Drums with Justin B.

Justin Bales is a percussion educator and performer from Seattle, Washington. Justin teaches private percussion lessons, works with Puget Sound area Percussion Ensembles, and enjoys spending time sharing his love of percussion with his students. Justin teaches marching percussion, drum set, and orchestral snare performance. Justin was born in Seattle, and began his percussion studies at Bryant Elementary School, continued them through Eckstein Middle School, and Roosevelt High School. Justin is a Seattleite at heart, and has enjoyed growing as a performer within the music programs in the Seattle School System. As a performer, Justin enjoyed participating in the University of Washington Husky Marching Band for five years from 2010 t0 2014, and was section leader for his last two seasons with the group. Justin was awarded the Bill Cole Memorial Scholarship in 2015 for his work and dedication to the drum line, while with the University of Washington Husky Marching Band. Justin was also a member of the 2012 and 2013 Cascades Drum Corps. During his performance career with the group, he performed in over 25 states and traveled some 20,000 miles across the United States over two summers. Justin enjoyed playing in dozens of venues, which included the NFL's Alamo Dome in Texas, Georgia Dome in Atlanta, and Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. After aging out with the Cascades, Justin completed three more national tours with the group as an instructor from 2014 to 2017. Justin has worked with many high school percussion ensembles in the Puget Sound region, including Seattle's All City Marching Band (Seattle), Bellevue High School (Bellevue), Chief Sealth International High School (Seattle), and Kamiak High School (Mukilteo). Work with these groups includes instruction with a Scholastic World Class Winter Guard International Group, State Solo and Ensemble groups, and multiple area drum lines. As a percussionist of over 15 years, Justin has a wide range of experience that will benefit students who want to expand their playing abilities from beginning snare drum and drum set, to advanced rudimental percussion. Justin loves to work with students who are pursuing their goals in high school programs, college-level marching ensembles, WGI, and DCI groups.