Murray Gusseck

Murray Gusseck is considered an innovator in the world of marching percussion. He started his drum corps career as a marching member of the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum & Bugle Corps (SCV) 1988 through 1992. He played tenors all five of those years under Ralph Hardimon, Glen Crosby, and Scott Johnson. He received many accolades for his tenor playing and for the extreme ability levels of the tenor sections and drumlines he was a part of during his tenure with SCV. He marched alongside many now household names like Jeff Queen, Nick Angelis, Jim Casella, and Colin McNutt.

In 1990 Murray helped start a new trend of drumline parking lot "events" by composing two entertaining battery compositions that attracted large audiences outside the normal competition arenas. These later became known more famously as Martian Mambo and Electric Wheelchair. Both of these compositions, as well as many others since, are currently published by Tapspace and can be heard played by ensembles the world over.

Murray went on to be a staff member at SCV for 12 years between 1994 and 2010. During those years he filled variety of roles ranging from battery technician to caption head to arranger. He became known for a unique compositional style, a signature sound, and a propensity for achieving a smooth drumset-oriented technique approach with the drumlines in his charge.

In 1998, Murray co-founded Tapspace Publications, LLC with friend and partner, Jim Casella. The company is based in Portland, Oregon, and specializes in creative percussion literature as well as the industry standard sound sample library, Virtual Drumline™.

Murray attended San Jose State University in San Jose, CA, as a music major with an emphasis in world music. During this time he studied with Dan Sabanovich, Hafez Modirzadeh, Royal Hartigan, and C.K. Ladzekpo. He has taught and/or arranged for many top schools and winter percussion ensembles throughout the country, including Amador Valley (CA), Richland Hills (TX), Tunstall Concert Ensemble (VA), Fred C. Beyer High School (CA), James Logan High School (CA), Evergreen High School (WA), Stephen F. Austin High School (TX), SCV Winter Percussion, SCV Cadets, and the Yokohama Inspires from Yokahama, Japan.

Murray lives in the Pacific Northwest where he helps manage Tapspace and plays drums now and then with local musicians. He is sponsored by Pearl drums, Remo drumheads, Zildjian cymbals, and Vic Firth drumsticks. His Vic Firth signature marching sticks (nicknamed "M-Dawgs") were released in November of 2008. Murray now gives lessons in the Portland, OR area or worldwide via Skype. For more info, please message him via Facebook at www.facebook.com/kensensen.