Have trumpet, will travel

Murray County

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July 24, 2009

Submitted by Murray County Schools

Four trumpet players from Murray County are touring the United States this summer and competing in Drum Corps International (DCI) and Drum Corps Associates (DCA) contests across the country. All of these young men are current or alumni members of the Murray County High School Marching Indians.

Emmanuel Nieto, a senior, and Josh Graham, a sophomore, are marching their first season with a group from Atlanta called the CorpsVets. This group is part of the DCA circuit which allows corps to have members 14 years of age and up. Murray County High School alumnus and Dalton Middle School band director Lewie Humphrey is also a member of the volunteer staff of the CorpsVets.

Jesus Rosendo and Reggie Humphrey are members of corps in DCI’s elite World Class — think of it as the major league for marching music. Rosendo, a 2007 graduate of MCHS, is marching with the Madison Scouts from Madison, Wis., which is one of DCI’s charter corps and a two-time winner of the DCI world championship. Humphrey, also a MCHS graduate, from the class of 2008, is a member of DCI’s reigning world champion corps, the Phantom Regiment from Rockford, Ill.

Drum and bugle corps have a long history in this country, beginning with corps sponsored by World War I veterans organizations like the VFW and the American Legion. Modern drum corps look and sound very similar to marching bands with a few key differences: Drum and bugle corps only use brass and percussion instruments (no flutes, clarinets, or saxophones), drum and bugle corps are independent entities not associated with a school or college (other than Spirit from JSU, which has limited affiliation with Jacksonville State University), and because of practice schedules of six to eight hours a day throughout June, July, and August, drum and bugle corps field shows are much more difficult and elaborate than the field shows by high school and college marching bands.

Membership in a corps is earned through a series of competitive auditions and tryout camps which generally begin in November. DCI corps members have to commit to the entire summer tour which concludes with world championships in August. Corps members are also responsible for paying a membership fee which usually ranges from $1,500 to $3,000.

The closest DCI event of the summer is the Southeastern Championships in the Georgia Dome on July 25. Several members of the MCHS Marching Indians will be on hand to cheer for their friends and enjoy the musical and visual spectacle of 20 of DCI’s finest corps as they share their passion for excellence.