What Are the Crossmen?

As you would know from the prior blog Josh has made the Crossmen, a marching band now headquartered in San Antonio Texas. The Crossmen are one of the two Corps sponsored by Youth Education in the Arts (www.yea.org). The Crossmen along with the Cadets, their sister Corps, are part over fifty Corps that are in the Drum Corps International (www.dci.org).

For seven weeks in the summer 26 Division I Corps travel the country competing against each other. The demands are high. Over the seven weeks they will be in 30 competitions prior to the International Championship series being held in mid August at the Rose Bowl. The bands are made up of 135 members divided into three captions/elements…the drum line (and pit), the guard/auxillary, and the brass. The brass section has four different instruments…trumpets, mellophones, baritones/euphoniums and contrabases.

There are eight Division II Corps that are junior versions and are normally smaller in number than Division I groups. Nor do Division IIs travel or rehearse as extensively as Division I Corps. Most Division II Corps are associated with a Division I Corps and act as feeders for their Division I counterparts. There are twenty Division III Corps which travel even less (four of which are based in Ontario).

This summer Josh will be traveling over 11,000 miles with the Crossmen. The Crossmen are somewhat of a second tier group….normally finishing between 8th and 14th place where as their sister Corps, the Cadets, is a first tier Corps that finishes most years in the top six.

Below is the Crossmen’s schedule. As you see it is extensive. They spend most of their time on buses, drilling and performing. They all sleep on the buses or in gymnasium floors (men and women together). There are times they will perform in the evening, change, board the bus and travel 10 to 14 hours to the next performance the next evening. The tour and the performances are demanding and exhausting. At times they are marching at a rate of 120 steps per minute.

We are going to be taking in several performances, on of which may be Erie PA where Evie's brother is stationed. We will be going to the major event in eastern regional championship in Allentown.

June 23 – Toledo
June 24 – Belding MI
June 25 – Erie PA
June 28 – Elizabeth PA
June 29 – Westminster MD
June 30 – East Rutherford NJ – Giant Stadium
July 2 – Glens Fall NY
July 3 – Bristol RI
July 4 – Beverly MA
July 6 – Lawrence MA
July 7 – Massillon OH
July 8 – Allentown PA
July 9 – Hershey PA
July 11 – Chesapeake VA
July 12 – Hilton Head SC
July 14 – Atlanta, GA - Georgia Dome
July 16 – Sevierville TN
July 17 – Memphis TN
July 19 – Dallas TX
July 21 – San Antonio TX – Alamo Dome
July 22 – Denton TX
July 23 – Midland TX
July 24 – Wichita Falls TX
July 26 – Hutchinson KS
July 28 – Denver CO – Mile High Stadium
July 30 – Ogden UT
July 31 – Boise ID
Aug 2 – Portland OR
Aug 4 – Stanford CA
Aug 5 – Clovis CA
Aug 9–11 – Pasadena, CA – Rose Bowl (International Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals)