As Drum Corps World and Drum Corps International both bask in the glow of 30-year mile stone accomplishments, there is yet another fraternal organization celebrating an anniversary of their own. For me it was like only yesterday, but in fact it was 35 years ago, when a brash young man by the name of Gail Royer came West, settled in Santa Clara and laid the foundation for one of the greatest drum and bugle corps the world has ever known -- Santa Clara Vanguard.

To celebrate this achievement, SCV has undertaken a monumental task of sending three corps half-way across the country to the DCI Championships. The six-time DCI champion Vanguard "A" corps, the 128-member Vanguard Cadets (2000 DCI Division II Champions) will both be there. And if that wasn't enough, SCV is sending an alumni corps, too.

The groups performed in concert at a spaghetti dinner last weekend.

This is not the first time the Vanguard Alumni Corps has performed. It was first put together to celebrate the corps' 30th anniversary, culminating with a trip back to Whitewater, WI, where DCI was born.

The corps surprised the crowd with the technical proficiency that had earned them so many national titles.

This year, the corps will boast a full 100-person horn line, a color guard that could number 50 and a drum line with more than 30 members under the instruction of DCI Hall of Famer Ralph Hardiman.

When you think about how hard it is for some drum corps just to get themselves to nationals, it shows how special the Vanguard organization is from top to bottom.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with former marching member, long time staff member and the current musical director and staff coordinator for the group, Scott Pearson.

DCW: Scott, it's truly an honor for me to be able after all these years to speak with you about this very special group.

SP: Thank you, Jeff, for giving the corps the opportunity to be talked about!

DCW: So how are things going with the alumni group?

SP: Great! The corps has been rehearsing now for a couple of months. We rehearse every Monday for two and a half hours at the corps hall, along with the drum line. The color guard is at another location on Thursdays. I'm not quite sure where and the turnouts have been very good. We get somewhere around 40-plus horns at each rehearsal. Remember we have a lot of people, as you can imagine, that live out of town and out of the state for that matter. So I think 40-plus in town is fantastic. But that's not the best part; the best thing is the way they sound -- these guys are blowing me away!

DCW: Have you selected your repertoire yet?

SP: Yes. What we have decided to do is this: We will do three productions. The format is similar to what we did last time. The first is titled "Suite of Famous Composers," beginning with Fanfare and Alegro into On the Town into Candide -- then a percussion feature, Las Lezghinka and finally The Dance of the Buffoons. You have to understand there are only portions of these tunes, but if you listen to the Vanguard's music you will be able to understand the charts. I tried to hit the impact points and memorable moments musically so it really all makes sense. I must say it's coming together nicely.

Part two we titled "The Championship Years." This was a real challenge for me as to what tunes to pick and as I re-listened to all of our championship performances -- hour after hour -- I also realized we had won two national championships (1970 American Legion, 1971 Veterans of Foreign Wars) before DCI had even begun and quite honestly, I felt it was only fair to the performers of those corps to be represented musically as well.

So we begin with Festive Overture in to Procession of the Nobles then into Henry the V followed by the famous "clock" drum solo into Overture to a New Era. Then excerpts from "Phantom of the Opera," Canyon, Young Person's Guide and finish with Great Gates of Kiev.

Then in the last section we call on Broadway...