Mr. Douglas J. Brown

Douglas J. Brown, a native of Middleton, Wisconsin, earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. While there, he studied percussion with John Beck, Bill Cahn, and Ruth Cahn. He has performed professionally in and around the Rochester area, as well as in Wisconsin where he was Acting Principal Percussionist of the Beloit Janesville Symphony Orchestra.

During his time at Eastman, Mr. Brown established a series of music outreach events for inner-city schools, collaborating with the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra. Brown has taught general music at the Urban Choice Charter School in Rochester, New York, as well as Early Childhood Music at the Eastman Community Music School.

In 2008, he began his Masters at Louisiana State University, studying Wind Conducting as a student of Frank Wickes. During his time at LSU, Mr. Brown served as a graduate conducting associate with the Symphonic Band, Symphonic Winds, and the Wind Ensemble, as well as a teaching assistant with the LSU Tiger Marching Band. Mr. Brown was an assistant student conductor with the Eastman Wind Orchestra, Eastman Wind Ensemble, LSU Big Band and Chamber Jazz Ensembles, the LSU Percussion Ensemble, as well as resident conductor for the LSU Horn Choir in their performance at the Southeast Regional Horn Conferences.

Mr. Brown is in his seventh year as Director of Jazz Studies, Percussion Ensemble, Hip Hop Education, and Co-Director of the Middleton High School Band Department. During Brown's tenure, the MHS Jazz Program has hosted world-renowned guest artists who have engaged in music education and provided students with the inspiration to continue making music an important part of their lives. Guest artists have included Ali Jackson and Victor Goines from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Wayne Bergeron, Carl Allen, and Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Allen Vizzutti with whom the band toured Japan.

For the past five years, Mr. Brown’s percussion class has competed at the Percussive Arts Society International Competition in the chamber ensemble division, solo marimba division, rudimental snare competition, and solo timpani division. Students have earned scholarships for world-renowned festivals, colleges, summer music clinics and are earning acceptance into the nation’s top musical institutions.

Mr. Brown has had the opportunity to work with a diverse group of composers and arrangers throughout his conducting and performance tenure, including Joseph Schwantner, Bill Conti, Steven Stucky, John Mackey, Rolf Rudin, Mark Scatterday, Donald Huntsberger, and Frederick Fennell. He has also had the pleasure of working with many solo artists including Bill Cahn, Bob Becker, Nexus Percussion Group, Kroumata Percussion, Brian Shaw, Brett William Dietz, and Halie Silverman.

He most recently attended the Harvard Graduate School of Education where he worked with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. After the completion of this program, Mr. Brown organized and conducted a high school ensemble performance at Carnegie Hall in New York City and a side-by-side with musicians from the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He also attended the Essentially Ellington Band Director Academy in NYC as well as the Hip Hop in the Heartland Summer Institute. In 2019, Mr. Brown participated in the OUSD African American Male Achievement Symposium to engage in transformative schooling discussions for African American Boys k-12.

In 2020, Brown was selected as a Kohl Fellow, Middleton Education Foundation Grant Recipient, Melvin F. Pontious Creative Sparks in Music Education Award winner, Mimic Grant recipient, and was nominated for The Grammy Music Educator Award, Crystal Apple Award and Wisconsin Educator of the Year. As an up and coming Hip Hop Educator, Mr. Brown is serving on several nationally recognized Education Boards in New York City and the Bronx as well as the Hip Hop Round Table for Little Kids Rock a non-profit music curriculum company that reaches over 10,000 schools and the Universal Hip Hop Archive to develop the National Standards for Hip Hop Music Education. In 2021 he will speak at the National Council for the Social Studies Convention on Cross Curricular Teaching in Music and SocialStudies and is currently a guest Lecturer at St. Cloud University. Mr. Brown’s Hip Hop studies and teachings have inspired Middleton High School to now offer both Hip Hop Evolution Courses as well as the Hip Hop Co-Op. Under his direction and vision MHS houses a full state of the art recording studio and Hip Hop Classroom with 15 individual DJ Stations for students to create, record and produce music. In the October 2021 print edition of the School Band and Orchestra Magazine, Brown and Dr. Michael Dando co-authored a publication titled Flipping the Script on Music Education: Hip Hop in the Classroom.

Email: dbrown1@mcpasd.k12.wi.us

Mr. Michael Ver Voort

Michael Ver Voort is in his eighth year of teaching music at Middleton High School. As Co-Director of Bands, Mr. Ver Voort is actively involved in the concert and chamber ensembles, marching band, pep bands, jazz bands, and music production. He also was recognized by the University of Chicago for excellence in teaching and mentorship as an Outstanding Educator in 2018.

During his time at Middleton High School, the Band Department has seen many changes, including an overhaul of concert ensembles, jazz bands, pep bands, marching band, and general music instruction. The program has grown by several hundred members and has welcomed two new full-time band directors to the team.

In addition to four curricular band classes and an orchestra class, Mr. Ver Voort oversees the operations of the band department and is dedicated to the success of each student. During the fall semester, concert ensembles break out into chamber ensembles and spend a considerable amount of time focusing on individual and small group instruction taught by a team of artistic staff who specialize on a specific instrument. Members of MHS Bands participated in over 850 events at the WSMA Solo and Ensemble Festival in 2019 and will be sending many qualifying events to the state level festival this spring. Mr. Ver Voort instructs the award-winning clarinet choir as well as other chamber wind groups.

Outside of the high school, Mr.Ver Voort maintains a small trumpet studio, containing students that have been accepted into the National Trumpet Competition, earned scholarships for festivals, colleges, and summer music clinics. He also performs with several local ensembles on trumpet, tuba, trombone, and clarinet.

“Coach Mike” also serves as an assistant coach for the school’s men’s swim team. This past year the team took second place at the WIAA State Conference.

Email: mvervoort@mcpasd.k12.wi.us

Mr. Eric Rothacker

Eric Rothacker is a graduate of the University of Michigan and is a student of Dr. Jeffrey Lyman and Dr. Colleen Conway (B.M. in Bassoon Performance '18, B.M. in Music Education '18). Eric also completed his student teaching with Mr. Nate Lampman, the Michigan Association of Teacher Educators Mentor Teacher of the Year (2018).

During his education, Eric worked with the conducting and music education faculty on conducting and rehearsal pedagogy to achieve higher artistry with ensembles. Eric led multiple full ensemble clinics for high school bands from the greater Ann Arbor area under the direction of Dr. John Pasquale to highlight effective and efficient methods of communication of an aural analysis from the directors perspective as well as reaching superior performance strategies through regimented fundamental technique for players. He also assisted with bassoon pedagogy research for Dr. Jeffrey Lyman to help write and create a virtual supplement to the most commonly used bassoon method book in the world, Weissenborn's Practical Method for Bassoon. Eric is also a published researcher in the Michigan Music Education Association research publication Michigan Music Educator v. 55 Summer Edition. His article featured research collected from educators across multiple states including California, Massachusetts, Virginia, Texas, and Michigan covering “Observations from Recent Hires in Music Education”.

Being a proficient trombonist and brass instructor, Eric was also fortunate to intern for Dr. Andrea Brown at the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps teaching and instructing the entire 2016 hornline and conductors in conjunction with the Brass and Program Staff. Eric has also been in charge of leading conducting clinics and camps for Drum Majors across several states as well as caption head for the Briar Woods Falcon Regiment from 2013-2017.

Knowing that education involves being a lifelong learner, Eric strives for higher artistry through visual communication techniques and ensemble conducting. In this pursuit, he has been accepted to participate and learn at multiple conducting symposiums from thousands of national candidates including events at Michigan State University, University of Oregon, and Northwestern University.

Eric is a passionate and dedicated teacher who enjoys sharing music and life lessons with his students. He believes in the importance of making music available and accessible to everyone. Eric strives for each of his students to become lifelong learners by teaching important life skills through music.

Currently, Eric is enjoying his first year as Associate Director of Bands at Middleton High School in Middleton, Wisconsin where he teaches multiple general music classes, jazz bands, marching band, pep band, and five curricular wind ensembles. He believes in the importance of opportunities for his students and enjoys collaborating with his coworkers to bring prominent educators, experts, clinicians, and artists to Middleton such as the Akropolis Reed Quintet.

Outside of teaching, Eric enjoys spending time outdoors, traveling, discussing film scores, and spending time with friends.

Email: erothacker@mcpasd.k12.wi.us