Gary Gribble is a retired public-school band director of 34 years’ experience. He taught at Redan and Lassiter High Schools before spending 31 years at Pope HS. Mr. Gribble has been a designer, consultant, clinician, and adjudicator for bands across the United States and Canada. He is in the Band World Legion of Honor, ASBDA, and has served in various offices for the Georgia Music Educators Association. He served for 3 years as an adjunct instructor at Reinhardt University and 6 years on the Board of Directors of Spirit of Atlanta Drum and Bugle corps. He currently serves on the Board of the National Band Association. Bands under his leadership have earned over 450 awards in state, regional, and national competitions. He lives in Marietta, GA with his wife, Martha. They have two daughters, Megan and Ashley.

Freddy Martin

Freddy Martin was born and educated through high school in Cobb County, Georgia.   Mr. Martin attended Jacksonville State University in Alabama where he received the Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education.  Mr. Martin has done post-graduate work at Georgia State University in Atlanta.  Mr. Martin is celebrating his 46th year in education.  He has taught at South Cobb High School in Cobb County Georgia, with the Famed Spirit of Atlanta Drum Corps, for the Buford City Schools in Atlanta.  He was the Brass Coordinator for the DCI Champion Phantom Regiment Drum Corps from Rockford Illinois.  Since 2014 Mr. Martin has been Co-Brass Fundamentals Coordinator for the Cavaliers Drum Corps.  Mr. Martin is the founding director of the Spirit of Atlanta Drum and Bugle Corps and continues to serve the Corps today as director emeritus.  Mr. Martin’s son Chris is Principal Trumpet in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  His son Michael is fourth trumpet in the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  Mr. Martin is a member of the Drum Corps International Hall of Fame and Phi Beta Mu.  He is in his sixteenth year as band director and brass specialist at The Westminster Schools.  Mr. Martin has been an adjudicator and clinician for more than forty years and has adjudicated in thirty- five states and in England. Mr. Martin holds and honorary Doctorate in Music Education from Vandercook College of Music in Chicago.

Dave McCarthy

Dave McCarthy is a native of Revere, Massachusetts and began his marching career with the 27th Lancers Drum and Bugle Corps and was then a four year member of The Cadets of Bergen County Drum and Bugle Corps . As a member of the Cadets, he was part of both the DCI World Championship, and High Percussion Award. Upon aging out, Dave taught the Boston Crusaders and The Marauders Drum and Bugle Corps. Over the years he has worked with and consulted for high school band programs in Massachusetts, Florida, Texas and Georgia.

Dave is currently a visual judge for Winter Guard International (WGI) Percussion Division. In addition to his adjudication role with WGI, Dave has judged nationally for many circuits including, SCPA, MAPS, SCGC, SAPA, IPA, FFCC, SFWGA and GIPA. In addition to the indoors judging, Dave judges nationally for a variety of marching band circuits and marching band invitationals.

From 1995 to 2001 Dave was part of the design team for King Philip Regional High School Indoor Percussion Ensemble. King Philip was a finalist in the WGI Scholastic World Class each year including the 2000 WGI PSW Gold medalist. From 1997 to 2006 and 2011 to 2019, Dave served as the Marching Caption Head for the two-time (1998 and 2002) BOA Grand National Champion Lassiter High School Marching Band of Marietta, Georgia.

Barry Morgan

Barry Morgan is currently serving his sixth term as Solicitor General of the State Court of Cobb County. Governor Zell Miller appointed Morgan Solicitor General in March of 1998. Before becoming a prosecutor, Morgan served twelve years as a high school, middle school, and elementary school band director with the Cobb County Georgia School District. Barry holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Georgia State University and a Doctor of Jurisprudence Summa Cum Laude from the John Marshall Law School in Atlanta, Georgia. A founding staff member of the Spirit of Atlanta Drum & Bugle Corps, Morgan has remained active in the Drum Corps community as an instructor and fan and served on the Board of Directors of the World Champion Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps. Morgan continues to serve the music community as a lecturer on Legal Responsibilities of Music Teachers for Music for All Summer Symposium, many state music conventions, and the 59th and 63rd Annual Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.

David Starnes

Mr. David Starnes currently serves as the Director of Orchestras at Kennesaw Mountain High School in Kennesaw, Georgia where he joined the faculty in August of 2020. Prior to his arrival at Kennesaw Mountain High School, he served as Assistant Professor in the School of Music at Western Carolina University from 2011-2020 serving as the Director of Athletic Bands.

 During his tenure at Western Carolina University, he was the recipient of the College of Fine and Performing Arts Service Award (2017) and the James E. Dooley “Excellence in Music Teaching” Award, presented by the School of Music faculty and students. He was responsible for all aspects of the 500+ member “Pride of the Mountains” Marching Band that performed as halftime entertainment for the Carolina Panthers (2011), exhibition performances at Bands of America Regional Championships in Atlanta, Georgia (2011) and St. Louis, Missouri (2018), the Bands of America Grand National Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana (2012, 2015) and the 88th and 93rd annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City (2014 and 2019).

 He served as the Director of Bands at Kennesaw Mountain High School in Kennesaw, Georgia from 2000-2011. As the founding Director of Bands at Kennesaw Mountain High School, the band program grew from its initial 85 students to over 250 members.  Under his direction, Kennesaw Mountain High School was recognized in all areas of performance for their achievements at local, state, and national levels including concert band, jazz band, marching band, winter guard, and winter percussion. Under his direction, they were a six-time national finalist at the Bands of America Grand National Championships, being named the 2004 Bands of America “AAA National Champion” and a four-time Regional Champion in Bands of America events. In December of 2003, the John Philip Sousa Foundation presented the Kennesaw Mountain High School Band the prestigious “Sudler Shield of Excellence” for outstanding achievement in marching band.  In 2005, the band appeared in the 79th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.  The Kennesaw Mountain High School Wind Symphony performed at the 60th Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic held in Chicago, Illinois in December of 2006.

 Mr. Starnes is sought out nationally and internationally as an adjudicator, clinician, guest conductor, and creative designer. In 2016, he was appointed a member of the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Shield Jury. From 2013-2018, he served as Design Advisor for Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps, during which time the corps won the DCI World Championship and received the silver and bronze medals four times. He currently serves as the Program Coordinator for The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps from Rosemont, Illinois. Mr. Starnes served as the founding Board Chairman for United Sound, a nationally recognized special needs music education program from 2014-2017. Throughout his career, he has adjudicated for several state, national, and international organizations including Bands of America, Winter Guard International, and Drum Corps International from 1994 to the present. He served as an Education Consultant at Music for All in Indianapolis, Indiana from 1995-2021. While fulfilling this role, his duties included serving as the program director for The Honor Band of America, who appeared in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2022. Mr. Starnes was inducted into the Bands of America Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2019. He currently serves as the Director of Music at Acworth United Methodist Church where he conducts the Chancel Choir and orchestra. Additionally, Mr. Starnes joined the Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician team in 2021.

 As a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, Mr. Starnes graduated magna cum laude from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1988. He and his wife, Rhea Jeanne Starnes, who is a practicing architect, reside in Acworth, Georgia. His daughter, Hannah, works as an Interior Designer in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Alfred Watkins

Alfred L. Watkins was Director of Bands at Lassiter High School for 31 years. For six years prior to joining Lassiter, Watkins served as Director of Bands at Murphy High School in the Atlanta Public Schools.  Bands under Watkins’ direction have performed four times at the Midwest Band Clinic, six performances at the Bands Of America National Concert Band Festival and four performances at the Georgia Music Educators Association In-Service Conference.  The symphonic band has performed on the college campuses of the University of Georgia (4), Florida State University, University of South Carolina, University of Southern Mississippi and Troy State University.  The Lassiter Flute Choir, Clarinet Choir, Trumpet Ensemble, Trombone Choir, and Percussion Ensemble have all performed on the national stage.  The Lassiter Percussion Ensemble has performed twice at the Midwest Clinic, PASIC, three times at the National Percussion Festival and four times at the Georgia Music Educators Association In-Service Conference.

The Lassiter Marching Band was the 1998 and 2002 Bands of America Grand National Champion and the band also won nine BOA Regional Championships. Under Watkins’ leadership, the band also participated in four Tournament of Roses Parades, three times in the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parade, twice in the Orange Bowl Parade and once in the Florida Citrus Bowl Parade. During Mr. Watkins’ Lassiter tenure, all four (or five) Lassiter concert bands received consecutive Superior Ratings from 1993 until his retirement in 2013, with the top two bands performing in Grade VI since 1989. The band program is one of only fourteen high bands in America to have received both the Sudler Flag of Honor for concert and the Sudler Shield for marching. The Lassiter Winter Color Guard was named 1996 and 1997 Winter Guard International World Champions.

Mr. Watkins has been selected as a member of the Florida A & M University Gallery of Distinguished Alumni, the American Bandmasters Association, the Georgia Chapter of the Phi Beta Mu Hall of Fame and the Bands of America Hall of Fame. He has received 16 Certificates of Excellence from the National Band Association, the Sudler Order of Merit from the John Philip Sousa Foundation and the Band World Magazine Legion of Honor.  In 1996, Mr. Watkins was Associate Director for the Atlanta Olympic Marching Band that performed in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta.  In 2008, Mr. Watkins was received the prestigious Turknett Leadership Character Award from the Turknett Leadership Group, a Metro Atlanta Leadership Consultant firm. He was the first public school educator to have been nominated for this award. Mr. Watkins is Co-Founder, Conductor and Musical Director of the Cobb Wind Symphony, an all-adult community band based in the Atlanta area, which in 2009, earned the Sudler Silver Scroll Award presented to outstanding community bands in America and has performed twice at the Midwest Clinic. He is one of the founding members and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Minority Band Directors National Association, an organization formed in the summer of 2011, whose purpose is to serve, promote, celebrate and mentor minority band directors throughout America. In 2009 and 2010, two doctoral dissertations were written centering their subject matter on his life and his work at Lassiter. They are: Alfred Watkins and the Lassiter High School Band: A Qualitative Study by Sue Samuels, a dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Auburn University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Auburn, Alabama December 18, 2009 and Alfred L. Watkins: An Historical Narrative of His Musical Life and Work with the Lassiter High School Band by Matthew J. Thomas, a Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The Florida State University, School of Music, Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2010. In 2013, he was awarded the Distinguished Career Award from GMEA.  Also in 2013, Mr. Watkins was selected for the “Leader of the Band Award” in an online poll of ten thousand band directors as one of the admired band directors in America.  Motivation Speaker and Leadership Consultant, Scott Lang administered the online poll.  In 2013, he was a recipient of the Image Award by the 100 Black Men Organization of North Atlanta and the Flourish Award sponsored by Kennesaw State University Schools of the Arts.In 2014, Watkins’ former students and friends commissioned composers Mark Camphouse and James Curnow to write works honoring Mr. Watkins and his career: “Second Essay for Symphonic Band” and “Lexus for Solo Trumpet, Winds and Percussion.” In 2014, Watkins received the Edwin Franko Goldman Award from the American School Band Directors Association for outstanding contribution to the advancement of school bands. The $1.5 million Alfred L. Watkins Band Building at Lassiter High School bears his name.  He and is wife of 32 years, Rita, live in Marietta.  They have two sons:  Christopher, as trumpet player/bugler in the United States Army Band, “Pershing’s Own” in Washington, D. C. and Jonathan, a graduate of Auburn University (Finance).

KAT JOHNSON

Kat Johnson has just completed year 37 in public education with 20 years as Director of Bands at Garrett Middle School in the Cobb County (GA) Schools. Her experience with marching band, drum corps, colorguard, and winterguard has spanned over forty years as performer, instructor, director, and adjudicator. Prior to her current position, Ms. Johnson directed high school and middle school band programs in Louisiana, Alabama, and in the greater Atlanta area.  Receiving her music education degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana (then USL), Ms. Johnson currently holds professional affiliations with the National Association for Music Education, Georgia Music Educators Association, and the Gulf Coast Judges Association.

JESSE MADDEN

 Jesse Madden is a resident of Valley, Alabama where he was born and raised. Jesse went to high school at Valley High School and then went on to college at the University of Alabama; in Tuscaloosa, AL to work on his B. S. in Music Education. While at the University of Alabama, Jesse was one of the drum majors for “The Million Dollar Band” and taught choir at a local churches. 

 After finishing at the University, Jesse went on to serve as Director of Bands at Alabama Christian Academy in Montgomery, AL; after that  to Beulah High School in Valley, AL, and then to Huntingdon College in Montgomery, AL as Assistant Marching Band Director. Jesse has worked since the age of 16 yrs old as a Director of Music in Church, mainly at his home church Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Valley, AL. 

 Currently, Jesse is teaching as Director of Music at a Christian Episcopal Church in Atlanta, GA. Jesse also works with a variety of churches in East Alabama and West Georgia, where he serves as a vocal music clinician. Jesse is currently one of the Drum Major Coordinators for “Spirit Camp” where he has taught for over 20 yrs, and he works as a traveling Drum Major Clinician throughout the Southeast. 

 Jesse adjudicates yearly throughout the South, judging drum majors, percussion; and bands.