LEXINGTON, Virginia – Lexington High School graduate Philip Crane isn’t exactly marching to the beat of his own drum – he’s leading an entire band.
Crane, who graduated from Lexington in 2012, has risen through the ranks of Virginia Military Institute, landing him an opportunity to be the drum major of the school’s regimental band.
He is in his senior year at the state-supported military college and also is a first lieutenant in Band Company.
“Within our system, our entire student body is divided up into companies, and our company is Band Company,” Crane said. “Our function, when we’re on parades or when we’re doing all of our performing military duties, is to provide the military music and do everything a military band needs to do during the duty day.”
Some of Band Company’s duties include performing music for parades, ceremonies, and sporting events at the institute, among other activities.
Band Company is one of nine companies that make up the Corp of Cadets, according to VMI’s website.
“I never really considered going to a military school or becoming an officer at all until my senior year in high school,” Crane said. “So it was kind of a last-moment decision.”
He originally had plans to study history at the University of Pittsburgh but ultimately changed his mind and was offered a scholarship from the United States Army to pay for his education at VMI.
Crane drummed for the Minutemen his senior year of high school, which is when he transferred from Mansfield Christian.
“Lexington was the first time I ever got to do marching band and play snare [drum],” he said.
As a marching band drum major, Crane is charged with holding the band together and directing it during shows and its many other duties.
He said it took a lot of drive and determination to reach his rank, especially considering the institute’s rigorous first-year experience.
“Your first year here, we don’t have freshmen, we have what we call Rats,” Crane said.
During the Rat year, he said it is hard for students to think about their future at the school because they’re worried about making it to the next day.
“I never imagined myself the next year or the year after holding any rank or holding any responsibility in the corps,” Crane said. “Now being a drum major, looking back, it’s really cool to experience that transition from being a Rat at VMI, to being a First Class Cadet and a drum major.”
Furthermore, Crane said this year is an exciting year for the band because it will march in the Rose Bowl Parade this winter in Pasadena, California.
“It’s a great honor to be asked to be there, so we’ve been really gearing up this year and working very hard to get up to snuff for that,” he said.
The Regimental Band also performs for presidential inaugurations and Mardi Gras. Additionally, Crane said the band has had opportunities to travel to Hawaii and Germany and many other places to play.
Crane is an international studies and political science major and is minoring in French and national security. After graduation, he will serve as an officer in the Army.
His time at VMI has prepared him to take a commission as a second lieutenant and lead a platoon.
“Once I graduate, I’ll be obligated to serve a certain amount of years in the U.S. Army,” Crane said, adding that there are many variables that go in to how long he must serve.
“Depending on how promotable I am and if I want to go beyond captain and go to graduate school on the Army’s dime, that will accrue more years.”
According to its website, Virginia Military Institute is a small, public, undergraduate liberal arts college that offers “one of the most challenging college experiences in the United States” and has a mission to prepare “educated, honorable, and steadfast leaders.”
The VMI Regimental Band was formed in 1947 and is made up of 154 cadets from every class and major and travels more than 10,000 miles every year.
“I never imagined myself the next year or the year after holding any rank or holding any responsibility in the corps,” Crane said. “Now being a drum major, looking back, it’s really cool to experience that transition from being a Rat at VMI, to being a First Class Cadet and a drum major.”
