Hall Of Fame Member Doug Kleinhans Passes
World Drum Corps Hall of Fame member Doug Kleinhans, of Medina, New York passed away Sunday evening March 11, 2012 at the age of 70, following a lengthy battle with cancer. There will be a social gathering at 12 noon in his remembrance on Friday March 23, 2012 in the Shelby Fire Hall on Route 63 South, one mile south of Medina.
He was unable to attend his Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2009 because of his illness. His acceptance speech was delivered by long time friend Paul Mosley, the current ensemble strategy and musical content director of Canadian Associates Drumming Rudimental Excellence (CADRE).
Doug Kleinhan’s outstanding record of percussion performing, arranging, instructing and judging drum and bugle corps extended back to 1947. In recent years, he had been associated with the most prominent percussion groups on the continent, including the American Patriots Rudimental Drumming Club (APRDC), the National Association of Rudimental Drummers (NARD), Canadian Associates Drumming Rudimental Excellence (CADRE), the New York Percussion Department (NYPD) and the International Association of Traditional Drummers (IATD).
He was widely considered to be an exceptional writer of percussion scores combining extreme difficulty with great musicianship. He developed many players who went on to write, instruct and perform on a national level.
While judging with the New York State All American Association from 1960 to 1973 and Drum Corps Associates (DCA) from 1966 to 1970 he was respected for his ability to analyze, rank and rate drum lines efficiently while providing extensive feedback and constructive criticism.
He began his drum corps activity playing snare drum with Lockport Firemen junior drum and bugle corps in 1947 and 1948 then played snare with Lockport Blazers from 1948 to 1954.
He was a highly skilled drummer with the United States Army West Point Field Music Hellcats. From 1958 to 1963, he drummed with Buffalo Continentals, Interstatesmen and Hawthorne Caballeros. He also played snare drum with Hamburg Kingsmen in 1971.
Between 1958 and 1980, he was percussion arranger and instructor for more than a dozen prominent junior corps in New York, Ohio and Ontario, including Niagara Falls Cavaliers, Staten Island Thunderbirds, Neptune Shoreliners, Rochester Emerald Cadets, Emerald Statesmen, Marion Cadets, Cadets of Greece, Geneva Appleknockers, Richmond Hawks, Barons of Steuben County, Watkins Glen Squires, Mark Twain Cadets and Dutch Boy Cadets. During many of those years, he also taught a number of well-known senior corps, including Hamburg Kingsmen, Albion Grenadiers, Dunkirk Patriots, Pittsburgh Rockets and Niagara Regionaires.
For more information about the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame, including biographies of members and a listing of corps of the decade since the 1940s, visit the Web site at www.worlddrumcorpshof.org/
