Inside the Arc – 3 Wise Men

It’s said “experience counts”, but there’s world of difference between 10 year’s experience and 1 year’s experience 10 times and so many who consider themselves “creative” are often the antithesis thereof.

Some of our Drum Corps colleagues, it’s true, were original thinkers right from jump street (or so it appeared). Think of names like Hoffman, Genero, Zingali, Shellmer, for instance. But truth be told, they all paid serious, long-term dues before escaping the rinse and repeat cycle, and innovation in any art is nothing more than combining ingredients which already exist into a new, tasty salad.

But from whence comes this imagination? What, besides time in the fields, makes one wise? Are they still with us these Pageantry Picassos, these Marching Michaelangelos, these GE Gandalfs?

Last question first: Yes, and if we know what’s good for us we’ll pay them some mind. And everyone is possessed of an imagination, the trick being how to unlock it. How did they do it? Ah, there’s the rub.

Dennis DeLucia

Take Dennis Delucia, for example: talented to a fault and, should anyone in this activity be unaware of his pre-DCI broadcaster history, that is akin to asking whether Paul McCartney was ever in a band before Wings.

Dennis was a proper phenom of a drummer in the Dumont Police Cadets but that wasn’t enough. He longed to teach and to write and was hip enough to diligently observe his mentors and role models, Dr. Bernard, Baggs of Bergenfield High School, and his own instructor at Dumont, the legendary Bobby Thompson who, in addition to having taught several national champions, had invented back-sticking in his spare time. This was the Drum Corps equivalent of becoming an apprentice in da Vinci’s workshop during the Italian Renaissance, and therein lies a secret: study the masters. (Rule 1 in the Wise Man Handbook)

For Delucia, this resulted in an unprecedented string of drumline success throughout more than 2 decades, with the Muchachos, Bridgemen, Sunrisers and Star of Indiana, among others.

Pete Emmons

We expect Wise Men to arrive “from the east”, but clearly there are exceptions. William Edward “Pete” Emmons is one such and his creative output goes beyond exceptional. One could be forgiven for thinking of him exclusively as a terrific corps manager and tour director but that was simply his second career, after completely revolutionizing drill design throughout the ’70s then turning all of that over to young disciples like Myron Rosander, Dave Bandy, Mark Sylvester and the aforementioned George Zingali.

Pete came out of the Wild West and pretty much single-handedly cleared the field of the old-time, squared-off, marching mandates of the FM 22-5 Drill and Ceremonies US army manual. Garfield’s Peace Sign, SCV’s Bottle Dance and innovative (some said “heretical”) asymmetrical Planets show…you won’t find those formations in that book. Where did all that radical thinking come from?

It came from an individual who had learned to be fearless on the 50 as a bunch of young kids whizzed rifles past his head; someone brave enough to study acting in New York with Sanford Meisner, who had tutored the likes of DiNiro and Streisand; a guy who was willing to travel all over the known Drum Corps World, from Wyoming to New Jersey to Alberta, Canada to wherever he could absorb knowledge of the craft. (Rule 2 – Get out of your comfort zone)

Dave Richards

The third Wise Man of Drum Corps mentored the other two (and all the rest of us for that matter). Dave Richards remains the person most responsible for defining the true meaning of what used to be called “General” Effect.

An instructor and arranger of considerable renown with corps like the St. Paul Scouts, Des Plaines Vanguard, Yankee Rebels, and Kilties, he assimilated all the requisite skills for building champions then moved on to evaluating worthiness demonstrated in the work of others who did likewise.

Dave’s gift to us was in providing the example that frees the adjudicator to react directly to the performance in real time, with genuine emotion, not simply to check off boxes on a lifeless printed form. He demonstrated the value of being present in the moment when a group gave the performance of a lifetime and recognizing the achievement thereof.

Few emotions can match that towering feeling performers experience when they realize their audience “gets it”, and Dave Richards not only got it but let us know it. (Rule 3 – trust your gut.)

In hindsight it’s logical that someone trained in classical voice could see a field show as a three-act opera in miniature with a beginning, middle and end.

The truly wise absorb the wisdom of those who have gone before and utilize it to recognize possibility and create the future. All of us are creative in some way and here are three of my inspirations. Seek them out, then go find your own.

That would be wise.