◊    Four-time WGI Independent World Class Champion,
      Blue Knights Percussion Ensemble

◊    Two-time WGI Concert Class Champion, Gateway High School

◊    2003 DCI Champion Concord Blue Devils

Before leaving Colorado, Mike was the Percussion Specialist at Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village and also spent a year as the interim Director of Percussion Studies at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. He has traveled frequently to Tokyo, Japan to work with the Renaissance Vanguard Drum and Brass Corps, as their front ensemble arranger and instructor and also writes for the Yokohama Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps.  Mike is currently working as the Front Ensemble Writer/Arranger and Instructor with Upper Darby High School, in addition to writing and arranging for several more groups from the country US and abroad.

Mike has been a professional percussionist for almost 30 years, teaching and performing since the age of 15. He has experience playing a wide variety of instruments including drum set, mallet keyboards, timpani, symphonic and marching percussion, as well as steel pan, hand percussion (including tabla), and electronic percussion. Prior to relocating to Lansdowne, PA he spent the last 17 years as a freelance musician in Denver, CO and the surrounding area. His performance range encompasses several musical styles from Classical to Jazz to Rock as well as North Indian Tabla and Steel Pan of Trinidad and Tobago.

As a ten-year member of the Pan Jumbies Steel Band, playing tenor and guitar pan, he has recorded two albums, "Jam It With You" and "Say It With Pan", and has had several opportunities to perform with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the Denver Brass.

Education Background:

◊    Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education, Montana State University, Bozeman (1988)
      Studied percussion with James B. Campbell and Daniel P. Moore