age in 2007 has resulted in huge interest. Therefore, the corps is looking for instruments for the highly increased membership.

For more than 25 years, 122 Dutch have participated in Drum Corps International corps. Last year, two Dutch DCI alums founded an organization to support, foster and expand the continued participation of Dutch in Drum Corps International groups. The 2006 season was a successful first year for the Dutch in DCI Foundation.

6th Hove will be experimenting with an indoor, full corps production over the winter, based on their 2006 summer production 'Bushido'. The experiment will challenge all performers to stay fit, adapt to a different performance arena and develop musical, visual and performance skills along side our usual winter program.


NOVEMBER

It is proposed that the drum corps competition in the UK will be catered for in three different competitive divisions. This will allow corps to self select a class that will work best with the corps' financial and structural resources and their own educational philosophy.

Drum Corps United Kingdom has decided for 2007 to run a season that will consist of three summer spectacular competitive shows at which thee organisation would endeavour to feature the very best that drum corps has to offer to the UK fan base, as well as facilitate and encourage competition and participation of emerging corps.

Drum Corps Europe have appointed Andy Hewlett from Bristol as new project manager. Within the DCE management team, Andy will be in charge of various projects, mainly new ones.

Drum Corps Netherlands has managed to entice a special guest participant for the new season. On 23rd June, the Caballeros will be coming to DCN's second contest. The American drum & bugle corps from Hawthorne - New Jersey, reached fourth place during the recent DCA Championships.

The 2006 BYBA Individuals & Ensembles competition was blessed with not only a 10 year record entry level, but also with an extremely appreciative and enthusiastic audience for all sections.

History in Europe was made as senior officials from the leading marching band and drum corps organisations met in Brussels to set the stage for a more unified working environment going forwards that will provide members of all organizations experiences that they will covet for years to come.


DECEMBER

DCUK have announced that they will be adopting the DCE Competition manual for 2007. This decision was announced by DCUK after consultation with the management of DCE at the European Conference which took place in Brussels.

Stichting Top Evenementen Nederland (Netherlands Top Events Foundation) has changed its name. It is now called Drum Corps Events Europe (DCEE), as they feel that the name TEN no longer corresponds to their activities.

Concord Drum & Bugle Corps will be making the switch from 'G' to mixed-key brass instruments for the 2007 season. With an ever-increasing number of corps in the United States making the change, the cops is aware that eventually the supply of American-made 'G' bugles and spares will cease.

The British Youth Band Association (BYBA) and Marching & Performing Arts United Kingdom (MPA-UK), representing both DCUK and WGUK, have announced a strategic partnership to ensure, following the successful Europe wide talks that have taken place, they are able to provide a coherent and structured focus for the UK activity.

Drum Corps Europe has announced the list of participants for the DCE Championships 2007. This coming year will see drum corps competing from the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Italy.

The Drum Corps Netherlands Championships will be held in the FC Dordrecht stadium the next three years. DCN chairman Kees Bourquin and FC Dordrecht president Ad Heijsman signed a multi-year contract during a press conference at the stadium.

Drum Corps Planet publisher John Donovan has announced a new website dedicated to the fantasy drum corps activity. The new site will be the home of Drum Corps Planet International (DCPI) - a 'Fantasy Drum and Bugle Corps circuit'.

All European organisations active in the drum corps activity have asked Rob van Koningshoven to consider a name change of his organisation DCEE (Drum Corps Events Europe). The European allies are worried that the name could cause confusion inside and outside Europe.