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Performer, Composer, TeacherDr. Brian Graiser (b. 1986) is the Instructor of Percussion and Percussion Area Coordinator at Arkansas State University, where he leads a team of accomplished percussion faculty and oversees all aspects of the percussion program while remaining an active performer, composer, and researcher. As an internationally-respected artist and clinician, Brian has enjoyed musical engagements across North America, Central America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, including several solo/chamber performances and research presentations at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) as well as at Dél-Alföldi Ütőhangszeres Szakmai Nap és Konferenciasolo (University of Szeged, Hungary), the APERIO—Music of the Americas Festival, the Festival Internacional de Musica Alfredo Saint Malo (Panama), the American Harp Society Summer Institute, and the Winter Vibe Fest hosted by the Center for Mallet Percussion Research (U.S.). His diverse 2024 calendar has included performances with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Link Theatre Company, and in solo recital for the Arkansas premieres of works by Julien Dassié, Stuart Saunders Smith, and Rachel Walker, as well as clinician engagements for the PAS-Arkansas Virtual Day of Percussion and for the inaugural Arkansas Region V High School All-Region Percussion Ensemble. Brian's award-winning compositions have been described by Percussive Notes as "rhythmically and sonically captivating," "full of craft," and "[a] wonderful exploration of sound," and have been commissioned and performed by artists around the world. While he enjoys a multifaceted slate of interests, Brian is best known for his scholarly and creative work with the vibraphone, highlighted by numerous compositions and commissions for the instrument (including two concerti for the four-octave vibraphone), several published research articles and presentations, and his service as founder and current President of The Vibraphone Project (www.thevibraphoneproject.org), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the instrument. Brian regularly tours with his wife, Dr. Alaina Graiser, as the REFLECT harp+percussion duo, championing new music and innovative transcriptions for their instruments (although the duo’s most important project is raising their two sons).
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Affiliations, Endorsements, and Publishers |
Professional affiliations include The Vibraphone Project (with service as Founder and President), the Percussive Arts Society (with service as a member of the Diversity Alliance Socioeconomic Subcommittee and previous service as a 6-year member of the Composition Committee), the College Music Society, and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI).
Brian is an artist-endorser of Salyers Percussion/Encore Mallets and Dream Cymbals and Gongs, an educator-endorser of Black Swamp Percussion, and the proud owner of a DeMorrow Instruments four-octave vibraphone. His compositions are available through Alfonce Productions, Keyboard Percussion Publications, Media Press Inc., Smith Publications, and self-publication. |
Teaching and Education |
Since his arrival at A-State in 2022, Brian has been responsible for doubling the size and scope of A-State Percussion, leading to the creation of new adjunct positions, hosting composer/performer residencies, and leading the A-State percussion ensembles on regional performance tours. His current teaching duties include applied percussion lessons, percussion methods, percussion pedagogy, percussion ensemble, steel drum ensemble, and overseeing the Sound of the Natural State Drumline. Prior to joining A-State, Brian was the Lecturer of Percussion and Marching Percussion Director at Sam Houston State University from 2016-2022, where he taught applied lessons and percussion methods, and directed the University Percussion Ensemble, Steel Band II, and the Bearkat Marching Band Drumline.
Brian earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in percussion performance (with a composition cognate) at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, his M.M. in music at the University of Toronto, and his BMUS in music composition and music performance at the University of Georgia, having studied percussion with Allen Otte, Rusty Burge, Jim Culley, Russell Hartenberger, Beverly Johnston, John Rudolph, Tony McCutchen, and Arvin Scott, and composition with Stuart Saunders Smith, Michael Colgrass, Ellen Harrison, Christos Hatzis, Chic Ball, and Adrian Childs. |
The Person |
When he isn't hitting things professionally (or compelling others to do so), Brian enjoys spending time with his wife Alaina, their two sons William and Jonathan, and their two rescue rabbits CocoLove and Indie. He is a bit of a tinkerer and a bit of a know-it-all, will read or watch anything related to science fiction (Green Lantern and Battlestar Galactica take priority, but he's working his way through Dune right now), and will do whatever it takes to ensure that his sons grow up to be avid Atlanta Hawks and Georgia Bulldogs fans like their father. He likes to go camping when it isn't too hot, and he likes coin collecting year-round. Music's profound impact on Brian's childhood diagnoses of Tourette Syndrome and related neurological conditions have greatly impacted his worldview and career motivations, and he passionately believes that the human experience is incomplete without some level of musical involvement. His earliest musical memories are of listening to his father's jazz vinyl collection and singing along to 80's/90's radio in the car with his mother, and delights in forming new musical memories with his family, his friends, and his students.
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