Photo by David Gwyn/Reading Buccaneers
In Drum Corps Associates competition, the Reading Buccaneers reclaimed the Open Class championship this year with a vengeance, earning a 99.03, the highest score in the organization’s history. Its show, “The Black Symphony,” begins with “warm” modern music and gradually transitions into complex and moody classical overtures, according to the corps website.
Minnesota Brass, which ended the Buccaneers six-year winning streak last year, came in second at 96.23.
“It was very satisfying,” says James Gruber, director of the Buccaneers. “We lost in 2011 … and wanted the championship back.”
A Class also crowned a new winner as Carolina Gold took the gold with a score of 82.60, followed by last year’s champions, the Govenaires. The Labor Day weekend championship event moved to Annapolis, Md., this year.
Eleven-time champions, including seven of the last eight years, the Buccaneers hope this will be the beginning of a new winning streak for the corps. Executives have already announced that their design team and coordinators will return next summer.
“We don’t know what next year’s going to bring, but we will continue doing exactly what we’re doing and teaching the young kids,” Gruber says. “Nothing will change, and hopefully it will be just as rewarding as the 2012 season.”
Gruber says the secret to his corps’ success is respect. “We treat everyone in the organization with the utmost respect,” he says. “When the kids come in, they are very young and immature, and when they leave, they leave with respect and a sense of responsibility. They’re very successful when they go out into the teaching arena of this activity, and that’s very rewarding for us and gives us the idea that we’re doing our job the right way.”
