Robby Burns is a music educator, freelance percussionist, and technology specialist residing in Ellicott City, Maryland.
Robby's teaching experience ranges from elementary school through university ensembles. He is currently an employee of the Howard County Public School System where he teaches band and general music at Ellicott Mills Middle School and co-directs the HCPSS Middle School Honor Band. Outside of his daily music teaching responsibilities, Robby maintains an active private percussion teaching studio out of his home. Many of his students are now music majors in college, have been accepted into district and state honor ensembles, and have found success as freelance and touring musicians. Robby is regularly called upon as an adjudicator, arranger, ensemble coach, and clinician.
Robby has presented sessions at music education conferences all over the country on the subject of band and orchestra directing, music production software, cloud services, Apple products, and their connection to productivity and creativity in the music classroom. Robby's first book, Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers, published by Oxford University Press, is available now. He writes and speaks about music, education, and technology on his blog and podcast, Music Ed Tech Talk.
As a freelance percussionist, Robby is comfortable with all styles, specifically including orchestral, musical theater, opera, chamber, rock, and jazz. He has performed with the Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, Opera Camerata of Washington, D.C., and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under such conductors as Marin Aslop and Lorin Maazel. Robby has also worked with a variety of local music projects including rock cello quartet, Primitivity, and nine-piece funk band, The Superland Stage Band.
Robby holds a Bachelor of Music Education and Masters of Music from the University of Maryland, College Park, where he studied orchestral percussion with Tony Ames (NSO) and timpani with John Tafoya and Benjamin Ramierez (both former NSO). He has also benefited from the instruction of Steve Fidyk (Army Blues Band) and Janis Potter (solo marimba artist). During his time at UMCP he also devoted attention towards orchestration, theory, conducting, and jazz arranging.
Robby is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the Percussive Arts Society and TI:ME, which is the national organization for Technology in Music Education.