Drum Corps: How TOUGH is it? 

I did three years in DCI at the Div 1 level (1 in the pit and 2 on the field). I was in insane shape after the year I was in the front ensemble. Loading the equipment on and off the truck at many times up to 4x per day gets your whole body going. As a snare drummer, I would never think of lugging around a set of quads. You guys are collectively keeping chiropractors in business throughout the country.

When I marched at Bluecoats, I had an ingrown toenail that got infected. We were performing pretty much every night, so there wasn't much of an opportunity to go to the ER towards the end of the season. To compensate, I just marched on the outside part of my foot. Bad idea. I was able to finish the season ( like 2 weeks left), but when I got back home, a stress fracture had set in and I was in crutches for a few weeks. Fortunately, I got my toe fixed before finals, but so many people aren't as lucky and have their season cut short because of lingering injuries. It especially sucks whenever an injury sends an age-out home. Take minor injuries seriously and try not to do anything too stupid.

I tore my ACL in the first of band camp and marched bass 5 for a whole season

My friend broke his rib at away camp and still marched the whole season

His allergy is a mixture of gluten(i think) and exercise(i know)

"I have been dealing with a serious injury" *Video cuts to an ad where someone steps on a lego piece*

EMC I met you at the marine corps marching band show at Kofa high school in Yuma a few days ago. I asked to take a picture with you and you signed my hat

I play front ensemble for shows, and cymbols for parades. Can confirm, under appreciated.

0:35 birdland. Didn't expect that from drum corp.

And this is why marching band should be a sport lmao

WHERE’S THE PLAYTHROUGH OF STROKING THE HEAD! The NFL Drumline has over 5,000 likes!

Emc I want to join tenors but I can’t practice because they just don’t let freshman use drums unless you already on the line I’m on pit and I just hate having to always to lug around instruments that weighs more than I do ,but then again I can’t practice and if I don’t practice I can’t make the line, can you try to make a video on how to make a practice pad for under like 50$ or a decent way for me to practice without having to buy expensive stuff, I would and appreciate it I think it would help a lot of people ps.eat you cereal

my friend gave me shit for picking front ensemble at the start of the season. he went quads. guess who ended up with scoliosis and guess who ended up with an MVP award.

I’m glad to hear that cymbal got a little bit of recognition, whether it be for our bruises or under appreciation, I’m glad we made it in

I love the Front Ensemble appreciation we need all the love we can get 😂❤

To add on to what you said about the front ensemble at the beginning, look at our hands after a day of band camp

As a cymbal player YES we are hella underrated and underappreciated

i started getting inspired after watching your sheet music videos then i started watching you in general and ive taken some of the things you do on the tenors in and i just want to say thank you

Rehearsal scheduling was a little different back in 84 when I was in BD (Btw....major props to the Commandant's Own for playing on 2 valved G horns....the King K-20 was the best horn I ever pushed air through). I moved to Concord the January after I made the line, and we has brass sectionals every Wednesday for about 3 hrs. We were at Mars (BD's long-time practice field...the closest thing to holy ground in the org) I THINK every other weekend at first, then it ramped up to every weekend...both days...all day. Camps were once a month and we'd meet in Concord and the bus fleet (we owned one back then) would go to the actual camp site, which gave everyone a chance to practice the logistics of moving a corps around. Dailies started after high school graduation, and then it was 24/7 until Finals night. 1st tour (old guys will remember that) was a regional tour (in California only for us) for maybe a week/2 weeks, then 2 weeks back at home base to rework the show, and on the big tour. A season at that level was the hardest thing I've ever done....but it made basic training a breeze (yeah....it was USAF....work with me)

I'm doing running for my prep. I ran and jogged for 19 minutes straight today, no stopping, 2.36 miles

i got cut for the wrong “style” so i guess i just went to the wrong corps

My high school uses pearl drum corps sized quad sets. Our tech literally made working out over summer and concert season a mandatory thing. He told us the quads we had plus the harness was 40+ lbs and whoever wanted an audition had to actively work out

This school year I was supposed to play quads, and I'm actually pretty good at them. Little did I know that being slightly overweight + marching 30 pound drums for a whole parade wouldn't feel to good. Got so bad that I switched to snare, which I actually like a little more now anyways

I loved when you guys played bird land and how we played it for jazz band

our marching band is the Rockford (Illinois) Competitive Marching Band and it is the ENTIRE city (school district) including middle and high school and we have a grand total of, drum roll please, 46 people. we have 3 trombones (one of which is me, also a soloist) a ton of flutes and clarinets 1 tuba (2 in the middle of the season) a mellophone and 4 trumpets, 2 of which are bad. there are no tryouts, we can't be picky, there are not enough people, hopefully, we can get a few more since we sent out a flyer to the band directors and told each one to hang it up. we are really bad. Edit: there are 3 percussionists one quad, one snare, one bass drum. Thankfully they are amazing.

Marched 12 years in drum corps back in the day. 6 of it as a contra bass/ marching tuba. Those suckers are heavy and you only use your arms to hold it, not a carrier and your entire body. Yes, when I was playing it was on my shoulder, but not playing all the time. I definitely have the bad back to prove it. Herniated and bulging disks and all. Wouldn't trade it for anything. :)

I’m a snare, I think it’s probably the easiest instrument to match except piccolo flute because it’s not that much weight on your back and you don’t have to hold your hands up at your face. The only downside is you have to be good

As a quadist in a drum corps, the amount my body has to take daily really makes it mentally hard

Hey EMC! I hope to see you at Finals this year by the way! I’m marching with Phantom Regiment this year, and I’m staying long enough after finals (not assuming a finals run, that’s something everyone has to earn, but will stay to see the Marines anyway) to see y’all!

marching quads is nothing compared to marching strap-on church organ

“Dynasties are definitely heavier than pearls” I have pearls at home and I’ve tried dynasties and dynasties are definitely lighter... well to be fair, the pearls I’ve tried were sonic cut, AKA they were unnecessarily big, so maybe the shallow cut pearls are lighter.

2:45 is that THE academy jazz trio

I just got a baritone contract with Heat Wave (open class, FL). Thanks for the help!

Good morning. Once I pulled my back the morning of a competition. Through sitting out of the early morning practice and stretching tons I was able to pull through just barely (although I practically collapsed right after) luckily that was only high school, otherwise the strain would have killed me in corps proper. Turns out at the time I was suffering from what I call “post wrestling career pains” where everything from my wrestling days was finally catching up after I’d finished my last year wrestling and decided to march winter instead. My back pulled 3 separate times that year and only through stretching and yoga have I returned my core strength to a functional corps strength. Anyways for the future you should go on the aged out podcast. They haven’t dealt much with online creators, mostly just techs for various corps. It’s literally a dci drumline related podcast, and they seem to have a penitent for bringing on crown and united guys, so you’d fit the bill perfect

Maynard Ferguson Birdland. played it in 77 with CMCC Warriors D&B

i usually just down half a bottle of advil before each rehearsal, a full bottle on comp days

Him: "go work out right now" Me: (is watching this at 11:49 pm)

I used to complain about my 3 pound trumpet

My band director marched with a torn acl for a whole season 🥴

!!!MORE BOOTCAMP STORIES!!!

Hey just wanted to say your performance at Army and Navy Academy was crazy good! My dumbass went straight to wrestling practice, but if you comeback next year it would be something I would really be looking forward to.

The 4th is going to be rough. I have a set of old quints... yikes.

you guys playing birdland is so cool, I played that last year for my middle school jazz band

I'm in middle school and I play oboe as my main instrument but I also play sax for jazz band and for our spring concert we play birdland and I recognized it

My school says the tenors are 60lbs; I’ve held them and there’s no way they’re more than the 35lbs sousaphone I use

I do like my Birdland, 0:33

I wish there was an EMCproductions that was colorguard. I'm not saying I don't enjoy these drumline based videos (tbh, he's made me want to attempt to learn tenor drums lol), but me being colorguard, I always see the titles of these videos and wonder "hmmm, I wonder how a colorguard version of this would be". I'm really interested in doing colorguard dci in college, but I just feel there isn't enough information that's put in a way where I'll actually not be bored out of my mind just to learn one thing. If anyone knows of a colorguard creator out there PLEASE let me know!

I think a EMC Productions Discord would be pretty neat.

Listening to this as I work out. I want a video of Eric yelling for 10 minutes straight for motivation proposes

I was at your show and someone dropped a drill team rifle

I’m a 5’3” 115lbs female and I marched contra for six years lmao

i ran cross country and it helped soooo much with marching this year everyone els was tired and i could go another 6-7 more runs.

I like how this video came out the day our Marine corps recruiter came in to our band class

800 subs to the 69er cadence bois

I was put on Quads for my HS Marching band, and I have never marched an instrument before, and have no lower back strength. The only thing I do have is stamina...wish me luck...pls

Holy shit I heard birdland at 0:36

I rolled my ankle skateboarding the day before 3 Christmas parades and still marched snare. Then found out 2 days later I had combined stress fractures. Took nearly a year to get it back to 100%.

My band director was talking about pre 2010 Drum corps and how in 2005 the Bluecoats dancers tendon in her hip was torn throughout most of the season.

its so funny because in my high school's marching band I auditioned for quads and made it but got cut a day before band camp because i couldnt carry the drums. Those things are h e a v y. learned the hard way that having the hands/chops for an instrument doesn't mean crap if you can't carry it LOL

Can you do more tips on how to get better at quads, and some exercises for quads

Obviously piano is the harded instrument to March

Clearly, you have never marched bass sax. Those are fucking heavy. If you say that bass sax is not a marchable instrument, check out the band Meute. They have a bass saxophonist that will march.

2:15 ok what about the sousaphone hmmmmmm. I had to march that and it was pretty difficult. But I’m also pretty short so maybe that was the reason.

loved telling my corps nurse that i thought was something was wrong for my left foot and her telling me just to ice it and take ibuprofen and then i broke it the show that night and then having to go home half way through the season and having surgery and not walking for another 3 months or so

I'm on quads for my high school Drumline. but it freaking sucks because we carry pearl drums and we don't get any dum stands!!

can’t wait to see u at murrieta mesa !!!

Thank you for the tips! I’m trying to make my high school snare line and this was vary helpful!

Bold of you to assume that it's currently morning...

As some who regulary runs and lifts before coming into quads, yea u def need to have a good core and good back and good technique to survive

I play cymbals and I have a scar on my arm from my first time playing cymbals and a burn scar on my thumb

contras are a different story when marching

For cardio, if you can't run, go cycle or swim! When I had a ton of knee and ankle problems in Cross Country and Track, I would cycle (not bike ride... CYCLE, keep it on a light gear and go with a high cadence / 80-90 rpm, a few sprints at 100+) and swim (usually around 1:40 pace per 100yds, ranging from 600 to to 2000yds total). Usually I'd stay about the same cardiovascular fitness. The reduced impact on the knee, especially in the pool, is super great. Another option is "aqua-jogging" which is where you wear a float belt and "run" laps in the pool.

His allergy is the Front Ensemble - clearly he didn't join it, so that's why he has an allergic reaction to it.

Sir, can you react the video Drumcorps Cendrawasih. That is Indoneaian Police Academy. And the Deumband Genderang Seruling Canka Lokananta. That is Indonesian Military Academy. I hope you watch that videos. Thanks. From Indonesian. Terimakasih.

I have terrible lower back pains after a year of drumline please help

Uh I wasn't in drumcore but did marching band, and I mean you get used to it HAHA you get some real good back posture huh?

When i was 14 i marched a season as tenor with a broken collar bone for half of the season

I run track in the off-season to stay in shape... And then Cross Country while I have marching band. What am I doing?

Where’s the allergy reveal

there you go, you got 5k likes. i am waiting for the allergy reveal

I'd rather march tenors than contrabass bugle after doing both lol

Mapex marcher here. 32 pounds with one spock

We had dynasty quads last year lol, now we have all tama, quads are 36.6, snares are 20, and basses are 18-32

I hope I can do drum corps one day

“Tenors are the heaviest and hardest to March instrument” *laughs in system blue contra*

That is still a good PFT score

I need to learn to be strong with it so I can be apart of the blue devils someday :3

that me every time in not maching the quadsr

Hell yeah all cymbals represent thanks for the shoutout!❤️

Basically you're rucking but beating your pack

Is running track and cross country good

on sundays he does head shoulders knees and toes

Tell us about Ryan, the mello in crown 2010 who broke his leg

I'm not saying quads isn't difficult, but I think contra and quads prolly have a similar difficulty. Contras (at least the one I marched) weigh 45lbs and they're just awkward to hold too.

1520 Subs to go

That video is Cadets

Had total knee reconstruction right before Christmas, well on my way through recovery and gonna try to get into a core later this year

front ensemble can be very physically active as well just with moving equipment. in the Dayton arena, there is a really bad slope that my indoor group had to push out boards up and with an older and very heavy vibe, it’s hard. but in addition to that, loading also requires a lot of strength. we are also in pain after playing with 4 mallets all the time. so many calluses

Would deadlifting help your lower back for quads/ or snare?

"Cymbals are the most underappreciated." Not if you're the SCV or SCVC cymbals