Richard Kearns (Burleson Centennial HS)

Sketchbook with Daniel Montoya Jr.

It was Monday, January 21, 1985. In that special week of January people in US were listening to "Like A Virgin" by Madonna and in the UK, "I Want To Know What Love Is" by Foreigner was in the top 5 hits. "The Breakfast Club", "Witness," & "Heaven Help Us" were popular movies of the year. And on the day of the second inauguration of President Ronald Reagan took place, Richard Kearns was born unto this world in Greenville, TX, the “cotton capital of the world!” Richard Kearns serves as an Assistant Director, Percussion Instructor at Centennial High School in the Burleson Independent School District in Burleson, TX. He was previously the Percussion Director of Azle High School in Azle, TX where the Azle Drumline and Percussion Section won numerous awards including Lonestar Classic Champions, NTCA Champions, the 2014 TCGC Perc Scholastic Open Champions and were Open Class Semi-Finalists at the WGI World Championships in Dayton, Ohio. His abilities as a conceptual and visual designer for Marching Band and Indoor Drumline has turned out many crowd-pleasing productions, including the 2016 WGI Perc Ind Open Gold Medalists, Vigilantes Indoor Percussion, and the 2017 Perc Scholastic Open Gold Medalists and the 2018 & 2019 Perc Scholastic World 6th place Finalists, Burleson Centennial High School. Prior to Azle, Richard was the Percussion Director at Palestine High School, as well as Battery/Drumline Coordinator at Tyler Junior College. Upon joining the Palestine Band Staff in 2008, the PHS Percussion Program received numerous awards in the TCGC & NTCA Indoor Drumline Circuits, Lonestar & Plano Drumline Competitions. In 2011, the Palestine Indoor Drumline was the TCGC Open Class Champion. His instructional contributions for TJC helped lead the group to their WGI PIO World Championship in 2008, promotion to WGI World Class, and becoming consecutive Finalists at the WGI World Championships. Richard attended Tyler Junior College and was section leader for the TJC Drumline. After attending TJC, Richard continued his studies at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas where his focus was Music Education. Richard’s drum corps performance experience was with the Capital Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps and Magic of Orlando. He later returned to the staff of Capital Regiment as the Snare Technician. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sketchbookpodcast/support