Na Koa Alii (The King's Guard)

From DrumCorpsWiki

Na Koa Alii (Hawaiian, for "The Kings Guard") was a junior drum & bugle corps formed by Mark Dewine, former center snare of the United States Marine Corps Drum & Bugle Corps, while stationed in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii during 1975-1977.

Assisted by Rick Schumann (a former US Marine also stationed with Mark and later turned director of the drum corps from 1977-1980, John & Kim Minn (percussion instructor), Jane & Pat Gjerde, ret USAF (General Manager and corps illustrator), Walt Hardy (former USMC D&B Drum Major and NCOIC), the corps was started with ideals and dreams of providing the local high school / university students with an opportunity to experience what Drum Corps was all about back on the mainland.

Both Rick & Mark became friends with Steve Jeffrey (SCV Snare '78-'78) and a former SVC tonal bass player also named Rick (for the life of me I can't recall his lastname - after all, its 30 years ago!) which provide us insight to how a large, successful Corps (like SCV or BD) approached practice and music and performance. John Riggle (Band Director of Kamehameha H.S. marching band) provided music guidance and hosted numerous marching band shows and was gracious enough to feature the corps in exhibition. John, originally from the bay area, was well "in tune" with Drums Corps, being surrounded by SCV and BD.

Through early funding, like "Zippy's Chili" fund raisers (a local favorite Hawaiian "slow-food" restaurant - everything in Hawaii is laid back, there no such thing as 'fast-food' in Hawaii), some local grants, and donations from the general public, the corps was able to obtain some used horns and percussion pieces from non other then the former Blue Rocks Drum & Bugle Corps out of Wilmington, Delaware (Rick Schumann's home town).

The corps grew to a size of approximately 30 horns with a percussion section of about 4 snares, a single tri-tom, 2 pairs of cymbals, and 2 bass drums, 8-10 rifles, and about 20 silks, along with a color guard. Uniforms were hand made. The corps performed with white trousers and shoes, a red wind-breaker jacket with the Na Koa Alii logo silk-screened onto the back (courtesy of Patrick Gjerde retired USAF who was a professional graphics designer and whose daughter Angela marched with the rifle squad), a yellow ascot and white "SCV" Aussie-styled hat with plume - inspired by the Santa Clara Vanguard - favorites, at the time, of both Rick Schumann and Mark Dewine.

The corps made numerous appearances locally on the island of Oahu playing such memorable songs such as "The Man From La Mancha". The corps opened for one of the local professional baseball games (complete with a chartered bus!), marched in numerous parades around the Island, perform stand-still concerts at shopping centers, and marched in the Kailua 4th of July Parade one season. Through various contacts of Rick Schumann, members of Chuck Mangione's quartet (Chis Vidala & James Bradley, Jr.) were kind enough to stop by and meet with the kids whenever they were in town on tour. A lot of the corps at that time was playing Chuck's music in their shows. Having them stop by and meet with the kids gave the program a real boost. Pete Emmons and Fred Sanford (SCV Drill Design and Percussion Arranger) came out and provided assistance to the corps and to a local High School band program the Rick Schumann was working with (Mililani High School, Mililani, HA, Ron Hirai - Band Director), Chick Correa provided a score to 'Twiddle-Dee' one year(from his Mad Hatter Rhapsody album) for Rick Schumann to assist in arranging into a percussion solo, and the corps' 'street time' cadence was 'borrowed' from The Reading Buccaneers out of Reading, PA. (circa 1977). Although the corps disbanded in 1980 with the departure of Rick Schumann moving permanently back to the mainland, the short run was none the less spectacular. The parents and staff's enthusiasm and commitment were the corps driving force for success. For a few short years, kids in Hawaii gained some exposure to one of the greatest youth-oriented music activities available. The memories have been life-long, and the experience was only possible through the dream and vision of one person, Mark Dewine. Thank you Mark, wherever you are.