Troopers Announce 2018 Design Team
Last weekend our 2018 Design Team convened in Dallas, TX to begin preparations for our 60th anniversary summer program. This year’s production, which will include an exciting new look is sure to please fans from coast to coast as we set out west for the first time in eight years.
Adam Sage, our new Artistic Director, brings a level of professionalism and creativity that will allow the Troopers to move to the next level.
“It truly is an honor to work and collaborate with a creative team like this. I have worked with everyone in some capacity over the years and for all of us to be together working on this project for the Troopers celebrating their 60th anniversary is really special. We are looking forward to both designing a program for an organization with such a rich history and a program that moves them into the next 60 years.” -Adam Sage, Artistic Director
We are proud to present the 2018 Troopers Design Team:
Adam Sage, Artistic Director
Adam Sage is an active choreographer, designer, and adjudicator in the pageantry arts. Adam has worked with numerous programs in the southeast including Tarpon Springs High School, East Lake High School, Seminole High School (1993 WGI A class Bronze medalists), Clearwater High School, Kell High School and Pope High School in Marietta, Georgia. Pope High School was the 2000 WGI Open class Silver medalists and the 2002 WGI World class Bronze medalists. Kell High School was the 2005 WGI A class Silver medalist. In addition, Adam also designed for Spanish River High School Winter Guard in Boca Raton, Florida (2009 Winter Guard International Scholastic A Silver medalists).
Adam’s drum corps experience includes being a performing member of the Suncoast Sound from 1988 to 1989, and The Cadets of Bergen County from 1990 to 1991. He was the caption head for the Magic of Orlando from 1992 to 1993; caption head for the Crossmen from 1994 to 1995. Adam then spent 1996 through 2002 working with the Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps. Sage was also the caption head and designer for the Santa Clara Vanguard in 2003 and 2004. 2005 through 2008, he spent with the Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps as their caption head and designer. 2009-2011, he was the caption supervisor and designer with the Carolina Crown Drum & Bugle Corps. Adam was the color guard caption head and designer for the Madison Scouts from 2012-2014.
Adam is also actively involved with Winter Guard International (WGI). He was the director of The Company Colour Guard from Tampa Bay, Florida from 1995 to 1999. The Company was a two time WGI World Champion in the A (1995) class and Open (1996) class. He was also the director of the Phantom Regiment Winter Guard in 2007 and 2008 and CrownGUARD in 2009 and 2010. Sage was also a member of the Emerald Marquis Winter Guard from 1990 to 1991. Most recently, Adam Sage was the director and designer for the Kennesaw Mountain High School Color Guard in Kennesaw, Georgia 2003-present (2004 Winter Guard International Scholastic A World Champions, 2005 Winter Guard International Scholastic Open World Champions, 2006 Winter Guard International Scholastic World Class finalists, and the 2013 Winter Guard International Scholastic Open Bronze Medalists); and designer for the 2015 Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps.
Currently, he is the designer and choreographer for East Coweta Winter Guard (GA), Yokohama Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps in Yokohama, Japan, Jupiter High School Band and Color Guard (FL), Stoneman Douglas Winter Guard (FL), South Florida Independent SFI (FL), and artistic director and color guard co-director at Park Vista High School (FL). He is also a consultant and choreographer for the Brazilian Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Adam Sage is a choreographer and program consultant for Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps. Adam is an adjudicator for Bands Of America and Winter Guard International.When he is not teaching color guard, Adam is a third grade teacher in South Florida where he resides.
Robert W. Smith, Music Director & Arranger
Robert W. Smith (b. 1958) is one of the most popular and prolific composers in America today. He has over 600 publications in print with the majority composed and arranged through his long association with Warner Bros. Publications and the Belwin catalog.
Mr. Smith’s credits include many compositions and productions in all areas of the music field. His original works for winds and percussion have been programmed by countless military, university, high school, and middle school bands throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, South America and Asia. His Symphony #1 (The Divine Comedy), Symphony #2 (The Odyssey), Symphony #3 (Don Quixote), Inchon and Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual have received worldwide critical acclaim. His educational compositions such as The Tempest, Encanto, and The Great Locomotive Chase have become standards for developing bands throughout the world.
Mr. Smith’s music has received extensive airplay on major network television as well as inclusion in multiple motion pictures. From professional ensembles such as the United States Navy Band, United States Air Force Band, Boston Pops and the Atlanta Symphony to school bands and orchestras throughout the world, his music speaks to audiences in any concert setting. As a conductor, clinician and keynote speaker, Mr. Smith has performed throughout North America, Asia, South America, Europe and Australia. His music has been recorded by various ensembles and is available on CD and download through iTunes, Amazon, and other recorded music outlets.
Mr. Smith is the President/CEO of RWS Music Company, exclusively distributed through C. L. Barnhouse. In addition, he is currently teaching in the Music Industry program at Troy University in Troy, Alabama. His teaching responsibilities are focused in music composition, production, publishing and business.
Paul Rennick, Percussion Director/Arranger
Paul Rennick is Assistant Professor in Percussion at the University of North Texas where he has served on the faculty since 1991. A leading figure in the world of marching percussion and percussion education, Paul has a long history of successful students and renowned performing ensembles, and has been a featured clinician and guest artist worldwide.
Since 1989 Paul has written and designed the competitive shows for the 20-time Percussive Arts Society International Champion University of North Texas Indoor Drumline. He is also the percussion coordinator for the nationally recognized UNT Green Brigade Marching Band.
Paul is currently the music coordinator, percussion director and arranger for the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum & Bugle Corps, recently winning the DCI Fred Sanford Award for Percussion Performance three times in the last four years (2014, 2016, 2017). He is also currently the percussion coordinator and arranger for the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps.
Paul served as the director of percussion for the Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps from 2003-2010, winning the Drum Corps International Fred Sanford Award for Percussion Performance three times (2006, 2008, 2010), and the DCI Championship in 2008, achieving the rare feat of winning the DCI drum trophy multiple times with two different organizations. Paul recently received the honor of being elected to DCI Hall of Fame class of 2017.
Paul was a design team member, music composer/arranger, instructor, and percussion manager for the Tony & Emmy Award-winning Broadway production “Blast!”
Paul is also an active performer, appearing as a featured soloist with the UNT Wind Symphony on the DVD recording “Percussive Palooza,” and related showcase concert at PASIC 2006. He is also a featured soloist on the University of North Texas Percussion Ensemble recording “Vespertine Formations” (2009).
Paul is an artist and product consultant with Dynasty USA, and helped design the new “Custom Elite” series of marching drums. He is also a signature artist with Innovative Percussion, Inc. and designed three signature sticks, FS-PR, FS-PR2, and TS-PR. Paul is also an artist and clinician for Remo Inc. and the Avedis Zildjian Co.
Sandi Rennick, Percussion Arranger
Sandi Rennick is a percussionist and marimba soloist with extensive performing and teaching experience in the DFW area and throughout the United States. She was an original cast member of the Tony and Emmy Award-winning production "Blast", performing in London, England, as well as a featured marimba soloist on tour throughout the United States. Sandi is currently a percussion arranger for the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps (2011- present), and the Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps (2013-present).
She has teaching and arranging experience with a variety of groups at all levels, including the UNT Green Brigade Marching Band, Drum Corps Japan Champions Yokohama Scouts, and Drum Corps International champions Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps (2003-2010) and Carolina Crown (1998-2004).
Sandi has participated as a clinician, performer, or adjudicator at the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions (PASIC) virtually every year since 1995, and served on the PAS Marching Committee for 13 years.
Sandi is currently on the faculty for the UNT Keyboard Percussion Symposium held each summer in Denton, TX, and taught as an Adjunct Professor of percussion at Texas A&M University-Commerce for the spring semester of 2017. She can be heard on the PBS special “Blast!”, and Mark Ford’s recording “Motion Beyond.” Sandi is a Signature Artist for Innovative Percussion, Inc., and a clinician/artist for Dynasty USA/Bergerault.
John Davidson, Sound Designer
John R. Davidson is a five-time Emmy Award-winning sound designer with over 20 years of experience in sound design for theatrical film and television broadcast. Recently, he was honored by his peers with two ITVA Peer Gold Awards for his sound design work for the Smithsonian Networks “Titanic’s Final Mysteries.” John currently serves as senior sound designer at Interface Media Group in Washington, D.C., where his client list includes PBS, AMC, DISNEY, Discovery Channel, ESPN, HBO, National Geographic, Showtime, Starz and Universal Studios, to name a few. John has sound designed and audio produced over 2,000 long-format award-winning documentaries, music performances, promos and feature films, utilizing his expertise in 5.1 surround sound design and mixing.
John is also an active contributor to the advancement of the field of recording arts for film and television, having served as chief panel judge for sound-design and music-composition categories for NATAS, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He continues to serve as an artist-in-residence for universities throughout the U.S. in the field of sound design and audio production.
John received his bachelor's degree in music from James Madison University, with an emphasis in percussion and audio engineering. This will be John’s third year as the Sound Designer for the Troopers.
Pat Miller, Visual Designer/Drill
Pat Miller has been involved in the world of the pageantry arts for over 25 years as an educator, designer, adjudicator, clinician and consultant. Originally starting his career as a performer with the Garfield Cadets, Pat has served in many roles including drill designer, visual caption head, instructor and consultant for several DCI, BOA, and scholastic championship programs. Pat’s involvement has included such outstanding DCI organizations as The Cadets (1988-90, 1995), The Glassmen (1997-2012, drill writer 2003, 2004, and 2012), The Blue Knights (1992-93, 2013-14), The Phantom Regiment (2015), and The Troopers (2017-present, drill writer 2018).
Scholastically, Pat has been instrumental in achieving multiple state championships in Virginia and Florida, and has been involved with Lassiter High School (GA), Center Grove High School (IN), Plymouth Canton (MI), Thomas Jefferson HS of Science and Technology (VA), and is currently the Visual Coordinator and Designer for the Braden River High School Marching Band, the two-time class 3A Florida State Champions.
Pat is the Director and Visual Designer of the newly formed Horizon Winds, an A Class WGI Winds group out of Auburndale, Florida. In their debut season, Horizon Winds were the 2017 FFCC A Class Champions and WGI A Class Silver Medalists.
Pat is an active adjudicator throughout the Southeast and MidWest and has been a guest conductor at the University of Georgia Middle School Honor Band Festival in Athens, GA. Pat earned his Music Education degree from George Mason University and is currently in his thirteenth year as the Director of Bands at The Out-of- Door Academy, a Pre K-12 independent college preparatory school in Sarasota, FL. Pat enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters at the beach and running Tough Mudder extreme endurance races.
Noah Bellamy, Visual Designer/Drill
Noah Bellamy is originally from Centerville, Ohio. After graduating from high school, Noah took part in a series of special studies at the internationally acclaimed University of North Texas. In 2002, Noah graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington, and then earned a masters in music from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.
After marching with the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps in 1996, Noah went on to teach visual performance at Centerville High School. While serving as a visual specialist and caption head from 1997-2005, the band won 12 Bands Of America Regional Championships, as well as the high visual award at Grand National Championships in 2003.
In 2005, Noah moved to South Florida and began teaching at Miami Beach Senior High School, where he started a scholastic winter drumline program, as well as a percussion class that has been modeled by many other schools across the country through the published article entitled "Creating Student Involvement Through The Use Of Percussion Instruments."
While in Florida, he became the visual designer for the consistent WGI World Class finalists, Infinity Percussion as well as for the 2010 and 2011 WGI Open Class silver medalist, Stryke Percussion, now PIW. He also began writing for and working with some of the most successful marching bands in the state, including JP Taravella, Seminole, Stoneman Douglas, and Cypress Bay high schools.
Noah currently lives in Canton, Mich., where he is the visual designer and visual caption head for the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park Marching Band. He has become an in demand drill writer for marching bands and winter percussion ensembles across the nation. Noah has worked with or written for groups that have made finals in every class in WGI as well as BOA and other marching circuits around the country. He maintains a busy schedule of writing drill, judging in both the fall and the winter, and consulting with various marching ensembles from around the world, most recently traveling to Taiwan as the visual caption head and designer for the Taiwan International Marching Band Camp. Noah is an educating artist for Dynasty Band USA, Innovative Percussion, and Remo.
Adam Dalton, Visual Designer/Choreographer
Adam Dalton is currently the Director of Athletic Bands for Marshall University where he oversees the Marching Thunder and basketball pep bands. He also conducts the Marshall Symphonic Band and serves as the recruitment director for the music department.
Dr. Dalton is a native of Virginia where he attended James Madison University and earned a Bachelor of Music in Music Education. After graduating, he moved to Atlanta, GA where he taught high school at Milton High School, a large 5A program in Georgia. He then accepted a Graduate Teaching Assistantship at The University of Alabama where he received his Master of Arts in Music Education and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Instrumental Conducting.
Dr. Dalton performed with The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps for three years earning two world championships and a gold medal in individual and ensemble. He also marched in various independent winter guards in the southeast, consistently making finals at Winter Guard International. His designing and teaching experience includes the 2008 World Champion Phantom Regiment, The Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps, and Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps. He is currently a designer for The Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps. He is featured on the WGI video, Toss and served as a clinician and performer for the first ever Spinfest Clinic, an annual educational event sponsored by WGI. Dr. Dalton maintains a busy schedule as a designer, consultant, and adjudicator for marching bands and indoor groups both nationally and internationally.
Dr. Dalton worked with every ensemble while at The University of Alabama and was a featured conductor for the 2013 All-State Festival performance with The Alabama Wind Ensemble. His high school band received superior ratings at Large Group Performance Evaluation. As a percussionist, Dr. Dalton performed with the Alabama Wind Ensemble for four years including their 10 day tour of Italy in 2012. He is a founding member of the Alabama Winds, a community band based in Birmingham, AL. He has also participated in the Alabama Wind Ensemble recording project The Glass Bead, available on Albany Records.
Dr. Dalton’s professional affiliations include the Collegiate Band Director’s National Conference where he serves as state chair, the National Association for Music Education, the Collegiate Music Society, and the National Band Association where he also serves as the state chair.
Rick Subel, Program Consultant
Rick Subel is the director and designer of Paramount Winterguard of Atlanta, GA, the WGI Independent World Class colorguard he founded in 2011. He has also been the artistic director of the Georgia State University Colorguard since 2012.
In the DCI world, Rick has most recently designed and choreographed for the Santa Clara Vanguard, where he has spent several seasons. Rick has also worked assisting in the choreography at Carolina Crown.
Rick began his life in the pageantry arts in 1992, in the brass section of the Cadets of Bergen County. After graduating from high school, he joined the Emerald Marquis Winterguard in 1995, where he performed for five seasons. He also spent two seasons in the colorguard of the Blue Devils, and one season with the Brass Theatre (Star of Indiana/"Blast").
Rick has designed and choreographed for many prestigious independent and scholastic colorguard programs including the Emerald Marquis, Blessed Sacrament, Juxtaposition, The Academy (UK), Chimeras, The Knights (UCF), Phantom Regiment Winterguard, Seminole High School, Miamisburg High School, Kennesaw Mountain High School, Kell High School, Greater Johnstown High School, Lassiter High School, Westfield High School, Harrison High School, South Forsyth High School, and River Ridge High School. Rick has also choreographed and designed for many successful drum corps including the East Coast Jazz, The Cadets, Magic of Orlando, the Crossmen, the Bluecoats, and Phantom Regiment. In addition, he has choreographed and taught many successful drum corps colorguard programs including the East Coast Jazz, The Cadets, Magic of Orlando, Phantom Regiment and Bluecoats.
Donnie VanDoren, Program Adviser
Donnie has extensive experience in the drum and bugle corps activity. From 1980-1984, he was the Brass Caption Head for the Garfield Cadets, winning the Jim Ott Award for high brass in 1983 and 1984 while simultaneously winning their first two world championships. In 1985, VanDoren served as the Brass Caption Head with the Troopers which saw them returning to the DCI Finals and placing 9th.
Donnie was the Brass Caption Head for the Star of Indiana in 1986 and from 1988-93. Star won the Jim Ott Award for high brass in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993 with the corps winning the DCI World Championship in 1991. From 1994-1998, Donnie served as Brass Theater’s Music Manager and helped the organization transition into the BLAST! production that has been performing in the U.S. and abroad since 1999. In 1998 and 1999, VanDoren was the Brass Caption Head for the Cadets of Bergen County, winning the DCI World Championship in 1998. Since 2005, Donnie has been an advisor to the brass program for the Carolina Crown; from 2006-2011, was an advisor to the Blue Stars which saw them returning to the DCI Finals in 2008; from 2010-2015, was the Staff Coordinator and Brass Caption Supervisor for the Madison Scouts; from 2013-2017, was the Program and Staff Coordinator for the Troopers, and since 2016, has been an advisor to the brass program for the Bluecoats. Donnie VanDoren is an inductee of the Cadets Hall of Fame, the Star of Indiana Wall of Fame, and the DCI Hall of Fame.
Donnie has his own Management Consulting Company, VanDoren Management Group, and is the Casting Director for BLAST! and the Mason Entertainment Group, a position he has held since 2005. Donnie lives in Cedar Park, Tx with his wife Laurie, and is the proud father of Crown alumnus Evan VanDoren and alumna Carrie VanDoren, and is the proud father-in- law of Crown alumna Katie VanDoren.
