Bio
Gary Cook is Professor Emeritus in The School of Music and was the founder and Director of Percussion Studies from 1975 to 2006. He retired after 33 years of teaching in 2008. He is currently President of the Percussive Arts Society. He is well known as the author of the text Teaching Percussion , first published by Schirmer Books in 1988, the second edition in 1997, and the third edition with over 7 hours of DVDs released in 2005 and used world wide. He was timpanist and principal percussionist with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra for over two decades and has held similar posts over the years with the Arizona Opera, Arizona Ballet, Tucson Pops, and Flagstaff Festival Orchestras. In the summer, he is principal percussionist with the Crested Butte Music Festival and has performed with similar festivals in Colorado and Nevada. From 1994 to 1999 he served as Director of the School of Music and Dance and lists as some of his many accomplishments a million acquisition of 98 new Steinway pianos - at the time the largest institutional purchase in the history of the Steinway company, the Nelson Riddle Endowed Chair in Music, and achieving NASM reaccreditation for the UA School of Music. Cook enjoys commissioning new music for percussion and chamber music and voice combinations and has premiered and recorded many commissions. He has performed twice at the Percussive Arts Society (PAS) International Convention and other festivals in Europe. He has been on the Board of Directors of the PAS since 2000 serving as Vice-President from 2003-2004, President-Elect from 2005-2006, and President from 2007 through 2008.
A native of Michigan, he holds degrees from the University of Michigan and has traveled widely both in this country, Europe, Scandinavia, Trinidad, Bali, Guatemala, and Chile studying, teaching, and performing. Prof. Cook has been recognized for outstanding teaching in the UA College of Fine Arts as the first recipient of the coveted Putnam Excellence in Teaching Award in 1990, the James Anthony Sustained Excellence in Teaching Award in 2005, and the UA School of Music Maestro Award for student achievements in 2005. His former students hold distinguished professorships in colleges and universities around the country, perform professionally around the world, and are successful teachers and performers in all areas of music and the arts. He is contributing author to such publications as the Percussive Notes and The Encyclopedia of Percussion Instruments , and has been listed in the Marquis Who's Who in the West, Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World.
In addition to his active teaching and performing schedule, Professor Cook is engaged in ongoing empirical research for enhancing music learning and performance. He integrates a diversity of techniques into his teaching, has chaired symposia on the topic, and gives Integrated Performer Workshops on the subject of excellence in performance.
In his infrequent spare time, in addition to reading, listening to music, and restoring instruments and antiques, he enjoys traveling with his wife and family, mountain biking, snow skiing, 4-wheeling, hiking, swimming and scuba diving.
