Percussionist Aaron Ragsdale in Residence

Percussionist Aaron Ragsdale will be a guest of the U of A Department of Music Sept. 18-21. He will be teaching lessons, giving masterclasses, and rehearsing with the UA Percussion Ensemble in preparation for his Guest Artist Recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, in the Jim and Joyce Faulkner Performing Arts Center.

Ragsdale is director of percussion at South Dakota State University, where he teaches applied percussion and percussion pedagogy, conducts the SDSU Percussion Ensemble, serves as assistant director with the Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band, and helps direct and administrate the annual All-State Music Camp.

An active performer, he has appeared four times at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, twice at both the National Convention on Percussion Pedagogy and the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors, at the national and regional conferences of the North American Saxophone Alliance, and at the Great Lakes Regional Conference of the College Music Society.

Ragsdale has also appeared as a soloist on PAS "Days of Percussion" in Arkansas, Oklahoma and South Dakota, and as marimba soloist with the Rutgers University Percussion Ensemble as part of the "Great Music at St. Bart's" concert series at St. Bartholomew's Church in New York City. He can be heard in collaboration with saxophonist Nathan Jorgensen on their recording, "A Miraculous Tale: Mixed Music for percussion and saxophone," recently released on the Centaur label and available as well through iTunes and Amazon music. 

Ragsdale's percussion quartet, Opener for R.H., co-composed with Barrett Hipes, is published by Studio 4 Music and has been performed by ensembles around the United States. Ragsdale also served as the composer-in-residence for the Harvey Dunn Collaborative, a group that merged the discrete art forms of poetry, dance, animation, film and musical composition to create a cross-artistic theatrical performance inspired by the work of South Dakota's premiere artist and illustrator, Harvey Dunn. This work was presented on the SDSU campus and was broadcast statewide on South Dakota Public Broadcasting. 

A native of Fayetteville, Ragsdale holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from Rutgers University, a Master of Music degree from the University of Arkansas, and a bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Oklahoma. He lives in Brookings, South Dakota, with his wife, Ashley, and children, Olivia and Harrison.

Ragsdale is a member of the artist/endorser rosters of Innovative Percussion, Grover Pro Percussion, and Beetle Percussion companies.