LEBANON – “We have shuffled off this mortal coil,” an iconic line from William Shakespeare’s play, “The Tragedy of Hamlet” serves as this year’s inspiration for a high school marching band gone drum corps from Oregon, Wisconsin, Shadow Drum and Bugle Corps.
McKendree University in historic Lebanon, Illinois provided the backdrop for the corps’ second performance in the Drum Corps International open class circuit, Monday. After months of weekend rehearsal camps the corps moved together June 22nd and have been rehearsing and touring the country ever since. Touring the country with the corps has been settling in for front ensemble coordinator Rebecca Compton-Allen of Madison, Wisconsin.
“It’s finally starting to feel real. Being just our second official Drum Corps International (DCI) show, I feel like the kids have a lot more to look forward to this season in transitioning from being a marching band to being in DCI,” Compton-Allen said.
The drum corps is just one of two new additions to the Drum Corps International open class circuit, the other being The Battalion from Salt Lake City, Utah.
Executive Director Nick Lane is the head of the Oregon High School Shadow Armada Marching Band, now Shadow Drum and Bugle Corps, where over a number of years he’s successfully led the group into Mid-America Competing Band Directors Association summer field competitions. Lane has taken the group through several transitions during his time as executive director of the group.
“In 1972, our high school band’s marching program began competing in the Mid-America Competing Band Director’s Association (MACBDA) circuit. [In essence,] the circuit is a similar experience to drum corps; touring for 5 weeks but the circuit was based for high school bands. When l I found out about opening at Oregon, I applied for the position right out of college and have been here ever since,” Lane said.
According to Lane, the previous circuit in which the group competed in has become very weak and was worried of the possible dissolution of the circuit. So the marching band director made a bold move to be the first high school marching ensemble to successfully transition it’s group into the Drum Corps International open class circuit.
“We [have] wanted to keep on offering the summer experience to our kids, so a couple years ago we decided we were going to make the transition [to Drum Corps International,] and that’s what we did,” Lane said.
Despite recent cuts on funding of music and arts by school districts across the nation, the Oregon School District has been supportive of the group according to Lane.
“We have 118 students in the corps. [Also,] because we’re involved in a school district, we can not have students older than the previous semester’s graduating class,” Lane said.
The age requirement for the group offers a stark contrast to other corps in the open class circuit who accept members up until 21.
Bridging the gap between high school and the world class drum corps experience is what executive director Nick Lane is trying to accomplish.
“One of our major missions is to provide a bridge for the high school kids that we’ve been teaching all this time. What we’d like to do is to fill this niche in a broader picture. [Our corps] is geared towards helping high school students and bridging the world of high school marching band and drum corps,” Lane said.
The transition has also been welcomed in high regards by alumni and current members of the group. According [to] percussionist Jaelan Wilson of Oregon, Wisconsin, the experience of performing with the group has been exciting.
“I’ve been with the summer group for 4 years, and I’ve [participated in] winter program for 4 years. I’m pretty sad about this tour being my last one, but I’m very excited to be able to be a part of it. [Transitioning from a marching band to a drum corps] has been more intense and there are higher expectations, but it is a lot of fun,” Wilson said.
Shadow Drum and Bugle Corps’ competitive field show for their inaugural year in DCI open class is entitled, “This Mortal Coil.”
“Our show this year is called ‘This Mortal Coil’ which is a quote from Hamlet, when he was talking about ‘shuffling off the mortal coil,’ [Shakespeare] was talking about dying, but the way we’re turning it around it is that the “mortal coil” are the actual building blocks of life, the DNA that makes us. “Shuffling that off” is more along the lines of transcending, or rising above what meets the eye; being more than what you’re made of,” Lane said.
There are several motifs throughout the corps’ performance that are used to present the coil theme.
“We have 8 spiral staircases that are supposed to represent ‘rising above [what you’re made of],’ there’s spiral concepts in the drill as well to reinforce the theme,” Lane said.
The thematic delivery of the show theme not only is shown on the field but also extends into the percussion of the group.
“You can see [the coil theme] represented in the front ensemble in the front drop [under the marimbas], we also have coil-shaped triangles, and narration that explains where we are at emotionally through the show,” front ensemble coordinator Rebecca Compton-Allen said.
The corps premiered their inaugural production July 10th, at the Drum Corps International show in Madison, Wisconsin.
“[The show] was very well received by adjudicators last night and we received a lot of good feedback. [Staff] was nervous, we want to give the kids the best product, the best possibility for success. The members were very nervous yesterday but they came out, did a good job, and we got some really good feedback. We’re off to a great start,” Lane said.
The Shadow Drum and Bugle Corps continues their season throughout the rest of the summer and has their home show August 6th in Oregon, WI. To learn more about the Shadow Drum and Bugle Corps and about it’s other ensembles you can visit their website at http://www.shadowdbc.org/.
