Chris Barber has been on
staff at Owasso High School as assistant band director and percussion
coordinator since 1996. Through the years he has conducted 7th grade
bands, high school concert bands, and the 6th and 7th grade percussion classes.
Under his direction, his bands were
consistently awarded superior ratings. In the fall, Mr. Barber coordinates the
competitive drum line and front ensemble for the Pride of Owasso Marching Band,
and in the spring he conducts the percussion ensembles and steel drum band. The Owasso percussion ensembles have performed
numerous times at the Oklahoma Percussive Arts Society's "Day of
Percussion" and the Arkansas Percussive Arts Society Convention. Mr. Barber keeps an active private percussion
studio in which his students have been selected to the Oklahoma All-State Band
or Orchestra over 50 times in the last 16 years.
Mr. Barber is a native of Dalhart, Texas and
graduated with honors from Southwestern Oklahoma State University with a
Bachelor of Music Education and a Master of Music in 1994 and 1996,
respectively. He is currently completing
his doctoral coursework at the University of Oklahoma in Music Education where
he is focusing on assessment in music education. His professional affiliations include the Oklahoma
Music Educators Association, the Nation Association for Music Education, the
Collegiate Music Society, the Oklahoma Bandmasters Association, the Oklahoma
Ambassadors of Music, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Beta Mu, and he is a past
president of the Oklahoma chapter of the Percussive Arts Society. Mr. Barber is a RAMP artist for Evans
drumheads as well as an Innovative Percussion Artist Educator. He currently lives in Tulsa with his wife Jo
Anna and daughter Dora Marie.