- Assistant Professor
- Percussion Area Coordinator
- Assistant Director of Athletic Bands
Biography
Assistant Professor, Coordinator of Percussion, Assistant Director of Athletic Bands
Christopher Wilson is an assistant professor of music and the coordinator of percussion at Washington State University. At WSU he teaches applied percussion lessons, conducts the percussion ensemble, and serves as Assistant Director of the Cougar Marching Band. Regionally he serves as principal timpani in the Walla Symphony Orchestra, principal of timpani and percussion in the Washington-Idaho Symphony, performs as a substitute musician with the Spokane Symphony, and is the president of the Washington Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society.
In 2025, Dr. Wilson released his first solo album on WSU’s peer-reviewed recording label. The album, titled “Solemn Music,” is a collection of the three unaccompanied marimba solos by David Maslanka: Variations on Lost Love, My Lady White, and the first professional recording of A Solemn Music. The album is available on all online and streaming platforms. In 2024 he co-led the commission of a new work for flute and percussion by composer Jennifer Bellor with his flute colleague Sophia Tegart, the recording of which is forthcoming. He has also appeared on recordings by Jacqueline Wilson and Albert Miller.
Dr. Wilson is an active percussion pedagogue outside of his role at WSU. He is the co-chair of the Percussive Arts Society’s Education Committee, where he has previously chaired the PASIC FUNdamentals subcommittee and hosted the the FUNdamental Friday series. He has contributed significantly to the PAS Classroom youtube series and presented a clinic on graduated mallets at the Percussive Arts Society International Conference in 2022. Dr. Wilson’s current research area stems from his dissertation which analyzed the ability of commonly used band method books to prepare beginning percussionists for modern Grade 1 repertoire. He has subsequently presented his research at NAfME state music educator conferences in Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Washington, as well as at the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy.
Dr. Wilson joined the faculty at Washington State University in 2020 after the retirement of professor emeritus David Jarvis. In the years since 2020, the percussion area has grown to include coordinator of jazz Dr. Darryl Singleton. The percussion area has seen massive success, including the percussion ensemble performing a recital at the 2025 NAfME Northwest Conference, the Cougar Marching Band being selected for outstanding performance at the 2025 CBDNA National Conference, and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble performing at the 2022 WMEA Conference. The percussion ensemble continues to electrify audiences with themed and standard concerts and has welcomed guest artists to campus like Spectrum Ensemble and Rosie Cerquone.
Wilson received his Doctor of Arts from the University of Northern Colorado studying percussion performance with a secondary area in wind conducting. He is also a graduate of the Boston Conservatory and Eastern Washington University. Dr. Wilson is a proud endorser of Adams Percussion, Encore Mallets, Pearl Drums, and Salyers Percussion.
You can listen to “Solemn Music” on Spotify and Apple!
(These links leads to an external website that is not hosted by the university. The views and content expressed are those of the faculty member and do not represent the official positions of the university.)
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