Music City Drum and Bugle Corps
The Music City Drum and Bugle Corps is a World Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Music City is a member corps of Drum Corps International..
History
Source:Music City Youth in the Arts, the parent organization for the corps, was created in July 2008 by music educators and drum corps fans interested in starting a drum and bugle corps in the Nashville area. When several hundred others expressed interest in the idea through a website, the board of directors decided to field a corps for the 2009 season. Attempting to establish financial stability for the corps, the board decreed that practice and travel would be limited.
The inaugural corps of 47 members performed in seven shows in the Mid-South and Midwest en route to the DCI Open Class Championships in Michigan City, Indiana.
In 2010, the corps grew to 64 members, and Music City opened the season by gaining their first contest win, defeating two other Open Class corps in Wichita, Kansas. Their tour also took them to Oklahoma and Texas, home to Tennessee, then to Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio on the way to the DCI Open Class Championships in Michigan City and Indianapolis. The corps ended the season in Open Class Finals, placing 6th of sixteen corps.
Music City made a decision to grow the corps in 2011 and more than doubled the unit's size, fielding a corps of 145 members. Touring with World Class corps and having Open Class prelims rained out, Music City did not march against any other Open Class corps until the class finals in Michigan City, where they finished 8th of sixteen corps. The corps then advanced to World Class Prelims in Indianapolis, placing 32nd of 41 corps.
2012 saw Music City travel to Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, and Kansas before a brief stop at home; then to Mississippi, back to Tennessee, on to Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan on the way to Open Class Prelims and Finals in Michigan City, where Music City was 9th of 14 corps. The corps then entered World Class Prelims in Indianapolis, placing 31st of 35 corps.
In 2013, the corps picked up wins in Open Class competitions in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Bentonville, Arkansas, then placed 5th of 14 corps in Open Class at Michigan City. Moving on to World Class Prelims in Indianapolis, Music City advanced to DCI World Championships Semifinals, placing 25th and earning full DCI membership.
Shortly after the 2013, DCI Championships, Music City Youth in the Arts announced that the organization was financially unable to continue, and that the corps would fold. Drum Corps International responded immediately, stepping in to assist the corps' board in reorganizing the finances and helping to initiate an on-line fundraising effort to save the corps. As a result, Music City returned to the field in 2014.
During the 2017 DCI Open Class championships in Michigan City, where they placed 4th, the corps made known its intent to compete in World Class in 2018. Later in the week in Indianapolis, the corps advanced to semifinals for the first time since 2013 and placed 24th in World Class,strengthening its case for moving up. On October 4, 2017, DCI announced that Music City had been approved to compete in World Class.
Sponsorship
The Music City Drum & Bugle Corps is sponsored by Music City Youth in the Arts, a registered non-profit 501 musical organization. As such, it has a Board of Directors, director, and staff assigned to carry out the organization's mission. The corps president is Tracy Rode, and the Executive Director is Joe Roach.Show Summary (2009-2020)
Source:Gold background indicates DCI Championship; pale blue background indicates DCI Class Finalist; pale green background indicates DCI semifinalist; pale purple background indicates Open Class finalist and World Class semifinalist.
| Year | Theme | Repertoire | Score | DCI Placement |
| 2009 | Strike It Up! ...A Celebration | Strike Up the Band by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin / Seventy-six Trombones by Meredith Willson Tennessee Waltz by Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart / Appalachian Morning by Paul Halley | 80.400 | 13th Open Class |
| 2010 | River Sounds | Down to the River to Pray / St. Louis Blues by W.C. Handy / Can't Help Falling in Love by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss / Mississippi Suite by Ferde Grofé / When the Saints Go Marching In adapted by Luther G. Presley / Ol' Man River by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II | 88.500 | 6th Open Class |
| 2011 | Let's Dance | I Could Have Danced All Night by Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner / Bandstand Boogie by Charles Albertine / Waltz of the Flowers by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / Rain Dance by Hunter Stricklin / Singin' in the Rain by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed / Jai Ho by A. R. Rahman / Tennessee Waltz by Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart / Dancing Machine by Hal Davis, Don Fletcher, and Dean Parks / Shake A Tail Feather by Otha Hayes, Verlie Rice, and Andre Williams | 84.800 | 8th Open Class |
| 2012 | Phantoms of the Grand Ole Opera | Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart, Richard Stilgoe, and Mike Batt / Ring of Fire by June Carter and Merle Kilgore / Walkin' After Midnight by Alan Block and Donn Hecht / Sweet Dreams by Don Gibson / All I Ask of You by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart, and Richard Stilgoe / Your Cheatin' Heart by Hank Williams / The Point of No Return by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart, and Richard Stilgoe / Stand By Your Man by Tammy Wynette and Billy Sherrill / Music of the Night by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart | 83.850 | 9th Open Class |
| 2013 | Postcards From Havana | Cumbanchero by Rafael Hernández / Rapsodia Cubana by Ernesto Lecuona / A Mis Abuelos by Arturo Sandoval / | 90.350 72.750 | 5th Open Class 25th World Class |
| 2014 | Go West! | Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé / Billy the Kid & The Red Pony by Aaron Copland | 72.975 71.575 | 8th Open Class 27th World Class |
| 2015 | The Planets | Mars, Venus, and Jupiter from The Planets by Gustav Holst | 71.125 69.625 | 7th Open Class 27th World Class |
| 2016 | Coronation | Coronation Fanfare by Robert W. Smith / The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten | 72.150 71.725 | 6th Open Class 27th World Class |
| 2017 | Tribe | Pagan Dances by James Barnes / Goddess of Fire by Steven Reineke/ Trail of Tears by Michael Daugherty | 76.763 74.275 | 4th Open Class 24th World Class |
| 2018 | Hell on Wheels: The Final Journey of Casey Jones | Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne / Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen / Original Music by Robert W. Smith | 78.175 | 21st |
| 2019 | Of Mice and Music | City of Brass and Tails on the Town by Robert W. Smith /Concerto for Guitar and Jazz Orchestra by Paul Hart/ Imagine by John Lennon | 76.650 | 23rd |
| 2020 | Season cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic |
Corps traditions
Music City's corps song is the Tennessee Waltz by Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart as arranged by Robert W. Smith.The corps pendant is a silver five-pointed star; one is awarded for every year marched with the corps and is put on each member's necklace.