Dr. Kyle Bissantz is Assistant Professor In Residence and Coordinator of the Percussion Area at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Music, where he oversees all aspects of the percussion program including applied instruction, graduate studies, and ensemble direction. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts from UNLV in 2023; his doctoral document, Get a Grip: An Anatomical Survey of Four-Mallet Grips for Solo, examines the relationship between grip technique and the anatomy of the fingers, wrist, and forearm — research rooted in over fifteen years as a marimba specialist.
Before joining the UNLV faculty, Kyle served as Executive Director and creative designer of the Vegas Vanguard Percussion Theatre, leading the WGI/SCPA indoor program to a gold medal in A Class at the 2019 SCPA Championships. His marching arts roots trace to performing with the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps in 2011 under the instruction of Thom Hannum, Jeff Lee, and Jeff Queen. In 2014, he served as Artist In Residence with the Liberty Drum and Bugle Corps in Birmingham, England under the auspices of Timothy Palmer of Maraca2.
Kyle is a founding member of the Las Vegas Percussion Collective and a recurring performing artist and clinician at the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua’s Festival Internacional de Percusiones in Mexico, where he has shared the stage with marimba virtuoso Javier Nandayapa. In 2024, he conducted the world premiere of Nandayapa’s Concerto for Mexican Marimba, Piano, and Percussion Ensemble, featuring the composer as soloist alongside Kyle’s UNLV percussionists. He has twice performed and presented clinics at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and Percussive Arts Society Summer Drum Camps in South Australia, and records regularly for the KJOS Music Company.
Living and working in Las Vegas has afforded Kyle a performance career as unusual as the city itself — from sharing the stage with the Blue Man Group to drumming while suspended from chandeliers and perched atop scaffolding thirty feet in the air. For years he performed weekly in the Strip’s landmark nightclubs alongside major DJs and headliners, and has appeared at the Electric Daisy Carnival and high-profile private events through the Los Angeles-based talent agency E-Plus Productions.
A published contributor to Gary D. Cook’s Teaching Percussion (4th edition) and author of “Tech Addiction and the Future Percussionist” in Percussive Notes, Kyle is committed to advancing percussion pedagogy alongside an active performance schedule. He proudly plays Yamaha Percussion instruments, Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets, and SABIAN Cymbals.