Dallas Winds Musicians (Brass/Percussion)

Dr. Derek J. Wright is an active performer and currently holds positions in the Dallas Winds, the West Texas Symphony, and the Amarillo Symphony. He has performed with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, New World Symphony, and countless other critically acclaimed ensembles. Derek has appeared as a soloist at multiple symposiums and education institutions.

Derek is also co-owner of Houghton Horns, one of the largest brass-specialty music shops in the country. He has designed multiple horns and mouthpieces for the company under the Houghton Horns and Verus brands. He has also spoken as an invited guest at multiple colleges and universities on the subjects of instrument design and acoustics. Derek appears regularly on the Houghton Horns YouTube channel.

Ben Ruiz joined the Dallas Winds in August 2023. He is currently an undergraduate student in his fourth year at the University of North Texas pursuing a double major in Music Education and Horn Performance. At the UNT, Ben is a member of the North Texas Wind Symphony and Symphony Orchestra.

Ben maintains a full teaching schedule, teaching regular private lessons and masterclasses at multiple campuses, including his alma mater, Marcus High School, where he has been working as a marching band instructor for several years. 

Ben is an alumni and fan of Drum and Bugle Corps. He marched mellophone with Carolina Crown in 2021, 2022, and 2023, and was a featured horn soloist in their 2023 field production (which won the Jim Ott award for best brass.)

Ben was a student of David Lesser in high school, and currently studies under Dr. Stacie Mickens at the University of North Texas.

Outside of music, Ben enjoys spending time with his friends and family, watching TV, playing with his dogs and cats, and trying new foods. Email

In his 25th year of teaching, Tim’s students have consistently earned honors including selection to the All-State, Area and Region Bands, Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago and The New World Symphony. Tim has contributed to a combined 18 Texas State Championships in Marching, Concert and Solo & Ensemble. In the summers he teaches Horn for the “Blast of Brass” Summer Music Conference. Tim has many students pursuing successful professional careers in music.

As a member of the Dallas Winds, Tim has performed on 20 Reference Recordings Compact Discs with Conductors Howard Dunn, Frederick Fennell, Austin Wintory and Jerry Junkin. Mr. Stevens has also performed with the Dallas Opera Orchestra, New Mexico Symphony, Wichita Falls Symphony, Plano Symphony Orchestra, Richardson Symphony Orchestra, Irving Symphony, Dallas Summer Musicals, Lyric Stage, Orchestra of New Spain, and the Lewisville Lake Symphony. As a freelance musician he has performed in the Bands and Orchestras of many popular performers such as Andrea Bocelli, Kenny G, Celtic Fire, The Three Irish Tenors, Schonberg and Boublil: Hear the People Sing World Tour, Diana Ross, Bette Midler, Brian Wilson, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Sandy Patty, The Spinners, The 5th Dimension, Alabama, The Oak Ridge Boys, and The Moody Blues.

Tim lives in Rockwall, Texas with his wife, Chrystal, their Black Lab Bandit and their four adopted cats Matilda, Ser Bandit, Marvin and Malchom. Email

Private Lessons

Private Lessons and master classes online. Beginners to College.

A native of Southeastern Illinois, Brian was first inspired to play the trumpet when he had a front row seat to hear the great Maynard Ferguson in 1988. Mentored in the public schools by his first trumpet teacher and band director Steven Bell, Brian first learned to play music by ear from recordings. He later attended Eastern Illinois University (BMus.) the Eastman School (M.Mus), and the University of Texas at Austin (DMA).

A noted Baroque trumpet player, Shaw’s 2008 recording Virtuoso Concertos for Clarino includes some of the most difficult pieces ever written for the instrument. Early Music America observed: “Shaw’s tone is beautiful, and his playing unfailingly musical… His is a voice that will make a major mark on Baroque trumpet playing.” His 2014 critically acclaimed modern solo trumpet recording, accompanied by the Dallas Wind Symphony and conductor Jerry Junkin, is titled redshift.

As a jazz trumpet player, Brian plays regularly with the LSU jazz faculty and leads a big band in Baton Rouge every December, which recently released a holiday-themed album titled Christmas at the Manship! Brian continues his work as co-author (with Nick Smart, Royal Academy of Music, London) on a biography of renowned jazz trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler, titled Song for Someone, which will be published by Equinox Books, London. His other books and transcriptions are published by Advance Music, Presser, Schott, and Universal Edition. Brian Shaw is proud to be a Yamaha Performing Artist.  Email

Dr. James Sims earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Trumpet Performance from The University of Texas at Austin where he studied with Ray Crisara. His Bachelor’s degree is from Baylor University. He is currently Principal Trumpet of the East Texas Symphony and the Wichita Falls Symphony and has played with numerous other orchestras. He is also Assistant Principal Trumpet of the Dallas Winds. Dr. Sims performs regularly with Casa Manana Musicals and has performed with the Dallas Summer Musicals. Dr. Sims has taught at all levels including positions at Texas A&M University-Commerce, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Tarleton State University, and the University of Texas at Tyler. As a soloist, he has appeared with the East Texas Symphony, the Wichita Falls Symphony, and the Dallas Winds (formerly the Dallas Wind Symphony). He was soloist for the world premier performance of Kenji Bunch’s Double Talk: A Concerto for Marimba and Trumpet and Orchestra.   Email

Private Lessons

30, 45 or 60 minute lessons available via Zoom for all skill levels.

Private Lessons

Offering online lessons and master classes. Play-along warm-up videos available for my students as well. Zoom, FaceTime and Skype lessons available.

Dr. Kelly has performed with the Plano Symphony, Northeast Texas Symphony, Mobile Symphony and Opera Orchestras, Gulf Coast Symphony, Mississippi Symphony, Meridian Symphony, Sinfonia Gulf Coast, Terre Haute Symphony and Brass Quintet, Philharmonia à Vent, Columbus Brass, The Prairie Ensemble,  Champaign-Urbana (IL) Symphony and Brass Quintet, Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana (BACH), and the Peoria Bach Festival Orchestra. He is also a founding member of The Ambassador Brass Quintet, which has presented concerts and workshops in the US, Thailand, Vietnam and China. More recently Dr. Kelly has presented recitals and master classes at the Campina Grande International Music Festival (Brazil) and Shenzen Conservatory (China). He is principal trumpet of the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria, and Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra in Boulder.

Dr. Kelly holds a BS in trumpet performance from Austin Peay State University (TN) and a MM and DMA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has been designated a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM) by the Music Teachers National Association and an artist/clinician for Yamaha Corporation of America.  Email

Jared Broussard joined the trumpet section of the Dallas Winds in January of 2014. He is currently Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and is Principal Trumpet of the Valley Symphony Orchestra. Jared loves his time performing in the Dallas Winds and he aspires to introduce audiences to ways of experiencing the trumpet in new and interesting concepts. His interests include food, travelling, military history, and he is an avid sports fan. Email

Barney McCollum, Bass Trombonist, joined the Dallas Winds in 1995. He is a highly active performer in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, also performing with the East Texas Symphony Orchestra, Plano Symphony Orchestra, and Imperial Brass. He has also appeared with the Dallas Opera, Fort Worth Symphony, and many other groups in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Previously, he served as a bass trombonist in the “President’s Own” United States Marine Band in Washington, D.C., where duties included performances at the White House, Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery, as well as other prominent venues in and around D.C. During this period, he also performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington Ballet Orchestra, Washington Opera, Baltimore Opera, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Wolf Trap Filene Center Orchestra and many other groups.

Barney hails from Stephenville, TX and holds degrees from East Texas State University (B.M. Ed) and The Catholic University of America (M.M. Performance). His teachers were Dr. Curtis Owen, Dr. Neil Humfeld, Dr. Milton Stevens and additional studies with Charles Vernon and David Fedderly.

He was one of the founding members of the professional trombone quartet, Stentorian Consort, and can be heard on group’s two recordings: “Myths & Legends” and “Diversions”, as well as numerous recordings with the Dallas Winds, including the Grammy nominated recording “At The Movies”. He performs on M&W custom trombones and is a M&W performing artist.

He lives in Fort Worth with his wife Fran and enjoys biking, running, reading, and making sourdough bread. Email

A native of Plano Texas, Jacob Hord is the timpanist for both the Dallas Winds and the Springfield Symphony. He has also performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, and Stockton Symphony. In the summer of 2023, Jacob was the Timpanist of the National Repertory Orchestra summer festival in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Jacob is also an organist and is currently serving part-time as the organist for Northridge Presbyterian church in Dallas, Texas. Formerly, he was the organist for Cross of Christ Lutheran Church in DeSoto, Texas, and interim organist at Church of the Advent of Christ the King in San Francisco, California.

He holds a bachelors degree from Southern Methodist University and masters degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, both in Percussion Performance. Jacob studied percussion and timpani with Douglas Howard, George Nickson, Drew Lang, Brian Jones, and organ with Scott Dettra at SMU. He then studied with Ed Stephan, Jacob Nissly, and Jack van Geem at the San Francisco Conservatory.

Jacob enjoys many outdoor activities including hiking, long-distance running, cycling, skiing, and volleyball, to name a few. Email

Naoko Nakamura, is the Adjunct Assistant Professor of Harp at the Meadows School of Music, Southern Methodist University and the Principal Harpist of the Dallas Winds. Since 1998, she has maintained an active performing and teaching schedule in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In April of 2014, she performed the world premiere of Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Wind Ensemble by Damian Montano with the Dallas Winds. She is an active chamber musician, having appeared at the “Cliburn at the Modern” series, the Fine Arts Chamber Players in Dallas, the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth, and the Chamber Music in the Galleries at the Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art. As a soloist, she has been invited to perform in Japan, Honduras, Peru, and Costa Rica. At the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in both Harp and Piano under the tutelages of the renowned harp pedagogue, Alice Chalifoux. She received a Master of Music degree in Harp Performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University under the direction of Paula Page. Email

Private Lessons

Private lessons available for all levels and ages, including lever and pedal harps.

Drew spent eight summers as principal percussionist for the Breckenridge Music Festival in Breckenridge, CO, and one summer as principal percussionist of the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, CO. As a marimba specialist, has commissioned and premiered and recorded works for marimba in solo, chamber and concerto settings. His most recent project was a consortium commission of 11 University programs of the piece NAMASTE: Concerto for Marimba and Percussion Ensemble by G. Bradley Bodine. Drew appears throughout the United States as a soloist and in his duo with Flutist Helen Blackburn. He is a contributing author to the Revised and Enhanced 3rd Edition of Teaching Percussion by Gary Cook.

Drew is Lecturer of Percussion at Southern Methodist University and is percussion instructor at the Eastfield and Brookhaven campuses of the Dallas Colleges. He is also founder and director of the MARIMBA MADNESS summer Junior High/High School percussion camp and plays in the rock bands Scarlet Vermillion, The Alanis Morissette Project, and Eclipse. Drew endorses Vic Firth Sticks and Sabian Cymbals.  Email

Private Lessons

Private lessons available, beginner through advanced.