It's a Show Day!

I stirred and woke up, wondering what town I was in now. Even in the darkness, I could sense and slightly see the drum major walk towards the door. The lights suddenly turned on, waking up the rest of the corps. 

"Good morning Pioneer!" she said. She told us where we were, that we had fifteen minutes before morning meeting and breakfast, and that today was a show day.

"It's a show day!" the red headed guard said, as she always did on such days. 

"Good morning Kendra," Nicole, another guard member, dutifully answered. 

And thus, our show day began. 

That was a typical morning on a show day. The other days were practice and show days. What were we doing?

Drum corps.

Tonight, I got to go to my show of the year, the Denton show as I call it. Ten years ago, I was one of those people, standing in the lot, playing for others. Getting up early. Practicing. Memorizing. Running. Performing. Eleven and a half minutes never flew by so quickly.

It was the summer of 2002 when I marched with Pioneer Drum and Bugle Corps out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Pioneer is what was then referred to as a division one drum corps. These days, it's called world class. It all has to do with size. We had over a certain number of members, amongst other rules I'm sure.

The governing body of drum corps is Drum Corps International (DCI). They even call drum corps "marching's major league." In a way, it is. We all did eleven and a half minute shows on a football field. We marched, played music, and guard did flags, sabres, and rifles.

But, don't dare call it marching band. Because marching band it ain't!

Plus, there's no woodwinds. And people will get mad if you call it marching band.