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The Band Booster is a great way to get involved in your students’ musical education, meet other band families, and keep informed of upcoming band events and special functions, and we can’t do this without you. It takes the whole community of caregivers, friends, and family to make the Lamar Scottie Band successful and we need your help! Our hope is to have 100% participation from all band families through either your time, talent, or treasures.
Family and business sponsorships are the largest single fundraising source for the Lamar Band Booster. Our sponsorship goal for this year is $10,000 — would you or your business consider supporting the band by making a tax-deductible donation? These donations help cover lesson and trip scholarships, as well as pay for the band’s social gatherings.
Our biggest volunteer needs for the year are Chairs for the 3 events that the booster runs. If you are interested in helping organize one of these events, please let us know. These activities don’t work without family support, so please keep an eye out for volunteer requests from the Booster Club or the Band Directors, and check Charms or the band website calendar for specific events.
School code is “scottieband”, then click ‘Volunteer Needs’.
Welcome to Lamar Middle School and Lamar Band Booster. Lamar Band Booster is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to supporting the band programs and Lamar Middle School and Fine Arts Academy in Austin, Texas.
Band boosters are involved with fundraising, chaperoning trips (to include football games and off-campus performances), assisting with concerts, and organizing various band student events. Band Boosters work closely with the Band Directors and meet monthly to discuss upcoming events and information.
The renowned Lamar Middle School Bands are directed by Luis Corpus and Thea Kilbane. The Lamar Scottie Band program consists of Beginning Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Advanced Percussion Ensemble and Jazz Factory.
Private lessons help children achieve the greatest amount of success in the least amount of time. Each session is based on the individual student’s learning style and learning pace.
Joel Blakeney
Liz Cardinal
Alicia Noack
Casey Burns
Lamar Middle School & Fine Arts Academy
6201 Wynona Ave.
Austin, TX 78757
Music Department Phone (512) 414-4549
Mr. Luis Corpus has been named the new Director of Bands at Lamar Middle School Fine Arts Academy in Austin, Texas. In addition to teaching band, marching band, private woodwind lessons, and sectional work in the greater Austin area, Mr. Corpus, a solo clarinetist, frequently performs with university wind symphonies, choral ensembles, chamber ensembles, and vocal soloists. He has served as principal clarinetist with the Victoria Symphony, Texas State Wind Symphony, and Texas State Symphony Orchestra. Additional music ensembles include the Texas State Opera, Texas State Clarinet Choir, the Texas State Bobcat Marching Band, and the Texas State Clarinet Choir. He frequently is invited to perform for premier music compositions by central Texas and nationally acclaimed composers. Mr. Corpus recently served as the associate band director at Americo Paredes Middle School in Austin School District prior to accepting the director’s position at Lamar Middle School.
Corpus, an All-State clarinetist is a native of Harlingen, Texas. His formal music education and studies include a Bachelor’s of Music Studies at Texas State University where he studied with internationally acclaimed, clarinet professor, Dr. Vanguel Tangarov. Corpus recently completed his Master’s Degree in Clarinet Performance under Professor Jonathan Gunn at The University of Texas Butler School of Music at Austin. In 2018 (?), Mr. Corpus took the stage in performance as a member in The University of Texas Wind Symphony, Professor Jerry Junkin, conductor, in an epic performance in The San Antonio’s Lila Cockrell Theatre at the annual Texas Music Educators Association special concert.
Luis Corpus has participated in numerous masterclasses with world-renowned artists of major music organizations and music schools. A few of these artists are members of the London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Conservatory, Julliard School of Music, Montreal Symphony, National Opera House in Paris, Texas Christian University, Austin Symphony Orchestra and many more. Luis Corpus also studied cello and violin in his undergraduate work at Texas State. Under the mentorship of Dr. Rebecca Tast, Corpus has studied orchestral pedagogy and teaching techniques. In the summer of 2016, Corpus was accepted into the “Balabanov’s House Music Days International Festival” in Plovdiv, Bulgaria where he worked closely with major international artists such as Philippe Cuper, Vangeul Tangarov, Petkko Radev, and Llian Iliev.
Following a robust instructional series of group sessions with high school students at John Connally, Charles Akins, Robert Hendrickson, and August Weiss High Schools as the clarinet instructor and woodwind specialist in music for the marching band, and selected Texas all-state literature, Mr. Corpus is excited to join the music faculty as the school’s newly appointed Director of Bands at Lamar MS Fine Arts Academy.
Thea Kilbane has been named the new Assistant Band Director at Lamar Middle School! Thea recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and is starting her first year of teaching this school year. While at the University of Texas, she performed with the Butler School of Music Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony, and Symphony Band as a clarinetist. Thea also served on the Butler School of Music Anti-Racism team and collaborated with Music Education administration and staff sharing goals and strategies to make the musical experience more inclusive for the future.
Thea has served on the marching band staff at Rouse High School in Leander ISD, and Austin High School in Austin ISD working and teaching alongside students as they prepared for the UIL State Marching Contest. For 2 seasons, Thea was a member of the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps, serving as the first female conductor in the corps 83 year history. Thea has been teaching private lessons at Leander Middle School in Leander ISD and Kealing Middle School in Austin ISD with her 18 student strong clarinet studio.
Thea has grown up in Austin, TX for her entire life, attending Bailey Middle School and Bowie High School in Austin ISD! Outside of music, Thea is a huge foodie, and is probably trying a new restaurant that’s has raving reviews. She is a cat mom to a tuxedo cat named Vincent, and is obsessed with anything coffee, reality TV, astrology, and makeup related! She is so elated to join the Lamar Middle School team and to meet her passionate, unique students and community this year!
Originally from Pflugerville, TX, Mr. Pride has been teaching, performing, and composing for nearly two decades and has had wonderful opportunities to perform and tour across much of North America and Europe. Getting his start at Texas State University where he earned a Bachelor’s in Music Education, Mr. Pride performed with the wind ensemble, percussion ensemble, steel drum band, and Bobcat Marching Band. Mr. Pride then went on to march and teach for multiple drum corps including Glassmen, Crossmen, Memphis Sound, Forte, and Phantom Regiment and held roles ranging from front ensemble instructor to Battery Coordinator. Mr. Pride has also worked with WGI groups Odyssey Percussion Theatre, Terminus Atlanta Percussion, Austin Independent, Gateway Independent, and Rise Percussion.
Mr. Pride holds a Master’s in Percussion Performance with certificates in Music Theory and College Teaching from the University of Colorado-Boulder, where he performed with the wind ensemble, symphony orchestra, percussion ensemble, latin jazz ensemble, and Brazilian Batéria. He is endorsed by Zildjian, Innovative Percussion, is an Honorary Member of Kappa Kappa Psi, and is a member of the Percussive Arts Society, Texas Music Educators Association, and Texas Bandmaster’s Association. You can learn and hear more about his work at pridepercussion.com. In his free time, Mr. Pride is an avid runner, rock climber, and enjoys spending time with his wife, Dr. Katie Harper, their son Emerson, and dogs Rach (short for Rachmaninoff) and Charlie.
