BORN IN: San Francisco, CA

LIVES IN: Natchitoches , Louisiana 

DRUMMING SINCE: 1994 

BIGGEST INFLUENCES: Rhett Cox, Jeff Moore, Chalon Ragsdale, Dan Moore

FAVORITE SABIAN CYMBAL: 18″ Artisan Crash

Oliver Molina is an Assistant Professor of Music and Assistant Director of Bands at Northwestern State University of Louisiana.  At NSU, he teaches the marching band percussion section, applied percussion lessons, an introduction to music education, conducts a concert band, and co-directs the percussion ensemble. 

Currently Mr. Molina is pursing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Percussion Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Iowa under Dr. Dan Moore.  While at Iowa, he served as a band teaching assistant for the Hawkeye Marching Band, and as the instructor/arranger for the Hawkeye Drumline.  He was in charge of all percussion activities with the athletic bands and taught a drumline techniques course in the spring semester.

Mr. Molina earned a master in music from the University of Arkansas, where he also arranged and instructed for the percussion section of the Razorback Marching Band.  He earned a bachelor in music education from the University of Central Florida. Oliver’s percussion teachers include Dr. Dan Moore, Jim Dreier, Chalon Ragsdale, Jeff Moore, Kirk Gay, Jim Yakas, and Daniel Neimeyer, and Dr. Richard Mark Heidel for conducting.

Mr. Molina is an active percussion performer, educator, arranger, adjudicator and clinician.  He has performed at various state Day of Percussion events, PASIC, and other music education conferences.  He has served as a clinician for the “Yamaha Sounds of Summer” percussion camp and has adjudicated many marching contests and state solo and ensemble festivals.  Mr. Molina also has articles published in the PAS Journal Percussive Notes and has percussion ensemble and steel band arrangements through Alfred Publications. 

As an active soloist and chamber ensemble musician Mr. Molina seeks new literature from composers and commissions new works.  He has joined several consortiums including composers Alejandro Vinao, Baljinder Sekhon, Steven Snowden, Ivan Treviño, and Marc Mellits.  Mr. Molina has teamed up with Dr. Joe W. Moore III to form the Omojo Percussion Duo.  The duo was formed in 2013 and they have presented clinics and performed recitals throughout the south. 

Mr. Molina is an education endorser of Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, Remo Drum Heads, Sabian Cymbals and Black Swamp Percussion. His professional affiliations include the Percussive Arts Society, College Music Society, National Association for Music Education, and the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society.