Staff

BAND DIRECTOR

 

Photo by Kent ArnoldChris Weise started his career as the band director and music department chair at Kilmer Middle School.  He was responsible for all aspects of the music program—which included over 550 students performing in four concert bands, three percussion ensembles, three concert choirs, and three orchestras—and for conducting the bands and percussion ensembles.  During his four years there, the Kilmer band program grew from 188 students to more than 260 students, such that one student in four was playing in band.  The Kilmer Symphonic Band received superior ratings at every contest and festival in which it entered as well as Grand Champion awards at Musicale and Music in the Parks festivals.  In 2006, the band was the featured middle school ensemble at the Virginia Music Educator Association’s State Conference.  In 2008, Mr. Weise was a nominee for Fairfax County Teacher of the Year.

 

A native of Vienna, Virginia, Mr. Weise is a product of Fairfax County Public Schools,   attending Thoreau Middle School and James Madison High School.  He received a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from James Madison University in 2004.  At JMU, Mr. Weise was a member of the Symphonic Band, Wind Symphony, Brass Band, Tuba Ensemble, and 450-member Marching Royal Dukes.  He is working on a Masters Degree in Conducting from George Mason University and plays in the Fairfax Wind Symphony.  During the summer, he serves as a principal director of the Vienna Band Camp and the Virginia Ambassadors of Music.

Mr. Weise is married to another FCPS school teacher, Christina, who teaches kindergarten at Freedom Hill Elementary School in Vienna.

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JAZZ BAND

Scott Weinhold currently plays saxophone for the United States Army Band, Washington, DC. Prior to working for the Army Band he was on the road with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Other performance experience includes working on cruises in Europe and the Mediterranean, touring with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and performances with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, The Guy Lombardo Orchestra, and the Blue Wisp Big Band in Cincinnati, OH. Scott has studied jazz with Nick Brignola, Rick VanMatre, Phil Degreg, Pat Harbison, and David Baker. As an educator, he has performed and taught at Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN and Miami University, Oxford, OH. Scott also taught music in the Cincinnati Public School System. Scott Weinhold has earned degrees from the College of St. Rose in Albany, NY (BS Music Education), and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (MM Saxophone Performance). He also spent one year at Indiana University working towards another graduate degree in Jazz Studies.

sweinhold@mcleanband.org

703.281.1123

www.scottweinhold.com

PERCUSSION

David Wolf is an educator and free-lance performer based in Columbus, Ohio and specializes in contemporary concert and marching percussion. Currently, he keeps an active teaching schedule at Dublin Coffman High School, Sells Middle School, and Gahanna Lincoln High School. Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, Dr. Wolf will be the Percussion Director for Madison High School, Kilmer Middle School, and Thoreau Middle School in Vienna, VA and McLean High School and Longfellow Middle School in McLean, VA. He previously held a one-semester appointment as the Interim Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington. Dr. Wolf has taught privately and in conjunction with multiple public school and college programs in Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Ohio. He has taught on the percussion staffs of the University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band, the University of Oklahoma Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band, the Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps, and several high school marching band and indoor drumline programs.

 

As a multi-dimensional performer, Dr. Wolf has enjoyed a variety of performance settings. In 2005, he placed second at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention Solo Competition (multi-percussion and tape) after being selected as a one of four finalists from an international pool of applications. At that same convention, he performed a showcase concert as a member of The Ohio State University Percussion Ensemble. In 2006, he performed at the Focus Day at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Austin, TX. He has also performed in concerts and festivals in Ohio, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, New York, and Connecticut. Dr. Wolf has had the pleasure of performing with international percussion artists Nebojsa Zivkovic, Linda Maxey, Susan Powell, Michael Burritt, Russell Hartenberger, John Beck, and Eduardo Leandro.

 

Dr. Wolf graduated from The Ohio State University with the Doctor of Musical Arts degree as a University Fellow and Graduate Teaching Associate, where he studied with Susan Powell and Joe Krygier. He earned his Master of Music Degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied with Lance Drege, and his Bachelor of Music Degree in Percussion Performance and Music Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he studied with Eduardo Leandro and Peter Tanner.

 

Dr. Wolf is a member of the Vic Firth Education Team, Percussive Arts Society, College Music Society, and MENC. David is an educational endorser for Vic Firth Sticks & Mallets and Remo Drumheads & Percussion.


Dmwpercussion@gmail.com
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 COLOR GUARD


Laura Englander has many years of experience with both marching and teaching color guard.  She first learned how to spin a flag at age 12 and has been hooked ever since.  She has 10 years of experience marching in two different drum and bugle corps.  Drum corps is similar to marching band, but is not affiliated with any particular school, etc.,  They are separately run entities that travel and compete each summer.  The practices are intense and the performances are top-rate. 

Her early years were spent with the St. Croix Rivermen of Stillwater, Minnesota.  She began in the "feeder" corps in 1980 and 81, and then in the competitive corps 1982-84.  In 1985 she traveled down to Indiana to join the Star of Indiana during it's inaugural year.  She marched five years total...1985, 1987-1990.  She served as captain for two of those years.  During her last year of competing, Star of Indiana ranked third in the world.  She is currently involved in the alumni version of Star of Indiana and will be marching in the color guard with the corps for a full (12 minute) show exhibition during the 2010 Drum Corps International World Finals.

Laura has taught three different high school marching band color guards in Indiana in the early 90's and has periodically been on staff with various guards on a casual basis.  She is very excited to be working with McLean.  She lives close by in Falls Church, and is a stay-at-home mom with four children.


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MARCHING STAFF

 

Andrea Burton - Pit Instructor
Kim Brynes - Marching and Visual Instructor
Stephanie Chen - Guard Instructor

Sarah Dicksen - Marching Tech

Brett Dodson - Marching Tech

Alyson Frazier - Marching Tech

Shawn Galvin - Show Coordinator

Matt Harloff - Music Arranger

Krista Hurlburt - Guard Instructor

Mel Johnson - Marching Tech

Jim Swarts - Director of Drumline

Vincent Thomas - Visual Consultant

Danny Tilman - Marching Tech

Rose Tobiassen - Drumline Instructor

Jeff Wrobelsky - Drill Designer

 

SECTIONAL TEACHERS

Jeff Bianchi - Horn Sectionals

Jim Bittner - Trumpet Sectionals

Bruce Brown - Flute Sectionals

Barbara Duman - Clarinet Sectionals

George Etheridge - Saxophone Sectionals

Lynn Gaubatz - Bassoon Sectionals

Jim Moseley - Oboe Sectionals



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