Katie Zheng

Katie Zheng, a native of western Kentucky, began her drum corps career as a trumpet player with Music City Drum and Bugle Corps in 2016. She continued her marching journey as a cast member of the 2018 and 2019 Santa Clara Vanguard before aging out with the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps in 2021. In addition to her drum corps experience, Katie performed in a variety of indoor marching arts ensembles, including scholastic winterguard and independent indoor winds. Her movement and marching expertise are rooted in her background with over a decade of classical ballet training, as well as focuses in modern, lyrical, and tap. An alumna of Murray State University, Katie holds a Bachelor's degree in music where she studied trumpet under Dr. Eric Swisher. She has been involved with many high school band programs throughout western Kentucky as a music and visual instructor, choreographer, and visual consultant. She has served as a visual instructor consistently for DCI finalist corps, including Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps from 2022 to 2024 and the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps from 2025 to 2026, where she specialized in teaching marching and movement.

Katie currently resides in Indianapolis, IN and serves as the Visual Caption Head for the Center Grove High School Bands in Greenwood, Indiana. In this role, she teaches dance technique, marching fundamentals, drill, and choreography to the winds and battery. She also contributes her expertise to Center Grove Indoor Percussion, a perennial WGI World Class finalist for 21 consecutive seasons. Katie previously served as Visual Caption Head at Fishers High School, with her ensembles awarded Best Visual and consistent finalist placements in her tenure. On the independent side, Katie is in her third season teaching visual and movement at Rhythm X Percussion. Katie also served as the Visual Caption Head for Elevate Winds, an independent indoor winds ensemble under Elevate Performing Arts in Indianapolis, IN from 2024-2026.