Bret Kuhn - DCI Hall of Fame

Bret Kuhn

Inducted in 2022

Through the height of The Cavaliers’ successes in the 1990s and early 2000s, Bret Kuhn served at the helm of the corps’ drum line.

An “age-out” member of the corps’ percussion section in 1981, three years later Kuhn got his start on the Green Machine’s staff. He worked his way to percussion caption head and served as an integral part of the group’s instructional and design teams until 2005. During his tenure he helped the corps achieve incredible success, to the tune of six DCI World Championship titles and five best percussion caption awards.

In 1999 on the verge of one of the most incredible competitive runs in the history of Drum Corps International, Kuhn additionally assumed duties as battery percussion arranger of the Rosemont, Illinois corps. An innovator and as a creative sounding board to his fellow design team members, he collaborated on some of the most memorable productions of all-time with The Cavaliers from “Niagara Falls” to the James Bond-inspired “007.”

“Bret’s ‘whatever it takes’ attitude was particularly vital to the innovation of the 2003 all-original composition show, ‘Spin Cycle,’” 2015 DCI Hall of Fame inductee Scott Koter said. “The score included polymetric intricacies and world music subtleties that many still consider groundbreaking today.”

“Regardless of how complicated design choices made it for the percussion section, he always focused on the overall benefit to the corps more than the placement of the percussion section,” Koter added.

Beyond his talent for putting notes and rhythms on a musical staff, perhaps Kuhn’s greatest contribution to the marching arts has been thanks to an incredibly sincere and personable demeanor that’s allowed him to foster the best efforts of his colleagues and students while expertly molding the future teachers and leaders of tomorrow.

“Some years we won championships. Other years, we did not,” said DCI Hall of Fame member Michael Gaines who worked with Kuhn for many years at The Cavaliers. “Regardless of our competitive measure of success, Bret was always measuring success through the lens of the education and the wellbeing of the young performers. His students were his priority as well as the reason for why he worked as hard as he did.”

“He taught with passion and respect for his players, developing them musically and professionally,” Koter said. “I loved watching him run around the field in rehearsals effortlessly praising and gently redirecting the players with noticeable improvement on the very next repetition.”

According to University of Kentucky professor James Campbell, who was inducted into the DCI Hall of Fame in 2008, one of Kuhn’s proudest achievements was having former Cavaliers members on almost every staff of the top-15 DCI corps by the year 2000.

“Bret inspires those under his direction to reach their highest potential,” Campbell said. “His life-long passion to share music with young people and audiences around the world has left a lasting impression on countless students and colleagues he has crossed paths with.”

After his time with The Cavaliers, Kuhn served in a number of roles for other corps including the Bluecoats, Colts and Phantom Regiment before returning to The Cavaliers in 2018. Internationally recognized as a teacher and arranger, Kuhn has served on the board of directors of the Percussive Arts Society and regularly represented and presented on behalf of such corporations as Yamaha, Zildjian, Remo and Innovative Percussion.

Hall of Fame Induction Speech