A native of Northern Virginia, Dr. Timothy Feerst is Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Texas Permian Basin, where he teaches Applied Lessons in Percussion, Percussion Ensemble, Percussion Methods, and coordinates the Falcon Drumline. He is also an Adjunct Instructor of Percussion at Odessa College, where he teaches Applied Percussion Lessons and Drumline. Prior to joining UTPB and OC, he served on the faculties at the University of Texas at Tyler, Trinity Valley Community College, the University of Utah, and at North Central Texas College. Dr. Feerst holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance from the University of North Texas. At UNT, he was a Graduate Teaching Fellow, teaching courses in Applied Percussion and Percussion Methods, as well as conducting the UNT Percussion Group. He also holds a Masters in Percussion Performance from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelors in Music Education from George Mason University. His teachers include Mark Ford, Christopher Deane, Paul Rennick, Ed Soph, Ed Smith, Michael Drake, Josa Aponte, Thomas Teasley, Thomas Burritt, Tony Edwards, John Kilkenny, and John Spirtas.
Hailed by the Dallas-Ft. Worth-based performing arts magazine Theater Jones as having "the most beautiful, long, and evenly sounding timpani rolls," Dr. Feerst has performed with ensembles including the Amarillo Symphony, The Dallas Winds, the Dallas Symphony Chorus, the Las Colinas Symphony, the Texarkana Symphony, the Midland-Odessa Symphony and Chorale, the Lone Star Wind Orchestra, the Lewisville Lake Symphony, the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra, Voces8, So Percussion, and the American Festival Pops Orchestra. He also played percussion for the Pioneer Theatre Company's 2018 Production of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street." Dr. Feerst has recording credits with The Southern Music Company, The Dallas Winds, Ryan Anthony and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the North Texas Wind Symphony. Additionally, he was a founding member of the Winter Guard International (WGI) Finalist George Mason University Indoor Percussion Ensemble and marched center snare in 2009.
As an educator, Dr. Feerst has instructed at a variety of public schools in Texas, Utah, and Virginia, including Garland, North Forney, Skyridge, Jasper, West Springfield, Westfield, and McLean High Schools. He frequently serves as an adjudicator for organizations such as USBands, the Intermountain Percussion Association (IMPA),the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA), the Utah Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society, the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA), the Texas Educational Colorguard Association (TECA), and the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association (VBODA). In addition, he has presented research at The College Music Society South Central Conference and the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy.
Dr. Feerst is an advocate for new works for percussion and has commissioned, premiered, and participated in a number of consortiums for music by composers such as Gene Koshinski, Corey Robinson, Jenna Wright, James Wood, Brett William Dietz, Nathan Daughtrey, Marc Mellits, Alejandro Vinao, Ivan Trevino, and Joe W. Moore III.
Active in the Percussive Arts Society (PAS), Dr. Feerst has been published in Percussive Notes, the official research journal of PAS, and served on the PAS Contest and Audition Procedures Committee. He has also made writing contributions to The Instrumentalist and the percussion education website, DrumChattr.com. Additional professional memberships include the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and the College Music Society (CMS).
Dr. Feerst proudly endorses Pearl Drums/Adams Musical Instruments, Black Swamp Percussion and Vic Firth sticks and mallets.
