Page 14 of 17

Re: Legendary Drum Majors

Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:57 pm
by AzhlackDMPiccolo
Kuxica wrote:
AzhlackDMPiccolo wrote:soooo... who is the person that that one person who posted that we missed someone??????? it' sbeen over a while lol!!!!!!! i wanna knowwwww

eh?
jmastersdm wrote:Hello I have been watching this post for a long time, there is one person who has been overlooked. He has over 30 years experience, and has judged every drum major who has ever competed or who is now a judge.
Ill give you a little time before i give the answer. you can try if you like. when you see the answer youll say Wow how did we forget.

ifu were confused. that's wha ti'm talking about

Re: Old Time Greats

Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:18 am
by Druu
Spin Doctor wrote:
Ryan Turner wrote:Another legendary drum major was the drum major from Savanna about the same time I was drum majoring up at Pasadena HS. I very cool cat named Richard Carpenter--he unfortunately died shortly after graduating from high school.
Can you tell us more about this guy?

Greetings, all! Ok, I'm going way back to a post from page 4. I'm glad to see that Richard Carpenter was mentioned on this topic, and sad to hear that he died so young...

Richard was DM for Savanna in the early 80's and competed as a show DM in '82 and '83. He literally rocked the field and raised the bar a whole lot. He was a member of the VK color guard while in high school and had mad crazy skills with a baton, rifle and flag. His trademark in competition was to perform the first 3rd or so of his show blindfolded. It was freaking AMAZING and noone at the time could touch him. He blew away the field both years he competed before graduating high school.

A couple of guys from up north in Cupertino followed him as the top show DM's in '84. I don't remember their names, but both had amazingly high baton tosses and one of them had a great trick of tossing three batons at once. Not a bad follow up to the blindfolded thing, eh?

So what happened to the show DM over the years, anyway? It looks like we joined the rest of the country by having DM's conduct field shows instead of spinning as part of the show. Ok, that's understandable...but being a show DM was sooo much FUN!

Cheers!
Druu

Artesia High DM '82-'84 (Late Cretaceous Period) :tup:

Re: Re:

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:07 am
by BandBuz
Muzyx4me wrote:
tooweird wrote:ummm dunno if she's been mentioned...well this isn't my expertise...but Danielle Battisti of Atwater HS swept every band review she's been to in nor cal as drum major...i think that's pretty legendary
I agree. She graduated in June so she won't be with Atwater. She was not only beat out military dm's, but mace too for two and a half years. But she wasn't just a great spinner, she was a fantastic leader. I've heard from judges and directors that she is the role model for other dm's. Diirectors wanted their dm wanna-be's to watch her and get tips. She was always ready to coach anyone.

If you met her, you'd think okay she's nice, but on the street...she commands it. If you didn't get to see her perform, you missed out on an experience. I think she went to college somewhere. I don't know if she's gonna do anything with the band.

I know my kids have learned alot from watching her. I have the aspiring dm's watch her so that they can model her style and smoothness. Wish I could get her to do a few clinics with my students.

Re: Legendary Drum Majors

Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:12 pm
by Kuxica
Aside from Mike Kim being classified as a Legendary Drum Major, some other names that I would like to include would be....

Patrick Lacson - Bonita Vista High School
Phillip Samaniego - Bonita Vista High School
Calbert Imada - Castle Park High School
Andrew Lansford- Arcadia High School
Michael Turanitza - Loara High School

At one point in time, each of these Gentlemen offered me words of encouragement to excell in whatever it was that I wanted to do. :cheers:

Re: Re:

Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2008 12:04 pm
by Zarathrustra
BandBuz wrote:
Muzyx4me wrote:
tooweird wrote:ummm dunno if she's been mentioned...well this isn't my expertise...but Danielle Battisti of Atwater HS swept every band review she's been to in nor cal as drum major...i think that's pretty legendary
I agree. She graduated in June so she won't be with Atwater. She was not only beat out military dm's, but mace too for two and a half years. But she wasn't just a great spinner, she was a fantastic leader. I've heard from judges and directors that she is the role model for other dm's. Diirectors wanted their dm wanna-be's to watch her and get tips. She was always ready to coach anyone.

If you met her, you'd think okay she's nice, but on the street...she commands it. If you didn't get to see her perform, you missed out on an experience. I think she went to college somewhere. I don't know if she's gonna do anything with the band.


I know my kids have learned alot from watching her. I have the aspiring dm's watch her so that they can model her style and smoothness. Wish I could get her to do a few clinics with my students.
She is definetely the best military drum major that I've seen in Nor Cal. I've only been paying attention since 2003 though. :oops:

Re: Legendary Drum Majors

Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2008 3:52 pm
by twinmomma
I'm at work, and can't go through every post, but I've been through a bunch of them and don't see Susan Brown from Foothill (Santa Ana) mentioned. She graduated mid 80's and was a State Champion in Mace (I believe). A video of her even popped up on Youtube recently doing an L Pattern comp. As old as that video is I am STILL in awe of her skills. And as a person, she conducted herself with integrity and the band always did well.

Re: Legendary Drum Majors

Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:09 am
by thunderboy102
I am pretty sure a drum major is not all about spinning and scored. It is about what he or she can do for their band in terms of leadership, unity, and mutual respect for one another. I know spinning looks cool and is really fun but a drum major is a drum major because of what they can do for their band. Spinning should come in third on a list of priorities for drum majors right after being a good leade, and staying instep.

Re: Legendary Drum Majors

Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:53 am
by MalletQueen
thunderboy102 wrote:I am pretty sure a drum major is not all about spinning and scored. It is about what he or she can do for their band in terms of leadership, unity, and mutual respect for one another. I know spinning looks cool and is really fun but a drum major is a drum major because of what they can do for their band. Spinning should come in third on a list of priorities for drum majors right after being a good leade, and staying instep.
You are correct Bret. Spinning skills and scoring are bi-products of a "legendary drum major".

Re: Legendary Drum Majors

Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:56 am
by ArturoHerrera
Spinning skills and scoring are bi-products of a "legendary drum major".
INDEED it is true that a drum major must have a very well developed sense of leadership.
Great leaders also posses the ability to want to be great at everything and this gives them the edge to excel in their spinning.
In my own experience, I would follow a drum major if he was a great leader and at least a decent spinner, but if his spinning is not very adept I believe I would second guess his ability to commit to a goal, his goal: help himself in order to then be efficient in being helpful to others.
I think the great drum major is he who is equally good in leading his team and doing his job out in the street, since this reflects his ability to grow through commitment.
Would someone let me know if I share in their point of view and also maybe there's something that I'm not looking into, other things. I love learning new things that other people consider characteristic of a good leader.

Re: Legendary Drum Majors

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:41 am
by treble clef
Does any one remember Conrad Lucero From Colton High.
He was amazing. He was around 73,74, 75,.
I understand his son Phillip Lucero Moore Middle school, Redlands, took first place at the Chino Band Review. He is amazing, the kid can spin.

Re: Legendary Drum Majors

Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 1:48 pm
by Bandmaster
treble clef wrote:Does any one remember Conrad Lucero From Colton High.
He was amazing. He was around 73,74, 75,.
I understand his son Phillip Lucero Moore Middle school, Redlands, took first place at the Chino Band Review. He is amazing, the kid can spin.
Yes, check my comments on page 2 of this thread. My roomate one year while I was at Cal Poly SLO was Conrad's brother. I watched Conrad at several band reviews back in the day. Its nice to see his son is doing well.

Re: Legendary Drum Majors

Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 11:56 pm
by Joyce M David
Hahah. I did not think of making an account for this website until recently since the Glendora drum major had asked me if I had one. So became curious and decided to make one.

In my eyes...who is like one of my best drum major friends, Arturo Herrera (the dm for Glendora this year) is considered pretty legendary. Not only is he an awesome spinner, but he is also a great person whom I have the greatest respect for.

I also tip my hat off to Andrew Park from Whitney. Not only did he do phenomenally last year, but he also did well recently at the La Palma Band Review.

As for going back to the days when I was just about the age of 9 until maybe 13. The Paguio brothers and Nillaga brothers were very good in addition to the Anderson brothers who were awesome spinners. Daneil Lutsch from Orange Glenn, Ben Jiang from Arcadia, and Liz Ballinger from El Dorado were some few fantastic military spinners. Though I have heard countless dm stories about him yet have never seen him spin, Ben Schroeder from Glendora was an amazing person who I met when he used to judge solo competions. I'm sure there is more but I just cannot think of them at the moment.

Re: Legendary Drum Majors

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 12:18 pm
by ThePenguin
Joyce M David wrote:Hahah. I did not think of making an account for this website until recently since the Glendora drum major had asked me if I had one. So became curious and decided to make one.

In my eyes...who is like one of my best drum major friends, Arturo Herrera (the dm for Glendora this year) is considered pretty legendary. Not only is he an awesome spinner, but he is also a great person whom I have the greatest respect for.

I also tip my hat off to Andrew Park from Whitney. Not only did he do phenomenally last year, but he also did well recently at the La Palma Band Review.

As for going back to the days when I was just about the age of 9 until maybe 13. The Paguio brothers and Nillaga brothers were very good in addition to the Anderson brothers who were awesome spinners. Daneil Lutsch from Orange Glenn, Ben Jiang from Arcadia, and Liz Ballinger from El Dorado were some few fantastic military spinners. Though I have heard countless dm stories about him yet have never seen him spin, Ben Schroeder from Glendora was an amazing person who I met when he used to judge solo competions. I'm sure there is more but I just cannot think of them at the moment.

Haha Liz Ballinger was my first drum major teacher! When i first became a drum major back in 6th grade...she was my first instructor. she was my drum major in a little youth band called the O.C.L.Y.B. (the orange county lutheran youth band). oh man, ive had some good memories with her. she was a fabulous drum major; yes she was very legendary. she taught me my first spins on the military baton. i love her shes a great girl.

Re: Legendary Drum Majors

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 3:25 pm
by dmcoach
ThePenguin wrote:
Joyce M David wrote: Liz Ballinger from El Dorado were some few fantastic military spinners.

Haha Liz Ballinger was my first drum major teacher! When i first became a drum major back in 6th grade...she was my first instructor. she was my drum major in a little youth band called the O.C.L.Y.B. (the orange county lutheran youth band). oh man, ive had some good memories with her. she was a fabulous drum major; yes she was very legendary. she taught me my first spins on the military baton. i love her shes a great girl.
*Remembers watching Liz her first year, Imperial Death March playing in the background as she competed, seeing her doing a waist wrap for one of her routines* :yeah:

Re: Legendary Drum Majors

Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 8:16 pm
by Ryan H. Turner
I don't know if I've said this on THIS thread before--and I've only been posting on WOP since before electricity was invented--but I know that in the world of great drum majors Ben Schroeder needs to be near the top of the list. I had the good fortune of being involved with the Glendora program while he was drum major, and that was ONE GOT IT TOGETHER dude. Not only a great drum major but just a great kid--although, he's no kid anymore I'm sure.

Just wanted to put my 2 cents in.