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Phantom Regiment Drum Corps to Train in Macomb

Tri States Public Radio | By Jonathan Ahl
Published April 13, 2018 at 11:52 AM CDT
Members of The Phantom Regiment perform at the DCI Championships last summer.
Pahntom Regiment
Members of The Phantom Regiment perform at the DCI Championships last summer.

The Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps will hold its summer camp at Western Illinois University this year.  The group of 150 high school and college aged musicians plus 50 staff members will be on campus for three weeks as they rehearse for their summer tour around the country.

“Drum corps is the NFL of Marching Bands”, said Mike Fansler, Director of Bands at WIU. He said having the Phantom Regiment on campus will do great things for the WIU School of Music, the university, and the community.

Members of The Phantom Regiment perform at the DCI Championships last summer.
Credit Pahntom Regiment
Members of The Phantom Regiment perform at the DCI Championships last summer.

The Phantom Regiment is based in Rockford, is a two time world champion, and has a worldwide following of fans. The corps has nearly 170,000 likes on its Facebook page.

The Phantom Regiment plans to keep receipts for every purchase they make in Macomb so they can report back the exact level of their economic impact while they are here, not including any money that fans might spend while they visit.

In addition, The Phantom Regiment will be paying WIU a fee to rent rehearsal, office, and living space.The radio story

“Having those two names, Western Illinois University and the Phantom Regiment, put together will be huge,” said Matt Thomas, the Associate Director of Bands at Western. He said having the corps practice in Macomb will aid in recruiting. “All of their practices are open to the public, so it’s quite normal to have high school band kids from around the region watching a corps rehearsal.”

https://youtu.be/H7VrZg93gTI

Thomas and Fansler said that in addition to open rehearsals, The Phantom Regiment will put on at least one performance for the community before they go on their competitive tour. The WIU School of Music is also working with the corps to host instructional seminars and sessions with WIU Marching Band members.

Right now, WIU and Phantom have a one year contract but both sides said they hope to expand on it if all goes well.  Fansler said anything is possible, including Phantom Regiment moving its year round base of operations from Rockford to Macomb.

“If we connect as well as we anticipate, you may someday hear ‘The Phantom Regiment, from Macomb, Illinois’ announced at their shows when they are performing across the country.”  

Phantom Regiment will be at WIU from May 20 through June 9.

Copyright 2018 Tri States Public Radio
Jonathan Ahl
Jonathan is the General Manager of Tri States Public radio. His duties include but are not limited to, managing all facets of the station, from programming to finances to operations. Jonathan grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago. He has a B.A in music theory and composition from WIU and a M.A in Public Affairs Reporting from The University of Illinois at Springfield. Jonathan began his journey in radio as a student worker at WIUM. While in school Jonathan needed a summer job on campus. He heard WIUM was hiring, and put his bid in. Jonathan was welcomed on the team and was very excited to be using his music degree. He had also always been interested in news and public radio. He soon learned he was a much better reporter than a musician and his career was born. While at WIUM, Jonathan hosted classical music, completed operations and production work, was a news reporter and anchor, and served as the stage manager for Rural Route 3. Jonathan then went to on to WIUS in Springfield where he was a news anchor and reporter covering the state legislature for Illinois Public Radio. After a brief stint in commercial radio and TV, Jonathan joined WCBU in Peoria, first in operations then as a news reporter and for the last ten years of his time there he served as the News Director. Jonathan’s last job before returning to Tri States Public Radio was as the News Director/ Co-Director of Content for Iowa Public Radio. During Jonathan’s off time he enjoys distance running, playing competitive Scrabble, rooting for Chicago Cubs, listening to all kinds of music and reading as much as he can. He lives in Macomb with his wife Anita and children Tommy and Lily.
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