Judges for 2021 Grizzly Classic
Matt Liner
Matt Liner is graduate of Appalachian State University where he earned a bachelor of music degree in music education with a minor in psychology. Matt began his career teaching at East Davidson High School and E.L. Brown Middle School in Thomasville, NC. Following his tenure in Davidson County he moved into the position of assistant band director at Ronald Reagan High School and Meadowlark Middle School in Winston-Salem. After two years serving as the director of bands at Ronald Reagan High School from 2008-2010, Matt accepted the band director position at Meadowlark.
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Matt was a member of the world championship finalist Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps and was a part of the corps’ instructional staff. As a visual designer, Mr. Liner programs for several marching bands across the Carolinas.
In 2011 Mr. Liner was selected as the Band Director of the Year by the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Band Directors Association. He was also the 2013-2014 recipient of the Northwest District Bandmasters Association Award of Excellence.
Matt has served as a member of the board of directors for the Northwest District Bandmasters Association and is the past-chairman for the North Carolina Music Educators Association Jazz Section. Matt’s professional affiliations include the National Association for Music Education, North Carolina Music Educators Association, the North Carolina Bandmasters Association, the Northwest District Bandmasters Association, Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society of Education, Pi Kappa Lambda Honors Society of Music, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Professional Music Fraternity and the American School Band Directors Association.
Bruce Jones
Bruce Jones is currently living in Dayton, Ohio. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in education, he is married with 3 teenage children, and has been involved in the pageantry arts for 35 years. His experience includes being a performer, designer, instructor and consultant for many national programs in drum and bugle corps, marching bands and winter color guards, many of which have been finalists in Drum Corps International, Drum Corps Associates, Bands of America, Winter Guard International as well as state champions and state finalists. He has also been involved as a clinician at many national marching band and color guard workshops throughout the United States. He has over 20 years adjudication experience with Drum Corps International, Marching Music for All, Drum Corps Japan and Drum Corps Europe. Has adjudicated DCI finals, semis-finals and quarter-finals over 15 times.
Paul Fadoul
Paul Fadoul's successful career as a performer, composer, and teacher has deep roots in both the concert and marching percussion community. Since 2003, he has performed in the groundbreaking duo, Lawler + Fadoul with flutist Zara Lawler. Hailed as “a great treat” (Classical WETA, Washington DC), the duo blends classical virtuosity with lively commentary and theatrical flair. In 2013, Lawler + Fadoul released its debut album, Prelude Cocktail, which the music blog, I Care If You Listen called “collaborative artistry at its finest.” Since forming, Lawler + Fadoul have performed together in many of North America’s most prestigious concert series and venues, including the Kennedy Center, Strathmore, Trinity Wall Street, the Edmonton Recital Society, and McMaster University’s Celebrity Concert Series.
Paul is also a founding member and principal composer/arranger of Dark by Five, the ensemble-in-residence at Canada’s Gros Morne Summer Music Festival in Newfoundland and Labrador. The ensemble expands the boundaries of musical presentation by weaving classical, contemporary, and popular music with theater, poetry, visual art and visual media working with renowned artists such as the celebrated Canadian poet, Don McKay and guitarist Duane Andrews.
A dedicated teacher and educator, Paul has toured with the ensemble Tales & Scales, where he performed 200 shows annually for children and families, including solo performances with the Milwaukee, Buffalo, and Oregon symphonies. He has taught at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and the George Mason University drumline. He was director and designer of the Chantilly High School Indoor Drumline which, under his leadership, became a two-time medalist at the WGI World Championships. Paul is currently on faculty at The Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College.
Originally from Fairfax, Virginia, Paul has a Bachelor of Music from George Mason University and a Master of Music from Yale University where he studied with Robert van Sice.
Paul Fadoul proudly endorses Vic Firth sticks and mallets, Pearl/Adams drums and keyboards, and Evans drum heads.
Patrick Mitchell
Patrick Mitchell currently lives in Hillsborough, NC and is the Music Teacher or Orange Co. schools. He has held this position since 2001. Previously, he was the Middle School Band Director for Alamance Co. Schools and the Hamilton School District in Canada. He completed his Masters of Music at UNCG with a woodwinds concentration and he completed his undergraduate work at Western University and Wilfrid Laurier University with Bachelor of Education and Bachelor of Arts degrees.
Patrick judges extensively around the US for color guard, percussion and marching band. He has judged the finals in the Oklahoma State Championships. He judged Equipment for the Color Guard Division of Winter Guard International for 4 years. He has judged for the Atlantic Indoor Association for 13 years as a Winter Guard and Percussion Judge.
Dan Boothe
Daniel W. Boothe is an internationally award-winning music professional currently serving as a music conductor and public affairs strategist for the U.S. Air Force Bands and as Music Director & Conductor of the Symphonicity Orchestra of Virginia Beach, Virginia. As a recording producer for numerous CD albums, and conductor or performer around the world, his live and recorded concert events for television, radio, and internet broadcasts have reached over 50 million people in 175 countries.
Prior to joining the Air Force, Mr. Boothe served as Percussion Director for the American Wind Symphony’s Winds on the Mon music scholars program, Associate Conductor of the George Mason University Symphony Orchestra, and Director of Percussion at Radford University. He also served as a Visiting Artist for the University of Virginia's College at Wise where he taught and authored innovative curriculum in percussion, composition, and music history.
He is in high demand nationally as a music adjudicator having been recurrently invited to judge for the U.S. Bands, Winter Guard International Percussion World Championships, and various other contests across the country. Since 2004 he has been a Vic Firth Inc. Education Team member endorsed as a Marching & Scholastic Percussion Specialist, and has been a featured artist in multiple Percussive Arts Society "Day of Percussion" state events around the country.
Tim Gauldin
Tim Gauldin is in his seventh year as Director of Bands at Kempsville Middle School. Mr. Gauldin was the Director of Bands at Kempsville High School in Virginia Beach Virginia from 2009-2012. Under his direction, the Bands of Kempsville have continued their winning traditions, being named a 2010-2011 VIRGINIA HONOR BAND and the 2010 United States Scholastic Band Association Virginia State Marching Band Champions.
Prior to teaching at Kempsville High School, he was a freelance designer. Since starting his own business in 2001, he taught high school marching bands and winter guards in Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, South Dakota, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, New Mexico, Oklahoma and California. He was the visual caption head and color guard instructor at Western Branch High School, from Chesapeake, VA, was twice a medalist at the Atlantic Indoor Association Championships. In addition, the Bassett HS Marching Band, a three-time Bands of America Semi-finalist. Mr. Gauldin instructed the Lincoln HS Marching Band, Sioux Falls, SD, from 2006-2010. The Lincoln HS Marching Band participated in the 2008 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Also, Mr. Gauldin was a co-founder of The Study, a three-time Winter Guard International Finalist.
Mr. Gauldin was the former Director of Bands at Herndon Middle School in Herndon, VA and LeRoy Martin Middle School, a Gifted and Talented Magnet School, in Raleigh, NC. While at LeRoy Martin Middle School he built the band program to over 270 students. Additionally, the LeRoy Martin Middle School had 40 students selected for the Wake County All-County Band, 24 students selected for the North Carolina Bandmasters Association All-District Band, and six students selected for the North Carolina Bandmasters Association All-State Band.
Prior to teaching at the middle school level, he was the Director of Bands at Frank W. Cox High School in Virginia Beach, VA from 1994-1998. Under his direction, the Frank W. Cox High School Band was a Virginia Honor Band from 1996-1998 and won numerous awards and superior ratings. In 1995, his Symphonic Wind Ensemble gave a command performance for Queen Sonya of Norway. Additionally, he was Director of Bands at Nelson County High School from 1988-1992. In 1990, his “Marching Governors” were selected to march in the inaugural parade for Governor L. Douglas Wilder.
He attended Virginia Commonwealth University on a trumpet scholarship and received a Bachelor of Music Education in 1988. In 1992, he was awarded a teaching assistantship at VCU, where his teaching responsibilities included being the Director of the University Band and the RamBand, assistant conductor of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble and teaching Marching Band Techniques. He received his Master of Music Education with an emphasis in wind band conducting in 1994 from Virginia Commonwealth University.
He was the Visual Consultant/Program Designer for Mystical Drum and Bugle Corps from Newbury Park, CA. Additionally, he has taught the Magic of Orlando Drum and Bugle Corps and the Naval Academy Drum and Bugle Corps. He was a member of the 1987 Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps from Rosemont, IL.
As an adjudicator, he judges for the Atlantic Indoor Association, Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association, the Carolina Indoor Performance Association and the United States Scholastic Band Association. Professionally, he is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the Virginia Music Educators Association and the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association.