John Willmarth is the Director of Steel Bands at Summerville High School. The Green Wave Steel Band is one of the largest high school programs of its kind, with 6 bands and over 100 students participating each year. In addition, he teaches private percussion lessons and serves as a faculty member for PATHWAY, a summer program that nurtures gifted and talented middle school students in the arts. He has previously served as an adjunct faculty member at Charleston Southern University, the University of Kentucky, Centre College, and Director of Percussion at Summerville High School in Summerville, SC, McKinney High School in McKinney, TX and Lafayette High School in Lexington, KY. As a percussion consultant and clinician, he has worked with high school programs across the country and for Music for All (Bands of America), The Yamaha Corporation of America, and the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts.


An active performer, Mr. Willmarth is currently the drummer and co-director for Word and Table; a contemporary worship service at Bethany United Methodist Church. He has extensive experience as a jazz musician, performing regularly in the Charleston area. In addition, he performs as a steel pan soloist for private and corporate events. A former member of the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps, he was honored to be a part of three Drum Corps International High Percussion awards and two DCI World Championships.

An active composer, Mr. Willmarth has written over 100 percussion compositions and arrangements published by John Willmarth Music, Musicon Publications, Row-Loff Productions, Sheet Music Plus, and Tapspace Publications. His compositions have been performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) and the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. His series of books, The Sight Reading Workbook for Steel Band, is the first of its kind; a classroom method dedicated to developing sight reading skills on various types of steel pans in a group environment. In 2006, he received 2nd place honors in the Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest for his solo timpani piece, Bushido: The Way of the Warrior. An experienced arranger, he has written marching percussion books for numerous high schools as well as the University of Kentucky, the University of Iowa, and Charleston Southern University. 
Mr. Willmarth earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Kentucky under the tutelage of James Campbell and a master’s degree from the University of Iowa in percussion performance where he studied with Dan Moore, James Dreier and John Rapson. He is an artist with Innovative Percussion, Evans Drumheads, and the Yamaha Corporation of America.