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Education

Rice University  

Graduation: 2019 

Doctor of Musical Arts - Percussion Performance

Dissertation: Lou Harrison’s “Old Granddad”: A Composer’s Guide

 

Louisiana State University  

Graduation: 2010                                                                
Master of Music - Percussion Performance

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The University of North Texas                                                             

Graduation: 2008

Bachelor of Music - Applied Performance | Minor in Music Theory

Magna Cum Laude with Honors

Areas of Expertise and Experience

Classical and orchestral percussion | Contemporary chamber music performance and coaching | Drum set and popular music styles | Contemporary marching percussion | Afro-Cuban music and Latin jazz | The music of Lou Harrison and American Gamelan | Instrument and Gamelan building | Javanese and Balinese Gamelan performance | Intermedia and electro-acoustic performance, including MIDI and electronic percussion | Music engraving and publication | South Indian Carnatic theory and relationships to contemporary performance and teaching practice | Theory-Performance relationships in post-tonal music

College Teaching Experience

 

The University of Tennessee at Martin ( 2021 - Present)

Assistant Professor and Director of Percussion Studies

  • Curriculum design, applied percussion instruction, and studio/masterclass instruction

  • Direct percussion ensemble, steel band, Brazilian ensemble, Afro-Cuban ensemble, and gamelan

  • Curriculum committee member

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Houston Baptist University  (2018 - 2021)

Adjunct Professor of Percussion

  • Studio instruction, including private lessons and masterclasses in percussion (MUSI 11P1/32P1)

  • Teach HBU Husky Drum Line and Percussion Ensemble

  • Teach percussion methods and techniques course for Music Education majors (MUED 2182). This includes technical fundamentals and pedagogical concepts on snare drum, mallets, and timpani. Also included are pedagogical concepts for marching, concert, and chamber ensembles; introduction to world percussion

  • Helped instruct marching and concert ensemble rehearsals

  • Guest lecturer for Music Education classes majors

  • Formed a new Javanese gamelan ensemble, which was selected to perform at the 2019 Percussive Arts Society International Convention

 

Houston Community College  (2018 - 2021)

Adjunct Instructor of Percussion                                                        

  • Percussion studio instruction for majors and non-majors, including drum set, marimba, snare drum, and timpani (MUAP 1157/2157/2158); Studio class in performance concepts, accessory techniques, and professional topics (MUAP 2159/2160)

  • Teach Music Appreciation, Music Fundamentals, and Theory, including generating all course content, lectures, exams, and supplementary materials

  • Pre-COVID certification in building online course content

 

Lone Star College - Tomball  (2017 - 2018)

Adjunct Percussion Instructor

  • Private instruction in drum set, marimba, snare drum, and timpani (MUAP 1157/1257/1258/2157)

 

Rice University (2014 - 2019)

Benjamin Armistead Shepherd Teaching Fellow

  • Taught private lessons to undergraduate and graduate percussion students

  • Taught percussion studio class and methods for majors course. Performance and pedagogy concepts related to general percussion, drum set, and Afro-Cuban percussion

  • Directed the Rice Percussion Group

  • Taught Fundamentals of Music, a course offered to non-majors (MUSI 117). Generated original course content, lectures, examinations, and supplementary material

  • Coached non-percussion groups such as undergraduate string ensembles and Hear&Now, the Shepherd School Contemporary Ensemble

 

Colorado State University (October 2021)

Guest Clinician

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Tennessee Tech University (November 2020)

Guest Clinician

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University of North Carolina - Greensboro (October 2020)

Guest Clinician

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Stephen F. Austin University  (September 2016)

Guest Clinician

 

Sam Houston State University  (October 2013)

Guest Clinician

 

Louisiana State University  (2008 - 2010)

Wind Studies Teaching Assistant

  • One of three graduate assistants responsible for primary oversight of the Tiger Marching Band​

  • Taught Wind Ensemble and other bands’ percussion sections

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Large Projects and Community Engagement

"I Am My Future", Harris County Youth Village 

  • Collaboration with Houston Grand Opera and Harris County Juvenile Detention System

  • Part of an educational team that is helping inmates of the Harris County Juvenile Detention System write and produce an opera as part of their rehabilitation/release program

 

HUB Gamelan, The HUB School Houston

  • Designed curriculum for neuro-diverse students to build instruments and perform

  • Integration of social skills, construction and life skills, and cultural exchange through music

 

Education Encounters, Da Camera Young Artists                                                          

  • Created “Landfill Harmonic” presentation about recycling and environmentalism in music; led the presentation for K-6th classes, including building instruments out of reused materials

  • Led “I Am Jam” presentation on figurative language for K-6th students

  • “Simple Drum Song” presentation about using descriptive language in journalism for K-6th students

  • Led “Music and Weather” presentation about weather and earth science for K-6th students

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Music for 18 Musicians, Rice University  (2015)                                                     

  • Organized and led performance in one of Steve Reich’s masterworks

  • Facilitated instrumentalists, singers, and sound production teams

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Rhythm Adventures Camp

  • Created summer camp for Junior High percussionists to learn more advanced ensemble skills, including an introduction to world music and drum set

Selected Performance Experience

Large Ensemble and Orchestra

Substitute Percussion, Houston Symphony

Substitute Percussion, San Antonio Symphony

Substitute Percussion, Houston Ballet Orchestra

Substitute Principal Timpani, Amarillo Symphony Orchestra

The Who - Moving On! Tour (2019)

Weird Al Yankovic - Strings Attached Tour (2019)

New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship - Finalist (2017)

Substitute Percussion, Hawaii Symphony

Shepherd Symphony Orchestra Carnegie Hall Tour  (2016)

  • Wrote program notes for all performances

Substitute Percussion, Houston Grand Opera

Round Top Music Festival

Principal Timpani, Acadiana Symphony Orchestra  (2010 - 2011)

Substitute Percussion, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra

Section Percussion, Baton Rouge Sinfonietta

Principal Percussion, UNT Symphony Orchestra

  • Included in search committee for new Music Director in 2008

Dallas Bach Society, Timpanist

 

Chamber

Sonic Boom, Organ and percussion duo with Dr. Yuri McCoy

  • Commissioning new works and creating new transcriptions for organ and percussion

  • 2020 International tour to Australia and New Zealand (postponed due to COVID)

Kinetic: Unconducted Chamber Orchestra

  • Premiered "The World of Miro" by Peter Klatzow in 2021

Aperio, Chamber Music of the Americas

Young Artist Fellow, Da Camera of Houston

  • Performances at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Menil Collection Museum, among others

Arrivals and Departures: Cage, Cunningham, and Johns  (2018)

  • Collaboration with Merce Cunningham Trust, The Menil Collection, and the Houston Ballet

Loop38 Contemporary Ensemble

  • Houston premiere of Ashley Fure’s “Albatross”

L’Histoire du Soldat Performance  (2018)

  • Collaboration with Rice faculty members Ben Kamins, Timothy Pitts, and Kathleen Winkler

Veterans Day Celebration – St. Martin’s Episcopal Church  (2018)

  • Honored Guests: Fmr. President and Mrs. George H.W. Bush, James and Mrs. Baker

Hear&Now Ensemble

Music for 18 Musicians Performance  (2015)

  • Organized and led 25 musicians (percussion, strings, winds, and voices) in an hour-long performance of the Steve Reich masterpiece

UNT Percussion Ensembles  (2003 - 2008)

  • Performance at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (2007)

  • Performed with Keiko Abe and Percussion Ensemble Japan (2005)

  • Helped found the first Balinese Gamelan Ensemble, served as Kendhang (leader)

  • Indoor Drumline showcase at PASIC 2005

  • Pop Percussion Ensemble performances with guests Airto Moreira, Michael Spiro, Steve Smith

 

Solo

Da Camera of Houston

  • Solo performances at Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Menil Collection

Solo Recital, Rice University  (2016)

Chamber Recital, Rice University  (2015)

Solo Recitals, Louisiana State University  (2009 - 2010)

Showcase Concert, Percussive Arts Society International Convention  (2009)

  • Featured vibraphone soloist for the premier of Fleeting Revenence by Christopher Deane

Senior Recital, University of North Texas  (2008)

 

Theater and Drum Set                                                    

Percussionist, Queensbury Theatre

Drum Set, Theatre Under the Stars Houston

Percussionist, Music Box Theatre Company

Percussionist, Wildfish Theatre Company

Percussionist, Oklahoma Shakespearian Festival

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Select Masterclasses and Coaching                                          

David Herbert (Chicago Symphony) Masterclasses

Svet Stoyanov (University of Miami) Masterclasses

Jeremy Branson (Pittsburgh Symphony) Masterclass

Keith Aleo (Interlochen) Masterclass

PASIC Symphonic Timpani Lab Participant

  • Masterclass with Peter Kogan, Minnesota Orchestra

Percussion Group Cincinnati Coaching

Michael Spiro Masterclass  

Doug Howard (Dallas Symphony) Masterclass 

Keiko Abe Masterclass 

Jimmy Cobb Masterclass

Ed Stephan (San Francisco Symphony) Masterclass 

James Ross (Chicago Symphony) Masterclass 

Recordings and Publications

Recordings

An American in Paris, Cole Porter, and Ameriques: Music of the Roaring 20's (2019)

  • Transcriptions for organ and percussion

Pedagogy of Intermediate Multi-Percussion Works​ (2017)

  • Recordings and essays of pedagogically valuable works for solo percussion

Reflex by Brett William Dietz (2009)

  • Book of solo multi-percussion music published by C. Alan Publications

Vespertine Formations (2009)

  • The University of North Texas Percussion Group

  • Published by Arizona University Recordings

CD Companion to Teaching Music Through Performance in Beginning Band (2006)

  • The University of North Texas Wind Symphony

  • Published by GIA Music

With Heart and Voice: The Music fo David Gillingham (2005)

  • The University of North Texas Symphonic Band

  • Principal Percussionist, published by Klavier Music

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Publications

Spitz, Brady. Brain Drain: Reading and Technical Method for the Intermediate Mallet Player. Self-Published. 2022. 

Spitz, Brady. Accessory Etudes for the Developing Percussionist. Publication pending, 2021.

Spitz, Brady. Lou Harrison's "Old Granddad": A Composer's Guide. DMA Dissertation, Rice University, 2019.

Cirone, Anthony. The Great American Symphony Orchestra. Meredith Music, 2011. 

  • My academic research on Lou Harrison is referenced in this book

Spitz, Brady. "Appreciating Lou Harrison: Performance as Creation in Solo to Anthony Cirone," Percussive Arts Society Notes,

March 2011. ​

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