After performing in the percussion section with the Crossmen from 1976 to 1978, Chris Thompson began arranging and teaching junior and all-age drum and bugle corps across the United States and Europe. Every percussion section he taught over a thirty-year span finished among the top 10 finalists in Drum Corps International (DCI) and Drum Corps Associates (DCA) championship contests. He arranged for and taught Madison Scouts’ percussion section for eight years from 1984 to 1992, finishing in the top five every year. In various years since 1979, he has been percussion instructor and arranger for Crossmen and percussion instructor for Northern Aurora in the junior ranks and percussion instructor and arranger for many top ranked all-age corps: Reading Buccaneers, New York Skyliners, Minnesota Brass, Rochester Crusaders and Racine Scouts senior corps. Overseas, he was instructor and arranger for Beatrix Drum Corps in the Netherlands from 1991 to 1995 and arranger for Beacon Sunrisers Drum Corps in the United Kingdom in 1992. He has also served as the instructor of the University of Michigan marching band percussion section and as a clinician for Yamaha percussion instruments.
