By Gail Peckler-Dziki ~ Correspondent
Music on the Border returns to Westosha Central High School, 24617 75th St., in Salem, on Thursday, July 12 at 7 p.m.,
This is a competition between eight drum and bugle corps and is the second year time Central has hosted the event.
Adam Scheele, band director and music teacher at Central, spearheaded the effort with the aid of a team of volunteers. The group includes students, parents and involved community members.
Area schools will host the different corps that will arrive at host schools around 2 a.m. after traveling from a competition the previous night. They sleep on the gym floors, get up around 8 a.m., eat breakfast, stretch and start practicing around 9 a.m. with a few breaks and lunch, until 5 p.m.
Then they head to Central and perform throughout the night. After the competition, the Corps pack up and head to their next destination.
The competing Corps are: Phantom Regiment from Rockford, Ill., practicing at Central High School; Spirit of Atlanta from Atlanta, Ga., practicing Bristol Grade School; Crossmen from San Antonio, Texas, practicing at Shoreland Lutheran School; Teal Sound from Jacksonville, Fla., practicing at Salem Grade School; Blue Saints from Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, practicing at Paris Grade School and Madison Scouts, Madison, practicing at East Troy High School.
Phantom Regiment will be staying at Central the entire day. Practice, from 9 a.m. until noon, is open and free to the public. The other two groups, Pioneer from Milwaukee and the Racine Scouts from Racine will practice at home base and be here for the competition. Phantom Regiment and Blue Saints are new this year.
Drum and Bugle Corps is an original American art form. In the military, drum and bugle corps served as signaling units as early as before the American Civil War, with these signaling units having descended in some fashion from ancient drum and fife corps.
The beginning can be traced to veteran’s organizations such as the VFW and the American Legion, as well as organizations such as the Catholic Youth Organization. Soldiers returning from World War I celebrated Veterans Day and the Fourth of July by marching parades to the drum and the bugle, just as they had done during the war.
With the advent of the radio, bugle signaling units became obsolete and surplus equipment was sold to veteran organizations (such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion, two major organizers for classic drum corps). These organizations formed drum and bugle corps of civilians and veterans, and the corps performed in community events and local celebrations. Over time, rivalries between corps emerged and the competitive drum and bugle corps circuit evolved.
Today, young people between the ages of 14 and 25 audition for a place in the corp. of their choice. They pay tuition to receive training in excellence for their skills and talents. And these groups, located all over the United States and Canada, are highly competitive.
Admission
General admission tickets may be purchased in advance for $17, $19 on the day of the show. Reserved seating tickets are $22 in advance, $24 on the day. Tickets can be purchased on-line at www.regiment .org/mob. There is a link on the Central website. Or you can call the school at 843-2321, ext. 252 to speak with Scheele. Tickets may be purchased the day of the show starting at 1 p.m. at the Central Football stadium.
Last year the event netted $3,000 in profits that benefitted the Central band program.