Elsabet Fisseha (Administrative Assistant) graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2002 with degrees in Music and Psychology. She started working for the UNC Bands as a student in August, 2000 and joined the full-time staff at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in April, 2004.

She currently serves as the Administrative Assistant for the UNC Bands, working closely with all aspects of the band program and the Department of Music Scholarship Committee. Fisseha is an honorary member of the Mu chapter of Mu Beta Psi.

 
Matt Savage, (Marching Percussion Instructor) graduate of the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY and The University of Southern California, has taught at every level of public education from elementary to the college level. Matt also has twenty-five years of playing and teaching experience in the marching percussion field.
His marching percussion experience includes playing snare drum with the legendary Bayonne Bridgemen and serving as percussion director and arranger for drum and bugle corps such as the Anaheim Velvet Knights, The Dutchboy of Kitchener, Ontario and the Canton Bluecoats. At the collegiate level, Matt has served as percussion instructor for the USC Trojan Marching Band and is currently director of marching percussion at The University of North Carolina where he has also in the past, served as Assistant Director of University Bands. He is heavily involved with the indoor percussion activity as an adjudicator for WGI.

Matt has recently delved into the art of drumstick and mallet design for the Pro-Mark drumstick company creating a signature line of sticks. His most recent publication is “Savage Rudimental Workshop”, a state of the art rudiment development book with 2 CD accompaniment published by Warner Bros. Music. Along with being a marching percussion specialist, Matt is a Remo hand drum artist and drum circle facilitator leading drum circles for a variety of both local and national events. He is a clinician for Pro-Mark Drumsticks, Yamaha Percussion, Sabian Cymbals, and Remo Inc.
Larry Harper
Assistant Marching Percussion Instructor
   
image Jessica Szewczyk
Guard Instructor
Jeff Simmons (Staff Arranger) has been with the Marching Tar Heels as the music arranger since 2002. A native of Atlanta, GA, is a graduate of the University of Georgia, B.M. 1988 in Music Ed., cum laude, and the University of South Carolina, M.M. 1996 in Saxophone Performance. Jeff has studied saxophone with Dr. Ken Fischer and Roger Pemberton and arranging, composition and jazz theory with Dick Goodwin and Bert Ligon.

Accomplished in many styles of music, as a saxophonist Jeff has performed with such diverse artists as Ray Charles, Randy Brecker, Mary Wilson, The Temptations, Louie Bellson, Jimmy Heath, Burt Bacharach, Tony Bennett, The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, The Savannah Symphony, The Savannah Jazz Orchestra, The North Carolina Symphony, among others. He has performed at many music festivals including the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Atlanta Jazz Festival, and the North Sea Jazz Festival. He was a featured artist and music arranger for the 2003 and 2004 Carolina Opry Christmas Specials.

As a composer/arranger, he writes special music arrangements for music groups throughout the United States.  His original compositions and arrangements for bands are published by Arranger's Publishing Company in Nashville, and Band Music Press in Chicago. In addition to his duties with UNC, Jeff is also an Adjunct Professor of Jazz History and Saxophone at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, NC.

Jeff resides with his wife, Trina; his son, Hunter; and Kodi the 'dawg', on Oak Island, NC.
Doyle Edwards (Drill Designer) began writing marching drill for the UNC Marching Tar Heels in the fall of 2000. He received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Central Missouri State University in 1987 and immediately began teaching instrumental music in Oregon, Missouri.
Prior to that, he performed as a member of the powerful Madison Scouts horn line from 1982 through 1985, as a member of the Olympic Band for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California and as a member of the Western Missouri British Brass Band. After teaching high school and middle school instrumental music for 10 years in Missouri, Edwards completed a Master of Business Administration degree from Webster University in St. Louis.

He now resides in Rolla, Missouri with his wife Micheline and 5 children where he is responsible for the marketing communications efforts at Brewer Science. Mr. Edwards has been writing drill professionally since the summer of 1986 and continues to be in demand as a marching band show designer, clinician and adjudicator.

Michael Tye
Announcer

 

 
   
Mark Manring (Staff Photographer) has been a photographer since age 15 when he developed black and white prints in his basement. As a high school photo editor and through college photography coursework, he has maintained a love for image making that eventually led to his creation of a full time business, Mark Manring Recording, Inc. (www.manring.net).
Combining his skills as a recording engineer with photography, he records and photographs performing groups to produce music CDs that include photo slide shows. As a freelance photographer he has served symphonies, bands, community choirs, churches, high schools, universities, as well as individual portraiture. He specializes in event photography covering things as varied as athletic events, church services, concerts, community outreach, political campaigns and weddings.

Mark is very happily married and has two daughters (one of which is a 2001 Carolina graduate). When not recording or shooting photos, he enjoys singing, all things computer related and meeting new people.
Chuck Williams (Videographer) graduated from UNC in 1972 with a degree in Industrial Relations. He was a french horn player for the marching and concert bands and was held leadership positions. Chuck's father and his son, Charles, both graduated from UNC and were involved in the marching and concert bands while at Carolina.
Chuck has been the videographer for the UNC Marching Band for the past 23 years. He has recently retired after 34 years in the criminal justice field; the last 26 years he served with the federal court system in the Easten District of North Carolina. Chuck now resides in the picturesque Asheville area with his wife, Jo Anne, a UNC graduate who was also involved in the band program and was the bell tower ringer. Chuck enjoys hiking, working out at the gym, and participating in many church and cultural arts events.
Evan Carroll (Webmaster) is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Information Science from the UNC-Chapel Hill where he graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor's degree in Information Science and a minor in Music. As an undergraduate, Evan participated in the Marching Tar Heels, University and Symphony Bands.

While in the Marching Tar Heels, Evan served three years as Online Producer, two as Section Captain (Trumpet) and one as Pep Band Conductor.  During the day, Evan is a User Experience Designer at Capstrat, a strategic communications firm in Raleigh.  There he puts his analytical and diagnostic skills to work developing web strategies, architectures and interfaces as well as performing user research and usability testing.  He is a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (Alpha Rho) and the Triangle Usability Professionals Association.