'Richard Saucedo has stepped down as the brass arranger for The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps. Richard has been an integral part of the design team for many years, and we wish to thank him for his dedication, as well as his amazing compositions. His contributions have helped to establish the Cavalier sound of this decade.
Richard stated, "I have resigned my position as brass arranger so that I can spend more time with my family. This will also allow me to focus more on my teaching responsibilities at Carmel High School, as well as my concert band and orchestral writing projects." He also stated "There is not a better organization for young musicians and performers anywhere on the planet!"

Richard has been with The Cavaliers since the year 2000 as brass arranger and composer.

We wish Richard nothing but continued success in all of his future endeavors.'

-From the Cavaliers website

Wow.

Wow, lots of big names leaving this season.

Dude. wow. Just wow. This is the only resignation i'm pretty stunned by. I think it might be great for DCI to get some new names into the picture though.

Dang. All this resignation crap is amazing. My school's band played the piece "Minimally Speaking" by Saucedo my freshman year, and it was by far my favorite season of my 4 years in high school.

I miss that year...

We can all talk about how a drum instructor leaving changes the program, but lets be honest, we (as drummers) are in the minority in noticing differences in styles of percussion writing when it comes to the overall sound of the corps. However, with this change, EVERYONE will notice the difference in the sound of the Cavaliers for the upcoming season. It does not matter who they get, his/her writing will be their own style, and not the style of Saucedo. This is a huge change.

This surprises me but then again it doesn't. A fellow Cavaliers Anniversary Corps member heard Saucedo tell another staff member "I guess it's time we reinvent ourselves" while walking out of the stadium either semis or finals night... I can't remember which.

Saucedo leaving will certainly cause a shift in the Cavaliers' show design so the first step to reinvention has already been taken.

Wow, this one surprised me. I'll miss his style, but hopefully they pick somebody just as good.

my school played that one too my sophmore year

While I appreciate Saucedo's writing for what it is, it's not my favorite. I see this as a chance for the Cavaliers to get some truly interesting stuff going on in their brass books again. I just haven't been a fan of Saucedo's work since '04 (though '07 was a little better to me).

Chacho...I'm going to miss the likes of his brass arrangements.

Sure, he hasn't had as strong of arrangements as he had between 2000 and 2004, but you have to respect what he did for The Cavaliers.

You KNEW right away--without looking at them play--that you were listening to the Cavies!

And don't forget--Spirit of JSU and some other drum corps (besides the Cavies) have used his works for their corps repertoires.

Bottomline is that all these recent resignations show just how human we really are. I'm sure at some point before upcoming Fall corps auditions, we'll hear (or not hear) about one of these fine men joining other corps staves.