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Composer Spotlight: Michael Crawford

DR. MICHAEL CRAWFORD is an active musician, educator, and adjudicator based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area metroplex. He currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of North Texas (UNT) where he teaches the Percussion Methods course for undergraduate music education majors and supervises band student teachers. Dr. Crawford holds a B.M. [...]

Composer Spotlight: Tohru Kanayama

TOHRU KANAYAMA is a Japanese composer, arranger, and woodwinds player. He attended Musashino Academia Musicae, where he studied woodwind performance and composition. He mainly writes pop music scores for wind band, jazz band, salsa band, musicals, and film.⁠ ⁠Tohru started his career as a composer/arranger began wind band arrangements for publication. At the same time, he [...]

Composer Spotlight: Leslie Gilreath

LESLIE GILREATH is a native of Anderson South Carolina and a 1990 graduate of Furman University, where he studied conducting and orchestration with Jay Bocook. He also studied composition and orchestration with Michael Hennagin and Carolyn Bremer at the University of Oklahoma. Having grown up with a love of music deeply rooted in his [...]

Featured Video: FIVE MORE MINUTES by John Tadlock

FIVE MORE MINUTES is a groovy duet for two battery percussionists with mirrored instrumentation. Starting with interlocking clapping patterns, the piece seamlessly moves from texture to texture, section to section, while keeping the audience's toe-tapping attention. While programming my master’s recital, I ended up being exactly five minutes short of the required length. So, rather than [...]

Composer Spotlight: John Tadlock

JOHN TADLOCK is a percussionist from Longview, Texas. He received his bachelor’s degree in Music Education - Pre-Certification, with a minor in Information Technology from Stephen F. Austin State University, as well as his master’s degree in Percussion Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. During his time in Texas, John performed with the [...]

Composer Spotlight: Aubrey Simmons

AUBREY SIMMONS is currently the Director of Bands at the Bradwell Institute in Hinesville, Georgia. Originally from Mount Olive, North Carolina, Aubrey attended North Carolina Central University where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Ethnomusicology. He also has some Masters of Music in Conducting credit from Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. During his [...]

Composer Spotlight: Bradley Baird

Born in Texarkana, Texas, BRADLEY BAIRD is an avid educator, composer, and performer in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Bradley Baird is the newly appointed Assistant Band Director and Percussion Director for Cypress Falls High School in Houston, Texas. ⁠He is a recent alumnus of Texas Christian University where he earned a Master of Music [...]

Featured Video: BLACK WIDOW by Bradley Baird

BLACK WIDOW is a chamber percussion ensemble for Solo Snare Drum accompanied by Marimba Quartet. The first deadly spider that comes to mind for many people is the black widow spider. Its daunting characteristics and portrayal in pop culture makes it widely known and recognized. While brainstorming titles for this work, I was (un)fortunate enough to [...]

Composer Spotlight: Alyssa Morris

ALYSSA MORRIS has delighted audiences around the world with her “exceptional” and “soulful” musicianship (Fanfare.) American Record Guide describes her playing as “stunning,” exhibiting “unmistakable…virtuosity.” Alyssa serves as Assistant Professor of Oboe and Music Theory at Kansas State University, and as the principal oboist of the Topeka Symphony Orchestra and Wichita Grand Opera. [...]

Featured Video: ImPULSE by Austin Franklin

ImPULSE for percussion quartet was written for an aleatoric set of non-pitched percussion instruments, chosen by the performers according to only a few instructions given in the score. The piece is composed in two parts, held together by a somewhat constant quarter note pulse, from which the title is derived. This pulse grows in intensity [...]