John Willmarth is an active performer, composer, author, and educator in the north Texas area.  A versatile percussionist, John is experienced in many areas of percussion including jazz, concert, marching, and world percussion. 

As a percussion director in the McKinney Independent School District, John coordinates the percussion programs for Evans Middle School and McKinney High School. He has previously served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Kentucky, percussion instructor at Centre College, and as Director of Percussion at Lafayette High School in Lexington, KY.  As a marching percussion consultant and clinician, he has worked with high schools across the Midwest as well as for Bands of America, The Yamaha Corporation of America, and the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts.

As a freelance percussionist, John maintains a busy performance schedule.  While in Kentucky, he held the drumset chair in the Dimartino/Osland Jazz Orchestra, Osland/Dailey Jazztet, and the Ross Whitaker Trio.  In addition, he was a regular percussionist for the Paragon Music Theatre Company, and performed with the Lexington Brass Band and the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra.  John is a former member of the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps where, in 1995, he helped to lead the corps to its second DCI title as section leader of the drumline.

An active composer, John received 2nd place honors in the 2006 Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest for his piece for solo timpani, Bushido: The Way of the Warrior.  An experienced arranger, he has written marching percussion books for high schools across Kentucky as well as The University of Kentucky and the University of Iowa. His percussion compositions and arrangements are published by Innovative Percussion, Drop6 Media, Inc, and Tapspace Publications.  As an author, John has contributed articles to Percussive Notes and Bluegrass Music News.

John earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky under the tutelage of James Campbell and a master’s degree from the University of Iowa where he studied with Dan Moore, James Dreier and John Rapson.  John is a member of the Percussive Arts Society and an artist with Innovative Percussion, Evans Drumheads and the Yamaha Corporation of America.