ajlisko Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 I hate to break up your little exchange, fellas, but can we get back on topic here? We all know what a great sideline marker Andy makes, (so easy to find the 50 when he's there!) and how invaluable our contras are, but how about giving some attention to the famous drummer on the right in picture #426? The new subject was the drum instructor of a national champion junior corps, as well as several other famous eastern junior and senior corps over the years, including the tremendous drumline of a notable contender from Queens, NY. Additionally, his students/proteges have gone on to instruct various DCI and DCA Championship corps. More than one of his drum corps drummers has become famous in the rock/jazz/fusion musical fields. He is also a member of the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame. Ah yes ... the original Mr. "T" ... pre-DCA, he also taught Syracuse and Ballentine ... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomPeashey Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 from a drum corps standpoint, I don't think anyone quite reaches the influence that he had on marching percussion... (forgive me Dennis Delucia - not even you) whenever he was around senior corps (which wasn't often enough) he would be quick to claim to be "A Brigadier" However, Blessed Sac remained his true love... All the guys from upstate NY played his style and method... Dick Mercurio, Ray Bennett, Joe Wormworth, Colin Campbell and their students including Mark Thurston and Stevie Gadd... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabalumnidrummer Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 Ah yes ... the original Mr. "T" ... pre-DCA, he also taught Syracuse and Ballentine ... :-) In addition, he also taught: Geneva, Rochester, Blessed Sacrament, St. Catherine's, OLPH, St. Andrew's, . . . and probably others I am not aware of. Little-known fact: He filled-in at Hawthorne for a few weeks during the winter of 1970-71, where I first met this legendary individual. He was a snare drummer in the famous Sons of Liberty Fife and Drum Corps. He brought rudimental bass drumming in marching and maneuvering corps to prominence with his Blessed Sacrament line. In his later years, he returned to teaching ancient corps: The young drummers of the Colonial Musketeers of Hackettstown, NJ, and St. Anselm's Fife and Drum Corps of Bay Ridge Brooklyn benefited from his expertise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donincardona Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 In addition, he also taught: Geneva, Rochester, Blessed Sacrament, St. Catherine's, OLPH, St. Andrew's, . . . and probably others I am not aware of. Little-known fact: He filled-in at Hawthorne for a few weeks during the winter of 1970-71, where I first met this legendary individual. He was a snare drummer in the famous Sons of Liberty Fife and Drum Corps. He brought rudimental bass drumming in marching and maneuvering corps to prominence with his Blessed Sacrament line. In his later years, he returned to teaching ancient corps: The young drummers of the Colonial Musketeers of Hackettstown, NJ, and St. Anselm's Fife and Drum Corps of Bay Ridge Brooklyn benefited from his expertise. now that's some interesting stuff. i didn't know about some of those corps this great man taught. thanks for that history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornsUp Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 This guy was never without a pair of sticks. It was at a DCI MidWinter InstructorPalooza in the first decade. All the activity's drum guys AND all the horn guys were in a room being given a glimpse into the the purported future of drumcorps programming. Which means some guy from the Symphony, clueless about D&B, was lecturing on tympani tuning. Out in the hallway, our Mr. T had found somebody's 11yo kid holding a pair of sticks. The two of them sat cross-legged, rapping out rudiments on the hotel-strength carpet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsksun4 Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 I'm guessing this gent had something in common with baseballs "Shot Heard Round the World" in 1951. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NanciD Posted May 27, 2011 Author Share Posted May 27, 2011 This is the stuff I'm talkin' about! You guys ROCK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlisko Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 This is the stuff I'm talkin' about! You guys ROCK! Oh my! ... I think I just peeed a little!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereese Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 I always tried to use his precise but machine-gun like technique Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomPeashey Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 When I ventured into the I&E world and went up against the greats from the metro area, I was just a scared kid representing Fulton Gauchos (in a uniform not unlike Caballeros which was a "hairy" thing to do)... I think I was at Cabs Post bar and I introduced myself to him... when he found out I was from a Brigadier family, on he went with everything from Brig stories to advice on the I&E for 2 hours ... I felt like I was his best friend forever... The team of the Gabriel's, Vinnie Ratford and this man (who you all know who it is by now)... in my book is the most innovative in the history of drum corps... they wrote in a time of rigid standards of excellence on 90/10 sheets when you played Sousa and a lot of Patriotic snippets, never broke squads of 3's, and were far more concerned with the "tick" than entertainment.... You simply didn't break the unwritten rules of the game... yet they took Brigadiers to Broadway with the hits of the time... The audience went wild... They played Carousel and made a carousel on the field... They played an "indian war dance" and turned the corps into Indians camping around the campfire... and so much more... Thank you Bobby Thompson and friends Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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