VDL Parking Lot Competition Results!

Wednesday, February 1st, 2006
Congratulations to all entrants of the VDL Parking Lot Composition Contest!

The results are in! We would like to thank and congratulate all applicants on their outstanding level of imagination and dedication to creating new drumline compositions with Virtual Drumline. Without further delay, here are the results of the contest.

GRANDPRIZE WINNER

Fred Emory Smith – “Billy Goat’s Milk”Now available for instant download, exclusively from Tapspace. Click here to hear the piece, and purchase online. Congratulations Fred!!

FIRST RUNNER UP
Jesse Mattson “Balboa”
SECOND RUNNER-UP
John McFarland “The Old School”
THIRD RUNNER-UP
Jesse Mattson “5sies”


BEST OF THE REST! (in alphabetical order) 
composer’s contact info posted with permission

Composer Title
Scott Amman – email “Tito’s Car”
Gabriel Cobas “Bandicoot”
Dean Collins “Synesthesia”
Terry DeJong “Picture Day”
Terry DeJong “Pop on the Rocks”
Kevin Erickson “Ike Turner”
Kevin Erickson “Jesus Chrysler”
Terry Ford “The Matrix”
Jeremiah Fowler – email “Crazy Eights”
Michael Guertin “Uncle Shavattney”
Ryan Kime – email “Clean 2006”
Paul Lack “The Last Stop”
Christopher Lunsford – email “The Bird”
Paul Morgan “Diga”
Joseph Plahitko – 317-748-8645 “Ill Evan’s Zen”
Will Stephenson – email “Soap on a Rope”
Sam Tarrel “Aram – The Fall of an Empire”
Owen Taylor – email “Bigg Cheeze”
Daniel Taylor Jr. – email “The Fat Puppy”
Chris Whyte “On the Line – Jive Turkey Dancing”
J. Peter Wolk-Laniewski “Arrhythmia”

THE JUDGES

We’d like to extend our deepest and most humble thanks to the adjudicators who offered various backgrounds in percussion, composition, education, and music technology. Main judging criteria included: originality, creativity, crowd appeal, groove, clarity of sheet music, and a mature understanding of rudimental foundations used in a context that reinforces the intent of the composition. The adjudication process was a difficult one and required a fair amount of balance between all of the above elements. Composer’s identity was not revealed to adjudicators during the judging process. The adjudicators were:

  • James Ancona – percussion caption head, The Cavaliers; University of Delaware Faculty
  • Murray Gusseck – percussion caption head/arranger, Santa Clara Vanguard; parking lot genius
  • David Reeves – percussion arranger, Center Grove HS/Seattle Cascades/University of Washington
  • Jim Casella – percussion composer/arranger, The Cavaliers; VDL producer/programmer
  • Neal Flum – associate director of bands, University of Alabama, percussion adjudicator
  • Mike McIntosh – percussion arranger/music coordinator, The Bluecoats
  • Mat Chavez – percussion and music technology specialist, Seattle, WA
  • Bill Castillo – percussion educator and VDL:2 guru, St. Louis, MO
  • Brian Stevens – percussion caption head, Capital Regiment/Stephen F. Austin HS