Esprit de Corps

Many of you are familiar with music and marching bands at halftime, but tomorrow night Santa Rosa County is in for a treat beyond belief.

Milton High School will be hosting the Sounds of the South at 7:30 p.m.

Expected to compete are seven of the top Drum and Bugle Corps in Drum Corps International.

DCI is considered the marching music’s major league with precision shows and drills that are beyond compare and take hours and hours of work.

“This is about as professional as you can get as a marching band and not paying the performers,” said Randy Blackburn, the Corps Director. “This is much more advanced and intricate with the visual, musical, and pageantry of Broadway.”

The seven corps to compete tomorrow night include – Teal Sound (Jacksonville, Fla.), Glassmen (Toledo, Ohio), Troopers (Casper, Wyo.), Colts (Dubuque, Iowa), The Academy (Tempe, Ariz.), Pacific Crest (Diamond Bar, Calif.), and Cascades (Seattle, Wash.).

What is unique to DCI is each corps has its on style and sound when it takes the field and the members of the corps put in countless hours of work to put on one show.

“We have been going for six days straight,” Blackburn said prior to a day off on Monday. “We will pull into Milton around 2 or 3 a.m. Thursday, get some rest and then get started practicing around 8:30 to 9 a.m.”

Ironically Teal Sound will work six to seven hours in practice prior to a show and 12 plus hours on days off.

“Most bands in high school will practice a could of hours a day two or three days a week,” Blackburn said. “Basically we work 12 to 14 hours a day for three weeks prior to the start of the season,

“Practices are very intense and are very close to a physical sport.”

This past spring the Teal Sound had 250 individuals tryout for the 120 spots in the corps.

“Drum Corps is very competitive and you compete on a nightly basis,” Blackburn said.

What makes each corps so distinctive is not only their marching style, but the music they play on the field of competition.

“Each band has it’s own idea and concept,” Blackburn said. “We are very progressive musically while there are others who play classical or more traditional music while others might play rock or jazz.

“Each corps is very unique and different and there should be a corps every one can connect or relate to that performs.”

Tickets tomorrow night are $20 for premium seats near the 50-yard line and general seating is $15.