Burdick playing the mellophone during one of Spirit of Atlanta’s performances during the summer of 2015. Photo provided by Danya Burdick
The summer sun is blazing high and hot onto the field. The stands hold hundreds of people, their faces blurred by the summer heat and the distance. She’s exhausted, having spent the day riding in a bus filled with people, and spending the night sleeping on an air mattress in a gym filled to bursting with the other members of her drum corps, her bandmates, her family. But none of that matters now as they are all called out onto the field, each person moving with purpose as they find their spots.
Her heart is beating as loudly as the drums going off around her, as her body moves in perfect time with 150 other people. She lifts her mellophone to her lips, the weight of it solid in her hands as she plays her first note, and the show begins.
For many musicians, performing and going on tour is one of the greatest accomplishments that they can ever achieve; but not every musician could have done what Danya Burdick, a 20 year-old education major at Western Carolina University, did in the summer of 2015. Burdick was part of Spirit of Atlanta, a drum corps that is part of an international league. In the drum corps Burdick was living her dream, and gaining invaluable skill and discipline in her art at the same time.
Burdick has always surrounded herself in music. She played the French horn for 11 years, and began playing the mellophone four years ago so that she could be part of a marching band. Burdick explained that the mellophone is comparable to the French horn in many ways, including the way it sounds. However it is smaller and more suitable to march with.
Even Burdick’s family has always been involved with music, her father was a drum major at Oklahoma University and her mother was part of the marching band as well. That is how they met and fell in love, creating a family and moving to the Philippines to be missionaries.
Living in the Philippines until she was 15 did not give Burdick many opportunities to be part of a marching band, however when she and her family moved back to the United States and she enrolled in a public school she got her chance.
“When we moved to America I made a bunch of friends through a youth group and they were all in band and they kept telling me I should do it because it was so much fun and they had such a bond so I was like I have to do this… So I did and they obviously don’t march French horn so I marched the mellophone. And I met all of my friends there like my boyfriend Daniel. He went to the same school as I did,” said Burdick.
It was in marching band where she first found out about drum corps.
Photo taken during one of Spirit of Atlanta’s performances during the summer of 2015. Photo provided by Danya Burdick.
“I went to a show in Charlotte called NightBEAT and saw the different shows and drum corps and I thought it was really amazing, but I never really thought that I could do it because I thought it was something that only experts, or people who were really good at playing could do. Then my boyfriend did it in 2014 and when he came back he couldn’t stop talking about what he did and the bond he made with everyone and that’s when I knew I wanted to do drum corps,” said Burdick with the firm resolve of someone who has accomplished what she once thought was impossible.
So during summer 2015, while other people were working summer jobs or relaxing at the beach, Burdick devoted herself to Spirit of Atlanta, a drum corps that, according to the website, is celebrating its 40th anniversary and ranked 17th in the league of drum corps. Burdick plans to return to Spirit of Atlanta for next year’s tour as well.
Burdick’s long-time boyfriend Daniel Ortiz marched with Spirit of Atlanta as well, but he toured in 2014 and took a break for a year while Burdick was a part of the corps. This year however, the couple will be part of two separate corps as Burdick returns to Spirit of Atlanta and Ortiz joins the Cavaliers, a drum corps based out of Illinois.
However, the thought of competing against her boyfriend did not seem to faze Burdick as she dismissed the worry with a wave of her hand. Because the Cavaliers, ranked ninth in the country, are ranked much higher than Spirit of Atlanta in the league, she highly doubts there will be any rivalry between their two corps during the competition.
According to Drum Corps International (DCI), drum corps is an incredibly rigorous form of marching band that is only made up of drums and brass instruments.
“Drum Corps International delivers the message of excellence in performance and in life,” said the DCI website.
The website also states that there are 22 world class corps and 13 open class corps in the league. Each corps is made up of 150 members whose ages range from 13 to 22. The members spend their summer touring the United States playing in football stadiums like Lucas Oil stadium, home to the Indianapolis Colts. The different corps perform their show and compete against other corps to see who is number one.
“We usually describe it as the best activity that no one has ever heard of…because most people don’t [know about drum corps] and most people who do know about it are band people,” said Burdick.
Drum corps are not for the faint hearted, it is a competitive organization that takes a substantial toll on the people who are a part of them, physically, emotionally and financially.
The cost for each corps varies, but for Spirit of Atlanta Burdick had to pay $675 to attend six weekend camps and audition for the corps. After she was contracted, or accepted, into Spirit of Atlanta she then had to pay up to $4,000 in tuition for the corps. Burdick explained that this money goes towards food, housing, traveling expenses, uniforms and any medical issues you might have while on tour.
A painting that Burdick painted and sold to help raise money for fees. Photo provided by Danya Burdick
Raising this much money is especially hard when you are a college student like Burdick. She is currently selling art that she created herself to help raise the money for this year’s competition.
Once the fees are paid, Burdick will move in May with the rest of Spirit of Atlanta where she and the rest of her corps will begin learning and practicing for their show that they will perform on tour in something they call “all days”. “All days” vary depending on what corps you belong to, but Burdick broke down what “all days” meant for members of Spirit of Atlanta.
Each member has their day planned out for them. They wake up at 7 a.m. and report to their first block by 8 a.m. The blocks are how the day is broken down, and each block is four hours long and focuses on a different, crucial part of their performance.
There are blocks dedicated to just practicing the music, where they start off with all of the brass instruments or drums playing, then they will break off into smaller groups to practice just their specific instruments.
Visual block consists of breaking down marching, like slides, marching forward and backwards and jazz running.
There are other blocks that would resemble more of a military camp than a marching band, where each member does exercises to keep them in shape for the show. As Burdick explains, every other day they had a breathing block where everyone has to run in time to a steady beat and breathe and do specific breathing exercises that help them sustain their breathing throughout the show. This was one of the worst parts personally for Burdick, it was a block that she claimed she truly struggled with.
Staying true to their name, “all days” last from 7 a.m. to around 11 p.m., and they last for almost a month. After “all days” are finished and the members know their show inside and out, the drum corps will then begin their tour. The drum corps travel the country and perform their show in front of judges who will critique them on how they sound, look and move together as one.
Many people do not get through “all days” because they don’t realize that it’s such a physical and mental strain. Burdick luckily knew what she was getting into and was up for the challenge.
A before and after photo of Burdick showing the transformation she went through during the summer because of drum corps. Photo provided by Danya Burdick.
“I had a lot of friends who had done it as well and they had mentally prepared me. Like it’s going to be really hard; you’re going to want to quit. So I feel like I came in ready. I knew what it was going to be and I knew what to expect. And you also get this [necklace]. This is a delta, other corps get different things like the Cavaliers get gears…but it’s a symbol of your accomplishment you don’t get it until the end of tour. So you really want to earn this because this really means something. And if you quit during “all days” you’ll have never performed a show; you’ll have never actually gone on tour which is what you’re really working for,” said Burdick.
Drum corps are made to push musicians to the next level, to make them excellent and to teach them the discipline needed to master their craft, but sometimes this growth will meet resistance.
“[We] have what we call hitting your wall which is basically like, you’re emotionally unstable you want to quit and you have a really bad day and everything sucks. So you will hit your wall on tour, and that’s when everyone else who isn’t hitting their wall will comfort you because everyone understands. You just have to deal with it emotionally, you have support from your family and your friends but there are definitely days where you [struggle] so you just have to be ready to deal with that and people around you will support you too,” said Burdick.
Burdick repeatedly brought up how much she valued the bonds she formed with her fellow members of Spirit of Atlanta. She had the opportunity to try and get contracted to other corps this year that are ranked higher in the league but she chose to stay with Spirit of Atlanta because of the relationships she forged with her nomadic family last summer.
Burdick in Spirit of Atlanta uniform, holding her mellophone. Photo provided by Danya Burdick
“There was this one time after a show, and our show was really emotional last year because you are dealing with all of the battles that everyone has suffered [through]. And you’re bringing your own emotional story into it as well…and we were all standing together in a circle after a show and you have to have your arms around each other. We sang our corps song called ’Salvation is created’. So we were singing it and everyone is crying because we knew we had just done a really good show and everyone is emotional and it was really intense and beautiful,” said Burdick, her hand on the necklace that she received from her corps at the end of the summer. Her fingers touching the delta symbol that stood for so much more than just a symbol of accomplishment, it was also a memento connecting her to the family she was a part of.
For Burdick, drum corps and Spirit of Atlanta is more than just a performance art or a competition. It isn’t about the scores that they receive. For her, it’s about how she built a family while doing what she loves. Which made every “all day”, and every rough day more than worth it.
