Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the other unit sometimes called the Phantom Regiment, see GHQ Liaison Regiment. For the musical piece by Leroy Anderson entitled The
Phantom Regiment, see Leroy Anderson.

Phantom Regiment

Location

Rockford, Illinois

Division

World Class

Founded

1956

Director

Rick Valenzuela

Championship titles 1996 (tie), 2008

Uniform

2014
(In-show change A to B)
A) Jacket w/white top,
collar, left sleeve (w/black

chevrons) & gauntlet,

silver sequined sash,
silver buttons & right
shoulder accents,
black right sleeve & gauntlet
White pith helmet
w/silver chains, badge
& white plume
B) Black top w/black on
tan overlay, black left sleeve, shoulder accents
&
right armband (w/silver studs)
Black helmet w/silver
fittings & black plume
A & B) Black pants
Black 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 ofDrum 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]
Contents
[hide]

1 History

2 Sponsorship

3 Show summary (19722014)

4 References

5 External links

History[edit]
Sources: [2][3][4][5]
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. Phantom Regiment legend also holds that 1971 was also the season that the corps showed its determination to survive when, on a
Friday the 13th, 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. One question that has never been answered is, if the first DCI World
Championships had been held much further away than the one hour drive toWhitewater, Wisconsin, would the Regiment have attended? Regardless,
the corps did attend, placing 23rd of 39 corps in prelims. In 1973, The corps returned when the championships returned to Whitewater, having
undertaken a short tour to Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio 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 2014. 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," comprised entirely of music by Dmitri Shostakovich, the Phantom Regiment finally reached
the top, tying the Blue Devils ofConcord, California for its first DCI World Championship. After the championship victory, Jim Wren retired as the corps'
musical arranger.
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 first undisputed) DCI World Championship.
Through 2014, Phantom Regiment has continued to be a DCI Finalist, with the streak extending through 41 consecutive Top Twelve finishes.

Sponsorship[edit]
The Phantom Regiment 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 also sponsors the Phantom Regiment Winter Guard[6] and, in conjunction with Northern Illinois University's School of Music, the Red &
Black Fall Classic Marching Band Festival and the NIU Concert Band Festival. [7]

Year

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

Theme

Repertoire

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 Supp / Shot in the Dark by Henry Mancini /
Spellbound Concerto byMikls Rzsa
Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky / The Lord's Prayer (from King of Kings)
by Mikls Rzsa /
Mac Arthur Park by Jimmy Webb / Poet and Peasant Overture & Light Cavalry Overture
by Franz von Supp /
Jubilance by James Swearingen
Festive Overture & Fifth Symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich / Poet and Peasant Overture
by Franz von Supp /
Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky / Romeo and Juliet by Pyotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky / Les Preludes byFranz Liszt
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 Tannhuser) by Richard Wagner
Finale from Seventh Symphony by Gustav Mahler / Sixth Symphony by Pyotr Ilyich

Score

Placemen

64.400

23rd

74.700

14th

76.250

11th

81.30

10th

87.75

4th

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

Spartacus

Tchaikovsky /
Tocatta and Fugue in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach / An American in Paris by
George Gershwin /
Pilgrim's Chorus (from Tannhuser) by Richard Wagner
New World Symphony by Antonn Dvok / Piano Concerto No. 1 by Pyotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky /
Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo / Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai RimskyKorsakov /
Ode to Joy (from Symphony No. 9) by Ludwig van Beethoven
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
Third Symphony by Camille Saint-Sans / 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
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
Triumph of Rome, Gladiator Fight, Dance of the Rebels, Prelude to Battle, Battle, Sunrise

90.300

2nd

91.450

2nd

92.750

2nd

88.450

5th

90.850

5th

1982

Spartacus

1983

1984
1985

Symphony Fantastique

1986

1987

Songs from
the Winter Palace
Romeo And Juliet

and Apotheosis
All from Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian (Not the original titles)
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)
Serenade for Strings, Cossack Dance, Dance Neapolitan & 1812 Overture
All by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Scythian Suite by Sergei Prokofiev / Armenian Dances by Alfred Reed / Trypitch by
Anthony Cirone /
1812 Overture by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony Fantastique by Hector Berlioz
Carnival Overture by Antonn Dvok / Alborada Del Gracioso by Maurice Ravel /
Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight & Merlin The Magician by Rick Wakeman /
Resurrection Symphony by Gustav Mahler
Selections from Swan Lake & The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Romeo and Juliet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

1st Movement & 2nd Movement (from Symphony No. 9) / Slavonic Dances No. 1 / 4th
From
The
New
1989
Movement (from Symphony No. 9)
World...Into A New Age
All by Antonn Dvok
4th Movement (from Symphony No. 3) / The Elephant & Finale (from Carnival of the
Animals) /
1990
Dreams of Desire
Bacchanale (from Samson and Delilah)
All by Camille Saint-Sans
1988

92.150

4th

91.450

4th

95.600

4th

90.100

8th

85.000

10th

94.300

5th

93.500

6th

98.400

2nd

95.300

4th

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

Nessun Dorma (from Turandot) by Giacomo Puccini / Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo /

Bacchanale (from Samson and Delilah) by Camille Saint-Sans
Marche Slav by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / La Marseillaise by Claude Joseph Rouget de
War and Peace
Lisle /
1812 Overture by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
The Landworkers, The Wheat Dance & Danza Final (From Estancia Ballet) by Alberto
The Modern
Ginastera /
Imagination
The Fire of Eternal Glory (aka Novorossik Chimes) by Dmitri Shostakovich /
Death Hunt (from On Dangerous Ground) by Bernard Herrmann
Ritual Fire Dance (from El Amor Brujo) by Manuel de Falla / Claire De Lune (from Suite
bergamasque) by Claude Debussy /
Songs for a
Talking Drums (from White Witch Doctor), Theme from North by Northwest & Death
Summer Night
Hunt (from On Dangerous Ground)
by Bernard Herrman
Symphonic Dances / Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (variation 18) / Piano Concerto
Adventures Under a
No. 2 / Capriccio Bohemian
Darkened Sky
All by Sergei Rachmaninoff
A Defiant Heart:
Fourth Ballet Suite / First Symphony, Second Movement / Fifth Symphony, Fourth
The Music of
Movement
Dmitri Shostakovich
All by Dmitri Shostakovich
Hagen's Call to the Clan (from Gtterdmmerung) / Magic Fire Music (from Die Walkre)
/
The Ring
Hammering of the Ring (from Das Rheingold) / Die Gtterdmmerung (from
Gtterdmmerung)
All from Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner
Phantom Voices

95.400

3rd

91.500

8th

96.200

3rd

96.200

3rd

94.100

5th

97.40

1st (tie)

94.200

4th

1998

Songs from
the Eternal City The Music of Rome

1999

Tragedy and Triumph

2000

The Masters of
MystiqueThe Dawn of
Modern Music

2001

Virtuoso

2002

Heroic Sketches:
The Passion of
Shostakovich

2003

Harmonic Journey

2004

Apasionada 874

2005

Rhapsody
Faust

2006

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
Fourth Symphony / Fifth Symphony (2nd Movement) / Sixth Symphony
All by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Jeux by Claude Debussy / Petrouchka by Igor Stravinsky /
Transfigured Night by Arnold Schoenberg / Rite Of Spring by Igor Stravinsky
Finale (5th Movement) & Game of Pairs (2nd Movement) (from Concerto For Orchestra)
by Bla Bartk /
Festive Overture by Dmitri 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
Sanctus (Canon in D) by Johann Pachelbel / Wild Nights (from Harmonium) by John
Adams /
The Lord's Prayer (from King of Kings) by Mikls Rzsa / Ostinato (from Mikrokosmos)
by Bla Bartk
Buenos Aires Hora Cero / La Muerte del Angel / Oblivion / Imagenes 676 / Adios
Nonino / Tres Minutos con la Realidad
All by stor Piazzolla
An American in Paris & Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin
Scythian Suite by Sergei Prokofiev / Ave Maria by Franz Biebl /

90.400

8th

91.200

8th

90.650

7th

91.900

6th

92.400

5th

94.750

4th

93.575

5th

96.825

3rd

96.850

2nd

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Piano Concerto by John Corigliano / Resurrection Symphony by Gustav Mahler

Vespertine Formations by Christopher Deane / 1000 Airplanes on the Roof by Philip
Glass /
On Air
Flower Duet (from Lakme) by Lo Delibes / Suggestion Diabolique by Sergei Prokofiev /
Finale (from Firebird Suite) by Igor Stravinsky
Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian / Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss /
Battlefield {from K) by Ren Dupr / Dance of Ecstasy from (Danses Fantastiques)
Spartacus
by Loris Tjeknavorian /
Toccata (from Piano Concerto No. 1) by Alberto Ginastera
Theme from The Red Violin by John Corigliano / Fantasy Variations on a theme by
Paganini by James Barnes /
The Red Violin
Paganini Variations by Witold Lutoslawski / Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei
Rachmaninoff /
Caprice XXIV by Niccol Paganini / Paganini Variations by Philip Wilby
Into the Light
The New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms by Michael Kamen
East of Eden by Lee Holdridge / Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi /
Lacrimosa dies illa & Confutatis maledictis (from The Requiem Mass in D minor)
Juliet
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
Popolo Di Pekino!Indietro, Cani / Gira La Cote!...Perche Tarda La Luna? / O Mondo, O
MondoO Tigre, O Tigre! /
Turandot
Gravi, Enormi Ed Imponenti / Gloria, Gloria / Tre Enigmi M'Hai / Nessun Dorma!
All from Turandot by Giacomo Puccini
Triumphant Journey
Music from Elizabeth: The Golden Age by A. R. Rahman and Craig Armstrong / Cape

94.850

4th

98.125

1st

89.900

9th

93.150

6th

95.050

5th

96.550

3rd

93.250

6th

2014

Swan Lake

2015

City of light

Fear by Bernard Herrmann /

Four Sea Interludes by Benjamin Britten / Enigma Variations by Edward Elgar /
Symphony No. 11 by Dmitri Shostakovich
Swan Lake by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky / La Pri by Paul Dukas / Dracula by Philip Feeny
/
King Kong by James Newton Howard / Mother and Child (from Flight Plan) by James
Horner
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

Show summary (19722014)[edit]

Sources: [8][9]
Gold background indicates DCI Championship; Pale shaded background indicates DCI Top 12 Finalist.

References[edit]
1.

Jump up^ http://www.dci.org

2.

Jump up^ "History of the Phantom Regiment". Retrieved 2012-08-12.

3.

Jump up^ A History of Drum & Bugle Corps, Vol. 1; Steve Vickers, ed.; Drum Corps World, 2002

4.

Jump up^ http://corpsreps.com/corpsreps.cfm?view=corpshist&corps=19&corpstype=Junior

5.

Jump up^ http://genealogytrails.com/ill/winnebago/Phantom_Regiment.htm

91.425

7th

6.

Jump up^ http://www.regiment.org/winterguard/

7.

Jump up^ http://www.niu.edu/extprograms/high_school_clinics/index.shtml

8.

Jump up^ http://corpsreps.com/corpsreps.cfm?view=corpsdet&corps=19&corpstype=Junior

9.

Jump up^ http://www.allmusic.com/

External links[edit]

Phantom Regiment website

Phantom Regiment Winterguard website

Drum Corps International website

[show]

Drum Corps International

[show]

Drum Corps International World Class Champions