Go to: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
First came the Jacksonville Suns, next the roar of the Jacksonville Jaguars, followed by the fervor of the Lizard Kings. In 1999 the rumble of something big was heard in the distance as Jacksonville braced to be taken by storm again. With the full fury of thundering drums, screaming brass and musical intensity, the The Teal Sound Drum & Bugle Corps invaded Jacksonville.
Rewind to 1983...
In 1983 approximately 250 kids turned out in a Jacksonville, Florida park in hopes of forming a community based drum and bugle corps. The event was entirely orchestrated by three high school students with a burning desire to bring drum corps to their city. With fliers in hand the teenage corps founders took to the streets and put the word out. It took off like wildfire and on audition day over 200 young corps hopefuls filled a city park with band instruments, as they did not have bugles. After a couple of rehearsals the three students realized they lacked the needed funds and experience to make their dream a reality. They tucked their dream away, but it did not die.
Fast forward to 1998...
In 1998, two of the original three, Michael Butler and Danny Clark, came back to pick up where they left off in 1983.
The ball started rolling for the North Florida corps, now known as the Teal Sound, in March of 1998. Support for Teal Sound was gained through the Jacksonville Housing Authority. Nations Bank was gracious in awarding Teal Sound with its very first grant, which resulted in enough funding for the corps to purchase percussion equipment for the battery along with some Contra Bass and Soprano horns. The Jacksonville Cultural Council and Jacksonville Community Foundation also came through with financial support. Jacksonville's own NFL franchise agreed to allow the Teal Sound to perform during halftime in the 1999 season and also offered financial assistance through the Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation. The 21st Century Drum and Bugle Corps Foundation pulled through for Teal Sound by donating uniforms and by helping to supply the corps with bugles for its inaugural season. Even many of the area Band Directors jumped in to lend their support.
1999 – The First Year
 In late 1998 and early 1999, Michael Butler and Danny Clark gave presentations to high school students across North Florida and Southeast Georgia. These presentations served two purposes: to educate students about the activity in general and to recruit prospective members. A drum corps representative had never visited most of these schools and the visit alone made the dream of participation more realistic.
Teal Sound received an enormous response from interested participants. When open auditions were held on January 23, 1999 over 120 participants attended.
Initially Teal Sound did not even expect to tour in 1999, but intended only to go out for exhibition as a Division III corps. Because things shined brightly for the new organization it was decided that a limited tour as a Division II corps would be financially feasible and would be beneficial for its members.
On July 23rd 1999, after 6 months of weekend rehearsals, the members and staff of Teal Sound boarded busses and headed for Brunswick, Georgia for a final week of everyday rehearsals before embarking on a two week tour up the east coast, into Canada, and finally to Madison WI, where the corps placed 9th out of 12 units. An unbelievable feat for a first year corps that originally was not even planning to tour.
1999 Repertoire: "Swing Street" – The Boogie Bumper, Swing Street, War In Tunisia, Intro to Amen, Go Daddy-O!
2000
 After the resounding success of its first year, Teal pushed into it's second year with a challenging Latin show featuring the music of Carlos Santana. As the corps geared up for its second touring season, decisions were made to insure the corps' longevity in the Drum Corps activity. One of those decisions was to reduce the number of marching members and compete as a Division III corps. This decision would allow the corps to remain financially stable as it moved towards its third year, while also allowing the organization to develop partnerships with the parents and schools by establishing minimum grade point average levels for participation.
Sporting new uniforms and a new look for its guard, Teal hit the road again, this time expanding its competitive season to two separate tours. When all was said and done, the Teal Sound placed 8th out of 32 Division III corps, less than one point out of finals! Not bad for a two year old!
2000 Repertoire: "Music of Carloa Santa" – Black Magic Woman, Oye Como Va, Se a Cabo, Primavera, (Da Le) Yaleo
2001
 In its third year, Teal once again chose to tour with a show that was challenging to the members both musically and visually. They picked the music of Metallica as it's musical program.
The concept for the show came from an unlikely collaboration between rock icons Metallica, renowned composer Michael Kamen and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
The adaptation of the concept to the drum corps idiom was a success. The corps placed in finals at every focus show they attended, and after only three short years in existence, Teal Sound broke into finals at the DCI Division III World Championships with a 7th place finals finish.
2001 Repertoire: "S&M: Symphony and Metallica" – The Ecstasy of Gold, For Whom the Bell Tolls, One, Enter Sandman
2002
 In 2002, the organization remained focused on challenging its members and being crowd pleasers, while pushing the envelope in its creative program. The corps chose the music of the Dave Matthews band for it's musical repertoire.
The corps experienced a challenging tour season, but managed to win top honors at the Summer Smiles Drum & Bugle Corps competition in Knox, PA and make finals at the Canadian Open. Teal Sound completed the 2002 season with an 11th place finish DCI Division III World Championships (13th internationally).
2002 Repertoire: "Music of the Dave Matthews Band" – Tripping Billies, #41, Satellite, Space Between, Drive In, Drive Out
2003
 In 2003, Teal Sound took a slightly new direction, with a field show titled "ab aeterno." Instead of contemporary popular music, the 2003 repertoire consisted of two contemporary symphonic pieces: Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky, and Liturgical Dances by David Holsinger. The corps finished 2003 in 7th place.
2003 Repertoire: "ab aeterno" – Firebird Suite, Liturgical Dances
2004
 In 2004, Teal's production of "Delusions: The music of Dream Theatre" allowed the corps to explore its new direction further. The corps underwent major staffing changes and also unveiled a new look with a professionally designed corps uniform. All of the changes paid off. Teal Sound completed the 2004 season with a 3rd place finish DCI Division III World Championships.
2004 Repertoire: "Delusions: The Music of Dream Theater" – Metropolis Part I: The Sleeper and the Miracle, Goodnight Kiss V, Dance of Eternity, Overture I
2005
 In 2005, the corps moved up to a Division II status with a larger corps then ever before. The corps took 1st place in Division II in Oxford, Pascagoula, and West Monroe with an all original show titled "Firestorm." Teal Sound completed the 2005 season with a 4th place finish at the DCI World Championships Division II/III Grand Finals.
2005 Repertoire: "Firestorm" – Mvt. 1 Fire Starter, Mvt. 2 Ring of Fire, Mvt. 3 Rekindling of the Fire, Mvt. 4 The Firestorm
2006
 In 2006, the corps remained in Division II and performed an all original show by Nick Golding and Jeff Willis titled "Pieces of a Dream". The corps finished the year with it's 3rd consecutive DCI World Championships Division II/III Grand Finals appearance.
2006 Repertoire: "Pieces of A Dream" –The Spark, The Right Pieces, Adversity, Realization of A Dream
2007
 2007 brought about many changes for the Teal Sound. In September of 2006, Michael Butler, founder of the corps, turned over the reigns to Randy Blackburn and Brian Fisher with the hope that a new era for the corps would begin. An active recruiting of new members and staff took place and the new Teal Sound was born. The corps marched it's largest contingent ever of 125 members and became known as Florida's Premier DCI Touring Drum & Bugle Corps. An extensive tour of 60+ days and 25 performances took the corps over 10,000 miles on its first ever trek to the West Coast and the DCI World Championships in Pasadena, CA. The corps brought home the Bronze medal in the Division 2/3 Championships with a score of 92.05. Performing their show entitled, Voices of the Sun, featuring the music of Rajaton, a Finnish Accapella group, the corps automatically became a crowd favorite. Teal Sound also won for the first time in the corps history, the Spirit of Disney Award for Division 2 and took the GE Music Caption too. Look for bigger and better things to come as the corps steps into it's 10th Anniversary season for 2008.
2007 Repertoire: "Voices of the Sun: The Music of Rajaton" – Sunrise: Sydan Ei Vastaa, Morning Rush: You Can't Stop Me Now, Midday Heat: Weary in Well-Doing, Eventide: Poison Tree, Sunset: Butterfly
2008
 Once again for the second consecutive year, Teal Sound introduced more crowds around the US to the music of Rajaton with their version of “Voices of the Seasons”. This program was filled with many highs and lows as the corps took the audience through the changing leaves of Fall, into the first snow of Winter and the long, drawn out cold and bitterness that mid-Winter brings, and into the beauty and color of Spring with their beautiful rendition of “Butterfly”. The 2008 season took the corps over 11,000 miles throughout the East, Southeast, Midwest and into Bloomington, IN for the 2008 World Championships. The corps celebrated its 10th Anniversary season by placing 5th in the brand new Open Class Division of DCI with a score of 92.775. Teal also marched the largest corps in its history at 130 members. Another first for the corps was that its membership included 3 International performers from Japan.
As the corps closes its first 10 years of existence, all of those that have come before and wore the Teal and Black, can be proud that their corps has made it through the good times and the bad times and is looking at moving into the next decade with a solid foothold in the activity as the sole Florida representative in DCI. The corps has made application to move into World Class and whether it is this coming year or in 2010, all fans can expect more great things to come from this first class organization.
2008 Repertoire: Voices of the Seasons - the music of Rajaton, Pakkanen, Tasangot, Joulun neiet, Nouse lauluni, Butterfly
2009
2009 brought about many new changes for all involved with the Teal Sound Organization. From a new look to the controversial musical production of “The Velvet Rope”, including the rock band Emberlake. This was a complete departure of where the corps had been the past 2 seasons with the musical stylings of the acapella group, Rajaton. However, even though the program was different from previous seasons,Teal won a new group of fans throughout the US this year as they showed how DCI’s electronics’ rule could be used to the fullest extent, not be obtrusive, and blend with the entire corps. The usage of contemporary music from Janet Jackson, Cold Play, Blue Man Group, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera brought the crowd to its feet many times over the season. The corps traveled over 9,000 miles during the summer of ’09 throughout the East, Southeast and Midwest as they made their way to the DCI World Championships for the first time ever in Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts. The corps finished the season in fourth with a score of 91.250 only .50 out of third place at the Open Class Finals.
New uniforms were also introduced in 2009 that gave the corps a distinct appearance and look while on the field. The original colors of Teal and Gold were brought back in the uniform, along with a unique gold and teal diamond shaped mirror that was the center point of focus. These colors were accompanied by the use of a buttery shade of cream as the primary color of the jackets, pants, shakos and plumes that really stood out and transformed the corps into its second decade of existence. Many thanks go out to both Brent Becker and all the folks at Stanbury Uniforms for making the dream a reality this season. The corps completed the final review for World Class admittance in DCI and hopefully will be stepping up to a new level of competition and returning World Class Drum Corps to the state of Florida for the 2010 season.
2009 Repertoire: The Velvet Rope - Janet Jackson; Fix You - Cold Play; Your Attention Please - Blue Man Group; Damn Girl - Justin Timberlake; Beautiful - Christina Aguilera; I Feel Love - Donna Summer/Blue Man Group
Excerpts of the corps' early history courtesy of Drum Corps World. |
