TUMB Staff

DIRECTOR

Barry Spanier

BM Music Education - University of Southern California
MA - New York University

Barry Spanier has directed and produced music for two Olympic Ceremonies and a World Exposition, plus numerous festivals and concerts. Establishing new musical ensembles and programs has highlighted his career. For World Expo 88, he designed and directed a marching band program in an environment that previously had no such tradition. For the Sydney Olympics he directed 2,000 young musicians from 23 nations, the largest marching band in history. As leader of the New York University Orchestra Mr. Spanier built it from a 19-piece string group to an 85-piece symphony. 

Mr. Spanier was Associate conductor of the USC Trojan Bands, Venue Band Coordinator for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, and Founder and Executive Producer of the Gallatin Arts Festival in New York. As a trumpet player and percussionist he performed with artists Don Ellis, Lalo Schiffrin and Maynard Ferguson, amongst others. He has served as music director for dozens of musical theatre productions and recording sessions in commercial and academic settings.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Mark D Lighthiser

MM Percussion Performance – University of Oregon

Mark Lighthiser, an Innovative Percussion and Evans/D’addario sponsored artist/educator, student of Charles Dowd and Gary Hobbs, is an accomplished conductor, teacher, composer, arranger and percussionist. He has performed with the Eugene Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, Emerald City Jazz Kings, Tommy Tune, nienteForte New Music Ensemble, the Oregon Percussion Ensemble and was a member of the world champion Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps. As an arranger, drill writer and teacher he has worked with many award winning ensembles over the span of his twenty year career.

Currently, Mr. Lighthiser serves as Assistant Marching Band Director at Tulane University where he leads the creative team as the staff arranger and drill designer. He also founded and directs the Green Wave Brass Band which plays numerous on and off campus performances every semester. His most recent project is a commission to compose a percussion ensemble piece for the nienteForte Ensemble at Tulane. He also designs drill and arranges music for numerous marching band programs across the country and keeps an active performance schedule.

PERCUSSION INSTRUCTOR/OPERATIONS COORDINATOR

Mendel Lee

MM Composition - University of Oregon

Mendel Lee is an Innovative Percussion Educational Artist originally from King of Prussia, PA.  His education and marching experience as a member of the West Chester University Marching Band and the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps has helped him build success as a percussion and music ensemble instructor and arranger for various high school and collegiate marching organizations across the nation as well as an instructor with World Class Drum and Bugle Corps including the Jersey Surf and the Glassmen.  In addition to his duties with the TUMB, he is the founder and director of the contemporary music ensemble nienteForte, the music and visual creative designer for the Hermiston High School Marching Band in Hermiston, Oregon and the Lead Music Engineer for Galaxy Interactive.

Mr. Lee has received high acclaim for his creative vision as a composer and artist.  In his debut year as the creative designer of Hermiston High School Marching Band, his show earned them placement in finals for the first time in their program's history.  Timpani Forces for solo timpani (2011), commissioned by David Constantine, percussionist and Assistant Principal Timpanist of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and performed at the 2011 Festival of Contemporary Music in San Francisco was praised by composers and performers alike as "…pushing the envelope… doing something that no other piece of solo timpani literature has ever done.”  His work Honeysuckle Juice for SATB choir will have its world premiere in Los Angeles in March of 2012, and his work Shifting Signals I for solo clarinet, digital media, four laptops, and Google+ Hangout will have its world premiere in April of 2012.

DANCE TEAM INSTRUCTOR

Ashley Iserman

BS Respiratory Therapy- Our Lady of Holy Cross College

Ashley Iserman was a four year member of the New Orleans Saintsations, serving as Captain in 2009, where she has assisted in choreographing many New Orleans Saints Pre-game and quarter break features. Ms. Iserman also helped with the choreography and visual design of the Half-Time Performance at Super Bowl XLII and the Pre-Game Show for the Saints vs. Chargers London Series which featured Ne-Yo and Jordan Sparks. She has also traveled to Mexico City, Mexico to perform and represent the Saints and the NFL.

Ashley is the former coach and choreographer of the Jesuit High School Jayettes Dance Team, winning two National Titles in 2010, along with being the Director of the St. Francis Xavier Star Steppers Dance Team, also winning a National Title in 2011. Ashley is currently the head choreographger/principal teacher at Martha Mayer School of Dance in Metairie, LA.

PROGRAM COORDINATOR

Patricia McWhorter-Broussard joined the Marching Band staff in May 2006. Her twenty-plus years of service at Tulane began with her raising funds for the School of Law, then in Alumni Affairs she coordinated events and Associates in eight cities, and later, she staffed the Emeritus Club, handling class reunions, luncheons, and theatre events. She also produced Tulane Educational Conferences, 1997-2005.

Dedicated to education throughout her career, Ms. McWhorter-Broussard worked for seven years at The Historic New Orleans Collection, assisting an average 4,000 researchers a year working on books, movies, television shows and historic preservation. As a free-lancer, she designed & installed exhibits for the Louisiana Maritime Museum and the Amateur Radio Operators booth at the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition.  She has spent a decade volunteering on the Jefferson Parish Public School System’s East Bank Parents Advisory Council, notably initiating and producing Annual Parent Participation and Leadership in Education (A.P.P.L.E.) Expos, to help parents become more effective volunteers within schools and improve public education.  Ms. McWhorter-Broussard is a Girl Scout alumna and leader, and worked for Boys Club as a Cultural Arts Coordinator. Ms. Broussard speaks Spanish, and has a background in advertising and arts administration.