Omar Thomas Joins the LSWO in November

Dr. Andrew Eldridge is Assistant Professor of Percussion and Coordinator of Percussion at the University of Texas at Arlington. Prior to UTA, Andrew taught percussion and music theory at Texas Christian University, and taught percussion at Texas Wesleyan University.

Andrew’s musical interests lie at the intersection of percussion and electronics. His recent experiments dove into live-looping acoustic percussion within Ableton Live controlled with midi controllers. Andrew also enjoys creating music with mobile music set-ups that are accessible to the general music lover.

Under his direction, the UTA Percussion Ensemble was selected to present the New Literature Session at the 2017 Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC). The ensemble also performed a Showcase Concert at the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) annual convention in February 2017.

Andrew served as an instructor for the TCU drumline that received First Place and the prestigious Fred Sanford Award in the 2012 PASIC Indoor Drumline Competition. He was awarded Most Influential Teacher for 2011 while teaching as Director of Percussion / Assistant Band Director at Rockwall-Heath High School in Rockwall, Texas. Prior to UTA, Andrew taught theory at Texas Christian University and percussion at Texas Wesleyan University and has also held full-time staff positions at Birdville High School, North Richland Hills, Texas; Kaufman High School, Kaufman, Texas; and Naaman Forest High School in the Garland Independent School District.

Andrew serves on the Percussion Ensemble Committee for the Percussive Arts Society. He served a three-year term on the Lone Star Wind Orchestra Board of Directors and has been performing with the group as a section percussionist since 2009. Andrew was selected to present a clinic on crowdfunding at the 2013 Midwest Clinic and 2014 Texas Music Educators Association annual convention. Most recently, he was selected to present a clinic called “Launching the MIDI Controller into the Music Curriculum” at the 2018 Texas Music Educators Association annual convention.

An avid performer of new music, Andrew has individually commissioned and given the world premieres of music written for percussion by Dan Welcher, Kyle Kindred, Dwayne Rice, Martin Blessinger, Ryan George, and David Maslanka. The UTA Percussion Ensemble commissioned and gave the world premieres to music by Nathan Daughtrey, Francisco Perez, and Michael Varner. Additionally, he was a finalist in the 2012 and 2014 Southern California International Marimba Competition, a semi-finalist in the 2013 Great Plains International Marimba Competition and awarded 2nd place in the 2002 PASIC International Multi-Percussion Competition. As an arranger, he wrote the drumline parts for the 2004 Fed-Ex Orange Bowl and 2006 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.

Andrew holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Percussion Performance from Texas Christian University, a Master of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign, and a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Texas A&M University – Commerce.

Visit Andrew Eldridge’s website.

A native of Nara, Japan, Dr. Mai Tadokoro Hessel currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Percussion at Texas Wesleyan University and teaches privately in the DFW area. Since moving to the U.S. in 2002, she has become an active percussionist and educator in Kansas City, MO and the Dallas-Fort Worth, TX areas. Her marimba performance of Joseph Schwantner’s Velocities was featured at a TEDxWyandotte event, the video of which is published internationally. Hessel is an enthusiastic chamber musician, co-founding several chamber groups, including Spiral Staircase Duo with her husband (horn and percussion), Eric Hessel, who is also a member of LSWO. Spiral Staircase is a strong proponent of new music, continually premiering and commissioning new works, and has performed at a wide range of venues from universities and festivals to museums and public schools. Mai has been a member of the Lone Star Wind Orchestra since 2016 and was recently featured as the marimba soloist in Minoru Miki’s Marimba Spiritual, a performance released virtually in June 2021. She also performs with the Sherman Symphony Orchestra and Richardson Symphony Orchestra and has previously served as principal timpanist and percussionist for the New Texas Symphony Orchestra, Lawrence Community Orchestra, and Neue Eutiner Festspiele, an opera festival in Eutin Germany.

Hessel received her Associate of Arts from Cottey College, Bachelor of Music from the University of Missouri at Kansas City, Master of Music from the University of Texas at Austin, and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Kansas. Her teachers include James Snell, Christopher McLaurin, Thomas Burritt, Tony Edward, Ji Hye Jung, and Lee Vinson.

Outside of music, she enjoys playing with her one-year-old son and two cats.

View Mai performing “Tamahuri from Marimba Spiritual”

Percussionist Brandon Kelly is active in the DFW-metroplex as a performer, music educator, adjudicator, and clinician. He is currently in his tenth year as a member of the Marcus High School percussion staff in Flower Mound, TX. Previously, he taught at Tarleton State University, Texas Wesleyan University, Plano ISD, Wylie ISD, Berkner HS, and others. Brandon was a faculty member for the Leigh Howard Stevens High School Summer Marimba Seminars in Plano, TX and Madison, NJ and continues to serve as a member of the Marimba Madness faculty in Richardson, TX.

As a percussionist, Brandon performs regularly with the Dallas Winds, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Chamber Symphony, Imperial Brass, Abilene Philharmonic, McKinney Philharmonic, Lone Star Wind Orchestra, the Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra, and several other ensembles throughout the metroplex. He can be found on more than 50 recordings with various ensembles, including the Keystone Winds, Dallas Winds, and North Texas Wind Symphony, the latter serving as principal percussionist.

A native of New Jersey, Brandon received his undergraduate education from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Following IUP, Brandon pursued his Masters in Percussion Performance as a teaching fellow at the University of North Texas, where he had the responsibilities of teaching undergraduate percussion lessons, percussion methods classes and directing UNT’s 12 O’clock Percussion Ensemble. He will forever be grateful to the remarkable mentors he has had over the years, including Tom Murphy, Dr. Jack Stamp, Dr. Gary Olmstead, Christopher Deane, Ed Soph, Dr. Robert Schietroma, Ed Smith, Paul Rennick, Poovalur Sriji, Eugene Corporon, and Leigh Howard Stevens.

Visit Brandon Kelly’s website.

John Moran has a Bachelor of Music degree in both Percussion Performance and Piano Performance from Texas Christian University. His full-time job is Director of Worship Ministries at St. John the Apostle UMC where he is in charge of choirs, bands, handbells, soloists, and all audio/visual technology. As an active freelance musician, he plays many percussion and piano gigs ranging from large ensembles to accompanying soloists and choirs to rock n roll bands around the Metroplex. Past jobs include Rehearsal Pianist & Accompanist for the Texas Ballet Theater for 6 years and Private Percussion Instructor in Southlake-Carroll ISD for 13 years. Before those jobs, he was a percussionist in the Juenesse Musicale World Orchestra for two American/European tours under the direction of Kurt Masur and Yakov Kreizberg, playing with such soloists as Anne-Sophie Mutter and Awadagin Pratt.

John loves the LSWO and has been a section percussionist since season 1. He currently serves as the Percussion Personnel Manager. In his spare time, you can usually find him around home in Arlington, TX, chasing after Jack (11 year old son) with wife Katie and their dog Daisy.

View John performing “Tamahuri from Marimba Spiritual”