It's been a long time since I last posted something of value on this forum, so I was wondering if any of you drum corps alumni or anybody else for that matter can explain the "family tree" of percussion arrangers throughout the course of the last 3 decades and if possible what kind of writing styles each share, but have modified to their own tastes over the years up until the present time. This can also include Pit instructors, since I know very little about some of the greatest Pit instructors(such as Brian Mason, James Ancona, Neil Larrivee, Jeff Lee, and Erik Johnson) I've heard about thus far. Thanks for the great info in advance and much love to all of you!

I'm not quite sure I understand your question.

dont forget the great Catherine Float when it comes to pit instructors and arrangers. She started it all back in the very early 80's with BD with her husband Tom Float. Tom Float, by the way, is like the father of alot a lot of todays great instructors. He taught Scott Johnson, Dave Glyde, Vern Johnson, Pete Sapadin, etc, etc....Who in turn taught alot a lot of the modern and up and coming guys...Sean Vega, Roger Carter, etc... Iwas fortunate to be taught 4 years by the Floats

Thank you Bernie for that info. I never even knew about Mrs. Float. I always enjoyed Blue Devils 1986 and the way it was written with power yet finess within the drumline. But to re-word what I had originally posted, I have to go to an example that is very similar to what I'm asking. For those who understand football, the "West Coast Offense" was established in main part by Bill Walsh. Over the years, he has influenced many great coaches(such as Jon Gruden, Mike Holmgren, etc.) that have utilized his approach to running an efficient offense. These coaches have in turn modified Walsh's methods to fit their own tastes. So using this example, who are the people who have formed a foundation of a particular style of writing drumline/pit parts(either off of the duple, triple pattern, or a combo of the two) and have taught people who in turn has taken their approaches to the percussion activity and came up with something to suit their own tastes within th last 30 years? If I missed out on any other great instructors, I apologize for my ignorance of anything pertaining to before the early 90's.

One shining example of this is Thom Hannum and Colin McNutt. Thom and Tom Aungst. Both of these guys were either under direst instruction from Thom or had him as an influence. I say Fred Sanford more than likely influenced most of todays arrangers and caption head. Also I would like to think that Dennis Delucia and the Floats had a wonderful and great influence over people who are arranging todays modern percussion charts. So in my opinion Fred Sanford, Dennis Delucia, Thom Hannum, and the Floats have all had a major influence on the arrangers of todays marching percussion charts. The fact is we are now encountering a new generation of "influenced" arrangers and staff members. Dave Glyde, Murray Gusseck, Sean Vega and so on, are all influenced by todays current arrangers like Jim Casella and Scott Johnson. I would also say Scott Johnson helped to influence Jim Casella.

I would say that Ralph was one of the godfathers as well. He also had a hand innovating this great activity and influening in one way or another everyone. He reminded us that we are musicians not just drummers.

I think we're just barely scratching the surface of what we're looking for here. How about the actual writing of the battery parts? Is there more emphasis placed on certain parts of the drumline over others? Do certain instructors go for the more visual approach over the rudimental approach? Does the writing of parts follow more of a duple pattern over a triple pattern, vice versa, or a combo of the two? How do certain instructors figure out the actual voicing of instruments in variousparts of the actual shows on the field? These can be some hot topics to work with, I'd say.

"Godfathers":

Dennis Delucia - Bridgemen, Early Star of Indiana (many great players and teachers come from this family)

James Campbell - Cavaliers, Univ of KY (Cavies family really started churning out great teachers and players with Jim)

Tom Float - Blue Devils (Just about everyone who has ever met Tom knows that he is the real deal)

Ralph Hardiman - Santa Clara, Blue Knights (Incredible Innovator)

Thom Hannum - Cadets, Late Star of Indiana (Literally wrote the book on Cadets Style)

Fred Sanford - What else can I say..

I think these guys are truly the Godfathers of modern arranging. Maybe not exclusively for the pit, but you certainly can trace every good arrangers roots back to one of them.

Tom Float is THE REAL DEAL. By far the funniest man I have ever met. Also the most respect. No man ever commanded and got so much respect whenever he walked into a room. DCI drumlines need Tom Float again.

By the way, whatever happened to Mark Thurston? I'm not too sure, but I thought he was a part of the percussion staff at Spirit of Atlanta from 1997 through 2002. He always has written tasty parts for the battery(as can be seen with the Crossmen in 1992, 1994, and 1996). So on that note, has there been specific arrangements by these instructors that stands out as their greatest writing achievements? If have any info on these two topics, that'd be awesome...