How to parlay the skills learned in running a band program to the world outside the classroom
Target Audience
Band Directors
Additional Notes
Clinician Info
Jeff Queen
Jeff Queen has been immersed in percussion since age ten. By
fifteen, he began a drum corps journey that included the Canton
Bluecoats (’89), Velvet Knights (’90–’91), Santa Clara Vanguard
(’92), Blue Knights, and the University of North Texas (’93–’95).
He earned back-to-back DCI I&E Snare Drum titles in 1994 and
1995, along with the same honors from PAS.
He was an original cast member of the Tony- and Emmy-winning
Broadway production BLAST!, performing as a featured soloist
and serving as a battery instructor from 1999–2003.
After BLAST!, Jeff returned to the drum and bugle corps activity
as caption head for Carolina Crown (2003–04), percussion
arranger for the Colts (2007–08), and later as a DCI judge
(2012–2018).
His teaching career began in the Dallas–Fort Worth area
(1995–1999) before moving to Indiana, where he led Avon High
School’s drumline from 2003–2012, helping the program earn
three consecutive BOA Grand National Championships
(2008–10) and maintained their ranks as a consistent WGI finalist
percussion program.
In 2012, he became the percussion coordinator at Carmel High
School in Indiana, contributing to four BOA Grand National
Championships (2012, ’16, ’17, ’18) while developing the indoor
and concert percussion programs.
Jeff holds a BM in Music Theory/Composition and an MM in
Percussion Performance from Butler University, where he later
served as adjunct faculty, assistant director of the marching band,
and artist-in-residence for the percussion department.
He is the author of The Next Level: Rudimental Drumming
Techniques (Tapspace) and Playing with Sticks, a three-hour
instructional video with Hudson Music. More of his compositions
are published through Row-Loff, Tapspace, and Fannin Music,
and his signature sticks are produced by Vic Firth Sticks and
Mallets.
Jeff currently works as the Southwest District Sales Manager for
Yamaha Corporation of America and resides in Southern
California with his wife, Rosie, and their golden doodle, Indy.