In 1996, Mr. Schmuck studied percussion performance at Parkland College in Champaign, IL. While there, he performed in the drumline with University of Illinois Marching Illini on tenors serving as section leader for three years. During that time, Mr. Schmuck performed in many jazz, symphonic, and music theater ensembles around the Champaign/Urbana area. Mr. Schmuck also performed with the eight time world champion Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps from Rosemont, IL in the tenor section which won the Fred Sanford High Percussion Award in 1999. In 2000, he also performed his WGI age out season with the University of Kentucky Comp Line, winning first place in the Collegiate Division.
Mr. Schmuck moved to the Chicago area in 2000 where he’s worked as a percussion instructor, private teacher, music arranger, clinician, and adjudicator. He went on to work with the Cavaliers D&BC from 2001 to 2003 as Tenor Technician and worked with the percussion sections for the University of Illinois Marching Illini and the Northern Illinois University Marching Huskies. Mr. Schmuck has spent the past 12 years teaching percussion at Prospect High School in Mt. Prospect, IL and has consulted many marching programs in the Chicago area. He was the founding director of the Chicago Bears Drumline as well as a founding member of the Chicago Bulls Stampede Drumline. Mr. Schmuck also served as Tenor Tech for the Pioneer Indoor Drumline for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
Mr. Schmuck is a summa cum laude graduate of VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, IL where he received his Bachelor of Music Education in 2011. While at VanderCook, he performed in the percussion ensemble, played percussion and french horn in the Symphonic Band, cello in the Philharmonic Orchestra, and sang tenor in the Concert Choir and Collegiate Chorale giving him the opportunity to perform with the Symphonic Band at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.