Plainfield Band Director Opens Doors to Drum Studio Writer / Jamie Hergott Photographer / Michael Ostermeier
via computer. He started the business five years ago and has been busy drumming up business ever since.
A marching band or drum corps performance involves many moving parts: dozens of instruments, props, performers and choreography. The perfect blend for a flawless performance can be complicated, but that’s exactly what Derrick Shannon is trained to do. He not only writes all the elements of these performances, but he puts them together in a show that moves the audience and showcases the music.
While that sounds like a full-time job, it’s hardly half of what Shannon does. He’s probably best known for his local position as the Director for Percussive Arts at Plainfield Community Schools, helping to bring the band from not making state finals to winning a national championship in his first year with the program in 2018.
Shannon’s business, Percussive Soundscapes, features every aspect of music Shannon is passionate about writing, performing, and teaching. He is a freelance writer of marching arts shows, working with clients all around the nation. These services include custom arrangements for band and winter percussion ensembles, sometimes traveling to work with his clients, other times working
“It’s really a combination of a lot of things, the biggest one being the infrastructure they already have,” Shannon says.
But he’d never take all the credit himself.
He lauded the current band director Michael Carpenter for always doing what was best for the kids as well as Scott Johnson, who takes
PlainfieldMag.com / MARCH 2020 / PLAINFIELD MAGAZINE / 21
