THOMASVILLE — A group of teal-clad youth musicians has stopped in Thomasville.

The Teal Sound Drum & Bugle Corps, celebrating its 10th anniversary season, is in the City of Roses for the week.

“Corps is basically the closest thing to a professional marching band there is,” Brandon Clemons, operations and tour director, said. “It is ‘marching music’s major league.’”

The corps is preparing for its national summer tour and holding fund-raising efforts, including an annual Family and Friends Send Off Premier show Saturday.

“We’ve spent the week at Thomasville High School as the corps makes its final preparations before leaving on its tour, competing against other groups like ours across the U.S.,” Director Randy Blackburn said in a press release. “We will be traveling more than 10,000 miles this summer toward the Drum Corps International (DCI) World Championships in Bloomington, Ind. The corps is considered to be one of the front-runners for the Open Class championship this year.”

The corps, based in Jacksonville, Fla., represents the state as “Florida’s Premier DCI Touring Drum & Bugle Corps.” It is made up of approximately 140 high school and college music students, ages 15-21, from the United States and Japan.

Its Web site, www.tealsound.org, calls the corps an “intense, competitive choreographed musical experience staged on a football field” which uses only brass and percussion instruments, “supported by dance and movement utilizing flags and other props.”

“I wanted something better than just marching band,” Mary Freund, 17, of Georgia, a mellophone player in her second year with the corps, said. “Everyone works together for the same goal.”

Georgian Ronnie Hill, 21, a contrabass player, said this is his “first and last year” with the corps.

“I have one more year before I start teaching,” he explained. “I wanted to share that experience with my students and encourage them to do drum corps and things like it.”

Austin Pelella, 20, a first-year snare drummer from Florida who also plans to become a teacher, said it has been a goal of his, since age 16, to be able to participate in a corps like Teal.

Teal Ewer, 17, a trumpet player from Georgia is also in his first year.

“I got into band because I either had to take band, choir or P.E. for a year,” he said. “I chose concert band. I chose to participate in corps because I just thought it would be really fun.”

Staff is comprised of both college and high school band directors and instructors in dance and the arts.

DCI holds a series of competitive musical events for eight weeks in the summer (June through August), mostly held at high schools or mid-size college stadiums.