We are still looking for corps to play, as well as volunteers to help with the hot dogs and hamburgers. Please contact us if you are interested.

July 6

7:30 p.m. Nutmeg Volunteers, Groton, CT
8:00 p.m. Westbrook Seniors, Westbrook, CT

July 13

7:30 p.m. Stony Creek Fife and Drum Corps, Stony Creek, CT
8:00 p.m. Totoket Ancient Fife and Drum Corps, Branford, CT

July 20

7:30 p.m. Connecticut Blues, Durham, CT
8:00 p.m. Contact us to play at this time!

July 27

7:30 p.m. Deep River Juniors, Deep River, CT
8:00 p.m. Connecticut Patriots

August 3

7:30 p.m. Contact us to play at this time!
8:00 p.m. Contact us to play at this time!

August 10

7:30 p.m. Lancraft Fife and Drum, North Haven, CT
8:00 p.m. Contact us to play at this time!

August 17

7:30 p.m. Contact us to play at this time!
8:00 p.m. Contact us to play at this time!

August 24

7:30 p.m. Ancient Mariners, Guilford, CT (tentative)
8:00 p.m. Contact us to play at this time!

A video from our 2008 concerts featuring Stony Creek Fife and Drum Corps:

In the Ancient Spirit,
-The Executive Committee of the Company of Fifers and Drummers-

Please download the order form here:
CAMP SWEATSHIRT ORDER FORM

• Tattoo: Friday evening at the muster location; Followed by a Jam session
• Parade: Saturday May 1, 2010, at 11:00am on historic Battle Road .
• Muster: To follow parade at the Lexington Visitors Center of the National park
• Camping: Camping is available from Friday at noon until Sunday at Noon.
• Parking: Ample parking across Rt. 2 from the muster field.

There will be a Jam session in the park Saturday following the muster.

• Contact: Carmin Calabrese 508-278-2803
• Email carmfifes@charter.net
• Web: www.williamdiamondjrs.org

The grounds are open to the public from 10:00 A.M. until 5:00P.M. It is only possible to accommodate 14-15 corps, so the muster is by invitation only.

The Sunday Muster is the wrap-up of an 18th Century Encampment weekend at the Homestead. On Saturday, the 24th there is a full encampment set up featuring mock battles, crafts, sutlers, colonial activities and games, etc. It is a real step back into a much earlier time in our history.

The Deep River Ancient Muster Scholarship Trust
6 Elm Street
Deep River, Connecticut 06417

Profile of The Deep River Ancient Muster Scholarship

The Deep River Ancient Muster Scholarship was established in 1997 as a charitable organization exclusively dedicated to the encouragement of young people’s participation in fife and drum corps activity, especially the Deep River Ancient Muster. The goal of the Scholarship is to encourage fife and drum corps to attend the Muster through a program that helps young people in the corps with the struggle to meet the financial burden of higher education.

The Deep River Ancient Muster, held on the third weekend of every July, is a world famous event, being the oldest and largest annual gathering of fife and drums corps in the world. National Geographic and Time Magazine have recognized the Muster as a major historical event of Connecticut, and Yankee Magazine featured the Muster as its July Event of the First Year of the Third Millennium.

Many who grow up in the world of fife and drum drift away during their late high school and college years. But the vitality of fifing and drumming, and its goal to keep the spirit of ancient martial music alive, depends greatly on a constant influx of interested, motivated people. The youth are our greatest resource in this regard. The Scholarship provides an incentive for young people to retain their interest in fifing and drumming, and specifically to participate in the Muster. To be eligible for a Scholarship Award, applicants are required to attend the Muster with their corps for two consecutive years. Thus, the Scholarship supports higher education, and Deep River’s most important annual public event, all at the same time. The details of our program are as follows:

1. Scholarship Awards are presented during the Stand performance portion of the Muster at Devitt’s Field.
2. Scholarship Gifts. Our goal is to give two gifts of at least $1,000 each, one each to a fifer and a drummer. We have reached two-thirds of our way to this goal, with the two highest awards at $665 each. When we reach an adequate level of funding, we intend to include a gift in the category of “ancillary member” (color guard, rifle bearer, etc.), as well.
3. Scholarship Fund Management. A Trust has been established. The actual scholarship amounts consist of the income earned on the trust fund from year to year, so that the principal will remain intact and grow, in perpetuity.
4. Criteria for Eligibility. Young men and women between the ages of 16 and 25 who belong to domestic fife and drum corps, who have been accepted to or are attending an accredited college or university in the U. S. in a matriculated undergraduate or graduate program, who have been an active member of their corps for at least one year prior to the Muster, and who attend two consecutive Musters with their corps. The applicant’s corps is asked to certify that the applicant meets these requirements.
5. Selection of Applicants. Scholarship recipients are selected randomly from the pool of eligible applicants.
6. Funding Solicitation. General public, private foundations, private commercial sector, and fife and drum corps.

Our Scholarship Awards have helped to fund education for fifers and drummers attending Allegheny College, Bryant College, Community College Of Rhode Island, Connecticut State University, Franklin Pierce College, Hamilton College, Lafayette College, Lebanon Valley College, Loyola College of Maryland, Manchester Community College, Manhattanville College, Middlesex Community College, Mount Saint Mary College, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Rhode Island College, Three Rivers College, Tunxis Community Technical College, and the University of Connecticut.

For further information, please call Trustee Bill Bouregy at 860-526-4331 (weekdays) or 860-526-1433 (eves and weekends). Please send correspondence to 6 Elm Street, Deep River, Conn. 06417.

Please vote for The Deep River Ancient Muster Scholarship in the Essex Savings Bank Community Investment Program. Thank you.

Application Form

The application may be downloaded here in PDF format: Application Form 2010

The Connecticut Blues

The Connecticut Blues Fife and Drum Corps from Durham, Connecticut was organized in 1975. Since that time, the Blues have developed into one of the finest marching musical units in New England. Playing music from the Revolutionary War up through the Civil War, the Blues’ repertoire also includes Irish jigs and reels, sea chanteys and songs of the early West along with some classical selections performed by the fife section.

The Connecticut Blues’ uniforms are exact replicas of those worn by the 1875 U.S. Army Infantry and in 1980 the Blues received an award for Most Authentic Uniforms by the Company of Military Historians.

The corps has also been active in the competition circuit and were the 1997 Connecticut Senior Ancient Fife and Drum Champions. Also in 1997, members of the Connecticut Blues received awards for Senior Drum Quartet, Senior Snare Drum and Senior Bass Drum Championships. Many other members of the corps have earned these (and higher) honors in the past. The Connecticut Blues also hold the Northeastern States Drum Corps Association record of eight consecutive championships, from the period of 1980 through 1987.

Sadly, there is no drumming to go along with it (drummers, we will have music for you soon!), but any number of stock beats could fit with it.

Download it here in PDF format:

Canterbury Quickstep No. 5

For more information, please go to their website at http://mdascholarship.tripod.com/id2.html.