Student Spotlights

Jordan George

Jordan W. George is a spring 2024 graduate, earning the degree of master of arts in music with a GPA of 4.0. Jordan hails from Oak Harbor, Washington; he earned his bachelor of music, performance degree from Central Washington University in 2022, where he studied with David McLemore.

While at WSU, Jordan studied tuba with Chris Dickey. With their teaching and guidance, Jordan earned the Washington state MTNA brass solo competition title, as well as runner-up in the northwest regional MTNA competition in 2022. He performed as principal tuba in the WIBC-U Collegiate Honor Band in 2022 and was runner-up in the Washington-Idaho Symphony concerto competition in 2023.

Jordan’s master’s project involved the transcription, editing, and recording of flute etudes for the tuba; he also provided pedagogical texts for approaching the etudes. Jordan is currently the principal tubist of the Eastern Washington Wind Symphony and the Saratoga Orchestra of Whidbey Island, and he is a substitute tubist for the Spokane Symphony, Washington-Idaho Symphony, and Yakima Symphony.

Looking ahead, Jordan plans to continue auditioning for professional orchestras and military bands to earn a full-time principal tuba position.

Wyatt Salus

Wyatt Salus earned his master of arts in music at WSU in spring 2024. Wyatt is a guitarist, composer, educator, and engineer originally from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He received his undergraduate degree from Western Carolina University, where he studied jazz and contemporary performance styles and audio production.

During his time at WSU, Wyatt performed with many ensembles, such as jazz combos, the Jazz Big Band, and the student-led Palouse Jazz Society, among others. He also served as a teaching assistant for Class Guitar and assisting with the Jazz Lab Band.

Wyatt’s master’s project involved arranging a series of jazz standards that were recorded along with an original jazz-punk fusion piece to be released as an EP later this year. Along with the recordings, he also produced a document analyzing each piece and explaining the compositional processes involved. 

After graduation, Wyatt returned to the mountains of North Carolina to pursue opportunities in that region.