About Jamie

Who is he?

Jamie Wind Whitmarsh is an American composer, percussionist, and conductor on faculty at Oklahoma City University. He is founder of the Oklahoma Modern Music Collective, is Principal Timpanist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and a huge fan of cats.

What does he do and where did he learn to do it?

He regularly performs with clarinet/percussion duo Duo Rodinia as well as percussion collective Great Plains Percussion Group, is Artistic Director and conductor for the Oklahoma Composer's Orchestra, and is Principal Timpanist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. He has a vast catalogue of concert music, music for steel bands, and marching band shows.

Jamie holds a Master's degree in Music Composition from Florida State University and Bachelor's degrees in Percussion Performance and Music Composition from Oklahoma City University, with a Doctorate in Percussion Performance in progress at the University of Oklahoma.

Jamie has studied percussion with David Steffens, Steve Craft, Lance Drege, Andrew Richardson, Ben Fraley and Tommy Dobbs ; composition with Edward Knight, Ladislav Kubik, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Lendell Black, Kris Maloy, and Mark Wingate; conducting with Matthew Mailman; and steel pan with Mia Gormandy.

Has he done competitions?

Jamie has placed in the PAS Composition Contest (Concerto for Drumset, first prize, 2012; Variations 2.0, second prize, 2013), and is a winner of the MTNA National Composition Contest, 2014.

Where might I have heard him?

His music has been performed at several national and international conventions/conferences, including: Percussive Arts Society International Convention, International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest, The World Saxophone Congress in Croatia, the Society of Composer's, Incorporated Regional Conference, International Trumpet Guild Convention, MTNA National and State Conventions, Florida Flute Association Convention, Oklahoma Day of Percussion, and the 16th Biennial Festival of New Music at Florida State University, as well as by such groups as the Tallahassee Composer's Orchestra, Northern Illinois University Philharmonic, Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, Broadway Community Chorus, National Broadway Chorus, Florida State University Percussion Ensemble, soprano Rachelle Fleming, principal trumpet of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra Ryan Beach, steel pan virtuoso Liam Teague, and many more.

Where does he play?

As a member of Duo Rodinia, Jamie has performed as guest artist at many universities, as well as at the 2015 and 2016 CMS Southern Regional Conferences, the SCI 50th National Convention, the 2016 SCI National Student Convention, as the featured guest artists for the 2016 SCI Region VI Conference, and guest artist ensemble for the Taneycomo Festival Orchestra. Great Plains Percussion Group has performed multiple times at the Oklahoma Day of Percussion, and recently presented a New Literature Session at the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy.

Jamie is a multiple-time soloist at the Oklahoma Day of Percussion, and has performed for the 2012, 2015 and 2016 College Music Society Southern Regional Conferences. He can be heard on the compact discs Firefish, the Music of Blake Tyson, Florida State University Percussion Ensemble, Volume II: Not Far From Here and Florida State University Percussion Ensemble, Volume III: Ten Windows, the last of which contains his work NAILS!!!. His work Aqueous Transfusion may be heard on Tyler Tolles’ debut disc In Touch, Rogue Two's debut album includes his work Buckle Up, and his works Portraits and Insights may be heard on Ryan Beach’s forthcoming solo disc. He is presently the Principal Timpanist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and performs with other orchestral groups in the region, including Fort Smith Symphony, Orchestra and Norman Philharmonic.

What else does he do?

As a conductor, Jamie has premiered many works, and has conducted at several high-profile events, including at both the 16th and 17th Biennial Festival of New Music at Florida State University, the Florida Flute Association 2015 Convention, Oklahoma Day of Percussion, the world premiere of Ben Harrell's opera Plight, and more. He spends his summers teaching theory, aural skills, and composition at the OCU Performing Arts Academy, and percussion at the OCU Percussion Camp. In 2018 he served as director for the composition program at the YES Academy - Lebanon, a two-week artistic intensive bringing American music to different parts of the world, created by American Voices. He is on percussion staff with Yukon High School and is sought after as a wind/percussion arranger with A103 Productions.

His music is published by Jamie Wind Whitmarsh Music, C. Alan Publications, and Engine Room Publications. He is a member of SCI, ASCAP, and PAS and serves on the Composition Contest Committee for PAS as well as chair of the Composition Education Subcommittee. Jamie proudly endorses Innovative Percussion products.