August 2002

Crown Places 16th in 2002 DCI Championships

In what was some of the toughest competition in many years Carolina Crown finished in 16th Place in the 2002 Drum Corps International World Championships in Madison, WI the week of August 5-10. With this finish, the corps made it only as far as the event's semifinals competition for the first time in eight years. Making it to the Saturday night Finals this year again for the first time in several years were Magic of Orlando and JSU Spirit, along with first-timer Seattle Cascades.

Although Carolina Crown's competitive placement was down this year, many people considered the 2002 version one the organization's strongest corps! Certainly they were strong in character, as they performed their hearts out right up until their very last note of the season! The 128 members had a very strong "run through" during the morning rehearsal before semifinals and then gave one of their best performances of the year to close out their season.

Executive Director Kevin Smith is busy working on plans for the 2003 season. Announcements on the 2003 program, faculty and camp dates will be made in CrownBeat over the next month.
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A Final Note

Testing.  Testing 1,2,3.  Is anyone out there listening?  Calling out from Orlando, FL to anyone who will take the time to listen.  I suppose this is my last time to get to speak as a drum major of Carolina Crown because I have aged out.  After two years with Carolina Crown and only two years in the entire activity, I am now too old to perform with any Division I, II, or III drum and bugle corps ever again.  And so here I sit at college, still in that readjustment period we all go through after a summer on tour, sharing some final thoughts on my drum corps career and my time with Crown.

I am amazed at this activity and this way of life that we call drum corps.  It is the only time or place that brings out every emotion inside of us in the span of one day.  Its laughing with friends, crying because you're so frustrated with a move, lick, or trick you can't get and everything in between.....its the greatest paradox on earth.  Its an activity that demands your hard work and effort and still a life so easy that all it asks is knowledge of your show and being on time.  Its countless hours of hard work on the practice field spent perfecting your show and then when we all get home, somehow the bad days, the sunscreen in our eyes, the aching muscles and bus feet all seem to fade in our memories and the people we met and places we've been are those things that are etched into our memories.

People who have never marched don't understand how 130+ people can eat, sleep, shower, work, and play together for two and a half months with only a charter bus and a gym floor to call home.  They don't get how we can pay over $1000 to work on the same thing everyday and pull 14 hour days only to get on a bus, drive half the night and wake up the next day to do it all over again.  Sometimes we question it ourselves and ponder what sort of masochists we really are, but once it's over, the situation doesn't look quite the same.  Sure we don't wake up with aching muscles, dreading what practice holds in store for us today, but once we're home, that life is the one thing we crave and can't ever have again.  Its like an addiction almost, something that get's into our bloodstream and no matter how awful things can get while we're on tour, in retrospect, the summer spent on the road really seems like the best time of our lives.

In the year I spent as a marcher I redefined what my personal best was.  I somehow found the ability in myself to push beyond all of my limits everyday, no matter how hard I had worked the day before.  I learned to expect more from myself than anyone else did and I learned that as long as I was my biggest critic, I would always improve.  I had always been a hard worker but being on tour made me appreciate the work ethic that I had and strengthened my drive to make things better.  The entire year was a challenge for me because I had only ever played trombone before, and that summer I was forced to lug around a contrabass.  And not only lug it, I had to learn how to play well and look good doing it on the move.  And all my tiny struggles; in the morning to get up and line the field, or run back to my sets, or get to know the people in the hornline made be a better person in the long run.  Its amazing how much a person can grow up in a time span of two and a half months.

As a drum major I got to see the big picture and how all the sections of the corps worked together to get a finished product.  And we all had our different ways of doing things but the hard work and concentrated effort was always there.  I got to watch as people struggled against themselves and pushed their boundaries during practice.  And I got to watch them perform every night.  And I was reminded when I watched them just why I love drum corps so much.  Because for ten minutes of our lives, we were untouchable.  It didn't matter what the score was in the end, what mattered was that we went out and performed to the best of our abilities and that for those ten minutes no one could do or say anything to us.  We got to live in that moment and perform that show.  And only those 130 people can say that.....no one else will ever have that moment in time.  Its a piece of heaven on earth, getting to do the one thing we love more than anything else, with no one to get in our way.  And then there's the organization itself.  My friends have asked me why I didn't go somewhere else for my age out, somewhere like BD or Cadets and the answer is always so simple.  Crown is my family.  It was since the first day of everydays 2001.  Those are the people who got me through all the hard times and made the good times so much more memorable just by being there.  Its the administration that took care of me when I hurt my knee and the volunteers that always had a smile on even when I was having a bad day.  Its the bus partner who always took the time to ask if I was doing alright and what she could do to help and the best friend who took me under his wing and showed me just how to be an efficient leader.  Its the staff that pushed me every day, even the last one, to be the best marcher and player that I could be, and the loyal Crown supporters who always made sure to let me know that I was doing a good job.  I feel like I grew up in Crown, that part of who I am was molded by the two summers I spent with my family from Fort Mill.  And I appreciate every moment of that.

So I hope that all of you who marched here remember that you were part of the Crown family at one time.  That there should be some loyalty to this organization because this organization did take care of all of us at some point in time.  And I hope that everyone who has ever been on tour remembers the people they spent their time with rather than the quality of life or early hours they pulled.  And while a little part of me hopes that I'll be remembered, I more so hope that my time with the corps has helped add something good to Carolina Crown and the drum corps activity.  Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my two summers, I wish I had more to share, but like my mom always tells me, I'm glad for the time I did get to spend on tour.  I wish everyone the best in the future and I hope that everyone who marched Crown takes a moment every now and then to go to Carolina in their mind.

It's been a pleasure and an honor......thank you for all the memories. 
Signing off.......Laura Young.

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Crown Posts Most-Ever I&E Entries and Winners

Carolina Crown had a total of 17 members entered in 8 events the 2002 Drum Corps International Individual & Ensemble competition held during Championship week in Madison, WI.  This is the most entries the corps has ever had.  And, we backed up our QUANTITY with even more QUALITY, taking 1st Place in three events: Auxiliary, Bass Drum Ensemble, and Flag!  All of the other performances were also great with placements ranging from 2nd to 16th as indicated below:

 

Entrant	Category	Score	Placement
Sean Cooney	Auxiliary	98.5	1st
Butch Smith, Jon Bunner, Adam Patry, Matt Ehlers, Josh Love	Bass Drum Ensemble	96.5	1st
Alvno Salinas, Seth Dahm, Tommy Quinn, Rob McConnell	Cymbal Ensemble	88.75	4th
Peter Eichler	Flag	99.0	1st
Rob Cooney	Keyboard	87.5	16th
Michael Ptacin	Keyboard	92.0	10th
Kelly Wright	Keyboard	93.5	8th
Butch Smith	Multi-Percussion	95.8	2nd
Masaichi Imagawa	Multi-tenor	94.0	8th
Nick Werth	Multi-tenor	96.5	3rd
Jamey Ellisor	Timpani	87.0	4th

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A 1st Place finish by the Crown bass drum line in the Ensemble category was a first for them. Peter Eichler's also captured his first gold medal in individual competition with his victory in the Flag category.  Sean Cooney ended his five year career with Carolina Crown by capturing his 3rd individual competition gold medal in the Auxiliary category.  Each of the winners did an "encore" performance during the Division II/III Championships competition on Wednesday evening of Finals week and received a great ovation from the large crowd on hand. Congratulations to each of these Champions, and to all of the members that participated this year!

For a full recap of this year's Individual & Ensemble Competition go to http://www.marchingarts.com/.
 

Crown "Ages Out" Eighteen in 2002

Carolina Crown hosted their annual "Age Out" Dinner and Ceremony on Wednesday night of Championship week in Madison.  The event was held in the cafeteria of Oregon High School, the corps housing site for the week.  The Crown support staff did a terrific job of decorating the large room in aLuau motif, and then cooked a great steak dinner to feed the members, faculty, volunteers and special guests on hand. The highlight of the evening as always was the short presentations made by each of the eighteen "age outs" from the Class of 2002.  Both laughs and tears were had by everyone in attendance as the "age outs" spoke of their time at Crown.  As is now tradition, the class also announced at the close of the evening that they were leaving behind a design for an "age out" patch to be given to each future class of "age outs".  The festivities ended with the "age outs" forming a receiving line and saying their individual good-byes to all the attendees.

Carolina Crown wishes the best for the future to all of our "age outs"!

The Class of 2002 included:

1st Year Members                           
Natalie Ashton - Guard
Mandy Baumgardner - Guard
Sarah Emmett - Brass
Keith Lee - Brass
Cayce Stockton - Brass
Brian Ward - Guard
Nick Werth - Percussion



 

2nd Year Members
Seth Dahm - Percussion
Frank DiMartino - Brass
Dave Reyes - Percussion
Laura Young - Drum Major
Alvino Salinas - Percussion
Adam Patry - Percussion

3rd Year Member

Trevor Cox

4th Year Members
Jason Blohm - Percussion
Rob Cooney - Percussion
Stephanie Goode - Guard

5th Year Member
Sean Cooney - Guard

How do you spell success?

 There are many persons in the drum corps universe who equate world championship placement with an organization’s success.  However, nothing could be farther from the truth.  Success in this activity is actually measured by many factors, the least of which is competitive ranking.  Fiscal responsibility, organizational longevity, program quality and member satisfaction—these are the real benchmarks of success.   I think it’s safe to say that we were all disappointed about Carolina Crown’s 16th place finish this year.  Nonetheless, we remained true to our mission and provided an excellent, first-class experience for our constituents.  Ironically, it was probably the most successful year in Carolina Crown’s history.

Dan Acheson, Executive Director of Drum Corps International, made this comment at the DCI Member Board Breakfast in Madison,  “there were 16 top-twelve corps this year.”  It is little consolation, but Dan is correct; the competitive bar has been raised.  I enjoyed Crown's 2002 performance every bit as much as our past productions, and I am as proud of our corps as I have ever been.

The 2003 season has already begun, and we will continue building on our past success to make it our best year ever.

Sincerely,

Bill Loelius

President