A picture of the Crossmen Small Ensemble playing the National Anthem in Austin, TX.
The first stop on tour as mentioned in the previous post.
While the corps does get into a daily routine of how things happen on tour, there usually is never a ‘typical’ day. One of the things that creates and shapes an individual on tour is how he or she can withstand obstacles thrown at them. Members learn to become flexible sometimes with the most bizarre situations such as random severe storms or show cancellations. Anyway, the Crossmen convoy will pull into a housing site anywhere from 1am to 5am, depending on the drive from the previous town. The earlier, the better, that way members have more time off the bus to sleep. Wake up will be at 7 or 8am and the first hour is spent getting up, getting equipment, and eating breakfast. After the hour is up, there will be a running/conditioning period about 45 minutes long. Whenever this is over, a short visual rehearsal will take place along with a music warm up segment. If there is time, there will be an hour lunch after this morning segment. However, sometimes, there is not enough time before a show and everything that needs to get done will be squished into the morning without a full meal scheduled before rehearsing is over. After lunch, a full corps rehearsal takes place, called “Ensemble.” This is the time when all the different sections come together, after rehearsing apart all day, put everything together, and work fine-tuning details needed to make the show that night go great. Ensemble is usually an hour and a half long, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, depending on time before a show. At the end of ensemble, the corps does a full run of the show as a general indicator to see how the performance will go that night. After the run, the corps does a high speed eat, pack, and load routine. This is a strict hour and a half process which consists of eating, showering and getting ready for the show, packing everything up, and cleaning up the school before the buses take off for the show. If the corps is lucky, the bus ride to the show is short and as soon as they get there, unloading equipment starts for the percussion section. Also, the hornline gets off the brass bus, lines up, and walks to a warmup site to begin warming up for the show. This warmup consists of stretching, movement, and playing. After the corps warms up, it’s show time. After a walk to the gate, the corps is ready to perform and tear the house down. After the show, the corps huddles together to talk logistics. Then they are dismissed to change, eat, and talk to friends/family or hang out. Depending on the distance of the drive to the next city, the corps will either leave right after the show or wait until the end of the show. However, when they do leave, members get on the bus and have time to do whatever they want from talking to each other, watching a movie, to sleeping. Then, after a couple of hours, the Crossmen convoy should hit their next destination, the members sleepily get off the bus, get some sleep on the floor, and start the next day all over in a sort of the same fashion. It’s a rough life at time and only the dedicated members who make up this activity can do it.
To see the Crossmen’s 2013 show schedule click the link below.
Crossmen Tour Schedule
The Crossmen is the only world class drum and bugle corps based out of Texas. Originally from Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Crossmen was formed out of two merger corps in the early ’70’s. This merge and all of the ups and downs of the corps, such as a disqualification one summer, have helped shaped the organization into what it is today.
For 39 years now, the Crossmen have competed and performed in front of thousands of people every night in the summer, entertaining enthusiastic musicians, spectators, and family members associated with the activity. With a huge background and emphasis in jazz, the Crossmen can get any crowd tappin’ their foot or bobbin’ their heads within minutes of the start of the show. For three months out of the year every summer, 150 members dedicate their lives 24/7 to performing a 12 minute show.
Spring training starts the last weekend in May. From there, there are three grueling weeks of training 12 hours a day, from sun up to sun down, for members to learn, practice, and start to polish their show. These first three weeks are the toughest days that some of these members will go through all summer, even quite possibly their whole lives. At the end of the three weeks, tour busses pull up in front of the facilities and after one final morning block of training, the members go through an hour and a half cleaning routine, shower up, and load the buses. Not too far down the road, is their first performance on the capitol steps in Austin. This performance, along with the second one the next day in Dallas, are just stand-stills with music playing and no drill or movement. These are simple performances to kick off the touring season as the members head out of Texas and on the road.
The anticipation leading up to this kick off of the season is a moment dreamed about as soon as a member even first auditions for the corps. Those weeks of training, however, most definitely give an extra drive and encouragement to make it through for life on tour.
The spring training facility field
Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps 