A DCI and DCA corps (or drum corps) is a musical performing unit consisting of only bell-front brass, percussion, and color guard. Multikey instrumentation usually includes trumpets; mellophones; baritone horns; tubas; snare, tenor, and bass drums; and keyboard percussion. The majority of drum corps are independently operated non-profit groups. Very few are run by high schools or universities. Competitions occur on football fields and are scored by circuit-approved judges based upon musical performance and effect as well as the performance and effect of the movement of the elements of the corps.
DCI and DCA corps are outgrowths - or groups which have "evolved from" - historic drum & bugle corps. According to adherents of drum & bugle corps - those who claim to be "genuine/classic/alumni/true/old style" drum & bugle corps - DCI and DCA represent political factions who were able to take drum & bugle corps in corporate directions. Classic drum & bugle corps advocates maintain that DCI and DCA are NOT drum & bugle corps per se; instead, they are a form of marching brass bands who exploit the history and cachet of drum & bugle corps for monetary, marketing and political purposes.
Because of this either/or schism in what some term the "drum & bugle corps activity" overall, it is important to realize that most classic/old style corpspeople - or "olde phartes" believe that anything relating to DCI and DCA is NOT drum & bugle corps in any sense of the term. Likewise, many in DCI and DCA - if they are being honest, will say that old style drum & bugle corps is either dead, dying or stuck in a past which never was and most certainly never will be again.
At present, the jury is still out over which group has the upper hand - whether measured by meritorious argument, money, power, influence, and a number of other unfortunate measures. However, the split is very plain and very sure. If you are dealing with a person or group who does or will not respectfully address the problem, you may even be subject to intentional fraud and scam artists - again, this is the seriousness of the controversies being alleges. There are millions of dollars involved - in international instrument company goals, consulting fees, arrangement royalties, and the (ab)use of charitable bingo and other regulations by corporate entities. There are further allegations of decades-long criminal activities. Never was it more important that the buyer - and the young person seeking genuine musical avenues - beware.
Historically termed "marching & maneuvering," drill movement is largely influenced by dance and includes substantial input from the auxiliary (sometimes termed by the historical name of color guard) which is predominantly an expressive component whose equipment is traditionally flags, rifles, and sabres. Corps are colorfully and distinctively uniformed, although guard members typically wear more theatrical costumes that are largely predicated on the theme of the corps' musical presentation.
Drum corps has two distinct categories: "Junior" corps and "All-Age" corps. Junior corps are governed by Drum Corps International (DCI), which stipulates a set of competitive rules, notably that members can be no older than 21 years of age, and corps have a maximum of 135 members. Junior corps are generally considered the most highly competitive corps. All-Age (formerly termed "senior") corps can actually consist of members of any age, though some all-age corps do set minimum age restrictions. All-age corps are governed by Drum Corps Associates (DCA). The competitive season for DCI starts in mid to late June and culminates with the World Championships in the first or second week of August each year. Junior and all-age corps often participate in the same contests throughout the summer. DCA competition goes until their championship on Labor Day weekend.
Corps staffs start planning for the next season as soon as championship week is over. Most junior corps begin rehearsing on or around Thanksgiving Day weekend and continue having monthly camps throughout the year, increasing in frequency toward the beginning of the next season.
In DCI, the top 12 corps based upon the August championship are regarded as the elite corps and are given voting rights to help govern the circuit as well as increased prize structures and preferential touring schedules. These corps are culled from the Division 1 corps during three days of elimination contests. There are also Division 2 and 3 corps. These corps are typically smaller and usually do not participate in the full DCI summer touring schedule, instead performing on local tours and then travelling to the championships.
Membership in the very best DCI and DCA corps is highly competitive and is generally determined by a series of weekend-long camps held throughout the winter. Applicants may or may not have any knowledge or experience of the history of DCI or DCA corps; in fact, band experience may well be more valuable to the aspiring DCI or DCA member.
Lower-ranked corps and Division 2 and 3 corps are rarely as competitive. Membership and touring fees for the Division 1 corps can be steep - they can easily run up to $2000 "tuition" plus travel costs.
Members typically report for "camp" as soon as college classes end and spend 12 to 16 hour days refining the music and movement portions of their show. Members are on the road performing in competitions and parades through mid-August making summer jobs impossible. Corps travel by over-the-road buses in convoy with tractor trailers holding equipment and field kitchens. Members generally sleep on the buses as the corps travels at night and in sleeping bags in high school gyms.
The number of DCI and DCA drum corps nationwide has stabilized after precipitous declines from the 1970s through the 1990s, corresponding roughly to the inception of the unified national DCI circuit. To be more precise, there were approximately 440 competitive corps at the beginning of the 1970s. Today, there are roughly 60-70 groups in both DCI and DCA.
DCI and DCA claim to have been an "evolution" from drum & bugle corps. From the 1920s through the 1970s, drum & bugle corps were closely affiliated with and largely supported by Roman Catholic parishes in large, East Coast cities; American Legion and VFW Posts; Police Athletic Leagues; fraternal organizations such as Shriners, Optimists, and Lions Clubs; Scout troops; and local businesses. Regional competitive circuits allowed for less touring and smaller budgets and greater membership among teenagers with more limited resources.
There were many sponsors of championships, some purporting to be national in scope. Different rules enforced by the various sponsors as well as varying prize structures led to intense debate and protest during the mid-'70s, especially aimed at the contests sponsored by the two veterans organizations. This period of apparent political instability resulted in the emergence of a particular political faction which led to the "Combine", and ultimately to DCI and the ultimate withdrawal of support by many of the traditional sponsors. Senior corps had already experienced a similar hotly contested formation of DCA in the 1960s.
This withdrawal from traditional sponsors was exacerbated by the increased touring requirements of the DCI goal-setters. Further DCI membership often entailed nearly continuous changes in instrumentation and scoring that inexorably increased the annual cost per corps at the same time that both fuel costs and insurance costs made sponsorship of such corps increasingly prohibitive for non-profit organizations with other primary missions. The end result was that politically-favored groups found the wherewithal and rewards to survive, while politically non-favored groups were thwarted competitively and in other ways.
And it is this point at which drum & bugle corps and DCI and DCA corps became two different animals, so to speak - and remain even more so in the 30+ years since the formation of DCI.
One of the more expensive and fundamental musical changes of drum corps occured in the early 1980s, with the transition from marching timpani and xylophones/bells to real (non-marching) orchestral percussion instruments. Typically located at the front of the field in an area known as the "pit" or "front line", these instruments include marimbas, xylophones, vibraphones, timpani, and a host of other drums, cymbals, gongs and various percussive instruments. This allows for a much broader and musical use of percussion in the show. Field (or marching) percussion has changed little in comparison to the pit, but has had major advances nonetheless. Bass drums have gone from a few atonal drums to five or six tuned drums; tenors have gone from two or three toms to as many as six, and snare drums have become leveled and centered in front of the player. All marching drums have become very tightly tuned, especially snare drums with the advent of kevlar heads and free-floating shells. High-tension tuning allows for greater rebound and better sound projection, but also increases the risk of tendonitis and/or carpal tunnel syndrome if played with improper technique. Advances in drum and harness design has made carrying the drums easier, but they are still quite heavy. A full set of tenors with 6 drums (two 6" "shot" drums, and 10", 12", 13", 14" toms) with all mounting equipment and the harness can weigh as much as 40-50 pounds.
Brass instrumentation changes have occurred with some regularity, increasing the number of valves and finally changing the key to which the instruments are tuned; these instrumentation changes were also expensive given hornlines numbering between 40 and 80 marching members. These changes have effectively eliminated "bugles" from the activity since the current approved instruments are properly of a much wider class than the restrictive term "bugle." However, the majority of drum corps brass instrumentation is in the key of G, creating a distinctive sound in comparison to other bands and brass ensembles.
In 2004, a controversial rule change allowed amplification of the pit, which was promptly exploited to include singing and talking by at least two of the top 12 corps. The use of amplification is currently an emotive subject amongst drum corps enthusiasts.
The drum corps activity at one time included the Star of Indiana, a very successful competitive corps that ultimately stopped competing and evolved into the Broadway shows "BLAST!" and "CyberJam". It should, however, be noted that BLAST! and Cyberjam and other such shows have more to do with band history and instrumentation, and have found only a limited market without the history and fraternal connections and meanings of genuine drum & bugle corps.
Other countries also have active drum corps circuits, derived from the original American concept. The longest-lived of those are Drum Corps United Kingdom, formed in 1979, and Drum Corps Europe, formerly Drum Corps Nederland, the Dutch drum corps organization. Corps from these organizations have performed in the DCI championships: Beatrix, a Dutch corps, traveled to the United States in 2004. British corps, such as the now defunct Dagenham Crusaders and Basildon Blue Eagles also followed the Division 1 tour in the late '80s and early '90s.
DCI Division I Drum Corps (2004 season)
Blue Devils (Concord, California) - http://www.bluedevils.org/
Blue Knights (Denver, Colorado) - http://www.bknights.org/
Bluecoats (Canton, Ohio) - http://www.bluecoats.com/
Boston Crusaders (Boston, Massachusetts) - http://www.crusaders.com/
Cadets (Bergenfield, New Jersey) - http://www.yea.org/cadets
Capital Regiment (Columbus, Ohio) - http://www.capitalregiment.org/
Carolina Crown (Fort Mill, South Carolina) - http://www.carolinacrown.org/
Cavaliers (Rosemont, Illinois) - http://www.cavaliers.org/
Colts (Dubuque, Iowa) - http://www.colts.org/
Crossmen (Bergenfield, New Jersey) - http://www.yea.org/crossmen
Esperanza (San Diego, California) - http://www.esperanzacorps.org/
Glassmen (Toledo, Ohio) - http://www.glassmen.org/
Kiwanis Kavaliers (Kitchener, Ontario) - http://www.kavaliers.com/
Madison Scouts (Madison, Wisconsin) - http://www.madisonscouts.org/
Magic of Orlando (Orlando, Florida) - http://www.magicoforlando.org/
Mandarins (Sacramento, California) - http://www.mandarins.org/
Pacific Crest (Diamond Bar, California) - http://www.pacific-crest.org/
Phantom Regiment (Rockford, Illinois) - http://www.regiment.org/
Pioneer (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) - http://www.pioneer-corps.org/
Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, California) - http://www.scvanguard.org/
Seattle Cascades (Seattle, Washington) - http://www.seattlecascades.org/
Southwind (Lexington, Kentucky) - http://www.southwind.org/
Spirit from JSU (Jacksonville, Alabama) - http://www.spiritdrumcorps.org/
Troopers (Casper, Wyoming) - http://www.troopersdrumcorps.org/