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Organizations to Know

By Dennis DeLucia
Posted March 2010

Today, drummers and percussionists have a wealth of information and opportunity available to them. Here is a list of organizations that you should know about and interact with.

The Percussive Arts Society (PAS), www.pas.org, hosts the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC), which offers clinics, concerts, an expo and the Marching Percussion Festival.

PAS offers two DVDs involving marching percussion: “The Historic Drummers Heritage Concert,” a video of a 2002 concert that featured individuals such as Jeff Queen, Marty Hurley, John S. Pratt, Jim Kilpatrick and Alfons Grieder as well as drum lines in contemporary, “ancient” (fife and drum), pipe bands and “show bands”; and “The Rudiment Project,” which features artists and educators demonstrating the study of rudiments in marching, concert and drum set applications.

Drum Corps International (DCI), www.dci.org, is the governing body for all “junior” corps activity. It sponsors or authorizes more than 100 competitions from June to August, culminating in the DCI World Championships.

Two events are broadcast to more than 400 movie theaters annually: “The Countdown” is a pre-season event, and “Big, Loud & Live” is the live broadcast of quarterfinals.

WGI Sport of the Arts, www.wgi.org, governs indoor percussion and color guard competitions from coast to coast, culminating in championships each April.

Bands of America (BOA) is sponsored by Music For All, www.musicforall.org. The organization hosts events for marching and concert bands, color guards, percussion ensembles and jazz bands. Its biggest events are the Summer Symposium in late June and Grand Nationals held in November.

Youth Education in the Arts (YEA), www,yea.org, sponsors the US Scholastic Band Association, www.usbands.org, which has hosted thousands of marching band competitions since 1988. This year the organization will launch its first “indoor” circuit for drum lines and color guards.

Explore! Join! Enjoy!

About the Author

Dennis DeLucia is a percussion teacher, arranger, clinician and judge. A former member of the West Point Band, he is best known for his successes with championship corps and bands. He has been inducted into three of the major Halls of Fame: Drum Corps International, WGI Sport of the Arts and the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame.

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