OUR STAFF
Albert Avery
DIRECTOR / FRONT ENSEMBLE ARRANGER / SOUND DESIGN / MEDIA
Albert is a designer, writer and educator from the Central Valley. He has received his B.S. in Business Administration - Computer Information Systems from California State University, Fresno. Outside of the marching arts, Albert focuses on community management and social media engagement. He is also currently working at Universal Audio full-time as a Technical Customer Support specialist.
In the marching arts, he is a front ensemble caption head, arranger and electronic designer for Clovis High School. In addition, he is the sound engineer and front ensemble arranger for the Fresno State Bulldog Marching band, along with being the director, front ensemble arranger, sound designer, and media manager for Red Wave Indoor, Fresno State's independent world percussion ensemble in the Central Valley.
He continues to write for various ensembles in the Central Valley, along with being a consultant specializing in amplification, electronics, and sound design for the marching arts.
Albert proudly endorses Vic Firth Sticks/Mallets, and Zildjian Cymbals.
Albert lives in Clovis, CA.
Joey Martinez
PROGRAM COORDINATOR / VISUAL DESIGNER
Joey is from the Central Valley and a Fresno State alum. He went to Clovis West High School and has taught percussion at all 5 Clovis Unified High Schools as well as the Bulldog Marching Band for 5 seasons (2009-2013).
For independent, he taught the Phantom Regiment (Bass Tech/Battery Visual) from 2014-2018 and was with the Blue Stars in both roles as well for their 2019 season. Most recently, he has been a tech with The Cavaliers from 2020-2023. During the winter, he served as a bass tech for Pulse Percussion from 2014 til 2020 and now serves as a board member for the organization. He was also a founding tech for Red Wave Indoor in its first two seasons of existence.
His performance experience includes the BDB ‘08, Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps ‘09-’11, RCC Winter Percussion Ensemble ‘11 & ‘13 and Pulse Percussion in ‘12 all on bass drum. Joey has a BA in Business Accountancy from Fresno State, a Single Subject Teaching Credential in Business, and an MBA all from Fresno State. He is currently a classroom teacher at Clovis West High School teaching CTE Banking & Finance.
Joey lives in Fresno, CA with a very modest & respectably sized comic collection and a dog named Flash.
Russell Wharton
BATTERY ARRANGER
Russell Wharton is a percussionist living in the Nashville, TN area. He is the Battery Coordinator for The Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps, a bass drum instructor for Rhythm X, and a member of the percussion faculty at Middle Tennessee State University.
As a freelance composer, Russell writes marching music for groups across the country, as well as concert music that blends virtuosity, introspection, and eclectic audio/visual presentations. Russell seeks to use music to make sense of the world, and to pay tribute to its wonders and mysteries.
Russell’s music is published by Tapspace Publications, and he enjoys partnerships with Innovative Percussion, Pearl/Adams, Remo, and Zildjian.
Austin Ballard
ENSEMBLE COORDINATOR
This will be Austin’s third year on staff with Red Wave Indoor. He has been involved with various percussion programs in the Central Valley for the past nine years, since graduating from Tulare Western High School. Most recently he worked with Buchanan High School as a snare tech, and currently works as the percussion caption head at Hanford West High School. Austin has performed with The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps (2014-2017) and POW Percussion (2018-2019) where he served as the section leader for the 2019 season.
Austin graduated from California State University, Fresno with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Mathematics. Outside of music, Austin currently teaches 7th and 8th grade math in Visalia, CA.
Justin Clement
BATTERY COORDINATOR
Justin grew up in the Central Valley and graduated from James C. Enochs High School in 2017. Since then, he has spent his time as a percussion instructor at Murrieta Valley High School while simultaneously going to school and continuing his marching career in Southern California.
Justin’s performance experience spans from coast to coast and includes Blue Knights, Carolina Crown, and Broken City Percussion. This will be Justin’s second year on staff with Red Wave Indoor.
Alec Post
FRONT ENSEMBLE COORDINATOR
Alec has been a part of the Red Wave Indoor program since 2019. This season he is one of Red Wave Indoor’s front ensemble technicians. He has been teaching at the highschool level for the past 4 years, as well as performing in WGI until he aged out this past 2022 season with Red Wave Indoor.
Alec has attended Fresno State for 2 years and has lived in Fresno his entire life. He is excited to be a part of this next season of Red Wave Indoor!
Bryan Criswell
SNARE TECHNICIAN
Bryan is an educator based in the Central Valley. A Mt. Whitney High School graduate, he sought more knowledge in the percussive field beyond what his alma mater could provide, a passion that guided him through his marching career. His marching experience has taken him all across the state of California, performing with BDB (2018), Red Wave Indoor (2019), and RCC Indoor (2020, 2022). He also became a member of the Blue Devils for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
Over the past few years, Bryan has worked with various programs in his hometown of Visalia. Most recently, he’s been primarily involved with Clovis West High School (Fresno, CA) and Thesis Indoor, another independent percussion ensemble based in the bay area. He also works on the side as a freelance Battery Arranger, pushing creativity through his chaotic concepts. This will be his first year on staff at Red Wave Indoor.
Marc Almario
SNARE TECHNICIAN
Marc is a percussionist/private instructor originally from the Central Valley. He graduated from Clovis High School in 2015 and was part of their top ensembles in both concert and marching seasons, and then joined the Fresno State Bulldog Marching Band. He has taught multiple programs in the Fresno Unified and Visalia Unified School Districts since 2015. He also provides private online lessons to students around the country. When Marc played snare drum in 2015, the Clovis High School Winter Percussion (World Line) went to Dayton, Ohio to compete in its very first WGI World Championships.
After graduating, he marched with Fresno State BMB in 2016 and 2017. During the indoor season of 2016, Marc marched snare drum for Valley Independent Percussion and competed in Dayton, Ohio Open Class Championships. After VIP 2016, he marched a World Class DCI tour with Pacific Crest Drum & Bugle corps with Pete Lucero as Caption Head, Darren S. VanDerpoel, Brandon Gedalje, Matt Ponce, and Joey Staab as battery manager and snare techs. In 2017 Marc was offered a spot in the Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps as a member of the snareline, and completed a full DCI tour. Drum staff that year included Tom Aungst, Lee Beddis, Jake Gall, Paul Nalesnik, Pat Mchale & Alan Aungst. Marc became a veteran member of The Cadets 2018 and aged out of DCI in 2018.
Fernando Barragán
TENOR TECHNICIAN
Fernando was born and raised in Merced, California. He graduated from Merced High School, and later graduated from CSU Stanislaus, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Music. Fernando’s marching experience includes a summer with Mandarins in 2017, a winter with Broken City Percussion in 2018, and one final summer with the Bluecoats in 2019. He has been caption head at both Merced High School and Atwater High School and, most recently, spent a summer as a quad tech with the Bluecoats for the 2023 season.
Zach Larsen
TENOR TECHNICIAN
Zach is a Red Wave Indoor alumnus from the 2020 season, and has also performed with other DCI and WGI groups such as Blue Devils B, Thesis, and the Blue Stars. He is excited to join the Red Wave Indoor staff for his first year and broaden his teaching experience, as for the past five years he has taught at various east bay high schools, and currently teaches the percussion program at Dublin High School.
Outside of the marching arts world, Zach is a fourth-year undergraduate at UC Berkeley where he studies physics, and over the summer conducted research on a simulation for a liquid argon neutrino detector.
Tyler Ortiz
TENOR TECHNICIAN
This will be Tyler’s second season with Red Wave Indoor. He is from the Central Valley and a CSU, Fresno alumni. He has taught at various schools in the Central Valley and is currently teaching at Clovis High School. Tyler’s performance experience includes Red Wave Indoor (2017), Vessel Indoor (2018-2020), and Mandarins (2019).
Outside of music Tyler is currently working as an American Sign Language Interpreter at CSU Fresno.
Ray Rivera
TENOR TECHNICIAN
Ray’s marching career began at Valley Independent Percussion in 2012 and continued from 2014-2016. In the summers of 2015 and 2016 Ray marched with Blue Devils B. In 2017 he aged out with Bakersfield College Indoor.
Besides marching, Ray has been teaching various middle school and high schools in the central valley since 2012. Some of the schools include Exeter HS, Buchanan HS, Clovis East HS, Central HS with Ray currently serving as percussion caption head at Tulare Union HS and Hanford HS. Ray also spent the summer of 2019 on staff with Blue Devils B and has been on staff with Red Wave Indoor since 2019 as well. Ray is currently attending Fresno State studying Mathematics with the intention to teach in the Central Valley.
Kevin Kingkham
BASS TECHNICIAN
This will be Kevin’s second year on staff with Red Wave Indoor. Kevin graduated from Clovis East High School in 2017 and has been involved with the activity since 2011. After graduation, Kevin began teaching at Clovis North High School as a Bass Drum Technician from 2017 - 2019. He has worked clinics with Buchanan High School from 2019 - 2021. Kevin is currently teaching at Clovis High as a Bass Drum Technician.
Kevin has marched Red Wave Indoor from 2018 - 2020 and 2022 and served as section leader during his last two seasons. Kevin graduated from California State University, Northridge and has a B.A. in Liberal Studies with specialization in history/social science. Kevin plans to pursue a Master’s Degree in School Counseling in the near future.
Zack Potter
BASS TECHNICIAN
Zack is returning to Red Wave Indoor for his 5th year on staff. Zack has several years of experience teaching bass drum in the Fresno/Clovis area since 2014, currently as a bass tech at Clovis High School. Zack is also currently a battery instructor for the Fresno State Bulldog Marching Band. His marching experience includes Valley Independent Percussion, Orange County Independent Percussion, Pacific Crest Drum and Bugle Corps, and Pulse Percussion. Zack is a Vic Firth Educator.
Hannah Boyer
CYMBAL TECHNICIAN
Hannah is from Modesto, Ca where she graduated from Beyer High School in 2008. After high school, she went on to march mellophone in the Blue Devils B corps in 2009, and cymbals in the Vanguard Winter Percussion from 2010 to 2012. She also spent two years in the Fresno State Marching Band and participated in the Santa Clara Vanguard Alumni Corps in 2017.
Since graduating, Hannah has taught and designed throughout the Central Valley, but has spent the majority of her career at Beyer and Enochs High School. This will be Hannah's sixth season with Red Wave Indoor. Aside from RWI, she spends her summer with BDB. Hannah currently works as a paraprofessional in an autism program in Modesto and is pursuing her degree in child development to become a special education teacher.
Ivan Reyes
CYMBAL TECHNICIAN / VISUAL TECHNICIAN
This will be Ivan's fourth year on staff with Red Wave Indoor.
Ivan has performed with the Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets (2014-2015) and Vanguard Winter Percussion (2013-2015), under the instruction of Travis Vernon and David Medina as part of the cymbal line. After aging out, he was involved with various percussion ensembles in the Central Valley such as Sanger High School, Clovis East High School, and Clovis North High School.
Ivan lives in Fresno, CA.
Cameron Baber
CYMBAL TECHNICIAN
Cameron Baber is a student, performer, and music educator from the Central Valley. Cameron earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Education at California State University Fresno and is currently pursuing his teaching credential. Cameron is heavily involved in both the worlds of winds and percussion and has performed with groups such as Red Wave Indoor, the Fresno State Bulldog Marching Band, Wind Symphony of Clovis, and the Fresno State Wind Orchestra.
Cameron currently instructs as the visual caption head at the Clovis High School Golden Cougar Marching Band and cymbal tech of the Fresno State Bulldog Marching Band. He has also instructed at a variety of other competitive Central Valley music programs such as Clovis North Educational Center and Buchanan High School.
This will be Cameron's second year as an instructor at Red Wave Indoor and he hopes to help the program continue its growth and success throughout the coming years.
Marcus Zellous
VISUAL TECHNICIAN
Marcus is in his seventh season as a part of the visual staff with Red Wave Indoor, and his third season as a part of the social media team.
He is a music educator with the Lemoore Union Elementary School District teaching 4th-8th grade instrumental music, and has served in multiple locations as a visual designer, choreographer, consultant, and instructor in the Kings, Tulare, and Fresno counties. He has also served as a parade drum major clinician in the Central Valley, and was on the drum major staff for the United Spirit Association in the early 2000s.
Marcus attended California State University (Fresno) as a saxophonist, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in music education - during which time, he served as a drum major for the Fresno State Bulldog Marching Band (2002, 2003, 2004), and for Fever Drum and Bugle Corps of Modesto (2005). He continued on to Fresno Pacific University where he earned his single-subject teaching credential, as well as his master’s degree in teaching.
In addition to his involvement in the marching arts, Marcus serves as the Director of Communication and Social Media at South Valley Community Church in Lemoore.
Marcus has been married to his wife, Deanna, for four years, and they have a lovely daughter, Adelina (Addy). They have a passion for food, for spending time with people, binging various shows, traveling, musicals, and being foodies.
Andrew Ziehm
BATTERY CONSULTANT
Andrew is a percussion educator based in California’s Central Valley. He has spent over 10 years writing, teaching, and designing for various music programs. Though Andrew is a percussion specialist, he also composes/arranges full shows for marching bands, working top-down to create cohesive wind, battery, and front ensemble content.
Andrew’s performance history includes many west coast programs such as Blue Devils and Blue Devils B (2012 - 2015), Pulse Percussion (2016), and Vanguard Winter Percussion. He feels grateful for the experiences, accolades, and memories created in these amazing ensembles. When not working in the music world, Andrew is a high school English teacher. He graduated with a Single Subject English degree from CSU Stanislaus. He enjoys mentoring students both in the classroom, and on the field!
Kyah Hill
FRONT ENSEMBLE TECHNICIAN
Kyah Hill is an active percussion educator in the Fresno area. Kyah is currently the Percussion Caption Head for Parlier High School and is very excited to return to Red Wave Indoor on staff after marching the inaugural season in 2017.
Kyah's previous teaching experience includes serving as Caption Head, Front Ensemble Technician, and audio engineer for various marching band and indoor percussion ensembles around the Central Valley including: Madera South High School, Golden West High School, and Fresno High School.
After graduating from Hallmark Charter School in Sanger, CA, Kyah attended CSU Fresno where they participated in The Bulldog Marching Band and Red Wave Indoor. In addition to marching, they performed with various concert ensembles such as: Fresno State's Wind Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, Symphonic Band, and FOOSA.
In addition to their time with Red Wave Indoor, Kyah has also been a member of Valley Independent Percussion, POW Percussion, RCC Indoor Percussion, and The Mandarins DBC.
Outside of the marching arts, Kyah has experience teaching 1-on-1 Drum Set lessons with Guitar Center, and Eastern Marimba techniques with the PlayMarimba! Program.
José Ledesma
FRONT ENSEMBLE TECHNICIAN
José Ledesma currently serves as the Director of Percussion for Matilda Torres High School and Desmond Middle School in Madera, CA. After receiving his B.A. in Music Education from California State University, Fresno, he accepted a job as Director of Instrumental Music at Firebaugh High School where he created their first Indoor Percussion ensemble. In each of their first two years of existence, the Firebaugh Indoor Percussion placed in the top three at SVWAA’s Regional A class and earned a championship banner at SCCi in 2023.
Before beginning his professional career, José was an active performer, marching with Bulldog Marching Band, the Sacramento Mandarins Drum & Bugle Corps, and POW Percussion, as well as performing with notable Fresno State ensembles including the Wind Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, Percussion Ensemble, and most recently the Wind Symphony of Clovis. Additionally, José has been an active music educator in the Central Valley over the last decade, working with a number of programs’ front ensembles including Washington Union, Madera South, Beyer, Central East and Valley Independent Percussion.
José stays involved in the marching arts by serving on the Board of Directors for both Pulse Percussion and the South Valley Winter Arts Association.
Kim Nguyen
FRONT ENSEMBLE TECHNICIAN
Kim is from the Central Valley and graduated from Tulare Union High School. After graduating, she was a member of Valley Independent Percussion (VIP) in 2016. In addition to her time with VIP, Kim was also a member of Red Wave Indoor in 2018. Kim has also spent time as a front ensemble instructor within the Central Valley for over 4 years at Madera High School.
Kim graduated from California State University, Fresno with a Bachelor's of Science in Family Science and a Master's of Science in Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling. Outside of music, Kim is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor in Fresno, CA.
Chris Perkins
FRONT ENSEMBLE CONSULTANT
Chris Perkins is a percussionist from Fresno, California. He received his B.A. in Psychology from California State University, Fresno and currently works as a Project Engineer for a large project construction firm.
Chris’ indoor performer experience includes Valley Independent Percussion, Precision Percussion, and Pulse Percussion. He has also spent time as a classical percussionist with multiple orchestras and wind ensembles in the Central Valley and the Los Angeles area.
Over the last decade he has worked with a multitude of ensembles ranging from middle school, high school, collegiate, and independent level musicians in the Central Valley. These ensembles include Granite Ridge, Clark Intermediate, Reyburn intermediate, Clovis East High School, Clovis North High School, and Valley Independent Percussion.
Chris has most notably been the Front Ensemble Caption Head for the Fresno State Bulldog Marching Band the past 7 years and a past member of Red Wave Indoor’s front ensemble staff.
Travis McDonald
FRONT ENSEMBLE CONSULTANT
Travis is an active percussion educator in the Fresno/Clovis area. Travis is currently a front ensemble tech for Clovis HS (PSW) and is excited to return to Red Wave Indoor for his third season on staff. Travis’ previous education experience includes serving roles as both front ensemble technician and audio engineer for ensembles including Clovis West HS, Clovis East HS and Selma HS, along with their respective feeder programs.
After graduating from Clovis East HS, Travis was a charter member in the front ensemble for Red Wave Indoor’s inaugural season. In addition to his time with Red Wave Indoor, Travis was also a member of Dark Sky Percussion. Outside of the marching arts, Travis also has a background in concert percussion, having performed with the Fresno City College Percussion Ensemble and Wind Ensemble, and the Fresno State University Percussion Ensemble, while earning his A.S. in Commercial Music Studies from Fresno City College. .