Lynn Francis, camp director, is a freelance percussionist and private instructor in Northwest Arkansas with over 10 years’ experience in teaching mallet percussion to students ranging from first year beginners to those at a collegiate level. She completed her Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Percussion Performance, as well as a Masters in Percussion Performance from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. During that time, Mrs. Francis had the opportunity to attend the Leigh Howard Stevens Marimba Seminar, as well as the Alan Abel Percussion Seminar. She also received private lessons and attended workshops given by She-e Wu, Gordon Stout, Michael Burritt, and Dr. John Parks IV.

Matt Brusca is the Percussion Specialist for Fayetteville Public Schools. From 2012 to 2016, he was the Percussion Coordinator/Assistant Band Director in Bartlesville, OK. He holds a Master’s in Percussion Performance from Illinois State University and a Bachelor’s in Music Education from Missouri Southern State University. Matt has been on staff with Resistance Indoor
Percussion, Gateway Indoor, and the Colt Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps, in addition to instructing and arranging for high school drum lines in Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Matt’s performing experiences include a variety of symphonies and professional sports drum lines throughout the Midwest and abroad. He was also a WGI Independent World Class Finalist with Gateway Indoor in 2008 and 2009. Matt is a performing artist/clinician for Mapex drums, Majestic percussion, Sabian cymbals, and Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets, as well as a signature artist for Etymotic Research, Inc.

Kelby Taylor is a graduate of the University of Arkansas where she earned her Bachelor of Music in education and performance. She also received her Master of Performance degree graduating in 2018. While in her graduate studies, she won the 2016 University of Arkansas Concerto Aria Competition and performed as a soloist with the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra. She and her husband currently reside in Russellville, Arkansas where she is an elementary music teacher.

Dr. Mark Boseman is a percussionist who specializes in both contemporary solo percussion as well as contemporary chamber music. His performances encompass a variety of styles that range from standard orchestral repertoire and contemporary chamber music to popular music styles. In addition, Mark has performed with a wide variety of ensembles ranging from the Civic Orchestra of Chicago to small chamber groups.

Dr. Boseman is currently serving as the Assistant Professor of Percussion at Texas A&M International University in Laredo, TX. Prior to his appointment at Texas A&M International, Dr. Boseman served as an associate director of percussion studies at the University of Arkansas. During his time at the Eastman School of Music, he established himself as an international performer and educator. This resulted in yearly residencies at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo and the Showa Academy of Music in Yokohama, Japan. These residencies include performance, masterclasses and private lessons on a wide variety of instruments and musical styles. Additionally, Dr. Boseman is a member of Scatter Percussion Collective. This percussion septet performs original repertoire that blends popular and classical styles to create a unique and original sound.

Dr. Boseman is the author of Mallets and Music: A Guide to Four Mallet Marimba, a new method book for learning four mallet marimba technique. Mallets & Music combines straightforward explanations, an online video library, and newly commissioned music by world renowned performers and composers such as Michael Burritt, Ivan Trevino, Blake Tyson, Elliot Cole, Aaron Staebell, and Robert Honstein. It is currently distributed through Amazon, Steve Weiss Music, and Lone Star Percussion and it is available in the United States, Canada, Europe, India, Brazil, and Japan.

Dr. Boseman holds a Bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Arkansas, a Master’s degree in music performance and literature from Northwestern University, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in music performance and literature degree from the Eastman School of Music. He is also a recipient of the Eastman School of Music’s prestigious performer’s certificate. His teachers have included Michael Burritt, Chalon Ragsdale, Bill Cahn, James Ross, Charles Ross, Rich Thompson and Paul Wertico.

Dr. Boseman proudly endorses Malletech mallets and instruments.

Chalon Ragsdale is University Professor of Percussion at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas. His primary teachers were Harold A. Jones, Larry Mathis, and Johnnie Vinson. He has taught marimba and percussion at the junior high, high school and collegiate levels for over 40 years. His students have held more than 100 positions in All-State ensembles in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas. His University of Arkansas percussion students have won awards at the state, regional and national levels. Many of his former students are teaching in public school percussion positions, have won teaching positions with colleges and universities, are successful ‘free-lancers’, and have won performance positions with major service bands.

Prof. Ragsdale’s is recognized internationally as a scholar on the life and music of the Australian-American composer Percy Grainger, and has presented Grainger lectures in America, Australia, and Japan. His arrangements of the music of Grainger and others (always featuring prominent parts for vibraphone and marimba) have been performed in numerous significant venues, including the Midwest International Clinic, the College Band Directors National Association, the Western International Band Conference, and many state Music Educators Conferences. His arrangement for Percussion Ensemble of Percy Grainger’s Irish Tune From Country Derry was recorded by the “Woof!” Percussion Ensemble in 2000; the CD was named one of International Record Review’s “Best Discs of 2000”, and received an Aria Awards Nomination for Best Classical CD of 2001. In 2003, Ragsdale was awarded the Grainger Medallion by the International Percy Grainger Society “in recognition of his work on behalf of the music of Percy Grainger.” 

Ragsdale is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy (NCPP) ; he and his students served as hosts for the 2017 and 2018 NCPP National Conferences in Fayetteville, AR. Ragsdale is sponsored by Innovative Percussion.