Marching music for the Michigan, Washington, Mississippi, and Democrats Abroad primaries

Once again, it's time to share some marching music for my readers to watch and listen while they are waiting for the results from six states, Michigan, Washington, Missouri, Mississippi, Idaho, and North Dakota, plus Democrats Abroad.  Two of these states, Michigan and Washington, have competitive drum corps.  In addition, Democrats Abroad allows me to feature a corps outside of the United States other than the Canadian corps I feature for Canada Day.  Finally, one of my favorite HBCU bands is from Mississippi, Jackson State University.  May my readers enjoy all of them as much as they did the corps I included in A drum corps Super Tuesday 2020, which is one of the 20 most popular entries of the ninth year of this blog.

I begin with the corps from my adopted home state of Michigan, which happens to be both the most populous state having an election today and the first one to vote, Legends from Kalamazoo.  It's also the highest placing of the two corps, coming in 21st last year.  Without any further ado, watch Legends playing their 2019 program, Siren, at Semifinals.


Normally, I'd embed the most recent show clip from Drum Corps International's YouTube channel, but that is from 2014.  Not only is it not as good a competitive performance as last year's show, but it was a French-themed show, which I'd rather save for Bastille Day.  After all, I'm an environmentalist.  Not only do I recycle, I conserve my resources.

Next, two clips of Washington state's top corps, the Seattle Cascades.  First, the most recent official show excerpt from DCI's channel, 2019 Seattle Cascades | Off the Grid.



Seattle, WA | 25th Place | 73.275
Now, the most recent full show upload from the Seattle Cascades' official channel, Seattle Cascades - Set Free (Full Show), the corps' 2017 program.

Repertoire
• One Thousand Airplanes on the Roof by Philip Glass
• Labyrinth by Philip Glass
• Scenes of Memory by Philip Glass
• Fly to Paradise by Eric Whitacre
• Symphony #10, movement 2 by Dmitri Shostakovich
• Bird Set Free by Sia

Set Free opens with "1000 Airplanes on the Roof".  As does the poem, we begin with the free bird having power and “naming the sky his own” while acting on inborn impulses to fly and float on the sky.

The show continues forward, as does Angelou’s work, with a more ominous tone in "Labrynth", as the caged bird experiences darkness, pain, and fear. Reduced to an unnatural and lesser version of itself than the free bird, the caged bird cannot fly yet retains the desire to be free and to find self-expression. Here various performers are trapped by the caged and “open their throats to sing.”

The program takes an adventurous turn with "Scenes of Memory" as we return to the escapades of the free bird. Ultimately the thoughts of freedom are oppressed and eventually trapped at the end of the production.

As the program continues with "Fly to Paradise", we again experience the idea of longing for freedom.  The final production is a juxtaposition of two oppositional pieces of music ("Symphony 10, mvt. II" by Shostakovich and "Bird Set Free" by Sia) that each have a message of their own; one being that of oppression and the other of freedom. The show ultimately concludes with one idea winning out over the other.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the videos.

The Evergreen State has another competitive drum corps, the Columbians Drum and Bugle Corps.  Watch their 2019 show.



Drums of Fire, 7-5-19, Camas Wa.
Representing Democrats Abroad, I've selected the Kidsgrove Scouts, who plan on attending DCI Championships this year.  Watch their performance at the 2019 Drum Corps Europe Championship Finals.

Kidsgrove Scouts 2019 Into the Known
FC Twente
Enschede
NETHERLANDS

I hope coronavirus doesn't keep them from competing in the U.S. this summer.

Finally, representing Mississippi, I've selected Jackson State University.  Here is the performance that convinced me to pay attention to HBCU bands, JSU playing "Partition."


Listen to those mellophones!

I conclude with the other half of the halftime show I featured in Marching music for the Nevada caucuses, Halftime - Jackson State University vs UNLV 2016


That does it for this edition of marching music for a primary day.  I plan on posting the next installment next week for the Ohio, Illinois, Florida, and Arizona primaries for an updated version of A Drum Corps Ides of March for an election year, this time on St. Patrick's Day.  Stay tuned.