David Glyde - DCI Hall of Fame

David Glyde

Inducted in 2023

For decades, the overall sound and musical direction of the Blue Devils — the vision of a “mad scientist” pulling together numerous ideas and viewpoints of an entire design team — has come at the hand of David Glyde.

“The Blue Devils’ creative process is unique because the concept and approach come first. Then, the effects, moments, and visual concepts are planned. Finally, the music is designed to elevate the entire production,” said 2002 DCI Hall of Fame inductee David Gibbs. “The challenges of interacting, collaborating, and creating with the number of people involved in this process are many, and we are fortunate to have a unique person on our creative team with just the right characteristics to meet those challenges.”

Glyde’s musical background in the drum corps activity is rooted in percussion. A drummer with the Troopers, Santa Clara Vanguard and the Blue Devils in the 1980s, he joined the staff of the Blue Devils in 1992 as a caption manager and arranger.

In 2003 he assumed the role of music director, a position in which he is charged with overseeing the overall design of the corps’ productions, ensuring that the musical ideas across the ensemble fit with and work to enhance the overall visual design of a show.

“Dave’s fresh and imaginative approach has set new standards in marching music year after year,” said 2022 DCI Hall of Fame inductee Richard Saucedo. “As a percussionist, his use of tempo and meter creates the perfect background for cutting-edge chord progressions and melodic material. Dave literally reinvents himself each time he designs a program and that leads to new directions and new standards for drum corps compositions and arrangements.”

Working with a diverse team of artists within the Blue Devils, many with varying viewpoints and concepts, Glyde sits in a unique position on the design staff to ensure everyone’s ideas are accounted for and pulled together into one cohesive package.

“Dave possesses a very unique ability to manipulate a myriad of ideas from multiple people into a focused and effective thought,” said DCI Hall of Fame member John Meehan. “Without Dave's amazing work at cultivating, coordinating, and executing these individual ideas, plus his own brilliant creativity, the Blue Devils, and drum corps, would not be where they are now.”

Within a drum corps organization as perennially successful as the Blue Devils where ego could rightfully play a dominant trait, Saucedo says that watching Glyde work with the California corps is a “lesson in humility.”

“Dave is about ‘team’ first and has always been about promoting and supporting Drum Corps International,” Saucedo said.

“He is calm, humble, and driven to bring standard-setting and innovative musical creations to the activity — without concern for personal credit,” Gibbs added.

Perhaps one of Glyde’s most significant contributions to the ongoing development of the drum corps art form was his early adoption of and support for electronics and amplification. But that’s just one example of his ability to continually reinvent his methods and bring new and original ideas to the table.

“His innovative approach to producing the musical book truly set the foundation for the Blue Devils’ successes over the years,” Gibbs said. “His show designs consistently bring a cutting-edge, innovative, fearless, inventive, and ground-breaking sound to the activity year after year.”