Percussion - Dr. Troy Hall

Dr. Troy Hall grew up in Springfield, Missouri, and has been drumming for over 35 years. As a scholarship student at the University of North Texas, he played snare for four years as a member of the 15-time international champion PASIC drumline, and was section leader in 1996. He also performed as a snare drummer in the 1992 and 1993 Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps, as well as with the undefeated 1994 DCI World Champion Blue Devils, which also won the Sanford High Percussion award. He has instructed for the Pioneer, Colts, and Phantom Regiment Drum Corps, as well as dozens of middle school, high school, and university groups in Texas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Indiana. He has been director of marching percussion at the University of Central Missouri and Indiana State University.

An active drumset player, he was named the 2001 Outstanding Musician at the Wichita Jazz Festival, performing with the University of Missouri Jazz Ensemble. In 2003, he became an inaugural member of the Louis Armstrong Foundation Quartet as part of a two-year performance outreach program with the New Orleans Public Schools in cooperation with Jazz at Lincoln Center. In this capacity he worked with jazz greats Terrence Blanchard, Ellis Marsalis, Marlon Jordan, Wendell Brunious, Kermit Ruffins, Randy Brecker, Charlie Miller, Steve Masakowski, Jeremy Davenport, Karin Williams, Nicholas Payton, Leah Chase, Jeremy Pelt, Alvin Batiste, Maurice Brown, Roland Guerin, and Brice Winston. In 2005, he performed at the prestigious North Sea Jazz Festival in the Hague, Netherlands. He received his Master of Music degree in jazz performance studies from the University of New Orleans in 2005, shortly before Hurricane Katrina forced his evacuation from the city. Since then, he has continued to be an active teacher, performer, and adjudicator. He is currently a percussion, music analysis, and general effect judge for Drum Corps International. Dr. Hall holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of music from the University of Missouri, where he teaches drumset, percussion masterclasses, and jazz combos, as well as logic and ethics courses for the philosophy department. Additionally, he has been the house drummer Murry’s jazz club in Columbia, Missouri for the past ten years as a member of the Tom Andes Trio.