Gulf Coast Sound Drum & Bugle Corps
Feb 11th, Feb 18th, Feb 25th-26th, & March 11th-12th 2006
Winter Camp #4, Mardi Gras, Winter Camp #5, & Drill Camp #1
Gulf Coast Sound held its 4th and 5th Winter Camps for 2006 on Feb. 10 and Feb. 25, respectively. Both camps were essentially brass camps because school commitments and travel issues for out-of-towners prevented some percussion and guard members from attending. During Winter Camp #4, however, available guard members attended a winter guard competition nearby to support the Magnolia High School students who are also part of the GCS guard and to look for recruiting opportunities. At Camp #4, the hornline learned the 4th movement of the 2006 show, the La La Song, by Zebra. The hard work by our brass arrangers, Roel Flores and Jason Rose, allowed us to play through the entire book by mid-February, the earliest in Corps history.
In addition to our work on the 2006 program, we spent some time running through our parade charts for the Mardi Gras parade in Galveston, TX on Feb. 18. Marching in the Krewe of Gambrinus parade has become a GCS tradition, started 12 years ago by Bayou City Blues. This year we were joined by members of Frontier Drum & Bugle Corps from Dallas, TX. We marched along the Seawall in cold, damp conditions from 12th St. to 61st St. The cold became unnoticeable, though, after about 10 blocks. The crowd warmed us by dancing to the GCS drumline's street beat and showering us with plastic beads.
The unfortunate result of our Mardi Gras participation (aside from laughter-induced abdominal pain in everyone who was in the back third of the bus on the way back to Houston) was that about half the Corps got sick and wasn't recovered by Winter Camp #5. Nevertheless, we gathered at Rittenhouse Baptist Church for an abbreviated camp focusing on sectionals. The hornline started some detail work on all 4 movements of the show. The guard spent time mastering rifle and flag technique. The drumline learned the remaining show charts. We broke early to let everyone go home and nurse their colds.
March 11th and 12th marked the first drill camp for 2006. This was our second two-day camp. We worked from 10 am to 8 pm on Saturday and from 1 pm to 6 pm on Sunday. We spent much of Saturday in sectionals. The hornline played outside all day (like the drumline always does) to start getting accustomed projecting our sound. The hornline and drumline ensembled some portions of the show. Then the entire Corps assembled on the practice field for some marching basics. During the dinner break, Danny Rodriguez, our newest brass tech and lead baritone, wrote some changes to the ballad, Unchained Melody. After dinner, the hornline and drumline ensembled the entire show several times. We're excited by the changes Danny wrote into the ballad and to be this far along with our show this early. As a member of the hornline, I found it extremely helpful and fun to hear all the percussion charts for the show. Everything is going to dovetail beautifully.
On Sunday, we learned the drill for the intro to the opener. Everyone got with the program, listened to the drill techs, and worked together to put those first sets on the field within a couple of hours. Again, this is the earliest we have done so in Corps history. After working on the drill, brass and percussion sections ensembled three run-throughs of the show, each better than the one before.
GCS has come through the Winter and into the Spring marching season with all the music of the 2006 show, a taste of the drill, and clear sense of not only how far we have come since DCA 2005 but also of how much remains to be done between now and DCA 2006.
Kerry Ellison
GCS Reporter
