MANKATO — Boom! Honk! The unmistakable sounds of the Thunder of Drums will return to Mankato on Tuesday, bringing together eight drum and bugle corps for an evening of music, marching and flag-twirling.
The 34th rendition of this summer tradition, presented by the Mankato Kiwanis Club, will fill the field at Minnesota State University’s Blakeslee Stadium with corps from across the country. The show starts at 7 p.m.
For the uninitiated, drum and bugle corps are marching units made up of brass, percussion and color guard. In a blend of athleticism and musicality, groups perform themed routines lasting typically 8 to 12 minutes.
The high-energy show in Mankato typically draws about 3,200 spectators, said Doug Faust, chair of the organizing committee. Roughly 600 performers make up all the competing corps.
“We kind of are the premier show in Minnesota,” said Liz Paul, a member of the Kiwanis Club and board member for the Mankato 77 Lancers Marching Band parent board. “Corps like to come and perform with us; we put on a really good show.”
This year’s Thunder of Drums includes performances from five world-class corps, which spend June, July and August touring the nation before competing at the international championships in Indianapolis.
One open class corps and two all-ages corps, including the Govenaires from St. Peter, also will be taking to the field.
The Govenaires’ show this season is titled “Ride On,” a musical adventure exploring self-discovery and, well, motorcycles.
“At the surface level, it’s a show about motorcycles, but it’s sort of fundamentally about finding that way to express your true self,” said Matthew Sanders, Govenaires corps director. “In our case, going from the drudgery of an officescape to the open road on a motorcycle.”
Preparing a drum corps routine is no easy feat. Sanders said the group started learning the music and fundamentals of their show in late fall, having periodic rehearsals throughout the winter before moving outside to nail down the visual aspects that underlay the music in April, May and June.
Sanders said the Govenaires, who are approaching their 100th season next year, consider the Thunder of Drums to be their “home show.”
“A lot of our members come from the Mankato area or went to school at Minnesota State University, Mankato, so a lot of them like the idea of going and performing for the town that they have a lot of connections to.”
In addition to offering booming music, Thunder of Drums has become a gathering place for people across the Mankato area. The evening isn’t just a chance for these talented corps to perform, but it lets younger people watch skilled musicians perform and learn directly from them.
“We hope that beyond the tangible things that we can do with the show, it provides inspiration for the youth of our community in so many different ways, whether it’s musically or just being part of a community that is accepting and open,” Faust said.
Every year, the Maverick Machine, MSU’s pep band, hosts a high school band clinic with one of the performing corps before the show begins. This year’s clinic corps is the Cavaliers from Rosemont, Illinois.
While not exclusive to the Mankato 77 Lancers, all Lancers get involved if they’re able to.
“They get to learn from these really top-notch young musicians and just have a day clinic on how to be a better musician, how to march better, how to play better music, and they just get immersed in the experience,” Paul said.
Clinic participants perform the national anthem on the field to kick the evening off, and they then receive free tickets to watch the corps perform.
Starting this year, all tickets to Thunder of Drums are numbered and reserved, giving each attendee an assigned spot within Blakeslee Stadium.
For those looking for even more music, the Maverick Machine and Lancers will host a high school marching band competition in September.
The Thunder of Drums speaks to people across the Mankato community.
Michael Thursby, director of Maverick Machine, marched in the Thunder of Drums as a student. Years later, drum corps is still extremely important to him.
“It changed my life. It put me on a path to be where I am today, as a teacher, as an educator, as a parent, as a husband. There’s so much raw energy that you feel the volume of these groups when they perform, and when they’re playing at their fullest volume, it’s just incredible. It makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck.”