Ken Eberhart is a 1986 graduate of Hickman Mills Senior High School in Jackson County, in South Kansas City, Missouri, where the band was under the direction of his most admired mentor and teacher, Dr. Thomas J. Ruess.  Mr. Eberhart is also a 1992 Kappa Delta Pi Education Honor Society graduate of Missouri Western State with a B.S.E. – Instrumental Music degree. He studied percussion with Dr. Dennis G. Rogers, band with Dr. Robert W. Dunham, and Vocal Music with Dr. David Benz.  Mr. Eberhart attended the University of Missouri - Kansas City Conservatory of Music from 1992 to 1994, earning the degree of Master of Music in Performance – Percussion, studying with Dr. Laurence D. Kaptain, and also band with Professor Gary Hill.  He began his teaching experience in Webster County, Missouri in the fall of 1994.  Other band positions of note include Director of Bands for the Walnut Grove R-5, Orrick R-11, and the Polo R-7 Schools.  From 2005 to 2009, Mr. Eberhart has taught band in the state of Kansas, for J. C. Harmon High School in KCK USD 500, and also for the Troy USD #429.   His bands have participated in and placed in the top three in their class in the following band festivals throughout Missouri: Carthage Maple Leaf Festival, Missouri State Homecoming, SBU Homecoming, CMSU Homecoming, NWMSU Homecoming, MIZZOU Homecoming, Springfield Christmas Parade, Carrollton Band Day, Missouri Band Day (Trenton), Central Methodist Band Day, Chillicothe Christmas Parade, and also the 2004 Toyota Gator Bowl Parade and Mass Band Pre-Game Field Show at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.  Concert Bands under his direction have earned Excellent ratings in 10 out of 11 MSHSAA Large Ensemble Festivals, as well as the World’s of Fun Band Festival, and have earned Superior ratings in the Music Showcase Festival, Six Flags-St Louis, and also the Ozark Mountain Band/Choral/and Orchestra Festival at College of the Ozarks/Silver Dollar City.  As a percussion performer and teacher, Mr. Eberhart has been a private instructor for the Meyer Music Company in Blue Springs, Mo, and Overland Park, Ks, the Palen Music Center in Springfield, and from 1997-1999 was the Adjunct Instructor of Applied Percussion for Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar.  He has been a member of the St Joseph Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas City Wind Symphony, and the Mid-West Winds.  Freelance work has included the Fountain City Brass Band, the Showboat Branson Belle, St Joseph Robidoux Resident Theater, the Springfield Little Theater at the Landers, the MSU Department of Musical Theater, the Vandivort Center Theater, The Guilloiz Theater, the Shawnee Mission Theater in the Park, and also the 1998 Juanita K. Hammons Hall production of the National Broadway Tour of ‘Peter Pan starring Cathy Rigby’.  Mr. Eberhart is endorsed by the Vic Firth Percussion Education Team as a Marching Percussion Specialist.  He has been a drumline clinician for Blue Valley and Shawnee Mission West in Kansas, and for Republic and Rolla High Schools in Missouri. He has performed with bands, orchestras, choirs and percussion ensembles at Tan-tar-a Resorts Missouri Music Educator’s Association Conventions in 1989, 1993, 1994, 1999, and 2008.  He has also performed at the 2006 Kansas Music Educator’s Association Convention in Wichita. His students have participated in the 1997, 2000, 2003, 2004, and 2005 MSHSAA State Music Festival and the 2007 and 2009 KSHSAA State Music Festival. He has a daughter, Deanna Ray who is 9 years old, and a son, Samuel who is 6. Mr. Eberhart is a native of St Louis, and was raised in Savannah and Kansas City, Missouri. He prefers to be called ‘Mr E.’

“It is a pleasure to become part of the Band experience and to be given the opportunity to work with the instrumental music students of EDSHS.  Thank you.”