|
Ever since the 8th grade I wanted to play snare drum at the same level as the people that are doing drum corps international.
Cavaliers 2010 drumline
I've always thought that it would be amazing to be in a drum corps even if its just one year of my life. I have never really done anything that brought me closer to this dream though. I was in band since 6th grade and did things like district band. I did some snare drum solos but the only challenging one was the solo I did freshmen year. Then I had more of a social life and didn't want to do anything except for hang out with friends. Thats not a bad thing but I still haven't achieved my goal. I'm not the greatest drummer at all and one thing that helped me become mediocre was the high school band. I graduated from a small school and there is some pretty okay people. Nobody was really amazing, I was one of the top dogs and was section leader of the drum line and the "bamf" of the percussion section (I'm not trying to sound cocky I'm just making a point.) The people in percussion were super nice and unique but nobody was great so I was the best of a mediocre drum line. This didn't motivate me to practice very much, if there would've been some one with a skill level far beyond mine I would've worked harder. Now I'm approaching my 20th birthday, and the oldest one can be in DCI is 22. That means I have 2 years to get to that skill level. Thats a lot of work. Some ideas I had to ensure I practice is 1) bring a practice pad to work and practice on my break 2) stream my practice sessions. Streaming will do 2 things for me, I'll of course be more motivated and I'll be able to share some DCI and snare drum knowledge with people. I was wondering if anybody would be interested in watching someone on their quest to the GM of snare drumming. Thanks in advance for the support and kind words.
|
Hey man,
As a fellow drummer, I can wish you nothing but the best of luck and perseverance. (I'm a jazz/set drummer, though, not a marching band man). I'd probably tune into your stream out of curiosity, but if it's just going to be a video of you practicing, I'm not sure how interesting that would be. However, if you give some tips on technique and practice methods, then I could see it potentially being more useful for the drumming community. Regardless, though, I doubt many non-drummers would want to see the stream.
Seriously, good luck, and I'm glad to see this kind of dedication!
|
Good luck on your epic quest! I was REALLY into competitive marching band in high school (did BOA, made grand national finals every year, saw every DCI show in my area, etc.), but I could never afford to do drum corps. Sounds like you have another two seasons before you age out, so it's not a bad idea to start auditioning next year. Making the cavies is a tall order (if that's your goal), so especially for next year it would be a good idea to audition for a number of different corps to get some experience. If you streamed it I would totally tune in every so often!
|
I think if Madison Scouts has the same staff next year, Queen, Hanuum, Angelis, Perez, then I'll audition there. It would be like being trained by Boxer, MC, Idra, Yellow. If not its between Cavies, Phantom Regiment, and Colts...
|
GL, my director back in HS was/is the head director of Academy and won the DCI championship with BD in 96. Cavis is no easy feat. Private instruction is critical as well as getting in contact with someone that was former Cavis drumline to help give you insight into their auditions. Even if you don't plan on going out this year contact them for their audition music and see if you can get a head start on next year. Also consider trying out for some of the other big corps like BD, Cadets, SCVG etc incase you don't make your number 1 pick.
|
|
|
|