Main Navigation
- Home
- Bachelor's Degree Program
- Master's Degree Program
- Areas of Study
- Facilities
- Scholarships
-
Music Faculty
- Michael Barta
- George Brozak
- Christopher Butler
- Jessica Butler
- Rossana Cauti
- Susan Davenport
- David Dillard
- Emerson Eads
- Anthony Gray
- Taylor Hesskamp
- Maria V. Johnson
- Yuko Kato
- Richard Kelley
- Edwin Lacy
- Isaac Lausell
- Jiyeon Lee
- Junghwa Lee
- Eric P. Mandat
- Christopher Morehouse
- James Reifinger
- Carissa Scroggins
- Angela Shultz
- Brittainy Spears
- Ricky Spears
- Christopher Walczak
- William Cernota
-
Contact Us
1220 Douglas Drive
Carbondale, IL 62901
618-453-7482
admissions@siu.edu
Main Content
Christopher Butler
Christopher Butler, Assistant Professor, Assistant Director School of Music
Percussion & Music Technology
Dr. Christopher Butler is a percussion educator, artist, conductor, author, and composer with experience in all facets of percussion. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Percussion and Music Technology at Southern Illinois University. He also serves as Assistant Director of the SIU School of Music, where he handles all recruitment activities. He is a proud endorser of Marimba One and Innovative Percussion.
Dr. Butler is an active performer and clinician who frequently visits high schools and universities, presenting on a variety of topics, including music technology, electro-acoustic works for percussion, snare drum, marimba, timpani, drum set, multi-percussion, orchestral excerpts, percussion ensemble, and more. In addition, Dr. Butler has presented and performed at numerous international conferences and contemporary music festivals, including the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the College Music Society, and the Outside the Box New Music Festival. His compositions and methods for percussion are published through Tapspace Publications and Meredith Music. He is a frequent contributor to the Percussive Arts Society and currently serves on its Music Technology Committee. In the past, he has served as President, Vice President, and Director of Publications for the Illinois Percussive Arts Society.
Office: Dr. Butler has earned music performance degrees from the University of Kentucky (DMA 2016), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (MM 2012), and Columbus State University (BM 2010). His past teachers include Prof. James Campbell, Prof. William Moersch, Prof. Ricardo Flores, Dr. Paul Vaillancourt, and Prof. John David. In addition, Dr. Butler has studied Balinese Gamelan with I Ketut Gede Asnawa and West African drumming with Bolokada Conde. Past academic awards include the Theodore Presser Graduate Music Award, Cooke Fellowship (UIUC), Swanson Family Percussion Fellowship (UIUC), Tower Scholar (CSU), and Hope Scholarship (CSU). Finally, Dr. Butler completed his dissertation titled Understanding the Percussion Works of Alejandro Viñao: An Analysis and Performer's Guide of WATER for Percussion Ensemble in 2016.
In 2016, Christopher co-founded the BlueSHIFT percussion quartet alongside Matthew Geiger, Jeremy Maytum, and Francisco Perez. Dedicated to the performance of new works for chamber percussion, BlueSHIFT has performed and premiered new works throughout the USA at prestigious universities including: Colorado State University, University of Iowa, Iowa State University, Tennessee Tech University, University of Kentucky, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Illinois State University, Vanderbilt University, Morehead State University, and Southern Illinois University Carbondale.