The Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps is an all-age drum and bugle corps based in Reading, Pennsylvania. The corps was a charter member of Drum Corps Associates, and is now a member of the Drum Corps International All-Age Class.

History

The Reading Buccaneers drum and bugle corps was formed in August 1957"Reading Corps to be at Tournament" and "Reading Buccaneers to Appear at Waverly Tournament of Drums" (article and photo with caption). Sayre, Pennsylvania: The Evening Times, July 28, 1961, p. 3 (subscription required)."In Kiwanis Drum Corps Contest" (article and photo with caption). Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Pottsville Republican, June 12, 1961, p. 9 (subscription required). by bugler Bruce Englehart and three friendsDmochowski, Keith. "Remaining Reading Buccaneers’ founder reflects on a legacy of victory and family." Reading, Pennsylvania: The Reading Eagle, March 31, 2022. as a parade corps for World War II veterans. A field corps was formed in 1958, which competed in the VFW circuit. The Reading Buccaneers captured the VFW championship in 1960, 1961, and 1962."High School Athletic Field Will Come Alive to Music: Drum, Bugle Corps Will Be Highlight." Pottstown, Pennsylvania: The Mercury, October 1, 1960, p. 26 (subscription required).

In 1962, the corps was composed of a forty-two-member horn line, twelve-member drum section and an eighteen-member color guard. Its brass instrumentalists used Getzen twin-piston horns. Members of the ensemble wore "brilliant blue satin and black" buccaneer-style uniforms with silver trim and black "flat-crowned" hats with white ostrich feather plumes."National Champion Corps Booked for Valley Day." Hazleton, Pennsylvania: Standard-Speaker, August 1, 1962, p. 7 (subscription required).

The Reading Buccaneers were the last drum and bugle corps to win the VFW championship as the award was retired in 1962. The Buccaneers were also the last to win the Drum Corps Associates World Championship in 2023.

The DCA Era (1965-2023)

In 1965, the Reading Buccaneers became a charter member of Drum Corps Associates. The Buccaneers won the first DCA Open Class World Champions in 1965. The ensemble has since repeated a championship placement eighteen times from 1968-2023. The corps won the first DCA World Class Championship title in 2022, as well as winning DCA's final World Class Championship title in 2023. The corps has also placed second nine times, and third seven times. It has missed being a DCA finalist only three times.

The DCI All-Age Era (2024-present) In May of 2024, DCA and DCI announced a partnership to merge and create DCI All-Age, a new class under the Drum Corps International umbrella. The Buccaneers were one of the inaugural members of DCI All-Age and competed in the first DCI All-Age Championships at Lucas Oil Stadium on August 10, 2024, winning first place in the circuit. The Buccaneers, along with all of the other previously-DCA corps, continue to compete in the All-Age class.

Show summary (1972–2026) +KeyPale Blue indicates DCA Open (2023 and earlier) or World Class (post 2023) FinalistGold indicates DCA Open (2023 and earlier) or World Class (post 2023) Champion

Year Theme Repertoire Score Placement1972Blow the Man Down / Russian Sailor's Dance (from The Red Poppy) / Drunken Sailor / Military Suite in B Flat / Fancy Colours / Get It On / The Oracle Speaks / Something / Ebb Tide88.6503rd1973Russian Sailor's Dance (from The Red Poppy) / Theme from Shaft / Get It On / Verdi's Requiem / Something 85.8002nd1974Firebird Suite / Theme from Shaft / Verdi's Requiem / Latin Boo Ga Loo / Finale (from Firebird Suite) 82.1502nd1975Navy Hymn / Infernal Dance (from Firebird Suite) / La Fiesta / Mambotabo / Latin Boo Ga Loo / Finale (from Firebird Suite) / Blue Birdland 89.5503rd1976Fanfare / Meadowland / Call to Danger / La Fiesta / Drunken Sailor / Bellavia / Russian Sailor's Dance (from The Red Poppy) / Ebb Tide 86.7002nd1977The Coronation Scene / What I Did For Love (from A Chorus Line) / Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me / Another Star / Finale 91.5503rd1978Dance of the Tumblers / Feels So Good / El Gato Triste / Another Star / Finale 79.7007th1979Russian Sailor's Dance (from The Red Poppy) / Fantasy / El Gato Triste / Feels So Good / Procession of Bacchus (from Sylvia) 90.5001st1980The Sea Hawk / Russian Sailor's Dance (from The Red Poppy) / Spanish Dreams / Sambandrea Swing / One Voice / Procession of Bacchus (from Sylvia) 91.3001st1981En Sueno / Star / Sambandrea Swing / Sometimes When We Touch / Procession of Bacchus (from Sylvia) 88.400 3rd1982 En Sueno / Ballet in Brass / Let Me Try Again 83.1506th1983Russian Sailor's Dance (from The Red Poppy) / March of the Boyars / Sunrise Lady / Let Me Try Again / Russian Sailor's Dance (from The Red Poppy) 82.6505th1984Wind Machine / Central Park / The Captain's Journey / The Rainmaker 91.9502nd1985Wind Machine / Jeannine / The Ancient / The Rainmaker / After You 91.9002nd1986Route 66 / Nutville / Magnum Opus: Man Overboard / Sunrise Lady / After You 87.5504th1987Symphonic Metamorphosis / Cuban Overture / We Are The Reason / Procession of Bacchus (from Sylvia) 92.3005th1988A Russian CelebrationSymphony No. 5 79.94010th1989Peleliu / Guadalcanal March (from Victory at Sea) / Victory at Sea 78.70010th1990 BatmanBatman Theme (from Batman) / Rooftop (from Batman) / Descent into Mystery (from Batman) / Return of the Rainmaker / Pie Jesu (from Requiem) / Batman Theme Reprise (from Batman) 92.2007th1991Marche Slav / Firewatch / Dr. Macumba / Anything but Lonely (from Aspects of Love) / Russian Easter Overture 82.3008th1992Cherokee / Englishman in New York / Moondance / Sambandrea Swing / You Can't Fall Up (You Just Fall Down) Narro86.6009th1993You're Still A Young Man / What is Hip / The Skunk, The Goose, And The Fly / You Can't Fall Up (You Just Fall Down) 84.80011th1994The Music of "Hook"Remembering Childhood (from Hook) / Prologue (from Hook) / Banning Back Home (from Hook) / You Are the Pan (from Hook) / The Ultimate War (from Hook) 79.60011th1995En Sueno / Oriental (from 12 Danzas Españolas) / Canto del Viento / Navy Hymn / Russian Sailor's Dance (from The Red Poppy) 77.50011th1996Russian Hymn / Hook / Jurassic Park / Asteroid Belt / E. T. Theme (from E.T.) 82.40010th1997Hunt for Red October / Meadowland / Polovetsian Dances / Firebird Suite 83.4009th1998A Russian CelebrationFestive Overture / Gopak / Russian Christmas Music 93.5004th1999Winter DreamsRussian Christmas Music / 4th Movement (from Symphony No. 1) / The Pine Forest (from The Nutcracker) / Russian Christmas Music 95.8002nd2000Holst: The PlanetsJupiter (from The Planets) / Venus (from The Planets) / Mercury (from The Planets) / Mars (from The Planets) / Jupiter (from The Planets) 95.1003rd2001Portraits of BernsteinOn The Waterfront / Slava / Make Our Garden grow (from Candide) / Overture (from Candide) 97.8502nd2002Anthems of FreedomStar Spangled Overture / Appalachian Spring / Flag of Stars 95.5503rd2003The Sea: Beauty, Power, Serenity & WarSongs of Sailor and Sea / Navy Hymn / Drunken Sailor / Blow the Man Down / The Sea Treaders 92.1505th2004Innovations! The Passions of Shostakovich Festive Overture / Fire Of Eternal Glory / Symphony No. 10 / Symphony No. 5 95.4503rd2005Variations in "B" - Music by Barber, Bartok, Bizet and BrittenFarandole (from L'Arlesienne) / Adagio For Strings / String Quartet No. 4 / A Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra 98.4501st2006Exotic ImpressionsBolero / Capriccio Espagnol / Clair de Lune (from Suite Bergamasque) / Scheherezade 97.2381st2007Blue EraNew Era Dance / The Promise of Living (from The Tender Land) / Danza Final(Malambo)(from Estancia) / Rhapsody in Blue 98.3131st2008The Pursuit of JoyCanon in D / Abram's Pursuit / Nessun Dorma (from Turandot) / Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 (from Ode to Joy) 97.9131st2009Demons and AngelsDies Irae (from Days of Wrath) / Ritual Fire Dance / A Simple Song (from Bernstein's Mass) / Symphonia Resurrectus (from Easter Symphony) 99.0251st2010Rome MMXPines of the Appian Way (from Pines of Rome) / Games at the Circus Maximus (Movement I from Roman Festivals) / Adagio from Spartacus / The Epiphany (Movement IV from Roman Festivals) 98.2631st2011A Dancer's DreamThe Chairman Dances / Danzon No. 2 / Swan Lake / Mambo (from West Side Story) 97.4502nd2012The Black SymphonyWarm Colors / The Four Sections for Orchestra, Mvt. IV / New World (from Dancer in the Dark) / 1812 Overture 99.0301st2013HIGHER, Faster, StrongerSymphony No. 11, Mvt 4 / Original Composition / Chevaliers de Sangreal (from The DaVinci Code) / Danse Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah 98.4301st2014Break On ThroughBreak on Through (To the Other Side) / Fourth Ballet Suite / Orawa for Orchestra / Heat of the Day / Original 97.5501st2015Twist-ItPagliacci / Palladio / Moonlight Sonata / Going the Distance (from Rocky) / William Tell Overture 97.5801st2016ConZENtric - Mind, Body, SoulGabriel's Oboe (from The Mission) / Equus / Impressions of Japan 97.2502nd2017Behind the SuitMan of Steel / Metropolis Symphony Mvmnt 1 (Lex) / Andante Tranquillo; Symphony No. 1 / Into the New / Einleitung, oder Sonnenaufgang (from Also sprach Zarathustra) 98.9301st2018Here to ThereHummingbird / Hunting Wabbits / La Danse Macabre / So Far Away / Symphony No. 4 / Original Music98.0001st2019Dans Ma ChambreRuslan and Ludmilla Overture / What a Feeling / Bohemian Rhapsody / Benedictus (from The Armed Man) / A Mass for Peace / Original Music 98.2251st 2020 Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Corps inactive 2022Altered: EgoRhapsody on a Theme of Paganini / Serenada Schizophrana / Smells Like Teen Spirit / Shofukan / Spiriti 96.725 1st PlaceDCAChampion 2023Can't Stop Won't StopEquilibrium / Backlash / What Could Have Been 99.000 1st PlaceDCAChampion 2024 Hat Trick: The Art of ThreePhilharmonia Fantastique / The Hymn of Acxiom / Chorale VI (Sol Fa) 95.925 1st PlaceAll-AgeChampion 2025On DisplayEverything In Its Right Place / Original Music / Somebody's Watching Me / Symphony No. 10, Mvt. 2 97.525 1st PlaceAll-AgeChampion 2026SimplexityOriginal music / Goddess / Psychopomp 96.200 1st PlaceAll-AgeChampion

References

External links

Buccaneer Alumni Association