Wardell King

Executive Director
battery Arranger

Mr. King is currently in his 29th year as an independent music educator, arranger, consultant and performer with a specialization in marching percussion. Mr. King is currently the percussion caption head/arranger for Desert Ridge, Red Mountain, Campo Verde and Mountain View High School in Arizona. Mr. King has previously served as caption head/arranger/clinician for various other high schools in the state of Arizona.

Mr. King also has served as the marching percussion specialist at Northern Arizona University and The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps .

As the owner of King Percussion LLC, “Championship Concepts For Percussion,” Mr. King has worked with groups in Arizona, California, New Hampshire, Nevada, and Kentucky in both the marching and indoor percussion arenas. In his twenty seven years as an adjudicator and percussion designer/instructor, he has worked with more than 25 different percussion programs at the high school, college and drum corp levels. As a creative percussion arranger, Wardell’s percussion writing is designed to closely integrate concert and marching percussion techniques to enhance all components of the musical score. Wardell has a strong teaching philosophy guided to offer life lessons through music and dedicated practice.

Excelling educationally and competitively in both the local and national circuit, Mr. King is in high demand as an educator and clinician. He provides both rudimental and drum set lessons to students of all ages and educational backgrounds.

With extensive studies in the jazz arts, Mr. King is part of the W Quartet, who continue to play for audiences around the Phoenix Area.

Wardell proudly endorses Vic Firth Sticks, Zildjian Cymbals, Pearl Drums, Remo Drumheads and Presonus Audio.

Kristina Haney

Assistant Director
Design Team
media coordinator

Kristina is an Arizona native who has performed with a variety of medal-winning ensembles in and out of state. Her marching career started with Basha High School where she was a member of the cymbal line for indoor drumline as well as the marching band.

After graduation, she marched with the Arizona State Sun Devil Marching Band (2009-2010). She joined Dark Sky Percussion in 2010 and was section leader in 2011. In 2012, she moved to California to march Pulse Percussion where the group took home 3rd place at WGI World Championships. Kristina has also marched drum corps with Cascades (2010) and Pacific Crest (2011).

Kristina is currently on the visual staff with Desert Vista High School and Mountain View (Mesa) High School for marching band, and Williams Field High School for their indoor percussion group. She has previously taught various ensembles in Arizona, as well as in California with Pacifica High School.

Kristina proudly endorses Zildjian cymbals.

Seth Woodard

front ensemble Arranger

Seth Woodard enjoys a career that draws on his background as a performer, educator, and composer. Seth is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music (B.M. 2006) whose experience and schooling has included composition, arranging, orchestration, conducting, music editing, production, performance, teaching and self-publishing. Currently residing in Sierra Madre, CA, Seth is a freelance composer and arranger of music for Film/TV, having worked on projects airing on the Lifetime Network, WWE, and movie theaters worldwide. In addition to his work in modern media, Seth is the Owner and Founder of First Avenue Music - a music writing/publishing company dedicated to supplying Marching Bands and Percussion Ensembles with professional level Design, Composition, and Arrangements.

Seth began studying percussion at a young age with Dr. Steven Hemphill (Northern Arizona University). Around this same time, he was awarded several composition awards by the Arizona Music Educators Association and had the opportunity to play as lead percussionist in the Disney Youth Symphony Orchestra. This early exposure to music eventually led Seth to begin studying marimba with Nancy Zeltsman, which continued through his time in Boston. He has also had the pleasure of studying under Dr. JB Smith, Fumito Nunoya, Nanae Mimura, Klaus Badelt, Andrew Raiher, Eric Reasoner, Richard Davis, and Jon Klein.

In a fusion of passions, Seth helped form Dark Sky Percussion - an indoor percussion ensemble originally from Flagstaff, AZ, now based in Los Angeles. Besides writing and directing Dark Sky, Seth has been directly involved with many successful groups over the years, including: Ayala HS (CA), North Shore HS (TX), San Marino HS (CA), Torrance HS (CA), West Shore HS, Williams Field HS (AZ), Mesa HS (AZ), Gilbert HS (AZ), Page HS (AZ), Fishers HS (IN), North Star Independent (ID), Elite Percussion, Gold Drum and Bugle Corps, and many more.

Seth proudly uses and endorses Innovative Percussion, Pearl-Adams, Remo, Roland, and Zildjian products.

Peter Beckhart

Drill Writer
Design Team

Peter has performed, instructed, and designed many competitive shows in the marching arts. His performing experience includes six years of DCI, aging out with the Concord Blue Devils. Peter also performed with the Riverside Community College winter drumline in 2011 and 2012.

As a visual designer for fall marching bands and spring productions, Peter has had the opportunity to work with many ensembles since 2009. He currently designs drill for Ayala High School, Coronado High School (El Paso, TX), James Martin High School (Arlington, TX) and many other fall programs across the country. Peter is also a sought after choreographer for some of the most established marching bands and winter drumlines in the country including Leander High School (Austin, TX), North Shore H.S. (Houston, TX), Ayala H.S. (Chino Hills, CA), Mt. Carmel H.S. (San Diego, CA), RCC winter percussion, and Dark Sky Percussion.

In the drum corps world, Peter taught the Blue Devils 'B' in 2012 and has been on visual staff of the 21-time World Champion Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps since 2013. He is also the drill designer for the Mandarins Drum and Bugle Corps from Sacramento, CA.

Peter is humbled to have opportunities to work with some of the best programs and students in the world and is always striving to be a better instructor and designer. He lives in Anaheim, CA.

David Larkins

Design Team

David is currently the band director at Desert Ridge Junior High. Aside from being an elementary and junior high band director, David has taught many marching programs in the state of Arizona including: Gilbert High School (2014, 2016-2019), Casteel High School (2018-2019), Corona Del Sol High School (2015-2016), Williams Field High School (2013-2016), Horizon High School (2019), and Linea Indoor Percussion. Along with teaching, David has also written drill and composed music for various programs in Arizona and Mississippi. 

David’s performance background begins with the Sun Devil Marching Band in 2013 and 2014. He also marched with the Santa Clara Vanguard in 2014 and 2015 on trumpet, as well as the SCV International tour in Taiwan in 2015. David also performed with the Phoenix Suns Drumline in 2015-2016.

Tony Lymon

Aesthetic/Set Design

Tony has spent the past two DCI seasons serving on the design team and Audio Caption Supervisor for Carolina Crown. He is the Artistic Designer for Blue Knights DBC and serves on the design team for United Percussion World and UP2 where he shares multiple roles, including: creative design, sound design, and arranger. He recently completed a twenty-four year tenure as the co-music arranger/show designer for the Petal High School marching band in Petal, Mississippi and is the director and show designer for the Petal Indoor Percussion Theatre, a national WGI Percussion Scholastic World Class Finalist. He has twice been awarded the Outstanding Junior High Director of the Southeast Mississippi Band Directors Association and the 2008 Mississippi Bandmasters Association AE McClain Outstanding Young Band Director Award. Tony was also the Founder and Director of Eminence Indoor Percussion Ensemble (2003-2005), a regional and national WGI Open Class finalist and championship ensemble.

Tony holds a Bachelors degree in Music Education from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Certification in 3D Architectural Rendering from The 3D Training Institute of New York. He was a member and principal percussionist in the world renowned Southern Miss Wind Ensemble and Southern Miss Symphony Orchestra. While at Southern Miss, Tony was the percussion arranger for the Pride of Mississippi Marching Band and USM indoor percussion ensemble. Tony was also a member of the World Champion Star of Indiana Drum and Bugle Corps (Bloomington, IN) from 1991-1993. In his three years of DCI experience, he won the DCI-Midwest Solo Timpani Champion and the 1994 Percussive Arts Society International Solo Timpani Award.

He has also served as Sound Designer for The Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps in 2018 and Creative Designer for Pacific Crest Drum and Bugle Corps 2019-2020. He is the owner of Eidetic Creative, a multimedia creative designs solution business. He currently resides in Petal, Mississippi with his wife Emily and daughter Colette.