Drum corps does like to celebrate the holidays. We’ve seen shows which focus, in part or as a whole, on the 4th of July, Labor Day, and even Christmas. One holiday which hasn’t gotten much love on the football field, though, is Easter. I thought it would be nice to draw attention to those times when the activity has performed music dedicated to this Spring holiday.
The first clip I found is also the earliest – the 1980 Phantom Regiment opening their performance with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Overture. I suppose this could be a stretch as Orthodox Easter is celebrated at a different time than today (May 5th in 2024, in fact), but, honestly, there isn’t much for me to work with, so I think you can allow me some leeway. This example comes from a time when scores were based off of ticks, drill was still quite symmetrical, the horns were in G and MAYBE had two valves, and the drums played on Mylar heads, but Phantom and Rimsky-Korsakov were all but made for each other and this “off the line” opener more than did justice to the composition.
The Boston Crusaders also made use of Russian Easter Overture as their show opener in 1993 and 1994. In the latter year’s case, the corps was making a run for their first DCI Finals appearance in their history IN BOSTON (Foxboro, to be technical). While the Crusaders were able to place 12th at Quarterfinals, which is the performance I found, they would drop down to 13th at Semifinals and have to wait another 5 years before breaking through and entering the Finalist ranks in 1999. Still, coming off the line with Russian Easter Overture was shown to again be a great strategy.
Moving to DCI’s Division II/II/Open Class, the Spartans, who are perennial contenders for the championship in any division they compete in, went with David Holsinger’s Easter Symphony as both their source music and show theme for their 1999 performance. Holsinger on the drum corps field has worked ever since the 80s, and his music also fit the style of the Spartans, who had also performed his music the previous season. The Spartans finished 1999 with the Division II Silver medal and 22nd overall, one tenth short of making it on the CDs that season.
Finally, we move to DCA and the corps which has dominated the all-age scene from 2005 until the present, the Reading Buccaneers. For their 2009 program, Demons & Angels, Reading closed their show with a movement from Holsinger’s Easter Symphony, Symphonia Resurrectus, a triumphant bookend to the opening of Verdi’s Dies Irae. This performance would culminate in the corps’ 5th straight (at the time) DCA title and a score of 99.025, the record high score then, outdone only by the 2012 Buccaneers when they scored 99.030.
If you have any other drum corps shows or segments which you think belong on this list, let me know in the comments below. I’d also love to hear from anybody who performed in these shows and their experiences on the field.
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