GINO CIPRIANI
Class of 2012
INSTRUCTOR / BRASS CAPTION HEAD
Cadet Years: Brass Instructor and Caption Head (2000-2001; 2005-2016)
HIS CADET STORY:
While composers and arrangers make up a lion’s share of those commemorated in the DCI Hall of Fame, it’s often the instructors teaching the notes and rhythms of their musical scores who are ultimately responsible for inspiring performers to reach for excellence and to achieve greatness. Gino Cipriani embodies this notion, and as a brass instructor and caption head in the drum corps activity for decades, it’s something he has perfected.
“A quiet person, Gino has demanded excellence from his students, and year after year, his brass lines from the mid ‘90s on have been phenomenal,” said 2009 DCI Hall of Fame inductee Jay Bocook . “Through endless preparation and great instruction, his brass sections are always a force in the activity.”
Cipriani got his start in drum corps with the Florida Vanguards in 1979, performing with the corps as it transitioned to the Florida Wave between 1980 and 1982. Joining the Blue Devils from 1983 to 1985, he continued to hone his craft as a performer, soloist and section leader.
Switching gears from performer to instructional staff member, Cipriani joined the Blue Devils “B” educational team in 1989, before joining the staff of the Blue Devils in 1990. Here he’d teach for a decade during one of the most competitively dominant periods of time in the California corps’ history.
In 2000 and 2001, Cipriani seized the opportunity to spread his wings even further on the instructional stage, assuming brass caption head responsibilities with The Cadets. According to Stephen Bentley, a fellow Blue Devils corps member and later instructor with Cipriani, “Gino crafted and refined his signature sound, focused on absolute ensemble clarity expressively performed.”
Cipriani spent time running the horn lines of the Magic of Orlando and Santa Clara Vanguard before returning to The Cadets in 2005, where he would lead the brass program until 2016 while racking up two more DCI World Championship titles and two more Jim Ott brass caption awards.
“His enthusiasm and natural sense of motivation provided an excellent role model for his fellow performers and students to emulate and respect,” said DCI Hall of Fame member Wayne Downey. “Gino’s unique and masterful teaching style has been a true inspiration to aspiring teachers across the country both in our activity and beyond.”
“Many of his students are now very successful band directors, and all of his students grow as performers and most importantly as people,” added Bocook.
“Not many folks teach for 30 years in the drum corps activity.” Bocook said. “Not many reach the pinnacle of success that Mr. Cipriani has achieved.”
Additional Honors:
Drum Corps International Hall of Fame – inducted 2023
