december camp report

Welcome back to Yakima! The Cascades family returns bigger and better. Super cold and super foggy, Friday night in Yakima was full of registration and organization. After everyone settled in, the process of learning music, marching and getting to know each other took over. The big question and the reason you are reading this: "How many people were there?!" In attendance were enough members to make sure we reach our 112 member goal. This represents a healthy jump from the 92 members that we performed with last season. The best part being that the maturity, talent and average age increased tremendously.

At the end the camp, all goals were met and the corps played through the opening piece, "Cloudsplitter Fanfare." Cheers and chills from the appreciative audience told us the Cascades are back. The biggest applause came as the colorguard performed parts of the opener AND the second song, Allegro Impetuoso. The guard has grown and is truly stunning, everyone was very impressed. To finish up, the brass played through the corps song, "Imagine." Staff members and alumni shed tears of appreciation, remembering that just one year ago our first 2009 camp saw only 17 brass members. This camp was truly an amazing first step in our 2010 season.

"One word: AWESOME!!!! I thought it was a really incredible start for an even better season that this will be. Brass: awesome turnout for the first camp, it was cool to see vets from last year and alot of new people as well. Keep up the recruiting, it would be really cool to have too many people. Percussion: Sounded awesome at the last full runthrough of the weekend. I didnt get to hear alot of what went on with percussion through the weekend but you guys sound awesome. Guard: YAY for more guard!! you did a wonderful job this weekend, it was nice to see the guard at the camp. Lets kick our own butts before next camp so we can get that much better. See you all then!"

Scott Berkey - Trumpet


"Ok it's Evan here...if you are a new or potential member I have one thing to say to you...do it. Marching with the cascades is the most fulfilling and rewarding experience you can possibly get from anywhere. You will learn more about your art, and more importantly, about yourself, as corny as that sounds. If you are still on the fence just think about this...every summer there is only about 3,000 young men and women who are among the elite in the world of marching music...DCI World Class. The chance that you have in front of you is truly once in a lifetime and I encourage you to take that leap and participate in something that you may never get again. I know I speak for all of the vets when I say there is a reason we work hard, and I hope that you as a new drum corps athlete will stick with us to the end to discover exactly what that reason is."

Evan Drassen - Euphonium