Matt Ehlers (McCallum HS)

Sketchbook with Daniel Montoya Jr.

Matt Ehlers just finished his thirteenth year at A.N. McCallum High School and Lamar Middle School Fine Arts Academies in Austin, Texas where he serves as Associate Band Director/Percussion Director. Originally from Seward, Nebraska, he graduated Cum Laude with a degree in Music Education from the University of North Texas. As Associate Director of Bands at McCallum High School, Ehlers conducts the Beginner and Advanced Steel Bands, high school and middle school percussion ensembles, the marching percussion ensemble, 6th-grade beginning percussion class, and co-directs the JV Full Orchestra. Ehlers was awarded McCallum High School’s “Teacher of the Year” award for the 2010-2011 school year. In 2006, Ehlers founded the annual “Knight of Percussion Benefit Concert” with the intent to raise money and awareness for a different local charity each year through a percussion concert performed by McCallum High School and Lamar Middle School percussion sections. Ehlers served as board president of the Small Victories Foundation, a nonprofit organization that empowers individuals recovering from traumatic brain injuries through participation in the arts from 2014-2017. In 2013, with the help of a Creative Classroom grant, Ehlers founded the thirty-piece Brazilian Samba School, known as the “Samba Knights,” at McCallum High School and created a community partnership with the Austin Samba School. During the summertime, Matt co-directs two annual youth steel band camps in Austin that he helped create in 2007. You can find many of his original steel drum compositions and arrangements at BoxFish Music and Drop6 Media/Row-Loff Productions. Matt and his wife Katie live in north Austin with their daughter Lily. They enjoy spending time outside, a good BBQ, and attempting various renovations on their house --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sketchbookpodcast/support