The Glassmen of Toledo recently celebrated their 50th anniversary, but until that day I had never heard of them. Now I can say I have. And “heard of them” is the just the right phrase because their sound blew me away.

My brother-in-law, John, had invited us to attend a drum-and-bugle-corps show, an annual event sponsored by the Glassmen. I thought it was his college’s marching band and that this evening would be a typical football half-time show. In fact, the Glassmen audition young people from all over the world every year to fill the 150 performance spots on the team. According to the Glassmen website,

“A typical rehearsal day includes 6-10 hours of rehearsal, depending on whether or not there is an evening performance. After a competition, the corps usually loads the trucks and buses and heads out for the next show or rehearsal site, anywhere from a three to ten hour drive away. The corps usually competes in over 40 competitions during the summer, and also performs at various parades, concerts, and exhibitions. The GLASSMEN season begins with our home show in June, the ALL-STAR REVIEW in Toledo, and ends with the DCI World Championships in mid-August…”

The Glassmen’s 50th anniversary celebration took place in conjunction with the All-Star Review, an annual fundraiser for the corps which we attended July 8 on the campus of Bowling Green State University, south of Toledo. Eight teams participating in the Drum Corps International Summer Tour, including the Glassmen, competed at the event. The music was spectacular, as I expected it would be, but the real surprise was the theatrical nature of the performances. The musicians, dancers and members of the flag corps created dramatic stories that poured across the football field in a polished highly entertaining professional-caliber show.

Sometimes the music got a bit loud for Paul. His best line of the day came when one of the teams brought out some long iridescent poles for twirling. Unable to pronounce “st,” Paul shouted (during a lull in the music), “They have big dicks!”

Nico spent most of the evening drawing, but he took an occasional break to appreciate the performance.

The Cavaliers of Indiana came in first place (the Glassmen placed fourth).

John played the contrabass bugle (aka tuba) with the Glassmen in 1994 and 95, so he joined other alumni on the field to sing the corps song with this year’s team at the end of the show. We were so proud!

I really wanted to share the feeling of this show via video, but we were warned repeatedly that videotaping wasn’t allowed. I can’t even find footage on YouTube. Bummer.

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