WORLD CHAMPIONS VISIT DEKALB COUNTY
by: DCHS Band  

Just after the Dekalb County Band finishes Band Camp at the High School, The Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps from Concord California will visit Dekalb County to prepare for the 2005 Masters of the SUMMER MUSIC GAMES in Murfreesboro , TN.

The internationally competitive Blue Devils Corps is comprised of 135 members between the ages of 17 and 21, can be described as a “professional marching band”. The most decorated corps in the history of Drum Corps International (DCI), The Blue Devils have finished in the top five for the last 27 consecutive years, and have won the DCI World Championship title an unprecedented 11 times and. The Blue Devils finished 2^nd in the World Finals for the 2004 Season.

 An estimated half-million people have viewed the Corps annually on the PBS broadcast of the DCI World Championships.  This year the broadcast will be available to over 88 million people via ESPN2 on September 6, 2005 .  

The Blue Devils travel over 12,000 miles a summer and just returned from a three week trip to Europe where they dominated their competition at every contest they attended. Upon their return to the States they are already showing up at the top of the competition list.

The Corps will arrive in Dekalb County on Wednesday ( 07/27/05 ) at approximately 7:00 am . They will retreat to the Middle School Gyms for some much needed sleep. The 1^st rehearsal is scheduled for 2:30pm on the High School Band Practice Field. DCHS Band Director Chuck Gilbert is requiring each band student to come to at least one Blue Devil’s rehearsal block and welcomes anyone to come out and see these world class performers. Interest in viewing a group of this magnitude will draw adults and students from inside and outside Tennessee to the campus of Dekalb County High School .  If you would like to see at least one of these rehearsals the full schedule is:

The Line-up of Corps that will appear at the Masters of the SUMMER MUSIC GAMES in Murfreesboro will depend on the results of the San Antonio Contest the week before.  Once the results are in for the DCI contest in San Antonio and the line up for the DCI Masters of the Summer Music Games event is determined, you’ll be able to cast your vote as to what you would like to see for an order of appearance at the event in Murfreesboro , Tenn. , on July 29th! DCI is inviting you to play an active role in this event through your vote to determine the order of appearance.

The voting mechanism will be posted on their web site at http://www.dci.org at or before Noon on Sunday, July 24th and voting will end at Noon on Wednesday, July 27th. 

The Blue Devils will leave MTSU for the DCI Midwestern Championships in
Indianapolis ,  Indiana the very next night. 

Mr. Gilbert said “We look forward to hosting The Blue Devils.  Our students can and will learn a great deal from this group.  This will be an exciting event for the band and our community”.