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With Tremendous Sorrow.


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This is too the drum corps community as a whole...

Dear Vanguard Family -

It is with tremendous and terrible sorrow that I tell you that the great Vanguard snare drummer, and our dear friend, Paul Siebert has passed away. Paul passed away Saturday, November 2nd at 6:00 am in his home. He was 52 years old. Paul died of a brain aneurysm.

There will be a funeral service for Paul at 10:00 am, Friday November 9th at the Alameda Family Funeral Home. The address is 12341 Saratoga Sunnyvale Rd. The phone number is 408.257.6262

Paul's wife Joy, has asked that flowers be sent to the home before Thursday if you should decide to do that. Cards and letters can be sent to Joy at: 1585 Bonita Ave. Mountain View, CA 94040

This is a terrible loss for Joy and the Siebert family, and an equally great loss for the Vanguard family and those of us who marched with, and admired Paul for all he represented as a person, and as the COMPLETE class act he was in the Vanguard Family tradition, and the Vanguard Percussion tradition. Paul was perhaps the greatest "center snare" the Vanguard has ever known. He was about the coolest cat I ever knew as he carried the the responsibility of the Vanguard drumline on his shoulders into the new era with such tremendous grace and humility.

I, and many Vanguard alumni will deeply miss our friend "crazy glue" the great Paul Siebert.

SCV snare drummer 1969, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75

God rest his soul,

Curt Moore

*On a personal note and an observation I shared with a friend about Paul this morning, he loved the activity. At any time Paul could be found tuning another corps snare drums for them. I remember on many occasions coming back from dinner to find Paul tuning another corps drums to make the art of snare drumming all the better. He was a warm hearted, caring person who gave everyone the same time and effort as he would his own. You can spot him by his distinctive lean. I have not seen Paul in over 25 years, but I feel the world is lessened by his loss.

With love for my fellow Vanguard family members,

Mike Braga

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It's funny you mention Paul tuning drums. That's the image that came to my mind the moment I heard of his passing.

I only marched in the Vanguard one year, 1975, and I didn't get to know the drummers all that well but I had the utmost respect for their work ethic. It seems like they were always rehearsing. But on show days when everyone else was eating or showering and doing whatever else to get ready, I can remember seeing Paul, by himself, just him and the drums, tapping and adjusting those lugs. Now, I'd been around drum corps for 5 years and I'd seen drums get tuned but I had never seen anyone do it as meticulously and for lack of a better word, as lovingly as he did.

As with everything that drumline did, good was never good enough. There was always room to squeeze out a little more excellence. I could see it all right there through this one solitary guy tapping and tuning drums for what seemed like hours... that passion, desire, drive, whatever you want to call it, for excellence. The whole corps had it to a certain extent but that drumline was on a completely different level if you ask me, and Paul Siebert was the section leader of that drumline. That says a lot to me about the kind of man that he was.

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I'm sorry to hear of Paul's passing and offer my most sincere condolences to his family.

I met many of the SCV drummers in 1975 and to this day I worship the ground they walked on.

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It's funny you mention Paul tuning drums. That's the image that came to my mind the moment I heard of his passing.

I only marched in the Vanguard one year, 1975, and I didn't get to know the drummers all that well but I had the utmost respect for their work ethic. It seems like they were always rehearsing. But on show days when everyone else was eating or showering and doing whatever else to get ready, I can remember seeing Paul, by himself, just him and the drums, tapping and adjusting those lugs. Now, I'd been around drum corps for 5 years and I'd seen drums get tuned but I had never seen anyone do it as meticulously and for lack of a better word, as lovingly as he did.

As with everything that drumline did, good was never good enough. There was always room to squeeze out a little more excellence. I could see it all right there through this one solitary guy tapping and tuning drums for what seemed like hours... that passion, desire, drive, whatever you want to call it, for excellence. The whole corps had it to a certain extent but that drumline was on a completely different level if you ask me, and Paul Siebert was the section leader of that drumline. That says a lot to me about the kind of man that he was.

The things you learn as you get older. I always thought that Vanguard had the best tuning in the biz, particularly the snares. I never knew who was responsible, but now I do. I guess I just assumed it was a Fred thing.

I made it my resposibility back when I marched in Oaklands to make sure the drums, tenors in this case, were tuned properly for every show. When I started teaching drumlines I did my best to capture the sound Vanguard had, to some success because other instructors in the Great Lakes area were always asking me what I did to get the sound out the snares in my lines. I discovered how by trial and error.

So today I learn it is Paul Siebert I have to thank and it's too late to do that.

I will be playing my Vanguard CD of the 70s shows in his honour exclusively for next few days.

Regards,

John Swartz

Oaklands 77-80

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I am sorry for the loss in the SCV family. I know how hard it is to lose someone you become so close to while enjoying the activity together.

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The things you learn as you get older. I always thought that Vanguard had the best tuning in the biz, particularly the snares. I never knew who was responsible, but now I do. I guess I just assumed it was a Fred thing.

I made it my resposibility back when I marched in Oaklands to make sure the drums, tenors in this case, were tuned properly for every show. When I started teaching drumlines I did my best to capture the sound Vanguard had, to some success because other instructors in the Great Lakes area were always asking me what I did to get the sound out the snares in my lines. I discovered how by trial and error.

So today I learn it is Paul Siebert I have to thank and it's too late to do that.

I will be playing my Vanguard CD of the 70s shows in his honour exclusively for next few days.

Regards,

John Swartz

Oaklands 77-80

It would be easy to assume that it was a Fred thing. I was going to make the observation in my earlier post that up to that point in my drum corps career I had only seen drum instructors tune the drums, so to see one of the players with that responsibility spoke volumes as to the respect he had.

I also learned, after I got a lot older, that a couple of members of the drumline actually wrote some of the drum parts in the '75 show. Snare drummer Curt Moore, (who broke the news of Paul's passing), and keyboardist Mike La Porta.

Edited by Russellrks
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A tip of the cap to a member of a legendary drum line. I never knew Paul, but I ask myself the same questions when I hear stories like this about people who were key members in sections of a corps that were legendary and the "state of the art." Why aren't these people recognized by the activity and in the Drum Corps Hall of Fame?

There needs to be a performers section of the HoF and it should be replete with people like Paul. All sports activities have players as the dominant members of their respective Halls and of course coaches and owners too. DCI seems to only honor its instructors and Directors. Are we missing something?

I can think of a dozen performers who were not soloists that drove a line or a section be it horn, drums, or guard to its standard. They all earned the respect of their fellow members and were often the role model others patterned their efforts on. Maybe we should start with Paul and go from there?

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Paul's passing affected a lot of us in the early Vanguard family. He was a big part of the standard of excellance that the Santa Clara drum line set for themselves, a standard that still exists for the corps today. Paul and his brother Gary, along with many Vanguard drummers, started in a little drum and bell corps called the San Jose Rebels, directed by Wayne Crownover, which he started teaching once he moved to the Vanguard. His attention to detail and gentle, warm manner and quick smile inspired many young drummers in the Rebels, and brought them to the Vanguard line, along with drummers from the other local corps like the Redwood City Guardsmen, San Jose Knight Raiders, Cupertino Golden Eagles, the Royalaires and Commodores. He even got me, a high school band buddy, to go down and audition in the fall of 1969 (his mother even drove me to practice).

There were many things that were just right in the Vanguard at that time.... Gail's music and vision, Fred Sanford's firm but gentle way, the brilliance of his drum parts that brought classical voicings learned from his studies with Tony Cirone at San Jose State to his Trooper heritage (the Vanguard-Trooper bond was strong in those days, a fact we were very proud of), Bob Kalkoffen's incredible focus and technique that set us apart visually and sonically, and most importantly, the way we as players were ENABLED to bring things to the table: we were encouraged to explore phrasings, styles and even alternate parts, all of which might be incorporated in the show. In 1970, the cymbal line was told to go off and come up with a visual idea to do as they marched backfield on the 50 during "If I Were a Rich Man," unheard of at the time, and in 1971 the same section was messing around and came up with a cheerleader-inspired thing for the final fanfare of the show, which we did at practice one day and were mortified to hear Fred call out "Cymbals, leave it in!" Perhaps not unusual for the one-or-two instructors per section days of the 60's and 70's, but welcoming nonetheless. And the start of the today's amazing Vanguard Cymbal sections.

I remember sitting at schools listening to Paul develop snare solos for competition, where he would trade off first places with Rob Carson, a friendly rivalry that they enjoyed for years. Co-writing parts for our high school band and our drum quartet (which also included his brother Gary and our friend, also in the corps, Charlie Bilik), traveling to shows in his family car, his mother freely offering advice and becoming our mom, too. Paul called me to help him teach the LIberty Belles (the all-girl unit of the Rebel Bell Corps) and that was the first of many corps I got to teach, which ultimately lead to me to do what I do today, teach school music.

I'll miss Paul. In my mind, we'll always be those high school buddies running around the orchards near his house with drumsticks in our backpockets, and, with Gary, whistling complete corps shows in two and three-part harmony.

Tom Eschenfelder

Santa Clara Vanguard, 70-73

Instructor: Liberty Belles 1970, San Jose Rebels 1971-2, Rebel Kadets 74-75

Director, Vanguard "B" Drum & Bugle Corps: 1980-86

Edited by esch
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It always amazes me how, in a thread delivering sad news, so many wonderful memories and anecdotes are called forth for the rest of us to enjoy. The "Cymbals, leave it in!" story brought a smile to my face. It's so interesting to hear/read the genesis for many of these innovations that came about almost by happenstance. It's also good to learn about the people behind the scenes, who may not have received the public accolades to which they were entitled. It sounds like Paul was one such person, and I appreciate knowing more about him.

Edited by byline
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