The Cavaliers : Bronze Medalists at DCI World Championships!

Here are a few pics from our weekend at the Drum Corps International Finals in Bloomington. 

This year, with a score of 97.235, the Rosemont Cavaliers show, "Samurai", took third place in the World Class competition, a hairs breadth behind the Blue Devils and the Phantom Regiment. The Cavaliers had an outstanding, superlative performance and finished their season with a nearly perfect show. In my opinion, it was the best and most creative show in the competition, but then I admit some predisposition towards that assessment.

Trumpet section visual rehearsal before the semi-finals.  That's JP in the middle.

Jordan and Nancy in Bloomington.

The IU stadium, hosting the Drum Corps International World Championship competition, "the major league of marching band."

A shot from the finale of "Samurai", the Cavaliers' final 2008 performance.

JP, after the show, wearing his medal.  The rose was awarded by the Cavaliers to all of it's graduates, those young men who, at the age of 21 or 22, will be aging out of the corps.  

Far, far more than just a marching band, the two seasons that Jordan has spent as a Cavalier have clearly been a great, life-molding experience.  This organization is, in a real sense, a brotherhood, a fraternity in which he will always belong.  It is a singular, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of something like this and, as parents, we are grateful to the Cavalier organization for the care that they took with our son, and for the inestimable value of the musical instruction, life experience, and love that they have poured into his life.  It will be a touchstone, a significant point of reference for him his entire life.

For more great photos, check out Nancy's Flickr page.  For more info on the Cavaliers, here is their website, and a YouTube link to see some of what they do.