Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps
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The Reading Buccaneers
| Location | Reading, Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| Division | Open Class |
| Founded | 1957 |
| Director | James Gruber |
| Championship Titles | VFW: 1960, 1961, 1962; DCA: 1965, 1968, 1979, 1980, 2005, 2006 |
| Corps Uniform | Royal blue jackets with faux black satin cummerbund, silver and blue sequined sash, black pants, shoes, gauntlets, and aussie hats with royal blue plume |
The Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps is one of the oldest and most storied Drum Corps Associates Open Class summer drum and bugle corps still in existence.
Fondly known as the Balance in Blue because of the variety of musical styles they have presented over the years, the corps has programmed mostly classical choices since the late 1990s.
The corps symbol is a wooden ship's wheel in blue with a B in the center.
The corps song is sung to the theme of An Affair to Remember[1], although other songs that are closely associated to the Buccaneers include Sylvia, Beyond the Sea, Russian Sailor's Dance, and the theme from Shaft.
The Reading Buccaneers are currently sponsored in part by the Behler-Hein American Legion Post # 637 of Hamburg, PA, as well as many businesses in the Reading and Berks County area, and by the Buccaneer Alumni Association[2].
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[edit] History
Organized in Reading in 1957 as a parade corps, the Bucs have been competing since 1958. They rose rapidly to national prominence, capturing three consecutive VFW national championships between 1960 and 1962, the last year that a VFW Senior Champion was named.
The Buccaneers were the first corps to be crowned DCA Open Class World Champions in 1965. They have since repeated five times, in 1968, 1979, 1980, 2005, and, most recently 2006, when they once again finished the season undefeated, while taking Best Percussion, and Best Visual Effect. The corps has also placed second seven times (1973, 1974, 1976, 1984, 1984, 1999, and 2001) and third seven times (1972, 1975, 1977, 1981, 2000, 2002, and 2004). They have missed being a DCA finalist only twice.
[edit] Seasons of note
[edit] 1960
The corps captured its first VFW championship with a score of 84.150[3].
[edit] 1965
The corps won the very first DCA championship with a score of 84.50[4].
[edit] 1968
The corps won their second DCA championship, becoming the first DCA corps to win a second DCA title [5].
[edit] 1979
Led by future DCA Hall of Famer drum major George Parks, the Bucs captured the last DCA title of the 1970s with a score of 90.5[6].
[edit] 1980
The Bucs pulled off a repeat with a score of 91.3 and a show that many DCA fans regard as legendary[7].
[edit] 1981
Aiming for a three-peat, the Bucs entered Finals week with only one loss, but were surpassed at Prelims and Finals by the Hurricanes and the Sunrisers to score 88.4 and finish a disappointing and controversial third place[8].
[edit] 1999
The Buccaneers overtook the Empire Statesmen at Finals to take second place with a score of 95.8. Entitled Winter Dreams, the show featured the music of Alfred Reed and Tchaikovsky[9].
[edit] 2000
The Buccaneers performed Holst's The Planets and won the corps' third consecutive High Percussion award. The Bucs passed the Empire Statesmen at finals for the second straight year to finish in third place with a score of 95.1
[edit] 2001
The corps just missed ending the three-year domination of the Brigadiers two years early, finishing second by only one-tenth of a point with Portraits of Bernstein[10].
[edit] 2005
With new uniforms, new instruments in all sections, and a full hornline playing on instruments in the key of B-flat, the Buccaneers finished their first undefeated season, cruising to victory with the second-highest score in DCA history, 98.45. The show, entitled Variations in B, featured Georges Bizet's Farandole, Béla Bartók's String Quartet No. 4 - Movement 5, Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, and Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings[11].
[edit] 2006
After coming off an undefeated season, the corps emerged victorious with another undefeated season with Exotic Impressions including the selections Bolero, Capriccio Espanol, Clair de Lune and Scheherazade, with a score of 97.238 [12].
[edit] Famous Alumni
- George Parks, founder of the George Parks Drum Major Academy[13], frequent clinician with Bands of America, and director of the University of Massachusetts Minutemen Marching Band[14].
- Al Chez [15], lead trumpet in Paul Shaffer's band on Late Night with David Letterman.
