Dr. Dylan Parrilla-Koester serves as Interim Director Bands at Tulane University where he directs all aspects of the comprehensive bands program. This includes instruction of the Tulane University Marching Band and artistic direction of the Tulane Concert Band. He teaches instrumental conducting at Columbia’s Morningside Heights campus during summer sessions, and he is an active clinician, conductor and adjudicator of scholastic ensembles, having worked with middle and high school ensembles from across the United States and Canada. Dr. Parrilla-Koester’s research agenda explores the intersection of music education policy, organizational management, and the politics of educational practice, situating music education as a site where institutional values and social priorities are enacted. He prominently explores higher education policy and governance through the medium of college athletic bands. His empirical research and essays are forthcoming and published in refereed journals including Visions of Research in Music Education, Jazz Education in Research and Practice, and College Music Symposium. Prior to his roles of Interim Director of Bands and Assistant Director of Bands at Tulane, he served as Director of Instrumental Music at Herbert Hoover High School in Glendale, CA where directed the 5-time California state champion Hoover Tornado Marching Band, concert band, string orchestra, winter line, and jazz band. His ensembles have achieved straight superior ratings at festival performance. Dr. Parrilla-Koester has also worked on the faculty of St. Thomas University in Miami, FL, and he was a Graduate Instructor at the University of Colorado Boulder where he conducted the wind bands and assisted with the athletic bands. His drill designs and music arrangements have been performed by high schools and universities across the country including the University of Colorado, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Tulane University. Ensembles under his direction have performed at high profile events and national TV productions such as American Idol Season 21 and the Goodyear Cotton Bowl.

Dr. Parrilla-Koester has presented at national and state music and music education conferences including the College Band Directors National Association Athletic Band Symposium, the College Music Society National Conference, and the Colorado Music Educators Association conference. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in trumpet performance with Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa Honors from Tulane University, a Master of Music Education with an emphasis in wind band conducting from the University of Colorado Boulder, a Master of Education from Columbia University, and he holds the Doctor of Education in Music and Music Education (CTAS – College Teaching of an Academic Subject) under the guidance of Patrick Schmidt at Teachers College, Columbia University. His conducting teachers include Donald McKinney, Matthew Dockendorf, Matthew Roeder, and Maxim Samarov. Dr. Parrilla-Koester is an alumnus and the Tulane chapter sponsor of Kappa Kappa Psi, and he holds professional memberships in the College Band Directors National Association, the College Music Society, Phi Beta Kappa, and the International Society for Music Education.