Lauren Teel is the Visiting Professor of Percussion for Jacksonville State University and Percussion Caption Head for the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps, a position she has held since the 2013 season, being inducted into the Troopers Hall of Fame in 2023.
She is actively involved in the percussive arts community as a performer, educator, and composer. Notable engagements include conducting the Texas A&M Commerces’s Percussion Ensemble performance of Aggression, by Yo Goto, as part of their 2023 IPEC performance and serving as a marching panelist for the 2023 and 2025 PASIC events. Lauren is a member of the PAS marching committee and has served as a PAS chamber ensemble judges for several Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. She has also served as a judge for the 2019, 2020, & 2022 Percussive Arts Society International Solo Marimba Competition. Lauren frequently composes for the percussion medium, with notable works including her marimba solo ..Just the Light We See (2020 ) and percussion ensemble, embedded siGnals ( 2023 ), both of which are included on the Texas PML list. Her newest work, She Took a Wrong Turn, premiered April 15th 2024, at Texas A&M Commerce University.
Lauren joined the official roster of adjudicators for Winter Guard International for the 2024 season. She has also served as a yearly clinician and judge for the HEB Drum Line Invitational since 2021. In 2022, Lauren was invited to serve as a judge for the Texas UIL 6A State Marching Band Contest. She routinely appears at days of percussion across the country as a guest clinician.
Prior appointments include Director of Marching Percussion, Acting Assistant Director of Bands and Assistant Director of Percussion at East Texas University ( formally Texas A&M Commerce). Lauren served the 2018/2019 academic year as the Interim Instructor of Percussion for The University of Alabama, and Adjunct Instructor for the Million Dollar Band Front Ensemble. Prior to this appointment, she was an Adjunct Instructor of Percussion at several universities, including The University of North Alabama, University of Alabama- Birmingham, and The University of Montevallo
Between 2016 - 2019, Lauren was a member of the percussion educational team “Double Stop Percussion” based out of Birmingham, AL. This position allowed her to work with several high school percussion programs including Thompson HS, Spain Park HS, and Mountain Brook HS. Lauren also served as traveling instructor of percussion for Center Grove HS in Greenwood, IN and Mililani HS in Mililani, HI. Prior to graduate school, she held the position of Director of Percussion at Allatoona High School in Cobb County, Georgia.
In 2012, Lauren had the privilege of traveling to Chennai, India to perform for an audience of over 75,000 people with Oscar winning composer, A. R. Rahman. Lauren also appeared in the 2013 blockbuster, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, as a timpanist. While living in Atlanta, Lauren performed as a member of the NFL Atlanta Falcons Drum Line.
Lauren earned her M.M. in Percussion Performance at Indiana University in the spring of 2016. She earned a B.M. in Percussion Performance from the University of North Texas in the spring of 2012. Her studies have allowed her to train with renowned percussionists including Kevin Bobo, Steve Houghton, Michael Spiro, Paul Rennick, John Tafoya, Mark Ford, Christopher Deane, Robert Schietroma, and Ed Smith.
Lauren proudly endorses Innovative Percussion, Zildjian, Marimba One, and Remo.