Faculty Spotlight: Paul Koch
Meet Paul A. Koch (pronounced, “cook”), the Director of Bands, GCU Wind Ensemble, Thundering Heard Pep Band and Music Education. He resides in Chandler, Arizona with his wife Jacque and son Paxton and received his Bachelor of Music Degree in 2000 from the University of North Texas. He studied with Dr. Robert Schietroma, Paul Rennick, Leigh Howard Stevens, She-e Wu and many others. Paul was on scholarship with the award-winning UNT drumline and also performed with many percussion and concert band ensembles.
Paul received his Masters of Music in Percussion Performance in 2002, under the direction of Dr. J.B. Smith. As a Graduate Assistant in the Percussion Department, Paul taught the Percussion Methods class, undergraduate private lessons, and performed two solo recitals.
Paul’s Drum and Bugle Corps experience was on the snare drum with the 1993 Black Gold of Tulsa, Oklahoma and the 1994 – 1996 Colts of Dubuque, Iowa. Paul was the drum line section leader of the Colts in 1995 and 1996.
He has also taught the Capital Regiment of Columbus, Ohio in 1999 and 2000, the first two years of the Corps existence. Paul had teaching responsibilities with the Front Ensemble, Bass Drums, Snare Drums and ran many corps rehearsals. The Capital Regiment won the Division III Drum Title in 2000.
Paul has also been a performer with the Phoenix Suns “PHX Percussion.” This is a percussion entertainment group that performs at Suns games on traditional marching drums, trash cans, oil drums and other devices that make a lot of noise. The PHX Percussion group performed with Destiny’s Child at the 2005 NBA All-Star Game in Denver, CO.
Paul has ten years of high school teaching experience (Hamilton and Perry High School) and is in his 7th year as the current Director of Bands at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona.
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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Grand Canyon University.