West Johnston Compass Classic ~ And, Our Esteemed Judges Are...
Chief Judge - James Phillips
Mr. James Phillips is the current Director of Bands at Hendersonville High School. He is currently in his 26th year of teaching. He has adjudicated concert and marching bands all over North Carolina and has served on various North Carolina Bandmaster District and State Committees. Mr. Phillips is an alumnus of Brevard College, Appalachian State University and University of Phoenix. He is a member of the WNCBA, NCMEA, NAfME, NBA and the ASBDA. He currently resides in Henderson County with his wife, daughter and dogs.
Music - Chad Turner
Mr. Chad Turner is a graduate of the School of Music at UNCG, with a BM in Instrumental Music Education. He has been a clinician, instructed, judged, and held a variety of other music positions all over North and South Carolina. Mr. Turner is currently the Director of Music Ensembles at Queens Grant High School in Matthews NC, where he teaches Band, Orchestra, Choir, Jazz Band, Music Theory and Music Appreciation. During his career, his ensembles have achieved Superior and Excellent ratings at Marching, Concert, as well as Solo and Ensemble competitions all over the Carolinas.
The students in his ensembles, as well as his private students, have been chosen for District and Honor bands along with winning many individual playing awards within their own school band and orchestra programs during his almost 25 years in education. Chad has been on staff with numerous marching bands in central North and South Carolina. He has also written marching band shows over the last 20 years for band programs all over North Carolina. These bands have also achieved Superior and Excellent ratings for their show designs and execution during that same time period. He is a current member of NCMEA, and a past collegiate member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity at UNCG. Mr. Turner is a free lance bass trombonist in and around the Charlotte area and is in constant demand as both a clinician and performer in the community for local high schools, middle schools, musicals, local churches and other traveling shows. He lives in Matthews, North Carolina with his wife, Amanda, and their 2 children, Addison and Asher.
Music - Wayne Campbell
Mr. Campbell is from Fairmont, NC where he marched under the tutelage of Dr. Cheryl Newton, retired director at Oakton High School in VA, for three years. During that time, at the age of 15, he auditioned and made 27th Lancers Drum and Bugle Corp. Initially slated to “wild out” on Bongo-Clusters during “Open Wide”, his snare drumming ability was noted by Jack Cash and was placed on snare for the ‘79 show. Because of asthma, Mr. Campbell decided to part ways and head back to North Carolina for treatment. In 1981, Mr. Campbell enrolled at Pembroke State University. While there, he studied under Dr. Charles Mercavich and later Craig Freeman. In 1982, Mr. Campbell performed “Corp Dially Yours” at PAS to a standing ovation and premiered works by Dana Perna with The Pembroke State Percussion Ensemble. Mr. Campbell graduated from UNC-P with a degree in Music Liberal Arts and a MSA degree in School Admin. For the past 28 years, Mr. Campbell has judged Marching Percussion, Visual, GE and Music Performance in several states and countries. He has also judged on many circuits including USSBA(US Bands) and as an alternate with BOA in 1988. The summer of 2013, Mr. Campbell trial judged DCI in Atlanta and TOC in Charlotte. In 2014, he trial judged the Percussion 2 sheet. He is the past Director of Percussion Studies at UNC-P, 2001-2003 and currently serves as Director of Bands and Choral Studies Cerro Gordo Middle School. Mr. Campbell has also served as Director of Marching Percussion at Lumberton Senior, Southview High School, Cape Fear Senior High, and as Percussion Instructor at Clinton High School. He is a member of the Pro-Mark endorser team and has served on the Advisory Board for Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corp.
Music - Dr. William Staub
Dr. William Staub is in his eleventh year at East Carolina University and third year as Director of Bands. He oversees the band programs at ECU, conducts and directs the ECU Symphonic Wind Ensemble and teaches conducting and music education courses. Since arriving at ECU, Staub has conducted multiple world premieres including works by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Melinda Wagner and Grawemeyer winning composer Lei Liang.
Prior to becoming Director of Bands, Staub served as the Associate Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands at ECU. Under his direction, the ECU Marching Pirates performed at a Carolina Panthers football game, the Superdome and Tropicana Field in addition to many exhibitions throughout North Carolina.
Dr. Staub came to ECU from Iowa State University serving as Assistant Director of Bands where he assisted with the Cyclone Marching Band and conducted the Symphonic and Concert Bands. Staub has also taught public school in Austin, Texas at Grisham Middle School. While there, he co-conducted the Grisham Middle School Symphony Orchestra at their performance at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention.
In addition to his formal teaching positions, Dr. Staub is highly in demand as a clinician, adjudicator and conductor. His residencies have included Michigan State University, New Mexico State University, UNC-Wilmington, Duke University, the University of Georgia, Western Washington University, and the University of Puget Sound. In 2010, he participated in the West Point Conducting Workshop where he guest conducted the West Point Band in concert. In 2017, Staub served as one of the conductors for the World Youth Wind Orchestra Project in Schladming, Austria. Since 2015, Dr. Staub has served as conductor of the Symphonic Band at the New England Music Camp in Sidney, Maine.
Staub received his Doctor of Musical Arts from Northwestern University, where he was a conducting student of Mallory Thompson; his master’s degree in conducting from Michigan State University, where he was a student of Kevin Sedatole; and his undergraduate degree from Arizona State University, where he studied euphonium with Sam Pilafian and conducting with Gary Hill. Staub is a member of NCMEA, CBDNA and Pi Kappa Lambda, and is an honorary member of Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi.
Visual - Laradon Pilot
Bio to follow...
Visual - Hayes Dunlevy
Mr. Hayes Dunlevy is a music educator from Charlotte, NC. He is the Band Director at North Lincoln Middle School in Denver, North Carolina, and has previously served as the assistant band director at West Craven High School in Vanceboro, NC. Hayes attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and performed with the UNC Wind Ensemble, the Symphony Orchestra and the Marching Tar Heels. He also has an extended background in the Drum Corps International circuit, having marched for the Boston Crusaders, The Cadets, and Carolina Crown over the course of five years. During his age out year at Crown, the Drum Corps was awarded its 7th Jim Ott Award for high brass performance. Hayes serves on the instructional team for the Music City Drum and Bugle Corps and works with the North Lincoln High School Band of Knights.
Guard - Jeff Dale
Mr. Dale is the Director of First Flight Winter Guard, which was formed in 1997. In addition, he has instructed for multiple high school programs over the course of his career. Jeff is a graduate from NC State University and wears his traffic engineering hat when not teaching colorguard.
Percussion - Mike Greer
Mike Greer is a percussionist and educator with over 25 years of diverse performing and teaching experiences. He is currently in his 18th year as the steel band director at DuBose Middle School in Summerville, SC. The DuBose Steel Band program is currently one of the largest scholastic steel band programs in the country with over 200 members in 8 steel bands. Over the last 15 years, Mike has also helped to start nine other steel bands in his district, leading a team of 10 steel band directors that help more than 1,800 students learn the Trinidadian art form of pan every day. In the Spring of 2017, Mike produced the DuBose Steel Band’s first album, Momentum, featuring members of the DuBose Steel Bands, as well as internationally acclaimed artists Gary Gibson and Victor Provost.
Mike has organized the South Carolina Percussive Arts Society’s Steel Band Festival since 2016, bringing in some of the biggest names in pan to work with and perform alongside steel bands from around the state. As the chair of the conference committee for the National Society of Steel Band Educators, Mike recently hosted the 2018 & 2019 National Conferences for the NSSBE at Miami University in Oxford, OH, the 2021 NSSBE Virtual Professional Conference, and the 2022 NSSBE National Conference in Summerville, SC.
Mike served on the percussion staff for the Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps from 2000 through 2006, working with the front ensemble. During this time, the Cadets earned the 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005 World Percussion Champion Titles and two DCI Division I World Champion titles. As a member of the Cadets percussion staff, Mike conducted numerous marching percussion clinics throughout the United States. Mike has also worked extensively with marching bands and percussion sections throughout the Midwest and South Carolina over the last 25 years, including Kings HS (OH), Adair County HS (KY), Dunbar HS (KY), Summerville HS (SC), Eastern Kentucky University, and Miami University (OH).
During his undergraduate career at Eastern Kentucky University, Mike performed with the Broadway hit Blast! as a member of their original London cast. In December 2000, he rejoined with Blast! to perform on the nationally televised “Kennedy Center Honors” program. Mike also served as a world percussion clinician and featured performer at the 2002 Colorado Music Fest summer music festival in Pueblo, Colorado, and was a percussionist with the 2010 Spoleto Festival USA orchestra. He currently plays drum set for the worship team at Ashley Ridge Church in Summerville, SC, and is one of the most sought-after pan players in the Charleston area. Mike has also served as the principal timpanist for the North Charleston Pops Orchestra since 2012 and has been a timpanist for the Charleston Wind Symphony since 2015.
Mike holds a Bachelor of Music in Percussion degree and a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Eastern Kentucky University, as well as Master of Music in Percussion degree from Miami University. Mike endorses Vic Firth Sticks & Mallets, Pearl Drums, and Adams Concert Percussion as a member of their education teams.
Mike is passionate about traveling, learning, performing, and teaching music from other cultures. In 2005, he traveled to Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and Sau Paulo, Brazil to study samba music and Brazilian culture. In the summer of 2017, he traveled to Laborie, St Lucia to perform with the Laborie Steel Band in the St Lucia Panorama. Mike has also spent extensive time performing in Western Europe and traveling to Eastern Europe in recent years. Mike enjoys spending time with his wife, Kara and their 3 children. He is passionate about spending time outdoors and loves to participate in marathons, adventure races, triathlons and any other race he has time to train for!
