The Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps is a World Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps based in Madison, Wisconsin. The Madison Scouts are one of the thirteen founding member corps of Drum Corps International (DCI) and a two-time DCI World Champion. Entering the 2024 season, the Madison Scouts are currently the oldest continuously active junior corps.
Until 2018, they had remained one of only two all-male corps alongside The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps.[1] In 2019, the Madison Scouts adopted a non-discrimination policy that expanded membership for all gender identities to participate in the Madison Scouts, making the corps co-ed.[2]
History
The corps originated on December 3, 1920 under the direction of Lewis Kessler and maintained an active performance schedule through the end of 1925.
Leadership changes in the Council combined with flagging participation in Scouting resulted in the corps activity being paused in the fall of 1925. Attempts were made in 1928 and 1930 to restart the corps but to no avail, likely hampered by the Great Depression. A revitalization of the Council began in 1935, which saw the return of Lewis Kessler's involvement.
In October 1937, the Four Lakes Council began to actively recruit members to restart the corps.[3] The 1938 revival would have E. J. Hess as its director and Clarence H. Beebe as the corps' director, a position he would hold for thirty years until his death in 1968. The advisory committee to guide the musical unit included none other than Lewis Kessler, the original corps director.
In its early days, the corps performed concerts and appeared in many local parades. During World War II, the corps participated in war bond rallies. The corps was split in 1951, with the older members becoming the Madison Explorer Scouts and the younger assigned to the Madison Junior Scouts, a cadet feeder corps for the older unit.[4]
In 1954, the Explorer Scouts entered field competitions and, in their first national competition, finished second at the VFW Nationals in Philadelphia. They repeated as runners-up in 1955. In 1956, they attended the American Legion Nationals in Los Angeles and again placed second. They were then finalists at VFW Nationals from 1957 through 1962 and made American Legion Finals in 1958 and 1959. In 1969, Bill Howard became corps director.[4]
In 1971, at the urging of Cavaliers founder Don Warren and Troopers founder Jim Jones, the Blue Stars, Cavaliers, Madison Scouts, Santa Clara Vanguard, and Troopers formed the Midwest Combine. This was in reaction to the rigid, inflexible rules of the American Legion and VFW (the primary rule makers and sponsors of both corps and shows), and the low or nonexistent performance fees paid for appearing in the various competitions. The corps felt that the existing competitive circuits stifled creativity and starved corps financially. (A similar group of Eastern corps, the United Organization of Junior Corps, also known as the Alliance, was formed by the 27th Lancers, Garfield Cadets, Boston Crusaders, Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights, and Blue Rock.) The Combine members believed that member corps should be able to make their own rules, operate their own competitions and championships, and keep the bulk of the monies earned. For the 1971 season, the corps stuck together, offering show promoters the five corps as a package. Despite pressure on show sponsors, judges, and other drum corps, the Combine corps booked into a number of shows together.[5]
The Madison Scouts in 2008
In 1972, all ten corps from the Midwest Combine and the Alliance—plus the Anaheim Kingsmen, Argonne Rebels, and De La Salle Oaklands—became founding members of Drum Corps International, which remains the sanctioning body for junior corps in North America. At the first DCI World Championships in Whitewater, Wisconsin, the Scouts finished in fourteenth in a competition that featured thirty-nine corps from the East, the South, the West Coast, the Midwest and Great Plains, and Canada. In 1973, the Scouts rose all the way up to fourth place. The following year they were DCI runners-up, and in Philadelphia in 1975, the Madison Scouts became the third corps to win the DCI World Championship.
In 1980, after sixteen previous appearances and ten prior Finals, the Madison Scouts tied for 1st place with The Cavaliers at VFW Nationals in Chicago. At this time the corps started working towards composing the entire staff with Scouts alumni, with Bill Howard stepping down and being replaced by Scott Stewart as corps director.[4]
In June 1988, the Madison Scouts went to Europe as part of their fiftieth-anniversary celebration.[6] They presented clinics and performed in exhibition at contests that included all of the corps from Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany.[7] That year, they also won their second DCI World Championship.
The Madison Scouts in 2005
In 1990, the organization dropped the name Scouts from the corporate name and allowed the charter for Boy Scout Troop 600 to lapse, although the corps remained affiliated with Scouting. In 1995, the Junior Scouts merged with the CapitolAires Drum and Bugle Corps, an all-girl corps from Madison. The resulting co-ed Capital Sound Drum and Bugle Corps would operate under the Madison Scouts organization. Southwind Drum and Bugle Corps was also brought into the organization in 1997, relocating from Montgomery, Alabama to Lexington, Kentucky.[8] Southwind departed the organization ten years later in 2007.
Since 2017, the organization has also sponsored Mad Brass, a marching band competing in the SoundSport division. In 2018, the organization added Fleurish Winds, a co-ed ensemble that competes in WGI Winds.[9] In 2024, the corps made an appearance in the DCI World Championships Finals, marking not only their first appearance in finals since 2017, but also the first time that women appeared in finals with the Madison Scouts as the corps became co-ed in 2019.
Corps members Rick and Dennis Stone, assisted by color guard instructor John Fries, designed a flag for the corps color guard to carry as a flag for the City of Madison, which did not have a city flag. On April 12, 1962, the Madison City Council approved a resolution adopting this flag as the official flag of the city of Madison. In 2007, to honor the Madison Scouts' seventieth anniversary and the forty-fifth anniversary of its adoption as the city flag, the City of Madison presented a flag to the corps, which the Scouts continue to carry on tour.
Pale green background indicates DCI World Class Semifinalist[a]
Pale blue background indicates DCI World Class Finalist[a]
Dark gold background indicates DCI World Class Champion[a]
^ abcFrom 1972-1991, the Madison Scouts competed in Open Class; from 1992-2007 in Division I, and since 2008 in World Class. These are the same tier, just renamed.
A Drum Corps Fan's Dream: A Day in the Life of a Bull Fighter El Toro Caliente by Scott Boerma / Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo / La Danza Pasillo by Taras Nahirniak & Jeff Moore / Malaga by Bill Holman
The Pirates of Lake Mendota The Adventure Begins by Scott Boerma / A Day in Port (Songs of the Quay) by Goff Richards / Moods of the Sea (based on Tall Ships Suite) by David Royalance / Confrontation and Finale by Taras Nahirniak
93.90
5th Place Division I Finalist
1998
Power, Pizazz, and All That Jazz! Lupin by Yuji Ohno / Swingin' Peter... Sweet & Hall of the Mountain King (from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1) by Edvard Grieg / Remembrance by Paul Hart
91.90
6th Place Division I Finalist
1999
Selections from Jesus Christ Superstar I Don't Know How to Love Him, Heaven on Their Minds, Everything's All Right, King Herod's Song, Trial and Crucifixion, John 19:41 & Superstar All from Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice
93.40
6th Place Division I Finalist
2000
The Cossack Brotherhood The Gadfly – Finale by Dmitri Shostakovich / Meadowland (Traditional) / Ballet Suite No. 1 – Galop by Dmitri Shostakovich / Gopak (from Gayane) & Masquerade – Romance by Aram Khachaturian / Taras Bulba – Overture by Franz Waxman
85.50
10th Place Division I Finalist
2001
Hot Jazz - Madison Style The Fire and the Flame; Oh, Those Martian Blues; Symphonie Pour L'Orchestre Americain; Ballet In Brass All by Vic Schoen
GOLD, GREEN AND RED: The Music of Benoit Jutras Jardin Chinois, Distorted (from La Nouba), Atmadja, Urban, Rêve Rouge & Incantation (from Quidam) All by Benoit Jutras
El Relámpago The Forces of Nature by Vince Oliver / Malaga by Bill Holman / Two Left-Footed Mambo – Baron Cimetiere's Mambo by Donald Grantham / Love Is in the Air by Vince Oliver / A Turn to the Dark Side – Candela by Gabriela Ortiz / Relámpago's Triumphant Return – Margariteña by Inocente Carreño
Time Trip - The Music of Stan Kenton and Don Ellis Fanfare for the New by Hugo Montenegro / Passacaglia and Fugue by Allyn Ferguson / Concerto to End All Concertos by Stan Kenton / Bulgarian Bulge, Open Wide, Niner Two & Final Analysis by Don Ellis
The Last Man Standing Territorial Claim: Pilentze Pee (A Birdie Sings) (Traditional) / Miraculous Mandarin by Béla Bartók Depletion: Original Music by Nick Pourcho O2: Original Music by Scott Boerma, Nick Pourcho & James Sparling Hope & Despair: Original Music by Scott Boerma, Nick Pourcho & James Sparling The Battle Within: Music for Prague 1968 by Karel Husa / Pilentze Pee Reprise (Traditional)
Between the Lines 24 Caprices, Opus 1, No. 24 in A Minor by Niccolo Paganini / Asturias (Leyenda) by Isaac Albéniz / Caprice No. 24 by Niccolò Paganini / Malagueña Salerosa (Traditional)
At the annual World Championship Finals, Drum Corps International (DCI) presents awards to the corps with the high average scores from prelims, semifinals, and finals in five captions. The Madison Scouts have won these captions:[11]
^ abcGuernsey, Dan; Pilot, Robert (2003). "Madison Scouts". In Vickers, Steve (ed.). A History of Drum & Bugle Corps. Vol. 2. Drum Corps World. pp. 286–291. OCLC54892759.
