Drumcorps.org.uk Review of 2004

2004 was another exciting year for the European drum corps activity. On the last day of the year, the drumcorps.org.uk webteam has made a review of 2004. Since the English news page of drumcorps.org.uk was started in July, only news facts in the second half of 2004 will appear in this review. The Drum Corps Europe staff wishes all drum corps fans a wonderful 2005!


JULY

Drum Corps Europe has revealed a new website. The new version supports three different languages: English, Dutch and German.

Drum corps fan Matthew Briddell has started an online petition against the use of amplification on the DCI competition fields. Over 750 people have already signed the petiton, including some European fans.

Senators have won the third DCUK contest of the 2004 season. The corps stayed ahead of the other corps with over four points and placed first in the Open Class.

At major DCI shows beginning his weekend, an additional percussion performance judge will evaluate corps. The additional judge will also evaluate corps at select Division II & III shows through the summer, and throughout World Championships in Denver.

After a difficult period, Drum Corps Midwest is back. On July 10, DCM organized its annual Championships again in Dekalb, with 12 corps in competition and 2 corps in exhibition.

Almost 30 years after its first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 1975, Beatrix Drum & Bugle Corps has set off for its sixth trip to the North-American continent. In 1975, the corps traveled to the southwestern part of Canada, where the first encounter with the drum corps phenomenon took place.

Drum Corps United Kingdom (DCUK) has revamped its website. The new look is a big step forward compared to the old one, which was a bit outdated. British fans seem to like the new design.

A new German drum & bugle corps is in the works. In the German city Norderstedt, people will soon see the birth of Indiana Drum & Bugle Corps, an initiative of Oliver Totzke and Melanie Manhart.



AUGUST

'Building on Success' is an initiative of the British Federation of Youth Marching Band Organisations. It's a proposal for future joint competition and festival events in the UK.

The new Scott Johnson Drum Pad and Bag is now available. This new drum pad has three different playing surfaces, sounds like a snare drum and has a built in metronome.

The Cavaliers are the World Champions of 2004. During the Finals competition, the Cavies beat the Blue Devils with 0.175 points, resulting in a winning score of 98.700. Spartans won the Division II/III Grand Finals with 96.550.

DCI has announced that The Drum Corps International World Championships are moving cross-country for 2005. The Championships will be held in Providence, the capital of Rhode Island, and the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough - Massachusetts.

After a great summer and a run of two fabulous years, Dean Westmen has informed George Hopkins, Director of the Cadets, that he will not be returning for 2005, at least in the capacity of caption director.

Youth Education in the Arts has completed the move to its new headquarters in Allentown - Pennsylvania. Thanks to the City of Allentown and The Allentown Economic Development Corporation,The Musselman Family and a $400,000 grant from The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, YEA! is now operating from a 13,000 square foot building.


SEPTEMBER

Jubal Drum & Bugle Corps has topped the second DCE show in Dordrecht - The Netherlands. Juliana came in second. It was a hot night with a lot of great shows before a sold out stand.

Drum Corps Europe will again broadcast a TV commercial to announce the DCE Championships 2004. The commercial will be aired for the next two weeks on the regional television channel 'TV West'.

September 18th 2004 was a historic date in the history of Northern Star. After 10 years of competing in the British Youth Band Association the corps were finally crowned BYBA champions.

Beatrix (Netherlands), Distant Thunder (United Kingdom), Strangnas (Sweden), Rythm Stars (Netherlands) and Jong Beatrix (Netherlands) are the new Drum Corps Europe Champions 2004. More than 2000 people attended the DCE Finals in The Hague on September 25.

Beatrix Drum & Bugle Corps has announced their new show for 2005: 'Hooray for Hollywood'. The program will be a tribute to the big film musicals from Hollywood.

The Bridgemen Alumni Drum & Bugle Corps has formally launched last Saturday, and Executive Director George Lavelle proudly announced the staff for the 2005 season. Lavelle is thrilled that two of the most prominent individuals to ever work with the Bridgemen, Dennis DeLucia and Larry Kerchner, will return to provide and oversee the musical arrangements.



OCTOBER

The Senators have won the DCUK Open Class Finals and can add another Open Class title to their list. The DCUK Championships were held last Sunday in Mansfield. Phoenix Coventry won the A-Class, Senators Juniors took the Junior Class title the and Black Knights Cadets won the Cadet Class.

The Fleetwood drum & bugle corps albums are back. From their archives, Fleetwood has begun releasing its entire catalog from 1958-1980 digitally remastered with original artwork on CD.

Six members of The Senators Drum & Bugle Corps brass section travelled to London late on Tuesday evening 5th October for an overnight pop promo video shoot for the chart topping band Keane.

DCE A-Class Champion Distant Thunder has announced their 2005 program. This will be the most challenging to date and will feature the music of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story.

Stafford Lancers have announced that the 2005 programme will be taken from the worlds favourite musical 'Les Misérables' which itself is celebrating its twentieth anniversary. 2005 is the corps tenth anniversary since its formation in 1995.

Drum Corps Europe has launched a French version of its website today. It is the fourth supported European language, besides English, Dutch and German. The French version is identical to the other versions, including a French webshop and news section.

Northern Star Drum & Bugle Corps from Leeds - UK has announced its 2005 production: 'Unity 2: Texture, Melody and Rhythm'. In three movements the show explores the combination of these three elements of music into the Unified end production seen on the drum corps field.

An exciting, once in a lifetime, adventure awaits drum corps fans in Europe and The Blue Devil 2005 performers. On June 19th, The Blue Devils will embark from San Francisco, on a three-week tour of Europe. The DCE contest in Kortrijk - Belgium will be the first European event of the tour.

Drum Corps International has experienced three years of solid growth in attendance, according to a study undertaken by DCI national show promotions coordinator Sue Kuehnhold. This year, DCI contracted events continued the trend with an 8.1 percent increase.


NOVEMBER

Concord Drum & Bugle Corps has announced that their 2005 production will take the corps in a completely new direction. To begin their next 20 years, they will be performing a show based on the music of Frank Sinatra.

Stormarn Magic from Bad Oldesloe - Germany has announced their new show program. The title of their 2005 show will be 'CINEMAgic'. The corps plans to enter the competitions of both DCG and DCE.

Showkorps WIK from Ostend has topped the show contest of the Flemish music organization Vlamo in Wevelgem - Belgium yesterday. The corps scored 90.3%. At the same moment, another Vlamo contest was run in Aartselaar - Belgium. Kameleon Percussie took top honors there with a score of 90%.

The brass ensemble High Brass will record album late spring 2005 to be written and produced by Bob Curnow. Bob's music has been associated with many Drum Corps over the years.

Anticipating the casting for several new productions of the highly successful stage show 'Blast!', an immediate and open call is going out to age-outs of the drum and bugle corps activity to inquire about positions in the brass, percussion and visual ensemble.

Brass Impact, a big band from Scotland with 'drum corps roots', has announced the release of their debut CD 'Brass Attitude'. Presenting nine tracks form the their extensive repertoire, this album captures the unique sound of the band and showcases the talents of the many young musicians in the group.

Although it is only offered in the Netherlands, the 'audiovisual ensemble', which will feature mixed ensembles (think drums and flags together), could be a hot category in many individuals and ensembles competitions in the near future.

In 2005, Cadence Drum and Bugle Corps will be performing a programme entitled 'Artistic Impressions' where they will be exploring three different types of artistic styles. Each 'exhibit' will have its own identity where we will portray examples of works within each particular style of art.

The venues for the DCE regional contests in 2005 have been announced. The regionals will be held in Middelburg (The Netherlands, May 28th), Kortrijk (Belgium, June 25th) and Dordrecht (The Netherlands, September 3rd).


DECEMBER

The brand new young 'Federation for Drum Corps and Marching Bands of France', better known as 'Drum Corps France', has just organized the audition of its first 'instructor' candidates this Sunday, November 28th.

In only six days, the Drum Corps Europe Championships have reached the maximum number of 26 participating corps. Six European countries will be present at the European Championships, to be held on September 24, 2005.

Funkin Brass is the Black Knights latest musical venture, consisting of eleven brass, one bass, and a kit player. The purpose of Funkin Brass is to heighten the awareness of the Black Knights Drum and Bugle Corps as well as raising much needed funds for the group.

The Northern Star Group and Dynasty are pleased to announce the formation of a formal partnership for the 2005 season and beyond. Northern Star will play Dynasty Bb brass and percussion instruments exclusively, including new battery and melodic instruments and all new brass.

Ending a 40-year 'tradition', Drum Corps Associates has discontinued the use of a starter's pistol by the Timing & Penalties judge. The 'final shot' was fired by Timing & Penalties judge Tom Argy at the 2004 Championship Finals.

Wisconsin's newest junior drum & bugle corps has been named. They will be The Chippewa Valley Brigade. The corps' sponsor, The Chippewa Valley Drum & Bugle Corps Association, has been in operation since September and has the successful developement and management of the corps as its sole purpose in life.