The Raiders Drum & Bugle Corps is an Open Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps. Based in Burlington, New Jersey. The Raiders perform in Drum Corps International (DCI) competitions.

History Source:

The Raiders Drum and Bugle Corps was founded in 1990 by George Lavelle, Jr. with George Lavelle Sr., Trent Smith, Clarence Jackson, and Anthony Bestreski joining as members of the initial board of directors. The intent was to provide the opportunity for young people to march in a highly competitive drum corps at an economical cost.

After a year of planning and preparation, the Raiders took the field on June 22, 1991 with a corps of 25 members, defeating two of the other three Division II/III corps in the show. Marching a schedule of local DCI and Garden State Circuit (GSC) shows, the Raiders finished the season by taking second place in the GSC.

The corps' second season saw a growth of nearly 100% and a tour to Ohio, Iowa, and the DCI Division III Championship prelims in Whitewater, Wisconsin, where the corps placed 19th among 29 corps.

In 1993, the corps again grew in numbers and moved to Division II. The Raiders won the first of seven GSC titles that year and finished 15th of 15 corps at DCI Division II Championships in Jackson, Mississippi. The corps marched DII only two more years, finishing placing 14th of 18 corps at DCI in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1994 and 11th of 13 corps at DCI in Buffalo, New York in 1995.

The Raiders board made the decision to return to DIII in 1996 in order to cut expenses. This move paid off immediately, when the corps made finals and placed 7th of 31 corps at the DCI DIII Championships in Orlando, Florida. Over the following eleven years, the Raiders would make the DCI DIII Finals nine times and, in 2005, win the DCI Division III World Championship.

2005 DCI Division III World Champions.

In 2007, the Raiders moved back to Division II, placing 6th at the DCI Championships in Pasadena, California.

DCI combined Divisions II and III into Open Class in 2007, and the Raiders have been a finalist every year since, except 2018 and 2022, placing as high as fifth at Michigan City (prelims) and Indianapolis, Indiana (semis & finals) in 2010.

Sponsorship

The Raiders Drum & Bugle Corps is a program of A+ Education and Performing Arts, a registered non-profit 501(c)(3) musical organization. The corps' Executive Director is Bob Gupta.

Show summary (1992–2026)

Source:

+KeyLight blue background indicates DCI Open Class FinalistLight green background indicates DCI Division III SemifinalistGoldenrod background indicates DCI Open Class Champion

Year Repertoire Score Placement 1991 Russian Sailor's Dance (from The Red Poppy) by Reinhold Glière / To the Last Whale by David Crosby & Graham Nash / Victory at Sea by Richard Rodgers Did not attendWorld Championships 1992 Victory at Sea by Richard Rodgers 54.700 19th PlaceDivision III 1993 QueenWho Wants To Live Forever & Flash's Theme (from Flash Gordon) by Brian May / Bicycle Race & Bohemian Rhapsody by Freddie Mercury 69.100 15th PlaceDivision II 1994 Jesus Christ SuperstarOverture, Heaven on Their Minds, I Don't Know How to Love Him, Simon Zealotes & SuperstarAll from Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice 74.400 14th PlaceDivision II 1995 A Chorus LineI Hope I Get It, At The Ballet, Music and The Mirror & OneAll from A Chorus Line by Marvin Hamlisch & Edward Kleban 77.300 11th PlaceDivision II 1996 Sidewalks of New YorkThe Sidewalks of New York (East Side, West Side) by Charles B. Lawlor & James W. Blake / Take the 'A' Train by Billy Strayhorn / Harlem Nocturne by Earle Hagen & Dick Rogers / Central Park by Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea / Autumn in New York by Vernon Duke / (I'll Take) Manhattan by Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart / The Sidewalks of New York (Reprise) by Charles B. Lawlor & James W. Blake 79.000 7th PlaceDivision IIIFinalist 1997 It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) by Duke Ellington & Irving Mills / Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me by Duke Ellington & Bob Russell / En Fuego (On Fire) by Michel Camilo / What a Wonderful World by Bob Thiele & George David Weiss / Air Mail Special by Benny Goodman, James Mundy & Charlie Christian 79.500 14th PlaceDivision III 1998 A Solstice Celebration / Winter SolsticeMy Favorite Things (from The Sound Of Music) by Rodgers and Hammerstein / Sometimes in Winter by Steve Katz / O Holy Night by Adolphe Adam & John Sullivan Dwight / Snow by Irving Berlin 81.500 8th PlaceDivision IIIFinalist 1999 A Trilogy of DarknessMaster of Puppets by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton & Kirk Hammett (Metallica) / Jazzhatten Suite by Oliver Nelson / Trilogy by Keith Emerson & Greg Lake 84.400 6th PlaceDivision IIIFinalist 2000 Traditions and InnovationsPiano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff / Kashmir by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant & John Bonham / Sunrise by Donna Jean Godchaux 80.750 12th PlaceDivision III 2001 Pictures at an ExhibitionPromenade, Gnomus, The Old Castle, The Hut of Baba-Yaga & The Great Gate of KievAll from Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky 88.500 2nd PlaceFinalist 2002 BalanceFestive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich / Masque by W. Francis McBeth / Fifth Symphony, Mvt. 4 by Dmitri Shostakovich 78.300 8th PlaceDivision IIISemifinalist 2003 Carmina BuranaCarminua Burana by Carl Orff 81.200 4th PlaceDivision IIISemifinalist 2004 Adams: A Sound StoryWild Nights of Harmonium, Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Harmonielehre - Mvt. III & Fearful SymmertriesAll by John Adams 79.650 6th PlaceDivision IIIFinalist 2005 Jesus Christ SuperstarOverture, Heaven on Our Minds, John 19:10, Garden of Gethsemene, Simon Zealotes & Jesus Christ SuperstarAll from Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice 87.750 1st PlaceDivision IIIChampion88.800 6th PlaceDivision II & IIIGrand Finalist 2006 Coast to CoastAwayday by Adam Gorb / Letter from Home by Pat Metheny / Strawberry Soup by Don Ellis 80.500 3rd PlaceDivision IIIFinalist 2007 West Side StoryPrologue, Cool, I Have a Love, One Hand, One Heart, Mambo & TonightAll from West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim 84.400 6th PlaceDivision IIIFinalist 2008 Deep BlueSelections from A Perfect Storm by James Horner / Original Music by Michael Hamilton & Colin Bell 86.250 9th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 2009 Isle of HopeAmerican Elegy by Frank Ticheli / Hungarian Peasant Songs, Romanian Dance for Orchestra, Sz. 47a & Swineherds Dance by Béla Bartók / Gan Ainm (Traditional) / Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini 88.250 6th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 2010 Platinum CelebrationCelebration Fanfare by Michael Hamilton / Exulate by Samuel Hazo / Exhilaration by Larry Clark / New Beginnings by Peter Boyer 89.150 5th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist2011 BlueecentricBlue Shades by Frank Ticheli / Bluesette by Toots Thielemans / Blue Rondo à la Turk & Bluette by Dave Brubeck / Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin 81.900 10th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 57.500 35th PlaceWorld Class2012 WarpedWarped by Key Poulan 82.000 10th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 61.050 32nd PlaceWorld Class2013 The Raven: A Descent Into MadnessThe Raven by Key Poulan 84.950 9th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 64.900 31st PlaceWorld Class2014 Seasons of the EarthOctober by Eric Whitacre / Month of the Cold Moon by Roland Barrett / Into the Joy of Spring by James Swearingen / Kingfishers Catch Fire by John Mackey 69.100 9th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 66.250 31st PlaceWorld Class2015 From the AshesOlympiada by Samuel Hazo / Fanfare - A Vision and A Dream by Ryan Nowlin / Our Yesterdays Lengthen Like Shadows by Samuel Hazo / Into The Light by Jay Bocook 63.600 11th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 56.675 36th PlaceWorld Class2016 Industrial EvolutionFearful Symmetries by John Adams / Hymn of Acxiom by Vienna Teng / Ballet Sacra by David Holsinger 66.825 10th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 64.850 33rd PlaceWorld Class 2017 IconicWho Wants to Live Forever by Brian May / Beat It by Michael Jackson / Let It Be by Lennon–McCartney / Runaway Baby by Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine & Brody Brown (The Smeezingtons) / Knights of Cydonia by Matt Bellamy / Bohemian Rhapsody by Freddie Mercury 64.975 12th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 63.525 36th PlaceWorld Class2018 Beowulf: The Rise of a LegendBeowulf: The Rise of a Legend by Jake Kaplan 62.675 14th PlaceOpen Class 60.025 39th PlaceWorld Class2019 Gateway to the UnknownDiscovery of the Portal, The Conversation, The Veil of Isolation, Teleportation & Our Connected UniverseAll by Key Poulan, Dan Bryan & Travis Peterman 64.250 12th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 62.450 35th PlaceWorld Class 2020 Season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2021 Opted out of competition for the season2022 Use Your ImaginationPure Imagination by Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley / Hymn of Acxiom by Vienna Teng / Original Music by Key Poulan, Dan Bryan & Travis Peterman 67.625 13th PlaceOpen Class 65.825 34th PlaceWorld Class 2023 Circus ReversusBlazes and Thunder, Trip to the Circus & Clowns the in Send by Key Poulan & Marc Garside / From Now On (from The Greatest Showman) by Justin Paul & Benj Pasek 68.650 10th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 67.175 31st PlaceWorld Class 2024 Fan the FlameSpark by Ed Sheeran & Aaron Dessner / Raging Out of Control by Michael Terry / Fire of Eternal Glory by Dmitri Shostakovich / We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel 73.375 7th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 71.300 28th PlaceWorld Class 2025 Time[less]Time by Pink Floyd / Ebb & Flow by Michael Terry and Marc Garside / Time in a Bottle by Jim Croce / Clocks by Coldplay 73.750 7th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 72.200 28th PlaceWorld Class2026ThreadWorxMetropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper by Dream Theater / Original Music by Michael Terry, Ryan Reed & Jarod Sullivan70.725 8th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist71.05028th PlaceWorld Class

References

External links Official website