NEW LONDON, CT – 7th Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps is excited to announce its team of educators who will be leading the organization throughout the 2020 Drum Corps International Season!
“We are so excited to have this amazing team of educators in place. They represent the absolute best of what we have to offer to 7R. Our members will continue to grow immensely from both the on and off the field experiences that these individuals bring to 7th Regiment,” said Executive Director Kevin Lowery.
Battery Manager – Christopher Lawlor
Brass Caption Manager – Rachel Rubino
Color Guard Manager – Laurence Alarie
Front Ensemble Manager – Alex Santa
Visual Caption Manager – Alec Smith
7th Regiment will host 7RX (a one day experience) on November 24th and will be holding auditions for the 2020 season during the weekend of December 13-15. Click here for more details!
CHRISTOPHER LAWLOR (Battery Manager)
Christopher Lawlor hails from East Bridgewater, MA and was a member of the percussion section of the East Coast Jazz Drum & Bugle Corps from 2002 through 2005. Chris also performed in The Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps from 2006 until aging out in 2009. He served as the Drum Captain in 2009. He spent the 2005 WGI season in the quad line of the inaugural season for Boston University Winter Percussion Ensemble. Chris performed with RhythmX in 2009 and aged out with them in 2010.
Chris has taught DCI for several summers, including the Troopers battery in 2010, the Blue Stars in 2011 and 2012, and The Cadets quad line in 2013. He has taught in multiple Massachusetts high schools like Everett, Mansfield, Norwood and Burlington. Chris has also worked with the Avon Indiana High School Percussion program in 2011/2012. He more recently spent from 2013-2015 arranging/teaching the The Boston University Band. Chris Has spent from 2015-2018 working with Jersey Surf Drum and Bugle Corps. His focuses were mainly with the Percussion Caption. In 2018 Chris joined the design team and arranged the Battery music. Chris also worked with Spirit of America Indoor and United Percussion in a tenor drum tech position in 2018. Since 2016 Chris works closely with, arranges music for and provides individual lessons at Wakefield High School, Massachusetts.
RACHEL RUBINO (Brass Caption Manager)
Rachel Rubino is excited to return to 7th Regiment as the brass caption manager for the 2020 season. She is currently the director of bands for the Winchester Public School District in Winsted, Connecticut. Rachel is also a member of the music staff for the Trumbull High School Golden Eagle Marching Band, who most recently had the honor of marching in the 2017 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. She has worked with numerous other marching band and winter percussion ensembles across the state, including those at New Milford High School, The Gilbert School, and Berlin High School.
Outside of the world of marching music, Rachel is an active musician and private lessons instructor. She has had the pleasure of studying trumpet under Dr. Dan D’Addio, Chris Valerio, and Derek Gipson. Rachel marched with 7th Regiment for two seasons, including in 2014 when the corps earned its first DCI World Class Semi-Finals performance.
LAURENCE ALARIE (Color Guard Manager)
Laurence Alarie is returning for her second season with the 7R Guard, but this time as the caption manager. Laurence is from Montréal, Canada, and is currently pursuing a major in Fashion Marketing at Collège Marie-Victorin, marketing and communication oriented.She graduated from Collège Montmorency with two majors (Human Sciences and Dance) in 2017 and is a graduate of Trois-Saisons High School in 2014.
Laurence has had a very lengthy color guard career. Most recently, she marched in Carolina Crown (2016-2018), where she was a member of the Zingali Award winning guard in 2016. From 2012 to 2015, she was a member of Les Stentors Drum and Bugles Corps and Winter Guard. She has also been a member of the Les Éclipses de Longueuil winterguard from 2003 to 2019, serving as captain in 2018 and 2019.
Laurence has also been a part of ballet, jazz, and contemporary dance classes at Suzie Paquette Company and has a contemporary dance background.
As an educator and designer, Laurence is very active. She is presently a technician at Carpe Diem A Class since 2018. With Les Éclipses de Longueuil Novice Class, she is in her second year as a designer, but was also a technician from 2012-2018. She is currently a technician at Les Éclipses de Longueuil Open Class. She was a technician at Les Stentors Drum and Bugles Corps in 2015. She is also presently the Communication Administrator for Les Éclipses de Longueuil
In her free time, Laurence creates Flash Mobs, dances in sports events, gives volunteer dance classes, enjoys doing art projects.
ALEX SANTA (Front Ensemble Manager)
Alex Santa is a percussionist, arranger, and educator based out of West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Alex began his marching career in 2012 with the Hawthorne Caballeros and was a member of Matrix Indoor Performance Ensemble in 2013 as a snare drum performer. He has studied at West Chester University, focusing on Music Education. At West Chester, Alex was a member of the Incomparable Golden Ram Marching Band for two years performing as a snare drummer and as the Tenor section leader. He has studied under Rob Ferguson, Darren Hazlett, Ralph Sorrentino, and David Nelson.
Alex has taught many different scholastic programs in southeast Pennsylvania, but currently is the Director of Percussion at Hempfield High School from Landisville, Pennsylvania, a three time Cavalcade of Bands Champion. Along with teaching scholastic programs, Alex has spent time teaching Penn State Indoor Percussion, The Connecticut Hurricanes, and was the snare tech/ Battery Coordinator at Jersey Surf Drum and Bugle Corps from 2014- 2018. He was also a member of the 7th Regiment percussion team in 2019.
Alex is very humbled and honored to be leading the 7th Regiment Front Ensemble this year.
ALEC SMITH (Visual Caption Manager)
This will be Alec’s fourth season with 7th Regiment. Originally from Pennsylvania, Alec moved to Connecticut to pursue his bachelors at the University of New Haven where he studied music technology and theatre. He has since been an active member of Connecticut’s theater community.
Alec got his start in the marching arts in his non competitive high school band. Thanks to his university band staff, Alec became a member of 7th Regiment in 2014, where he marched two consecutive seasons with the group. He aged out with The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps in 2016. Outside of managing the stage, Alec is an active writer and visual instructor in Connecticut, focused on offering collaborative instruction and content to high school programs. Alec has made appearances at Trumbull, Newtown, Norwich Free Academy, Danbury, and Cheshire High Schools in a variety of capacities, as well as the Connecticut Hurricanes Drum and Bugle Corps.
