About David
David Mitchell is an active percussion educator, performer, and adjudicator. Currently he is director of percussion studies at Polk State College. Previously, he was the assistant director of the Southeastern University drumline where he worked closely with Brian Blume in the percussion department. Recently, he was featured as the vibraphone soloist with the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra in Williams' Escapades. Mitchell was also a previous instructor at East Tennessee State University. He was honored as a featured soloist for Science Hill High School’s 2016 PASIC Showcase Concert. Mitchell is a current member of PAS and past member of the PAS Percussion Ensemble Committee. Percussive Notes is currently publishing an article by Mitchell on Dave Maric's Trilogy. He often presents clinics at other schools in the region, and is an adjudicator for marching band competitions. Mitchell is the principal percussionist for the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra, a percussionist (sub) for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, and he regularly performs with the Orlando-based contemporary chamber ensemble, Alterity Orchestra. He was formerly a percussionist in the Imperial Symphony Orchestra, the principal percussionist for the Johnson City Symphony Orchestra, and regularly performed with musicians and bands from the Johnson City, Tennessee area. He has taught and performed throughout Florida, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. He is often given the opportunity to compose and arrange music for percussion ensembles and marching bands in these states.
Contributing to the art of percussion through the commission of new compositions is one of David’s passions. Examples of these contributions include I Leave You the Real World by David Skidmore, Spur by Ivan Trevino, and Distances by Baljinder Sekhon. He led a consortium to commission a new solo work by Dave Maric written for marimba, vibraphone, unpitched percussion, and audio track, which was premiered in March 2017.
Recordings of David Mitchell include the Excelcia Music Publishing and Wingert-Jones Publications new catalog recording session (150 wind band pieces, 2023), UNCG School of Music The Centennial Collection (2022), Hot Club of the Mountains’ Pearls (2016), UNCG Wind Ensemble’s 2011 finish line! (2011), and UNCG Casella Sinfonietta/Wind Ensemble’s arts and letters (2014). He also performed in the world premiere of Mark Engebretson’s Acrylic Waves in 2010.
Mitchell completed his DMA under Dr. Eric Willie at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He received a BM at East Tennessee State University where he studied with Dr. Rande Sanderbeck, and a MM in music theory at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he also studied percussion with Dr. Kristopher Keeton. He studied composition and arranging with Dr. Maria Niederberger and Dr. Frank Grzych. Other supplemental studies include studio drumming with Dr. Tony Artimisi, frame drums and other world percussion with Sandy Blocker, West African djembe with Atiba Rorie, and tama with Mamadou Mbengue from Saint-Louis, Senegal. Other acclaimed percussionists that he has been involved with include Mark Ford, Dr. Nathan Daughtrey, and Mickey Burmer.
Along with Jason Carpenter and Dan McGuire, he is a cofounder and arranger for Tap 5 Percussion. He is proud to endorse Black Swamp Percussion, Innovative Percussion, Majestic, Mapex, and SABIAN.
David Mitchell currently resides in Central Florida with his wife and daughter.
