About
Meet the Staff
Winter Percussion 07-08
Chris Parks, Director of BU Bands
Mr. Parks is the Director of the Boston University Bands, which provides quality music opportunities for members of the Boston University community. Mr. Parks' has also been Director of Athletic Bands since 2001. In addition to Athletic Bands, Mr. Parks conducts the Boston University Concert Band.
Mr. Parks grew up in El Paso Texas, where he attended the University of Texas at El Paso. After receiving his Bachelors of Music Education in El Paso, he moved to Boston to pursue his Masters in Trumpet Performance, which he completed in 1995. Upon graduating, Chris spent 5 years touring nationally and internationally with numerous Broadway musicals, including The King & I and The Sound of Music. He has toured with Marie Osmond and John Davidson and has performed with Julio Iglesias, Bobby Shew and Dizzy Gillespie.
Mr. Parks has been a member of the faculty/staff of the Tanglewood Institute, the Atlantic Brass Quintet Seminar, Southwind Drum and Bugle Corps, The Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps and the Drum Major Academy.
Mike Wasielewski, Associate Director/Batterie Technician
Mike "Wuzz" Wasielewski has performed with various marching percussion ensembles over the past 15 years including the Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps, the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps, and the University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band. Mike joined the percussion staff of the Spartans Drum and Bugle Corps in 2000 as the tenor technician, and remains in that capacity today. He has also worked with the Gardner High School Marching Band and the King Phillip Regional High School Marching Band and Winter Percussion Ensemble.
Mike graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering. He is currently employed by a Civil Engineering consultant in Boston as a Traffic Engineer.
Phillip Perry, Visual Technician
Phil has taught several successful marching ensembles in Massachusetts and Florida, serving as either a visual instructor or the visual caption head of such organizations as Charles W. Flanagan High School, Dartmouth High School, Peabody Veterans Memorial High School, Stryke Percussion and Cypress Bay High School Indoor Percussion Theatre. Phil was also a FMBA adjudicator and the Assistant Tour Director of the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps from Allentown, PA. He is a USSBA Show Coordinator and has worked as an independent clinician in South Florida. As a performer, Phil marched with the 9-time World Champion Cadets and the 2-time Div. II World Champion East Coast Jazz of Malden, MA under the tutelage of Marc Sylvester, Jeff Saktig, Daryl Pemberton, Gary Armstrong and others. Phil also performed with a variety of ensembles at both the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Miami as both an orchestral and jazz trombonist.
Phil is a graduate of the University of Miami (FL), and holds a Bachelors of Business Administration in Business Law. Currently, Phil resides in Brighton, Massachusetts and works in the Legal Department of an interstate bank based out of Boston's Financial District.
Gabriel Cobas , front ensemble technician
Gabriel Cobas has been an active percussionist for over 20 years, first as a student, then as a composer/arranger and instructor, always as a performer. He studied with Todd Miller, Principal Timpanist of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra at Cal State Fullerton in Fullerton, CA. Cobas currently serves as the Manager of Education Programs for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 2001.
Gabriel has remained active both teaching and arranging throughout southern California and New England. He has taught and arranged percussion at many well-known high schools in California such as Vista High School, Vista CA, Etiwanda High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA and Mt. Carmel High School, San Diego, CA. Gabriel also served as the front ensemble instructor for the award winning Riverside Community College marching percussion ensemble and for the Roland Hayes School of Music in Boston, MA.
Gabriel was a member of the Velvet Knights in 1994 playing in the front ensemble under Catherine Float. In 1998, Gabriel was a member of the Concord Blue Devils playing in the front ensemble under Jeff Lee.
Gabriel has presented the notation program Sibelius for New England teachers for the past 3 years and has been a beta tester for numerous music education technology software products. He is currently developing lesson plans for general music teachers utilizing the Apple software program, Garage Band.
In fall 2005, the Boston All City Percussion Ensemble under the direction of Greg Gazzola premiered his work, Dawn. His latest arrangement, Empress of the Pagodas was premiered at the Music Academy of the West, Orchestral Percussion Seminar, conducted by Boston Symphony Percussionist, Will Hudgins in February, 2006.
Matt Ramey, Batterie Technician
Mr. Ramey grew up in St. Louis MO. where at the tender age of 8 saw a performance by the Dave Weckl Band and started his career in drumming. When Matt was a senior in high school he saw his first drum corps performance of the Santa Clara Vanguard. The next year he auditioned and made the corps where he performed as a member of the from 2003 - 2005.
Since graduating from drum corps, Matt has taught along side some of the most respected names in the activity such as Jim Ancona, Jim Casella, Murray Gusseck, Ralph Hardimon, Brian Stevens, Chris Parks, Glen Crosby... to name a few.
Mr. Ramey has also taught with many championship percussion ensembles such as The Cavaliers, The Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets, Capital Regiment, The Troopers, The Arizona Academy, The Modesto Fever, Constitution Indoor Percussion.
Currently Mr. Ramey attends Berklee College of music, majoring in Contemporary Writing and Production. Look for Matt's first published works "Violent Tenor Cream" on Tapspace publications in late November.
