Teaching Staff

Matt Savage

Matt Savage has been playing drums for more than 31 years and currently serves as the director of marching percussion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam and his Masters degree in Percussion Performance from USC. He has taught at every level of public education, from elementary to the college level. Additionally, he has played snare drum with the legendary Bayonne Bridgemen and served as percussion director and arranger for drum and bugle corps such as The Anaheim Velvet Knights, The Dutchboy of Kitchener, Ontario and The Canton Bluecoats. In addition to being a marching percussion specialist, Savage is heavily involved with indoor percussion activity as an adjudicator for Winter Guard International. Matt is also the author of "Savage Rudimental Workshop" published by Warner Bros. Music along with being a drum circle facilitator and the creator of the Matt Savage line of marching percussion sticks by Pro-Mark Drumstick Company.

Dennis Delucia

Dennis DeLucia is one of the most respected percussion teachers, arrangers, authors, clinicians, and judges in the United States. Over the years, he has been associated with the Hawthorne Muchachos, Bayonne Bridgemen, Star of Indiana, the Crossmen, Sunrisers, and Caballeros, as well as many high school and college bands. His drum lines have won sixteen championship High Percussion titles including the only Triple Crown in drum corps history (1981). Dennis is also the ‘face’ of DCI, appearing alongside Steve Rondinaro as an expert analyst on ESPN’s broadcast of DCI Finals each year. He has been inducted into the DCI Hall of Fame, the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame and, most recently, the WGI Hall of Fame.

Amy Davis

Amy Davis, a Professional Percussion Specialist living in Chapel Hill NC, is an educator, performer, arranger, composer, and clinician active in the development of the contemporary concert and marching percussion ensemble. Currently, Amy serves as the director of marching percussion at Duke University in Durham. She is a percussion consultant and instructor for several high school marching band programs in the Raleigh-Durham area and the Southaven Band in Mississippi. In the summer, she teaches at Yamaha Sounds of Summer Marching Percussion Camps for Matt Savage in NC and Alan Keown in OR, and the University of North Carolina Percussion Camp in Chapel Hill. In the winter, she serves as an adjudicator for the Atlantic Indoor Association. Amy’s lesson studio includes students of beginning to advanced levels throughout the US and into Canada. Her extensive teaching and arranging experience with several Drum and Bugle Corps includes the Garfield Cadets, Bluecoats, Glassmen, Poynton Commodores (England), and Starriders (Germany). As a member of the 1984 World Champion Garfield Cadets, Amy was awarded the DCI Individual’s Champion in ensemble percussion. During this time, she received her bachelor’s degree in music education from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Along with post-graduate work at several universities, Amy studied with world-renowned percussionist Gordon Stout of Ithaca College, New York. Her performance experience in concert percussion includes playing with the Lexington Philharmonic in Lexington, KY, the Regina Symphony in Saskatchewan, Canada, and several orchestras and opera companies across the United States. Amy is a Yamaha Performing Artist, and is an Educational Clinician/Endorsee for Avedis Zildjian Cymbals and Pro-mark Drum Stick Companies. She is named to the 2002 and 2004 Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and is a member of the Percussive Arts Society.

Larry Harper, Jr.

Larry Harper, Jr. serves as the Assistant Percussion Instructor for the University of North Carolina and the Visual Program Coordinator for the Orange High School Band Program.