In Memoriam

by Lauren Vogel Weiss Thomas Earl “Tom” Float, legendary marching percussion performer and instructor, passed away at the age of 69 on October 3, 2022 after a six-year battle with cancer. Best known for his tenure with the Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps (Concord, California), he also taught Spirit of Atlanta (Georgia) and Oakland…

Ruben P Alvarez, a Latin percussionist, drum set artist, composer, and educator, died on Sept. 25, 2022 from complications from an incurable respiratory condition.  Born on Nov. 20, 1951 Rubén was first introduced to Latin percussion by playing drums in Puerto Rican street “descargas” in the 1960s on the streets of Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood….

William “Bill” Platt, a longtime member of the Cincinnati Symphony and teacher at Ohio University and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, died at age 77 on Sept. 5, 2022, after a battle with lung disease. William H. Platt was born on November 10, 1944 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was a graduate of Milford High School….

Dr. Rob Parks died of cancer on June 12, 2022. Dr. Parks was the Director of Percussion Studies at Lebanon Trail High School in Frisco, Texas. He also taught the percussion students in the Lebanon Trail Cluster at Fowler Middle School and Clark Middle School, and served as the conductor and director of the Fowler…

PAS Hall of Fame member William Kraft, former Principal Timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Professor Emeritus, Composition Program, at the University of California Santa Barbera, died on February 12, 2022. Born on Sept. 23, 1923 in Chicago, Illinois, Kraft grew up in San Diego and joined the United States Air Force for three…

After a lingering illness, Lionel “Billy” Moore made his final transition on November 16, 2021. This is now a time for us to pause and experience peace and personal reflections. His wife of 55 years and his family extends their heartfelt thanks to each one for your prayers and memorable thoughts. Billy Moore has “Lived…

Christopher Deane, who served as Professor of Percussion at the University of North Texas College of Music for the past 21 years, died on October 9, 2021. Deane held performance degrees from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He studied with James Massie Johnson, former principal…

June 2, 1941 – August 24, 2021By Rick Mattingly “There’s an undefinable thing about drummers,” Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards told me in 1989 during the band’s Steel Wheels tour. “A lot of cats have good hands, and might be making all the right moves, and playing incredible paradiddles and shit, but it’s like the…

Morris “Arnie” Lang, a longtime New York Philharmonic percussionist and Professor of Percussion at Brooklyn College, died on July 5, 2021. Morris Arnold Lang was born on February 2, 1932 in New York City. He grew up in the Bronx section of New York, and while in high school he played drum set for club…

Ronald James Barnett died on June 30, 2021. He played percussion for 57 summer seasons (1965-2016) with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, and taught percussion to students at the Chautauqua School of Music from 1965–2013. He had full-time positions as timpanist at the Kennedy Center’s Opera and Ballet Orchestra from 1971–2000, and taught percussion at the…