Time to get excited! The 2012 season officially gets under way during the weekend of January 14-15. Rehearsal will begin at 2:00 on Saturday with all LVW members gathering in the auditorium for the welcome from the staff, opening announcements, and an overview of the two-day rehearsal. We will conclude all of our activities by 2:00 PM on Sunday afternoon. Please check with your school’s director/LVW coordinator for travel plans to and from the rehearsal.

Here are a few items that you will need to know for the camp:

Pack a brown-bag supper for Saturday evening. Sunday breakfast/lunch will be provided by LVW. You will not need to bring any money for the meals - they are included in your fees for the year. There will be lemonade/Gatorade/water available. We prefer that you do not drink soda (pop) during LVW rehearsals.

We will be attending Saturday evening worship. Casual clothes are acceptable for this worship service. Details for the service will be announced soon.

You will need to pack an overnight bag with a change of clothes, overnight gear (Sleeping bag/blanket/pillow/air mattress/etc.), personal items (towel, soap/shampoo, deodorant, etc). We will be sleeping overnight at FVL.

For marching rehearsals, you will need to have comfortable shorts or sweats. Please don’t wear “jeans” for marching/visual rehearsals. You will also need a pair of tennis shoes for use on the gym floor.

Don’t forget your instrument! If you will be using an LVW instrument (horn, baritone/euphonium, tuba), you will need to bring your own mouthpiece. Reed players, please make sure you have a few working reeds for the weekend.

You will be given your music and other LVW equipment on Saturday.

Check back to this page occasionally. There may be more updates before the weekend.

See you soon!

Lutheran Vanguard of Wisconsin will officially begin their 2012 season with their LVW Preview on Saturday, November 19. The event will run from 1:30 - 4:30 PM and will be held at Fox Valley Lutheran HS.

The day is intended for all returning LVW members, new members, all 8th grade band students from our member schools, and anyone who is interested in finding out a little more about LVW.

On this day all students will get a small taste of what LVW offers. We will rehearse brass and woodwinds, battery percussion, front ensemble percussion, and color guard. There will also be some basic instruction in our marching and visual techniques. No previous marching experience is necessary.

The day will end with pizza for all attendees! Parents are also welcome. There will be opportunity for you to ask questions about LVW, including our 2012 calendar, travel routines, finances, and so on.

Here is a little more information about LVW:

Participation in Lutheran Vanguard of Wisconsin is open to any student who is regularly enrolled in the band program of one of our member schools. This includes seniors who will be graduating at the end of the school year. In addition, students at other WELS high schools or public high school students who are enrolled in band and are a member at one of our member school’s federation congregations may also participate. Eighth grade students who are enrolled in one of our member school’s grade school band programs may also participate with the approval of the high school band director.

Those students who are percussionists will be placed on an instrument that suits their ability. This will be determined at a placement audition at the first actual rehearsal in January. We do not prohibit anyone from participating in LVW. The audition simply ensures proper placement on the piece of equipment for which you are best suited. Students who wish to be a part of our “Front Ensemble” (Mallets and other auxiliary for the field show) need not be a member of their schools band program, but must comply with all other membership requirements as outlined above. Students who play piano and wish to play mallets must be taking private piano lessons to qualify for membership.

Positions in the color guard of LVW are open to any female student who is regularly enrolled in one of our member schools, WELS high school students, public school students and eighth grade students as outlined above. This includes seniors who will be graduating at the end of this school year. These students need not be enrolled in the school’s band program. All girls in the color guard will be Working Flags, with the possibility of handling other visual equipment as well.

At the Preview Day and again at the first rehearsal in January, guard members will learn the basics of handling flags and other equipment. Therefore it is not necessary to have prior experience to be a member of the LVW Color Guard.

Time to get excited! LVW 2012 is about to begin!

From July 16 through August 16, I will be driving a Cook vehicle for the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps. This portion of the tour begins in Minneapolis, and will go through (I think these are all of them) IA, MO, KS, OK, TX, MS, LA, AL, GA, VA, TN, PA, OH, and IN. Today we are in Olathe, KS (Near Kansas City), with a show tonight. Tonight’s line up includes the Blue Devils, the Cadets, among others. Should be a great show, as always.

For a daily snapshot of what the Colts are up to, you can follow on their “Virtual Cook Truck", which is a blog and daily schedule. It can be found at http://coltscooktruck.blogspot.com/.

If you would like to follow my travels, I will be posting occasionally on the Lutheran Vanguard Facebook page. You can link to it from the LVW homepage.

Hi LVW family!. If you are interested in the results from the two parades in Traverse City, they are below. It’s a little hard to read these results, but if you follow the numbers across, and the categories as listed above each section, you can figure them out.

Penalties were assessed for stopping too long in the judging area. If the adjudicators felt it was too long, a 15% penalty was assessed. Notice that LVW did not receive this penalty on Thursday, but was assessed the penalty on Saturday.

All in all, it was a great week for LVW! It was good to see some of our friends from Minnesota in TC. Always great competition!

National Cherry Festival - 2011 Junior Royale Parade

Sub-Total Less Penalty Total (200 points) Rank


Bullock Creek 144.6 0.0 144.6 5
Lake City Tiger Band 154.0 23.1 130.9 7
Lutheran VanGuard 176.4 0.0 176.4 1
Waconia High School 181.7 27.3 154.4 3
Green Beret 132.0 0.0 132.0 6
Patriots Marching Band 169.9 0.0 169.9 2
St. Michael-Albertville 146.8 0.0 146.8 4

National Cherry Festival - 2011 Cherry Royale Parade

Sub-Total Less Penalty Total (200 points) Rank

Class A
Patriots Marching Band 179.20 0.00 179.20 1
Waconia High School 190.70 28.61 162.10 2

Class B
St. Cloud All City 146.30 0.00 146.30 3
Lutheran Vanguard 187.70 28.16 159.55 1
Bullock Creek 150.30 0.00 150.30 2

Class C
Lake City Tiger Band 163.40 24.51 138.89 1

Class D
Green Beret 139.60 0.00 139.60 2
St. Michael-Albertville 156.50 0.00 156.50 1

LVW would like to extend a very warm THANK YOU to all who were able to donate items for our use this season. We received donations of napkins, gift cards, gatorade, water, and many other items. For future reference, LVW will post a listing periodically for needed items.