Clinicians – Band

Prof. Garrett currently provides primary and secondary music education instruction for students at West Liberty University. His duties also include supervision of music student teachers, instruction in music for classroom teachers and classes in beginning jazz improvisation. In addition, he provides support for university instrumental ensembles and offers studio instruction for trombone and baritone students. Prior to coming to WLU, Mr. Garrett served thirty years in the West Virginia public schools teaching instrumental music, general music and music theory. He was the chairman of the Visual and Performing Arts Department at Wheeling Park High School from 2007 – 2012.

In the twenty seven years under Mr. Garrett’s direction, the band program at Wheeling Park High School grew to include Concert Band, Marching Band, Percussion Ensemble, Marimba Ensemble, Steel Band, Woodwind Ensembles, Brass Ensemble, Jazz Combos, and Jazz Ensemble. The Marching Band was honored with more than two hundred fifty marching music awards and was a Bands of America Eastern Regional Finalists in 1995, 96, 97 and 98. The concert organizations received numerous Superior ratings in Solo and Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, and Concert Band Festivals. The Concert Band has received only Superior ratings at Band Festival since 1985 and was named West Virginia Honor Band in the Spring of 2000 while the Jazz Ensemble was a state champion in 2006.

Mr. Garrett received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Music Education from West Virginia University. He is an active performer on trombone currently playing with Brass Unlimited and the Vince Villanova Orchestra. Pat continues to serve as guest conductor for honor bands including ensembles at Shepherd University, the University of Alabama, Marshall University, West Virginia University and the Maryland All-State Junior Band. He is an active guest conductor and adjudicator for concert and marching bands across the country and for Drum Corps International. He has also completed certification classes in the Microsoft Training Academy.

In addition to receiving a Citation of Excellence from the National Band Association, Pat was named Teacher of the Year for Ohio County in 1991, West Virginia Band Master of the Year in 1993 and 2004, Wheeling Park High School’s Teacher of the Year for 1995-96 and was named to the WVMEA Hall of Fame in 2009.

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Scott Glysson is the Director of Choral Activities at West Liberty University in West Liberty, WV. Dr. Glysson has been recognized for his achievements in conducting in both the choral and orchestral genres. As the conductor of university, high school and community ensembles, he has performed both nationally and internationally. Under his leadership as the Artistic Director of The Tucson Masterworks Chorale, the group’s excellence was recognized through an invitation to perform in Lincoln Center’s Avery Fischer Hall in March of 2014. As a student, he received the George Mason University College of Fine Arts award for Outstanding Music Student for his achievements in the area of choral and orchestral conducting. As a graduate student, Dr. Glysson was honored as one of eight semi-finalists from across the country to compete in the National Choral Conducting Competition sponsored by The American Choral Directors Association. He has also been honored as a finalist in the Western Division American Choral Directors Association Conducting Masterclass Competition.

Previously, Dr. Glysson served as Assistant Director of the internationally recognized Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus. While living in Northern Virginia he held the position of Director of Music at Floris United Methodist Church and teaching positions at several high school in the Washington D.C. area. He also served as the Artistic Director and founder of the Floris Concert Series, where he organized and conducted major-work charity concerts with chorus and orchestra. He has also held the position of Assistant Conductor of The Reston Chorale, one of the Washington, D.C., area’s most celebrated choruses.

An active scholar and educator, Dr. Glysson has presented and published in the fields of music education and musicology. In 2011, he was honored with the privilege to present his research on the motets of the medieval composer Guillaume de Machaut at the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American Musicological Society. As a board member of the Arizona State Chapter of The American Choral Directors Association, he has published several articles and reviews. Dr. Glysson’s dissertation and current research centers on the choral motets of Camille Saint-Saëns and the 19th-century cecilian movement.

Dr. Glysson holds a DMA in Choral Conducting from The University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. He also holds a MM in Choral Conducting from the University of Arizona, and a BM in Music Education from George Mason University.

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Matthew Inkster is Professor and Director of Instrumental Activities at West Liberty University where he conducts the Wind Ensemble, the Wheeling Symphony Youth Orchestra, and coordinates the brass area. Inkster is in demand as a guest conductor and clinician—most recently conducting honor and select groups in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, California, and New York. He has specialized in conducting the music of our time, and he has led ensembles on several compact disc recordings of new music on American and European labels. His performances have been heard on national and regional NPR and worldwide on the BBC.

Dr. Inkster is Artistic Co-Director of Winds on the Lake, a professional chamber ensemble of some of the finest musicians from the greater Tri-State Lake Region including Cleveland, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Erie. Reception of this ensemble has been warm and accolades have been numerous. The group is committed to the performance and promotion of seldom-heard compositions for chamber and orchestral winds by familiar composers, as well as works by contemporary composers. The ensemble plans to extend its season from its current three concerts per year to six or more by touring in an expanded geographic area.

Inkster is also active as a trumpet soloist, recitalist, and clinician and has performed in 45 states and across Europe. He is recently retired as Principal Trumpet of the Symphony of the Mountains (Tennessee/Virginia), and has held similar positions with the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, the Chapman and Redlands Symphony Orchestras (California). He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, and he has competed in a number of the most prestigious trumpet competitions across the world: the Prague Spring International Music Competition, The International Trumpet Guild Solo Competition, the National Trumpet Competition, and the MTNA National Collegiate Artist Competition.

Dr. Inkster is the WVMEA Research and Grants Chair and has recently served as the Composition Contest Chairman for the International Trumpet Guild. He holds the degrees Doctor of Music (The Florida State University), Master of Music (University of Redlands), and Bachelor of Music Education (University of Wyoming). Dr. Inkster has taught in the public schools of Wyoming, California, and Florida.

Visit his personal website: www.matthewinkster.com

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Brian Baldauff (b. 1977, Daytona Beach, Florida) is currently the Director of Percussion Studies and Athletic Bands at West Liberty University. His responsibilities include conducting the percussion ensemble, teaching applied lessons and percussion methods courses, and directing the Marching Hilltoppers and the WLU Pep Band. Brian is a versatile performer and pedagogue whose interests span contemporary and historic percussion literature, electronic sound, and conducting.

Active as a performer of solo, orchestral, and chamber music, Brian has performed with the Florida Gulf Coast, Lansing, and Brevard Symphonies. As a founding member of the Denkyem Percussion Group, he toured Costa Rica performing concerts and teaching masterclasses. In 2005, Brian performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention as a featured artist with the Timber Creek High School. Brian frequently presents clinics, lectures, and performances at high schools and colleges across the country.

A multi-percussionist, specializing in keyboard and marching percussion, Brian has served on the instructional staff for both the Teal Sound Drum and Bugle Corps (Jacksonville, FL) and the Boston Crusaders, and was the Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Florida State University Marching Chiefs “Big 8” drum line. Brian was awarded first place in both the 2003 and 2004 PASIC Keyboard Individuals, and in 2010 was selected for and competed in the semi-final round of the Southern California Marimba Competition. He is featured on the recently released recording of the Florida State University Percussion Ensemble titled Volume One and additionally on the BlockM and Equilibrium labels with the University of Michigan Symphony Band and Percussion Ensemble (works of Michael Daugherty and Michael Udow).

Additionally, Brian is very active in the Percussive Arts Society community, currently serving as President of the West Virginia chapter. Brian completed his undergraduate work in music education at the University of Central Florida and received his Masters of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. His primary percussion teachers include Jeffrey Moore, Michael Udow, Joseph Gramley, and John W. Parks IV. He is currently a Doctor of Music candidate at the Florida State University.

Please visit the WLU Percussion Studio Website!

Brian’s personal website: www.brianbaldauff.com

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Soprano Linda Cowan holds the Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Indiana State University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, where she studied with Judith Nicosia and Faith Esham.

She has had many opportunities to perform in the genres of opera, musical theater, theater, oratorio, and the concert hall. Some of her major roles have included the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Micaela in Carmen, Ariel in Shakespeare’s Tempest, Bellamy in The Fantasticks, M’Lynn in Steel Magnolias, the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods, and Domina in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Her directing experience includes the musicals Mame,The ThreePenny Opera, and most recently Seussical. She served as vocal director for West Liberty productions ofScrooge, Godspell and A Little Night Music. She held the dual roles of performer and music director for three summers at the ISU Summer Stage Cabaret, an Actors Equity company.

Dr. Cowan made her New York City debut singing the Brahms Requiem at the church of St. Luke’s in the Fields in Greenwich Village. Other oratorio performances include Mozart’s Coronation Mass, Haydn’s Creation, Bernstein’sChichester Psalms, the Durufle and Mozart Requiems, Handel’s Messiah and Dubois’ Seven Last Words of Christ. She has concertized extensively in NJ, IN, PA and West Virginia.

At West Liberty, Dr. Cowan teaches private and class voice, diction, and musical theater/opera workshop classes. She also maintains a small private voice studio consisting of some of the area’s top high school voice students.

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Dr. Anna Stephan-Robinson is assistant professor of Music Theory in the Department of Music and Theater. She teaches Music Theory, Ear Training, Form and Analysis, and private Horn lessons at West Liberty University. Dr. Stephan-Robinson holds Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Arts degrees in Music Theory from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, a Master of Music degree in Horn Performance from the University of Georgia (Athens), and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education from the Aaron Copland School of Music, City University of New York.

Dr. Stephan-Robinson’s areas of research interest include analysis of twentieth- and twenty-first-century music, especially the popular songs of Paul Simon and the art songs of Benjamin Britten; music theory and aural skills pedagogy; and intersections of music and other art forms. She has presented research at regional, national, and international conferences, and maintains an active research agenda.

Prior to her appointment at West Liberty, Dr. Stephan-Robinson taught at Ithaca College, New York University, Wagner College, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Georgia, as well as in public schools in Long Island, NY.

If you are a West Liberty student enrolled in a class with Dr. Stephan-Robinson, you can find information at the Music Theory and Ear Training page here.

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Wendy Webb Kumer attended Duquesne University with a major in Music Education then earned a masters degree in Flute Performance from Carnegie Mellon University. She has been on the faculties of Carnegie Mellon, Slippery Rock and Duquesne Universities, and most recently West Liberty University and Mercyhurst College teaching Flute, Music Theory, Ear Training, Woodwind Methods, and Flute Choir. Ms. Kumer is the founder and director of The Flute Academy, a full service music school for more than 100 flutists in classes, lessons and ensembles who perform throughout western Pennsylvania. She is an Artist/Clinician for the Conn Selmer Corporation, Music For All, and Bands of America, former Secretary for The Marcel Moyse Society, Immediate Past President of the Pittsburgh Flute Club, and a guest artist at several universities. Her yearly performance schedule includes solo recitals, chamber music concerts, and regular church appearances. Wendy was invited to conduct the National High School Flute Choir at the 2002 NFA convention, served as Secretary for the NFA from 2003-05, served as Local Arrangements Chair for the 2006 NFA convention and assistant program chair for the 2007 NFA convention.

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Dr. Morrison has been appointed to the position of Adjunct Professor of Clarinet at West Liberty University beginning the Fall of 2014. As an educator, Dr. Morrison served on the faculties of Gulf Coast Community College in Panama City, Florida, Musik Innovations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the Red River Chamber Music Festival in Grand Forks, North Dakota. She has also taught private lessons, instructed master classes, coached chamber ensembles, and adjudicated music festivals as a clarinet teaching assistant during her MM and DM degrees at Florida State University. In 2006, Dr. Morrison helped institute a wind program in which she coached chamber music and orchestral groups at the Musik Innovations Summer Chamber Music Camp in Pittsburgh. Over 15 years of teaching, she has maintained an active schedule as a private clarinet instructor and clarinet clinician; leading master classes and ensemble coachings.

As a performer, Dr. Morrison’s recent solo engagements have included performances at the NACWPI National Convention in Gainesville, Florida as well as lectures and recitals at colleges and universities in Arkansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. As a chamber musician, she is a founding member of The PM Woodwind Project, a flute and clarinet duo committed to sharing education-based chamber and solo music performances with the public. As the clarinetist with the chamber music ensembles, Trio Asterisco and the Baiger Duo, Amanda toured Midwestern states performing and providing master classes to both young musicians and the general community. Dr. Morrison has also been a clarinetist with the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, the Butler Symphony Orchestra, the St. Vincent Camerata, and the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival. She has collaborated with such noted musicians as Lorin Maazel, Vladimir Feltzman, Krzysztof Penderecki, Janos Starker, William Preucil, and Ronan Tynan as an orchestral clarinetist.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Amanda earned a BM degree from Duquesne University as a student of Mark Nuccio and MM and DM degrees from Florida State University as a student of both Dr. Deborah Bish and Dr. Frank Kowalsky. Other notable private clarinet teachers throughout her education include Michael Rusinek, Ron Samuels, Dr. Rebecca Rischin, Dr. D. Ray McClellan, and Mary Beth Malek.

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West Liberty University is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music.