Paul Swofford
Paul taught for 30 years, all of which were in the Saint Clair R-13 school district from 1982-2012. While at Saint Clair, his bands were selected to perform at the Missouri Music Educators Conference six times and received several awards for musical excellence and achievement, including a performance at the King Kamehameha Music Festival in Honolulu, Hawaii, and a performance by invitation to perform a Prelude concert for the Saint Louis Symphony at Powell Symphony Hall.
Mr. Swofford is a Past President of the Missouri Bandmasters Association and the Missouri Music Educators Association and is currently the Executive Director of MMEA.
Elaine Swofford
The Swoffords have been honored for their exceptional contributions to music education. They are proud members of the Missouri Bandmasters and Missouri Music Educators Hall of Fame. Currently, they reside in Gladstone, Missouri.
Kallie Baker
Graham Deckard
Graham is a Kansas City area music educator and percussion specialist. Previously, he was the Director of Percussion and Assistant Director of Bands for the Raymore-Peculiar School District. He has spent time as an educator, arranger, performer, and adjudicator in the midwest area. Graham received his Master of Music in Percussion Performance from the University of Kansas, studying under Dr. Michael Compitello. Graham received his Bachelor of Music Education from Missouri Western State University, studying under Dr. Dennis Rogers, Dr. Amy Hearting, and Dr. Joshua Knight.
As a performer, Graham has been a part of several ensembles. He was a part of the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps percussion section from 2013-2015, under the instruction of Lauren Teel. While at KU, he performed as the principal percussionist in the KU Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Percussion Ensemble. At MWSU, Graham performed as the principal percussionist with the Wind Symphony, Percussion Ensemble, and marching band. Currently, you can find Graham performing with the Kansas City Chiefs Rumble Drumline. Go Chiefs!
Jackie Brown
Jackie has been involved in color guard and the marching arts since 2001 as a performer, instructor, and judge. She is most well known for her instructional video series on YouTube for Spintronix Color Guard and as a freelance color guard choreographer & technician around the world. Her most notable performance resume includes membership in the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps world class color guard, and dancing in the Ceremonies of the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As an instructor, she has coached a large number of high school and independent teams of varying size and location across the western hemisphere, including Legends Drum and Bugle Corps, Spintronix Indoor Guard, and the Brazilian Vanguard. Her judging certifications include USBands and WGI level 1. She has been judging color guard and winter guard across the central United States since 2010, a volunteer staff member for the Macy’s Great American Marching Band since 2009, and executive director of Spintronix Color Guard, a company providing color guard educational services, since 2008.
Ian McClaflin
Ian is currently as faculty at UCM where has served as Assistant Marching Percussion Coordinator at the University of Central Missouri. Ian most recently premiered an original concert of percussion works incorporating electronics entitled “Absolute” and continues to perform this recital throughout the region. Along with his work in the concert and commercial areas of percussion, Ian teaches and performs frequently within marching percussion. This includes work with local high school marching programs and with writing for and performing with the Kansas City Chiefs “Rumble” Drumline.
Ian holds his Doctoral degree in Percussion Performance from The University of Southern Mississippi where he studied under Dr. John Wooton. He received his Master’s degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Missouri studying under Dr. Julia Gaines, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Central Missouri where he studied under Dr. Michael Sekelsky. While in school, Ian won multiple competitions including the Mid-Missouri Percussive Arts Trophy where he competed in the marimba and percussion divisions and at PASIC where he competed in the individual and ensemble multiple percussion division. In 20I6, Ian won The University of Southern Mississippi Concerto Competition with his performance of Eric Ewazen’s Concerto for Marimba.