Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps

The Santa Clara Vanguard is a World Class (formerly "Division I") modern drum and bugle corps based in Santa Clara, California. The corps was founded in 1967 by Gail Royer and is a member corps of Drum Corps International. The Santa Clara Vanguard (sometimes simply referred to as "Santa Clara", "SCV", "The Vanguard", or simply, "Vanguard") is a charter member of DCI, as well as the fourth most successful DCI member corps with six champion titles to their name.

The Santa Clara Vanguard have been DCI Division I World Champions six times, in 1973, 1974, 1978, 1981, 1989, and 1999 . In addition, they have placed second seven times (1975, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1998) and third eight times (1972, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1997, and 2004). The corps has never placed out of the top eight at DCI Finals, and they are the only corps in DCI history to appear in every Finals competition.

Mission Statement

To provide the opportunity for people of all ages to develop an appreciation for the performing arts through participation, thus instilling characteristics of integrity, dedication, excellence and good citizenship.

Vision Statement

To continue a tradition of pride, respect, and excellence of a champion.

History

What began as a disagreement among supporters of a drum and bugle corps, has emerged into one of the finest and most entertaining corps in the history of drum corps. Citing differences of opinion in the artistic direction of the Sunnyvale Sparks Drum & Bugle Corps, parents voted to disband the drum & bugle corps and return to a drum & bell corps with majorettes. At that parents meeting, having learned of the proposed disbandment, several of the drum corps kids waited outside anxiously awaiting the outcome. After the meeting, three of the adults (Ed Leeson, Bud Wall, Monico Amador) took the kids into a small room and told them what happened. They were asked if they wanted to keep going as a drum & bugle corps, and with a resounding "yes!", a new corps was born.

Later that evening, March 6, 1967, at 10:15pm, the new booster club met for the first time in an "unscheduled meeting." In that brief meeting, officers were elected and spirits were high. Gail Royer, music instructor for the Sparks, was a local elementary/junior high music teacher and an American Legion judge. He would be the director for the new corps. (Note: The first year there were three co-directors: Gail Royer, Dan Barkley, Joe Martinez [Dan Barkley went on to teach percussion with the Stockton Commodores and Joe Martinez went on to teach drill with the Anaheim Kingsmen] ). The kids were to meet for practice the following week; the new booster club would also meet to discuss the business details of starting a new corps.

After the first practice, everyone gathered together to decide on a name. After discussing several possibilities it was narrowed down to three (Cardinals, Spartans, and Vanguard), and they finally settled on the Vanguard. The only condition Gail Royer put on the selection was that it have to be prefaced by Santa Clara as not to be confused with Des Plaines (Skokie) Vanguard.

One week later, they marched and won their first parade – beating the Princemen and others at the San Francisco St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The “big trip” that year was to Southern California to compete in the Anaheim Kingsmen’s 2nd Annual “Festival of Music”; the Corps placed 4th. This weekend trip was also when the Corps was introduced to two young Kingsmen instructors from the famed Casper Troopers – Pete Emmons and Fred Sanford.

Just before the Corps’ final performance of that first year, Gail Royer honored the Corps’ first “age-outs” with the original “Green Feather Ceremony” which took place outside of Santa Clara’s Townsend Field at the California State Open Championship on September 30, 1967.

Several of the brass arrangements played the first couple of years came from the pen of Truman Crawford (arranger for the Chicago Royal Airs and Director of the US Marine Corps Drum & Bugle Corps). Other early contributors to the brass book included Don Angelica and Keith Markey (Air Force Academy Drum & Bugle Corps) with “fine tuning” contributed a little later by Jack Meehan. Gail Royer started doing some of his own arranging that first year, doing more and more of the repertoire until he took over all of the brass arranging by the 1970 season (a responsibility he would not let anyone else even share until the 1980 season).

Tradition

Perhaps more than any other corps, Santa Clara stresses tradition. It is possibly this, combined with the pioneering nature of Santa Clara's shows, that has made them one of the activity's most popular corps. Many fans cite the 1989 Vanguard rendition of The Phantom of the Opera as not only the corps' greatest show, but as the greatest show in the history of DCI, as evidenced by fan votes for the 2005 and 2007 Classic Countdown (a theatrical special where shows were chosen by fans).

The Vanguard is also one of the few corps to tilt their snare drums down on the right side. When snare drums were first worn and played, they were carried by a sling worn over one shoulder, causing the snare drum to be tilted down to the right. Because of that, snare drummers held the stick in their left hand with a traditional grip so they could comfortably hit the drum. Almost every drum corps today plays with the "traditional grip", but Santa Clara is one of the few corps that tilts their snare drums to match to the grip.

Other Vanguard traditions include an award-winning and very musical percussion section that has captured numerous high percussion awards at World Championships; the long-standing corps director Gail Royer, who guided the corps from its inception to his death in 1993; the Corps' song "Send in the Clowns"; and the Vanguard's performance of the "Bottle Dance" from Fiddler on the Roof.

Historical Moments

1968: The year of the first "Pacific Procession" field competition (the name coming from the Corp's new opener, "Procession of the Nobles").

1970: The first year SCV played Gail Royer’s arrangements of their trademark music from "Fiddler on the Roof"; Won American Legion Nationals (Portland, Ore)

1971: The Vanguard won VFW Nationals (Dallas, Tx) with a score of 89.95 (and without coming in first in a single caption).

1973: DCI Champions; DCI High Percussion Honors

1974: DCI Champions; The Vanguard first plays "Send in the Clowns" for the closer of their show. Gail Royer considered this song to be "simple but effective".

1974: DCI High Percussion Honors

1975: DCI High Percussion Honors

1977: The corps food truck, "Miss Amana" was debuted.

1977: The Vanguard started using two valve horns.

1978: DCI Champions; DCI High Percussion Honors

1979: DCI High Percussion Honors

1980: Santa Clara's entire drill for this year's show was filled with asymmetrical forms (something never done before); their drill was called "extremely innovative". The corps also placed 7th that year — the first time in their history they finished below 3rd place (some argue that's because the judges score sheets were not fully prepared to judge asymmetrical drill.)

1981: DCI Champions; The tympani was moved into the pit this year.

1989: DCI Champions

1992: The last year Gail Royer directs the Vanguard.

1993: Gail Royer passes away; Dr. Len Kruszecki is appointed as the new corps director.

1996: J.W. Koester is appointed as the new corps director.

1999: DCI Co-Champions

2000: Rick Valenzuela is appointed as the new corps director.

2004: DCI High Percussion Honors.

2006: Jeff Pearson is appointed as the new corps director.

2008: Jeff Fielder is named new CEO of the Santa Clara Vanguard.

2008: Jeff Pearson steps down as corps director

Championship Years

1973

The Santa Clara Vanguard won their first Drum Corps International World Championship title on August 17, in Whitewater, Wisconsin at Warhawk Stadium at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. They finished with a final score of 88.650, 2.500 ahead of the Troopers, who came in second.

1974

The Vanguard won their second title the very next year on August 17, in Ithaca, New York at Schoellkopf Stadium. They finished with a score of 89.500, .650 ahead of the second place Madison Scouts.

1978

After finishing in second place in 1975 and in third place the next two years, the Vanguard won their third World Championship title on August 18, in Denver, Colorado at Mile High Stadium. With a final score of 91.550, they barely beat out the second place Phantom Regiment by .100.

1981

After finishing in seventh place in 1980, the Vanguard climbed back to the top this year, claiming their fourth championship title on August 8, in Montreal, Quebec at Olympic Stadium. They scored a 94.000 that night, beating out the second place Blue Devils by .300.

1989

After placing second for four years in a row, the decision was made to return to the field in the 1989 season with a highly polished repertoire of the previous year's music, selections from Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. The Vanguard went into the DCI World Championships in Kansas City having won all but one show for the entire season. Aiming to draw as much emotion as possible from the audience, Santa Clara's finals performance was a theatrical presentation perhaps unlike any other show before. Giant phantom masks lined the field and performers donned half-masks of their own. During the final, dramatic push in "Music of the Night", a fully costumed Phantom seated himself on a chair and was covered with a sheet, and after the last note was released, the cloth was flung back to reveal an empty seat, mask still on it. Simultaneous to the disappearance of this individual, the entire corps had apparently vanished as well, behind mask props and under a giant tarp in center field. With all the members safely disguised, that covering moved away to reveal a similar mask left positioned in the middle of the field.

The Vanguard set a record score of 98.800 that night. It remained the highest finals score on record until the 2002 World Champion Cavaliers and the 2005 World Champion Cadets, who both achieved a score of 99.150.

1999

The Santa Clara Vanguard claimed top honors this year in a first place tie with the Blue Devils. Both corps finished with a score of 98.400. The Vanguard's show, "Inventions for a New Millennium" featured the music of Philip Glass, Samuel Barber, and Frank Ticheli, and contrary to the Vanguard's theatrical style, this year's show is described as "minimalist". The Vanguard also won the general effect caption this year.

hows by Year (DCI era)

ee also

*Vanguard Cadets
*Drum Corps International

External links

* [http://www.scvanguard.org/ Santa Clara Vanguard Official Website]
* [http://www.dci.org Drum Corps International]
* [http://www.corpsreps.com/corpsreps.cfm?view=corpsdet&corps=3&corpstype=Junior Santa Clara Vanguard repertoires at Corpsreps.com]
* [http://www.drumcorpswiki.com/index.php/ DrumCorpsWiki]
* [http://www.wildridepublications.com/ A book about what it's like in Santa Clara Vanguard]