Thousands Turn Out For Drum Corps International

Monday, July 30th 2007, 9:40 pm

By: News On 6

Broken Arrow hosted a Drum Corps International competition Monday, drawing more than 3,000 fans. For a drum and bugle corps this is the big leagues and these are some of the best young musicians in the entire nation. News On 6 anchor Craig Day reports they are competing in Drum Corps International.

â€œIt's pretty intense,â€ said Broken Arrow resident Jonathan Berry. â€œIt's like marching band on steroids pretty much."

The musicians make up seven different drum bugle corps from five states, as far away as Massachusetts and Wisconsin.

"This is the best of the best,â€ said event judge Bruce Jones. â€œThey set the standards everyone strives to be"

Just one listen and you quickly realize why they are considered the best of the best.

"We just had a really awesome show, and it's shows like that that make the really hot days, the really long days worth it,â€ said Bixby resident Bethany Wallace.

Not only does it take incredible talent just to get to this point, it also takes a tremendous amount of hard work. The bands perform in about 30 different competitions across the country during the summer.

â€œYou get up at all hours of the day and rehearse for 11 hours a day, and you get on a bus and ride nine hours to the next site and get up and do it all over again,â€ said Bixby resident Orien Landis.

"Different city, different town, different crowd, different lights, every night is different,â€ Berry said.

But for these young musicians, there is one thing that remains the same. It's an incredible opportunity and experience.

The Drum Corps International Championship is August 11 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, in front of 40,000 fans.

You can still catch some of the musicians on the big screen. The Cinemark Theatre in Tulsa will show the quarterfinal competition on Thursday, August 9.

For ticket information, click here.

Watch the video: Green Country Hosts Drum Corps International