Faculty and Staff

Torgbui Gideon Foli Alorwoyie, High Priest of the Yewe Cult, is highly regarded as one of Ghana's foremost virtuosos of traditional music and dance. From 1967-84, Alorwoyie worked in the Department of African Studies at the University of Ghana as Chief Master Drummer of the Ghana National Dance Ensemble. With his ensemble, he toured France, the United Kingdom, West Germany, Switzerland, the former USSR, Yugoslavia, the Caribbean, Korea, and the United States. He is the Founder and the Artistic Director of the Afrikana Cultural Troupe of Ghana, West Africa, and the Founder and Artistic Director of the Chicago-based African-American Unity Ensemble. Alorwoyie is also a member of the advisory council of the African Music Caucus and the Percussive Arts Society. His recent projects have included performances at the Ghana Fest in Chicago, master classes in the Ritual Music of Ghana, West Africa at the New England Conservatory in Boston, and performances at the inauguration of CEANA in Atlanta. Alorwoyie has worked with notable scholars and composers such as David Locke, John Chernoff, and Steve Reich. He is Associate Professor of Music, Principal Dancer/Choreographer, and Director of the African Percussion Ensemble at The University of North Texas.

José Aponte, a native of Carolina, Puerto Rico, is a faculty member of The University of North Texas Percussion Department and Jazz Department, where he conducts the Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and Latin Jazz ensembles. He is also an active member of the Dallas/Fort Worth musical scene as a freelance performer and studio musician with groups such as The Carlos Guedes Latin Jazz Trio, The Dreammaker Big Band, The Image Variety Band, Crispin Catholic Funk Band, and his own Latin Jazz Group, Caribe Club. Mr. Aponte is a graduate from the Music Conservatory of Puerto Rico, The Musicians Institute of Technology in Los Angeles, California, and The University of North Texas Jazz Studies Program. He has performed with artist such as Giovanni Hidalgo, Emil Richards, Poncho Sanchez, Batacumbele, Gino Vanelli, Airto Moreira, and Michael Spiro.

Juan Arenas is the president and founder of Global Percussion, Inc. and is in his fourth year as director of the Global Drum School programs, located in many cities throughout the state of Texas. Juan is the Director of Percussion Studies for the Liberty High School cluster in Frisco, TX, emphasizing a total percussion approach (including world, jazz, marching, and concert percussion) in his teaching. He is a graduate of the Masters program at The University of North Texas, having been a Teaching Assistant, majored in Percussion Performance, and minored in Music and Medicine. Juan Arenas received his B.M. in Music Education from West Texas A&M University in Canyon, TX.

Dan Darrah, a native of Butte, Montana, is a doctoral candidate at the University of North Texas. He is an active educator and performer in the DFW-area, having taught at such programs as Colleyville Heritage High School and is also a former member and educator of the Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps of Casper, Wyoming. Mr. Darrah received his Masters in Percussion Performance at the University of North Texas and his bachelors in Percussion Performance at the University of Montana.

I-Jen Fang, a native of Taipei, Taiwan, is active throughout the U.S. and the world as a marimba soloist and educator. She has toured throughout various European countries, the United States, Taiwan, and even South Africa. She has also performed as a soloist with the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic in Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2003, she was a featured performer with the Bain Percussion Group at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in Louisville, Kentucky. In that same year, she was a soloist at the 6 èmes Journées de la Percussion in Paris, France. Ms. Fang is currently the Director of Percussion at the University of Virginia.

Jeremy Gomez is at the forefront of contemporary marching cymbal technique, establishing a unique concept defining types of motions and their applications to cymbal movement in the drumline idiom. Since 1998, he has been instructing and writing the choreography for the UNT Cymbal Line, winning 4 P.A.S. championships and 2 Best Cymbal Line caption awards. From 1998-2002, Gomez was cymbal tech for Carolina Crown Drum & Bugle Corp, winning 2 groundbreaking Cymbal Ensemble championships. He is an active educator in the DFW area; his high school credits include Plano Senior High, Flower Mound H.S., The Colony H.S., and Colleyville H.S. These groups have earned several awards, including highest honors at the high school P.A.S.I.C competition. Jeremy Gomez is an active clinician at The University of North Texas and has presented 2 clinics at P.A.S.I.C.: demonstrating how to fuse South Indian rhythms into marching percussion and showcasing the Carolina Crown Cymbal Line.

Jonathan Gregory, a native of Rio de Janeiro, is a percussionist and music educator specializing in the indigenous music of Brazil. He directs a Brazilian ensemble and teaches Brazilian percussion privately in the DFW area and has presented workshops covering Brazilian styles at the Jazz in the Meadows; Jazz Festival at the University of Wisconsin. Gregory has toured throughout Europe as part of a Brazilian Jazz combo called the Jazztet, which has also performed for Brazilian radio and television broadcasts. He has played percussion with the Rio Maracatu, a traditional maracatu band and with several samba schools in Rio. Mr. Gregory is currently working on a method book covering Brazilian Pandiero and Percussion, while completing a Bachelor's degree in Music Education at The University of North Texas.

Josh Jennings, a native of Flower Mound, TX, marched 6 years with Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps, during which he won the DCI keyboard ensemble and DCI Individuals contest. After high school, he began studying music at the University of North Texas, receiving Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music Performance degrees. While at UNT, he studied with Dr. Robert Schietroma, Mark Ford, Ed Smith, Jose Aponte, Paul Rennick, Ed Soph and Christopher Deane. In addition to freelance performing and teaching throughout the state, he currently serves as a percussion instructor at Marcus High School in Flower Mound, TX, and Shepton High School in Plano, TX.

James LaBrecque is completing a Bachelor in Music Education at the University of North Texas, having an extensive background in rudimental percussion. He has participated in Drum Corps International (DCI) since the age of 16, including the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps in 2003. LaBrecque won both first and second prize respectively at the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) and DCI Individual Snare Drum Competitions in 2001. He was a member of the prestigious University of North Texas Indoor Drumline, winning the PAS Drumline Championships in 2000 & 2002. His past instructors among others include Paul Rennick, Robert Schietroma, and J.J. Pipitone. James LaBrecque continues to work as a Drumline Arranger and Instructor in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, having arranged and taught for the UNT Green Brigade Marching Band in 2003 & 2004.

Dallas Morris is a percussionist and music educator specializing in the indigenous music of the West Africa and Middle East. He has studied and performed with artists such as Midawo Gideon Foli Alorwoyie, Poovalur Sriji, Jamal Mohammed, and Ney Rosauro. Dallas is currently performing shared master drumming duties in The University of North Texas African Drum and Dance Ensemble. As a student of ethnomusicology, he has performed field studies in Ghana, West Africa and Mainland China. Mr. Morris is currently living in Denton, TX completing a Master's degree in Percussion Performance with a secondary emphasis in Ethnomusicology from The University of North Texas.

Fumito Nunoya, acclaimed by The Boston Herald as "agile and terrifically talented," has won top prizes at the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) Marimba Competition, the World Marimba Competition, and many other competitions held throughout Europe, Japan, and the United States. A native of Akita, Japan, Mr. Nunoya actively performs solo recitals and with several orchestras. In July 2003 and 2004, he was an Associate Faculty member of the Zeltsman Marimba Festival. Since the fall of 2003, he has continued his studies at The Boston Conservatory with Nancy Zeltsman in their distinguished Artist Diploma program. Mr. Nunoya is the first marimba and percussion major in the school's history to receive this distinction.

Josh Schusterman is a Music Education Graduate of The University of North Texas, where he studied from Paul Rennick, Dr. Robert Schietroma, Mark Ford, Ron Fink, Christopher Deane, Ed Smith, Jose Aponte, and Ed Soph. While at UNT, he performed for several years with the Indoor Drumline. He also marched with the Pioneer Drum and Bugle Corps for the '98 season. In addition to freelance performing and teaching throughout the state, Josh currently serves as the percussion coordinator at Shepton High School in Plano, TX, as well as co-director of the Baylor University Steel Band.

Butch Smith is a veteran from the Bass Sections of the Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps and the UNT Indoor Drumline. As a member of these ensembles, he has led his sections to win Best Bass Line at Drum Corps International's Individuals and Ensembles Competition in 2002 and Best Bass-Line at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) Indoor Drumline Competition in the same year. Since then, Smith has continued to clinic and educates percussionists around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. In 2004, Butch Smith led the rest of the bassline from the UNT Indoor Drumline in a clinic for the UNT summer drumline camp. That fall, he taught the bass line of Hebron High School, which went on to win Best Bass-Line at the Lone Star Drumline Competition in Flower Mound, TX.

Ed Smith's music career as a vibraphonist and percussionist spans over 28 years. He has performed with distinguished artists, such as John Cage, Phil Wilson, Glen Velez, Trichy Sankaran, Nyoman Wenten, Steve Houghton, Greg Bissonette, Ed Soph and many others. In 1992, Ed helped form the internationally recognized world percussion group, D'Drum, which won an award for runner up Best Percussion Ensemble in Drum Magazine's 2002 reader's poll. The group recorded the soundtrack for the National Geographic Film, "Lions of Darkness" and performed in Hong Kong as part of Chinese modern presentation of Mozart's "The Magic Flute". A PBS short film about the group and their world travels won an Emmy in 1999. Their first CD, "Village Besides Time" is critically acclaimed and their new CD will be released this spring. Ed also performs with the cross-cultural jazz fusion group, Brahma, which features world renowned musicians, Poovalur Sriji, Jamal Mohamed and Fred Hamilton. Their first CD will also be released this spring. Ed Smith is currently serving on the Percussion Faculty at the University of North Texas as the Jazz Vibraphone and Balinese Gamelan instructor.

Poovalur Srinivasan (Sriji), a prolific composer, performer, and educator, is a faculty member at The University of North Texas, where he directs South Indian Cross Cultural Ensemble. For over a quarter century, Sriji has performed wit leading artists from both South and North Indian Classical traditions. Since his move to the United States, he has performed and recorded with artists such as Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Bela Fleck, Mark O'Connor, John Bergamo, and Glen Velez to name a few. Sriji has composed several pieces portraying the South Indian idioms, many of which have appeared on numerous albums, including the Grammy-nominated album, Tabula Rasa. He is a founding member of the group Brahmah, a cross-cultural jazz-fusion group and has also taught at CalArts and at San Diego State University.

Akie Takada, a native of Nagoya, Japan, has given numerous solo marimba and chamber group performances throughout Japan, Korea, and the United States. Ms. Takada has been a featured performer at The World Marimba Festival in Osaka, Japan, given duo performances with Sony Artist, Nanae Mimura, at the Berklee College of Music, and in 2001, performed the world premiere of the duo "Time is Fleecing..." at Harvard University. Akie Takada has recorded with Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic, and continues to compete against the world's best players, having finished as one of the top semi-finalists in last year's International Marimba Competition in Belgium. As a composer, Ms. Takada has been a prizewinner in the PAS Composition Contest. Her compositions are pending publication from Keyboard Percussion Publications and Innovative Percussion, with her latest work having been performed this spring in Boston, Massachusetts.