Bart Quartier was born on June 2, 1961 at Anderlecht, Belgium. After six years of percussion studies he concentrated on keyboard percussion playing and performed in several European countries. Together with Gert Francois, he formed the mallet duo MIROIR and released a debut album called MEETING (Circle Productions, Belgium). Contacts with Robert Van Sice led to further emphasis on the marimba. At present, Bart Quartier performs as a mallet player and teaches at the Brussels Royal Conservatory.
Timothy Salzman is Professor of Music at the University of Washington where he serves as conductor of the University Wind Ensemble and teaches students enrolled in the graduate instrumental conducting program. Prior to his appointment at the UW he served as Director of Bands at Montana State University where he founded the MSU Wind Ensemble. From 1978 to 1983 he was band director in the Herscher, Illinois, public school system where the band program received several regional and national awards in solo/ensemble, concert and marching band competition. Professor Salzman holds degrees from Wheaton (IL.) College (Bachelor of Music Education), and Northern Illinois University (Master of Music in low brass performance), and studied privately with Arnold Jacobs, former tubist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has numerous publications for bands with the C.L. Barnhouse, Arranger Publications, Columbia Pictures and Hal Leonard Publishing companies, has served on the staff of new music reviews for the Instrumentalist magazine and is currently the President of the Northwestern Division of the College Band Directors National Association. Mr. Salzman is a national artist/clinician for the Yamaha Corporation of America and has been a conductor, adjudicator or arranger for bands in over forty states, Canada, England, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Russia. In the fall of 1997 he was Visiting Professor at the Senzoku Gakuen Uozu School of Music in Uozu, Japan.
William Schaefer was born on February 28, 1918, in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied at Miami (Ohio) University, the University of Michigan, and the Juilliard School of Music. During World War II, he was a bandmaster in the U.S. Army. From 1947-1952, he led the Kiltie Band of the Carnegie Institute of Technology and then joined the music faculty of the University of Southern California. He has lectured throughout the United States and in England, France, and Germany.
Schaefer’s major contribution to band literature consists of may fine arrangements of music of the masters. Among his more notable arrangements are Wellington’s Victory (Beethoven) and Symphony No. 9 (Shostakovich).
George Sheppard is a protégé of Henry Adler and Louis Bellson. He is a freelance artist and is a product endorser and clinician for Remo, Inc. , Zildjian, Inc. and Vic Firth, Inc. He has performed with internationally accomplished musicians Johnny Amaroso, Louis Bellson, Keter Betts, Ruby Braff, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, George Cort, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Milt Hinton, Will Lee, James Moody, Bucky Pizzarelli, Dave Sanborn, Maureen McGovern, Marvin Hamlish, Dizzy Fingers Ike and The Melting Penguin. In addition, he has performed on several USO tours.
Joe Sinai did not graduate from a university or conservatory; his education came from the pits of vaudeville houses and the backstage areas of countless concert halls. His associations with people such as Billy Gladstone, Billy Ludwig, George and Roland Wagner, Eddie Nolting, Alfred Friese, Benjamin Podemski, Tommy Thomson and Walter LaRue contributed immeasurably to his wealth of knowledge about music and percussion. Joe had the opportunity to exercise that knowledge through a lifetime of practical experience as a performer. He played in many famous theaters during the fabulous vaudeville era, and he was one of the first drummers to use brushes and machine timpani. His career as a symphonic performer began in 1915 and continued for a record number of 55 years with the San Francisco Symphony.
At the time of the original publication of this book, Joe was 82 years old and still a very active performer continuing to impart the riches of his seasoned knowledge to percussion students.
Robert C. Snider is a percussionist with the United States Navy Band in Washington, D.C., presently featured with the Navy’s premier country-bluegrass band, the Country Current. Bob received a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master’s degree in percussion performance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He has studied with J.C. Combs, Albert Rometo, Gary Olmstead, Charlie Owen, Dennis Kain and Cloyd Duff. Prior to the Navy appointment in 1981, he taught band and percussion at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
Bob is a very active performer having appeared with high school and college bands and orchestras nationwide. As an author, he has written for Percussive Notes, NACWAPI Journal, Band World and BD Guide magazines. Clinic appearances have included the American Band Masters Convention, the Western International Band Clinic, the American Band College, the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic and several appearances at the Percussive Arts Society’s International Conventions. As a member and past chairman of the Percussive Art’s Society’s Education Committee, he was a contributing author of Percussion Education: A Source Book of Concepts and Information.
In addition to his position with the Navy Band, Bob is a free-lance percussionist in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area.
Ed Soph is considered to be one today’s most innovative teachers and clinicians on drumset. He has performed and recorded with Joe Henderson, Bill Evans, Randy Brecker, Dave Liebman, David Catney, Stan Kenton, Fill Watrous, Clark Terry and Woody Herman as well as Bobby Shew, Marc Johnson, Red Rodney, Gary Burton Herb Ellis and Lee Konitz.
Presently, Ed teaches at the University of North Texas and has taught at the Aebersold Summer Jazz Combo Workshops and the Summer Drum Set Workshops since 1980. His clinics and performances have taken him to Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Canada, the Near and Far East and throughout the United States. Ed is a clinician for the Avedis Ziljian Cymbal Company and the Yamaha Corporation of America.
James M. Thurmond has had a long and varied career in both professional performance and music education. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied horn with Anton Horner; ensemble playing with Marcel Tabuteau, William Kincaid and Luis Bailly; and solfege with Renee Longy-Miquelle. He earned his academic degrees at American University and The Catholic University of America.
He has played horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony and the U.S. Navy Band. While in the Navy he organized the U.S. Navy School of Music (now the School of Music for the armed forces) and was Officer-in-Charge until his retirement. During World War II he was responsible for all fleet bands and music in the Navy.
For twenty-five years he taught at Lebanon Valley College, and has also served on the faculties of Temple University, Messiah College and Gettysburg College. He is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Beta Mu, and the American Bandmasters Association.
Michael Udow is principal percussionist with the Santa Fe Opera and has directed the percussion program at The University of Michigan since 1982. Aside from his work with Equilibrium, Michael performs with Keiko Abe and the Michigan Chamber Players and the Summit Brass. Michael can be heard on Advance, Opus One, Koch, Columbia/Denon, Columbia, CRI, Orion, SM/EQ and TRR, Gemini, GunMar, Non-Sequitor, Forte Music Entertainment of Japan, Einstein, EQ and New World labels. As an educator, Dr. Udow draws upon his diversified background and as former percussionist with the historic Blackearth Percussion Group, the New Orleans Philharmonic, the Tone Road Ramblers and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.
Michael has received a Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship to Poland, 1st Prize awarded by the Percussive Arts Society for his Bog Music, and grants including: Office of the Vice President for Research at The University of Michigan for the composition of his first opera, The Shattered Mirror, the Arts Foundation of Michigan and the Michigan Council for the Arts for the composition of his second opera, Twelve Years A Slave, and in 1996 The Institute for Study in the Arts as project director and composer for a 3-D animated video by visual artist, Murial Magenta. His Shattered Mirror Suite was recently premiered by George Manahan and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra.
Jack Van Geem began playing the marimba at age four. He went on to study bassoon, trombone, saxophone, and piano, but in college, decided to major in percussion. He studied with Tony Cirone and Jerome Neff and earned his Master of Arts degree from California State University at Hayward. In 1974, Jack was awarded an Alfred Hertz Traveling Scholarship from the University of California at Berkeley, studying contemporary percussion performance with Cristoph Caskel in Germany. Upon returning to the United States, he became the percussionist for the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra where he remained until winning the Principal Percussion position with the San Francisco Symphony in 1980. Jack is Chairman of Percussion Studies at the San Francisco Conservatory, teaches at the Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles and is the author/composer of three books: Four Mallet Democracy, Rags & Hot Choruses and Symphonic Repertoire for Keyboard Percussion.
Jack has performed under such notable conductors as: Aaron Copland, Freubech De Burgos, Eugene Ormandy, Leonard Slatkin, Kurt Mazur, Edo De Waart, Herbert Blomsted, and Michael Tilson Thomas. Other composer/conductors he has performed with are: Lou Harrison, Steve Reich, John Adams, Charles Wourinin and George Pearl. As a solo marimbist, he performed the American Premiere of Marimba Spiritual by Maki Ishi and is a featured artist with the Zeltsman Marimba Festival. Jack Van Geem and Nancy Zeltsman have been performing as a Marimba Duo since 2000 and have released a CD entitled Pedro and Olga Learn to Dance. Their repertoire includes a new work by Michael Tilson Thomas entitled Island Music. This work was premiered on a New World Symphony concert (Live Webcast) in Carnegie Hall during a San Francisco Symphony concert and, at the 2004 Percussive Arts Society Convention in Louisville, Kentucky.
Arthur Weisberg is considered one of the world’s leading bassoonists. He has taught for many years at Yale University, the State University of New York at Stonybrook and Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida. He has played bassoon with the Houston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony and the Symphony of the Air. For fourteen years he was a member of the New York Woodwind Quintet. He has many recordings with the Quintet and several solo recordings including an all Bach solo bassoon album on Crystal Records.
Mr. Weisberg is also well known as a conductor, particularly of 20th century music, having conducted the New York Philharmonic and other orchestras throughout the world. As a conductor, he has recordings with the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, the Orchestra of the 20th Century and many other ensembles.
As a composer he has numerous works for bassoon, a woodwind quintet, double wood-wind quintet and a number of pieces for wind instruments. His book Performing 20th Century Music is published by Yale University Press.
Mr. Weisberg has recently perfected a new key system for the bassoon that does away with one of its major acoustical flaws, completely stopping the problem of "cracking" on some of its most important notes. Soon to be released is his latest Bach recording, including one of Bach's greatest works, the Chaconne, originally for violin. He continues to compose, and will soon be premiering a Concerto in Budapest. Presently, Mr. Weisberg is a Professor at Indiana University.
Floyd Werle retired after 32 years as Chief of Composition and Arranging of the United States Air Force Band, Symphony Orchestra and Singing Sergeants. He has been hailed as one of the nation’s foremost composers. His works for symphonic band and symphonic orchestra have been acclaimed throughout America, especially the three Concerti for Trumpet written for Doc Severnson and performed by most of the major orchestras in the United States.
A native of Billings, Montana, he attended the University of Michigan, where he became a member of the famed Symphonic Band as well as creating many of the football half-time shows of the equally renowned Marching Band. He also served as piano soloist and created much special concert material, the M Rhapsody written as a sophomore, is still in their active repertoire. Mr. Werle’s schooling was interrupted[ by the Korean War so he chose the Air Force enlistment over the draft and such was his impact on the University that he was awarded a degree some 32 years later in a special ceremony at Ann Arbor. While at the University, his principal teachers were Dr. William D. Revelli, Director of Bands and Dr. Marilyn Mason, University Organist and Department Chair.
In 1978, Mr. Werle was honored by Golden Crest Records with a disc release of his works in its prestigious Authenticated Composers’ Series. The disc included the Second Symphony for Winds and the Divertimento for Eight Soloists. In addition, he has contributed original scores for 12 documentary motion pictures, and his large catalogue of published compositions and arrangements have been performed by literally thousands of high school and college ensembles world wide.
Charles West is an orchestral and chamber clarinetist and soloist, performing solo recitals or concertos throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia. He appears regularly on the programs of international gatherings of clarinetists in America and in Europe, and has been called "one of the most recorded clarinetists in American Academia." His recorded repertoire ranges from the most standard of sonatas to the most avant-garde, on labels including Klavier, Wilson Audiophile, Centaur, CRI, Crystal, and he is heard on a 1993 Grammy Award winning Telarc CD.
West holds the Doctorate and three other university degrees, has been a Fulbright Scholar, and he has served as Treasurer of the International Clarinet Society. Instrumental in merging the present-day International Clarinet Association from two previously separate entities, he was elected to the first Presidency of that organization. His career has included ten years as Principal Clarinet of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra, twelve as Principal Clarinet of the Flagstaff Festival Orchestra and one as Principal in the Peruvian National Symphony Orchestra. He has held teaching positions in three North American universities, and guest professorships in South America, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the People's Republic of China. He has been Conductor of the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra and Director of Orchestral Activities at VCU, and is presently Professor of Music and Coordinator of Winds & Percussion at VCU. He is artist-clinician for the Buffet-Crampon Corporation, Conductor of the Youth Orchestra of Charlottesville-Albemarle, a first-call woodwind doubler in Richmond, Virginia, and he performs as Principal Clarinet in Phillipe Entremont's Santo Domingo Music Festival in the Dominican Republic.
Garwood Whaley is President and Founder of Meredith Music Publications (1979), Conductor Emeritus of the Bishop Ireton Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Alexandria, VA), former Adjunct Professor of Music at The Catholic University of America, former chief editor for Music for Percussion, Inc., and Past President of the Percussive Arts Society. He is the author of more than twenty highly acclaimed method books for percussion instruments, two supplementary band methods (co-author), solos and ensembles and numerous articles for music journals.
Whaley was educated at the Juilliard School of Music and at The Catholic University of America where he earned the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree. While completing graduate work, he performed for six years with The United States Army Band, "Pershing's Own." His awards include Outstanding Secondary Educators of America Award, Outstanding National Catholic Bandmaster, The National Band Association's Citation of Excellence, The National Federation Interscholastic Music Association Outstanding Music Educator Award, the John Philip Sousa Foundation's Legion of Honor award and has been included in Who's Who in American Music and the International Who's Who in Music. In 1993 he was inducted in Kappa Delta Pi and in 1994 received the Alumni Achievement Award in the field of Education from Catholic University. This annual award presented by the Board of Governors Alumni Association, recognized his accomplishments and honored him for his life's work in education. In 2002, he was inducted as an associate member into the American Bandmasters Association. For five years he received a Grant in the Arts from the Washington Post Educational Foundation for his "Commissioned Work and Composer-In-The School Project." In 1998, Bishop Ireton High School named its new performance hall the "Garwood Whaley Auditorium" in recognition of his long-term contributions to the fine arts.
Achieving international recognition under his direction, The Bishop Ireton Wind Ensemble performed concert tours for twenty-seven years in Canada and throughout Europe and Scandinavia. In addition, the ensemble performed twenty-nine combined concerts with university and professional bands including the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army Field Band and U.S. Naval Academy Bands and performed twenty-four world premieres of works they commissioned. The Ensemble and its conductor were featured in the May 2000 Instrumentalist article "From Struggling Ensemble to a Band of Distinction."
Gar's popular clinics Solving Rhythm Problems in the Instrumental Ensemble and The Rehearsal: Teaching More Than Notes have been presented throughout the United States including:
John E. Williamson professor of conducting has been director of bands at Central Michigan University since 1979. Born and raised in Joliet, Illinois, he studied clarinet with his father and Jerome Stowell of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In addition to guiding all aspects of the Central Michigan University band program, he is conductor of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, which has performed for the Midwestern Conference, regional and national conferences of MENC and the College Band Directors National Association and in historic Carnegie Hall, New York. In 1997, Professor Williamson founded the CMU Chamber Winds, which is comprised of faculty and selected students from the School of Music. This ensemble presents regularly scheduled concerts and was featured at the 60th annual Midwest Clinic in December 2006. He was previously conductor at Wheeling (IL) High School, where his wind ensemble gained national recognition due to its unique programming and performances across the United States, including a performance at the Midwest Band Clinic in Chicago. The Sousa Foundation recently honored the Wheeling program, as one of the nation’s finest with Mr. Williamson receiving the coveted Sudler Award.
He is active as an adjudicator, clinician and guest conductor nationally with additional appearances in Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia. He has received praise for his interpretations from such leading composers as Michael Colgrass, Karel Husa, H. Owen Reed, David Maslanka, Augusta Read Thomas and David Gillingham. Among the many soloists he has accompanied are Adolph Herseth, Dale Clevenger and Michael Henoch of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Professor Williamson is a member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association, National Band Association and Phi Mu Alpha. He has held offices in the College Band Directors National Association and is head of the commissioning project for the Mid-American Conference Band Directors Association. In addition to being listed in the International Who’s Who in Music, he has received the NBA Citation of Excellence, was the first Illinois director to receive the "MAC" Award from First Chair of America. He was most recently presented the Excellence in Teaching Award from Central Michigan University, as well as the Orpheus Award from Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity. He has been a new music reviewer for The Instrumentalist, BD Guide and Band magazines and is co-author of "Strategies for Teaching High School Band" published by MENC.