by Lauren Vogel Weiss

Active as a percussion arranger, show designer, and drum instructor, Thom Hannum has been involved in six Drum Corps International (DCI) World Class Championship titles, with three different drum and bugle corps, during his four-plus decades in the marching arts activity. Two of those corps also received the Fred Sanford Award for Best Percussion Performance. He was an integral part of the Tony- and Emmy-award-winning show Blast! Add in a 40-year career on the music faculty at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass), countless clinics, plus a few instructional books, and it becomes obvious why Hannum is being honored for his contributions to marching percussion.

“Thom’s involvement and influence in the marching arts has been paramount and formative in the development of the genre,” states Julie Davila, current PAS President and longtime DCI adjudicator. “There is no doubt that today’s exceptional performances, both in execution and design, are a direct result from his leadership and influence.

“Growing up in the ’80s,” she continues, “I was a student and fan enamored with many of Thom’s championship groups. His association and tutelage with the Garfield Cadets, the Crossmen, and Star of Indiana were remarkable, and Thom became recognized for his hallmark of musicality, creativity in colors and timbres, and standard-setting precision.”

GROWING UP IN DRUM CORPS
Thomas Patrick “Thom” Hannum was born on Flag Day in 1957 in Chester, Pennsylvania, literally growing up in a drum corps family. His father, Bob, was the assistant director for a local corps, the Brookhaven Crusaders, where his older brother and sister were members, and his mother, Stella, pitched in on the food truck. “As a five-year-old, I would go to practices, and I gravitated to the drum line,” Hannum recalls.

At age 11, he played snare drum for their rookie corps and, in 1969, he joined the Crusaders, under the direction of drum instructor Joe Marella. “Since I was the youngest person in the drum line, they wanted me to play cymbals,” remembers Thom, “but I wanted to play the [single] tenor drum, even though it was almost as big as me!” Hannum did indeed play tenor his first year, followed by the double tenors his second year, before moving up to snare drum.

Along with other kids in his neighborhood, he then joined the Tri-Community Cadets from Newtown Square, which became the Keystone Regiment. He marched snare drum for three years, taught by drum instructors Jack Cassady and Eric Landis. In October 1974, the Keystone Regiment merged with two other corps to form the Crossmen, based out of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, where Landis and Billy Kaufmann led the drum line. Beginning with the 1975 DCI season, Hannum marched snare drum with the Crossmen for four years until he aged out in 1978. He continued to teach their drum line through the 1982 season.

“We learned by rote,” he says, “which was a great thing because it helped develop my listening skills. Our instructors would play the music and we would try to play it back, as well as watch what they were doing.” In other words, Thom did not know how to read music!

Hannum graduated from St. James High School in Chester in 1975. Lacking a school band program, all of Hannum’s early musical experiences came from drum corps. “I always knew I wanted to teach, but originally planned to be a history teacher,” he says with a laugh. “That would give me summers off, which is very compatible with drum corps.

“I was lucky,” Hannum contends, “because some of the people I grew up and marched with were studying music at West Chester State College, and they wanted me to join the band there. I thought this was a great opportunity because I would learn how to read music. It was also extremely humbling; I was now in a program where they put charts in front of you, and I had never experienced anything like that!

“The percussion teacher at West Chester was Joe Goebel,” continues Hannum. “He saw something in me and was patient enough to allow it to develop over time. Every experience was completely new to me. I would stay at the music building until midnight every night just trying to learn how to read the notes. I think the most important lesson I learned in college was to be persistent and stick with it. If I could get through this, instead of just being a capable snare drummer in a corps, I would be validated to go out and teach drum lines.”

Hannum graduated from West Chester State College (now West Chester University) in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education. Soon after, George Parks, Director of the Minuteman Marching Band at UMass, and a former drum major at West Chester, asked Hannum if he would be interested in serving as a graduate teaching assistant. “I had no plans,” admits Thom. “I was going to teach the Crossmen after graduation and let the chips fall where they may. But this opportunity opened up, so I auditioned for Peter Tanner, the percussion teacher at
UMass. I was not the greatest mallet player or timpanist, but Peter thought there was something I could contribute. Again, I was very fortunate because people gave me a chance.” In 1984, Hannum received a Master of Music degree in education.

A CAREER IN DRUM CORPS
Robert B. “Bob” Morrison, Chairman and CEO of Quadrant Research and Chairman Emeritus of Music for All, who was a 17-year-old during Hannum’s first year instructing the Crossmen, describes his teacher, mentor, and collaborator: “Thom revolutionized marching percussion for the modern era of drum corps. The 1979 Crossmen featured a drum line on the 50-yard line, with marching keyboards and timpani, playing in a very traditional style. The 1985 Garfield Cadets showed the battery percussion running sideways across the field, playing musically constructed arrangements, while a full percussion ensemble on the front sideline featured more than 100 instruments played by six percussionists and five cymbal players using a variety of sounds and techniques.”

In the fall of 1982, Hannum was asked to teach the Garfield Cadets, then based in Bergen County, New Jersey, mainly writing and arranging for the drum line. (Morrison, Joey Gaudet, and later Rob James, wrote the keyboard and front ensemble parts.) Hannum would stay with the corps for six seasons (1983–88), and during that time, the Cadets won four DCI championships (1983, 1984, 1985, and 1987). “Writing their percussion music and teaching the drum line was probably the most fertile time of my career because it was a very rapidly changing environment,” Thom admits.

“In 1983, I remember [Nelson’s] ‘Rocky Point Holiday’ was at 184 beats per minute,” Hannum continues. “I never wrote music that fast before! I also remember Bernstein’s ‘West Side Story’ in ’84; ‘Candide’ and ‘Jeremiah Symphony’ [Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1] in ’85, and Cop-land’s ‘Appalachian Spring’ in ’87. But those first two years, when Jim Prime was writing the brass music and George Zingali was writing the drill, were special because the corps was transforming new possibilities.

“1987 was just the right place, right time, and right show,” says Hannum. “People were ready for something different, and we gave it to them.” 1987 was also the year the Cadets won “high drums” with a perfect drum score of 20.0, and the year that Hannum began to write more of the front ensemble music.

After taking the 1989 season “off” — although he wrote the drum line feature for Canada’s Dutch Boy that year — Hannum became affiliated with his next World Champion corps, Star of Indiana, based in Bloomington. “Bob Dubinski was teaching their drum line in 1990 and he asked me to do some consulting, as well as write the percussion feature,” recalls Hannum. “Their brass staff were many of the same folks I worked with at Garfield, so it was a good fit, musically speaking.”

In 1991, Star of Indiana won its first, and only, DCI Championship, performing music of Ottorino Respighi. “By 1993,” Hannum continues, “Dubie’ [Dubinski] and I had switched roles: he was more of a consultant, while I was in charge of the drum line and did most of the writing and arranging.” Although Star placed second overall, with their program featuring the music of Béla Bartók and Samuel Barber, they did win the Fred Sanford Award for Best Percussion Performance.

Star of Indiana morphed into an innovative, indoor performing ensemble called Brass Theater. After three years, Thom missed the drum corps activity and returned to the Crossmen in 1997 and ’98, where he was assisted by two former UMass students, Colin McNutt and Jim Ancona, who had also worked with him at Star.

By 1999, Brass Theater was undergoing another metamorphosis, this time into the musical theater production Blast! “I took a leave of absence from school to help recruit the first cast,” explains Hannum. “I remember watching the show every day and never, ever getting bored. That was just a great feeling!”

The new production premiered at the Hammersmith Apollo Theater in London on December 14, 1999. A PBS special of the London production aired on August 5, 2000, and that won an Emmy award in 2001 for Outstanding Choreography.

Blast! moved to New York City, premiering at The Broadway Theater on April 17, 2001, where it played for five months. In the Playbill program, Hannum is credited as a member of the Design Team, a Musical Arranger, and Music Instructor. “It was such a collective effort of everybody involved,” he admits. The show won a Tony award that year for Special Theatrical Event, and it was also nominated for Best Choreography.

Thom’s next drum corps involvement was in 2010–11 with the Madison (Wisconsin) Scouts. “The following year,” Hannum explains, “Jim Coates, who goes back full circle with me to the Crossmen, asked me to join the staff for Carolina Crown as a member of the design team and percussion staff.”

In 2013, Carolina Crown (Fort Mill, South Carolina) won its first DCI World Championships with the program, “E=mc²” featuring the music of Philip Glass, including the percussion feature “Knee 3” from Einstein on the Beach. “I had very specific thoughts about how we could coordinate the vocals with what the percussion was doing,” recalls Hannum.

That makes six DCI world championships, plus two high percussion awards, to Hannum’s credit in the past four decades. And he’s not done yet!

Hannum worked with Crown through the 2022 season. Last year, he joined his “local” corps, Boston Crusaders, as a senior advisor, joining the percussion staff led by former UMass students McNutt and Iain Moyer. “There’s a level of familiarity that’s really unique,” Hannum says, “and it feels natural.”

EDUCATOR AND CLINICIAN
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Thom on several important projects over the years,” states James Campbell, Director Emeritus of Percussion Studies at the University of Kentucky. “I’ve observed that whether he teaches one-on-one or in a large group setting, Thom creates an atmosphere of mutual respect among his participants and colleagues while articulating his goals and strategies for their advancement.”

After Hannum completed his master’s degree at UMass in 1984, the school created a position for him as an assistant band director focusing on the percussion section of the Minuteman Marching Band, where he stayed until he retired in July 2020. “The position evolved over time,” he explains, “and I was able to work with different groups, including the marching band, hoop [basketball] band, and percussion department.” He also served as the Coordinator of the Marimba Band/Marimba Ensemble program and, in 2007, was appointed to the Graduate Faculty. UMass also established an endowed percussion scholarship in his name in 2019.

“One of my favorite things was teaching the marimba ensemble,” Hannum says. “I found it fascinating! Peter Tanner let me organize some students into a second ensemble while I was still a grad student. That’s where I got my feet wet understanding how to write for keyboard percussion. I will always be grateful for the opportunity he gave me.

“After Peter retired,” Thom continues, “Eduardo Leandro came on board, and soon there were two marimba ensembles and two marimba bands. We played more jazz and fusion-style pieces, adding a drumset, guitars, vocals, and a few horns, to stay current with what the students were interested in.”

How would Hannum describe his teaching philosophy? “My calling card, obviously, is marching percussion,” he replies. “Attendance is critical, especially in larger groups, and a great mental attitude and open mind are very important to be a good team player. We can always teach the physical ability if they have the other skills. Being there is the most important thing; if you’re there, then good things can happen.”

In addition to teaching at UMass, Hannum shared his knowledge at countless clinics and seminars across the country and even around the world, including numerous visits to England, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.

His Mobile Percussion Seminars have been attended by thousands of students over the past few decades. Instead of Hannum being a guest artist at different summer programs, he compiled his own curriculum to be taught at various locations, often bringing former students to assist with teaching. The Seminars include not only the fundamentals of percussion performance, but also leadership skills for the students to take back to their own schools. He is still teaching MPS, now being held at UMass and West Chester University.

Hannum has also shared his teaching philosophies and marching percussion knowledge at 12 PASICs, including three as an adjudicator for the Marching Percussion Festival (1984, 1988, 1995); three marching panel discussions (1986, 1999, 2007, 2011, 2016); a clinic on marching cymbals (1984); clinics with the Garfield Cadets (1986, 1990) and Star of Indiana (1993); plus more sessions on arranging and marching percussion in 2001 and 2005. “I still remember my first PASIC,” he says with a laugh. “It was in Dallas in 1982. I went there to interview Sam Denov [Chicago Symphony Orchestra] about cymbals for my master’s thesis. I also remember my 1986 clinic in Washington, D.C. Dare I say, that probably set the stage for Garfield’s success in 1987.” 

Julie Davila, as Chair of the PAS Marching Percussion Committee for nine years, worked closely with Hannum. “Thom was one of the voices in the room that brought wisdom and guidance to the direction of marching percussion involvement at PASIC. He was devoted to serving our community and was instrumental in developing clinic concepts as well as steering the direction of general education.”

Hannum also served PAS as the Massachusetts Chapter President for almost a decade, hosting three Days of Percussion at UMass (2001–03). “These events elevate everybody’s collective awareness,” he says. “Just being around great artists is always special.”

Thom Hannum has received many accolades over the years, including being inducted into the DCI Hall of Fame (2001) and the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame (2008), but he said this PAS award is special. “I was elated, flattered, and humbled,” he remembers. “This one feels a little more like a cumulative type of recognition. It touches upon my good fortune in the marching arts as well as being a long-time teacher, so it brings things full circle.

“My students are responsible for this recognition, as are the people I have worked with over the years,” Hannum adds. “Like I’ve always said, it’s about working with and being around great people, and I’ve been extremely fortunate in that regard for my whole life.”

WRITER AND ARRANGER
Over the years, Hannum has arranged percussion music for over two dozen high schools and universities. HIs publications include several marching percussion arrangements (Row-Loff Productions/Columbia Pictures Publications), a concert percussion arrangement of Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” (drop6 Media), and marching band arrangements of “West Side Story” (Hal Leonard Corporation). He also contributed two snare drum solos to Aptitude (drop6), and wrote the forward to McNutt’s The Vacant Lot Sessions (Tap Space Publications).

Hannum is also the author of several books: A Tradition of Excellence (Hal Leonard, 1984), a collaboration with the Garfield Cadets; Championship Concepts for Marching Percussion (with Bob Morrison, Hal Leonard, 1986), plus a student workbook (1989); and A Percussionist’s Guide to Check Patterns: Building a Fundamental Rhythmic Vocabulary (Alfred, 2009).

Morrison, who became Hannum’s arranging and industry partner over the years, states, “Thom is widely recognized for leading the evolution in marching percussion, and indeed the whole marching arts genre, with his implementation of sophisticated musical approaches to percussion, as well as the integration of percussion as part of a visual ensemble. His impact on instrumentation, musical scoring, visual presentation, and musicianship has never been matched in this art form.”

Hannum also made numerous contributions to the percussion industry. “In 1982, Fred Sanford introduced me to Rab Zildjian at DCI in Montreal,” remembers Hannum, “Rab kindly gave the Crossmen some cymbals. When I asked him how I could repay the company, he asked me to do some R&D [research and development] work. That began my career-long relationship with Zildjian.

“When I began teaching Garfield,” Hannum continues, “we started experimenting with new cymbal sounds and materials — not necessarily designed for bands or drum corps — and that opened up a whole new world of possibilities.” His affiliation with Pearl began in 1983, and over the years, he contributed to the development of numerous marching and concert percussion products. In 1998, he joined the Vic Firth family, designing different sticks and mallets, and at Evans, he helped develop new and innovative drumheads.

“My involvement with the percussion industry has an awful lot to do with my good fortune because these people supported my efforts to the ‘Nth’ degree,” adds Hannum, “both with equipment support and clinic support. I’ve had the opportunity to work with them and for them and been fortunate to be around some amazing people throughout my whole career.”

Morrison summarizes his friend’s professional life. “Throughout the entire arc of Thom’s career, he has always led by example, with a steadfast commitment to tradition, innovation, and an unwavering devotion to excellence in everything he has ever done.”