In Memoriam

Dr. Rob Parks died of cancer on June 12, 2022. Dr. Parks was the Director of Percussion Studies at Lebanon Trail High School in Frisco, Texas. He also taught the percussion students in the Lebanon Trail Cluster at Fowler Middle School and Clark Middle School, and served as the conductor and director of the Fowler…

PAS Hall of Fame member William Kraft, former Principal Timpanist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Professor Emeritus, Composition Program, at the University of California Santa Barbera, died on February 12, 2022. Born on Sept. 23, 1923 in Chicago, Illinois, Kraft grew up in San Diego and joined the United States Air Force for three…

After a lingering illness, Lionel “Billy” Moore made his final transition on November 16, 2021. This is now a time for us to pause and experience peace and personal reflections. His wife of 55 years and his family extends their heartfelt thanks to each one for your prayers and memorable thoughts. Billy Moore has “Lived…

Christopher Deane, who served as Professor of Percussion at the University of North Texas College of Music for the past 21 years, died on October 9, 2021. Deane held performance degrees from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He studied with James Massie Johnson, former principal…

June 2, 1941 – August 24, 2021By Rick Mattingly “There’s an undefinable thing about drummers,” Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards told me in 1989 during the band’s Steel Wheels tour. “A lot of cats have good hands, and might be making all the right moves, and playing incredible paradiddles and shit, but it’s like the…

Morris “Arnie” Lang, a longtime New York Philharmonic percussionist and Professor of Percussion at Brooklyn College, died on July 5, 2021. Morris Arnold Lang was born on February 2, 1932 in New York City. He grew up in the Bronx section of New York, and while in high school he played drum set for club…

Ronald James Barnett died on June 30, 2021. He played percussion for 57 summer seasons (1965-2016) with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, and taught percussion to students at the Chautauqua School of Music from 1965–2013. He had full-time positions as timpanist at the Kennedy Center’s Opera and Ballet Orchestra from 1971–2000, and taught percussion at the…

Jazz drummer and bandleader Ralph Peterson Jr. died March 1, 2021, of complications from cancer. He was 58. Peterson was born on May 20, 1962 in New Jersey. His father and uncles were drummers, and Ralph started playing at age 3. He also played trumpet in his high school band. He first played drums in…

Lloyd “Butch” McCausland died on January 26, 2021 due to complications of COVID 19. McCausland graduated from Milford, Mass. high school, where he performed in the band and played football. During high school he worked on the family farm and at the McCausland meat market. Upon graduation, he attended the New England Conservatory, graduating with…

by Lauren Vogel Weiss Ronald Snider, Assistant Principal Percussionist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and founding member and leader of D’Drum, a world-music percussion group, died on November 23, 2020 at age 73. Born on August 4, 1947 in Roby, Texas, Snider discovered a passion for music at a young age. He graduated with a…