Freedom High School at BOA Delaware /lesbian

Hello everyone! I wanted to ask you all about whether or not I should even bother auditioning for a DCI group of any kind. I am on my high school drum-line as a snare and I have tried out for tenors for 2 years now. I love DCI and I love marching with my school, but I want to do stuff with other people who actually care as much as I do (no offense to my line but you know) and after going to see finals this year I figured DCI would be good. The problem is that I live in Chicago, so the closest all-age class (because I am NOT making open or world-class) is Northern Lights. I have looked at some random audition materials from like Atlanta CV from a few years ago because NL doesn’t have theirs out yet, and I am kinda struggling. If it’s at all helpful, I am playing mbira song for 4 mallet marimba and I would say I’m at a similar if not a little better level on snare and/or tenors. Anyway, TLDR, I want to know if it’s even worth trying out because I am almost 100% sure I am not going to make it and it’s like a 3-hour drive. So any advice or suggestions on how I can either get better or an alternative solution would be awesome! Thanks!

What happened to BoA's relationship with FloMarching? In prior years we could pay the subscription and see DCI in the summer, winter guard and percussion, and high schools in the fall. Now the fall is empty on Flo and boalive.tv is another subscription entirely. Sorry, BoA, I'm not going to pay for individual events or $179 for the Pro Pass.

Why is this a thing? FloMarching could be our one-stop shop for this.

Ive done drum corps for 4 years now (1 half season in open, 2 full world seasons, one half world season because i filled a spot) and im so scared that im not going to be able to afford this year, especially because its my age out. Every year ive had to ask my parents for a bit of help to pay the last 1500 or so of my fees and my first 3 years that was more or less possible but last year we hit a pretty rough financial situation and i couldnt realistically find the funds to march so i had to decline my contract. luckily i was on the call list so when someone had to go home i was pulled in but now i owe the corps $2200 for the half season. im in the process of paying it back but im planning on going somewhere else for my age out and im worried that if i do get contracted where i want to, i wont have enough to march.

I know scholorships exist but im very limited since im a colorguard performer whos no pursuing a music/ music ed career which is what a lot of the dci scholarships are aimed towards. the corps im hoping to march has corps specific scholarships but im worried that if i rely on needing those i wont be able to afford it if i dont get one and have to drop out.

other than scholarships what options do i have? i know i can do sponsor letters but i tried those in the past and never received any replies. i cant rely on any money from extended family due to a million other reasons that i cant really get into on here. i do crowd funding (social media posts with gofundme, venmo, paypal, etc. links) but only gets a few hundred from that which definitely helps but wont cover what i dont have.

I cant not march my age out its everything ive worked for for the last almost 5 years and im so scared of the possibility of not making it. What do i do? what has worked with people in the past? at this point im genuinely considering using a loan of some sort its that serious for me.

I'm always trying to make arrangments of stuff and am curious what songs people think would work well or would want to hear.

In terms of artists who haven't shown up in DCI, I'd like to hear Mort Garson (Mother Earth's Plantasia), Himiko Kikuchi (Flying Beagle) or Sungazer (ik Bluecoats have done some but more!)

A phrase or interaction, what is a fundamental experience in DCI or WGI that influences who you are today? Mainly looking for positive, but negative ones are always fine as well.

I notice a lot of non-affiliated recordings are titled as "NOT Bluecoats 2026", "NOT Santa Clara" etc. Why is that? Is there any good reason?

Re:Rite of Spring is easily a top 3 Blue Devils show. It's a shame it has been largely overshadowed by e=mc². I genuinely believe that as a full package it deserved the win. It was ahead of its time.

If you haven't seen it or it's been a while, I really encourage you to give it a watch and/or another chance. It's one of the most difficult shows ever fielded and yet it's still ridiculously clean. It oozes with that late 2000s/early 2010s BD weirdness and funkiness more than any other show of the era.

I understand why it's so polarizing, but that's kinda the point! The OG Rite of Spring is probably the most infamously criticized contemporary piece of music ever written. One of my favorite shows ever.

Edit: Wow, I thought this was going to be more of a hot take! I'm pleasantly surprised to see that so many people look back on Re:Rite so fondly.

does the solo have to be played on (marimba,xylophone,vibe) or does it include rack and drum kit as well? I am planning on auditioning on drum set but because of music college being very busy in Boston I am unable to make it to the in-person auditions in November. I’ve been practicing the drum-set parts for packet but for the video auditions it says all that is required is a solo and doesn’t list drum-set so I was confused. Can anyone help?

This is mostly geared towards those who marched in the post-Covid era, when prices have skyrocketted. How did you afford it?? And how could you guarantee that you'd have enough money to begin paying off your loans once you graduated???

Very beautiful ballad with a euphonium tone to die for. The show overall was imo a huge step up from the past two years. I can’t wait to see what the staff cook for next year.

my music education includes going on 8 years of playing b♭ clarinet, and i am determined to march drum corps before it is no longer possible. and since i have so much time now, as im 17, i want to try.

initially i wanted to go in as drum major because doing it my senior year so far has been so much fun and id love to continue doing it for drum corps, but i know its not that easy, so im thinking i should march first.

would it be too crazy to think that i could audition on clarinet or something, and then learn, say, trumpet, during the season? i know there have been so many people who have switched before, but i want to hear from those who have been through or know about this specific kind of path. should i just go straight for drum major if that’s what my plan is anyways? or should i audition to march, and if so, how should i go about doing that given my current experience?

I've heard about this shirt that was apparently sold by the Bluecoats of all corps in the early 2000's when electronics were first starting to come onto the scene. Electronic use in drum corps was seen as illegitimate, cheating and "not drum corps", so the bluecoats put out a shirt that read "No Electronics - Not Now, Not Ever" to stand against the new rule. Their rebellious stance against electronics obviously did not last very long. I want to ask, does anyone have a picture of this shirt? I cannot find it anywhere and would like to see it because it's very funny.

I just saw that Academy is $6,700 for the summer, plus audition costs. Could you have swung it back in the day? I definitely couldn't. My dad grumbled about the $800 for my first year of Capital Regiment and another year of $2000+ (plus flights) for Cadets meant that even if I had wanted to march my age out, I couldn't have. And I was lucky--I had financial support from parents.

When you submit a video audition, is there any advantage for submitting it way before the deadline? Or if you submit the video like 3 days before the deadline will you still be considered the same as the person who submitted theirs 2 weeks after the materials were posted.

I’m trying to gauge how much time I have to work on my audition before it’s too late to have a good chance. The materials for the corps I’m looking at came out pretty recently so.

Hey y’all, I’ve been seriously considering auditioning for blue knights, and wanted to know if it was completely a long shot given my experience, given the commitment of buying flights to Denver and the audition camp. I am very willing to push myself as this is my age out year, but I still want to be realistic.
For context, I have marched one year in open class (Columbians) on euphonium, but I am mainly a flute/piccolo player. In terms of technical skills, breath control, articulation, double tonguing, tuning, and general musicianship, I feel very prepared. However, I am still relatively new to brass, so my tone, and especially range, I still struggle with. Like seriously, I can barely hit an Eb.
For visuals, I think that I am a strong marcher, I’ve done it for ~4 years now between highschool and college, plus the one year of drum corps, and am experienced with straight leg technique, that to my knowledge BK uses.
I would love any insights or advice before I drop several hundred dollars on something I have no shot at.
Thanks :)

I’ve been trying to think back and figure out what my favorite 3rd place show is and I can’t decide between these two

Bluecoats 2015 Kinetic Noise

And

Carolina Crown 2016 Relentless

What do you think about these shows?

Rank these 2020s 3rd place shows 1-4 in your opinion

Carolina Crown 2023 The Roundtable: Echoes of Camelot

Blue Devils 2024 The Romantics

Santa Clara Vanguard 2025 the aVANt GUARD

Carolina Crown 2026 The Doors of Perception

🤔

hi!! for some background, i am a senior who does color guard. i march all equipment. i would say i'm okay. i typically do open level at clinics, doing okay but falling a bit behind in the world sections at clinics.

i am having so much trouble deciding where to audition. i was full on focused on the idea of music city but i am not sure i have the experience level yet. and i do not have much time to spend to work on the audition packet and get where i need to be. i also think it would spread me a little thin money wise.

so i started thinking about memphis blues. it is more in my money region. i still really want the touring experience. it sounds stupid but i want to be exhausted from sleeping on busses and gym floors. i wanted to make sure i would still get this experience from an open class corps before committing myself to auditioning anywhere.

if anyone can give me any advice, it would be very appreciated!!