About

Meet the Staff - Winter Guard 07-08

Chris Parks, Director of BU Bands
Mr. Parks is the Director of the Boston University Bands, which provides quality music opportunities for members of the Boston University community. Mr. Parks' has also been Director of Athletic Bands since 2001. In addition to Athletic Bands, Mr. Parks conducts the Boston University Concert Band.

Mr. Parks grew up in El Paso Texas, where he attended the University of Texas at El Paso. After receiving his Bachelors of Music Education in El Paso, he moved to Boston to pursue his Masters in Trumpet Performance, which he completed in 1995. Upon graduating, Chris spent 5 years touring nationally and internationally with numerous Broadway musicals, including The King & I and The Sound of Music. He has toured with Marie Osmond and John Davidson and has performed with Julio Iglesias, Bobby Shew and Dizzy Gillespie.

Mr. Parks has been a member of the faculty/staff of the Tanglewood Institute, the Atlantic Brass Quintet Seminar, Southwind Drum and Bugle Corps, The Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps and the Drum Major Academy.

Phillip Perry, Staff Coordinator
Phil has taught several successful marching ensembles in Massachusetts and Florida, serving as either a visual instructor or the visual caption head of such organizations as Charles W. Flanagan High School, Dartmouth High School, Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, Stryke Percussion and Cypress Bay High School Indoor Percussion Theatre. Phil was also a FMBA adjudicator and the Assistant Tour Director of the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps from Allentown, PA. He is a USSBA Show Coordinator and has worked as an independent clinician in South Florida. As a performer, Phil marched with the 9-time World Champion Cadets and the 2-time Div. II World Champion East Coast Jazz of Malden, MA under the tutelage of Marc Sylvester, Jeff Saktig, Daryl Pemberton, Gary Armstrong and others. Phil also performed with a variety of ensembles at both the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Miami as both an orchestral and jazz trombonist.

Phil is a graduate of the University of Miami (FL), and holds a Bachelors of Business Administration in Business Law. Currently, Phil resides in Brighton, Massachusetts and works in the Legal Department of an interstate bank based out of Boston's Financial District.

Lennie Machado, Show Designer
Lennie Machado has been actively involved in the Pageantry Arts since he was a child. He marched his first show at the age of 3 and began teaching at fourteen.

He has instructed programs for Blessed Sacrament (perennial medalists in WGI world class), Sacred Heart (2000 Sliver Medalist WGI IA class + 2004 Gold Medalist and World Champions), The Spartans (1997, 1998, 2004 and 2007 DCI Div II World Champions + 2001,2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 Best Color Guard), King Philip High School (USSBA Champions) and New Bedford High School (1995, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 NESBA Champions as well as Color Guard Champions in 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002). He currently teaches Shepherd Hill, Dartmouth, East Bridgewater, and Weymouth High Schools. Lennie has an extensive background in staging and choreography. He instructs for Janice MacDonald and Beverly Richards Dance Studios. Lennie was educated at Trinity Conservatory and the Royal Shakespeare Co. for Musical Theatre. He has worked professionally as an actor (The International Tour of Peter Pan for NTM of NYC.) and dancer (Company Member of Dance Prism... an offspring of Boston Ballet).

Vanessa SavyVanessa Savy, Guard Technician
Vanessa began her performing career by marching color guard when she was 10 years old. She has performed with St. John's of Beverly (1994-1999) and Sacred Heart of Roslindale (2002-2006). In 2004, she helped bring Sacred Heart to a Championship title in Independent Open Class. She continued marching with Sacred Heart in the Independent World Class. She also performed with such groups as the East Coast Jazz Drum and Bugle Corps and the Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps from Nashua. She marched 2002 through 2004 with the Spartans guard, earning Best Guard and a DCI Division II Championship Title.

After aging-out with the Spartans she began teaching on the Spartans Visual Staff from 2005 until 2007. In 2007 the Spartans help bring home another World Championship Title. In addition, she had held long-term jobs since the age of 14. She has also taught various falls bands and winter guards including the Saltonstall School Drum and Flag Team, St. John's guards, the All Saints guards, Weymouth HS guard, and visual at Melrose HS.

Vanessa's recent achievement was graduating from Salem State College with a Bachelor of Science in Geography: Travel and Tourism and a Minor in dance. This was a perfect degree for her with her vast background of travel. She has traveled both domestically and internationally numerous times and encourages others to build a global outlook.