Blake Tyson
Professor of Music - Percussion
Windgate 155
(501) 450-5263
Blake Tyson has multifaceted career and is known as a teacher, performer,
and composer. Since 2001 he has been a member of the faculty of the
University of Central Arkansas. He has performed at the Percussive Arts
Society International Convention, the Northwest Percussion Festival, the
Leigh Howard Stevens Summer Marimba Seminar, and at numerous Days of
Percussion throughout the United States. His international performances have
taken him to Europe, Africa, South America and Asia. He has also performed
as a percussionist with many orchestras throughout the United States, and is
currently principal percussionist with the Conway Symphony Orchestra.
Blake Tyson has composed many works for percussion, including *Vertical
River*, *Anubis*, *A cricket sang and set the sun*, *A Ceiling Full of Stars
*, and *Cloud Forest*. His teachers include John Beck, Michael Burritt,
Larry Mathis, and Peggy Benkeser. He has also studied derabucca with Halim
El-Dabh and has devoted intensive study to El-Dabh’s unique notational
system for the instrument. He has his own series of marimba mallets with
Pro-Mark, and is a clinician and concert artist for Dynasty Percussion and
the Zildjian Company. Visit www.blaketyson.com for more information.