Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps
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| 250px | |
| Location | Rockford, Illinois |
|---|---|
| Division | World Class |
| Founded | 1956 |
| Director | Rick Valenzuela |
| Championship titles | 1996 (tie), 2008 |
| Uniform | 2015 :Jacket w/white top, collar,left sleeve (black chevrons) silver buttons & black accents on right shoulder, gold-to-silver sequined right sleeve & jacket bottom. Black trimmed white gauntlet. Silver and gold sequined sash w/black accent, White pith helmet w/silver chains, badge & black/white plume. White pants White shoes & socks. |
The Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps (commonly referred to as "Phantom" or "The Regiment") is a World Class (formerly Division I) competitive junior drum and bugle corps based in Rockford, Illinois, USA. The corps is a long-standing member of Drum Corps International (DCI), having been a DCI World Championship Top Twelve Finalist every year since 1974 and DCI World Champions in 1996 and 2008.[1]
History
The corps was founded in 1956 by members of the Col. Thomas G. Lawler VFW Post 342 who wanted a local competitive drum corps. Under the direction of Alec Haddad, the corps was provisionally named the Rockford Rangers with all-boy drums and bugles sections and an all-girl color guard to be named the Rangerettes. However, when many of the charter members were impressed by the recording of the Syracuse Brigadiers performing the Leroy Anderson composition The Phantom Regiment, the corps' name was changed before the unit made its debut, with the color guard renamed the Phantomettes.
In the corps' early years, the Phantomettes and a corps-sponsored all-boy color guard called the Raiders were competitively successful. The drum and bugle corps, however, struggled for its first few years.. In 1962, the corps bought a set of high quality bugles that had belonged to the Commonwealth Edison Knights of Light Drum and Bugle Corps which had folded two years earlier. With the new instruments and a new brass arranger, the corps began to improve. The old set of bugles went to the newly formed Phantom Regiment Cadets.
Despite the Phantomettes having placed second at the 1962 color guard national championships, in 1963, the Regiment fielded an all-male corps, including the color guard. When scores fell behind those of the previous season, the Phantomettes returned to the corps for 1964. With the girls back in the corps, successful recruitment, and new uniforms, the corps had its best season until that time, including a finish of 15th among 45 corps at the VFW National Championship preliminaries in Cleveland. The Phantomettes were honored in the graphic on the City of Rockford's 1964 vehicle registration stickers. But, on August 21, 1964, Regimental Hall, the corps' home was badly damaged by fire. The organization was forced to sell its instruments and uniforms to pay off its debts.
Financially unable to field a corps in 1965 through 1967, alumni and former staff members reorganized and officially incorporated on September 11, 1967. At the first meeting of the newly restructured corps in January, there were 28 members. The Regiment's 1968 drum and horn lines dressed in black pants and a red windbreaker with a black and white vertical stripe on the left side; the guard wore the same windbreaker, black Bermuda shorts and an "Aussie" style hat. The season consisted mostly of parades, with few field contests. The corps owned one vehicle; a red step van to carry the equipment. In that first year of the corps' return, perhaps the corps' greatest asset was their new musical arranger, Phantom Regiment alumnus and future DCI Hall of Fame member, Jim Wren, who would go on to arrange the unit's brass music for the next 28 years.
By 1970, the Regiment was able to outfit the corps in new uniforms; a cadet-style jacket with a red diagonal sash dividing the black white side from the white left side, black pants with a white stripe, white buck shoes, and a shako with a 12-inch plume. The corps had grown to 89 members with 40 horns, 14 drums, 24 flags, 12 rifles, and a drum major.
In 1971, Wren started adding the classical music pieces that would become Phantom's trademark along with the usual pop music that most corps were playing. On a Friday the 13th in that year, all the of the corps' buses ran out of fuel; the equipment truck caught fire, not just once, but twice; yet the corps went out and won that night's contest.
Prior to the founding of DCI in 1972, the Phantom Regiment, like most corps of the time, was strictly a local organization. The members and the staff came from Rockford and its surrounding suburbs. Travel to contests was limited to perhaps a few hours of driving. The only "National" competition the corps had ever entered had been the 1964 VFW championships in Cleveland. The corps attended the first DCI competition, in Whitewater, Wisconsin, placing 23rd of 39 corps in prelims. In 1973, The corps returned to Whitewater and moved up to 14th place among 48 corps.
In 1974, Phantom presented its first full program of all-classical musical selections. The corps had grown to DCI's maximum of 128 members, and it took its first extended tour, travelling to Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts en route to the DCI Championships in Ithaca, New York. The corps was beating many of the activity's traditional powers and earning a reputation as a power in its own right. At DCI, the Regiment earned its first Top Twelve Finalist placement, beginning a string that has held through 2015. In prelims, the corps shocked many by placing 8th, although they fell back to 11th at Finals.
A new uniform was conceived for the 1975 corps; long white jackets with a black sash, a two-colored cape with red on the inside and black on the outside, black pants, and the one element that remains today: the pith helmet. Once the corps moved up to became a DCI Finalist, it also became become a consistent contender, placing 10th in 1975, 4th in 1976, and having a frustrating run of second-place finishes In 1977, 1978 and 1979 with the corps scoring within tenths of a point from the title.
A fall to a 10th-place finish in 1986 led the corps to take a new approach. Among other moves, the corps made a dramatic uniform change, inspired by designer Michael Cesario, adopting new, all-white uniforms more closely resembling costumes than traditional uniforms. Three years of improvement, culminated in 1989 with another second-place finish, with Phantom's score of 98.400 tying the previous DCI highest score ever. That 1989 corps joined the Kansas City Symphony on stage in a performance of "Elsa's Processional to the Cathedral" that led a newspaper reviewer to write that it was so powerful that he might never recover.
From 1975, the Phantom Regiment's field shows had been designed to maximize the musical impact while often amazing the audience by future DCI Hall of Fame member John Brazale. Returning home after the 1992 DCI Championships, Brazale complained of having severe headaches for the past few weeks, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, and died within months.
The Regiment continued to turn out programs that pleased both audiences and fans, and the corps continued to be a DCI Finalist. In 1995, the corps changed from all-white uniforms to all-black, in the same style.
In 1996, playing a program entitled "The Defiant Heart," consisting entirely of music by Dmitri Shostakovich, the Phantom Regiment finally reached the top, tying the Blue Devils of Concord, California for its first DCI World Championship. Jim Wren arranged for the corps through the 1999 season, and then retired as the corps' musical arranger. Michael Klesch took over arranging duties during the 2000 and 2001 seasons, and was then followed by alumnus J.D. Shaw, who arranged the corps' music from the 2002 season through the 2010 season.
Since winning DCI in 1996, Phantom has made additional uniform changes, but has mostly held to its classical music programming, although more modern music, mainly from film scores has been added.
In 2008, with their performance of "Spartacus", the Regiment defeated the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps by a margin of 98.100 to 98.125 to win their second (and first undisputed) DCI World Championship.
Through 2015, Phantom Regiment has continued to be a DCI Finalist, with the streak extending through 42 consecutive Top Twelve finishes.
Sponsorship
The Phantom Regiment is a 501 (c)(3) musical organization incorporated in the State of Illinois. As such, it has a Board of Directors, directors, and staff assigned to carry out the organization's mission. The corps' Executive Director is Rick Valenzuela, and the Corps Director is Dan Farrell. The organization holds several educational camps throughout the summer. The organization also sponsors, in conjunction with Northern Illinois University's School of Music, the Red & Black Fall Classic Marching Band Festival and the NIU Concert Band Festival.[6]
Show summary (1972–2016)
Sources: [7]
Gold background indicates DCI Championship; Pale shaded background indicates DCI Top 12 Finalist.
| Year | Theme | Repertoire | Score | Placement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | March (from the Damnation of Faust) by Hector Berlioz / The Phantom Regiment by Leroy Anderson / America the Beautiful by Katherine Lee Bates and Samuel A. Ward / Funeral March of a Marionette by Charles Gounod / Poet & Peasant Overture by Franz von Suppé / Shot in the Dark by Henry Mancini / Spellbound Concerto by Miklós Rózsa |
64.400 | 23rd | |
| 1973 | Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky / The Lord's Prayer (from King of Kings) by Miklós Rózsa / Mac Arthur Park by Jimmy Webb / Poet and Peasant Overture & Light Cavalry Overture by Franz von Suppé / Jubilance by James Swearingen |
74.700 | 14th | |
| 1974 | Festive Overture & Fifth Symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich / Poet and Peasant Overture by Franz von Suppé / Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky / Romeo and Juliet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / Les Preludes by Franz Liszt |
76.250 | 11th | |
| 1975 | American Overture by Joseph Willcox Jenkins / Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms / Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini / An American in Paris by George Gershwin / Pilgrim's Chorus (from Tannhäuser) by Richard Wagner |
81.30 | 10th | |
| 1976 | Finale from Seventh Symphony by Gustav Mahler / Sixth Symphony by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / Tocatta and Fugue in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach / An American in Paris by George Gershwin / Pilgrim's Chorus (from Tannhäuser) by Richard Wagner |
87.75 | 4th | |
| 1977 | New World Symphony by Antonín Dvořák / Piano Concerto No. 1 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo / Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov / Ode to Joy (from Symphony No. 9) by Ludwig van Beethoven |
90.300 | 2nd | |
| 1978 | Firebird, Rite Of Spring, Petrouchka, Dance Infernale & Sherzo A La Russe by Igor Stravinsky / Piano Concerto in A minor by Edvard Grieg / Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov / Ode to Joy (from Symphony No. 9) by Ludwig van Beethoven |
91.450 | 2nd | |
| 1979 | Third Symphony by Camille Saint-Saëns / Malambo (Finale from Estancia) by Alberto Ginastera / Morning Mood (from Peer Gynt Suite #1), Piano Concerto in A minor, Hall of the Mountain King (from Peer Gynt Suite #1) & March of the Dwarfs (from Lyric Suite) by Edvard Grieg / Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral (from Lohengrin) by Richard Wagner |
92.750 | 2nd | |
| 1980 | Russian Easter Overture by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov / Romany Life (from The Fortune Teller) by Victor Herbert / Polovetsian Dances (from Prince Igor) by Alexander Borodin / Masquerade Suite by Carl Nielsen / Carmen Suite by Georges Bizet, adapted by Ernest Guiraud |
88.450 | 5th | |
| 1981 | Spartacus | Triumph of Rome, Gladiator Fight, Dance of the Rebels, Prelude to Battle, Battle, Sunrise and Apotheosis All from Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian (Not the original titles) |
90.850 | 5th |
| 1982 | Spartacus | Triumph of Rome, Slave Dance, Gladiator Fight, Mourning and Uprising, Prelude to Battle, Battle, Sunrise and Apotheosis All from Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian (Not the original titles) |
92.150 | 4th |
| 1983 | Serenade for Strings, Cossack Dance, Dance Neapolitan & 1812 Overture All by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky |
91.450 | 4th | |
| 1984 | Scythian Suite by Sergei Prokofiev / Armenian Dances by Alfred Reed / Trypitch by Anthony Cirone / 1812 Overture by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky |
95.600 | 4th | |
| 1985 | Symphony Fantastique | Symphony Fantastique by Hector Berlioz | 90.100 | 8th |
| 1986 | Carnival Overture by Antonín Dvořák / Alborada Del Gracioso by Maurice Ravel / Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight & Merlin The Magician by Rick Wakeman / Resurrection Symphony by Gustav Mahler |
85.000 | 10th | |
| 1987 | Songs from the Winter Palace |
Selections from Swan Lake & The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | 94.300 | 5th |
| 1988 | Romeo And Juliet | Romeo and Juliet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | 93.500 | 6th |
| 1989 | The New World Symphony | 1st Movement & 2nd Movement (from Symphony No. 9) / Slavonic Dances No. 1 / 4th Movement (from Symphony No. 9) All by Antonín Dvořák |
98.400 | 2nd |
| 1990 | Dreams of Desire | 4th Movement (from Symphony No. 3) / The Elephant & Finale (from Carnival of the Animals) / Bacchanale (from Samson and Delilah) All by Camille Saint-Saëns |
95.300 | 4th (tie) |
| 1991 | Phantom Voices | Nessun Dorma (from Turandot) by Giacomo Puccini / Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo / Bacchanale (from Samson and Delilah) by Camille Saint-Saëns |
95.400 | 3rd |
| 1992 | War and Peace | Marche Slav by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / La Marseillaise by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle / 1812 Overture by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky |
91.500 | 8th |
| 1993 | The Modern Imagination | The Landworkers, The Wheat Dance & Danza Final (From Estancia Ballet) by Alberto Ginastera / The Fire of Eternal Glory (aka Novorossik Chimes) by Dmitri Shostakovich / Death Hunt (from On Dangerous Ground) by Bernard Herrmann |
96.200 | 3rd |
| 1994 | Songs for a Summer Night |
Ritual Fire Dance (from El Amor Brujo) by Manuel de Falla / Claire De Lune (from Suite bergamasque) by Claude Debussy / Talking Drums (from White Witch Doctor), Theme from North by Northwest & Death Hunt (from On Dangerous Ground) by Bernard Herrman |
96.200 | 3rd |
| 1995 | Adventures Under a Darkened Sky |
Symphonic Dances / Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (variation 18) / Piano Concerto No. 2 / Capriccio Bohemian All by Sergei Rachmaninoff |
94.100 | 5th |
| 1996 | A Defiant Heart: The Music of Dmitri Shostakovich |
Fourth Ballet Suite / First Symphony, Second Movement / Fifth Symphony, Fourth Movement All by Dmitri Shostakovich |
97.40 | 1st (tie) |
| 1997 | The Ring | Hagen's Call to the Clan (from Götterdämmerung) / Magic Fire Music (from Die Walküre) / Hammering of the Ring (from Das Rheingold) / Die Götterdämmerung (from Götterdämmerung) All from Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner |
94.200 | 4th |
| 1998 | Songs from the Eternal City - The Music of Rome |
Roman Carnival Overture by Hector Berlioz / Un Bel Di (from Madame Butterfly) by Giacomo Puccini / Pines of the Villa Borghese (Pines of Rome mvt I) & Pines of the Appian Way (Pines of Rome mvt IV) by Ottorino Respighi |
90.400 | 8th |
| 1999 | Tragedy and Triumph | Fourth Symphony / Fifth Symphony (2nd Movement) / Sixth Symphony All by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky |
91.200 | 8th |
| 2000 | The Masters of Mystique- The Dawn of Modern Music |
Jeux by Claude Debussy / Petrouchka by Igor Stravinsky / Transfigured Night by Arnold Schoenberg / Rite Of Spring by Igor Stravinsky |
90.650 | 7th |
| 2001 | Virtuoso | Finale (5th Movement) & Game of Pairs (2nd Movement) (from Concerto For Orchestra) by Béla Bartók / Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich |
91.900 | 6th |
| 2002 | Heroic Sketches: The Passion of Shostakovich |
Tenth Symphony, Second Movement / Piano Concerto No. 2, Second Movement / Piano Concerto No. 2, First Movement / Seventh Symphony, Fourth Movement All by Dmitri Shostakovich |
92.400 | 5th |
| 2003 | Harmonic Journey | Sanctus (Canon in D) by Johann Pachelbel / Wild Nights (from Harmonium) by John Adams / The Lord's Prayer (from King of Kings) by Miklós Rózsa / Ostinato (from Mikrokosmos) by Béla Bartók |
94.750 | 4th |
| 2004 | Apasionada 874 | Buenos Aires Hora Cero / La Muerte del Angel / Oblivion / Imagenes 676 / Adios Nonino / Tres Minutos con la Realidad All by Ástor Piazzolla |
93.575 | 5th |
| 2005 | Rhapsody | An American in Paris & Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin | 96.825 | 3rd |
| 2006 | Faust | Scythian Suite by Sergei Prokofiev / Ave Maria by Franz Biebl / Piano Concerto by John Corigliano / Resurrection Symphony by Gustav Mahler |
96.850 | 2nd |
| 2007 | On Air | Vespertine Formations by Christopher Deane / 1000 Airplanes on the Roof by Philip Glass / Flower Duet (from Lakme) by Léo Delibes / Suggestion Diabolique by Sergei Prokofiev / Finale (from Firebird Suite) by Igor Stravinsky |
94.850 | 4th |
| 2008 | SPARTACUS | Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian / Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss / Battlefield {from KÀ) by René Dupéré / Dance of Ecstasy from (Danses Fantastiques) by Loris Tjeknavorian / Toccata (from Piano Concerto No. 1) by Alberto Ginastera |
98.125 | 1st |
| 2009 | The Red Violin | Theme from The Red Violin by John Corigliano / Fantasy Variations on a theme by Paganini by James Barnes / Paganini Variations by Witold Lutoslawski / Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff / Caprice XXIV by Niccolò Paganini / Paganini Variations by Philip Wilby |
89.900 | 9th |
| 2010 | Into the Light | The New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms by Michael Kamen | 93.150 | 6th |
| 2011 | Juliet | East of Eden by Lee Holdridge / Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi / Lacrimosa dies illa & Confutatis maledictis (from The Requiem Mass in D minor) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart / Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet by Nino Rota / Romeo & Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev / Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral (from Lohengrin) by Richard Wagner |
95.050 | 5th |
| 2012 | Turandot | Popolo Di Pekino!…Indietro, Cani / Gira La Cote!...Perche Tarda La Luna? / O Mondo, O Mondo…O Tigre, O Tigre! / Gravi, Enormi Ed Imponenti / Gloria, Gloria / Tre Enigmi M'Hai / Nessun Dorma! All from Turandot by Giacomo Puccini |
96.550 | 3rd |
| 2013 | Triumphant Journey | Music from Elizabeth: The Golden Age by A. R. Rahman and Craig Armstrong / Cape Fear by Bernard Herrmann / Four Sea Interludes by Benjamin Britten / Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar / Symphony No. 11 by Dmitri Shostakovich |
93.250 | 6th |
| 2014 | Swan Lake | Swan Lake by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky / La Péri by Paul Dukas / Dracula by Philip Feeny / King Kong by James Newton Howard / Mother and Child (from Flight Plan) by James Horner |
91.425 | 7th |
| 2015 | City of Light | I Love Paris by Cole Porter / Horoscope by Constant Lambert / Claire de Lune by Claude Debussy / Piano Concerto in C# Minor by Francis Poulenc / An American in Paris by George Gershwin / Symphony #3 (Organ Symphony) by Camille Saint-Saens |
90.325 | 7th |
| 2016 | Preludes for Piano Op. 34, No, 14 by Dmitri Shostakovich / The Chairman Dances by John Adams / Ave Verum Corpus by Colin Mawby /Toccata, Op. 11 by Sergei Prokofiev / Hymne Des Fraternises: I'm Dreaming of Home by Phillipe Rombi / Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten |
TBD | TBD |
References
- ↑ http://www.dci.org
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ A History of Drum & Bugle Corps, Vol. 1; Steve Vickers, ed.; Drum Corps World, 2002
- ↑ http://corpsreps.com/corpsreps.cfm?view=corpshist&corps=19&corpstype=Junior
- ↑ http://genealogytrails.com/ill/winnebago/Phantom_Regiment.htm
- ↑ http://www.niu.edu/extprograms/high_school_clinics/index.shtml
- ↑ http://corpsreps.com/corpsreps.cfm?view=corpsdet&corps=19&corpstype=Junior
