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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.

Mark started in the activity with a local marching band in 1990 and played trumpet and mellophone. In 1992 he marched in his first drum corps, West Coast Cadets where he played bass drum. After deciding that he preferred the drum line to the horn line, he spent a few years with the Spirit of Bristol before moving to the Senators, where he spent two years in the percussion section. The following years were spent on staff back at Spirit of Bristol and then staff/percussion caption head at the 37th Kingswood. Between 2005 and 2009 seasons Mark was a percussion staff member at the Senators.

He started training to be a Field Percussion judge in 2010 and judged his first show later that year. “I have really enjoyed my time as a judge and have received full training and support from people that I now call friends”, Mark says. He lives in Bristol with his wife Helen (DCE Field Visual judge) and works as a Project Manager for the UK government.

“I am very pleased to be taking up the position of Adjudication Manager for Drum Corps Europe and look forward to continuing the good work of Brian Yothers and Douglas Caldwell”, Mark says. “I am excited to be given this opportunity, which I hope will allow the judging team to further collaborate with and build on the strong relationship with the corps in Europe.”

The DCE board welcomes Mark as the new Adjudication Manager and is looking forward to working with Mark in his new role. The board would like to thank Brian Yothers for his great work in the last two years, and Douglas Caldwell for stepping in as the ad interim Adjudication Manager after Brian Yothers left the organisation because of work commitments in the United States.

This coming Sunday the 2014 Kidsgrove Scouts front ensemble will start rehearsals at Chesterton Community Sports College, Castle Street in Chesterton. The drumline, who have already started rehearsals for 2014, will be rehearsing both Saturday and Sunday. The corps already has a number of new faces in both of these sections.

Both Kidsgrove Scouts winter guards will be rehearsing at the weekend and although the numbers have been set for the Winterguard season they are in the process of accepting membership for the 2014 summer guard. The hornline will start rehearsals after Christmas.

Corps Director Rob Swindells commented, “2014 is shaping up very nicely indeed. The ‘Miss Saigon’ programme is progressing very well and we are very excited about the coming winter guard season. There has been some very productive work with the whole of the percussion section and we can’t wait to get the hornline going in the New Year. We are also looking forward and planning some exciting things for 2015.”

Drum Corps United Kingdom has confirmed the venues for all regional contests taking place in 2014. Once again there will be four contests.

The June and July shows will match those that took place for the 2013 season and DCUK are extremely pleased to advise that next year Drum Corps will be making a welcome return to Essex for the early September show which takes place two weeks prior to the British Drum Corps Championships and so will be a great warm up to the culmination of the season.

The 2014 DCUK contests are:
Sunday 15th June - Horsfall Stadium, Bradford, West Yorkshire
Sunday 29th June - Woking FC, Woking, Surrey
Sunday 13th July - Dorothy Hyman Sports Centre, Barnsley, South Yorkshire
Sunday 7th September - Ford Sports Stadium, Romford, Essex

Registrations for the 2014 season open at 10am on Monday 9th December as DCUK enters its 35th season as the home of British Drum Corps.

The latest DCE education session took place in Mullingar, Ireland on Sunday November 24th. The interactive session, aimed at those involved in planning or teaching for 2014 DCE shows was lead by Gerry Baker.

Other local members of the DCE judging team to take part were Brendan Hoye and Maria Fennessy. Many topics about DCE competition were covered, including in depth explanations of the captions and how the judging system works. It was of great benefit to those in the early stages of working on their 2014 production and aspiring to take part in the DCE European Games 2014.

Tallaght Youth Band Marching Vikings' Martin Fogarty said: “The session was good and would be good to have more of them. In terms of myself I would have known most of the material but that's because I sat the judges exam a few years back, but it was good to refresh it and remind myself of it. It's brilliant to see the IMBA and DCE doing these education sessions. I think some bands would really benefit from these. I personally think the organisation will push forward with more education. I know personally I'm always learning, so if that could be done with everyone we can grow the activity in Ireland.”

Ger Dunne, field commander with Celtic Crusaders said: “I found the seminar very useful as it explained the marking system in great detail. What I found especially helpful was an insight into what judges are looking for in terms of Effect and Ensemble. Similarly it helped to eliminate some of the confusion by explaining some of the jargon that I was not too familiar with.”

The IMBA also held their Annual General Meeting on the same day in the premises of Mullingar Town Band. The organisation are in full preparation for the 2014 season, as it promises to be another year of growth in the marching activity in Ireland.

The IMBA can be found at www.irishmarchingbands.org and also on Facebook.

Glassmen Drum & Bugle Corps doesn’t return to the DCI competition in 2014. The corps from Toledo has put a statement on Facebook.

“We're still getting a few inquiries about positions and auditions for 2014”, the corps says in a Facebook post. “While we are thankful for the continued interest, we must state for the record that the Glassmen are not holding auditions and do not plan to field a corps in 2014.”

It was already known that the Glassmen are in financial difficulties. In October 2012, Interim Director David Stinson called for drum corps fans to make a donation to the corps. There was then a $300,000 gap in the total budget of $850,000 that had to be closed by 1st January 2013 but this didn’t happen.

Chairman Tom Sink of the Glassmen emphasised that they are just pausing to catch their breath and that this is not the end of the corps that was founded in 1961.

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 October 2013, including the Corps Page Top 5.

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

1. The DCE Video Vault is now open!
Date: 15th October. Views: 729

2. List of open rehearsals in Europe
Date: 18th October. Views: 661

3. Kidsgrove Scouts set record with 10th medal position
Date: 6th October. Views: 625

4. Former Carolina Crown instructor becomes show designer Black Knights
Date: 11th October. Views: 526

5. Second DCE judges clinic in Indonesia
Date: 21th October. Views: 439

The Corps Page Top 5 from October 2013:

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

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.

At DCE, Jubal’s Finals performance 2013 is the most popular video (viewed 883 times), followed by Jubal’s Prelims performance 2013 (790). The Finals performance 2013 from The Company is in third place (762). At CGN, Sensation 2011 is at the top (424). The Pride Junior 2013 is the second most viewed video (307) and Percussion Unlimited 2013 is the number three (229).

The video archive is still growing. 99 videos have been added to the DCE Video Vault so far. A subscription to the DCE Video Vault costs 19.95 Euros per year, and you can view free trailers for all videos.

The DCE Video Vault is available at http://dce.videovault.eu.

For the first time in more than a decade, the Drum Corps International tour will start and end in the same city, as all roads lead to and from Indianapolis during the summer of 2014.

By the numbers, the 2014 DCI tour will feature 105 competitive events produced over 53 days beginning 18th June. More than 45 drum corps representing Drum Corps International’s World, Open and All-Age divisions will tour 37 states as they perform their way to Indianapolis for the season-ending DCI World Championships in August.

“We’ve worked with the participating corps to assemble a schedule that’s very consistent with previous years in order to provide them with the greatest possible degree of stability for planning their travel”, DCI Executive Director Dan Acheson said. “This also affords fans the opportunity to enjoy their favorite events in familiar venues on similar dates to those which they’ve grown accustomed.”

The tour details can be found here.

After three years leading Thurrock Marching Brass marching band, Darren Crisp will be moving into the new role of Head of Music Education, effective immediately. He will be succeeded by Joanna Crisp.

Darren’s three year appointment by the board has seen an incredible growth in members. Their development and also seen a number of competitive successes, including back to back silver medals at the British Youth Band Association Nationals Championships in Cadet Class in 2011 and 2012 respectively, plus the 2013 British Youth Band Association Cadet Class Championships win along with the league title as well.

“I am incredibly pleased at the progress here at TMB, the staff, supporters and everyone who surround the members really do have their best interests at heart”, said Darren. „I have enjoyed driving the efforts of the band immensely but I also have to balance the important commitment that this position demands with my own work commitments which includes increasing foreign travel. Although it was a very hard decision for me to make, I wasn’t able to commit to a further three years in the same capacity sadly. I will, however, be responsible for the music education for TMB going forwards, and ensuring, in conjunction with our Music Director Reece Crisp, that TMB’s development in this area continues to grow in strength over the coming years.”

The board of Thurrock Marching Brass has announced Darren’s successor, effective immediately. Joanna Crisp has been appointed as Corps Director for the next three years. Joanna has been with the band from the very beginning and steps up into the Corps Director’s position with a variety of experience, which includes many years at both the Blue Ambassadors and the Blue Eagles before joining TMB in its re-launch year of 2010.

After three years leading Thurrock Marching Brass marching band, Darren Crisp will be moving into the new role of Head of Music Education, effective immediately. He will be succeeded by Joanna Crisp.

Darren’s three year appointment by the board has seen an incredible growth in members. Their development and also seen a number of competitive successes, including back to back silver medals at the British Youth Band Association Nationals Championships in Cadet Class in 2011 and 2012 respectively, plus the 2013 British Youth Band Association Cadet Class Championships win along with the league title as well.

“I am incredibly pleased at the progress here at TMB, the staff, supporters and everyone who surround the members really do have their best interests at heart”, said Darren. „I have enjoyed driving the efforts of the band immensely but I also have to balance the important commitment that this position demands with my own work commitments which includes increasing foreign travel. Although it was a very hard decision for me to make, I wasn’t able to commit to a further three years in the same capacity sadly. I will, however, be responsible for the music education for TMB going forwards, and ensuring, in conjunction with our Music Director Reece Crisp, that TMB’s development in this area continues to grow in strength over the coming years.”

The board of Thurrock Marching Brass has announced Darren’s successor, effective immediately. Joanna Crisp has been appointed as Corps Director for the next three years. Joanna has been with the band from the very beginning and steps up into the Corps Director’s position with a variety of experience, which includes many years at both the Blue Ambassadors and the Blue Eagles before joining TMB in its re-launch year of 2010.

Indoor Percussion Europe will add Drum Battles to the IPE European Championships on 6th April 2014. The day will also include Individuals & Ensembles competitions.

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 battles take place without staged instruments in an arena of 20 x 20 meters. Each drumline feature will be 2 minutes or less.

For the third season in a row, the Individual & Ensembles competitions will be part of the Championships day too. The categories are Individual Percussion (snare drum, multiple tenor drum, percussion keyboard, timpani, multiple percussion) and Ensembles (bass drum ensemble, cymbal ensemble and percussion ensemble).

Registration and more info about the Individuals & Ensembles and Drum Battle competitions can be found at www.indoorpercussioneurope.org.

The lions roar again. After a year of absence, Wölper Löwen Drum & Bugle Corps want to give it their all again in 2014.

The drum & bugle corps from Neustadt am Rübenberghe - Germany had to leave the contest fields behind in 2013, but when corps director Thomas Littmann made this sad announcement earlier this year, he also said that it would not be the end. Wölper Löwen are therefore doing everything they can to become active again next year.

The open day that the corps organised some time ago was certainly a good start. In total, 16 guard, 19 percussion and 26 brass attended the workshop day. The Wölper Löwen hope that many of them will experience the drum corps adventure with the corps in 2014.

The programme presented by the former DCE participant is entitled ‘Echelon’. It is a different programme from the earlier jazz, swing, musicals and film music that drum corps fans will remember from previous years. This time, the music programme is based on hard rock. The music comes from the rock bands 30 Seconds to Mars and Stone Sour.

After five 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.

After two editions of national contests, it was not possible to deliver a third edition. “MMF has been a wonderful adventure’, MMF chairman Yohann Boscher stated. “I’d like to thank everyone who has been involved directly or indirectly with this organisation. I hope some people from the French marching music mainstream would like to gather again to allow the drum corps activity to go forward.”

“Obviously, the organisation wants also to thank Drum Corps Europe board and more specifically Marco and Rob who have been privileged interlocutors“, the chairman continues. “At the same time, MMF board wants to thank Beatrix for coming to the second edition. The MMF board wishes a lucky and great future to all the French bands and corps and hope that drum corps will grow in the decades coming.”

Drum Corps Europe would like to thank the Marching Music France board and volunteers for the great cooperation and congratulates Yohann Bosscher, Nathalie Pellay and the team for what has been achieved in recent years.

Spirit of 52 has announced its programme for 2014. The show will be entitled ‘Spirit in the Jungle’.

As in previous years, Spirit of 52 hopes to present another audience-friendly show. “However, this theme requires us to take a step further than we have in previous years,” said Mark Gjaltema from Spirit. “This theme requires visual depictions of the jungle, its inhabitants, the visitors, and so on. The intention is for all facets of the jungle to come to life, from darkness to colourful, from quiet to lively.” The music has once again written by the corps itself this year and is based on ‘The Lion King’ and ‘Last Samurai’, among others.

The corps will keep the same staff and design team. The instructors are Bjorn Geveke (brass), Malte Steiner (percussion), Thorsten Haake (front ensemble), Kerstin Müller (color guard) and Mark Gjaltema (visual). In addition, Kevin Sommer (percussion) and Jochen Ackermann (brass) will be the ‘techs’ next year.

Björn Geveke, Jochen Ackermann , Thorsten Haake and Malte Steiner will arrange the music book. The choreography for the color guard is by Suryono Wiersma. Martijn de Jong will write the drill.

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 the Irish Marching Bands Association started to work with Drum Corps Europe, the group transformed itself into a drum & bugle corps. And it looks like it’s not stopping there. The next goal is to travel to Indianapolis in two years to participate in the drum corps mecca.

The corps has started recruiting members for this adventure. Although so far the Ravens have participated in the Junior Class of the European Music Games, this campaign also focuses on older musicians and guard members. The Ravens will also continue to recruit members for their junior corps.

The Ravens are also calling on interested parties in Britain and the rest of Europe to sign up.

The Company Performance Ensemble from Nottingham has accounced its 2014 summer production. The show is entitled ‘Four’.

”This year’s show is based around the different ways we view and experience a year”, The Company states in a press release. ”It’s the obvious ways and the not so obvious ways a year touches your life. The seasons change four times a year, from spring to winter they always appear.”

The show is split into four very distinctive diverse parts, each with their own emotion, feeling and its own theme. The design team for the fifth consecutive year are Ian Butt, Craig Sherratt, Andrew Markworth and Mark Pickles.

The DVDs of the DCE European Championships are on their way to their new owners. All ordered copies have already been sent out.
 
Drum Corps Europe would like to thank everyone who contributed to the creation of the production: all the employees of the Video Vault(realisation), Show & Marching Music (sound), Peter Franken (design), Drum Corps Media (photos) and David Baden (distribution). Once again, they have achieved a great result, and we hope that the drum corps fans will love it.
 
If you have not received your copy of the DVD yet, it will arrive soon. For international addresses in particular, the delivery may take a few working days.

Drum Corps United Kingdom made their initial announcement regarding contest dates for the 2014 season. DCUK will again feature four shows plus the DCUK British Championships.

For the past two seasons DCUK has held four shows during the summer plus the British Drum Corps Championships and following the DCUK Membership Meeting held last weekend it has been agreed to continue with this number of shows.

Therefore the draft contests dates for 2014 are Sunday 15th June, Sunday 29th June, Sunday 13th July and Sunday 7th September, plus the 35th British Drum Corps Championships on Saturday 20th September.

Whilst preference may be given to DCUK Member Corps, bids are now welcomed from anyone wishing to be considered to run a DCUK contest next season and potential hosts should initially email admin@dcuk.org.uk where you will be contacted back to discuss your bid in further detail.

Completed bids should be received by 24th November to enable these to be discussed by the DCUK Board ready for when registrations open for the 2014 season in early December.

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.

Juliana are currently looking at the possibilities of participation. “Every year we try to do something special with Juliana”, explains Chairman Hiels Oving. “Last year we went to Italy and this year it could be the DCUK Championships. Another contest from which we will get additional feedback, competing in a strong field and taking a fun trip with the whole group will be one of the highlights of the year.”

The corps has already been in contact with Drum Corps United Kingdom. It is not yet known where the British Championships will be held. “Once this is announced, we can tell you more about our English adventure”, said Hoving.

The registration for the DCE European Championships 2014 has started. Corps will be able to register during November. The participants list will be published mid-December.

Like last year, criteria will be used for selection. If, by the end of the month, there are still places available, the registration deadline will be extended until the event is full.

In order to enter the Championships, participation at one or more Certified Shows in your own country is mandatory. This rule does not apply to countries where no Certified Show is scheduled.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER