Over the summer, a historic number of the school’s marching band members competed in Drum Corps International (DCI) — the governing and sanctioning organization for drum and bugle corps in North America — under the Blue Devils program.
The program is split into Blue Devils C, Blue Devils B and Blue Devils A.
Blue Devils B (BDB), with a total of 155 members, is for students between ages 15-19 competing in the open class of DCI. Blue Devils A (BDA), which competes in the higher level world class of DCI, is mainly for college students, accepting performers between ages 17 and 21. As one of the most prestigious U.S. drum corps, BDA has won 21 world championship titles.
Five seniors who auditioned in the spring and spent the summer with BDB were:
- Marimba player Oliver Su
- Drum set player Raymond Zheng
- Bass drum player Rohan Gopal
- Tenor drum player Jeremy Huang
- Snare drum player Aiden Jang
Three alumni also made it into Blue Devils programs:
- Class of ‘25 BDB snare drum player Jason Teeple
- Class of ‘25 BDA mellophone player Ryan Sanders
- Class of ‘25 BDA snare drum player Logan Gecils
In addition, percussion staff members Joey Staab and Sean Clark worked with the corps, both managing logistics like equipment and scheduling, while also overseeing musical and instructional staff.
Huang, who marched tenor drums for BDB the past two summers, said the audition music is much more difficult than the repertoire of the SHS marching band. Additionally, there is a visual audition that covers everything from marching basics, like posture and tempo, to dancing and choreography.
Even after successfully going through callbacks or immediate contracts, their work had just begun, as BDB’s season spans about 4-5 months, from the audition January to weekend clinics and April, all the way to the beginning of “spring training” in June, and the end of the tour, in mid July.
The corps spent about two months training at a practice field in Concord nicknamed “Mars,” practicing 14 hours per day from Tuesdays to Saturdays. As Concord is about 70 miles away (a 90minute drive from Saratoga), many students often carpooled, or even shared AirBnbs, making the commute slightly easier. At the end of this training, BDA toured the country while BDB toured all over California.
The tour schedule was packed, with at least five competitions within two weeks. Most time is spent on the road, competing or rehearsing.
“Tour life can be very difficult, as you’re pretty much living in high school gyms and occasionally college dorms,” Sanders said. “It’s mostly sleeping on floors, 10-hour rehearsals and then show days.”
In Su’s case, not only did the entire drum corps sometimes have to cram together in one small room to sleep, which led to the overflow of members in hallways, showers were either faulty or broken. These conditions, combined with rowdy members at night and the scorching conditions of Southern California, made touring sometimes uncomfortable, but an unforgettable experience regardless.
Ultimately, all the time and effort each member poured in was clearly shown, through grand stadium shows and small moments of section bonding.
The BDB members performed their show, “Lethologica,” in July and went undefeated in each of their six shows; BDA performed “Variations on a Gathering,” placing third in the finals in Lucas Oil Stadium at Indianapolis.
“Marching band transformed who I am as a person,” Sanders said. “I went from [feeling] extremely shy to being confident in my abilities. It also led me to love and pursue a career in music.”
