|
CAMP IS FULL Once again, the Junior Fife and Drum Camp has filled up quickly!! We will continue to take registrations for our waiting list. Anyone who is placed on the waiting list will be notified if a space becomes available. Placement on the waiting list will be based on the order in which the registration was received. AUDITION VIDEOS NEEDED Audition videos may accompany your regisration or sent any time BEFORE May 31, 208. All campers are encouraged to do an audio/video. However, this does not mean that if we do not get a video you will not be able to come to camp. It will help us to place you in a compatible music group so you get the most out of camp! If you do not send an audio/video you will automatically be placed in the group with the least amount of experience. Audition requirements can be downloaded here. Audition music is available here in the Library! |
| Drum instructors | ||||
Don Mason
Bass Drum instructor |
 |
Don began drumming at the age of 7 in the Connecticut Yanks as a bass drummer and continued with the corps until it disbanded in 1976. After taking time off during his college years, Don joined the Connecticut Patriots in 1980. During this time, he has won numerous individual championships at the state and northeastern level. In 1989, Don began teaching the bass drum lines for the Connecticut Patriots and for Col. John Chester. In the fall of 2003, Don's role with Col. John Chester was expanded to include instruction of the entire drum line. More recently, Don has become a drum instructor for the Middlesex County Volunteers. Don also plays bass drum in the Connecticut Valley Field Music Drum Corps. | ||
Scott Mitchell
Snare Drum instructor |
 |
Scott Mitchell has been drumming for over 30 years, starting with the Sudbury Ancient Fife & Drum Company and playing with a variety of historical reenactment groups throughout the bicentennial. In 1981 Scott began playing with a loose organization of players that would ultimately develop into the Middlesex County Volunteers. He was drum sergeant and primary drum arranger for MCV from the age of 15 until he left the corps in 1990. In addition to those organizations, Scott has also played with Fife in the Fast Lane, the Ancient Mariners, and the Sons of the Whiskey Rebellion. He currently arranges and performs with the Grand Republic Fife and Drum Corps, a corps that he co-directs with John Benoit.
In addition to his field drumming Scott in an accomplished set drummer. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and has numerous performance and recording credits. While living in Boston he had the privilege to study with Alan Dawson, Fred Buda, Bob Moses, and Bob Gullotti. Scott has performed extensively in the USA and abroad with appearances in every state from Maine to Virginia on the East Coast, and throughout the Midwest and South of the US. He has performed in France in 1983 with the Regt. d’Saintonge (a French reenactment group), Switzerland in 1998 with the Ancient Mariners, and his most recent overseas appearance was with the Middlesex County Volunteers at the 2007 Edinburgh Military Tattoo in Scotland. Scott is a prolific drum arranger whose work has been performed and recorded by a number of fife and drum organizations: Middlesex County Volunteers, Bluff Point Quahog Diggers Band, Kentish Guards, River Valley Colonials, and the Ancient Mariners. He has co-authored two books of musical arrangements: "Retrospective" with John Benoit, and "Fife Alive" with John Ciaglia. His arrangements have been published in Volume III and Volume IV of the "Company Book". He has instructed the Middlesex County Volunteers and the Kentish Guards, and has taught numerous master classes and clinics, including the very first Company of Fifers and Drummers Camp and Freezer Jam. While Scott’s musical influences range from historically accurate field music to the contemporary he has been most heavily influenced by the "Ancient Easy" style he learned by playing with the field drumming masters Ken Lemley, Freddie Bruder, Bobby and Dennis McGowan, Matt Lyons, and especially Ed Classey Jr. Scott’s playing can best be heard on the following recordings: "The Banks of Allan Water" (Middlesex County Volunteers), "The Road to Folly" (John Benoit, John Ciaglia, Xenia Fünfschilling and Scott Mitchell), and "The Twist of Distinction - Fife Alive" (Xenia Fünfschilling, Kevin Klapka, Scott Mitchell). | ||
John Lovett
Bass Drum instructor |
 |
Graduated UMASS Amherst 1993 - BS Mathematics Currently employed by Fidelity Investments Current home in Raleigh, NC Started in marching bands at the age of 10 with the middle school band - mostly little league and holiday parades in town. OAHS marching band - NESBA competitive circuit 1984 - 1988. UMass Minuteman marching band 1988 - 1992 Boston Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corps 1990 - 1991, staff 1993 MCV Fife & Drum - 1994 - present Top Secret DC - 2005 Grand Republic F&D - 2006 - present Legends of Drum Corp performance band - 2002 - 2006 Colonial Williamsburg F&D - staff 2007 - present | ||
Mark Reilly
Snare Drum instructor |
 |
Mark Reilly, a senior instrumentalist with The 3d US Infantry Regiment "The Old Guard" Fife and Drum Corps from Ft. Myer, VA, serves as the corps’ Production Staff Percussion Arranger. He is a student of Mr. Nick Attanasio of the famed Son’s of Liberty Fife and Drum Corps from Brooklyn, NY. Mark is a three time Northeastern States Drum Corps Association individual snare drum champion and has also placed as 1st Runner Up in the 2002 PASIC Marching Festival College Level Snare Drum Competition.
While earning his bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Northwestern State University in 2002 he studied percussion extensively under Mr. Ken Green. In addition to serving as percussion section leader for The Spirit of Northwestern Demon Marching Band, Mark has also performed with NSU’s Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony, Orchestra, Percussion Ensemble, and served as president of the Gamma Rho chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinphonia. He is still an active performer, arranger, clinician, and instructor in the Northern Virginia area and has arranged for many school and professional level drumlines. | ||
|
||||