My Life in Drum Corps

By Maria Costa

My career as a drum major was predestined.  I did not choose it. It chose me.

During the mid-1930’s, my father was drum major of the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus drum and bugle corps at Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.  In 1937, he founded the Mount Carmel Cadets of Greenpoint, Brooklyn.  My mother joined Mt. Carmel in 1940 as my father’s student.    She played the fife and glockenspiel and, eventually, was chosen by my father to be drum majorette of the parade and standstill corps.  He also chose her to be his wife, and they married in 1948.

Tom Costa and Mary Demeri Costa

I was born a year later and marched in my first parade, cradled in my dad’s arms, before I was a year old. We marched alongside of the Mt. Carmel Cadets. In addition to Mt. Carmel, Dad also taught Our Lady of Loretto Cadets. The Nativity Cadets were added to the roster in 1950. Dad was the only director/instructor for all of the preceding corps. He taught them fife, glockenspiel, drum, bugle and marching. He also arranged the music and wrote their drills.

However, drum corps were not my father’s sole source of income.  He was an insurance broker and owner of an independent agency.  Dad’s first office was on Court Street in Brooklyn.  He worked as a broker during the day and taught drum corps three to four nights a week.  His weekends were spent at parades, standstill and M&M contests.

I am the oldest child in a family of 12 siblings.  When I was 4½ year old, Mom gave birth to her fifth child.  I guess Dad spent some time at home!  As little children, we all piled into our 1953 Pontiac on summer weekends and drove to parades and contests throughout the Tri-state (NY, NJ and CT) region.

In 1953, I traveled cross-country with Dad and a very pregnant Mom to the American Legion Nationals in St. Louis, Missouri.  We were there to cheer on and support the Mt. Carmel Cadets.  I loved being around the corps members.  Besides being great musicians, they were a pretty wild group of kids (when my father wasn’t around) and so much fun.  Carman Cluna, Joe Genero, and Robert “Pepe” Notaro were like big brothers to me.

At home, my younger brothers and I played “contest” in the basement. We each took turns pretending to be a bugler, drummer or judge. While two or three of us marched and sang through our made-up drill with our make-believe instruments, the judge would observe and give his/her verdict at the end of the show. Inevitably, we would all end up fighting because we did not like the judge’s M&M or GE score. Yes, at the tender, young ages of 5, 6, 7, and 8, we had already learned what those abbreviations stood for and that 1/10 of a point could mean the difference between first and second place.

In the late 1950’s, my father started the St. Ignatius Girls Cadet Corps in our home parish in Hicksville, Long Island.  I joined the corps as a bugler in 1959 at the age of ten.  This was one of the happiest days in my life.  I could now actually be a part of what I had witnessed and enjoyed for so many years.

When I was fourteen, Dad chose me to be the corps’ drum majorette.  I led the corps at parades and standstill contests with a large baton… just like my mother had done almost twenty years before me.  The stakes were high.  How was I going to be perceived by other corps members…  was I chosen on ability or because my father was director of the corps?  Would I be good enough to live up to my father’s very high standards?  How could I express to the other girls that I had been around drums corps for all of my fourteen years?  Most of them had never heard of Blessed Sacrament, St. Vincent’s, Nativity Cadets (of Garfield, NJ), St. Catherine’s, St. Joe’s, St. Kevin’s and the Crusaders from Boston.  I had seen them perform many times and knew my father’s goal: to turn this all-girls standstill corps into the best girls’ M&M corps in the country.

I continued as drum major of St. Ignatius for six years, leading them in their first M&M contest.  Carman Cluna, Hy Dreitzer and Don Friesing were our instructors.  They also taught a very good, up-and-coming drum corps in Brooklyn – St. Joseph Patron Cadets/St. Rita’s Brassmen.

Maria and Annette Costa (1967)

At the end of the ’68 season, I apprehensively told my father that I wanted to join a boys’ corps.  Even though I had loved marching with St. Ignatius, I wanted to move up to the next level of drum corps before I turned 21.  As you can imagine, my father was not very happy about my decision.  He wanted me to continue as a member of ‘his’ corps.

At that time, Dad was also teaching the starter corps at St. Rita’s parish.  He asked Carman if I could join The Brassmen.  Anticipating Kathy B’s departure in the upcoming years, Carman OK’d my transfer with the intention of making me the next drum major.  Please note that Carman was also not too happy about my leaving St. Ignatius.

In 1969, I joined the girls’ color guard of the St. Rita’s Brassmen.  This was a real eye opener for me.  I had only carried a soprano horn and myself in my previous ten years in drum corps.  My prior M&M experience was as a drum major.  We design our own drills; it’s improvised… at least mine was.  Now I was expected to learn a specific drill, carry a banner, take it out of its holster, dip it, and twirl it… you have got to be kidding me!!!  Ladies and gentlemen of the guard: kudos to all of you.  It’s not an easy job!

Finally, in 1970, I became drum major of The Brassmen.  This was one of my all-time best years in drum corps.  What a thrill to lead such a wonderfully talented group of young men and women.  Thank you, my fellow corpsmen and women from NYC, for accepting the chick from the “burbs” of Long Island.

I recently had the pleasure of viewing a videotape of the 1970 show for the first time in 35 years.  It was very emotional for me and brought back many memories: drill practices at Randall’s Island; the hundreds of times I heard “hit the line”; marching on the incredibly hot pavement in Miami, then swimming in the unbelievably warm ocean (did everyone buy a float?); bingo in Jamaica (not the island); Carman Cluna’s passion; Hy Dreitzer’s beautiful music; Eric Perilloux’s perfection; our friendships, team work, and competitive spirit; and, the pride I had (and still have) in being your drum major.  I treasure the short period of time I marched with The Brassmen.  It was the perfect exit to my life in drum corps.