Directors and Staff

Mrs. Cooper is a 2013 graduate of Lakeside High School and has been assisting with the guard ever since. During this time, the guard program has grown in size, scope, and competitive success, and now consists of a guard class that meets during the school day, the fall guard section of the marching band, and three or four competitive winter guard teams each season. She previously taught English at both Lakeside and Harlem High School, also serving as senior project coordinator at both schools. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Master of Education in Instruction at Augusta University. Mrs. Cooper is married to Dalton Cooper, a graduate of Augusta University and the USC School of Law and partner at John W. Harte Law Firm in Aiken. Dalton played trombone in the Lakeside Band Program, where he and Mrs. Cooper met at their freshman band camp. They have a daughter named Charlotte (born in October of 2020), a son named William (born in July of 2022), a son named Grier (born July of 2024), and two snuggly cats named Whit and Hemy.

Mrs. Ladun was named Band Director at Lakeside Middle School in 2022. She completed her student teaching at Lakeside High School with Mr. Tau and Mr. Best in the spring semester of 2021, graduating from Augusta University with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education. She also just began work towards her masters degree through the American Band College, a summer residency program for band directors through Central Washington University. She just married Jakob Nelson, a researcher in the Kinesiology Department at the University of South Carolina, who proposed to her on the band's trip to perform at Pearl Harbor in December of 2023. They have goofy rescue pups named Coda and Jordan.

Mrs. Norwood started teaching at Stallings Island in 2016, where she also serves on the teacher leadership team. She was recognized in 2018 by WJBF News with the Golden Apple award for her exemplary teaching. Mrs. Norwood has previously worked in the Augusta University Music Conservatory Program, Effingham County music programs, and currently assists with the Lakeside High School Marching Band. Mrs. Norwood is an active performer on flute, most often with the Savannah River Winds.

She graduated from Augusta State University with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and is currently pursing a Master of Music Education at The University of Georgia. Mrs. Norwood is a Columbia County native and graduate of Greenbrier High School, where she met her husband Brock, a special investigator for CACI International Inc. They have a daughter named Lillian (born October of 2019), a son named Xander (born November of 2022), and a son named Landon (born in September of 2024).

Mr. Gruen is a Lakeside High School alum and former trumpet in the Pride of the Panthers Marching Band. He oversees the marching band's visual and movement program, oversees show choreography, and also assists with the winter guard program. He has extensive experience in the marching activity after his years at Lakeside as a performer with Spirit of Atlanta in 2015 and 2016, the Rosemont Cavaliers in 2017, and the Concord Blue Devils in 2018. He works as a manager the restaurant industry and also consults with other local high school marching bands.

Taylor Best, Mr. Best's wife, co-leads visual fundamentals instructions and assists teaching visual technique and drill. She is a freelance graphic designer and photographer, specializing in wedding photography and shooting throughout the Southeast. She previously worked at an Augusta-based marketing firm and is a graduate of Clemson University. Mrs. Best was a drum major with the Nation Ford High School Marching Band for their first two state championships in 2009 and 2010 and was an All-Region oboe player.

Mr. Tau served as Director of Bands at Lakeside High School from 2002 to 2021. Under his direction, the program more than doubled in size and gained a reputation as one of the finest programs in the CSRA. In 2019, the Lakeside Wind Ensemble performed at the Music for All Southeastern Regional Concert Festival and the program received the Georgia Music Educators Association 2018-2019 Exemplary Performance Award. He was also the 2010 Lakeside High School Teacher of the Year. Before coming to the CSRA, Mr. Tau taught band, science, and coached the nationally-ranked baseball team at Northwest Christian Academy in Miami, Florida. Mr. Tau regularly performs as a saxophonist and marched mellophone with the Crossmen Drum & Bugle Corps in 1982 and 1983.

Mr. Tau was recently appointed also serves in the music ministry at his wife Ruthanne, previously an elementary school teacher in Richmond County. They have two grown and married sons and two young grandchildren. Mr. Tau received a Bachelor of Science in both Music Education and Science Education from Liberty University, where he and Ruthanne met in marching band. He also holds a Master of Education in Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Phoenix.

Ms. Peavler is a graduate of Lakeside High School where she served on leadership in both fall and winter guard. She returned to begin helping with our winter guard teams in 2024. She has also since completed summer tours with both Southwind Drum & Bugle Corps (2023) and Southwind Drum & Bugle Corps (2024).

Courtney Burlison started working with the LHS Bands in 2022, where she now oversees the membership and operations of the Front Ensemble section of the marching band. She is a student at Augusta University and a 2017 graduate of Evans HS. She was in the front ensembles of the Southwind Drum and Bugle Corps in 2019 and Equinox Indoor Percussion in 2020 and 2021.

Sagar Singhal, LHS class of 2019, is a sales data analyst at Club Car and graduate student at Georgia Tech, where he previously graduated with High Honors in Computer Science and Economics. He was a four-year member of the drum line and was a section leader for the first year that Mr. Witmer visited as a guest instructor for band camp. His mother Meenu Singhal was a four-year member of the Lakeside Color Guard from 1989 to 1992, serving as a section leader her senior year.

Mr. Seng is an alumnus of North Augusta High School and is in the P.A. graduate program at Augusta University. He was a performer with Spirit of Atlanta Drum & Bugle Corps in 2017 and 2018, the Boston Crusaders Drum & Bugle Corps in 2019, and Etude Winter Guard in 2019 and 2020. He has worked as a guest instructor with several schools in the CSRA and provides band camp guard instruction each year for the Bands of America Grand National Finalist Dobyns-Bennet High School Marching Band in Kingsport, TN.

Greg Bimm served as Director of Bands at Marian Catholic High School from 1977 through 2023. Under Bimm’s direction, the Marian Band grew from 70 to over 280 members and built a reputation as one of the premier high school band programs in the U.S. Honors include 7 BOA Grand National championships, 21 BOA National class championships, and 34 consecutive BOA National Finalist appearances. Marian has won 42 successive Illinois State marching class championships. The concert bands at Marian performed at the first BOA National Concert Festival and at numerous other state and national conventions. They have been undefeated in Catholic school concert contests for 41 years. They’ve appeared in the Macy’s, Presidential Inaugural, and Rose parades and are among the few to receive both the Sudler Flag for concert band excellence and the Sudler Shield for marching band by the John Philip Sousa Foundation.

Bimm has received numerous NBA Citations of Excellence, the national ASBDA Stanbury Award for young band directors (1983), and twice the Sudler Order of Merit from the John Philip Sousa Foundation. In 1995, Bimm was the first high school band director to conduct the Illinois All-State band. Bimm received the Mary Hoffman Award of Excellence from IMEA and received career recognition from the Illinois Alliance for Arts Education. He was named a Lowell Mason Fellow by the NAfME received the Distinguished Service Award from the Archdiocese of Chicago. Bimm was inducted into the inaugural class of the ISU College of Fine Arts Hall of Fame, the Distinguished Alumni at LaSalle-Peru Township High School, and the MFA-BOA Hall of Fame. Bimm received an honorary doctorate in music education from the Vandercook College of Music and the Chicagoland Music Educator John Paynter Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019, Bimm was honored by the Midwest Clinic as a Clinic Legend and has been a member of the ABA since 1994.

Dr. Vandewalker was previously Performing Arts Coordinator for Fulton County Schools, Assistant Director of Bands at Georgia State University, and (most notably for our purposes) Director of Bands at Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Georgia, where he led the program to national prominence in all performance arenas. He has been a huge resource to our program for the last few years, visiting once or twice a semester to provide professional development for the directors, musical instruction for the students, and strategic planning for the boosters.

Christin Sharp Brown currently resides in Greenville, SC where she works as a NICU nurse. She earned her nursing degree at Clemson University. Ms. Sharp is an alumnus of Nation Ford High School in Fort Mill, SC, where she was a color guard member and flutist in the concert bands. She was a member of the dance line and flag line at Carolina Crown from 2011-2015, aging out as guard co-captain. She has worked with numerous school guards across the South Carolina Upstate and is currently on the guard staff with James F. Byrnes High School. She has been visiting Lakeside since 2018 to augment the instruction for both our fall guard and winter guard teams, as well as to provide dance choreography for our competitive shows during both seasons.

Dr. Brinberg currently serves as the Wind Ensemble Director and Tuba Instructor at Augusta University in Augusta, GA. He completed his Doctor of Musical Arts in Wind Band Conducting at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, studying with Dr. Kevin Geraldi and Dr. Stephen Peterson as well as, working with Barry Houser and the Marching Illini. Prior to Illinois, Dr. Brinberg received his Master of Music in Wind Conducting at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, studying with Professor Steven D. Davis, and earned his Bachelor of Music Education with a Minor in Wind Conducting from Indiana University, studying tuba with Daniel Perantoni.

Dr. Brinberg’s research interests include a variety of subjects, recently focusing on Chen Yi, nontraditional concert venues, tuba pedagogy, and cultural diplomacy. He has presented at the CBDNA North Central and Southwestern Division conferences, the College Music Society Great Plains Regional Conference, and has given several virtual presentations through the CBDNA webinar series. His scholarship has been published in the Journal of Band Research and has contributed to The Instrumentalist and The Collective. Dr. Brinberg is an active tuba performer and pedagogue, recently presenting recitals during his studies in Illinois and Kansas City.

Before graduate studies, Dr. Brinberg served as assistant band director at Discovery Middle School in Indiana, where he team-taught four concert bands, two jazz bands, and was on the marching band staff with Penn High School. He also served as an ISSMA Solo and Ensemble and High School Organizational Contest adjudicator and the IBA All-State Tuba adjudicator. Dr. Brinberg is a member of CBDNA, ITEA, GMEA, and Brother of Kappa Kappa Psi.

Mr. Warren is currently a doctoral student and graduate assistant with the University of South Carolina Bands. He was previously Director of Bands at Central-Carroll High School in Carrollton, Georgia, Assistant Director of Bands at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and Associate Director of Bands at Rome High School in Rome, Georgia. He was also corps director at Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps of Rockford, Illinois, where he had marched and served as a drum major, winning the Drum Corps International James Jones Leadership Award in 2014. Mr. Warren attended Berry College in Rome, Georgia, for his undergraduate degree and earned a Master of Music Education from the University of Georgia. He and his wife Allison Warren relocated to Augusta in the summer of 2024 for her to begin dental school at the Dental College of Georgia at Augusta University.