Band Directors

Jarrod Beard is entering his second year as the Director of Bands at Ryan High School. Mr. Beard will be teaching Wind Ensemble, Jazz 1, the Ryan 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. 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 video games and watching TV (super exciting). Mr. Beard met his amazing wife, Megan, at SFA and she is (coincidentally) a 2007 graduate of Ryan High School where she was an all-state flute player and two-year drum major. They have two smart, stubborn, and incredibly energetic boys, Jacob and William. 

Nachel Konemann is the Associate Director of Bands at Billy Ryan High School in Denton, TX. Before coming to Ryan High School, Ms. Konemann was the Director of Bands at Strickland Middle School in Denton, TX for seven years. She has previously taught at Williams High School in Plano, TX, Bowman Middle School in Plano, TX and Irons Middle School in Lubbock, TX.

Ms. Konemann holds a Master’s Degree in Music Education and a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Texas Tech University. During her time at Texas Tech University she performed in the Texas Tech Symphonic Wind Ensemble, the Goin’ Band from Raiderland, and was a student of David Dees. She has published articles as a guest blog writer for Director’s Choice and SmartMusic as well as presented research at the TMEA research poster session. She is a current member of the North Central Texas Winds and a multi instrumental performer for Theatre Denton. 

Ms. Konemann has worked with many ensembles outside of her own band program including the East Plano Chamber Winds and the Lubbock Youth Wind Ensemble. Her students consistently make All-District and All-Region Honor Band. She is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association and the Texas Bandmasters Association. She currently resides in Denton, TX with her husband, Dr. Zachariah Davis, as well as her two cats, Harry and Stormy, and dog, Rooney.

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.