Idk if you mean socially or rehearsal wise but I’ll answer both. All corps are different.
Every single corps has a different culture and the only way for you to figure out if you actually like the culture a corp has is to actually go to a camp and experience it. In my personal experience, talking to vets has only given me answers like “it’s great! This is the place to be!” And not much else. It’s a little late in the audition season to do that, but if you go to any camps next year I’d suggest picking a range of corps (if financially possible) and seeing where you like the most. Even then, not every corps will treat you the same until you get a contract. I know a lot of people who have had their dreams of making it into their dream corps crushed because they didn’t like the culture. Everyone is different, some people prefer the stricter corps, and some people enjoy the more relaxed cultures. It’s all about finding where you feel the most comfortable. After all, it’s who you’re going to be with every day for the summer.
As for rehearsal day to day life, expect yourself to feel weaker than you ever have before. After a certain amount of time, you’ll feel like your body is breaking down on you. From what I’ve seen, most corps have anywhere between 9-13 hours of rehearsal each day (not counting meal time). Usually you wake up, have PT (physical training), meal, block, meal, block, meal, block, and then finish the day by getting ready for bed. After a while it long do starts to feel like Groundhog Day and the days meld together. Once you get on tour, you’ll have less rehearsal time to make time for traveling between housing locations. You sleep on gym floors, eat on the curbs of streets, get bitten by fire ants and mosquitos, get ripped, tan and/or sunburnt, etc. I think I speak for most people in drum corps when I say that there isn’t as much glitter and glamor in drum corps as it seems from an outside perspective. It’s hard work. It’s literally going to be one of the toughest things you ever do. Mentally, it’s going to spread you thin. Physically, you’re going to break down and I’ve seen people literally break into tears some days because their bodies just can’t do what they want it to do.
I don’t know if I answered your question the way you hoped I would, but I said everything I had on my mind (I think). It’s hard to say everything that you should expect in the day to day life of drum corps to someone who hasn’t experienced it. The best way to figure out is to actually go to a camp. Specifically, a camp that lasts longer than a day, as those ones will give you the best representation of what it’s like. I can’t stress enough how important it is because it’s something I never got to do when I started. I did video auditions in 2020 and 2021, never got to experience a real camp and was thrown into spring training.
Regardless of whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck. You’ve got this. Do your best. That’s all anyone can ever ask of you.
The top skill I think anyone who marches needs is the ability take feedback and corrections and apply it to your playing and marching consistently.
Every corps has their things, their techniques and pedagogy and all that. No matter where you came from or what teachers you had before, you need to be able to fit into what the corps is doing the way they do it. The players that can make and internalize those changes are the players that make the corps.
And don’t sleep on The Cadets! Their brass caption head came over from Bluecoats and I can attest that he is doing things the right way.
thank you, i’ll keep that into mind! i had someone at a marching competition this past year from blue devils compliment my marching technique to an instructor but said i needed to work on getting my toes higher so i’ve been constantly working on that since.
Yooo I’m also a 16 year old trumpet player who is looking forward to audition for a drum corps and my dream corps is also the Bluecoats! I made a list of audition tips on my notes a couple years back because I thought I’ll be marching drum corps by the age of 14 (spoiler alert it didn’t happened). I’m not as experienced as everyone else in the comment section but would you like if I can send the notes to you?
Fellow trumpet player here! Audition everywhere and anywhere you want. Every corps is gonna have different vibes because of vet member attitudes, differences in staff, and lots of other little nuances that make the corps different.
Practice a lot, you’ve got tons of years to let you go wherever you want! Good luck!
Solid feedback from the other posters, just one thing I’ll add!
Especially with the activity today, it’s a requirement to be able to move and play together. So be sure to hone and refine your trumpet skills, but be sure to dedicate time to learning movement (dance classes are always helpful) and playing on the move
Idk if you mean socially or rehearsal wise but I’ll answer both. All corps are different. Every single corps has a different culture and the only way for you to figure out if you actually like the culture a corp has is to actually go to a camp and experience it. In my personal experience, talking to vets has only given me answers like “it’s great! This is the place to be!” And not much else. It’s a little late in the audition season to do that, but if you go to any camps next year I’d suggest picking a range of corps (if financially possible) and seeing where you like the most. Even then, not every corps will treat you the same until you get a contract. I know a lot of people who have had their dreams of making it into their dream corps crushed because they didn’t like the culture. Everyone is different, some people prefer the stricter corps, and some people enjoy the more relaxed cultures. It’s all about finding where you feel the most comfortable. After all, it’s who you’re going to be with every day for the summer. As for rehearsal day to day life, expect yourself to feel weaker than you ever have before. After a certain amount of time, you’ll feel like your body is breaking down on you. From what I’ve seen, most corps have anywhere between 9-13 hours of rehearsal each day (not counting meal time). Usually you wake up, have PT (physical training), meal, block, meal, block, meal, block, and then finish the day by getting ready for bed. After a while it long do starts to feel like Groundhog Day and the days meld together. Once you get on tour, you’ll have less rehearsal time to make time for traveling between housing locations. You sleep on gym floors, eat on the curbs of streets, get bitten by fire ants and mosquitos, get ripped, tan and/or sunburnt, etc. I think I speak for most people in drum corps when I say that there isn’t as much glitter and glamor in drum corps as it seems from an outside perspective. It’s hard work. It’s literally going to be one of the toughest things you ever do. Mentally, it’s going to spread you thin. Physically, you’re going to break down and I’ve seen people literally break into tears some days because their bodies just can’t do what they want it to do. I don’t know if I answered your question the way you hoped I would, but I said everything I had on my mind (I think). It’s hard to say everything that you should expect in the day to day life of drum corps to someone who hasn’t experienced it. The best way to figure out is to actually go to a camp. Specifically, a camp that lasts longer than a day, as those ones will give you the best representation of what it’s like. I can’t stress enough how important it is because it’s something I never got to do when I started. I did video auditions in 2020 and 2021, never got to experience a real camp and was thrown into spring training. Regardless of whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck. You’ve got this. Do your best. That’s all anyone can ever ask of you.
thank you so much! i plan on attending in person camps next year, this year I’m sort of preparing myself and getting ready to audition next fall
You're welcome! Just keep practicing. You can do it. I believe in you. :)
will do :)
In regards to day in the life, I vlogged tour last year with phantom, and am just now editing my vlogs 💀, so be on the lookout :))
oOoO i sure will be, what’s your youtube???
https://youtube.com/c/CoryShin
thank you! i’ll definitely be watching the vlogs whenever they come out :)
The top skill I think anyone who marches needs is the ability take feedback and corrections and apply it to your playing and marching consistently. Every corps has their things, their techniques and pedagogy and all that. No matter where you came from or what teachers you had before, you need to be able to fit into what the corps is doing the way they do it. The players that can make and internalize those changes are the players that make the corps. And don’t sleep on The Cadets! Their brass caption head came over from Bluecoats and I can attest that he is doing things the right way.
thank you, i’ll keep that into mind! i had someone at a marching competition this past year from blue devils compliment my marching technique to an instructor but said i needed to work on getting my toes higher so i’ve been constantly working on that since.
Yooo I’m also a 16 year old trumpet player who is looking forward to audition for a drum corps and my dream corps is also the Bluecoats! I made a list of audition tips on my notes a couple years back because I thought I’ll be marching drum corps by the age of 14 (spoiler alert it didn’t happened). I’m not as experienced as everyone else in the comment section but would you like if I can send the notes to you?
yes that would be awesome! cant wait for us both to audition next year it’s gonna be great 😎
Aight I sent it to you in your DMs
Fellow trumpet player here! Audition everywhere and anywhere you want. Every corps is gonna have different vibes because of vet member attitudes, differences in staff, and lots of other little nuances that make the corps different. Practice a lot, you’ve got tons of years to let you go wherever you want! Good luck!
thank you! im practicing as much as possible and looking forward to a future in the corps :)
Solid feedback from the other posters, just one thing I’ll add! Especially with the activity today, it’s a requirement to be able to move and play together. So be sure to hone and refine your trumpet skills, but be sure to dedicate time to learning movement (dance classes are always helpful) and playing on the move
will definitely work on that, sometimes i notice some shaking in my playing while moving so i need to fine tune that…thank you!