There's a lot of excitement displayed here about Chuck Naffier and I know that's a great thing, but I wanted to express what a great asset Jason Buckingham will be as Brass Caption Head:
I marched Bones when Jason was a tech in '94, and had the great opportunity to tech for Blue Knights while Jason was caption head. His understanding of how to produce great brass sounds is unquestioned, and his ability to teach that method is well-proven. More importantly, Jason has the ability to inspire members to follow him into battle. I didn't fully understand it at the time, but he has an outstanding knack for getting members to give everything they have and love doing it. I know that Jason will measure the success of the 2011 brass program with two criteria: how great the line sounds, and how many eligible members come back in 2012. Those will be the goals - they were with BK as a young hornline matured into a performing powerhouse by 1999-2000.
If anyone has doubts about Jason since he didn't march Bones, trust me - this is a guy that gets it. He has a deep reverence for tradition and knows what it means to be a part of something greater than oneself. I remember a classic rant in '94 about how we need to appreciate what we have - not just a drum corps but THIS corps, the Crossmen whose history continues to grow and needs to thrive. This was at a time when many vets worried the staff was trying to dismantle Crossmen tradition and cast it aside in order to excel. Jason stepped in with the exact opposite idea - embrace the tradition AND excel.
As an added bonus, Jason is likely to bring his longtime assistant Amil Muzz to help out the hornline.
