Kingston Grenadiers Announce 2007 Design Team
Brass Arranger: Douglas Scott Thrower is a free-lance composer/ arranger/ trumpeter from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. He has been a brass instructor for the Bluecoats of Canton, Ohio since 1992 and has arranged for the corps since 1997. He has instructed and arranged for many drum corps including Dutch Boy, the Kiwanis Kavaliers and the Canadian Knights (1986 Class A World Champions). He currently composes and arranges for numerous high schools and universities including Kiski H.S. from Vandergrift PA. In addition to marching music he arranges for various ensembles (jazz and symphonic) and theater groups. Doug studied with Don Johnson at Humber College in Toronto and studied jazz performance at McGill University in Montreal. He has recorded performances for the C.B.C. and can be heard on four recordings with the McGill Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Gordon Foote. Doug with his wife Evelyn Blackwell has two daughters, Shelby, 4, and Claire, 2.
Percussion Arranger: Scott Atkins is an Artist Relations Manager, as well as a Product Specialist for a large musical instrument distribution company. He is a graduate of The Audio Recording Academy in Ottawa. With over 20 years of experience in the Marching Arts, he is also involved in the music industry as a performer, educator, music arranger, studio drummer and producer. He is an active member of the Vic Firth Education Team, and also sits on the product research and development team for Sonor Gmbh, based out of Bad Berleburg, Germany. Scott has been involved with the drum corps activity since 1986. After aging out of competitive junior drum corps with the Kiwanis Kavaliers, he worked with several groups in Ontario, including the Lampliters, the Empire Loyalists, the Blue Saints, the Philippine Heritage Marching Band, and the Kingston Grenadiers. He arranged music for the Lampliters in 1991, the Empire Loyalists from 1993-1995, and has been the percussion arranger for the Kingston Grenadiers since 1998. Scott is also a drum set player, with both performance and recording credits to his name. He conducts drumming workshops, and has traveled to Germany to teach at the Hamburg School of Music. Scott is an honorary charter member of the International Association of Traditional Drummers.
Visual Designer: Gareth Skipp With a background and education in theatre, dance and voice, Gareth has been designing and instructing marching programs for over 22 years. He has taught in Canada, Germany, Korea and the USA. His drill designs have won drum corps like Canadian Knights Drum Corps (1986 DCI Division II champions), Kingston Grenadiers Drum Corps (DCA finalist 1998-99), and the Kiwanis Kavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps (Division I – 14th place 1996-97) many awards and titles.
Gareth was the designer and drill caption head for the Rochester Patriots who placed second at the 2003 DCI Division II world championships in Orlando sweeping the visual captions. Also drill designer for the Starriders Drum Corps, Gareth was instrumental in helping them win the 2002, 2003 and 2004 DCG and German Open championships. He worked with the Capital Regiment (Columbus, OH) in 2004 and more recently on the drill staff of the Bluecoats Drum & Bugle Corps.
Successful writer/instructor of indoor percussion group Spirit Performing Youth Ensemble (SPYE) based in Toronto, Canada, Gareth was one of the reasons the group was a WGI Independent World class finalist from 1996 to 2001.
Gareth is currently the drill writer for a number of marching bands across the USA. He is also a judge for marching band circuits in Michigan, New York and Indiana.
Visit www.kingstongrenadiers.com for additional information.
Also stay tuned for the 2007 show announcement!!!
