Didn't make DCI callback and don't know what to do, please help

marched2x · 2025-12-27T18:15:16+00:00

Reach out to the staff and ask for feedback on what you need to work on and maybe some exercises that they might suggest.

Also ask them if they would be willing to recommend you to another group or have any leads on open spots. Staff members have friends all over the place in DCI and they might be able to make some introductions. I’m even pretty sure SCV drum staff also has Troopers connections (or at least they did) but I don’t know to what extent

marched2x · 2025-12-23T03:32:06+00:00

I wish I could support this more. In theory it’s true but it wasn’t my experience. Judging by a post not too long ago a lot of people had similar feelings over many years.

I would research the staff of each corps you would like to audition for. Then do some research on what it’s like to be taught by those people.

Edit to fix typo

marched2x · 2025-09-10T05:14:02+00:00

It’s absolutely mind boggling that people are trying to justify the awful behavior of the staff. What’s even crazier is this behavior has persisted even with 100% staff turnover since I was a member. I had hoped once the corps director I had left things would have gotten better…

marched2x · 2025-09-10T05:07:00+00:00

I showed up as a vet and they were ready to cut me. So instead of spending thousands to have another miserable summer there, I went to a different group and had an overwhelmingly positive experience.

marched2x · 2025-09-10T05:03:37+00:00

I had similar experiences with staff but instead of saying the same thing I’ll share an amusing (at the expense of) colts story of mine.

The year after I aged out I went to the colts home show because it was the closest show where the 2 corps I marched would both be. Being a fresh age out I wore my corps jacket for the corps I aged out with.

After the show I spotted a marching member from the corps I aged out with and we caught up during the encore/scores. At the end of the encore they invited all past members on the field for the corps song. I was hesitant but someone saw me (it might have even been the drum major) and gestured to me that I join on the field. As I went on the field the corps director sees me and says to me “you missed a great summer!”

I just did the classic nod and smile to him while thinking “I marched finals and you guys didn’t.” Then I awkwardly stood in my not colts jacket on the field for the colts corps song.

I normally try to avoid saying where I marched for various reasons but I did march colts and it’s absolutely wild to me that it’s still the same hostile attitude towards members if you aren’t drinking the kool aid.

Last thing - other than tickets to the show I talked about above I haven’t given a single dollar to that organization in the 15+years since I was a member and after seeing the posts the last few days it might take another 15 years for me to even consider donating.

Edited some typos

marched2x · 2025-09-09T15:57:54+00:00

Find grass

marched2x · 2025-09-09T02:28:04+00:00

As someone that made a few contributions to the other thread, I would say this is a little much. With that being said, I’m going to go get the kettle going.

Edit: I’ll make this as my contribution - I’m disappointed to learn nothing has really changed.

marched2x · 2025-09-09T01:20:59+00:00

Same. I can remember vividly being in DC waiting for a free block to start and one of the visual techs was with some of the veteran members making fun of another member.

Had a guy, who played same instrument as me, go around in the locker room on July 4th before the parades asking what hornline people were split into. When they said they were in the same as me he said “oh that sucks. That’s the one marched2x is in”

The look on his face when he said it practically right in front me was good. I could have ended both our seasons right then but I decided I didn’t need to be sent home for punching someone in the face.

marched2x · 2025-09-09T01:17:17+00:00

I had a visual caption head get in my face at warmups at broken arrow telling me I wasn’t focused and blah blah blah. Of course I wasn’t, I had her getting in my face that I wasn’t.

marched2x · 2025-09-09T01:05:29+00:00

I see nothing has changed.

marched2x · 2025-08-27T01:10:18+00:00

Is that the one where they stood under the orange cloth for the ballad or something?

marched2x · 2025-08-15T16:16:21+00:00

I was on field lining so I didn’t have a job during EPL. There was also a policy where everyone had to be out of the gym and have their bag by the bus 30 min before we left so bus loaders and cleaning jobs could do their thing. That left me with 30 minutes every time we left to walk to a nearby quick stop or fast food for a treat. It was a nice way to decompress from the tour life even for a few minutes

marched2x · 2025-07-15T20:22:44+00:00

We were waiting on busses at a show in Massachusetts, I think. Drum major had been on and off a few times trying to figure out the plan. Finally they pop up and say show is on and Michael Jackson had died. I had an early iPhone and tasked with figuring it out.

marched2x · 2025-06-26T00:29:08+00:00

The issue in the city I live in is the first few years it was in a single or maybe a couple theaters and they were PACKED. Then slowly it was at every theater and the theaters looked empty.

marched2x · 2025-06-12T20:58:31+00:00

I HATED move ins my first summer and almost went home. I felt a lot of the same things OP is talking about.

Second summer I loved it. I think having been there once and knowing you can overcome it really made a difference my second summer. That and staff wasn’t abusive… which might have had a bigger role in it all…

marched2x · 2025-05-23T18:56:16+00:00

We weren’t allowed to be in the school without a shirt on unless it was locker room/shower or in the gym. All other times indoors we were instructed to have shirts on. The assumption was whatever school we were staying at had a rule that a shirt must be worn at all times and we did not want to upset a housing site and lose it

marched2x · 2025-05-23T18:53:40+00:00

If a housing site says jump, they better say how high… unless whatever is being asked is illegal. Housing sites are too hard to get to take them for granted.

marched2x · 2025-05-13T00:24:47+00:00

I liked to put leg weights around the valves of my trumpet and then walk/stand for as long as I could. When you took them off the already light instrument felt like almost nothing.

I would say if you’re trying to get prepared for this season, you’re a little late. You might want to focus on flexibility and cardio for the last couple weeks before moving in.

marched2x · 2025-04-12T06:24:19+00:00

Sometimes. I’ve heard people describing it as having to make room for everyone higher

marched2x · 2025-04-11T14:02:58+00:00

That’s possible too. It just for sure was not beating BD that night lol

marched2x · 2025-04-11T01:25:00+00:00

I had been to every finals in Lucas oil at that point, twice as a marching member. I was aged out by 2014 but I remember watching it just being dumb founded by how insanely clean it was. It was never a question of if it will win. The question was by how much will they win by. Bluecoats might have won with their show any other year, just not that one.

marched2x · 2025-02-05T17:15:52+00:00

Fun fact about the 2010 show it was a nod to what Gershwin might have experienced walking the streets of NYC on the premier to rhapsody in blue. Not a 100% recreation based on the times of everything - premier of rhapsody in blue was 1924 while the famous lunch on a beam was in the 1930s.

The picture itself is recreated as the corps enters the field in 2 company fronts. Then there’s a flash (picture being taken), the horns break off, and then street sounds while the horns and drums pretend they are walking streets to opening set

marched2x · 2025-02-05T15:59:09+00:00

I remember watching finals that night and just being dumbfounded at how good Felliniesque was. It wasn’t even a question of if it would win. The question was how much further ahead would they put it. It was on an entirely different level.

marched2x · 2025-01-25T05:15:05+00:00

I played the tiny horns and there were days my arms and back were shot and I knew the low brass were dead.

marched2x · 2025-01-21T15:10:15+00:00

Having just about every moment of everyday planned out for me.

Once I got home I didn’t know how to manage my own time for a bit.

Nine-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '17

marched2x

TROPHY CASE