Band Directors

Jarrod Beard is entering his fourth year as the Director of Bands at Ryan High School. Mr. Beard will be teaching Wind Ensemble, AP Music Theory, and the Ryan Raider Marching Band, and assisting the middle school feeder programs. Mr. Beard previously served as the Associate Director of Bands at Ryan High School, the Assistant Director and Jazz Director at Rockwall High School, and an Assistant Director at John Horn High School. 

Mr. Beard received his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education and his Master’s degree in Trumpet Performance at Stephen F. Austin State University. He also received a Performer’s Diploma from Southern Methodist University. In college, Mr. Beard performed with the Lumberjack Marching Band, Wind Ensemble, Orchestra of the Pines, The Swingin’ Axes, and the Faculty Brass Quintet. After finishing his college training, Mr. Beard had the pleasure of performing with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Winds, and many regional orchestras in the DFW area. 

As an educator, Mr. Beard has received consistent success at UIL Concert and Sight-reading. Mr. Beard also assisted the Rockwall High School Orange Wave Band in earning a spot at the 2018 UIL 6A State Marching Contest. Mr. Beard was also active with the jazz bands at Rockwall High School. Rockwall Jazz 1 was selected to perform at the 2018 TMEA Clinic and Convention as the “Invited Jazz Band”. Only one high school jazz band is selected for this honor every year. Both jazz bands at Rockwall received consistent placement among the top ranks at the TCU jazz festival during Mr. Beard’s time. He was the Region III Jazz 2 Band clinician in 2017, and the Region III Jazz Coordinator in 2020-21. 

When Mr. Beard has free time, he enjoys playing golf and spending time with his kids. Mr. Beard met his amazing wife, Megan, at SFA and she is (coincidentally) a 2007 graduate of Ryan High School. They have two smart, stubborn, and incredibly energetic boys, Jacob and William. 

Zane Crider is the Associate Director of Bands and the Jazz Director at Ryan High School. He received his Bachelor’s of Music Education from the University of North Texas where he studied saxophone. During his time at UNT, he participated in various ensembles, including the UNT Wind Ensemble, the Latin Jazz Lab, the 7’O Clock Lab, and various saxophone quartets. Mr. Crider also took percussion lessons while at UNT, participating in the Brazilian Drum Ensemble, the 8’O Clock Steel band, the Beginner Afro-Cuban Ensemble, the African Drum Ensemble, and went on to march snare drum with the Memphis Blues Drum and Bugle Corps. He also participated in the UNT Chorale Choir. Outside of music, Mr. Crider was also a member of the UNT Powerlifting Team.

Outside of school, Mr. Crider enjoys camping, making music with his friends, and supporting local music artists and venues. He is also an unapologetic specialty coffee fanatic.

Denton Sutherlin is a percussion educator and performer with a wide variety of experiences. He values being well rounded and brings that experience to his teaching and performing.

Originally from Indiana, Mr. Sutherlin grew up on a small goat farm east of Indianapolis. He knew he wanted to be a music teacher since the end of sixth grade. Once he got to high school, he transferred schools leaving the small goat farm behind to find a better music education in the city.

After graduating high school Mr. Sutherlin attended Indiana University where he majored in Music Education. He performed in many ensembles including the Afro-Cuban ensemble, Brazilian ensemble, wind ensemble, percussion ensemble and philharmonic orchestra. While at IU, Mr. Sutherlin studied percussion with Kevin Bobo, John Tafoya, Michael Spiro and Steve Houghton.

During the summers of Mr. Sutherlin’s undergraduate degree, he kept busy with all kinds of activities. He spent two summers marching drum corps, one with The Mandarins and the other with The Cavaliers. He also attended summer festivals such as the Chosen Vale Percussion Festival and Nief-Norf Summer Festival. 

Mr. Sutherlin got his first job as the Percussion Director at Concord Community Schools. At Concord, he taught 6-12 percussion classes, organized the percussion ensemble concert, and directed the marching percussion. While at Concord both the marching band and concert band had made state finals, and the percussion studio grew to over seventy students. He taught at Concord for three years before making the move to Texas. 

The University of North Texas is what brought Denton to Denton! Starting a masters degree in percussion performance, Mr. Sutherlin spent two years performing with ensembles like the wind symphony, percussion ensemble and Afro-Cuban ensemble. He was also a teaching fellow with a studio of undergraduate percussion majors and teaching responsibilities including percussion methods, percussion ensemble and steel pan ensemble.

Mr. Sutherlin currently lives in lewisville with his fiancé and their toy poodle, Minnie. Outside of music, Mr. Sutherlin enjoys running, hiking, camping and kayaking.