In 2008, The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps will see several members return to the brass faculty. Headlining the brass caption will be the return of Sam Pilafian and Patrick Sheridan as music arrangers/composers and brass instructors. In addition, Christian Carichner and Executive Director Mark Richardson will return as brass instructors.

New this season will be the inclusion of new educators that will increase the size of the staff and help to even further improve the education of the brass membership. Jonathan Whitaker and Will Plenk are two individuals that have been selected for this task. See the biographies of the incredible faculty below:



Sam Pilafian
Sam Pilafian is perhaps best known as a founding member of the internationally renowned Empire Brass Quintet. He has also recorded and performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Lionel Hampton, and Pink Floyd. As a solo jazz artist, Sam has recorded fifteen CDs. He is also a member of the large brass ensemble Summit Brass. Solo recital and concerto performances during recent seasons have taken him to Canada, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Italy, Austria, Germany and England. As an arranger, composer and recording producer, Sam has recently produced and written for Joseph Alessi (New York Philharmonic), the Boston Brass, the Brass Band of Battle Creek, the Academy (of Drum Corp International), and the United States Air Force Band. Sam is the coauthor of the best selling pedagogy texts “Breathing Gym” and “Brass Gym”

In 1967, Sam won the concerto competition at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan, becoming only the second tubist in over fifty years to do so. He subsequently won fellowships at Dartmouth College and the Tanglewood Music Center. While at Tanglewood he was invited by Leonard Bernstein to perform on-stage in the world premiere of Bernstein's MASS, which opened the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He is currently Professor of Music at Arizona State University, having previously served for twenty years on the faculties of Boston University and their summer Tanglewood Institute. Sam has won the Walter Naumberg Chamber Music Award, the Harvard Music Association Prize, the University of Miami's Distinguished Alumni Award, the Brevard Music Center Distinguished Alumni Award, the Robert Trotter Annual Visiting Professorship at the University of Oregon and the annual Outstanding Teacher Award for the College of Fine Arts, Arizona State University. As a past president and chairman of the board of the International Tuba Euphonium Association, Sam now serves on its board of directors.


Patrick Sheridan
Patrick Sheridan has been enthusiastically received as a solo artist around the world. He made his solo debut playing an arrangement of The Blue Bells of Scotland accompanied by his mom, Diana, when he was just 8 years old, only months after he had started playing his chosen instrument, the tuba! He made his solo orchestral debut at the age of 15 playing a Mozart Horn Concerto on the tuba. Since then, Patrick has rocketed to success as a solo performer in venues ranging from the White House to an NBA half-time show to the Hollywood Bowl.

As a former member of "The President's Own" United States Marine Band, he thrilled audiences across the United States with his amazing virtuosity and musicianship as one of the band's primary soloists. He is equally at home with standard classical repertoire and as an entertainer in the "pops" realm. In addition to his musical studies with legendary tuba artists Arnold Jacobs, Sam Pilafian, Daniel Perantoni, Harvey Phillips and Jim Self, Mr. Sheridan holds a Master of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in finance and marketing from the University of Michigan.

Mr. Sheridan's touring schedule regularly takes him throughout the United States as well as Europe and Japan. This year his touring schedule will take him to 20 countries around the globe and 35 states across America and includes such ensembles as the Grand Rapids Symphony, The Estonian National Orchestra, The San Antonio Symphony, The Williams Fairey Band and the United States Army Band. Patrick is currently the Visiting Professor of Tuba at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland and the Rotterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands. Patrick was most recently featured on NBC's Today Show and is regularly featured on BBC Radio and PBS and NPR broadcasts including the program, "All Things Considered."

Besides his busy concert schedule, Mr. Sheridan has co-authored the popular pedagogy book, The Breathing Gym, with Sam Pilafian.


Jonathan Whitaker
Trombonist Jonathan Whitaker is Assistant Professor of Low Brass at Henderson State University in Arakadelphia, AR. Whitaker has also completed his doctoral coursework at Indiana University where he served as Associate Instructor of Trombone from 2001-2004.

Whitaker is an active performer as both a soloist and orchestral musician. He has appeared as a soloist with the Indiana University Wind Ensemble, the Augusta College Symphonic Band, the Purdue University Symphony Orchestra and is scheduled to appear with the Henderson State University Symphonic Band in February and March of 2005. He also performed the American Premier of Johan de Meij’s T-Bone Concerto with the Murray State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Mr. Whitaker’s orchestral experience includes performing with the Owensboro Symphony, the Evansville Philharmonic, the Duluth-Superior Symphony, the Jackson Symphony and the Paducah Symphony orchestras. Whitaker is currently a member of the Arkansas Brass.

At Indiana University, Whitaker has served as president of the Indiana University Chapter of the International Trombone Association. He has coordinated and organized guest artist appearances by Edward Kleinhammer, Douglas Wright, Blair Bollinger and Henry Charles Smith. Most recently he was the key organizer of the commissioning project for Eric Ewazen’s Visions of Light with the world premier performed at the 2003 Midwest Clinic by the New York Philharmonic’s Principal Trombonist Joseph Alessi with the IU Wind Ensemble.

Whitaker holds degrees in trombone performance from Murray State University and the University of Minnesota. He has also taught in the Caldwell County School District and is in demand as a clinician and guest conductor for high school music festivals throughout Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana. Whitaker’s primary teachers include Ray Conklin, Tom Ashworth, M. Dee Stewart, Peter Ellefson and Joseph Alessi with additional studies with Arnold Jacobs, Edward Kleinhammer and Douglas Wright.

Jonathan Whitaker is an artist/clinician for Conn-Selmer, Inc. Jonathan exclusively plays Greg Black Mouthpieces.


William Plenk
William was introduced to drum corps as a member of the Cadets drum and bugle corps. He was a member for five years, first as a tuba player in 2001 and 2003, and then as drum major from 2004 to 2006. In may 2006 he graduated magna cum laude from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York with a Bachelor of Music degree in tuba performance.

Currently, William is completing a Master of Music degree, also in tuba performance, at the University of California, Los Angeles where he is a student of Patrick Sheridan. William is a teaching assistant with the UCLA Bruin Marching Band, and has worked as an instructor with several high school marching bands in New York, California, and Arizona. In addition, William writes drill, adjudicates band shows, and teaches at John Adams Middle School in Santa Monica, CA.


Christian Carichner
Christian, originally from New York, has been surrounded by music his entire life. His father a band director and his mother a singer, Christian eventually went on to major in Music Education and Performance, graduating Magna Cum Laude from Ithaca College in 2005. After graduating from Ithaca, Christian moved to Arizona to begin work on a Master of Music degree in Tuba Performance from Sam Pilafian at Arizona State University, and graduated in 2007.

Currently, Christian is the Instructor of Tuba and Euphonium at Northern Arizona University and concurrently, Mesa Community College, where he is also the assistant band director. He is also the Low Brass Instructor at Glendale Community College, as well as an instructor for the ASU Sun Devil Marching Band. During the summer months, Christian is a staff member with The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps. Previously Christian was the band director at a private school in Phoenix and a teaching assistant at Arizona State University.

In addition to his teaching, Christian also has an active international performing career. Recent performances include solos with the Horseheads High School Wind Ensemble, and a performance at the Southwest Regional Tuba-Euphonium Conference. Christian has performed with the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, Pinnacle Brass, Rhythm and Brass, Proteus 7, Salt River Brass, and also has performed with the national tour of the hit Broadway musical "Chicago".

Christian is also the founder of iMarch.org, a partnership dedicated to improving the world of marching music, and a member of both the Southwest Brass and the Phoenician Brass.