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Tomorrow, the second Drum Corps United Kingdom show of this season will be held in Woking. DCE will post live updates on its Facebook page. Be sure you like the DCE Facebook page and stay updated!

It will be an interesting show in Woking. The show features eleven corps, including the complete DCUK/DCE top 3 of 2012. Tickets for the show are available for only £7.50 per adult (£4.00 U16 and OAP), including a programme. Seven Open Class corps and four Junior Class corps will enter the field in compeition, including The Company, Kidsgrove Scouts and (for the first time this season) Black Knights. Information and tickets can be found at www.dcuk.org.uk.

For those who are not able to travel to Woking can stay updated through live updated on the DCE Facebook page, including interviews, scores and video fragments. By 'liking' the DCE Facebook page, updates will automatically appear on your Facebook time line. The DCE Facebook page can be found at www.facebook.com/drumcorpseurope.

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 ensember from 2008 to 2010.

Deschacht is currently programme designer and arranger for DrumSpirit Percussion Ensemble and Beverly Percussion Ensemble. He has also been an arranger for Mosson Drum & Bugle Corps from Italy since 2012 and for Heartliner from Germany, both performing at the DCE Championships. In addition, the Belgian was the Front Ensemble Caption Head of NorthCoast Academy in 2013.

The show of the Madison Scouts is entitled 'Corps of Brothers - 75 Years of Survival'. Tracks in the programme include “Night on Bald Mountain” (Modest Mussorgsky) and the famous 'You'll Never Walk Alone'.

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.

While Carolina Crown tours the West Coast with the Blue Devils early this summer, fans have already seen heated competition between 2012’s first and second place finishers. In their first meeting on 21st June in Clovis, Crown bested the Blue Devils 74.50 to 74.35. A day later, Blue Devils pulled ahead by seven tenths of a point. Crown, however, narrowed that gap slightly on 23rd June in Sacramento, but still finished four tenths of a point under the defending champions.

Santa Clara Vanguard continues to see strong performances from its percussion section, outscoring the competition (including the 2012 Fred Sanford Best Percussion Performance caption award winning Blue Devils) in every event so far this summer.

Most World Class corps trended ahead of their season-opening scores 2013 compared to 2012. The only exceptions are Boston Crusaders (-4.75), The Cavaliers (-0.8), Crossmen (-0.6), Pioneer (-0.6), and Troopers (-3.0). Scores can be found at www.dci.org/scores.

Jubal from Dordrecht won both the Premier Class and the Junior Class at the DCN contest in Huizen - The Netherlands on Saturday. Juliana and their junior corps Johan Friso became second in both classes.

With 71.20 points, Jubal beat Juliana by exactly two points (69.20) in the Premier Class. Jubal was the strongest in Music, while Juliana scored the most points on Visual. The Starriders came third with 62.50 points, followed by Spirit of 52 (60.45), Con Spirito (53.70), Heartliner (52.40) and DAP (41.15).

Although Jubal is at the top in the Netherlands, the highest European score this season so far is in the name of The Company, which scored just a little higher at the first DCUK contest last week (71.55).

Jong Jubal won the Junior Class (68.45) beating Johan Friso by more than three points (65.40). This puts the corps at the top of the European ranking. Jong Beatrix came third (63.65) and Confetti ended in fourth place (52.70). The scores of the DCN contest in Huizen can be found on the score page.

The next contest of the European Music Games will be next week in Woking (DCUK). A week later, the Irish contest season starts in Arklow (IMBA).

Over 40 years Commodores have amassed a wide range of music. This year the corps from Poynton has chosen a show to celebrate their past whilst ensuring the 2013 edition of the corps pushes in to the future.

The Commodores will be portraying iconic events from 1973 using music from their 40 years to celebrate this landmark. The music pieces of the show are ‘American Trilogy’/‘Battle Hymn’, ‘Baroque SambaÆ, ‘Last Train Home’ and ‘Sing Sang Sung’.

The Commodores will enter the competitions of Drum Corps United Kingdom and Drum Corps Europe.

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 May 2013, including the Corps Page Top 5.

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

1. Ticket sales for the DCE Championships will start on 15th May
Date: 10th May. Views: 591

2. Ticket sale DCE Championships postponed
Date: 1st May. Views: 525

3. DCUK publishes corps line ups for 2013 contests
Date: 14th May. Views: 457

4. The European Music Games 2013 started, Jubal takes lead
Date: 27th May. Views: 401

5. Besana Secutores brings Pinocchio to life
Date: 3rd May. Views: 381

The Corps Page Top 5 from May 2013:

1. Heartliner
2. Jubal
3. The Company
4. Beatrix
5. Juliana

DCE judges Marco Harder and Wil Bijl travelled to Asia again last week to work with the Asian judges to study the DCE Competition Manual in more depth. Various circuits in Asia use the DCE judging system for their competitions.

For three days, the Asian jury members in Bandung - Indonesia worked hard to increase their knowledge, focusing on several specific aspects of judging. One of the themes was tape commentary: how to make a good tape with the right information expressed in the right way, so that an instructor can get the most out of it. All judges were also subjected to (re-)certification.

In Asia, the DCE jury system is valued for the its clarity and transparency. In recent years, competitions in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia have made use of the DCE system.

The DCE website is back online. The website was down for most of the day due to performance issues. The DCE IT team worked hard to improve the performance.

"Since the start of the ticket sales for the DCE European Championships, we noticed a drop in the speed and reliability of the website, due to the increased number of visitors to the site", said Mark Long from the DCE IT team. "At the weekend it hit a low point and we decided to take the site offline to fix the issuse we were having and restore the site to the best speed possible."

DCE's IT Manager Rob Beeren added: "For now, we feel confident that the website is back up to speed and we have also fixed some other bugs along the way. However we still need to adjust the code for the ticket sales, which we hope to have sorted this weekend." The ticket sale page is temporarily closed.

The Company has won the first DCUK contest. The reigning European champions were the first European corps to exceed the 70 point mark Sunday afternoon.

With 71.55 points, The Company won by a margin of 4.65 points at the Horsfall Stadium in Bradford. The Kidsgrove Scouts finished in second place with 66.90 points. The Black Knights, who came third last year, were not present at this first contest and will only compete later this season.

A total of nine corps participated in the DCUK contest, including eight in the Open Class (Premier Class). The Commodores came third (55.60), followed by East Coast Elite (46.60), Revolution (42.65), Spirit of Coventry (41.40), Liberty (40.35) and The Pacemakers (37.10). In the Junior Class, Concord was the only participant and scored 41.65 points.

The contest in Bradford was the second of the European Music Games. The next contest of the season will be the DCN contest in Huizen - The Netherlands next Saturday.

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 - Cheshire.

For the past few years Mansfield Town FC have provided DCUK the venue for the British Drum Corps Championships but this year they were promoted out of the Football Conference back into the main Football League and as a result need to carry out works to the ground which means they are unable to host our Championships event for 2013.

As a result, for the past few weeks DCUK haw been working on a replacement venue and have agreed a contract with a new venue and the 2013 British Drum Corps Championships will be held at Select Security Stadium in Widnes - Cheshire, the home to the Widnes Vikings Rugby League team and also Liverpool Ladies FC (and until recently was known as the Stobart Stadium but changed following a new sponsorship deal).

The big benefit of this venue is that two years ago they had the pitch replaced and installed with the latest generation of artificial grass pitch which is called i-pitch (intelligent pitch) and so is not subject to the normal concerns of bad weather.

The main stand is a single tier and seats approximately 3,500 (opposed to Mansfield which is a double tier and seats over 5,500) so is much better suited to DCUK's needs. There is plenty of free local parking for spectators within no more than a couple of minutes’ walk from the stadium.

The British drum corps season will start tomorrow in Bradford.

The ticket sales of the DCE European Championships 2013 are still booming. Tickets for section C have now also sold out. Secure your tickets!

There are plenty of reasons to come to Kerkrade again at the end of September. The complete European top will once again be present at the European Championships. And DCE will not allow the economic crisis to impact on your wallet. The prices of the European Championship have stayed the same this year and this year you will even get your programme booklets for free.

DCE is very pleased that so many drum corps fans are finding their way to Kerkrade. Don’t have tickets for the music and show event of the year yet? Order them in the DCE webshop. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday 28th September!

Two newly formed Open Class corps, Coastal Surge and the Columbians, have been approved to participate in the 2013 Drum Corps International Tour. Before corps are allowed to participate as part of the annual DCI Summer Tour, an extensive evaluation of the organization’s business plan and strategy for future growth and self-sufficiency is conducted to assist corps in creating a strong foundation.

Coastal Surge Drum & Bugle Corps, led by Executive Director Matthew Shrewsbury, hails from Myrtle Beach - South Carolina, and launched from initial discussions about forming a corps in October 2012 to its first rehearsal camp this past February. The 51 members slated to perform with the corps during the summer of 2013 will be on the road for seven days total, allowing them to participate in three DCI Tour events in late June.

“Our time on the road is going to be short, but we hope that it will be a great learning experience for us and help us to grow, expand our tour in the coming years, and really operate as effectively and efficiently as possible,” Shrewsbury said.

Shrewsbury, who cited borrowing and purchasing equipment as one of the challenges of starting a drum corps from the ground up said, “We kept our membership dues around $450 this year so that anyone who wanted to participate could. We wanted to give them the best experience we could during our time together.”

The Columbians, from Pasco - Washington, held their first rehearsal in November. According to Director Matthew Newbury, the corps is named after the Tri-City Columbians Drum and Bugle Corps, a group founded in the 1930s that ceased to exist more than 35 years ago in the mid-1970s.

Newbury says that over the past 10 years, high school marching band programs in the Tri-City area have expanded, leading to growth of parent volunteer groups and committees which have come together to create support to get the Columbians started.

“The thing that you live and die for in drum corps is membership, and it’s been a great thing that we’ve had such a strong turnout", Newbury said. “So far this year we’ve had about 110 kids show up at one time or another to experience drum corps.” In order to recruit members, Newbury contacted local band directors and asked them to encourage students to join. The corps’ 2013 membership will be made up of approximately 65 performers, both local and nonlocal, who come from 12 different schools.

This year, the organisation of the German Open is introducing a new class, the Prep Class. The aim is to attract more show corps and to become familiar with the DCE judging system.

Corps participating in the Prep Class will get full judges comments from DCE judges and a score, but the score is not made public. The organisers hope that this will allow corps to become familiar with the DCE competition, even if participation is still too big a step for them, and to bring their show to the field in front of an enthusiastic audience.

More information about the German Open can be found at www.germanopen-online.eu.

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.

Actually, he was not planning to march again this summer. "But after receiving a few e-mails from the staff, the drum corps virus returned after the winter break", confesses Descamps. In the end, he decided to add a fourth year at Kidsgrove.

The Belgian is having an excellent time amidst the English. "The friends I have made there will be friends for life", said Descamps. Although it's a long way to travel to the rehearsals each time, he is pretty used to the distance by now. "Cooler in the back seat, DCI on the iPhone, and there I go. It looks like this season will be another great one. Although it's a slightly smaller group, I know how we work. I'm already looking forward to DCE 2013!"

Besides the Belgian, Erwin van Deventer from the Netherlands and Florian Homeyer from Germany are also marching with the Kidsgrove Scouts this year.

The Mosson Marching Kids, the junior corps of Mosson Drum & Bugle Corps, have announced the title of their first show ever. The programme is called 'Mars-ing! On the Field With Bruno Mars'.

Despite the fact that he is only 28 years old, for the particular tone of voice and the strong artistic versatility, Bruno Mars has already been alluded to by many as the heir of Michael Jackson. Mars' music has been noted for displaying a wide variety of styles, musical genres and influences, including pop, rock, reggae, R&B, soul, and hip hop. Hi

"With an artist like him, young and versatile, the theme of the first show of Mosson Marching Kinds will drag you all to the field at the discovery of a Bruno Mars as you've never seen and heard", the junior corps says.

The Mosson Marching Music Kids will debute in the European drum corps competition at the DCE European Championships in Kerkrade - The Netherlands on 28th September.

The Heartliner from Ludwigshafen have published their tour schedule for next summer at Drum Corps Associates. The German corps will be touring the United States from the 24th of August until the 2nd of September.

The tour will start in Philadelphia on 20th August. The corps will participate in two DCA contests plus the DCA World Championships. After two training days, the Heartliner will participate in a contest in Bridgeport on 24th August. The Caballeros, Excelsior, Windsor Regiment, Sunrisers, Bushwackers and Hurricanes are also participating.

The following day there is a contest in Penssauken where Heartliner will compete with Bushwackers, Carolina Gold and Shenandoah Sound. The tour will conclude with participation in the DCA World Championships, taking place in Annapolis from 30th August to 1st September.

Heartliner will travel back to Germany on 2nd September.

This week Drum Corps International brings you a pre-season free preview of its Fan Network subscription service from now through Sunday, 2nd June.

This pre-season preview kicks off today Wednesday, May 29, with an on-demand webcast of the 2012 DCI World Championship Finals. Showcasing all twelve finalist corps as they performed at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium last August, queue up the webcast player on the Fan Network homepage and watch the exciting conclusion of last year’s 40th anniversary summer season at your leisure.

During this period you’ll also have access to DCI’s complete video archive all the way back to 1974. To watch, simply jump over to dci.thefannetwork.org and click the play button. No signup or registration is required.

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

Apart from Visual Ensemble, Jubal won all captions, which resulted in a resounding victory. The corps from Dordrecht scored 67.60 points in the Premier Class.

Juliana and Beatrix are currently behind, but with four months to go until the end of the season they will have plenty of time to do something about it. Juliana remained 1.4 points ahead of Beatrix (62.80 and 61.40 points respectively). Juliana was the stronger of the two when it came to the visual field, whilst Beatrix was musically the stronger player.

Jong-Holland came fourth with 50.95 points. The corps from Zwijndrecht will have to work hard to keep up with the top three, but it was clear that the audience in Roosendaal very much appreciated Jong-Holland’s swinging programme.

The Junior Class was missing title favourite Jong Jubal, but other ‘hot shots’ were present in Roosendaal. Johan Friso won the contest with 62.45 points, but Jong Beatrix (61.70) is running a close second.

The captions were more or less divided evenly between the two, except for the Color Guard caption which was won by the third-place Jong-Holland Junioren (56.85). Confetti came fourth in the Junior Class (50.00). The junior corps from Goes made ​​a comeback after a year's absence from the competition.

The next contest is in three weeks in the English town of Bradford. Scores, recaps and contest information can be found on the DCE website and of course on the websites of the national organisations.

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.

The GN Bouw stadium at the Krommedijk in Dordrecht, famous with drum corps fans, will be torn down ground when the new demountable stadium is ready. The new stadium will be built elsewhere in the sports park from 2015. The cost of construction is estimated at ten million euros.

When asked, Chairman Kees Bourquin from Drum Corps Nederland says that he assumes that DCN will move along to the new location. “We signed a new four-year contract with FC Dordrecht last year,” said the Chairman. “If FC Dordrecht moves to another stadium within that time, we will move along with them. This has already been accounted for in the contract.”

The uniqueness of the new stadium is that it is demountable. A demountable stadium reduces the risks for investors because the components can be sold should anything would go wrong and comes with a money-back guarantee. Moreover, such a stadium is responsibly sustainable. FC Dordrecht wants to act as a pilot project for the World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

In addition to the new stadium, FC Dordrecht will also build restaurants, a conference centre and accommodation for students or athletes.

The Italian website www.marchingband.it is celebrating its tenth anniversary. In an article, DCE’s Italian media partner looks back at the period 2003-2013.

Marchingband.it started in 2003 as a website that reported on the developments in marching band activity in Italy. The editors of the site have seen a significant change in the Italian landscape in the last decade.

One of the changes has been the emergence of drum corps. In 2003, no corps in Italy called itself a drum corps. Now there are three, and the influence of the drum corps style has increased in the country.

For the occasion of the anniversary, Marchingband.it has renewed itself. In addition to news and background articles, the site also shows the latest news from the Italian news site of Drum Corps Europe.