I must say that the weekend has been very relaxing. I went out to Perrysburg Ohio to Fort Meigs for this years “Drums Along the Maumee” event. Old friends that I met on Yahoo Chat are involved in a Drum and Fife group that was participating in the event. You may have seen my pictures already. If not, they are posted in my photo album.
I like to take in events that involve music or history. This one had both. The Fort was built during the War of 1812 to stop the British from using the Maumee River to supply their strong holds in what is now Detroit. A museum on site shows many relics that were found during archeological digs on the site. There are many story boards throughout the block houses and museum that depict the tales of daily life in the fort. Most of these boards use the soldiers own words taken from their journals and diaries.
The main reason for going to the fort was to hear the drum and fife corps play and meet up with Cathy and Jerry and their kids. There were four different corps in attendance ranging in size from 4 to around 15 or so musicians. Unlike marching bands you may see at your local highschool or college, these groups adhere to period playing styles and instruments. They also wear period based costumes.
The Voyageurs Ancient Fife and Drum Corps, which Cathy and Jerry’s kids are a part of, was easily the best group of the weekend. Not to take away from the other groups, but a couple of things stood out in the Voyageurs’ performances. The Voyageurs had an Em Cee (Jerry is taking over this post in the near future), who basically introduced the group and gave a short discription of how the group came about and what they represented. The show was then turned over to the Drum Major, who ran the corp through their musical selections. The Voyageurs changed formation several times during their set and also ended with a switch back routine to do an about face and leave the field. Their playing was also more accurate than the other groups.
1st Michigan Drum and Fife Corps provided an equally appealing musical performance, but their director gave too much historical prattle in between selections. These historic tidbits took away from the performance. The musicians broke parade rest and began talking among themselves during these vocal embellishments, which seemed to lengthen as the day went on.
I give all the groups a great deal of credit. They are playing historically accurate music on equally historic instruments. The requirements of being in the crops require memorizing a multitude of songs. So many songs in fact, that after the groups finished their afternoon performances, they assembled as a Mass Band and played several selections like they had been practicing together for years. After they were dismissed, the groups mingled on the field to have a little jam session.
There wasn’t much of a crowd on hand, so there was ample time to hang out with the corps and walk around the fort. I enjoyed not having the hustle and bustle associated with amusement parks or county fairs.
I hung out at the fort with Cathy and Jerry till about 11 pm on Saturday night. The musicians spend alot of time together since they all were either camped in the blockhouses or staying in the conference center of the museum. They continued to have jam sessions on and off throughout the evening. Hearing some of the stories of past events and upcoming prospects for members made for an entertaining evening. This reminded me alot of some of the sound gigs I’ve done throughout the years. There are bonds you build participating in things of this nature. Friendships that last years and span great distances.
All and all, it was a pretty good vacation, definately a great weekend, to be sure. I’ll go back to work in the morning humming little fife ditties in my head.