DCI Drum Majors Are Basically Pro Wrestlers
See, The Numbers Don't Lie, and They Spell Disaster For You At Lucas Oil
Hear me out, okay? There is a tweet floating around DCI Twitter (X? Whatever, they should be paying ME to tweet/xeet) that made this claim, and although it was made to be a very obvious joke, it had me thinking about how it actually ends up being kinda true. First, let’s identify the things that make them not similar.
Professional Wrestlers are performance artists (if you don’t believe this, look at how many of them become actors), who use the sport of wrestling as a medium to promote and create storylines to create drama or suspense or even comedy to entertain an audience. Everyone knows professional wrestling is fake (like the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Queen of England), and it doesn’t matter. It’s still highly entertaining, and you watch an actor act out a story masked as a sport. Most of the story relies on the performer using their athleticism to tell that story.
DCI Drum Majors are performers chosen to lead their respective drum corps based on various factors, including conducting skills, experience in the corps, and leadership qualities. These individuals are selected to be the face of the drum corps as a whole.
Obviously, the most significant difference between the two is between the sport of wrestling and the drum corps activity, one being a live-streamed competition between the different performers, often performing for sold-out arenas, and… oh wait… maybe they are the same thing. All jokes aside, as I was diving into the differences portion of this article, it became harder and harder to find and explain the differences between the two.
The one that I think is the most differentiating is the emphasis on the acting. Often, pro wrestlers have scripted segments where each performer pushes along storylines, whether promo-ing to the audience, pushing rivalries, giving personalities to the characters, or promoting upcoming events. Clearly, this does not happen in drum corps, although it may help with exposing DCI to a new audience... (just saying, we all know BD has a 141 and 2/3% chance at winning at Finals [warning, light language in that video])
Instead of this, Drum Corps media teams will do social media campaigns that show off performers’ personalities, showing drum majors in humanizing positions like during meal breaks or post-show when they are not required to be in “drum major mode.” Their personas are (mostly) not crafted and used to promote a story. Instead, they show their authentic selves and use their real-life stories.
An excellent example of this is the Instagram account @phantomregiment.conductors. Keri McCourt was awarded the Jim Jones scholarship at the end of the 2023 drum corps season. With the very real, very raw show that was Exogenesis, this was an excellent contrast to show Keri and the rest of the Phantom Regiment conductor team’s bubbly personalities.
So now, let’s dive into the similarities. The clearest parallel is that these larger-than-life figures wear silly costumes and often have crowd interaction and fan interaction. They both also used their very real skill library and talents to earn the position they have. You have your favorites, you know the classics, you can probably name a few by name.
Especially with social media, the emphasis on Drum Majors being good on a microphone or camera is especially necessary. More than ever, we get chances to see the real-life storylines of DCI drum majors, where instead of the gimmicks we see in pro wrestling, we see a person. Drum Majors have that appeal because, unlike other members in the corps, we get a peek at what they’re really like.
Samuel Crawford isn’t The Rock. Koji Mori isn’t John Cena. Layne Youngson may not be Chyna. Still, isn’t it fun to think about them the same? We love both because of the joy we get watching these people perform. We know their names, we know their faces, and when it gets down to it, what we really enjoy is watching the best of the best, simply being the best.
J. Missing is the founding editor of Generally Ineffective Media. He is also a prestigious judge for the Drum Crops International, Bands of Amurica, and Winter Guard Intercontinental circuits, among others. Outside of the pageantry world, he cannot be found. However, he refuses to pay a dollar a year for X but still is available at @RealJMissing.