Judges for Herndon Showcase
Scott Gordon
Scott Gordon is the Director of Bands for Cumberland County Public Schools. Scott holds a master’s degree in film scoring from Berklee College of Music and an bachelor’s degree in music education from Liberty University. His first teaching assignment was serving 22 years at Powhatan High School from 1992-2014. He led this organization from being a small, rural band program to a notable department with 13 performance ensembles, college preparatory music theory, and multiple nationally competitive groups.
In 1995, Scott was a founding board member of Atlantic Indoor Association, the governing organization for competitive winter guard, winter percussion, and winter winds in Virginia and North Carolina. He spent ten years on the board serving as Treasurer, Vice President, and Percussion Coordinator, and is an inducted member of the Atlantic Indoor Association Hall of Honor.
Additionally, Scott marched in 1990 Star of Indiana Drum and Bugle Corps, as well as being on brass and visual staff of Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps from 1991-1993. He also served on the board of the Performing Arts Foundation of Powhatan and spent several years as the trombonist for the Old Dominion Brass Quintet.
Scott is a Level 2 graduate of the Marching Roundtable Judges’ Academy in both Music and Visual, and currently judges with the Virginia Marching Band Cooperative, Atlantic Indoor Association, as well as additional regional assignments. He is an active ensemble composer with dozens of performed compositions, specializing in fresh and unique small marching band and winter percussion works, as well as a successful film and media composer
Andrew Barberi
Andrew Barberi is from Pensacola, Florida where he first got introduced to the marching arts at Milton High School. After high school, Andrew continued his marching arts career at Spirit Drum and Bugle Corps in 2009, and The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps from 2010-2012. Andrew was a member of Northeast Independent World 2010 and Braddock Independent World 2012, both WGI Independent World Class top five finalists. Andrew was a member of the WGI Advisory Board in 2013 and 2014. He has directed, taught, and choreographed for several of the country’s top Color Guard programs including; Nease High School - 2012 WGI Scholastic Open Bronze Medalist, Chotawhatchee High School - 2013-2014 WGI Scholastic World Class Finalist, and UCF Pegasus World. Andrew has also been involved in some of the country’s top marching ensembles including; The Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps - 2016 Drum and Bugle Corps World Champion, Cedar Ridge High School, Round Rock High School, and Cedar Park High School - All Bands of America National Finalists. Most recently, Andrew was the Director of Color Guards at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, from 2016-2021. Under Andrew’s leadership the program’s three color guards were a consistent TCGC State Finalist, WGI Regional Finalist, Bands of America Regional Finalist, and UIL State Qualifier. Andrew currently resides in Washington D.C., where he is pursing his career in cooperate operations and logistics.
Carl Bly
Carl Bly taught for 30 years at Centreville High School and Lake Braddock Secondary School in Fairfax County, VA, and was Concert Band and Orchestra Director at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Currently Mr. Bly is Adjunct Assistant Professor at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. Mr. Bly’s concert and marching bands have enjoyed international reputations. In addition to the many awards received by his marching bands, Mr. Bly’s bands have been a finalist at the Bands of America’s Grand National Championships in Indianapolis, IN. His Concert Bands have performed at the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago and Bands of America’s National Concert Band Festival, and in the concert halls of the Kennedy Center, DAR Constitution Hall, at Wolf Trap, and the Legrande Theatre in Quebec, Canada. Mr. Bly conducts numerous clinics yearly with both concert and marching bands and conducts regularly All-District and All-State Events. He has held numerous state and national positions in professional organizations. Carl is a long time judge with Drum Corps International and Bands of America.
Dr. Samuel Ambrose
Jeff Brooks
Samuel Ambrose turns back-row tuba playing into frontline artistry, bringing high-caliber style to performances, outreach, and educational experiences. His sound supports a variety of ensembles, most recently with the Peabody orchestras and wind ensembles, as well as the Eastern Edge Brass Quintet of Baltimore, MD. Ambrose has also performed for the Sunrise Pops Orchestra in Sunrise, FL, as well as freelancing in the area. When he is not performing in the concert hall, Sam takes his talents to senior communities and homeless shelters, providing free educational recital programs.
As an educator, Mr. Ambrose’s teaching ranges from private instruction to master classes, clinics, and ensemble instruction. He currently teaches Instrumental Music at University Park and Hyattsville Elementary Schools, and is also tuba faculty at the Fredericksburg Brass Institute, and on staff with the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps as a visual technician. His previous appointments include visual instruction with the Boston Crusaders, the Oregon Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps, and many high school and WGI groups in Florida, Maryland, and Illinois.
Sam currently lives just outside of Washington D.C., where he has recently received a Master’s degree in Tuba Performance from The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Sam also holds a Bachelors of Music Education degree from Florida State University. His teachers include David Fedderly and Paul Ebbers.
Jeff Brooks
Jeff Brooks lives in Washington DC plays for heads of state as member of United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. Jeff began playing the drums when he was 6 or 7. He took lessons from Ray Weiner at Hauer Music and Jane Varella, longtime percussionist of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. In High School, Jeff became a member of the award-winning Centerville marching band and indoor drumline. Of major influence were Wayne Markworth, band director, and Tim Fairbanks, drumline instructor. Of the seven drummers who made the snare line in 2000, Brooks and three others currently work professionally in the music industry. After attending Sinclair Community College and Eastern Michigan University, Brooks enrolled at Wright State in 2011 as music education major. He studied under acclaimed percussion professor Gerald Noble. Brooks joined the United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps in 2013. The Corps is one of four “Special Bands” in the Army. It is a permanent duty assignment, and members can spend their entire military careers with that unit. As part of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment and stationed at Fort Myer, Virginia, the Corps is the official ceremonial unit and escort of the president.
Jason Derting
Jason has been involved with winter guard and marching band since 1995. Jason began judging for WGI in 2017 and has been adjudicating winter guard since 2006 with the Atlantic Indoor Association and other circuits across the United States. Jason is currently the Chief Judge /Judge Coordinator for The Atlantic Indoor Association covering Virginia and Eastern North Carolina. He is very active judging all visual captions in the fall for The Virginia Marching Band Cooperative and other marching band contests across the country. His marching experience included Chimeras Independent World and Infiniti winter guard. As a member of Infiniti winter guard, he won a gold medal in IA class in 2000 and multiyear WGI finalist. He is thankful for teaching Fred J. Miller clinics during the summers in 2002-2004. He has experience working with various color guard programs in Virginia and Tennessee. Jason resides in Fredericksburg, VA with his wife and 2 daughters, working as a Physical Therapist Assistant in Orthopedics and Home Health.
Tommy Goddard
Tommy Goddard is a nationally known performer, composer, and educator, Tommy Goddard has been working in the music industry since 2002. As winner of many drumset, marimba, and marching percussion awards, Goddard has worked in schools, football stadiums, and music venues all across North America. He made his Kennedy Center debut as a snare drummer in the Crossmen Drum Corps in Washington, D.C. in 2008. In 2011, he performed at the Murat Theatre in Indianapolis, IN as champion of the Drumline Live! national solo competition. Goddard has worked with recording artists Neil Patrick Harris, Shania Twain, Lincoln Brewster, Arturo Sandoval, John Clayton, Steve Houghton, Rick Baptist, Sal Lozano, Jonelle Allen, Meloney Collins, Jay Leach, Jennifer Barnes, Robbie Seay, Evans Blue, Kutless, Air Force Band of the Golden West, and many others.
He is currently the Assistant Director of Athletic Bands and Drumline at Liberty University (Lynchburg, VA), freelance drummer/percussionist in Virginia, and judges marching percussion competitions in Virginia and North Carolina. He is the owner of Goddard Music Studios, offering private and group lessons in percussion (drumset, mallets, timpani, marching percussion, orchestral percussion, latin percussion), composition/arranging, music business/commercial music, and general music.
John Leonard
John Leonard began his dance studies at the North Carolina School of the Arts and received his Bachelor of Arts with honors in dance from Columbia College of Chicago. Leonard continued his dance studies at Arizona State University
where he was a graduate student and teaching assistant on scholarship. John has performed with the Cavaliers and Crossmen Drum & Bugle Corps, Field of View and Pride of Cincinnati winter guards, Ludwig Dance Theatre, and
the national and Japan tours of the Broadway show, Blast.
A teacher and choreographer for over twenty years, his work has been seen in most of the fifty United States and even abroad in places like Thailand, Indonesia, Italy, and Japan. Mr. Leonard recently served as director of the
Marcus Color Guard program in Flower Mound, Texas for twelve years. He has also worked with distinguished organizations such as Fred J. Miller Clinics, Phantom Regiment, Santa Clara Vanguard, Crossmen, First Flight, Field of View,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, and Arizona State University. John served five years on the North Texas Color Guard Association (NTCA) executive Board in various roles such as:
Secretary, Vice President, and President. Leonard also recently served a two-year term on the WGI Color Guard Steering Committee as the A/Open representative.
Jerry Philp
Jerry Philp is the director of bands at Skyline Middle School in Harrisonburg Virginia. There, he also designs drill for several high school programs across the Commonwealth and works specifically with the Harrisonburg High School marching band, the James Madison University Marching Royal Dukes, and the WGI medalist Nuance Winterguard. For the past several years he has been a general effect judge with the Atlantic Indoor Association, and continues to perform with the Massanutten Brass Band.