Key Poulan III is a composer and arranger who has helped produce championship groups in three separate divisions: DCI Open Class, DCA World Class and DCA Mini Corps. He has also composed works for drum and bugle corps in countries around the world, including Allegiance Elite and Pride of the Lions in western Canada; Juliana of Middelburg, Netherlands; Millenium of Bergamo and Brianza of Veduggio in Italy; Siamyth of Thailand; La Tansa of Indonesia; and Strangnas of Sweden. He is an innovator who used an ensemble of 12 tenor trombones for the entire show, not just a brass feature, by the Mandarins in 2018. He created a special quintet featuring soprano, alto, tenor, bass and contrabass trombones for Genesis. He is widely admired for assisting drum corps in addition to composing and arranging. He also provides input and interpretation and is readily available for consultation with design and technical staff throughout the contest season. His string of championship titles began in 2003 when Hawthorne Caballeros won the DCA title. The same year, Esperanza of San Diego won the DCI Open Class title, the first corps from southern California to win a DCI championship since 1972. He also won DCI Open class titles with two other corps: the Vanguard Cadets in 2013, 2015 to 2017 and Spartans in 2004, 2005, 2007. He was arranger when Star United won four of its DCA Mini Corps titles. He served as a DCI music judge in effect/ensemble brass from 1990 to 2002. He has been arranger/program and design coordinator with Mandarins since 2011. Before that, he was composer/arranger for both Santa Clara Vanguard and the Vanguard Cadets. He was composer/arranger for Hawthorne Caballeros from 2003 to 2006 and 2011 to 2015; Fusion Core in 2019 and 2020; Hurricanes from 2018 to 2020. His first involvement with drum corps activity came in 1983, when he played baritone horn with Blue Devils, of Concord, California.
