# Minnesota Brass Drum and Bugle Corps

The Minnesota Brass Drum and Bugle Corps is an all-age drum and bugle corps based in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States, that competed in Drum Corps Associates (DCA). A consistent DCA Finalist, Minnesota Brass was the 2011 DCA Open Class World Champion. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Minnesota Brass has performed as a member of the SoundSport division under Drum Corps International. It also sponsors several indoor groups that currently compete in Winter Guard International under the MBI designation.

## History

Minnesota Brass was founded in 1946 as the Cecil Kyle Legion Corps. Between the years of 1946 and 1968 the corps operated under the names of William Laidlaw Legion Corps, Laidlaw Toreadors, Grain Belt Diamonds, and Men of Laidlaw. In 1969, the organization became a self-supporting non-profit under the name of Brass, Inc. In 1980, the organization adopted the name Minnesota Brass, Inc.
Today, Minnesota Brass, Inc. is a non-profit performing arts organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota that operates five separate performing ensembles: Minnesota Brass (all-age drum and bugle corps), MBI Winter Guard, MBI Indoor Percussion, and MBI Winds.
The all-age drum and bugle corps is the largest and most well known of the organization's ensembles. The corps performs under the name "Minnesota Brass." Friends and fans sometimes refer to it informally as simply "Brass" or "MBI." The more formal "Minnesota Brass Inc." name is now used rarely and only to refer to the organization as a whole.
The corps has competed in the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) World Championships 34 times since 1973 and has placed in the top ten in Open Class competition every year since 1991, the second longest streak behind the Hawthorne Caballeros Drum and Bugle Corps. In 2011, Minnesota Brass won its first DCA Open Class World Championship title.
At its August 2018 meeting, the board of directors of Minnesota Brass (MBI) voted to pursue an all-age drum and bugle corps to compete during the 2019 summer season.

## Awards

DCA World Champions: 2011
DCA Mini-Corps Champions: 1999, 2005 (Minne-Brass)
DCA Colorguard Champions: 2011
DCA Horn Line Champions: 2010, 2011, 2015
DCA Frontline Champions: 2001, 2004, 2005
DCA Percussion Champions: 2003, 2004, 2010, 2013

## Past Shows

Gold background indicates DCA Open Class Championship; pale blue background indicates DCA Open Class Finalist
| Year | Theme | Repertoire | Score | Placement |
| 2011 | Valhalla | Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin / Children's Hour of Dream by Charles Mingus / Imagine by John Lennon / Ride of the Valkyries by Richard Wagner | 98.350 | 1st |
| 2012 | Bonnie and Clyde | Summertime (from Porgy and Bess) by George Gershwin and DuBose Heyward / It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing by Duke Ellington / Money by Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) / Speechless by Stefani Germanotta / Medea's Dance of Vengeance, Op. 23a by Samuel Barber | 96.230 | 2nd |
| 2013 | PRIMAL | Ritual Fire Dance (from El Amor Brujo) by Manuel de Falla / Dansa Barbara by Neboisa Zivkovic / Danza Final (From Estancia Ballet) by Alberto Ginastera | 96.650 | 3rd |
| 2014 | SuperNova | Knights of Cydonia by Matthew Bellamy (Muse) / Subterranean Homesick Alien by Thom Yorke (Radiohead) / The Planets by Gustav Holst / Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre / Supernova | 96.530 | 2nd |
| 2015 | Mad Circus | Karn Evil 9 by Keith Emerson, Greg Lake and Peter Sinfield / The Breakfast Machine from Big Top Pee Wee by Danny Elfman / Complainte Della Butte by Rufus Wainright / Roustabout by Beals Antique / Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky / The Show Must Go On by John Deacon, Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury and Brian May (Queen) | 95.400 | 3rd |
| 2016 | Now Boarding | To Tame the Perilous Skies by David Holsinger / Speed of Heat by Julie Giroux / Come Fly With Me by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn / Married Life (from UP) by Michael Giacchino / Girl From Ipanema by Antonio Carlos Jobim | 96.950 | 3rd |
| 2017 | Pins & Needles | Hall of the Mountain King (from Peer Gynt Suite #1) by Edvard Grieg / March of the Trolls by Edvard Grieg / Medea's Dance of Vengeance, Op. 23a by Samuel Barber / Coraline by Bruno Courlais / Hurt by Trent Reznor | 88.980 | 9th |
| 2018 | Corps Inactive | Corps Inactive | Corps Inactive | Corps Inactive |
| 2019 | Corps Inactive | Corps Inactive | Corps Inactive | Corps Inactive |
| 2020 | Season canceled due to COVID-19 | Season canceled due to COVID-19 | Season canceled due to COVID-19 | Season canceled due to COVID-19 |
| 2021–2024 | Did not attend World Championships | Did not attend World Championships | Did not attend World Championships | Did not attend World Championships |