Anime Music On The Drum Corps Field

I was having a tough time figuring out what to write about today. I didn’t have it in me to write an article about tech or a book review, but I didn’t really have anything else in mind, not even for a quick Boing Boing style post. Fortunately, earlier tonight, DCI and the Blue Devils came to my rescue by dropping a video of the corps performing music from the anime Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, part of their 2023 program, The Cut-Outs.

This is not the first time music from anime was used on the drum corps field. Last year, for example, BD used the classic theme from Cowboy Bebop, Tank, as part of their show. The Blue Stars, however, have made great use of anime themes in their history. The 2004 edition of the corps stands out as the entire show was anime music, including Tank, but also using music from Gundam Wing and Princess Mononoke. The Blue Stars would return to the music of Yoko Kanno, Cowboy Bebop composer, in 2019 with Sora from Visions of Escaflowne.

Anime music has made its way into the all age side of the activity, with both Atlanta CV and Govenaires performing Tank and Rush from Cowboy Bebop.

The first experience I had with hearing anime music on the field, however, was by the loud, proud, and pleasing the crowd Madison Scouts when they performed the theme to Lupin III to open their 1998 show. The music was perfectly Madison, jazzy and uptempo, while the corps did some interesting things musically with an all snare marching drum line and the entire corps in the Scouts uniform, including the color guard, during this opener.

My knowledge of anime and its music is rather limited. It’s through drum corps that I’ve learned about both, in fact, both through the music performed and my fellow drum corps fans sharing their favorite anime series. This actually takes me back to Jojo’s, in fact, as I’ve discovered the first four seasons of the show on Hoopla, available through my library. 10 minutes into the first episode and I’m already excited to see where this show takes me, much like the opener of a drum corps performance.