Brandon Brockinton has become a better musician during his four years as an undergraduate student at Arkansas Tech University, but he says the experience has benefitted him in ways that extend far beyond the band room doors.
“I think it has definitely made be a better person,” said Brockinton. “It has helped me with a lot of things, especially discipline and time management. We have a ton of classes we have to take, and besides the classes we have performances that we have to do. It’s really difficult to schedule your time so that you can get to every rehearsal, do every pep band event, every football game and do extra rehearsals outside of band. It’s really helped me become more disciplined and manage my time better.”
Brockinton will present his senior percussion recital at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 2, at Arkansas Tech’s Witherspoon Auditorium. Admission will be free and open to the public.
A native of North Little Rock, Brockinton chose Arkansas Tech based largely on advice from his high school band director — Bill Spainhour.
“My band director at North Little Rock High School graduated from Arkansas Tech,” said Brockinton. “When I was getting ready to apply for colleges, I really didn’t know where to go. Mr. Spainhour told me I should check out Tech. He said they have a good music program, and so here I am.”
Brockinton said the tutelage he received from Spainhour and his percussion instructor at NLRHS — Pat Lindsey — inspired him to pursue his craft beyond high school.
“With all of the other instruments, you focus on one thing,” said Brockinton. “With percussion, you play a wide variety of different instruments. You have timpani, all of the mallet instruments and the un-pitched instruments like the snare drum and the bass drum. There’s a good variety and you can experiment with different styles of music.”
The highlight of Brockinton’s recital on Thursday will be his performance of “Dream of the Cherry Blossoms” by Keiko Abe. “I’ve been working on it for a year, and it took me a long time to get it worked out,” said Brockinton. “I’ve played it once before, but I’m really excited about playing it at my recital because it’s the biggest and most important piece that I will play.” Brockinton will be accompanied during his recital by Dr. Tim Smith, associate professor of music at Arkansas Tech, on piano. He will be joined at the end of his recital by Scott Arnold (piano), Ryan Carnett (bass) and Kyle Cornelison (tenor sax) for a jazz set. Son of Kathy and Leon Brockinton of North Little Rock, Brockinton will graduate from Arkansas Tech with a Bachelor of Music Education degree in fall 2012. He said that he wants to teach percussion at the high school or junior high levels. “I’d also like to direct a jazz band and maybe even a band one day,” said Brockinton, “but my passion is definitely percussion.” For more information about the Arkansas Tech Department of Music, call (479) 968-0368 or visit www.atu.edu/music.
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