Phenom providing accessible marching music opportunities to young Arizona musicians
By Jeff Griffith Rachael C., a rising high school junior from Phoenix, Arizona, was invited by a friend to attend an audition camp for The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps. By all measures, it was the drum corps experience at its peak — all-day practices, multi-hour rehearsal blocks, and an unprecedented level of demand. “It was a bit too much for me at that point,” she said. Enter Phenom, the perfect opportunity for young musicians from...
Pliagas steps into new administrative role
At the end of May, Tina Pliagas joined Drum Corps International and the SoundSport administrative staff in the position of Business Development Programs Coordinator. A graduate of the University of Tennessee – Knoxville, Pliagas previously served as an intern within DCI’s business development department. Over the next three months she will begin to take over the day-to-day administration of the SoundSport program and...
New SoundSport team forms in “The Crossroads of America”
By Michael Boo A first-year SoundSport team named Storm Drum and Bugle Corps has formed in Terre Haute, Indiana, just over an hour west of Indianapolis. The group started as an idea between Dr. Larry Tinnerman, a professor in the business school of Indiana State University, and assistant director Tony Connell, who marched as a member of the Garfield Cadets in the early 1980s. Why start a new group in Terre Haute? “The city was...
IMPACT proves age is just a number
By Michael Boo One of the fascinating elements of Drum Corps International’s SoundSport program is that there is no age limit. Few if any SoundSport teams have taken this to heart as much as IMPACT from Orlando, Florida, whose members range in age from 17 to 74. IMPACT is one of the ensembles under the aegis of Florida Marching Arts, Inc., which also sponsors a WGI Winds ensemble, PHOENIX Winds. The SoundSport team was founded...
New Mexico’s Arsenal is expanding
By: Michael Boo First taking the SoundSport stage in 2017, Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Arsenal is growing, with plans for an expanded tour of the southwestern United States this summer. A member of the Academy Drum and Bugle Corps front ensemble section in 2014 and 2015, director Spenser Lotz founded the group as a way to bring a drum corps presence back to the state of New Mexico that hadn’t been felt for four decades....