PAS Percussion Ensemble Competition & Festival
at Langham Creek High School
Saturday, May 2, 2026
Hosted by Rene Rosas
Langham Creek High School
17610 FM 529
Houston, TX 77095
PAS Group Member
$250
Non-PAS Group Member
$400
Learn more about becoming a PAS Group Member here.
Registration will open at Noon Eastern on Monday, December 8th, and competition spots are expected to fill quickly. Space at each event will be limited, so directors should plan to reserve their spot as soon as registration opens in December, and have their group membership processed ahead of time (if seeking the member discount). All events are first-come, first-served. Only one registration per school/organization will be accepted up until one month prior to the chosen event.
Judges
Jim Casella
Jim Casella is a composer and music publisher based in Portland, Oregon. He is best known for the music he’s created for percussion ensembles and world-champion drum corps such as the Vanguard (Santa Clara, CA) and Cavaliers (Rosemont, IL). His musical emphasis on color, melodic drum writing, and a tightly woven blending of the full ensemble has contributed to DCI championships, high percussion awards, and has influenced new generations of modern, holistic percussion arrangers.
Casella received his college education at San Jose State University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music primarily focusing on orchestral percussion performance with teachers Anthony Cirone and Jack Van Geem, respectively. With his classical background rounded out by a strong foundations in drumset and rudimental percussion, he has become an influential voice in the flourishing genre of contemporary percussion composition.
Tapspace, the company Casella co-founded with Murray Gusseck, is one of the leading publishers of percussion music in the world. Jim also pioneered and produced the versatile software sample library, Virtual Drumline – an industry-favorite tool used for over two decades by arrangers for marching band, drum corps, and indoor percussion, as well as film, media, and concert composers.
Casella’s signature series of drumsticks and keyboard mallets are manufactured by Innovative Percussion and are popular worldwide. He has served on the board of advisors for the Percussive Arts Society (PAS), the world’s largest percussion organization, and is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). Jim Casella endorses Pearl/Adams instruments, Innovative Percussion sticks & mallets, Zildjian cymbals, and Remo drumheads.
In addition to his work in the percussion industry, Jim has composed music for film and advertising.
Rick Rodriguez
Mr. Rick Rodriguez is currently the percussion director and Associate Band Director at Cedar Ridge High School, Round Rock TX. Rick has also been the director of the Cedar Ridge Symphonic Band as well as the director of the Cedar Ridge Jazz Ensemble and is currently assisting all of the Cedar Ridge Concert Bands as well as the Cedar Ridge Wind Ensemble.
Rick Rodriguez is from McAllen, TX and grew up in the Rio Grande Valley nine miles north of Mexico. He became interested in percussion in 1971 at the age of six when his father Henry Rodriguez started him on percussion. Many years later, Rick is in the Blue Devils snare line under Tom Float and Scott Johnson and eventually earns a degree in Music Education from the University of North Texas under Dr. Schietroma.
Some of his UNT college colleague’s include Mike McIntosh, Paul Rennick, Ben Maughmer, Jeff Prosperie, Jim Reilly, Kevin Murray, Dr Brian West, Jason Sutter and Jeff Ausdemore. Mr Rodriguez now has well over 30 years of percussion and band ensemble/masterclass experience.
Since the early 90’s, Mr Rod and his percussion ensembles have several several appearances at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic held annually in Chicago IL. During his work at Spring High School, the Spring Percussion Ensemble was scouted by John Paynter in 1994 and was invited to perform with John Paynter and the North Shore Concert Band of Chicago at Northwestern University.
Rick Rodriguez is an active percussion arranger and versatile band and percussion clinician. In his younger days, Rick was the “center snare” of the infamous University of North TX PASIC Drum Line and was also a snare drummer for the Sky Ryders Drum and Bugle Corps as well as the Concord Blue Devils. He has been on the working staff of Phantom Regiment, Blue Knights, under Ralph Hardimon, Blue Devils, The Cavaliers, and is currently a consultant with Carolina Crown.
Rick Rodriguez has also been on the adjudicating staff of Drum Corps International, Bands of America and the Wgi percussion judging panel. He is currently endorsed by the Zildjian Cymbal Co., Innovative Percussion, Marimba One and Evans Drum Heads.
Additional Information
Questions? Please email membership@pas.org.
