The Most Influential Drill Designer in DCI

Dude, the dci sphere has been lacking some good content, thanks for making this community/hobby so much more interesting. Keep it up

That's me at 3:21. I consider it the honor of my life to have been a part of a Zingali creation. He had a way of drawing out the best in the performers. He knew all the tricks. Every conversation you had with him was like those seminar clips. That's not to say he wasn't tough at times. He and Sylvester would play good cop/bad cop all the time and it wasn't always clear who was the good cop. But we would crawl over broken glass for him, because we did not want to let the master down. We knew we had something special.

I had my issues with the short-lived Star of Indiana, but that "cross to cross" drill was one of those near-orgasmic moments that DCI-lovers in the 80's and 90's always remember. Pure genius.

Zingali worked for BK in 1990 and 1991! 1991 was the first year in our organizations history that we made finals, and in 1990 w got thirteenth, up from sixteenth the year before. 1990 is a very special program to our history, as that show and corps is where our corps song "I Go On" comes from.

Fun fact: Sometimes when he was writing, Zingali would use pieces of string placed on drill paper to create forms and connect them together. That's one of the ways he came up with the Z-Pull.

I remember seeing a video of the cross to cross in high school and being absolutely stunned. It's even more impressive knowing George staged it on the field in a night.

THANK YOU for making this. George was a mentor and a friend. He taught me to write drill by helping him as a student to the craft. An important part of my life. I am not who I am without George Zingali. I miss him dearly.

God bless him ! I saw the cross LIVE in 1991 in Dallas. Never will forget that show when I was 16

The man was an absolute genius as well as being a nut case (in a good way). I had the pleasure of working with George for several years. The comments about writing the drill by hand brought back memories of 1980 when I was crashed at George's house for the summer along with a few other 27th staff. He had pages and pages of diagrams strewn all over the living and dining rooms. Many times up all night along with raiding his mother's absolutely incredible sauce and meatballs in the fridge.

I think Zingali wrote 1987 Cadets Appalachian Spring drill as well. Perhaps the single most beautiful show in the history of Drum Corps.

YES! I was hoping you'd do the back-to-back-to-back Z-Pulls! I did that in my "Modern Vs. Classic Era" video in the final chapter. So damn cool to see them one after the other. I also LOVE the buildup to the "Cross-to-Cross" moment. Truly one of the most incredible maneuvers in DCI history. This was a truly beautiful video. By the end, when there's the pretty long clip of George speaking, you're just so drawn in to what he's saying after your presentation of him throughout the video.

RIP, truly a legend of the activity taken from us too soon.

I had the honor of meeting him in 1987. I “marched” With the Sunrisers, however, I was in the Pit. This video made made understand something that he said to me almost 40 years ago. I was familiar with his drill and color Guard work. I told him that “I wish I could have marched to his drill”. He said “that doesn’t matter as long as you feel like you’re a part of the music”. I did feel like I was part of the music! Being in the Pit was so much fun and such chaos, but the sound that came out of it was magnificent and added just the right touch. Watching this video just brought me back to being 16 years old and added to my love and passion for the marching arts! Thank you!!

The first time I saw the dissolving company front from Cadets 1987 show I burst into tears. The beautiful music and the build up into what I expected to be a traditional company, made me lose it when it began to dissolve. I remember everyone in the stadium cheering while I sobbed..... I was so embarassed.

Great video. I had the privilege of marching Star ‘86 and experiencing George’s brilliance. He is a legend and so inspiration.

George also wrote the drill and taught Alliance from Greater Boston in 83. He was a Genius walking among us. And yet humble. He could explain his vision for the drill with ease. RIP George

In 1986, some of the DCI corps had a European Tour. I was station with the USAF in England and had the joy of watching the shows. One of me fellow Airmen had marched Madison Scouts a couple years prior and offered to introduce me to George, the man in whom I had utmost awe. I was too nervous to meet him and kick myself ever since for not meeting him. His drill writing has always been in my mind in what I do ever since. In his early drill writing days, he would drop string on the floor and pull on certain places to see how it reacted and moved.

I had just started undergrad at Madison in 84, and got to see those shows. Amazing now to look back and realize I was seeing history in the making.

I truly miss this era of drum corps, 80’s/90’s. DCI’s Golden Era in terms of excellence AND entertainment. I haven’t attended a show since 2005. The entertainment level just isn’t the same. George was someone you just couldn’t replace. Definitely a master of his craft and simply a good person, not a pretentious bone in his body. God bless his soul.

I marched with the Garfield Cadets in the 1980s. I was only 15 years old when I started, and I can't tell you how inspiring George Zingali was. I was in awe of how he would create brilliant drill moves right on the field without any paper (or computers); he was driven to mazimize each musical moment visually based on the emotion of the music. He was brilliant and demanded perfection, and we wanted to be perfect for him. Most of all, I'll remember the side conversations I would have with George after rehersals or late at night before getting on a bus: discussing how music can move you and motivate you artistically and in your performance. What a beautiful soul George was.