About the Authors

David Ratliff is the Director of Bands at Madison Southern High School in Berea, Kentucky. He also serves as the Kentucky Music Educators Association (KMEA) AllState Band and Orchestra Percussion Coordinator.

Ratliff is a graduate of the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and a Master of Music degree. He also holds a Rank I Certification in Music Education from Eastern Kentucky University.

Mr. Ratliff was a member of the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps and The Cavaliers. He was a member of the percussion staff of the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps and has been a member of the faculty of the Bands of America Summer Symposium and numerous Yamaha Sounds of Summer clinics/camps across the United States. He has presented clinics as part of eight KMEA state in-service conferences.

Ratliff has been published in The Instrumentalist, the National Band Association’s NBA Journal, Percussive Arts Society’s Percussive Notes, as well as the KMEA publication Bluegrass Music News. He has published Teacher Resource Guides in three volumes of the series Teaching Music through Performance in Band.

An active composer/arranger with over 200 marching band shows to his credit, Mr. Ratliff has published arrangements or compositions with Marching Show Concepts, 16Parks, as part of the Yamaha Sounds of Summer instructional booklet, and is a composer and compiler of The Blue Book (Volumes 1, 2, & 3), published by Tapspace Publications.

David Ratliff is a member of the Kentucky Music Educators Association, the National Association for Music Education, Phi Beta Mu honorary bandmaster fraternity, and the Percussive Arts Society. He is a Performing Artist/Clinician for the Yamaha Corporation of America, Innovative Percussion drumsticks and mallets, and Evans drumheads. Eric Sokolowski is currently the Director of Bands at the Model Laboratory School at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, where he teaches elementary, middle, and high school band, class guitar, and computer science. He has served on the instructional and design staffs for several award-winning marching band programs throughout the state of Kentucky.

Mr. Sokolowski holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of the Cumberlands and a Master’s degree in Percussion Performance from Eastern Kentucky University. He also holds a Rank I Certification in Music Education from Eastern Kentucky University.

Sokolowski is in demand as an arranger, clinician, guest conductor, and adjudicator throughout Kentucky. He is an alumnus and adjudicator of the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts and has served on the instrumental music staff for four years. He has been a member of the faculty of numerous Yamaha Sounds of Summer clinics/camps. He is formerly the President of the Kentucky Music Educators Association, District 11 Region, and has served as the President/Coordinator of the Bluegrass All-Regional Band.

Mr. Sokolowski was the principal percussionist for the Lexington Brass Band and continues to perform regularly in local concert ensembles around Kentucky. He has performed and presented clinics at the KMEA State Conference and performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention.

Professionally, Mr. Sokolowski is a member of the Kentucky Music Educators Association, the National Association for Music Education, and the Percussive Arts Society. He is a Performing Artist/Clinician for Innovative Percussion drumsticks and mallets.