Matt Power
Matt Power has been involved with the drum and bugle corps activity and marching arts for almost 30 years. Originally hailing from New Hampshire, Matt marched in several DCI Drum and Bugle Corps before spending his last three years as a snare drummer with the Cadets. He was a member of the ground-breaking 1989 Cadets percussion section, and winning both the DCI World Championship and the coveted Fred Sanford Award for High Percussion in 1990, as well as earning the Distinguished Service Award from the Cadets in 1991.
Matt is also an accomplished electric and acoustic bass player, and has performed on many commercial jingles, albums, and movie soundtracks.
He received his Bachelor's Degree in Music Education in 1992 from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, studying percussion under Thomas Hannum, Peter Tanner and William Hanley, as well as music theory with Yusef Lateef. He received his Master's Degree in Music Performance with an emphasis on Percussion and Jazz Bass, while studying with Guy Remonko, Ernest Bastin, and David Lewis.
Matt has worked with the top drum and bugle corps in the country as a percussion caption manager, consultant and snare technician. These include such groups as the Bluecoats, the Colts, the Seattle Cascades, the Marauders, Esperanza, and is thrilled to be working this year as a percussion consultant and snare drum technician with the 22-time DCI Finalist Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps.
Matt enjoys an active performance, judging, and clinic schedule, and is a leading percussion and music ensemble judge for the USSBA (United States Scholastic Band Association), and has judged the Texas state marching band finals several times, the Eastern Championship, and has been selected to be on the panel several times for the National Championship held at the Navy Stadium in Anapolis, Maryland.
He has performed as a percussionist and bassist with Mic Gillette, Steve Houghton, Steve Moretti, Pete and Conti Condoli, Phil Woods, Chris Hollyday, Bobby Shew, Archie LeCoque, Richie Cole, Jay Mason, David Joyner, Thom Hannum, Dr. Billy Taylor, Ernest Bastin, Tom Aungst, Pete Sapadin, Kevin Mayse, Harold Mason, Guy Remonko, Doug Meeuwsen, Roger Carter, and C. Scott Smith. He is one of the arrangers for the UMass Marimba Band, and arranges and designs for dozens of high school percussion programs across the country. Among the high schools he has taught or consulted for are Pacifica, Mission Viejo, Vista Murrieta, Rancho Bernardo, and El Toro.
He is currently the Head Director of Instrumental Studies at the Dumas Independent School District, and resides in Dumas, Texas with his lovely wife, two children, a psychotic feline named Knucklehead, and a useless paperweight of a cat named Ling-Ling.
Matt proudly endorses Remo Drumheads and is also a product consultant for Randall May International, the leading manufacturer of marching percussion carriers, distributed by Yamaha Corporation.