Rudimental knowledge came to drum and bugle corps from Earl Sturtze’s standstill Fife, Bugle and Drum Corps students of the 1930's.  World War I veterans playing handed down Civil War method could not emulate the technique of Charles T. Kirk, let alone the exactness of Sturtze, who judged Kirk players George and Harold Ripperger, Eric Perrilloux, Lenny Hartman and Charles Ploeger.  Redican and Arsenault were competing as well.  Everyone was watching and comparing. The art form had matured.  Audiences didn’t know exactly what it was but noticed the sharp clean audio/visual power of uniform drumming.  The precision and discipline attracted young people who developed a slightly more refined style than the instructor himself. There were many competition divisions:  drum and fife, drum and bugle, solo drum, solo bugle, etc.  Competition for a spot in the line could be as heated as those against other schools.  New York and Connecticut had many competing Ancient (110 bpm) and Modern (120 bpm) corps; contests were available most every weekend.  Drum and bugle corps stipulated 128-132 bpm. Ancients played traditional scoring with few embellishments while bugle corps might try popular pieces using fewer rudiments.  While some stayed in one idiom, many kept sticks moving in all of them.  

 

The crescent of modern technique began in the halls of local parish schools as chosen drummers marched students through halls between classes as they changed rooms, before and after dinner and for the school assembly. St. Francis Parochial of new Haven Connecticut spawned the most champions. 

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Matt Lyons (St. Francis):  "Sturtze was my only teacher.  It was the St. Francis Bugle and Drum Corps in 1939.  I was there with Frank Arsenault, his brother Eldrick and Hugh Quigley, Joe and Ray Luedee.  It was a ghetto area.  Maybe 100 graduated each year.  The 3rd grade level was in competition. Just drummers started in 3rd grade.  The girls played bugle, guys played drums.  There were many contests, 20 to 30 a year. Most played till they were 18 then went to the ancient corps.  They were supplied by the bugle and drum corps like us.

            "At St. Francis, there were so many that you were weeded out. I had to come back in the 4th grade and was there till I was 18.  My future wife was in the corps too.  We went home at noon to a bugle call; dinner too.  Drums would play in the hall and you would march out.  Kids were specially selected to play in the hall.  There were no parents around the corps; priests controlled it.  It wasn't military. It was just tradition. We would cut the St. Francis corps in half to do parades.  There were 80 or 90 total kids so we went to different parades on Memorial Day.”      

Jean Lyons  (St. Francis):  “At St. Francis there was an iron fence at the property line.  They would march us right off the property to that fence.  We would march to a drumbeat in the halls.  You step to the beat of the drum between classes. And you stayed in line.  The priests didn’t like the drum and bugle corps at first but loved it afterwards.  They could travel for free and go to parades. After all, it was the depression. If you got low grades the principal would threaten to take you out of the corps.”           

Warren Lee:  "Many fife, drum and bugle corps were from the Catholic schools in the Bronx.  Instead of bands they had these units. There was St. Anslem's, St, Benedicts, Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Casmir.  They all went head to head in competition all the time."      

Bobby Redican:  "It was the depression.  There was no money to go anyplace.  Some kids had cardboard for shoes.  On weekends we had parades and competitions.  [We would] go all over the state. They paid.  We practiced a couple of hours a day.  I think I got a lot more out of it because of the depression."             

Jim Clark:  "The Great Depression aided the development of drum corps for the groups provided a way for working class youth to travel and to receive some musical instruction at extremely modest cost.  Unlike the earlier fife and drum groups, which were primarily local social organizations for adults (sometimes associated with militia groups), the drum corps of the 1930's were often organized for young people (most corps formally excluded girls from membership, especially as drummers), and many of these groups existed for competition.  Aided by NARD's putative "Standard American Drum Rudiments", it began to acquire a uniformity which made judging more practical.” 

 

Frank Arsenault - Three time National American Legion Snare Drum Champion, 

                                 1951, 1952 VFW National Champion, Skokie Indians, Skokie Illinois

                                 Junior and Senior Connecticut State Champion (years?)

                                 Snare drummer in Stratford Connecticut Yankees (Sturtze)  (years?)

                                 Instructor  Chicago Cavaliers, Ludwig Clinician

 

Veronica Sturtze:  "Rolls were everything.  Everyone was trying to beat Frank. He was good!"

John Flowers: “Arsenault was the better player.  He was more precise and had more military bearing in his strokes and playing. Redican was more powerful, but Arsenault was just a machine.”  

Bobby Redican:  “I always liked beating Frankie.  He would go fast but not steam clean.  The judges that knew him let him get away with it.  He was someone to target.  I watched him quite a bit.  I learned that way. You can always learn watching other people play. Les [Parks] entered a lot of contests, but never had the fortune to beat me."

Matt Lyons:  "I don't think Frank [Arsenault] practiced that much.  If you were not a natural, then sometimes the more you practiced the worse you got. It's built into the brain, memory and dexterity. Frank was discharged from the army early because of arthritis. His bones would swell.”                

Eric Perrilloux: "Frank was very friendly - no big ego - easy to talk to."      

Bill Reamer:  "Frank was a very wide open player.  His style was tighter and more close to the head when he played faster.  He played on a rod drum."     

Ed Olsen:  "Frank's brother Eldrick was not as good as Frank but not much behind him.  Frank was an easy going guy - good natured. He would do anything for you if you were a drum corps nut.  The two finest I ever knew were Earl Sturtze and Frank Arsenault."     

Gary Gordon: "Frank could have been from an Ivy League college married to his books….. He was a genius at what he did - the best.  How many people love what they do?  On one of my trips to Ludwig's factory as a kid, Frank took me around.  He showed me how to turn drumsticks on a lathe.  Frank worked the drumstick machine at the factory when he wasn't playing as he was on full time salary with Ludwig.

“Arsenault could make a drum sound like two people were playing on it.  He looked stern with a determined look of concentration.  Afterwards you were more likely to get a big grin.  When Frank played, he leaned way over towards the drum - he only stood up straight when he had to - he got a look on his face that made you think he was hypnotized, in a trance, in a different world.  He played very hard - strong as an ox.  He always told me that the old 3S size sticks were too little for him, but that was all that was available.”    

 

Hugh Quigley was a St. Francis drummer from Fair Haven, Connecticut, starting on drum pads with Sturtze in 1933, making the corps with Eldrick Arsenault in 1934.  Both are  pictured in 1937 and ’38 corps snapshots. He was voted into Lancraft in 1941. Quig won 60 independent snare titles including Connecticut State Champion six times (’41, ‘42, ’48, ’49, ’52, ’53), His victories in 1952 and ’53 in New York and St. Louis were National Senior American Legion Open Championships. He won state contests in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and 12 Northeast Championship Titles during the 1940’s and ‘50’s. He instructed corps in North Haven, Plainville and the champion Yalesville Jr. Fife and Drum Corps for 13 years.  He judged for the Massachusetts M&M circuit, Northeastern States, and Connecticut Fifers & Drummers Association for many years.  He was a member of Lancraft for 43 years.

Jay Tuomey:  "J. Burns Moore was not quite as open with arm motion as Sturtze was but more than Les Parks.  Frank Arsenault had big arm motion but was very fast, a very open style with high attacks.  He was a human machine. Hugh and Frank both were perfectionists; drumming fanatics. Hugh was very smooth with speed - great execution.  I would say it was Frank number one and Hugh number two as the best I ever saw. Quigley was the smoothest player I ever saw. My greatest pleasure in drum corps has been playing alongside the legendary Hugh Quigley.”              

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Rick Carbonell: “All of them were unbelievable drumming machines.  Very smooth.  Quig was super smooth.  Jack Tenza had a powerful style, same with Eldrick Arsenault.” 

Jack McGuire:  “Quigley played like he was out taking a walk.  He made it look effortless. He and Eldrick played fifty years together at Lancraft.” 

Bobby Redican: "Hugh Quigley beat me a few times in the seniors by an inch."     

Eric Perrilloux:  "Quigley was a half inch behind Redican."     

Jack Tencza:  “Quig was so smooth!  A tremendous drummer.  His personality was relaxed.  His Flam Paradiddle run down was just as relaxed.”      

Bill Reamer:  "Quigley was the exact opposite of Redican.  He was a nice calm gentlemen."   

 

Sigmond Trybus – 1938 Connecticut Senior State Champion, 2nd in 1937, Former National Champion.

Eric Perrilloux:  "Siggie Trybus.......very fast with volume."     

Veronica Sturtze:  "Siggie [Trybus] worked for Gretch [Drum] Company.  I worked for them too and used to cut calfskin heads; cut it and drop it in.  Siggie used to throw wet drum heads at me!  Gretch were hard drums to play on.  I would take the "L" to the Top's Chewing Gum Building.  They were in that building. You could smell that perfume off the "L." 

"The best of all was Howard Keannally.  At 25 [years of age] He had rhumatoid atrthritis so he didn't play much in the winter.  In spring he had to get the sticks going and he would win.  Harold?  What a player!  Same style as Sturtze."    

    

Howard Keanally - Winner of many Connecticut State Championships

                                   Northeastern States Champion.

Veronica (Bentze) Sturtze -   Connecticut Senior Champion Feminine Class

                                                   Northeastern States Champion Feminine Class

                                                   Winner Feminine Class -1940 New York World’s Fair 

 

Matt Lyons:  “Veronica – and I don’t mean this disrespectfully – played with the power of a guy.  She held her own against the guys and always placed high.”

 

Robert Strauss - Connecticut Junior Champion 1947 to 1953

                              Northeastern States Champion 1950 to 1953

                              Junior Open National Champion 1952

 

Matt Lyons -   The author has seen Matt play. He typifies the Sturtze style with execution consistency, and power through the head.  Matt missed all the big competitions because he was born just a tad late.  By the time he was in his prime and improving, everybody had gone to fight the war.  “I missed the right time - met a lot of great players though.  It was the war.  There were no contests.  Everybody was gone.”  

Jay Tuomey:  "Sonny Lyons was a very powerful player with a fluid style."    

 

Bobby Redican was nine years old in 1931 at his first lesson from J. Burns Moore. While not directly taught by Sturtze, he traded information with his students and was judged by Earl.  Redican was fond of playing more difficult fillers, using them by the early 1940s.

He won 56 of 70 individual contests including the 1939 Worlds Fair Competition. ?? 

Bobby states, “I sometimes taught or played in seven corps a week. I believe in being independent, in thinking for yourself.” He was Junior and Senior Connecticut Champion and Junior National Champion, winning on his execution and breakdown ability.  Later, he captured the Senior New England and Northeastern States Championship.  He instructed three-time national champion Charley Poole. “During the depression I took my drum into the woods.  There was nothing too much else to do.  If you played well you could get into the line and go on trips. I don’t believe in ‘style’.  There is ‘formulated habit’.” 

                        

Jay Tuomey: "Redican would go into the woods on Saturday with his drum and not come out for seven hours."       

Charley Poole:  "Redican was a perfection-driven guy.  He would come back from practice with his hands bleeding."         

Bill Reamer:  "Bobby Redican was the best.  He had volume, speed and cleanliness. He could be mean - grouchy.  I knew guys that were scared to death of him.  He used to holler at them."  

Veronica Sturtze: "Redican had a big head.  He was a very high and wide player."     

Gary Pagnozzi:  “Redican played clean with a high hand. You had to go through Redican’s training to understand what he taught.  All the rudiments had to played meticulously.”   

Alfred Merritt:  “Redican was strong willed and opinionated.  He was strict. I would hope he was fair [as a judge].  I have no personal complaints.  As a kid I would sneak off the bus to go see North Brandford.  Redican was there.  They were a picturesque and clean four snare - four bass.  Awesome!  Ancient drumming is so beautiful to listen to.  They used a great open style with dynamics and shading - standard rudiments of the 1950’s.”     

Charley Poole:  "Physically, they could do it all under the sun.  Redican would give private instruction from 6 to 9.  There was never any line cleaning.  We were taught individually.  Put it together and everyone could play.  Redican was the 'Bill Parcels' of drum corps.  When I was eleven years old, I took third place in a contest; good for an eleven year old.  Redican told me, "Bronze?  Come back when it's gold."  He never said a word to me.  Compliments were rare.  But at my bachelor party he said to me, "Charley, you were the greatest."       

“I was asked to judge in 1976 in front of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia for a contest.  All these great snare drummers had an ego.  They could be arrogant.  Bobby Thompson was the only one who was humble.  Well, I’m judging with Perrilloux.  After the contest Redican walks up and says to him, “That’s the kid I was telling you about.”  He had told him I was the only one who could play Redican’s Rattler, a piece Perrilloux wrote for Bobby.  “Well, if you’re better than Bobby Redican, you must be one hell of a “%##^%^$)^&*” drummer!”

 

Redican was Meriden, Connecticut’s fire marshal, leaving drum corps to earn a pension.  He was politically astute enough to maintain that position for a number of years. Bobby wanted fair competition and was perturbed at politics.

"I met Perrilloux at different contests. We would talk to each other, all apart from our performances.  We would watch the other play. I put tougher rudiments into my selections.  I would use fillers with Flam Paradiddle Diddles and put double accents on Paradiddles – Double and Triple Paradiddles too. Not many did that then. I never thought the Flam was that difficult to play.  I used a lot of Drags and Flam Paradiddle Diddles.”  

Doug Reynolds:  “Redican’s style was just like Perrilloux’s; a high Reilly Raider type style. Reilly drummers played eye level height.”

 

            Eric Perrilloux championed the use of complex “fillers” following Redican’s lead. Perrilloux had more of a knack for writing than Redican or Sturtze and mixed musical opportunity with demand in the late 1940’s.  New York was at a disadvantage in individual contests. Bobby Redican: “New York drummers had to pick their solos from the Camp Duty.  We didn’t have to.”  Eric wasn’t one to let that stop him.  

 

Eric Perilloux -  Joined Charles T. Kirk as a snare drummer in 1937. 

                           Winner of the Gene Krupa drum contest at the 1940 World's Fair

                           New York State Champion 5 times

                           Northeastern Champion

                           Instructed the famous Reilly Raiders Drum Line, Yankee Rebels

                           Credited with implimenting voicing and split parts in the early 1950's.

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Brian Pentony (Old Guard):  "Our  fife and drum corps had Al "Duke" Terreri writing our music, Mr. Thompson making us look great and play with energy and passion, and Mr. Perrilioux who ran us into the ground with exercises. Quite a staff!

 

“Mr. Perriloux was a roll monster.  He was the disciplinarian. That man made my life miserable. He came in around late 1979 to fix some of the disciplinary issues we had. We had a pretty good exodus of drummers going off to college in the late 70s and were left with a who were forced into roles they weren't ready for. Naturally, the older guys enforced the discipline in the line and when they left, we were kind of a rudderless ship. We had an unusually poor showing in our 1979 state contest and as a result, our director brought in Mr. Perrilloux.  Mr. Thompson was a great instructor but not a disciplinarian. He left your progress up to you.  If you wanted to be good, listen to him, if not, too bad for you.  Mr. Perrilloux was an aging old time drum corps bad ass who wore us ragged with exercises every night. He wasn't there to be our friend, he was there to kick our butts and he did a 5-star job. One in particular was a simple left hand attack Seven Stroke Roll into a single seven.  You played the seven crescendo into the single seven as loud as you could play with sticks flying up in the air. We did that for what seemed like forever. It was awful... but it was invaluable.  I had no idea then what his instruction was doing for my own stamina and endurance. 

 

“I really couldn't stand to see him show up, wishing he might have had a flat along the way, however, I did grow to realize how incredibly invaluable his instruction was. We became friends after I left and joined the Old Guard and had some great conversations following his time as our instructor.  In fact, he paid me quite a compliment for my recording of a piece he wrote (Triple Diddle 6/8) and that was one of those long sought after compliments you want to hear from a person of his stature.  He was a phenomenal drummer, the most powerful drummer I have ever seen!  He was in his 60's then and he was awesome!”

 

Alfred "DUKE" Terreri (1918 - 2000) had a seven-decade drumming interest that began in 1929, after seeing cousins and friends performing with the St. Lucy's Fife, Drum and Bugle Corps. He joined as a fifer but switched to drum, becoming their instructor in 1931. He studied drumming under William "Billy" Bean.  On Seventh Avenue was St. Lucy's Church, very close to his house.  The corps eventually became the famous St. Lucy's Cadets drum and bugle corps who went against Blessed Sacrament and Midwest drumlines for national honors. The Newark resident played for St. Lucy's from 1929 to 1956 and taught the drum line from 1931 to 1961, also instructing and performing with countless fife & drum and drum and bugle corps in the tri-state area, even gigging at weekend Italian festivals. St. Lucy's drummer Pat Vitale had a sister named Carmela whom he introduced to Duke. They married at St. Lucy's Church on January 7, 1945.

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Big Band ruled in the 1930s and '40s. At age 13, Duke was hired to play with the Frankie Richland band, the same one Frank Sinatra starred with.  His skill earned the name “The Duke”, playing gigs at venues that Krupa, Rich and Tough played and continued with some of the most prominent Big Bands in the '30s and '40s dance and nightclub scene: the Savoy All-Stars, the Catskills Orchestra and other New York and New Jersey bands. He beat out about 34 others to be Gene Krupa’s back-up drummer, but turned the offer down due to family responsibilities; he would not go on the road for extended periods of time.  His taught both drum and bugle and fife and drum (chairman of the Company of Fifers and Drummers for more than 20 years). Duke taught a slew of marching units. He performed with Irvington’s National Fife and Drum Corps and Gabarina (New York Skyliners), teaching the rival Archer Epler Musketeers. He performed and taught all over the country and in Canada. In the 1940s, Duke started his own Big Band, Duke and Tobia Brothers All Stars, playing into the 1980s. He performed with the Newark Symphonic Band from 1964 till September, 2000.  

 

His son John states: “When you heard a drum line coming down the street, you could tell when Duke was either in there or had taught them."  He retired from Big Band playing in 1981, tired of setting up and tearing down equipment. He had ability on violin, guitar and mandolin, at the piano, on banjo and taught trumpet.  Duke was inducted into the New York Drum Corps Hall of Fame in 1992, the Fife & Drum Hall of Fame in 1994 and the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame in 1997. 

 

Duke’s son John married to Carol Pennosi, Audabon Bon Bon drum major in ‘68 and ’69.

John Terreri:  “My dad was playing mandolin as a 5 or 6 year old and drums when he was nine. My grandfather was a musician back in Italy and taught him the song that Chuck Magione made famous, The Land of Make Believe. It has the same chords. Dad said, “I played that as a nine year old in 1925!  It was an Italian love song!”  He was the one who told my father to join a standstill drum corps in 1929, the St. Lucy’s Fife, Drum and Bugle Corps of Newark, New Jersey. He joined St. Lucy’s as a red headed kid the age of 11 and was instructing them two years later at 13.  They were national champions through the ‘20’s, ‘30’s, ‘40’s and broke up in 1947, becoming the junior corps most are familiar with in the 1960’s that competed against Blessed Sac and the east coast powerhouses, teaching with and against Bobby Thompson. They would play at musters together, the best of friends. It was the same church and same parish. My father instructed that junior corps from 1956 to 1961.  Danny Raymond Sr. then took over in ’62. Harold (Chew) Gernadt was my dad’s protégé and practically lived with us over the years.  When St. Joseph’s Cadets folded, half of them went to Skyliners in ’56 and ’57. My dad was there and taught them in ’58 before Eric Perrilloux came there. The number of corps he taught is astounding.  St. Rocco’s of Newark, Immaculate Conception in the standstill ranks and St. Lucy’s.  He was in corps from 1929 till 2000.

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“Whether you were beginning or advanced, you listened to him. He would watch your dexterity then tell you to break it down.  He wasn’t a high handed player in the early days – better described as halfway up and middle of the road, some of the fastest form I’ve seen.  He did arrangements too - graduated from the Pope Pius X School of Music, which later became the Manhattan School of Music.  He was a music and choral director. He was the Newark Symphony band drummer from 1964 till he passed away. I was the director, he was the drummer.

“Duke was an avid drum set player, playing in big bands since he was just 13 years old.  He knew Sinatra. He was the drummer and librarian of Frankie Richland and the New Yorkers, a big union style stage band. Sinatra would come in and sing with them…..  Krupa came to St. Lucy’s in the 40’s just after they won the national title.  It was ’47 or so. There was a drum room in the church basement off to the side of the alter.  My dad didn’t like the limelight but Krupa heard my father playing. “Duke, I need a guy to be my second.”  He asked my dad to go on tour.  At this time his sister had just passsed away and was taking care of a father and great aunt.  He couldn’t take care of them if he was on the road. “Gene, I can’t do it.”  This is why dad stayed local.  He did the Catskills and Atlantic City, the Asbury Park area and Adams Theater.  I was born two years later.  He never left Newark and 7th Avenue.

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“I grew up watching him play.  In practice he was very calm - very patient. He went section by section but always had them play as individuals to correct things.  No one would walk out of the room without knowing what they were doing.  He could tell someone was doing the wrong sticking not even seeing it. If you didn’t know a part the famous expression was “It’s in the book!”, the Company book with all the drum charts in it.” 

 

Mike Del Corsano: “Duke Terreri didn’t own a TV.  Nobody messed around when Duke was there.  It was sheer respect for the man. He lived it; he didn’t talk it.  Duke was a perfectionist at the age of 80.  I was at his birthday party.  He marched in the St. Paddy’s parade and if it wasn’t for the hills, he would have done the whole thing.  It was the walking, not the playing. He jumped in for the reviewing stand.”   

Chew Gernandt: “Duke was the master musician.  He was from the Manhattan School of Music and with the Jersey City Band.  Buddy Rich sat in with that band as a kid before he became famous.  He remembered sitting in with Duke years later. Frank Sinatra has sung with them too. Duke played a lower Connecticut style.  Some guys are technically better but some are musically great.  Terrari was with the 50’s Gabarina corps and the Chatam Colonial Militia fife and drums.”        

Brian Pentony (Old Guard): “Duke Terreri was the most kind human you could have ever met. He marched in parades up until the time of his death and could out march and out play even the most fit of us.  He wrote awesome drum parts but was not a technician.  He would write our parts and Mr. T would make us look good playing it. He was an incredible friend and mentor.  His reputation and legend extended way, WAY beyond the parade field. He was legendary for his compassion and kindness as much as his musical genius. He was everywhere, all the time. He marched when it was 90 degrees in the shade long after many weak sisters hung it up.  He was the only one in all of the jam sessions who knew every tune. He was, in other words, the Pope of our fife and drum community.”