Dr. Rob Parks has been the Percussion Director at Newman Smith High School since 2005. Dr. Parks received his Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from Austin Peay State University where he studied percussion with David Steinquest. In addition, he earned a Master's Degree in Percussion Performance and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree, both from the University of Kentucky, under the auspices of Professor James Campbell.

Rob has been on the percussion faculty at the Bands of America/Music For All Summer Symposium since the summer of 2001, served on the faculty of Yamaha Sounds of Summer Camps, and has taught and arranged for high schools throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Tennessee, and abroad in Japan. He is also a founding member of the UK Percussion Quartet, which has performed throughout Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana, including a performance at the first annual Bands of America National Percussion Ensemble Festival. During the summer of 1999 he was a member of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps and has served as a percussion consultant for Southwind Drum & Bugle Corps.

Rob is a Yamaha Performing Artist and an endorser of Innovative Sticks & Mallets and Evans Drum Heads.