Dr. Kurt Gartner serves as Professor of Percussion at Kansas State University. There, he teaches applied percussion and percussion methods. Also, he directs the Percussion Ensemble, Keyboard Percussion Quartets, and the Latin Jazz Ensemble. Gartner’s 2007-2008 responsibilities include an assignment as Special Assistant to the Provost and a spring 2008 sabbatical leave. As a 2006-2007 Big 12 Faculty Fellow, he collaborated with the percussion studio and jazz program at the University of Missouri. There, he provided instruction and performances in Afro-Cuban music and applications of technology in music.
Prior to his appointment at KSU, Dr. Gartner served as Associate Professor of Bands at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. His responsibilities there included applied percussion, jazz bands, concert bands, marching band, and percussion ensembles. In 2001, he completed his Doctor of Arts degree at the University of Northern Colorado (Greeley), where he studied percussion and jazz performance and pedagogy. During his residency at UNC, he directed a jazz band and a percussion ensemble, taught jazz history, and was the Assistant Director of the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival. Kurt received the Graduate Dean’s Citation for Outstanding Dissertation for his research of the late percussion legend, Tito Puente. In association with this research, Dr. Gartner has also studied percussion and arranging at the prestigious Escuela Nacionál de Música in Havana, Cuba.
An active performer and clinician, Dr. Gartner is an Educational Consultant for Sabian cymbals, Sonor Drums, and Vic Firth sticks and mallets. He serves the Percussive Arts Society as Music Technology Editor for the Percussive Notes. Also, he is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, and is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and the International Association for Jazz Education.
