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Bearkat Marching Band Faculty and Staff
Brian Gibbs
Associate Director of Bands
Director, Bearkat Marching Band
Assistant Professor of Music
Brian Gibbs is the Associate Director of Bands, Director of the Bearkat Marching Band and Assistant Professor of Music at Sam Houston State University. He is the conductor of the Symphonic Band and teaches courses in music education. Mr. Gibbs previously taught at Texas Christian University and in the Birdville, Cypress-Fairbanks, Carrollton-Farmers Branch and Richardson public schools.
Mr. Gibbs is currently a PhD candidate in education at the Walden University Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership. He holds a B.M. degree from Southern Methodist University and a M.S. degree in Business and Human Relations from Amberton University. Mr. Gibbs has presented workshops on music education research at the conventions of the California Music Educators Association and the Tennessee Music Educators Association.
Mr. Gibbs is active in the Texas Music Educators Association, the Texas Music Adjudicators Association, the National Association of Music Educators, the College Band Directors National Association, the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, and the Association for Moral Education.
Matthew McInturf
Director of Bands
Professor of Music
Matthew McInturf is Professor of Music, Director of Bands and Director of the Center for Music Education at Sam Houston State University. He previously taught at Florida International University and in the public schools of Richardson, Texas. He holds degrees from the University of North Texas and the University of Houston and is a doctoral candidate in conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He has studied conducting with Anshel Brusilow, Eddie Green and Eugene Migliaro Corporon and composition with Michael Horvit and Darrell Handel.
Throughout his career, Mr. McInturf's ensembles have been recognized for their musical accomplishment. He has performed throughout the United States and recordings of his performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio. In 1991, conducting the J. J. Pearce High School Band, he performed an acclaimed concert at the Mid-West Clinic, with trombone soloist Christian Lindberg. He has performed at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention and at the Southwest Regional Convention of the College Band Directors National Association with the SHSU Wind Ensemble.
An advocate of new music, Mr. McInturf has continued to commission new works for wind ensemble. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the World-Wide Concurrent Premiers and Commissioning Fund, Inc., a non-profit corporation that works internationally to form consortiums to commission significant new works from contemporary composers. He is a Past President of the Texas Bandmasters Association and is a region officer in the Texas Music Educators Association. He is active in the College Band Directors National Association, the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensemble and the College Music Society.
John Lane
Director of Percussion Studies
Assistant Professor of Music
Dr. John Lane is an active percussion soloist, chamber musician, composer, educator, and has performed throughout the Americas and Japan. Recent credits include performances with his percussion trio (with Christopher Deane and Brian Zator), Pulsus, at the Hokuto International Music Festival in Japan, a concerto performance with the National Symphony of Panama, an appearance on the Van Cliburn Foundation's concert series, Modern at the Modern, at the Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art, and presentations at the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions in 2003, 2004, 2008, and 2009.
Currently, John is Director of Percussion Studies and Assistant Professor at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas where he teaches applied percussion and directs the Sam Houston Percussion Group and SHSU Steel Band. Prior to his appointment at SHSU, John taught as a lecturer at the University of Wyoming and as a teaching fellow at the University of North Texas and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Commissioning new works for percussion and creative collaborations are an integral part of John's work. Over the last few years, he has been connected with a number of composers including Peter Garland, Emiliano Pardo, Mara Helmuth, Michael Fiday, Christopher Deane, John Luther Adams, Kyle Gann, Michael Byron, Wen Hui Xie, Jude Traxler, Kazuaki Shiota and Alex Kotch.
His compositions have been featured on the Sonic Explorations concert series, the MUSICX new musicfestival at the Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music; the Loeffler New Music Symposium at Chico State University in California; and at the Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center. One of his works, Sparrow Song, was recently published in Notations 21 (New York: Mark Batty Publishers, 2008). John has several on-going interdisciplinary collaborations with writers Ann McCutchan and Todd Boss, percussionist Allen Otte, and has created original music for choreographer/dancer Hillary Bryan.
John has recorded for the Klavier and GIA record labels with the North Texas Wind Symphony and can be heard on the television series, Wyoming Voices (produced by Wyoming Public Television). Articles, interviews, and educational writing have been published in Windsong, 21st-Century Music, Texas Band Master's Review and Percussive Notes. John is also a former marching member of the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps.
John has presented clinics and masterclasses on topics including contemporary music, orchestral percussion, and jazz drumset at the following institutions/venues: Danilo Perez Jazz Foundation, National Institute of Culture in Panama, Texas Music Educator's Association Convention, Texas Band Master's Association Convention, Percussive Arts Society Days of Percussion (Wyoming, Louisiana, and Texas), University of Colorado, Colorado State University, University of Wyoming, University of Arizona, Chico State University, Southern Oregon University, Stephen F. Austin State University, University of Hawaii, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, and the University of Mississippi.
John holds a DMA in percussion performance from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, a MM from the University of North Texas, and a BM from Stephen F. Austin State University. John is also a Yamaha Performing Artist and an Artist for Innovative Percussion and Evans Drumheads.
Chase Bronstein
Percussion Instructor, Bearkat Marching Band
Adjunct Professor of Percussion
Percussionist Chase Bronstein has performed across the United States and abroad in a
variety of musical styles and ensembles. He recently completed a five-city concert tour of
China as a percussionist in the New Sousa Band. He frequently performed throughout the
Northeast with ensembles such as the U.S. Coast Guard Band, the Haffner Sinfonietta,
Westchester Symphonic Winds and the Ives Festival Orchestra. During the summers of
2005 and 2006 he toured the United States performing as a member of the snareline in the
DCI World Class Crossmen Drum & Bugle Corps.
Also an experienced educator, Chase is currently the Adjunct Professor of Percussion at
Sam Houston State University where he directs the University Percussion Ensemble and
the SHSU Bearkat Drumline. He has also instructed and arranged for numerous marching
bands, indoor percussion ensembles and drum corps including national finalist Stamford
High School. His students have gone on to march with several DCI World Class corps
including Cadets, Carolina Crown, The Bluecoats, and Jersey Surf as well as WGI
Independent World Class groups Rhythm X and United Percussion.
Chase received his Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Western
Connecticut State University where he studied percussion with David Smith, and his
Masters of Music degree in percussion performance at The Boston Conservatory where
he studied percussion with Keith Aleo and Sam Solomon, timpani with David Herbert
and John Grimes, and marimba with Nancy Zeltsman.
Cathy Benford
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Bearkat Marching Band
Rachel Denson
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Bearkat Marching Band
Ogechi Ukazu
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Bearkat Marching Band
Sevy Deleon
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Bearkat Marching Band
