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Alan D. Shinn is Professor of Percussion and Associate Director for Undergraduate Studies at Texas Tech University.
He holds the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Missouri and the Master of Music degree from
Texas Tech University. His primary teachers were Tim Lautzenheiser and Ron Dyer. He served as Chair of the
Winds/Percussion Area from 2004-2007. Shinn was the Director of Jazz Studies at Tech from 1985-2005 and continues
to lead the summer jazz program. Prior to coming to Texas Tech in 1982 as faculty percussionist, he served as
Instructor of Percussion and Jazz at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, TX. Over 100 percussion
students have graduated with music degrees at TTU since 1982 and are enjoying careers in education (all levels)
and performance as well as music business and industry. Shinn is Principal Timpanist with the Lubbock Symphony
Orchestra and a former member of the Austin Symphony Orchestra. He has also served as Principal Timpanist/Percussionist
with the Roswell, NM Symphony and has performed a number of times with the chamber orchestras of Santa Fe Pro Musica
and 20th Century Unlimited. As a member of these organizations and the musical communities in which he lives, he has
performed with Itzhak Perlman, Christopher O'Riley, Henry Mancini, Peter Nero, Roger Williams, Doc Severinsen, The
Fifth Dimension, Rita Moreno, Michael Martin Murphy, Tony Bennett, William Warfield, Mark O'Connor, Jose Feliciano,
Mitzi Gaynor, Engelbert Humperdinct, Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan and Carol Channing in Hello Dolly. Alan Shinn is also
a busy drum set artist as well as an active clinician and adjudicator throughout the Southwest and Midwest and has
served as an Educational/Product Consultant for REMO, Inc. and Innovative Percussion. He is currently an Artist
Endorser of Pro-Mark.
Under the direction of Alan Shinn, Texas Tech's Jazz Ensemble 1 has taken honors at many jazz festivals. The group has
performed with such renowned jazz artists as Louie Bellson, Frank Mantooth, Kevin Mahogany, Willie Hill, Clay Jenkins,
Kim Richmond, Denis DiBlasio, Tony Campise, Phil Wilson, Bob Mintzer, Tuck and Patti, Dave Pietro, Ed Calle, Ernie
Watts, Mike Mainieri, Brad Leali, Bobby Watson, Carla Helmbrecht, Peter Horvath, Nelson Rangell, Marvin Stamm and Les
DeMerle. The Tech Jazz Ensemble has opened shows for Spyro Gyra, the Yellowjackets and Jay Leno. In 1996 the ensemble
was invited to open for Arturo Sandoval and the UNC Jazz Lab Band 1 at the UNC/Greeley, Colorado Jazz Festival. Other
major performances have included the Beaches Jazz Festival in Toronto (July, 2004) and the Meyerson Symphony Center in
Dallas (March, 2005).
Their CD Seein' the Light...Hearin' the Hub-Tones (Sea Breeze Jazz) received a Grammy nomination in 1998. The ensemble's
second CD was released in August of 2007. Entitled Glimmer of Night and Day (Sea Breeze Jazz), it features the sax,
flute and vocal talents of Austin jazz legend Tony Campise. He has recorded as a percussionist on many of his own
projects as well as on albums by Lubbock artists Terry Allen and The Maines Brothers.
To contact Alan Shinn, email
alan.shinn@ttu.edu.
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