Help Marcus age out with the Blue Devils
Donation protected
Friends and family,
Here is one way you can help me out with my financial responsibilities to the Blue Devils this summer. Remember even five dollars will buy me a meal or two during spring training, so I mean it when I say every penny helps!
This time two years ago, I had been recently accepted by the brass staff at the Blue Devils after a rigorous audition process that examined the capabilities and attitudes of 250+ hopeful applicants. The Concord Blue Devils are what's known as a drum and bugle corps, which is a team of marching musicians that competes internationally with other drum corps at perhaps the highest level of the competitive marching band activity. The Blue Devils are a non-profit organization that operates under a much larger organization called Drum Corps International. Every summer, 44 of these drum and bugle corps compete against one another for a single championship title after each one goes through its own audition process, monthly rehearsal camp schedule, spring training (a solid month of daily 12-hour rehearsals) and a two-month summer tour that culminates in Indianapolis, IN where 12 finalist groups compete in front of a panel of judges and 60,000 fans in Lucas Oil Stadium. The Blue Devils have finished in the Top 3 placement spots for the past 7 years and the Top 5 for the past 27 years. While this will be my sixth (and final) year in the drum corps activity, this will be my third (and final) summer with the Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils are known to be the most decorated corps in the world, having brought home 15 World Championship titles, more than any other drum corps in the world. In 2012 I was lucky enough to be a part of the drum corps when we obtained our fifteenth title. The Blue Devils require total commitment with respect to talent, musical/technical progress, time, and finances. As non-profit organizations that do not collect enough money from ticket sales as in circuits like the NFL and the NBA, drum corps collect tuition from their performing members to finance the travel operations, technical staff, administrative staff, food, accommodations, and other expenses associated with moving 200 people down the road for two months. As I travel between the Bay Area and Los Angeles monthly, gas money and van maintenance becomes a reality until I move up there for spring training when I have to pay rent in Concord and feed myself for a month. Finally, I have to find a way home from Indianapolis in August once everything is said and done.
Last year I received an incredible amount of support from those of you who chose to donate to my experience. The purpose of this paragraph is to THANK YOU for your help and to ask for your aid one final time, as this summer will be my last summer participating with the drum corps activity due to age constraints within the activity... Remember even five dollars will buy me a meal or two during spring training. If you don't choose to donate, thank you for your time and I still hope you'll consider coming to a local drum corps show!
Thank you again for your time.
Marcus
Here is one way you can help me out with my financial responsibilities to the Blue Devils this summer. Remember even five dollars will buy me a meal or two during spring training, so I mean it when I say every penny helps!
This time two years ago, I had been recently accepted by the brass staff at the Blue Devils after a rigorous audition process that examined the capabilities and attitudes of 250+ hopeful applicants. The Concord Blue Devils are what's known as a drum and bugle corps, which is a team of marching musicians that competes internationally with other drum corps at perhaps the highest level of the competitive marching band activity. The Blue Devils are a non-profit organization that operates under a much larger organization called Drum Corps International. Every summer, 44 of these drum and bugle corps compete against one another for a single championship title after each one goes through its own audition process, monthly rehearsal camp schedule, spring training (a solid month of daily 12-hour rehearsals) and a two-month summer tour that culminates in Indianapolis, IN where 12 finalist groups compete in front of a panel of judges and 60,000 fans in Lucas Oil Stadium. The Blue Devils have finished in the Top 3 placement spots for the past 7 years and the Top 5 for the past 27 years. While this will be my sixth (and final) year in the drum corps activity, this will be my third (and final) summer with the Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils are known to be the most decorated corps in the world, having brought home 15 World Championship titles, more than any other drum corps in the world. In 2012 I was lucky enough to be a part of the drum corps when we obtained our fifteenth title. The Blue Devils require total commitment with respect to talent, musical/technical progress, time, and finances. As non-profit organizations that do not collect enough money from ticket sales as in circuits like the NFL and the NBA, drum corps collect tuition from their performing members to finance the travel operations, technical staff, administrative staff, food, accommodations, and other expenses associated with moving 200 people down the road for two months. As I travel between the Bay Area and Los Angeles monthly, gas money and van maintenance becomes a reality until I move up there for spring training when I have to pay rent in Concord and feed myself for a month. Finally, I have to find a way home from Indianapolis in August once everything is said and done.
Last year I received an incredible amount of support from those of you who chose to donate to my experience. The purpose of this paragraph is to THANK YOU for your help and to ask for your aid one final time, as this summer will be my last summer participating with the drum corps activity due to age constraints within the activity... Remember even five dollars will buy me a meal or two during spring training. If you don't choose to donate, thank you for your time and I still hope you'll consider coming to a local drum corps show!
Thank you again for your time.
Marcus
Organizer
Marcus Stone
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA