As the auditions draw near and a new season begins, the educational team is preparing for a new season of possibilities. 2008 will include several new instructors to The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps. Here are some of the new staff additions that members will be exposed to:

Color Guard
The color guard in 2008 will be led by the talents of Brandy DuBose and Rob Jett. Brandy DuBose attended Texas State University-San Marcos as a Dance Performance major and also taught the Bobcat Marching Band Colorguard and Millennia Independent Open Winterguard for 11 years. In Texas, she taught Seguin HS for 10 years along with various programs in the central part of the state. After moving to Arizona in May 2006, Brandy began working with Arizona State University Sun Devil Colorguard, where she is the choreographer for the fall program. In addition to the many high school and college color guard programs Ms. DuBose has been involved with, she has served as the Vice President of the Texas Color Guard Circuit from 2003 – 2006. In 1998-1999 Brandy was the Colorguard Caption Head for Tarheel Sun Drum and Bugle Corps, 2001-2002 Santa Clara Vanguard Color Guard as an equipment technician. In addition to her involvement with ASU, she is currently the Colorguard Caption Head with The Academy Winterguard and The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps. Brandy currently resides in Tempe, Arizona.

Rob Jett is the Color Guard Caption Head and Designer for Rancho Bernardo High School’s Auxiliary and Winterguard programs. Jett is highly regarded for his superior design and training and has taught College and High School programs from the San Jose Raiders Open and World guards the Santa Clara Vanguards to Live Oak High and Etiwanda High Schools. Jett’s prior marching experience is with Suncoast Sound and Magic of Orlando. Jett is a native of Nashville, Tennessee.

Visual and Marching
Also new to 2008 will be the leadership of Matthew Ray as Visual Caption Head. He will be accompanied by several new staff members including James Plunkett, and Justin Hancock. Returning staff will include Matt Stout, Andy Blount, and Carlos Soria.

Matt Ray’s musical career began at the young age of 10 as a trombone player. He continued his trombone studies at Dr. Phillips High School in Orlando, Florida under their acclaimed Visual & Performing Arts program. In 1997, he stepped off into the marching world with the Magic of Orlando Drum and Bugle Corps. After three years as a baritone player at Magic, he kicked off the new millennium in 2000 as a member of the 9-time World Champion Cadets and their show titled “We Are The Future.” He finally found a home on the West Coast at the 12-time World Champion Concord Blue Devils from 2001 to 2003 where he held the position of horn sergeant.

Currently, Matt resides and teaches in southern California. He has instructed a number of academic and independent programs in both movement and music including Nogales High School, Upland High School, the BOA Grand National Finalist Ayala High School, Riverside Community College, and Pulse Percussion Ensemble. In addition to his stateside endeavors, he has also worked extensively in Japan as a staff member for such groups as Hamasho High School, Ohtani High School, Yamato Drum and Bugle Corps, Yokohama Scouts, and most recently as a performer for the theater production “Collab,” which premiered in Osaka.

Percussion
2008 will return Glen Crosby as Percussion Caption Head and arranger. Chris Retschulte is another of the returning instructors as Pit instructor and arranger for the corps. Two of the new percussion instructors added to the team are Fred Smih and Ryan Masterson.

Fred Emory Smith started playing the piano at the age of four. By the age of eight he won the national Yamaha piano competition "I can compose, too!" with the song "Freddie's Blues" in 1993. He was the assistant principal percussionist for the Phoenix Youth Symphony Orchestra. During this time Fred entered the "Young Musicians Competition 2002", receiving first place for a marimba concerto, earning the "Clotilde Otranto" award. He performed this marimba concerto with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra. His drum corps experience included playing snare with the Arizona Academy Brass & Percussion Ensemble in 2001, Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets in 2002, and the Santa Clara Vanguard in 2003-2005. He was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2006 Virtual Drumline Parking Lot Composition Contest with his piece entitled "Billy Goat's Milk".

Fred now attends the Berklee College of Music, studying film scoring and has written for string quartet, orchestra, pop, jazz, and rock music. He is the conductor of the Berklee Contemporary Orchestra and now works in New York as a Music Preparations Supervisor for Music and Motion Productions working numerous films; also as a percussion composer and midi programmer for Key Poulan Music. He recently finished a documentery for ABC affilate "The Chronicle" as well as orchestrating and conducting the music for the 2007 EVVY Awards. Past instructors and teachers include: Jim Casella, Murray Gusseck,, Ralph Hardimon, Glen Crosby, Dom Mojo, J.B. Smith, Josh Gottry, Dwight Brewer, Armand Quillintine, Andrew List and Richard Danielpour.

Ryan Masterson
Ryan Masterson works in San Jose, California as a full-time
percussion instructor and arranger. He aged out from the Santa Clara Vanguard in 2005; since then he has completed a degree in music from Eastern Washington University (graduated cum laude), as well as taught and arranged for multiple high schools and drum corps in the state of Washington. Ryan has 8 years of drum corps experience in both playing and teaching.