Joshua Kyle Potter - Director of Bands

Joshua Kyle Potter, a native of Burlington, currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina where he is Director of Bands at Wakefield High School.  He received a Bachelor’s of Music Education at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he served as a drum major, business and operations manager and one of the first undergraduate assistants for the UNC Bands.  He received a Masters in Instrumental Conducting at East Carolina University where he studied with Dr. Scott Carter and Dr. Christopher Knighten.  In addition, he has done further conducting study with Eugene M. Corporon, Jack Stamp, and Rodney Winther.

The Wakefield Band program, began by Mr. Potter in the fall of 2000, is a comprehensive music education program that features a Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Marching Band, two jazz bands, a chamber music program, an AP music theory program, three Winter Guards and a Winter Percussion unit.  The Wind Ensemble and Concert Bands consistently earn top ratings and comments from adjudicators and clinicians.  The Marching Band is a Bands of America Regional Championship Finalist and was a featured performer at the 2005 NC Music Educator’s Conference.  The Maroon Guard is a two-time Winter Guard International World Championships finalist, consistent Regional Championships finalist and has earned several medals at circuit championships.  The Silver Guard is a Winter Guard International Regional Finalists and circuit medalist.  The Winter Percussion unit was promoted to Open Class in its first season making Wakefield one of only two high schools in North Carolina with an Open Class Winter Guard and Winter Percussion unit.

Prior to his appointment at Wakefield High School, Mr. Potter began his career as the Director of Bands at West Rowan High School in Mt. Ulla, NC.  During his brief two year time there, Mr. Potter introduced full season competitive marching band and the Symphonic Band earned the first recorded Superior Rating in the more than 50 year history of the school.   

He is a former board member for the Central District and currently serves as its representative to the NCBA Marching Band Committee.  He is currently the chair of that committee.  He also serves as a Concert Band Music Performance Adjudication chair for the district.  In 2006, Mr. Potter was awarded the NC Central District Bandmasters’ Associations Band Director of the Year Award.  In 2007, Mr. Potter was awarded the NC Central District Bandmasters’ Association Award of Excellence. 
 
Mr. Potter is a member of the American School Band Director’s Association, the North Carolina Music Educators Association, the Central District Bandmasters Association, NCBA Marching Band Committee (Chair), College Band Directors National Association, the Wake County Band Directors Association and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America (Alpha Rho). 

Mr. Potter is eternally grateful to the many educators and friends who provided him with guidance throughout the years, especially Barry Carroll, David Smithwick, Michael Kris, Jeffrey Fuchs, Dr. Michael Votta, Dr. Larry Marks, Dr. Scott Carter, Jeffrey Richardson and Tony Robinson.

Shannon Proctor-Nystrom - Director of Color Guards

Ms. Shannon Proctor-Nystrom is a graduate of North Carolina State University with a BS in Business Management and also a graduate of Meredith College with a teaching license in Dance K-12. She has been teaching dance and guard for over fifteen years with various schools including Wakefield HS, Cape Fear HS, South Granville HS, and Scotland HS. She has performed with Blessed Sacrament Winterguard, The Study Winterguard, Carolina Visual Productions Winterguard, and Carolina Gold Drum and Bugle Corps.

Shannon Proctor-Nystrom joined Wakefield High School in 2003 as the Dance Teacher and lead Color Guard instructor. She is the current Caption Head of the Wakefield Color Guard and Winter Guard programs. Since she joined the program, the guard has grown from one winter guard to four (Wakefield HS Maroon, Wakefield HS Silver, Wakefield Independent and Wakefield Middle). During this time, the program has grown to a national level achieving Winter Guard International World Championship Finalist positions three times, semi-finalist positions four times. In addition, Wakefield HS Maroon became the first Wake County scholastic guard to be promoted to Open Class when it was moved in 2008 after its 4th place finish at World Championships.

Matthew Nadolny Director of Percussion

Matt Nadolny is a recent graduate of the University of South Carolina with a bachelor’s degree in Composition and a percussion emphasis.  He started his percussive career in the 6th grade and has been playing ever since.  In 9th grade he joined the Fort Mill High School Marching Band and performed with them from 2001 to 2004, during which the band took 2nd at 4A All-State in 2002 and 1st in both 2003 and 2004.  He was also an active member of the Fort Mill High School Percussion Ensemble, which placed 3rd in 2002, 2nd in 2004, and 1st place in the Percussion Scholastic Concert World classification in 2003 and 2005, and was also featured as a soloist his senior year.  In 2008 Matt returned as the composer and instructor of Fort Mill’s concert program, leading the group to win CWEA State Finals.

Shortly after graduating from FMHS, Matt joined the Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps for their 2005 season.  After a year with Crown, Matt joined The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps for the 2006, 2007, and 2008 seasons, acting as section leader during his final year, and also receiving a Member of Distinction Award.  He now serves on the staff of both The Cadets (percussion consultant) and the Madison Scouts (full-time front ensemble technician). Matt was also actively involved in many ensembles in college, including the USC Percussion Ensemble, Steel Pans, Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Orchestra, Ballet, Opera, and Chorus, all as a percussionist.  As a composer, he had his works performed on at least seven concerts.
 

2009 - 2010 Instructors

Color Guard Staff
Jason Johnson
Sara Burns
Erin Docherty
Staci Jahr
 
Percussion Staff
Myron Massey
Sean Smith
 
Visual/Music Staff
Brian Munoz - Lead Woodwind Instructor
Lizzie Morantz - Lead Brass Instructor
Jordan Webb - Lead Visual Instructor
Brittany Barnette
Jonathan Caldwell
Mike Gillespie
Alanna Hawley
Justin Wier
 
Frank Sullivan - Music Composer
Matthew Nadolny - Percussion Arranger
Shannon Proctor - Color Guard Design
Steve Hegemier - Drill Design