News dal sito DCE

Winter Guard United Kingdom announced that all 25 performances from the first WGUK contest of 2014, held at Fenton Manor Sports Centre on 12th January, are now available to view on UK Fan Network.

As promised The UK Fan Network kicked off their coverage of the 2014 season within 24 hours of the event. Just go to http://uk.thefannetwork.org, click the On Demand tab and select the Fenton Manor event.

You can subscribe for only approx. £16 to get unlimited access to this event and more than 600 other winter guard and drum corps performances for less than the cost of one DVD with an annual renewal date of 1st December each year.

Kidsgrove Scouts Senior Winterguard finished in first place in the Open Class at the first WGUK winter guard show of the season last Sunday with their programme entitled 'Titanium'. The guard achieved a score of 78.20.

Director Rob Swindells commented, “It was great to be back on the circuit with the Senior Guard, the members really enjoyed performing the 2014 show. The Junior Academy Guard did a really good job, with over half of the members making their debut performance on the Winterguard arena. We were all very proud of them.”

Kidsgrove passed the 2013 World Class champion Mayflower (2nd place, 75.10). The Southern Knights ended in 3rd place (68.40). Last year's Open Class champion Oracle didn't make the top three at this first show in Stoke omn Trent (4th, 67.50). The Avengers came in 5th place (58.10) and Alliance closed the Open Class ranks (6th place, 55.30).

Other winners were Southern Knights (A Class, 77.50), Northern Academy (Junior Class 76.60), and South West Academy (Cadet Class, 70.40). Scores and recaps can be found at www.wguk.org.uk. The next WGUK contest will take place in Crawley on 26th January.

In addition to the 2013 Premier Class Finals and the Junior Class Finals, Drum Corps Europe has now also released the complete Prelims on DVD. The set containing 4 DVDs is available from the DCE webshop for only 25 euros (including postage and packaging).

Initially, the Prelims DVD was only meant to contain the shows that did not reach the Finals. However, DCE decided that it would also add all the other shows, so that the DVD set will include all the Prelims performances. The set containing all 17 Premier Class participants is now available from the webshop for only 25 Euros, with the same high image quality as the DVD of the Finals performances.

All performances are recorded using four HD cameras and six microphones. On the day of the Championships, the images have been mixed live and then post-edited, making it a great memory of the 2013 Premier Class Prelims. The following corps are represented on the Prelims DVD:

Jubal
The Company
Kidsgrove Scouts
Black Knights
Juliana
Beatrix
Starriders
Commodores
Heartliner
Spirit of 52
Besana Secutores
Tallaght Youth Band Marching Vikings
Nexus
Con Spirito
Kadoudal
Mosson
Staffordshire Knights

The Prelims DVD set is available in the DCE Webshop.

Indoor Percussion Europe has cancelled the contests in Ireland and France. The contest in Sweden and of course the IPE European Championships will go ahead, with participants from no less than eight European countries.

“Due to the low number of registrations for the Irish and French contests, we have decided to cancel these,” says Erwin van Gemert from Indoor Percussion Europe. “We regret to have to announce this, but considering the number of participants, and the costs of the locations and the judges, we can't organise these events.”

However, IPE has nothing to complain about when it comes to the wider field of participants. Seventeen groups from eight countries will appear at the starting line this winter. Never before have so many nationalities participated in the IPE competition. In addition to groups from the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Denmark and Sweden, the indoor percussion organisation is also welcoming participants from Italy (yME Indoor Percussion) and Austria (MDC Drumline) for the first time.

The full list of participants can be found at www.indoorpercussioneurope.org.

Colour Guard Netherlands has a new website. The site not only has a new look, but is also completely updated in the technological sense.

The new, more modern design was co-created by Peter Franken, and the technology was provided by Ewald Hollestelle and Rob Beeren. “In the next few days, we will make some minor adjustments, but we are very happy with the current result,” stated the organisation.

The update has only been applied to the Dutch version. The English section still needs to be updated. The previous version of the CGN website existed since 2010. The website can be found at www.colorguard.org.

Thurrock Marching Brass in conjunction with the Marching Band Activity United Kingdom Facebook Page will be attempting a new world record for the longest fanfare line in history at the DCUK show on Sunday 7th September 2014.

It is hoped that 150 or more trumpet and cornet players from across the United Kingdom and from every type organisation will take part. The current world record stands at 91 players.

"The ability for all marching band people to get along with each other regardless of where they come from or who they may or may not be affiliated with remains incredibly strong in the United Kingdom", Thurrock Marching Brass Chairman Paul Morgan says. "We are thrilled to be able to assist in creating something for everyone not only to get involved with, but also, if we achieve the goal, to be telling their grandkids about for years to come."

Adding, the UK Marching Band Activity Facebook Page creator, John Butler comments: "This attempt is open to anyone, young or old, and as long as you can play a trumpet or cornet will be considered so please register your interest as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. This is one not to miss out on!"

For more information on how you can get involved contact fwra2014@gmail.com or simply follow Twitter account @fwra2014.

Tallaght Youth Band Marching Vikings become ’The Vikings' on the competition field. The name change is also part of a larger transformation of the organisation as this year sees the Vikings transform from brass and reed to a drum & bugle corps.

"We are very proud to start this new chapter in our history and continue to grow each year", says corps director Karen Mahon of The Vikings. The organisation name will remain Tallaght Youth Band and consists of 2 marching units, The Vikings Drum Corps and The Cadets.

As well as a new name, the Vikings have announced their 2014 programme '25 to Life'. This year’s show is based around prison life and is split into four different sections, predominantly featuring original music by Eoin O’Keeffe. The Vikings will once again work with the design team of Eoin O’Keeffe, Jon Bilby, and Remco Groenewegen.

At the end of December, the judging team of Drum Corps Europe judged the Championships in Indonesia. Five European and five Asian DCE judges judged the 22 participants in the Grand Prix Marching Band competition. DCE also held a well-attended clinic for the groups.

The international judging panel consisted of Jim Lauver (Germany - Visual Effects), Tony Lees (United Kingdom - Colour Guard), Shana Beernaert (Belgium - Visual Ensemble), Trevino Soedono (Indonesia - Field Visual), Andi Hassan (Indonesia - Music Effect), Eric Awuy (Indonesia - Field Music), Junt Minalai (Thailand - Field Percussion) Joedhi Roemekso (Indonesia - Best Field Commander) and Marco Harder (Netherlands - Music Ensemble).

“We have had a very positive response to the panel of judges,” said judge Marco Harder. “People were very pleased with the experienced panel of judges. The level in Indonesia is increasing, partly thanks to the DCE system and the training that we provide.” Bahana Cendana Kartika Riau became champion in the Open Class, and the winner in the First Division was Gita Cantika.

Prior to the Grand Prix Marching Band, DCE judge Shana Beernaert held a visual coaching clinic with Jim Lauver and Tony Lees, in which as many as 70 instructors participated. The clinic paid attention to marching styles, exercises and how you can convey this to the musicians.

The 2014 show of Jubal Drum & Bugle Corps is called '2Touch'. The corps takes its audience to Wonderland, a place where dreams come true and where miracles actually happen.

The story is about a boy with a special gift that is so powerful that he can change things with a single touch. Jubal’s show shows the exciting moments that the boy experiences, the extraordinary people he meets and the difficult choices he has to make.

The programme includes music by Danny Elfman ('Alice in Wonderland'), David Holsinger, Hans Zimmer ('Angels & Demons') and Coldplay. The design team consists of Ruben Lourens (programme coordinator), Ronald Venderbos (brass arranger), Frank Vernes (field percussion arranger), Justin Coughlin (front ensemble arranger) and the visual team led by Nilanthi Baas and Frank Wienen.

Jubal won the DCE European Championships, The Company became DCUK Champions and Heartliner went to the USA to compete in DCA. Carolina Crown gained their first ever DCI title. These, and many other headlines, appeared on the DCE news page drumcorps.org.uk. DCE will take you back to the highlights of 2013.

JANUARY

Glassmen Drum & Bugle Corps from Toledo will not be in the DCI competition this year. Due to financial problems, a corps can't be fielded in 2013. It was already known that the Glassmen were in financial difficulties.

Nicola Esposito, Drill Designer and Visual Caption Head of the Italian drum & bugle corps Mosson will be part of the Visual Staff of the Colt Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps this summer. The Colt Cadets are the Open Class corps of the Colts Drum & Bugle Corps organisation.

Shayne O'Brien will be representing Ireland in DCI this year as a member of The Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps. Shayne is a member of Banna Chluain Meala, of which the 11-time Irish champions Clonmel Bluehawks are the marching division.

The popularity of Drum Corps Europe on social media is still growing considerably. More than 2,500 fans now follow DCE news updates on Twitter.

Show & Marching Band DAP, which is celebrating its 80 year anniversary, will be participating in the competition of Drum Corps Netherlands in its anniversary year. That means a comeback to the drum corps competition after years of absence.

FEBRUARY

Starriders Drum & Bugle Corps from Bad Münder are celebrating their 30 year anniversary this year. In June, the successful German corps will celebrate with a big party in Bad Münder.

The Dagenham Crusaders Alumni will perform at the CGN Championships in Almere. The former members of the famous UK drum & bugle corps will be traveling to the Netherlands especially for this event.

The Tallaght Youth Band were asked to help promote a single by taking part in a video futuring well knows Irish artists. The video clip can be watched online and the song is available on iTunes.

No less than three European percussionists will be joining DCI top corps The Cavaliers this summer. Bernd Coene and Dennis Clausing will be marching members and Thomas Claesen will take the role of instructor.

The 2013 Irish Winter Guard and Indoor Percussion Championship, now in its third year, was succesfully held at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. The show was run in association with WGUK and IPE and featured eight Irish units and one UK unit.

Cadence Drum & Bugle Corps has announced the 2013 summer programme 'Through the Mirror'. The corps will return to the Drum Corps United Kingdom competition after 8-year absence.

MARCH

The 'Harlem Shake' video that Drum Corps International uploaded onto YouTube has turned out to be an absolute hit. The video has received over a million views.

DCE and CGN present a new media platform: The Video Vault. A media team will provide multimedia productions of the CGN Championships and the DCE European Championships, including a live webcast, an online video platform in HD and DVD productions.

Drummers of The Company performed during Dancing on Ice Final on ITV 1. The drummers added action to the snare part for Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean's Bolero. They performed for millions of viewers.

Once again, Millennium Drum and Bugle Corps from Verdello is preparing for a world tour. Next summer, the Italian drum corps will be participating at a contest in Japan.

Drum Corps International has announced that the Open Class corps Velvet Knights will not participate in the 2013 DCI Tour. The Velvet Knights re-entered the competition in 2007 after eleven years of absence.

Showband Rastede will continue under a different name. The name called out on the contest fields from now on will be 'Spirit of 52'. The name change is part of a larger transformation of the association.

APRIL

Mayflower is the first World Class Champion of Winter Guard United Kingdom. The guard had a substantial lead over its rival Northern Academy.

Indoor Percussion Europe crowned the European Champions in Tournai. In the International Marching Class, DrumSpirit took the title, after the drumline finished second in the Prelims. The Senators Juniors won the Junior Class title.

A phenomenon called 'mini corps' has started in the United Kingdom. Some groups have already been established and there is talk of starting a competition. 'Mini corps' are groups with a drum corps style, but in a small format.

Drum Corps Europe has launched new Facebook Pages in four additional languages. This allows drum corps fans to keep up to date with the news in their own language via Facebook.

The sixteen-year-old Jordan Murray from The Company has become Percussion World Champion with Rhythm X. Rhythm X won the title in the Independent World Class of the Winter Guard International.

Starriders Drum & Bugle Corps from Bad Münder has had a lot of membership applications recently. Although the corps is pleased with the influx, the new members can no longer be written into the current show. That’s why the corps is starting a 'Prep Season'.

MAY

The ticket sale for the DCE European Championships has been postponed to later this month. At the start of the ticket sale, the website received too much traffic which caused the server to go down.

Unik Star Percussion Ensemble from Hellemes - France has founded a new indoor percussion unit: Unik Star Concert. The intention is that this group will participate in indoor percussion competitions next year.

Ticket sales for the DCE European Championships once again started very quickly. Within 90 minutes the tickets for sections A and B were sold out.

Jubal Drum & Bugle Corps from Dordrecht secured itself a solid lead in the first Dutch contest of the season in Roosendaal, in front of hundreds of drum corps fans. With the DCN show, the European Music Games 2013 have officially started.

The FC Dordrecht stadium, which has been the venue for the DCN Finals for years, will make way for a new demountable stadium. If the project continues, the DCN Finals will move along to the new location.

Drum Corps International brings fans a one week pre-season free preview of its Fan Network subscription service. During this period fans also have access to DCI’s complete video archive all the way back to 1974.

JUNE

Maarten Descamps from the Belgian town of Veldegem will be marching with the Kidsgrove Scouts for the fourth consecutive year this summer. The thirteen hours travel time per rehearsal do not stop him from joining the European top corps again this year.

Drum Corps United Kingdom will move their Championships to another stadium this year. The DCUK Championships 2013 will be held in the Select Security Stadium in Widnes. For the past few years Mansfield Town FC have been the venue for the event.

The Company has won the first DCUK contest in Bradford. The reigning European champions are the first European corps to exceed the 70 point mark this season.

The Blue Devils have taken the lead in the first week of this year's DCI competition. The corps from Concord have won all contests so far. Carolina Crown however has the most recent high score.

Maarten Deschacht from Ostend - Belgium is part of the percussion staff at the Madison Scouts this year. Maarten is an alumnus of the group, he was part of the corps’ front ensemble from 2008 to 2010.

JULY

Fourteen-year-old Juliette from Kadoudal Drum & Bugle Corps (France) will be marching with the guard of World Class Corps Jersey Surf. It is the second time that a DCI corps welcomes a French member.

From this season Kevin Morgan, Master of Ceremonies at IMBA events will be covering IMBA events for the DCE Facebook page. He will post text, photo and video updates on competition days.

Brian Yothers leaves Drum Corps Europe. He has been the Adjudication Manager for DCE in the last two years. Brian will return to the United States because of his work. Douglas Caldwell will be the ad interim Adjudication Manager until the end of the season.

Drum Corps United Kingdom has made all the 2012 Finals performances available free to view for a few weeks. This service is being used to test how effective any web streaming of corps performances is.

AUGUST

The now familiar DCE Document Manager will cease to exist. It will be replaced by the DCE Dashboard which, in addition to the management of jury files, will have several extra features and will serve as a central place for corps, judges and the organisation.

Carolina Crown are the World Class World Champion for the first time in drum corps history Saturday. Not since 1996 has DCI named a first-time World Champion, and never before has it had a Champion that started as an Open Class/Division II corps.

Drum Corps International had some problems with the DCI Finals live webcast. The organisation offers a $20 rebate to subscribers of the webscast.

The fifth year of DCI Finals at Lucas Oil Stadium elevate the venue into the second most visited Finals location in DCI World Championship history, passing the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando (1996-1998, 2003) and just two years away from matching Madison, Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium which has hosted seven times.

Winter Guard International has announced the addition of two international regional championship events to its 2014 event schedule in partnership with Color Guard Netherlands and Winter Guard United Kingdom.

SEPTEMBER

Heartliner from Ludwigshafen - Germany has attained sixth place in the A-Class Prelims of Drum Corps Associates in Annapolis. The White Sabers became the A-Class Champions, and the Buccanneers were the Open Class Champions.

The Starriders and Heartliner have challenged at the German Open. In a thrilling battle in the Premier Class, Starriders came out as champions. Heartliner were only 0.15 points behind.

Drum Corps Europe has launched an app for smartphones: DCE Mobile. Drum corps fans can now keep up to date with news, scores, corps information and contest details on their mobile phone.

Jubal has won the Dutch drum corps title. In their hometown of Dordrecht, the programme 'The Deadly Game' was indeed deadly for the competition. Thanks to their junior corps Jong Jubal, it became a double victory for the Jubal organisation.

Tallaght Youth Band Marching Vikings and Ravens Drum & Bugle Corps are the 2013 Irish Champions. The IMBA Championships trophies were presented by special guest John DeNovi, Director of Business Development at Drum Corps International.

Marching and Performing Arts UK has launched the UK Fan Network. The video platform features videos from Drum Corps United Kingdom (DCUK) and Winter Guard United Kingdom (WGUK) Championships.

The DCE European Championships will be held in the Parkstad Limburg Stadium until 2017. Drum Corps Europe and Roda JC have signed a five-year contract. The event moved from Rotterdam (where Sparta was its host) to the Parkstad Limburg Stadium in 2008.

The Company is the DCUK Open Class champion 2013. The corps from Nottingham took all captions tonight in Widnes. The A Class was topped by Revolution. The Kidsgrove Scouts Juniors won the Junior Class, with a 1.35 point margin ahead of Concord AllStars.

Jubal Drum & Bugle Corps from Dordrecht captured the DCE European Championships title Saturday. The 2012 champions The Company from Nottingham missed the title by only 0.05 points. Jong Jubal topped the Junior Class.

OCTOBER

A record has been set by the Kidsgrove Scouts. By reaching the 2nd position in the Open Class (Premier Class) at the DCUK Championships this year, the Kidsgrove Scouts achieved their consecutive 10th medal position.

For 2014, the Kidsgrove Scouts are coming back to Open Class competition of Winter Guard United Kingdom. The guard won the High Auxiliary award at the DCE European Championships.

The DCE Video Vault has officially been launched. Drum corps fans can now watch all performances of the DCE European Championships 2013 in HD quality. Performances from previous years can also be viewed.

The VIP Membership of Drum Corps Europe is now available. For a fixed annual amount, drum corps fans will get free access to the video platform The Video Vault, as well as the opportunity to order tickets for the DCE Championships before the ticket sale officially starts!

Drum Corps Europe has hosted a judges clinic in Indonesia for the second time this year. DCE judges Marco Harder and Wil Bijl were in the Asian country to lead the five-day clinic. A large number of aspects of judging drum corps and marching bands were discussed.

The live webcast of the DCE European Championships has again drawn more viewers than in the previous year. In total, the broadcast was viewed some 14,500 times, that’s 1,500 more views than in 2012.

The first indoor percussion groups have signed up for the upcoming season of Indoor Percussion Europe. Indoor Percussion Europe now has participants from four countries for the 2014 season: France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Italy.

NOVEMBER

Next year, Juliana Drum & Bugle Corps may appear at the DCUK Championships. If everything goes according to plan, this will be the first time in seventeen years that the corps from Middelburg perform on British soil.

No lack of ambition at Ravens Drum & Bugle Corps from Athlone. The Irish corps announced that it wants to take part in the DCI Championships in 2015. The Ravens have existed since 2008, and were originally founded as a marching band.

After five succesful years, the Marching Music France organisation has ended its activities. Due to a lack of participating corps, the MMF board has not been able to continue the yearly DCE certified competition in France.

Indoor Percussion Europe will add Drum Battles to the IPE European Championships. The Drum Battles will give drum ensembles from across Europe with 10 to 20 percussionists the opportunity to compete against eachother in ‘battleground’ environment.

The Video Vault, the joint online video platform of Drum Corps Europe and Color Guard Netherlands, is getting a lot of attention. More than 20,000 videos have now been viewed.

Glassmen Drum & Bugle Corps doesn’t return to the DCI competition in 2014. The corps from Toledo has put a statement on Facebook. It was already known that the Glassmen are in financial difficulties.

Gerrt Baker, Brendan Hoye and Maria Fennessy have led a succesful DCE education session in Ireland. Many topics about DCE competition were covered, including in depth explanations of the captions and how the judging system works.

DECEMBER

Mark Bassett has been appointed as the new DCE Adjudication Manager. He succeeds Douglas Caldwell who was the ad interim Adjudication Manager for a few months after Brian Yothers left the organisation because of his new job in the United States.

Drum Corps United Kingdom has announced that the 2014 British Drum Corps Championships will be returning to the Select Security Stadium in Widnes. Corps gave the venue a huge ‘thumbs up’ and praised the quality of the performance arena.

Loud sound from a drum & bugle corps can be damaging to hearing health of the musicians, according to researchers Debra O'Connell and Sandra Teglas. They measured sound levels at Carolina Gold, and Drum Corps World published an article on it.

Drum Corps Europe has published the list of participants for next year. Six European countries will be represented at the DCE European Championships 2014.

Joining Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and all the gang, the 2013 Drum Corps International World Champion Carolina Crown are on national television next Wednesday as part of the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade.

Drum Corps Europe has certified thirteen Asian judges. These are judges who have passed exams following the recent jury clinic in Indonesia.

DCE has been working with drum corps and marching band organisations in Asia for years. This year, European DCE judges Wil Bijl, Shana Beernaert, Marco Harder and Asian DCE judges Trivimo Soedono, Eric Awuy and Junt minalai held clinics in collaboration with Marching Band Indonesia (MBI) and Patresuta Drumband Indonesia (PDBI). During the clinics, general jury matters were discussed and they focused specifically on the DCE Competition Manual.

The exams administered by DCE Director of Education Bob Thomas certified thirteen participants of the clinics, as a result of which they can officially judge on behalf of DCE. Congratulations to:

Affandy Ramli
Archil Soekarno
Dedi Setiawan
Eric Awuy
Lukman Firmansyah
Mohammad Ilham Izzan
Mohd Hazarin Bin Mohd Hashim
Muchtar Lovi
Roman Saputra
Rossy Rostiawati
R. Yuningsih Suryaman
Sjamsul Hadi
Supriyadi

More information about the cooperation between DCE, MBU and PDBI can be found on www.marchingindonesia.com (Indonesian language).

Millennium Drum & Bugle Corps from Verdello has announced its show for 2014. The programme of the Italian top corps is called 'Chakra'.

Chakra is a Sanskrit (ancient Indian) word that means 'circle' or 'wheel'. It is a term from traditional Indian culture and religion for places in the assumed energy body of a person that are considered important for their life. There are seven chakras and each corresponds to a particular colour. Millenium’s show focuses on seven colours, with music that expresses the associated emotions.

The tracks that will be used for this have not yet been published. The arrangements will be written by Key Poulan. The former DCI judge has been writing for Millennium since 2006, and also wrote for Juliana from Middelburg in 2013. In the United States, Poulan arranged and composed for corps including Santa Clara Vanguard, Glassmen, Bushwackers, Renegades and Mandarins.

The performance of Carolina Crown at the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade can now be watched via YouTube. The parade was aired today on American television.

About one minute of Crown's performance was seen on ABC television. The corps created a special mini show for this occasion. The parade was not a live broadcast, it was recorded earlier this month. "After many conference calls with the team at Disney we decided to work with them in creating a performance that’s a little bit different than your typical band marching down Main Street," corps director Jim Coates said to DCI.org. “We created drill and music to play in front of Cinderella’s Castle before forming into a parade block to highlight the 30th anniversary of the parade.”

The video of the performance is available below and has been added to the DCE Cinema on the front page.

Beatrix Drum & Bugle Corps from Hilversum has announced its show for 2014. The title of the show is ‘Cyborg’.

Beatrix’ expertly made video trailer shows the image of technology that increasingly encroaches on society and results in a fusion of man and machine, and the domination of humanity through the use of technology. The songs that will be included in the programme have not yet been announced.

The arrangements are written by Andrew Markworth (field percussion, front ensemble and brass). Craig Sherratt is responsible for the visual design, and the guard design will be by Oscar Brusse.

Joining Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and all the gang, the 2013 Drum Corps International World Champion Carolina Crown will be seen on national television next Wednesday as part of the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade.

Taking place at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Park in Orlando, the annual event is taped more than two weeks in advance of its Christmas broadcast. Carolina Crown sent a contingent of 120 members made up of current and alumni members of the corps to participate in the performance on Saturday, 7th December.

Executive Director Jim Coates says that he was contacted by Disney not long after Carolina Crown won its very first DCI World Championship title this past August in Indianapolis to gauge the organization’s interest in assembling the corps for the holiday parade.

"After many conference calls with the team at Disney we decided to work with them in creating a performance that’s a little bit different than your typical band marching down Main Street," Coates said. “We created drill and music to play in front of Cinderella’s Castle before forming into a parade block to highlight the 30th anniversary of the parade.” (Source: dci.org)

Every month, we will be giving you an overview of the most watched drum corps news of the past month. Here is the list of the most popular news items from November 2013, including the Corps Page Top 5.

The Drumcorps.org.uk Hot News Top 5 from November 2013:

1. Glassmen don’t return to the competition in 2014
Date: 17th November. Views: 775

2. Marching Music France ends activities
Date: 13th November. Views: 671

3. Ravens want to participate in DCI World Championships 2015
Date: 11th November. Views: 576

4. Juliana considers going to the DCUK Championships
Date: 3rd November. Views: 489

5. Succesful DCE education session in Ireland
Date: 29th November. Views: 455

The Corps Page Top 5 from November 2013:

1. The Company
2. Jubal
3. Beatrix
4. Spirit of 52
5. Juliana

Drum Corps Europe has published the list of participants for next year. Six European countries will be represented at the DCE European Championships 2014.

Corps from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, France and Italy will travel to Kerkrade next year to treat the audience to the best that drum corps has to offer in Europe.

Sixteen participants in the Premier Class and five participants in the Junior Class will compete for the European drum corps titles on Saturday the 27th of September. The participant list is as follows:

PREMIER CLASS
Beatrix
Besana Secuotres
Black Knights
Con Spirito
Heartliner
Jubal
Juliana
Kidsgrove Scouts
Mosson
Nexus
Spirit of 52
Staffordshire Knights
Starriders
Tallaght Youth Band Marching Vikings
The Company
Wölper Löwen

JUNIOR CLASS
Confetti
Johan Friso
Jong Beatrix
Jong Jubal
Kadoudal

Loud sound from a drum & bugle corps can be damaging to hearing health of the musicians, according to researchers Debra O'Connell and Sandra Teglas. They measured sound levels at Carolina Gold, and Drum Corps World published an article on it.

Over the course of two seasons, O'Connell and Teglas visited Carolina Gold Drum & Bugle Corps rehearsals to measure sound levels of corps members. At rehearsals with an average of twelve hours, the sound levels were much higher than the NIOSH recommendations for daily use. The average of a mellophone was 368 percent while the NIOSH Standard is 100 percent. For percussion instruments it was far worse. A snare average was 4,899 percent.

Because rehearsals occur on a regular basis, the researchers recommend to take precautions to protect hearing. "For every participant in this study, sound exposure would have been reduced to safe sound levels had they worn protective earplugs." Depending on the type of earplug, the noise reduction with earplugs would be 12 to 29 dB.

Still haven’t bought a present for under the Christmas tree? Order the DVD of the DCE Championships, and you’ll receive the package before Christmas!

What could be better than to watch the DCE European Championships during the holidays? Enjoy the razor-sharp images and great sound of European drum corps with your family. If you order one or more DVD sets by 16th December, we guarantee that your order will be with you before Christmas.

Your purchase will also support European drum corps activity. The DVDs can be ordered from the DCE webshop.

Drum Corps United Kingdom has announced that the 2014 British Drum Corps Championships will be returning to the Select Security Stadium in Widnes - Cheshire. This stadium is the home of Widnes Vikings Rugby League and Liverpool Ladies Football Club.

Having used the stadium for the first time for the 2013 Championships, at the recent Membership Meeting the corps gave the venue a huge ‘thumbs up’ and praised the quality of the performance arena which is the latest generation of artificial grass pitch, called i-pitch (intelligent pitch), and so is not subject to the normal concerns of bad weather.

The corps also remarked on how the venue and the surrounding area were ideally suited for our activity being a fully enclosed stadium which enhanced the sound, excellent seating for spectators and ample local rehearsal facilities and so this made the decision by the DCUK Board to return to Widnes for the 35th DCUK Championships an easy one.

DCUK is now in discussions with Halton Borough Council (the owners of the ground) about a multi-year deal to secure this fabulous stadium to allow DCUK to continue to showcase the British drum corps activity.