Founded On The Idea Of Giving Back

The Cymbal Gloves emerged from the place any new product emerges from, which is a place of need. Chelsea Levine sought a way to help her cymbal line at Centerville High School (PSW) achieve some skills they were struggling with. Her students were having difficulties executing the visual phrases she wished to implement, and in some cases, they were experiencing bleeding on the wrists from the abrasive nature of the cymbal straps. From the need to protect the health of her students, as well as find a way to broaden their abilities came the idea for a layer of “armor”, so to speak, that would also solve the problem of straps that grew sticky from the sweat of the performers. With the use of The Cymbal Gloves, that cymbal line learned the skills they were seeking to learn, and it was clear that this tool could help solve these very common problems for other cymbal lines in the activity.

“The people who profit from the sale are cymbal players themselves.”

Herein the best part of The Cymbal Gloves, in that the people who profit from the sale of this product are cymbal players themselves. With every purchase of a pair of The Cymbal Gloves or any other Seavine product, the profits are wholly funneled into a fund that is dedicated to scholarships for cymbal players who wish to partake in the higher levels of the pageantry arts. These scholarships are offered under the umbrella of The Cymbal Scholarship. Chelsea manages the scholarship and oversees all fund-raising, adjudicator selection and management, and applicant eligibility. Currently, these scholarships are open to people who perform in certain classes of Drum Corps International (DCI) and Winter Guard International (WGI). Plans are currently in place to open the scholarship to ALL classes of DCI and WGI, as well as long-term plans to extend it to performers in Drum Corps Associates (DCA) as well as Bands of America (BOA). The goal is for the sale of The Cymbal Gloves to always reward its most important asset... its performers.

The 2022 WGI Cymbal Scholarship winners. From left to right: Elizabeth Linton - Haruka Kikuchi - Sydni Machnik - Chelsea Levine - Nick Kataryniak - Ember Hesse - Carley Belknap

Our Team

Chelsea Levine

CEO & Founder of Seavine & The Cymbal Scholarship

Chelsea Levine headshot

Chelsea Levine is an established cymbal technician throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

She’s dedicating her post-marching career to the advancement of marching cymbals through education, Seavine, and founding The Cymbal Scholarship.

Chelsea has marched and taught in various groups around the world. She was fortunate enough to perform with Rhythm X, Crossmen Drum & Bugle Corps, Jersey Surf Drum & Bugle Corps, United Percussion & Gateway Indoor. Since aging out, Chelsea has been a cymbal technician for Rhythm X since 2014 and has previously taught Spirit and Colts Drum and Bugle Corps, Centerville High School, Western Carolina University, and DrumSpirit. She has also promoted the art of cymbal playing with clinics in the United States, Belgium, Poland, Lithuania, China, and Thailand.

In 2010 Chelsea founded Seavine, her company that offers high quality cymbal and hornline performance products such as The Cymbal Gloves. She founded The Cymbal Scholarship- assisting WGI & DCI cymbal players with their membership fees. Since 2012, Seavine has given away over $25,000 to marching cymbalists fully funded by Seavine profits.

Chelsea’ is also the author and instructor of the Seavine Cymbal Education Series. It’s her hope to further strengthen the cymbal community through the videos and book. She currently resides in Nashville, TN with her super cool quad tech husband Thomas and their energetic dog Rachel.

Chelsea has been fortunate to study under the direction of many instructors including Erin O’Dore, Melissa McGoldrick, Lauren Sakowski, Ryan Jezierski, Peggy Smires, Steve Regener, Kelly Howell, Jack Borland, and Diaz Clark.

Zayra Mata-Velazquez

Customer Service Specialist

Zayra Mata-Velazquez headshot

Zayra Mata-Velazquez was raised in the small town of Dewitt, Michigan. Her marching career started as a clarinet player in her high school marching band. She later served as a drum major for the Madison Scouts from 2020-2021 and a field conductor for Legends DBC in 2019. For her ageout, Zayra moved to Dayton, OH to perform in the Rhythm X Visual Ensemble for the 2022 season.

She studied Psychology and Leadership of Organizations at Michigan State University and was a member of the Big Ten Flags section for the MSU marching band.

She has spent the past two summers with the Madison Scouts as part of their administration team. Throughout her time at Scouts she has: handled facilities management, educational administration, and taking photos on the side. Zayra also spent the fall of 2022-spring of 2023 with Music For All on their Events Team. She was fortunate enough to travel all over the United States helping organize some of the biggest marching band events in the country.

Zayra is currently the Operations Lead at Rhythm X, assists with her family owned business and is a lover of photography! She is excited to join the Seavine team in a customer success and operations lead position.

Pedro Rodriguez

Creative Content Designer

Pedro Rodriguez headshot

Pedro Rodriguez first got involved with music at Fairfax High School in 2007. He played lead trumpet in many of the ensembles he was a part of including jazz, salsa, and the Rose Parade. He entered the drum corps scene with Gold Drum and Bugle Corps in 2008 and also performed with them in 2011. In 2009 Pedro auditioned and gained a lead trumpet spot with The Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps. Pedro participated 6 years in the Rose Parade with both LAUSD Honor Band and the Pasadena City College Honor Band.

Pedro first got his hands wet with media in high school as one of the main designers for his yearbook program. After graduating he started to teach music at certain schools and performed as a freelance musician. Pedro then changed careers and decided to go into graphic design for his major. On a final project for his class, Pedro decided to involve Gold Drum and Bugle Corps in his photography. He captured action shots for their 2014 season and published a book called “The Journey” containing photographs from their tour. The Journey won book of the month from the AdoramaPix photo print company. This was an incredibly humbling honor and really sparked greater ambitions for photography. Since then, Pedro has worked with various marching bands, the Rose Parade, and WGI/SCPA for winter ensembles. He loves the impact and art he has been able to create for performers from all over the world.

Pedro is currently working closely with the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps as an action photographer. Pedro has also partnered with MRA Couture, Pink Mink Mafia, and Stanbury Uniforms. He is excited to be joining the media team at Seavine and creating new video and photo content for the cymbal community.

Jerry Charvat

Media Specialist

Jerry Charvat headshot

Jerry Charvat resides in Pensacola, Florida where he began his marching career at Escambia High School as a trumpet player graduating in 2005. He is currently completing his B.F.A in Graphic Design from the University of West Florida with interests in branding and identity, photography, cinematography, social media marketing, and the creative process from start to finish. His marching experience includes Southwind Drum & Bugle Corps 2007 and Music City Mystique 2008. Jerry has consulted with many ensembles across the gulf coast including Mississippi, Alabama and Florida ensembles in both cymbal instruction and visual programming respectively over the past 16 years. He has been the cymbal tech for the Escambia High School Diamonds Indoor Percussion Ensemble since 2005. He has provided cymbal instruction to the Florida State University Marching Chiefs, Big 8 cymbal line since 2010, Pioneer Drum & Bugle corps, 2013, University of South Alabama Jaguar Marching Band cymbal line since 2014, Spirit Drum & Bugle Corps 2017, and is a current cymbal and percussion visual tech at Southwind Drum & Bugle Corps since 2016. He has annually served as the lead cymbal clinician for the North West Florida Percussion Arts Society Day of Percussion. When he’s not teaching the cymbal craft, he enjoys traveling! He is currently working as a program specialist at the University of West Florida Center for Behavior Analysis, freelances as a graphic designer, and serves in the U.S. Navy Reserves as an Information Systems Technician.

Thomas Claesen

Designer & Developer

Thomas Claesen headshot

Thomas (pronounced similarly to Spanish Tomás) built his first website in sixth grade. He coded and designed all throughout high school, but then took a ten-year hiatus from web development to focus on obtaining his master’s degree in translation, teaching English at a Belgian university, and marching and teaching drum corps. He currently teaches the Rhythm X quadline and serves as program coordinator for DrumSpirit. Formerly, he was a quad tech for Carolina Crown (2023), Mandarins (2022), Blue Knights (2017-2019) and The Cavaliers (2012-2013).

Born and raised in Belgium, Thomas speaks four languages: English, Dutch, German and French. He moved to Nashville, TN in the fall of 2017, where he now resides with his wife Chelsea and their energetic dog Rachel. He saw the move as the perfect time to get (back) into web and app design. Thomas is the owner and lead designer at Clawsun Design. When he isn’t teaching drums and designing he loves to travel and eat chocolate.

Seppe

Intern

Seppe Vandekerckhove headshot

Seppe Vandekerckhove is a 20-year-old business management student at VIVES College in Belgium. He is currently in his final year, pursuing distance education while marching with Audio Theater. He grew up and attended high school in Avelgem, a small village in Belgium.

His drum corps journey as a snare drummer began at the age of 16 when he discovered DCI through online videos. Fueled by passion, Seppe took his first flight to the United States in 2022 to audition. Successfully marching with Southwind in 2022 and Crossmen in 2023, he gained valuable experiences with these DCI groups. Besides being active in drum corps, he also marched with DrumSpirit, a WGI ensemble based in Belgium.

Beyond his marching pursuits, Seppe has contributed to DrumSpirit by teaching and aspires to continue doing so after his age-out. Seppe is also an avid fitness enthusiast who enjoys running and going to the gym. He is thrilled to embark on his first professional experience in the business world and is excited to be part of the Seavine team as an intern.