"THERE WAS SO MUCH POWER IN THE PLAYING, AND IT REALLY BROUGHT THIS INCREDIBLE ENERGY TO THE TUNE."
That's what went through American composer and singer-songwriter Cody Fry's thoughts in June of 2023 when he first heard the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps playing his song "Caves," a dramatic orchestral piece that served as the opening to their show "The Cut-Outs."
His reaction was not unlike most people who have yet to hear a favorite song of theirs performed by a Drum Corps International brass line at full volume—let alone a song he had written himself.
After hearing that video of the Blue Devils playing John Meehan's arrangement, he knew the potential to capture lightning in a bottle was there.
Years later, once Fry wrote "Magic In You," he thought it would be the perfect opportunity to bring in the 21-time DCI World Champions.
He reached out to Meehan and presented the opportunity. The long-time Blue Devils arranger and former brass caption head knew if they could get the timing right, they might be able to perform it together. Fry wanted to film it, and the pieces started coming together for a meeting in Wyoming during their preparations for the 2026 summer tour.
In fact, Fry was one of the first to see the new uniforms and this was the Blue Devils' first performance wearing them.
Fry is no stranger to performing on big stages, with big acts like the Chicago Symphony, on a cruise ship for Oprah's 55th birthday, singing "Hey Jude" as a tribute to George Martin with the man himself in the audience.
"It was pretty wild," remarked Fry.
Even still, Fry described standing in front of the Blue Devils hornline "absolutely ripping" as one of his "top 10 musical experiences."
Read the full Q&A with Cody Fry on his experience with The Blue Devils and creating "Magic In You" below.
FloMarching: What was your first impression when you saw that viral video of Blue Devils playing "Caves"?
Cody Fry: My first impression was just, "What IS this?" I had to figure out what it was because it looked like marching band, but I could also tell it wasn't quite marching band. Once I dug in, my second impression was just how insanely powerful it was, the level of brass playing in particular . There was so much power in the playing and it really brought this incredible energy to the tune. I just had to figure out more.
FloMarching: How did this particular project come together for "Magic In You"?
Cody Fry: The viral video of Blue Devils playing "Caves" introduced me to this entire world of DCI. I logged that away and I thought "Hmm, this is an interesting format." Maybe if I have something in the future would work for this, I’d reach out.
After I wrote "Magic in You," I thought it would be a cool DCI thing. I reached out directly to John Meehan, who arranged "Caves" and works with the Blue Devils. He thought a custom arrangement could actually work for the corps, and I immediately asked, "Can we film it, also?"
FloMarching: What was it like creating the brass and percussion arrangements with John Meehan, Brian Dinkel, Scott Johnson?
Cody Fry: I normally arrange all of my own music—that’s usually the most fun part for me, I work with symphony orchestras primarily and I love orchestrating. So it's rare for me to let go of the reins and allow someone else to arrange my music, but for this particular thing, it's just a world I really don't know much about. I thought "What better way to capitalize on this format and take full advantage of the extraordinary abilities of these players, than to have the people who write for them all the time just do the arrangement" John, Scott, and Brian were gracious enough to be like "Oh yeah, this sounds great."
So they kind of based their arrangement off of my orchestral arrangement.
When I first saw it I must admit I thought to myself "There is no way they’re going to play this stuff, right?" Particularly the battery, I would never write something like this for a professional orchestra in a million years!
Sure enough, I show up on the day and they just absolutely smashed it out of the park.
But, I'm so glad that I let go and let the people who really know what they're doing do these arrangements because I wanted to capture what is special about this thing. And if I would have done it, it would have sounded like a Cody Fry orchestral arrangement. But having them do it, it sounded like an incredible DCI arrangement.
FloMarching: You said "It’s impossible to overstate what it feels like to stand in front of 80 brass players absolutely ripping. Top 10 musical experiences for me" - not to make you rank them, but what are some of the other top musical experiences you've lived through that this measured up against?
Cody Fry: It’s hard to even try to translate that [musical experience] into a recording. I listen to the recording of "Magic In You" and I think 'man, I wish people could just stand right in front of them and hear them play it' because of the air that's moving, you can't experience it through speakers. You have to be there to experience the reality of that air moving.
In terms of other musical experiences for me, I perform with symphony orchestras all the time and really I just have to pinch myself all the time.
There's nothing like a large group of incredibly talented musicians all coming together to make one cohesive piece of art together. It's just the best. So, I don't know, performing with the Chicago Symphony was really special. My first show out of the pandemic, where I performed my music at the Fisher Center with my own pickup orchestra, plus my band, and it was like my first big show ever my dad conducted. That was really, really special.
In terms of just like crazy, off the wall music experiences I've had: I performed on a cruise ship for Oprah's 55th birthday. She rented the whole ship and sailed us around the Mediterranean Sea. That was wild.
I have sung with Earth, Wind and Fire as a part of a Grammy camp thing. Those are all pretty top things.
I had to sing Hey Jude as a as a tribute to George Martin. And George Martin was there, which was pretty wild.
I've had some crazy music experiences, but like I said, it's the moments where it feels like there's a lot of people coming together to make one thing together. That is pretty peak for me.
I'd also mention my symphony, The Unlikely Mariner, that is a top ten musical experience for me.
Putting that orchestra in the water and trying to record them was really something.
FloMarching: Did you get to watch the Blue Devils' 2026 show "ZEI" in Wyoming? What did you think?
Cody Fry: So no, I didn't get to watch them live in Wyoming. They were still developing it there. The admin team had kind of told me a bit about it and about Icarus and all this stuff, and I thought it just looked so extraordinary.
But I will say it was the first time they had ever put on their touring uniforms, these amazing blue and multi-colored uniforms.
So they were stoked. It was like the first time they had ever put them on. They put them on and then we shot this video right away. And so they were stoked about the uniforms. I was stoked about them because they looked amazing, and we had to keep it all hush hush, because they didn't want to give away the uniforms before the tour.
FloMarching: Will we see you in the warm-up circle at Military Park at DCI World Championships next August, or maybe an earlier show?
Cody Fry: I don't know, maybe, nobody's asked me. So we'll see. We'll see what happens. It seems like I have a lot to learn about this world, and so I want to make sure that any time I come into it, that I can do it in a way that respects and honors, like the incredible traditions and kind of groundbreaking innovations that these people are doing.
I don't want to pretend like I can just come in and be like, here I am. So I yeah, I would love to do it. I think it sounds like great fun.
FloMarching: Are there more DCI/Cody Fry collaborations in the chamber that fans can look forward to in the future?
Cody Fry: Nothing that I can give away just yet, but if any of you have followed me for any amount of time, you know that I'm constantly looking for cool and unique ways to showcase unique musical talent and bring people together, especially excite a younger generation about learning music and about being a part of music and ensembles and trying to give, you know, exciting materials for band and orchestra teachers to use to get their students excited about pursuing music and about making music a part of their life.
And so, to me, DCI is just such a cool manifestation of that. It's like the ultimate band kids dream to be a part of an ensemble that good, and to be performing at such a high level.
And so I love DCI for the fact that I think it's just really inspiring for young kids to watch and go, "oh, I could be a part of something like that. That's really cool. That might inspire me to keep taking my trumpet lessons" or whatever, that that's kind of the whole reason I do what I do is because I love music.
I love so many of the music education experiences I had as a kid, and I want them to keep happening and keep being prioritized. And for that to happen, we need students to keep being inspired. I want to be part of the lexicon that contributes to inspiring those students everywhere. No matter where you're from or what instruments you want to play. I think it's all super valuable.
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