Geeking out on drumlines

Alright I missed a post yesterday, but that was really because I spent most of the day doing what the title of this post suggests. So now I'm ready to unload several videos for the nerd drummer in you.

First one is the Santa Clara Vanguard from 2004 doing what the Internet tells me is Murray Gusseck's version of a popular cadence, pre-show warm-up thing they do called Double Beat. It's pretty much water-tight.



MP3 of the full thing from 2004

And here's the 2009 Santa Clara Vanguard doing a slightly different version:



Annnnnd the 2009 Cadets looking really cocky but, you know, being incredible so sure why not? Be cocksure. (If you're not familiar, there's a whole kind of messy and convoluted underbelly to the drum corps world, and sometimes drumming in general. Certain stereotypes do exist for a reason. It's hard to even really begin to describe. I'm not trying to say these Cadets are jerks or anything; that would be stupid, I've never met them. It's really just one or two guys that look the part; there's always that one guy.

But there is definitely pressure from day 1 of drumline camp to basically be a cocky asshole. It's weird, and I don't feel like getting knee deep in it right now, possibly sometime later. I've been fortunate enough to have some phenomenal percussion instructors, two in particular from elementary through high school. But I've played in drumlines with some interesting people, people you sometimes want to shake or slap their foreheads and explain the reality that most of the world could care less that you can play like 240+ hybrid rudiments and thinks you're a complete nerd for thinking that's cool.)

But, yeah, the video - the Cadets really are incredible here (and so are the equipment dudes in the background in matching "uniforms" of bare chest and blue shorts):



And finally this one's fantastic for two tiny things. The center snare drops his stick at 00:10, and the judge picks it up and throws it back to him! But while you're watching that happen, you're likely missing the poor horn player who face plants at 00:19.