Latest News

Last November (2010), The Creek spent a few hours in the studio making the world of video games a better place.

The Creek was asked to partner with the UCF drumline to record for EA Sports’ NCAA 2012. Between the two ensembles, they recorded over 40 chants, cadences, and beats that will be featured during the game.

The game was released in July and it sounds great!

We’d like to give a big thanks to Mr. Jeff Moore and Dr. Thad Anderson at UCF, and to EA Sports.

Members, I must always start with you. We do this for you. Your dedication, patience, trust, and effort do not go unnoticed. Thank you for making this a rewarding experience.

To our fantastic staff, thank you. You are underappreciated, and clearly underpaid. Ha. If anyone out there is looking for help with your ensemble, I can only give the highest recommendations. I can get you in touch with some fine educators.

I don’t think there are enough thanks that I can give to the Burns family for their support of our members, staff, and administration. You were a big part of the ‘Heart’ to this season.

To Autumn Hassel and the Seay Family. Thank you for letting us explore our emotions through performance and music in honor of John. We hope that we have made him proud.

Extra thanks goes to Jon Cooper for managing our facilities on top of a great teaching job. Thanks for a great Night of Percussion, and all the work to keep us running at West Orange.

Thank you to the parents and families of our members for your continuing commitments to their education and musical experiences.

Thanks to the families, spouses, children, and significant others of our staff. We know they work crazy hours and babble on about ‘flams’ and ‘drill’ and ‘body movement.’ Sorry about that. You can have them back now.

Thanks to Kelly Charles, our intern, for keeping me sane and on task. See you at Starbucks soon.

Big thanks to Matt W Moore, a great artist who was kind enough to let us use his art for our floor and inspiration for visual and uniform design. I hope that we used it well.

Another big thanks to some generous high school band directors in the area including Rhett Cox and Devin Hoey at Timber Creek, Phil Obado at East River, Adam Steff at University, Ken Boyd at West Orange, and Adam McIntyre at Winter Springs.

And additional thanks to the directors and administration at West Orange High School and the Ninth Grade Campus for their kind assistance throughout the school year.

To Brent Becker with Stanbury who again helped us create stunning uniforms that captured our vision in Color and Heart.

Chris and the guys at Mapex. Once again, stellar drums, good people, great support. We could not do this without you.

Thanks also to the teams at Promark and Remo. Best gear on the planet.

Our website is awesome, and that is thanks to Jeremy Harrington. Use him to build your next website! Email him here: Jeremy@crawlspacemedia.com

We are also indebted to the work done by our friends at the Orange County Public Schools Administration and Facilities offices.

The staff and members with the West Orange Colorguard.

Jill and the crew at Algy
The team at Kramer
Jordan at Big Top/AKT
Lenny Smith at New Jerusalem Music
The folks and drivers with Magical Charters
Anne at Custom Sports Sleeves
The folks at Ramada Plaza Dayton
Benji Hill for the encouragement

All of the staff and volunteers for WGI, FFCC, and all of their events.

Thank you to all of the artists and musicians who inspired the creation of this program and those who were featured on colorandheart.com. That includes the great work of Sufjan Stevens and Omar Carmenates.

Again, thanks to the Infinity crew for representing Central Florida so well, and building this area with us in education and performance.

Personally, to the Verburg family, Walker family, Porter family, and Perez family.

This year, I’d like to end again by thanking the music educators of our members and staff. Teachers, directors, instructors, we are only using the information you have passionately given to us. Thanks.

-Matt

From the team that brought to life “Videotape” and “Censored,” The Creek will explore more emotional territory with their 2011 production “Color and Heart”. The show is inspired by and dedicated to John Seay, their staff member who passed away in April from a sudden heart condition.

The show features the music of Sufjan Stevens, and is visually inspired by the artwork of Matt W. Moore. Color and heart are not only words to direct the musical and visual avenues of the production, but are words to describe John and his influence on The Creek through the years.

The music, from Sufjan Stevens’ albums “The BQE” and “Illinoise,” joined by original work from Omar Carmenates, provides the opportunity to explore different styles and feelings that celebrate the people who color our lives.

Follow along with additional content and show-inspiring material at their show website: www.colorandheart.com

The Creek, formerly Timber Creek Independent, is entering their third year of World Class competition, and is a three-time World Class Finalist. They will be competing regionally in the FFCC circuit. The 2011 ensemble is under the direction of Matt Verburg and Jeremy Brown. The Creek would like to thank Mapex Percussion, ProMark Drumsticks, Remo Drumheads, and Sabian Cymbals.

In December, three members of The Creek staff traveled to Hong Kong for a special performance opportunity.

Directors Matt Verburg and Jeremy Brown, along with snare instructor Jason Burris were invited to perform with the ALL THAT dance crew for Christmas festivities at the Cityplaza Atrium. They performed 16 shows during their stay, with over 20,000 audience members in attendance.

The ALL THAT dance group is from across the United States, and was first runner-up on the inaugural season of NBC’s America’s Got Talent program.

Special thanks to The Creek sponsors Mapex and ProMark for their support of the performances, and providing the best gear out there.

The Creek would like to welcome some new faces to the instructional staff for the 2010-2011 season.

Jon Cooper, heading up the Front Ensemble, is a UCF percussion graduate and a band director in Orange County. Matt Rusnak, also a visual instructor with the Boston Crusaders, will be working with the visual program. Devin Zimmerman and James Pouncy will be great additions to the battery staff.

Read more in their bios on the staff page.

Auditions for TCI’s 2010-2011 season are coming up quick.  Check out the Audition page for the details and the downloadable battery packet.  Follow us on Facebook for the freshest information.  If you haven’t ‘Liked’ us on FB yet, hit this link and do it.

Our open sectionals and auditions are free to everyone, and we have spots open in every section.  Don’t cut yourself by not coming out!  Hang with the staff and vets during our Sunday sectionals that begin October 17th for the battery, and October 31st for the pit at University High School.  They will run 2-5pm each Sunday until the formal auditions on November 21st.

We will have a few staff additions and other announcements to make soon.  This includes a new website and show announcement!  Lots to look forward to around here.

As directors, we never get the opportunity to assemble everyone who made this season possible into one place.  So, we will do it here to say thank you.

The members of the 2010 ensemble for their hard work and trust during the season. We cannot say how great it was to have a young and hungry group of students to work with. Your effort and sacrifice is truly appreciated. You have made us proud.

The great staff: Elliott Klaber, Jason Burris, Matt Roberts, Matt Brown, John Bishai, Yarnell Stallworth, Andy Schwartz, Marie Goltara, Adam Steff, and John Seay. Hire these folks to teach your drum students, write your drill, or anything related to the activity. They are the best. Email us at info@thecreekpercussion.com and we’ll get you in touch.

An extra thanks to Adam Steff for the late nights and weekends keeping the facilities available. And for equipment, administrative and instructional help… I could go on. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Omar Carmenates, huge thanks for your time and energy in this Censored project. Hero of the year.

Clif and Christie Walker, thank you for setting the table for the success of the season. You are a great example to follow on and off the drumline floor.

Wives, husbands, girlfriends, and boyfriends of those in the TCI family. Thanks for lending us your loved ones during the weekends.

Parents! Thank you for your students and your commitment to their musical and performance education. Thanks for the late night pick-ups and sorry about those smelly trips home.

An extra thanks to the Burns family and the Frye family.

Thanks to the Cato family for the blindfolds (they were real!), Amy Klaber for running the booth, and to our other volunteers this season.

Jeremy Harrington for all of the web and design help. Hire him for your web site building needs! Check out his work at www.crawlspacemedia.com.

Tim Hinton for the ideas and guiding creative thoughts throughout the year.

Thanks also to Jeremy Vest and Jeremy Goldberg for your help this season.

To the people we don’t see too often, but appreciate input and support: Thad Anderson, Pat Seidling, and Todd Leighton.

Rhett Cox and Devin Hoey at Timber Creek High School, and Adam McIntyre at Winter Springs High School for equipment assistance, and Jon Brown at University High School for facilities help.

Chris Magonigal for the great pictures taken at the WGI Orlando regional. Check out his work at www.magonigal.com. And good luck to Genesis Drum and Bugle Corps in their inaugural season!

Chris Schroeder for the narration vocal work in the show. You became the voice of freedom.

Brent Becker at Stanbury Uniforms. We received TONS of great comments about the uniforms. Use Brent to design your uniforms! www.stanbury.com

Chris and the guys at Mapex Drums. Your support and continued investment in the TCI project has been has been incomparable. Thank you!

Staci and Kelly at ProMark Drumsticks. We could not be prouder to be a ProMark team.

Bruce Jacoby and Mark Branson at Remo Drumheads, and Dr. Nick Petrella at Sabian Cymbals. Thank you all SO much.

Greg, Kari, Raychel at the Florida Literacy Coalition
Jacquie, Tim, Laurie at Algy
Leonard at Epic Printing Solutions
Dustin at CopyCat Licensing
Anne at Custom Sport Sleeves
The folks at Image Depot, Orlando
Lauren at Fairfield Inn Dayton South

Thank you to the many friends and family members around the country who financially sponsored our members.

A big thank you to the maintenance crew at University High School. Thanks for dealing with us!

To the teams at FFCC and WGI for organizing this silly indoor activity.

Thanks to Paul Rennick and Florida Percussive Arts Society.

A sincere thanks to the guys at Infinity for continuing to make Central Florida the center of the Southeast indoor percussion scene.

To the people behind the scenes for support. The Verburg family, Barbara Perez, and the Porter family.

To the music teachers of TCI’s students and elsewhere. Your work does not go unnoticed by us. Thank you.

Thanks to the Beastie Boys for fighting for our rights (to party or otherwise).  Erik Satie for helping to inspire this whole thing.  FDR, JFK, Frank Zappa and others for providing motivation.

And to the WGI Prelims judges for their contribution to our finals show.

See you next year.
-Matt Verburg and Jeremy Brown

This Wednesday, April 14th, we will be holding our yearly Friends and Family Send-Off Show before we hit the road to Dayton, Ohio for WGI World Championships.  The show will be hosted at our 2010 home base University High School, in the main campus gymnasium.

We will open the doors for the last hour of rehearsal beginning at 8pm, and will then do a full, uniformed run (or two!) of the show at 9pm.  We are asking a $2 admission to go toward our gas fund to help us get to Ohio.  Or for $10, we throw in a new TCI shirt while supplies last.  So get there early.  Other donations will be happily accepted, and if you would like to sponsor a specific member of the ensemble, information will be available at the door.

Unless you’re headed up to Championships, this is your last chance to see the 2010 show “Censored,” so don’t miss it!  Thanks so much for your support.

For more information, check the Facebook event page HERE.

The Creek will be debuting their 2011 production at the FFCC Jacksonville Premier Show at Fleming Island High School on February 5.

The Creek will be performing at the WGI Regional in Orlando, FL at Wekiva High School on February 26.