Officials say PSU Brass Spectacular biggest yet

The 2008 Pittsburg State University Brass Spectacular lived up to its name Wednesday.
“This is the biggest show we’ve ever had,” said Doug Whitten, PSU director of athletic bands. “We have seven corps, and usually we have five or six.”
Each corps is made up of musicians between the ages of 14 and 22 from the United States, Canada and around the world. They perform precision marching and formations while playing both original compositions and well-known selections.
“Some people have described drum corps performances as a cross between a Las Vegas show and a symphony orchestra,” said Whitten.
The Brass Spectacular is part of the Drum Corps International Summer Music Games tour that will conclude with the World Championships in Indianapolis, Ind.
The show opened with the Colt Cadets, a younger group composed of musicians aged 11 to 18, followed by the Troopers of Casper, Wyo., performing a show titled “The Iron Horse Express.”
The Troopers are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, according to Ted Gilbert, a souvenir seller for the group for the past 23 years.
He and fellow volunteers sell souvenirs from a sheep wagon. “Sheep herders in Wyoming used this kind of wagon,” Gilbert said. “This wagon was built in 1893, and the Troopers have been using it since the mid-1960s.”
He said that he became involved with the Troopers when some of his children marched with the drum corps. “They aged, but I just kept with it,” Gilbert said. “I enjoy being with these young people and seeing them mature over the summer.”
The program continued with the Crossmen of San Antonio, Texas, in a show titled “Planet X”; the Academy of Tempe, Ariz., in “Vienna Nights”; the Colts of Dubuque, Iowa, in “Night and Day”; the Boston Crusaders, with “Neocosmos”; and the Santa Clara Vangard of Santa Clara, Calif., in “Mind — Body — Soul.”
“This is really a big thing,” Whitten said. “I think we’ve got a better show than they have in Tulsa or Kansas City.”
He estimated attendance at around 3,000. “But Pittsburg is a walk-in community, so we’re never sure how many we’ll end up with,” Whitten said. “One year, on the hottest day of the century, we had 3,200 tickets sold. The next year the weather was perfect, but we sold 500 less.”
Several people were attending for the first time. “I kept hearing how wonderful this was, so I talked my husband into coming this year,” said Eweleen Good, Parsons. “I was in band all my years at Pittsburg High School.”
Three hundred participants in the Cutting Edge camp held this week at PSU were also in the audience.
“This has been a great experience,” said Jonathan Jackson, a drum major from Center High School, Kansas City, Mo. “I came to get better than what I am, and this has helped me so much.”
He dreams of being in a drum corps some day. “I especially would like to be in the Boston Crusaders,” Jackson said.
Members of the Colt Cadets have hopes of being accepted into the Colts.
“We have open practices, for people to see if they like being in a corps,” said Joey Appleby, 17, Dubuque, who plans baritone. “This is one of only about three cadet corps in the country, and the other two are in California.”
 “You learn so much in two months,” added Jon Fuller, 14, who plays trumpet. “There are people who didn’t play their instrument a month before, and they’re doing fine. I’ve been doing  this for five years. You ride long distances and sleep on the bus, but you make a lot of friends. It’s really fun.”
The Colt Cadets have enjoyed their stop in Pittsburg.
“We had some rough rehearsals a few days ago, but at our practice today we had it locked in,” said David Oliver, 14.
“Here at Pittsburg was the best we’ve ever had,” Appleby said. “I like performing and seeing the audience response, and it was really good here.”