NEW LONDON, CT – 7th Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps is excited to announce its team of educators who will be leading the organization through our 2021 endeavors!
“We are so excited to have this amazing group of educators in place. They represent the absolute best of what we have to offer to 7R. Our students and performers will continue to grow immensely from the experiences and knowledge that these individuals bring to 7th Regiment,” said Executive Director Kevin Lowery.
Battery Manager – Dan Shinohara
Brass Caption Manager – Rachel Rubino
Color Guard Manager – Laurence Alarie
Front Ensemble Manager – Gabby Tober
Visual Caption Manager – Alec Smith
7th Regiment is set to kickoff a slate of virtual symposiums in December. Please check out www.seventhregiment.org/7rpaa for more information!
DAN SHINOHARA (Battery Manager)
Dan Shinohara is a percussionist currently based in Hadley, Massachusetts. He is a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where he is pursuing a Masters in Percussion Performance Degree while instructing the UMass Drumline alongside Thom Hannum and Ian Hale. He also performs with the UMass Marimba Band, Percussion Ensemble, and studies with Ayano Kataoka.
Dan currently serves as the Battery Caption Manager for the 7th Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps. He is also a lesson teacher and content contributor for Stryvemind, an online percussion lesson and resource platform. His previous teaching positions include being a quad tech with Vigilantes Indoor Percussion, Guardians Drum and Bugle Corps, and the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps where he was also a member of the quadline from 2015-2018 and the percussion section leader. He also was a quad tech
and maintained a private lesson studio in the Timber Creek High School cluster in Keller ISD.
Prior to his start at UMass Amherst, Dan received his Bachelors of Music Education from the University of North Texas. Where he studied with Mark Ford, Paul Rennick, Christopher Deane, Stockton Helbing, Ed Smith, Dennis Fisher, and Dr. Nicholas Williams. While at UNT, Dan was the section leader of the UNT Drumline and Symphonic Band as well as a performing member in the PASIC Quad Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, 2 O’Clock Steel Band, and Gamelan Ensemble. Dan’s performance resume includes performances with the Boston Crusaders alongside the Boston Pops at Tanglewood in Lenox, MA for the DCI Tanglewood Brass Spectacular in 2015 and 2016, performing with the U.S. Air Force Band at UNT in 2018, and being a member of the Dallas Mavericks Drumline for the 2018 and 2019 NBA seasons.
Dan is a proud endorser of Vic Firth sticks and mallets and Zildjian cymbals.
RACHEL RUBINO (Brass Caption Manager)
Rachel Rubino is excited to return to 7th Regiment as the brass caption manager for the 2021 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 third season with the 7R Guard. 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 Bugle Corps. 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 third 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, and enjoys doing art projects.
GABBY TOBER (Front Ensemble Manager)
Gabby Tober is an active educator and arranger around the Greater Boston area. Passionate for teaching and performing music, she holds a bachelor’s degree in Music Studies from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where she studied percussion rigorously under Jeff Fischer and Andrew Fordyce. Gabby has several years of marching arts experience, having been a front ensemble member of the Spartans (‘13-15), Spirit Winter Percussion (‘17,18) and the Boston Crusaders (‘17, 18), with whom she also performed with at PASIC in 2018.
Gabby has worked with various front ensembles around the New England area, including 7th Regiment where she was brought on as an instructor for the 2019 season, and currently runs the front ensemble program at Boston University. Gabby is excited to be stepping into the caption manager role at 7th Regiment for the 2021 season!
ALEC SMITH (Visual Caption Manager)
Alec has been associated with 7th Regiment since 2014. His passion for the marching arts began in his non competitive high school band from Pennsylvania. After moving to Connecticut to pursue his bachelor’s degree at the University of New Haven, Alec became a member of 7th Regiment thanks to support from his college band staff. He marched two consecutive seasons with 7R and aged out of DCI with The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. The following season, Alec joined the 7R staff as a visual technician. In 2019 he took over the visual caption after serving as an interim caption manager. In conjunction with his duties as the Visual Caption Manger, he also serves as the corps’ Staff Coordinator. Alec spent the first few years post undergrad working in Connecticut’s theatre community developing his skills as a collaborator and manager. Drawing on elements of theatre, he focuses on offering collaborative instruction and content to high school programs through his work as a writer and visual instructor. He has made appearances at Newtown, Norwich Free Academy, Danbury, and Cheshire High Schools in a variety of capacities, as well as the Connecticut Hurricanes Drum and Bugle Corps. Alec now manages the visual caption at Trumbull High school and is pursuing a Master of Science in Secondary Education at the University of Bridgeport.
