2015 Timpani Clinic
Dr. Jonathan Sharp is an active percussion artist and educator with an extensive and diverse teaching background. He is currently the director of percussion for the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras. He has been percussion instructor for the Lafayette High School Marching Band since 2012, winning first place at the KMEA State Marching Band Championships. He also teaches a large private lesson studio as part of Lafayette High School’s Mastering Musicianship program.
Jonathan is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Percussion Performance at the University of Kentucky, supplementing his Degree with an additional certificate in music theory pedagogy. In the spring of 2013, he served as a graduate teaching assistant and Sabbatical Replacement for Professor James Campbell, directing the university’s percussion ensemble, chamber percussion group, steel band, and teaching applied lessons. While at UK, Jonathan has also served as coordinator of Blue Steel Caribbean Ensemble, Lexington’s resident professional steel band. Mr. Sharp received his Master of Music degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the direction of Professors William Moersch and Ricardo Flores. Jonathan graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelors of Music degree from Morehead State University under Dr. Brian Mason and Frank Oddis in 2008.
Dr. Sharp frequently tours to schools throughout Southern and Midwestern states presenting recitals, workshops, and clinics on topics such as electro-acoustic percussion, contemporary marimba, multiple percussion, concert snare drum, and marching percussion. Jonathan was recently invited to perform as a guest solo artist at Transylvania’s Studio 300 Digital Art and Music Festival in 2012, premiering Mei-Fang Lin’s Flux for amplified marimba and electronic soundscape.
Jonathan currently performs regularly with the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra, and has performed with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Da Camera, Pink Martini, and the Boston Pops. He was a member of the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps snare line in 2005, achieving second place overall in the 2005 DCI World Championships. Mr. Sharp has instructed the Morehead State University and University of Illinois marching percussion sections. In December 2012, Jonathan has recorded an album entitled “The Percussion Works of Warren Benson” with the Kollective Percussion Group, with whom he is a founding member. He has recorded albums with Sinfonia Da Camera and the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra in 2010 and 2011, respectively.