Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps

Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps (also known as "SCV", "Vanguard", or just "Santa Clara") is a World Class (formerly Division I) competitive junior drum and bugle corps. Based in Santa Clara, California, the Santa Clara Vanguard is one of the thirteen founding member corps of Drum Corps International (DCI) and is a six-time DCI World Champion.^[1]

The Santa Clara Vanguard, 2008.

History

What began as a disagreement among supporters of a drum and bugle corps has evolved into one of the finest and most entertaining corps in the history of the activity.

On the evening of March 6, 1967, citing differences of opinion in the artistic direction of the Sparks Drum & Bugle Corps, parents voted to disband the group and return to being a drum and bell corps with majorettes. After the vote, three dissident adults took concerned corps members aside and asked them if they would rather continue a drum and bugle corps instead of becoming a drum and bell corps. With a resounding "yes!," a new corps was born.

A new booster club was organized that very night. Gail Royer, music instructor for the Sparks, was a local elementary music teacher and an American Legion judge. He would be the director for the new corps. The naming of the new corps had to wait until the kids met for rehearsal the next week. At that time, after discussing several possibilities, they settled on the name - Santa Clara Vanguard.

One week later, the newly christened corps marched and won their first parade, San Francisco’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The big trip in 1967 was to Southern California to compete in the Anaheim Kingsmen’s second annual Festival of Music. The corps placed fourth there (losing to the Diplomats by 0.15 points). Corps members had the opportunity to observe the great U.S. Air Force Academy Drum & Bugle corps for the first time that weekend, getting a taste of what was possible in the drum corps medium. It was also the weekend that they met two young Kingsmen instructors who would play large roles in the corps’ future, 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, a rite that has continued down the years.

In 1968, the corps embarked on its first tour to the Midwest in order to measure itself against more experienced corps in full contests. Gail Royer was trying to prepare them for VFW Nationals in Philadelphia the following year. Although they did not place high at any of the competitions, the tour was a success because of the competition experience and the exposure to the national competition scene. Corps members made many friends and gained the respect of fellow performers from such elite corps as the Casper Troopers, Kilties, Cavaliers, and Blue Stars. Many of these friendships continue to this day. On the local front, the SC Vanguard Color Guard beat the Anaheim Kingsmen in 1968 to win their first California Color Guard Circuit Championship, and the corps won its first standstill competition. The corps also won its first field show that year, on August 3, 1968, at the Anaheim Kingsmen’s Festival of Music. Santa Clara Vanguard capped off its year by winning the first of many California State Open Championships.

The Vanguard made its first trip to the East Coast in 1969. At their first VFW Nationals in Philadelphia, the corps finished in thirteenth place of the sixty-three corps, just missing Finals. The members then visited Washington, D.C., where the corps played their musical program on the steps of the Capitol Building, and New York City. In the corps' second "major" show of the season, SCV placed ninth of the forty-one corps in Class A at the U.S. Open in Lynn, Massachusetts. Santa Clara closed out the Sixties by beating every other major corps in the country in 1970; they did lose to several corps, but repaid those losses with wins. Finances prevented the corps from attending VFW Nationals in Miami, but the corps traveled in their own automobiles to Portland, Oregon for the American Legion Nationals, where they defeated twenty-one other mostly West Coast corps to win the 1970 American Legion Junior National Championship.

In 1971, at the urging of Troopers founder Jim Jones and Cavaliers founder Don Warren, the Blue Stars, Cavaliers, Madison Scouts, Santa Clara Vanguard, and the Troopers formed the Midwest Combine. This action was taken in reaction to the rigid, inflexible rules of the American Legion and VFW (the primary rule makers and sponsors of both corps and shows) and the low or nonexistent performance fees paid for appearing in the various competitions. The corps felt that not only were they having their creative potential as artistic performing groups stifled, but they were being financially starved. (A similar group of Eastern corps, the United Organization of Junior Corps [also known as the "Alliance"], was formed by the 27th Lancers, Garfield Cadets, Boston Crusaders, Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights, and Blue Rock.) The Combine members felt that the corps should be making their own rules, operating their own competitions and championships, and keeping the bulk of the monies that those shows earned. For the 1971 season, the corps stuck together, offering show promoters the five corps as a package. Despite pressure on show sponsors, judges, and other drum corps, the Combine corps were not only booked into a number of shows together, but they found a host for a show of their own, which was a spectacular success despite fears of failure that lasted until a standing-room-only crowd arrived literally at the last moment. Otherwise during that season, SCV competed in three "majors"; they were third at the CYO Nationals, second among thirty-seven corps at the World Open, and won the VFW National Championship in Dallas, Texas.

Buses belonging to the Santa Clara Vanguard.

In 1972, the Santa Clara Vanguard, along with the nine other corps from the Midwest Combine and the Alliance, plus the Anaheim Kingsmen, Argonne Rebels, and De La Salle Oaklands were founding members of Drum Corps International, which remains as the sanctioning body for junior corps in North America. At the first DCI World Championships in Whitewater, Wisconsin, SCV finished in third place in a competition that featured thirty-nine corps from the East, the South, the West Coast, the Midwest and Great Plains, and Canada. Santa Clara would remain among DCI's top three corps for the organization's first eight years, winning the DCI World Championship in Whitewater in 1973, in Ithaca, New York in 1974, and in Denver in 1978. SCV would close out the Seventies by falling to seventh place in Birmingham, Alabama in 1980 with a totally asymmetrical drill that was probably slightly ahead of its time. The corps' dominance was partly due to superb drumming, partly due to innovative drill, but largely due to a strong, supportive organization.

Santa Clara recovered from the down season of 1980 by winning its fourth DCI World Championship in '81. Then, over the next seven years, SCV would place second five times and third twice before winning its fifth DCI title in 1989. After that nine-year streak, the Vanguard would fall to sixth in 1990, fourth in '91 and seventh in '92. After the '92 season, the corps' original director, Gail Royer, stepped down and died soon after. Dr. Len Kruszecki was appointed as Royer's successor In 1996, J.W. Koester became SCV's director, and the corps placed fifth at DCI, improved to third in '97, second in '98, and won its sixth DCI World Championship in 1999. Under the directorship of Rick Valenzuela, 2000–05; Jeff Pearson, 2006-08; Jeff Fiedler, 2009-15; and Charles Frost since 2016, the Santa Clara Vanguard has continued its unbroken string of having appeared in every DCI Finals since 1972 and is the only corps able to make such a claim.

Sponsorship

The Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps is sponsored by the Santa Clara Vanguard Booster Club, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that has a Board of Directors, corps director, and staff assigned to carry out the organization's mission. Kevin Brooks is Chairman of the Board, and Charles Frost is the Executive Director. The organization also sponsors the Vanguard Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps, the Santa Clara Vanguard Independent World Winter Guard, the Vanguard Winter Percussion, and the Vanguard Community Arts Initiative which provides music education programs to the community, including private music lessons and performing ensembles such as the SCV Big Band and the SCV Youth Brass Ensemble.^[2]

Show Summary (1972-2016)

Source:^[3][4]

Gold background indicates DCI Championship; pale blue background indicates DCI Class Finalist; pale green background indicates DCI semifinalist.

Traditions

Send In The Clowns

SCV's corps song is Stephen Sondheim's Send In The Clowns from the musical "A Little Night Music." The corps first performed the song as part of the musical program in 1974, when the corps won its second DCI World Championship. Originally arranged by Gail Royer, the song is played by the brass on special occasions.

The Bottle Dance

As strongly identified with the corps as Send In The Clowns is the Bottle Dance from "Fiddler on the Roof" by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick. SCV first performed the Bottle Dance music as a part of its inaugural DCI program in 1972. The actual "Dance" was added in 1973 where it was incorporated into the musical program seven times, including the 1973, 1974 and 1978 championship seasons.

At DCI Finals in Birmingham, Alabama in 1979 and again in Montreal, Quebec in 1982, SCV closed their Finals performance with the Bottle Dance, which had not previously been a part of that year's show.

A row of Aussies worn by the Santa Clara Vanguard.

The Aussie

The Santa Clara Vanguard wears a special type of hat, known as the "Aussie." Originally, the 1967 corps turned up the left side of their gaucho hats and added a horizontal feather. Since 1972, they have worn hats specifically designed to be worn as "Aussies" with the feather upright. Notable exceptions were 1987, when the corps wore "Cossack" hats for their program of Russian music, and 1992 when "Tevye" hats were worn.

The Feathers in the Aussie

Before entering the field at the start of their field show, all members raise the feathers to an upright position until the completion of the show, lowering them after marching off the field (previously, the bass drummers would leave their feathers in the lowered position; since 2011, they have raised their feathers with the rest of the corps). Originally, the ostrich feathers in the Aussie were white. Starting in the early 1980s, the white feathers were supplemented with another color (red or black). In 2009, the corps returned to the white feathers without any other colors.

Then visual designer and mentor, Myron Rosander addressing the 2001 corps. Age-outs are shown holding their green feathers.

Green Feather Ceremony

The very first Green Feather Ceremony was held prior to the last show of the 1967 season at the California State Open Championships in Santa Clara (Townsend Field). At that ceremony the Director - Gail Royer presented a green feather to those members aging out of the corps to wear for their last performance with the Santa Clara Vanguard. This tradition continues today. Prior to the last performance of the year, "age-outs" about to march their final show have been presented a green feather to wear during that final performance. For front ensemble performers—who do not wear an Aussie in performance—a portion of a green feather is worn behind the Vanguard Star on the uniform. For members of the color guard, the green might be a portion of a feather pinned to whatever uniform they are wearing that season, a green hair tie (if applicable), etc.

In later years, the corps performed a community parade in Santa Clara after DCI Finals, and it was at that performance that the green feather was worn by age-outs. With the passing of that parade, the green feather is now presented prior to performing at DCI Finals.

The Vanguard Star

The Vanguard Star

An eight-pointed star has been worn as a corps symbol since 1972. All brass players and drummers except contrabass/tuba players and bass drummers wear the star on the left breast. Tuba players wear the star centered on the chest to avoid damage from horn movements. Bass drummers wear them low on the left side of their tunics, since the bass drum obscures any other locations for the star. The stars are kept as mementos and placed on a designated spot on the right side of the members' corps jackets upon age-out.

In the case of the child of a Vanguard alum marching with the corps, the child may wear his or her parent's star in place of their own at specific shows, typically Finals.

The Cymbal "V"

As the last chord or note of the musical program sounds, the cymbal section will usually arrange their cymbals to flash a "V" at the audience in what is typically the final action of the show.

References

External links

• Santa Clara Vanguard website
• Drum Corps International website