Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps
in Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps is a competitive 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 a seven time DCI World Champion, winning the title most recently in 2018.
History
In March 1967, citing differences of opinion in the artistic direction of the Sparks Drum and Bugle Corps, its parents support group voted to return the corps to its former activity as a drum and lyre corps with majorettes. After the vote, three adults took members aside and asked them if they would prefer to continue as a drum and bugle corps or to return to a drum and lyre corps. After the members chose a drum and bugle corps, their parents immediately started a new booster club to support the new corps. They waited until its members met for rehearsal the following week to select a name. After discussing and rejecting several possible names, the corps chose Santa Clara Vanguard. Gail Royer, a local elementary school music teacher and instructor for the Sparks, was named as the director for the new corps.
In 1968, the corps embarked on its first tour to the Midwest. Although they did not place high at any of the competitions, the tour was a success because of the experience and exposure to the national drum corps scene.
“Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps” enters the record as in Santa Clara, California. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Santa, Clara and Vanguard can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.