Marty Hurley 1946-2011

I've just learned that drum corps hall of famer Marty Hurley has passed away- he was best known as the percussion caption head for the Phantom Regiment drum and bugle corps from 1976 to 1992. In addition to his drum corps work he was a high school band director for several decades, and influenced countless young musicians.

I was in a different sphere of influence during my corps involvement, but he was one of the big names at the time, and I loved what Phantom did with the 1812 Overture in 1984 and especially Spartacus in 1982.

Here's a clip of Hurley playing with some former Phantom members- you can safely turn it off at the end of his feature at 1:05:



After the break is an excellent extended comment from a snarescience.com discussion of his approach to snare drum technique.