Directors' Corner

Chase Davidson is currently in his sixth year of teaching with Saraland City Schools. 2018 marks his third year as the Director of Bands at Saraland High School. Prior to this, he served as the assistant Band Director at Saraland High School and Middle School. Chase oversees all activities within the instrumental music department at Saraland High School. He currently teaches Marching Band, Concert Band, Percussion Ensemble, Beginning/Advanced Guitar, and Special Needs Hand Drum Class. He also assists other staff with programming, rehearsal/event planning for Spartan Jazz Ensemble, and Saraland High School Winter Guard.

Chase has served as Music Director within several churches along the Gulf Coast including Lakeview Church(MS), FBCS(MS), and BSBC(AL). He currently helps plan/rehearse DWBC College/Youth Music ensembles. He also serves as a sustitute music leader, guitar player, and percussionist for DWBC(AL) when he is available. Chase is an advocate for music as he has organized multiple community music performances, fundraisers, and national based trips. He also subs for local music ensembles on a regular basis (Vocal, Guitar, Drumset, Orchestral Percussion).

Chase Davidson is originally from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He grew up in Wiggins and graduated from Stone High School in 2008. Music has always been a big part of his life. He began playing percussion at the age of ten when he purchased his first drumset. He began playing Guitar and piano when he was fifteen years old. Chase has been apart of several musical groups and organizations throughout his musical career. These groups include marching Bands, rock/pop bands, jazz bands, church music groups, orchestral music groups, and percussion ensembles, and community bands. He frequently spends time in his home studio to write music for percussion, band, and guitar. He also enjoys carpentry, home improvement, and classic car restoration.

Chase and his wife, Monica, have been married for four years and live in West Mobile. They have three dogs named Trolly, Layla, and Nellie. They are expecting their first child, Cannon Reed Davidson, to be born in April of 2019.

Destin Hinkel is a 2014 graduate of East Central High School in Hurley, Mississippi where he received an Advanced Diploma with Highest Honors. He went on to major in music education at the University of South Alabama where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2018 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music with a concentration in music education.

Furthering his music education, Mr. Hinkel remains active in summer music programs and is an alumni of the 2016 and 2018 Southeast Trombone Symposium. He was also accepted into the 2018 Sewanee Summer Music Festival and the Rafael Mèndez Brass Institute. Through all of these programs, Mr. Hinkel has received coachings from Jeremy Moeller (Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra), Steve Lange (Boston Symphony Orchestra), and Joseph Alessi (New York Philharmonic/The Juilliard School). He has also received trombone lessons from Michael Powell (American Brass Quintet/The Juilliard School), Jonathan Whitaker (University of Alabama), Brad Kerns (University of Kentucky), Peter Ellefson (Indiana University), and Elliot Chasanov (University of Illinois). All of these coachings and lessons have furthered Mr. Hinkel’s knowledge as a trombonist and music educator.

Mr. Hinkel has held many brass technician positions for band camps throughout the Gulf Coast area. His most recent position was the Low Brass Instructor at Gautier High School in Gautier, Mississippi. In this capacity, Mr. Hinkel worked with the low brass (trombone, euphonium, tuba) students at this school during band camp to help them prepare for a successful year. For every year that he worked with this group, they went on to earn all superior ratings at marching band contests and evaluations throughout the state of Mississippi.

Mr. Hinkel also served the University of South Alabama throughout his undergraduate career in two separate student assistant positions on campus. The first position was that of Office Assistant for the Communications Department where he assisted the accounting clerk with clerical responsibilites, office organization, and meeting planning. The second position was that of Recording Technician for the Music Department where he recorded all concerts that took place in the Laidlaw Performing Arts Center.

Mr. Hinkel completed his student teaching internship at Semmes Middle School with Ms. Natalie Hughes and at Davidson High School with Mr. Tim Beattie and Mr. Jeremy Messer.

Mr. Hinkel is a Mississippi native and has lived all over the East Coast because of his father’s career in the United States Coast Guard. Mr. Hinkel is an active trombonist in the Mobile and Mississippi Gulf Coast areas. He provides private lessons to trombone students in this region, and he regularly performs with groups in the area. Aside from his career in music and music education, Mr. Hinkel enjoys traveling, and makes a point to visit cities from all over the world whenever possible. Mr. Hinkel also enjoys spending time out on the water, jogging around the neighborhood, and tinkering with anything electronic. He currently resides in Gautier, MS with his fiancée, Jessica.