Q&A With Trevor Stojanovich: A Long Journey From Gold, To Gold

Q&A With Trevor Stojanovich: A Long Journey From Gold, To Gold

Six year drum corps veteran Trevor Stojanovich discusses his journey to find the perfect place for him, from Gold to The Academy to winning in 2017.

Jan 12, 2018 by Andy Schamma
Q&A With Trevor Stojanovich: A Long Journey From Gold, To Gold
As many World Class drum and bugle corps wrap up their auditions and callbacks, other smaller corps are still scrambling to get people into their camps with instruments and equipment in hand. 

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As many World Class drum and bugle corps wrap up their auditions and callbacks, other smaller corps are still scrambling to get people into their camps with instruments and equipment in hand. 

Smaller World Class corps and many Open Class corps can be great launching points for a future in high-level drum corps or an end-goal for someone looking for a cheaper, family-focused experience filled with loyalty and development in and out of performance.

Trevor Stojanovich got his start at Gold Drum and Bugle Corps, where he spent two seasons in 2012-13 before moving up to Drum Corps International's World Class in The Academy. After two seasons with The Academy, he made the ultimate move to join the Concord Blue Devils in Northern California.

FloMarching: Can you tell me about your experience in the marching arts?

Trevor Stojanovich: My marching career started back in 2010 with the Chaparral High School marching band from Las Vegas. I marched tenor sax and mellophone there for four years, and then I was in indoor drumlins for four years as well. I played drumset, xylophone, quads and cymbals.

In 2014, I was in the U.S. Army All-American Marching Band, which is basically the top high school seniors from around the country. We all gather and play a halftime show at the All-American Bowl.

As far as drum corps goes, I was a member of Gold in 2012 and 2013, I was in The Academy in 2014 and 2015, and a member of the Blue Devils in 2016 and 2017 on mellophone."

I aged out in 2017 and I’ve been teaching at Foothill High School (NV) where I’ve been a visual, brass, and cymbal instructor. Now I’m on visual staff at the Sacramento Mandarins.

What made you pick Gold as your first home?

I decided to audition for Gold because it was one of the closer drum corps to my hometown. I really liked their 2011 show, from the season before when I was doing some research on corps. I began mellophone in August of 2011 and the auditions were in January of 2012 for the 2012 season so…

I didn’t even think I would make the drum corps going into it because I was so fresh and wasn’t terribly confident in my abilities but I thought, "Why not just go for it?"

How did you decide it was time for you to move onto a World Class corps? And what made you pick The Academy?

It’s not necessarily that I didn’t want to return to Gold, because I wouldn’t have minded returning to Gold. I was drawn to World Class when I was a senior in high school mostly because of the age difference between the drum corps. I was getting older and about ready to graduate from high school and I knew that was about the average age of a lot of the members of The Academy. I thought that my skills might have been developed to a point that I felt confident to at least audition for World Class and see what would happen.

Also, my friend Rob marched The Academy in 2013 and told me that I should try out and that he’d drive me to camps. I didn’t drive at the time so a big thing to me was just finding any sort of ride I could get to camp and to move-ins.

I kind of figured this out over time, that I had always wanted to be a music educator, especially when I was in high school. I think that since I played so many instruments already, it would be really valuable to me, to be a successful educator, to get as many drum corps experiences as possible. Find things that I liked, and really pick apart the minds of the staff and gain different perspectives on things.

How did you decide it was time for you to move onto the Blue Devils?

During the 2014 season, I saw the Blue Devils perform "Felliniesque" in Southern California. I was totally in love with that and every part of the way it was performed. Later on that season, I met a Blue Devils mellophone player, Morgan, in a gas station after the Atlanta regional and we were waiting in one of those super long, drum corps gas station lines. We were talking and he told me all about the experience over there and I really liked everything he was describing. He was a super nice guy and told me that I should go audition.

Another thing that drew me there was that a pretty large portion of my visual staff at The Academy had aged out with the Blue Devils, and I loved their approach to teaching. I was really eager to learn from the people that they learned from.

I went and auditioned in 2015 and made it all the way to the last round of the callback camp and got cut right at the very end. But that lit a fire under me to just work as hard as I could and just practice relentlessly until I made it the next season. I practiced to the point where I could play the whole packet standing on one leg with my eyes closed. I was pretty determined.

What were the biggest differences between the different ensembles?

I thought the instructors all had different approaches, that I had looked into beforehand. I was eager to learn those different approaches. Each group has different skill levels and I feel like I timed my career out so I was marching a corps where I was in the average age group.

Cost and travel was different. I definitely stayed on the West Coast so I could drive to everything. I’ve been getting better financially through out the years, and the cost just went up with each drum corps so that worked for me.

Show design of each different corps had appealed to me for different reasons. They all played different styles of music, and within their own realm every corps has a unique identity.

What would you say to people who don't know where to start looking when it comes to picking their first drum corps experience?

My first piece of advice is to not overlook or look down upon the Open Class. From personal experience, those members worked just as hard, if not harder than a lot of the World Class drum corps. I know during my time in Open Class that was my biggest developmental period and I’m entirely grateful to that experience. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Find a group whose shows you like, maybe a corps close to home that you can carpool to with friends. Find a uniform that you would like to wear. Go somewhere that plays the music you like. If you’re in color guard go find your favorite way the rifle is spun, or whatever.

If something doesn’t work out the first time, don’t give up. That’s the worst thing you can do. I guarantee that there is always a drum corps that will accept you. I really believe that any drum corps experience is better than none at all. No matter where you march, there will always be ways to improve your craft. Never give up.