Rene-Ormae Jarmer – Director

René Ormae-Jarmer is an experienced drum teacher  and percussion specialist with more than 30+ years of  teaching, recording and live performance.  She has a BA in music from Lewis & Clark College and is a member of

René Ormae-Jarmer

René Ormae-Jarmer

HERE COMES EVERYBODY, an established piano-rock band.  She teaches Rock, Jazz, and Latin at all levels and conducts clinics in many schools in the Portland and Clackamas areas.  René is also a member of The Veronica Lodge (a chapter of the Immersion Composition Society) a songwriting super-group that writes, records, and presents 6 songs within a 24-hour period every month (since 2004).  René performs in musical theatre, several PDX bands, and toured the West Coast, been on TV and Radio with her band HCE.  She is a Vic Firth Educator and PAS Member.

Call 503-704-1934 for more information.

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Byron Hall – Assistant Caption Head

 Byron Hall

Byron began his musical journey in the 4th grade when his first choice for Trumpet was denied and replaced by Drums & Percussion.  Little did he know that that decision would set up a long trajectory of performance and teaching for the following 30+ years.  He first noted success as an Oregon State Solo finalist as a junior and senior at Cleveland HS, as well as awards from the Alan Keown Marching Percussion Camp multiple years running.  The summer camps were held at the University of Oregon which was a natural choice to pursue his love of percussion and performance.  It was there that he studied directly under the late Charles Dowd as a music Performance Major and was activity involved in rudimental percussion via the Oregon Marching Band Drumline and various experiences within the realm of Drum Corps.
While at University, he met now well-known percussion teachers Dave Lauder, Devin Bretz, and Micah Brusse, all of whom now team together to teach the U of O Drumline each fall.  Since his time at the U of O as a Performance Major, he has taught marching percussion at dozens of High School’s and College’s all around the Pacific NW.
Byron was on the original staff  of the now highly successful Oregon Crusaders Drum Corps as their Snare Drum Technician for two years, and has taught, composed music for, and performed in the Trail Blazers Groove Machine, a group of highly seasoned veterans of the marching percussion genre in the Northwest for the home basketball games for the Portland Trailblazers.  He currently owns his own company within the Fitness Industry (his other lifelong passion) and teaches students privately.

Eric Yahrmarkt – Music Caption

Eric Yahrmarkt

Eric Yahrmarkt is an accomplished percussion instructor and arranger with experience teaching, performing and writing for ensembles of all ages. Eric has worked for middle school concert and parade programs, competitive high school marching bands and indoor drumlines, conference university drumlines, Open and World Class DCI ensembles, and independent and scholastic WGI ensembles. His experience in the Pacific Northwest spans 20 years of competitive percussion excellence, private instruction, and performance. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Percussion Performance under professor David Jarvis at Washington State University (2000-2004). From 2000 to 2002 Eric performed in the tenor line with the Seattle Cascades Drum Corps.

Eric’s teaching experience in the Portland metro area from 2007-2018 includes Seattle Cascades, Oregon Crusaders, OC Indoor, Sunset High School, Liberty High School, Beaverton SD middle schools, Rex Putnam High School, Evergreen high School, Southridge High School, Canby High School and an active private lesson studio. Currently he serves as the Percussion Director for Kamiak High School in Mukilteo, WA. He currently resides in Edmonds WA with his wife Andrea.

Nick Penick – Front Ensemble Tech

My name is Nick Penick, I’m from Houston, TX and I’ve been a marching percussion instructor in the northwest since fall 2017. I have competed in WGI world championships in Dayton, OH with three different ensembles and completed 5 US tours with the Oregon Crusaders and Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps. I studied percussion performance and music composition at Western Oregon University and Portland State University. I have a passion for the marching arts and I am eager to pass along everything I know to the next generation of young musicians and performers! My favorite musical artists include Muse, Andrew Bird, Logic, and The Beatles.

Jeffrey Brice – Front Ensemble Tech, Audio Engineer, Technical Engineer

Jeffrey is a composer and sound designer working in film, TV, & video games. You can hear some of his work in the game Dota 2, by Valve Software, and in a multitude of other projects.
Jeff studied at New York University, where he graduated with a degree in Film & TV Production and a minor in Game Design, while also studying Perucssion under Jonathan Haas. He has performed as a timpanist with the Blue Devils Division B Drum & Bugle Corps and as a percussionist with a variety of ensembles. He has worked with Rex Putnam since 2019.

Ian Fuller – Visual Tech, Choreographer

Ian is a percussion educator living in Portland, Oregon. He’s currently finishing his undergraduate degree at Portland State University studying Music Education. He’s the Percussion Caption Head at Westview High School in Beaverton, Oregon, and teaches Impact Percussion as well as the Columbians Drum & Bugle Corps in the Tri-Cities, Washington. During his time on the marching stage, Ian performed with the Seattle Cascades (2015-2018) and spent two years with OC Indoor (2015-2016) before moving to Riverside, California, where he performed with POW Percussion (2017) and Vessel (2018). He is a Vic Firth Educator, and is excited to be joining Rex Putnam for their 2022 season!