Percussion

Andrea Venet, Associate Professor, Percussion, Area Coordinator

Dr. Andrea Venet is currently Assistant Professor of Percussion and Area Coordinator at the University of North Florida, where she directs the UNF percussion ensemble, teaches applied lessons, pedagogy, methods and percussion literature. As a passionate educator, Dr. Venet’s research involves pedagogy, with focus on college percussion education at various levels, classical improvisation and historically informed Baroque performance practice techniques for Bach on marimba.  

As a soloist and chamber musician, Andrea has performed internationally in Europe and the US, taking 2nd prize at the 2013 PAS KoSA Solo Marimba Competition at NYU. Dr. Venet was featured in Japan at Kyoto City University of the Arts Exchange concert with UNF and KCUA faculty. She has also been a featured performer with SNL percussionist Valerie Naranjo, Ivan Trevino, the Lawson Ensemble, Project Trio, the Eastman Percussion Ensemble, was a member of the award winning Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps, and performed with Grammy winning alternative band TOOL. 

Dr. Venet’s percussion duo, Escape Ten (with Dr. Annie Stevens, Virginia Tech), remains active commissioning new works and performing around the country as featured artists and are an Ensemble in Residence at UNF. In addition to a showcase concert featuring several world premieres at the 2016 PASIC Convention, Escape Ten gave the world premier of their commission, 2300 Degrees by Ivan Trevino in Atlanta’s Spivey Hall. In addition to regular appearances at percussion festivals across the country, Escape Ten has been featured artists at the Barnes Foundation, the Leigh Howard Stevens ​Summer ​Marimba Seminar, Rhea Miller Concert series, Musica Viva Concert Series, McCormick Marimba Festival, the International Trombone Festival, ​VMEA, ​and at the Virginia Humanities Conference at Roanoke College. Escape Ten has collaborated with composers Michael Burritt, Alejandro Viñao, Ivan Trevino, Emmanuel Séjourné, Joe Locke, Steve Danyew, Aurél Hollo, Steve Ridley​,​ Drew Worden​, and Kelly Rossum. ​Escape Ten has their own publication series of new percussion duos through Keyboard Percussion Publications (KPP). You can hear Escape Ten on their first album Colours of a Groove. 

Dr. Venet holds a DMA in Performance and Literature with a minor in Pedagogy, and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. She received her Masters in Percussion Performance from Rutgers University and a Bachelors of Music from Arizona State University. Her compositions and arrangements can be found through Keyboard Percussion Publications (KPP) and Tapspace. Andrea is a performing Malletech artist, endorses Remo and DREAM Cymbals, and is a member of the Percussive Arts Society.

Kevin Garry, Adjunct Professor, Percussion

Kevin Garry currently performs in the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. Prior to joining the JSO, Garry was a member of the New World Symphony (Miami Beach) where he performed regularly under the leadership of Michael Tilson Thomas. While living in Michigan, Garry was Principal Percussionist with the Flint Symphony Orchestra (1988-1991) and a member of the Saginaw Symphony and the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra. In 1992, Garry was elected by his colleagues to be the recipient of the "New World Symphony's Community Board Award for Leadership and Artistic Excellence."

Garry started drumming in the fourth grade as a member of the Colonial Musketeers Fife and Drum Corps while growing up in Hackettstown, New Jersey. He remained with the group for eight years marching in parades festivals and competitions. Garry won the "New Jersey State Rudimental Snare Drum Championship" in 1979 and 1981. His primary rudimental snare drum instructors were famed DCI instructor Bobby Thompson and Peter Hubert. Throughout middle school and high school, Garry studied snare drum and drum set with Vincent "Muzzy" Mizzoni, and studied timpani and keyboard percussion with Alfred Jorgensen, timpanist with the New Jersey State Opera. During his college years, Garry performed with Disney's All-American College Band (1986), the American Waterways Wind Orchestra (1987), the National Repertory Orchestra (1988), Summit Brass (1988), and the Pacific Music Festival (1991). He graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in Biology and a B.M. in Percussion Performance. While at Oberlin, Kevin studied with Michael Rosen. He received his Masters Degree from the University of Michigan where he studied with Dr. Michael Udow and Salvatore Rabbio.

Garry taught in the percussion department at Stetson University from 2005-2010, and currently teaches at Florida State College at Jacksonville, serves as an adjunct instructor at the University of North Florida and maintains a large private studio in the Jacksonville area.

Contact: (904) 620-5765 - k.garry@unf.edu  

Mike Taylor, Adjunct Professor, Percussion 

Michael Taylor is a percussionist and composer residing in Jacksonville, Florida. Michael has performed with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Duluth Festival Opera, the Brunswick Coastal Symphony of Georgia, and at Carnegie Hall with the UNF Wind Symphony. In 2012, Michael won first place in the Quey Percussion Duo Composition Contest with his work “Rhapsody for Vibraphone and Marimba,” which is distributed internationally through HoneyRock Publications. In 2013, Michael performed in Lyon, France with the UMD graduate percussion ensemble. Michael served as faculty for the 2015 UMD International Percussion Summer Camp and the 2016 UNF Summer Camp. Michael received his B.M. in Music Performance from the University of North Florida, and M.M. at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.   

Contact: (904) 620-2960 - mike.taylor@unf.edu   

Charlotte Mabrey, Professor Emeritus, Percussion

Charlotte Mabrey was honored as a "Gerson Yessin Professor" and a Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of North Florida. Mabrey was the principal percussionist of the Jacksonville Symphony for more than 20 years. As a result, she has performed as soloist with the JSO on several occasions, including on Milhaud’s "Concertino, Ney Rosauro’s "Concerto for Marimba and Strings," and "Concerto for Percussion" by Richard Rodney Bennett as a part of the JSO Master Works Series. 

 
Mabrey's duties at UNF included applied percussion lessons, percussion techniques, the "Live Music in Jacksonville" lecture class, and conducting the UNF Percussion Ensemble, which is extremely active both on and off campus. The group's performances include area colleges, at guest artists with the JSO, and at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention.

Each year Mabrey presented as entertaining and eclectic recital at UNF titled, "An Evening of 20th Century Music." This innovative programs included works for solo marimba, multiple percussion, and chamber ensembles, as well as original works with fellow artist, Robert Arleigh White. In 1997, Professor Mabrey established the "Evening of 20th Century Music Scholarship Program." After 25 years, the event had its last performance in 2008.

In 2001, Professor Mabrey was named "Distinguished Professor" at UNF. She retired in April 2016.