Olivia D. Spell is currently the Director of Bands and Ensembles at Corinth Holders High School in Wendell, North Carolina. A 2009 graduate of East Carolina University, she received the Outstanding Senior Music Education Award. After graduation, Ms. Spell  landed in Franklin County and served as Director of Bands at Cedar Creek Middle School and Franklinton High School. During her two year tenure at CCMS and FHS she experienced exponential growth in both programs, nearly tripling enrollment. Immersing the students in a total music education, Ms. Spell restarted the marching band program, began a Winterguard program, participated in MPA and other festivals around the state.

Entering her 15th year at Corinth Holders, Ms. Spell oversees the Marching Band, Concert Band, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble, Basketball Pep Band, Jazz Band, Winds, Winterguard and Winter Percussion Ensembles. Growing this program from the ground up has been one of the most rewarding parts of her career! Not only has the program experienced growth under her tenure, but the students and the program have seen a tremendous amount of success. The Marching Band has seen many caption and class awards at NCBA shows across the state. The Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble have attended the NC MPA and received many Excellent and Superior ratings. The Winter Ensembles have been highly successful locally, regionally and nationally. The students of the Corinth Holders Band program are also actively selected to participate in the JCPS All County Honors Band, SEDBA All District Honors Band and NCBA All State Honors Band, North Carolina Honors Orchestra as well as the Macy’s Great American Marching Band, Army All American Marching Band and the NAfME All National Concert Band. Most recently, the Corinth Holders High School Band traveled to London to perform in the 2024 London New Years Day Parade as well as the LNYDP Gala Concert Series. 

In addition to her role as Director of Bands, Ms. Spell has served as Fine Arts Department Chair and School Improvement Team member at Corinth Holders. She currently serves as the JCPS High School Band Liaison, Southeastern District Bandmaster Association President Elect, NCBA Marching Band Committee Chair and NCBA Middle School All State Clinic Chair. In her spare time, Olivia enjoys traveling, shopping and cooking. She also enjoys spending time with her husband Ryan, and their children Robbie and Addie Jo. It is a busy life, but she would not have it any other way! 

Clay Keel has the privilege of serving as the Associate Director of Bands and Ensembles at Corinth Holders High School. Born and raised in the Florida panhandle, Mr. Keel attended the University of Florida after high school, graduating in the spring of 2020 with a degree in Music Education. During his time at the University of Florida, Mr. Keel was a member of the Symphonic Band, Symphony Orchestra and New Music Ensemble, as well as being a featured soloist with University of Florida Trombone Choir. In the realm of pageantry arts, Mr. Keel marched Euphonium with Spirit of Atlanta Drum & Bugle Corp in 2015 and then with The Cadets on Euphonium in 2018.

After completing his degree, Mr. Keel began his teaching career in Jacksonville, Florida, earning his stripes teaching middle school band at Baker County Middle School where he helped establish the school’s first jazz band and worked tirelessly to grow the entire program to over 200 students. It was in this period while living in North Florida that Mr. Keel began to work as a clinician and consultant for a number of marching bands of the area. In the summer of 2024, Mr. Keel was honored to join the staff of the Corinth Holders Band program.

Outside of the walls of Corinth Holders, Mr. Keel can be found enjoying the running trails of the Raleigh area, enjoying great food, or exploring the beautiful beaches and lush mountains of North Carolina with his partner Emily and their dog Jasmine.

COMING SOON!

Jaylan was raised in Clayton, North Carolina. He has an extensive background in both private protection and workplace environmental security. Outside of the band world, Jaylan has served as lead security officer for Allied Universal, and head of security teams in various bars and night club scenes. Jaylan has been a Percussion instructor in North Carolina for nearly a decade and has built his musical career giving group lessons in middle schools, and private lessons to all age groups from elementary students to adults! Jaylan is also an entrepreneur, owning a private lesson and percussion clinic business. Percussive Perspective has allowed him to collaborate throughout the state of North Carolina as a percussive mentor to young musicians, upcoming percussive instructors, and band programs of all sizes.

Jaylan began his percussive studies at the early age of 8 years old under Ivan Hampden, who was the drummer for the late multi-Grammy Award winner Luther Vandross. With Mr. Hampden’s guidance Jaylan learned to truly understand the capabilities of the drum set and hand drums such as congas, bongos, and djembe to name a few! Jaylan began playing publicly “gigging” at a the age of 13, playing in various church’s, weddings, and at times even bars. With these experiences, he fell in love with music. This love lead to his participation in the band at Cleveland High School. During his high school experience he explored playing timpani and marimba, which began to open more doors and more opportunities to play in environments such as musicals! 

As Jaylan finished his senior year he decided to audition for East Carolina’s School of Music, where he was offered a full ride scholarship to attend as a member of their percussion studio. However, the universe offered more opportunity in the playing environment being in the North Carolina 440th Army National Guard band where he was offered a contract to play as a percussionist and where he eventually chose to plant his feet and master his craft as a musician. 

Jaylan is a charter member of Alchemy Independent, which was an open class independent percussion ensemble. Jaylan marched snare drum and had the opportunity to have visual solo opportunities to help provide a visual interpretation of the show that was created by his Director, Aaron Tucker.

In 2015 Jaylan started his career as a Percussion Director at North Johnston HS and Cleveland Middle where his passion blossomed as both a musician and an educator. Now, Jaylan is the Percussion Director at Corinth Holders HS, the only World Class Percussion ensemble in North Carolina. He has developed his own pedagogy to produce some of the top percussionists in the state for the last 9 years. Jaylan strives to grow his ensemble and better his teaching to continue to make the world a little more beautiful with the sound of music. 

COMING SOON!

Jose Montes is a Visual Designer originally from El Paso, TX. He has an extensive dance background with an emphasis in Hip-Hop. Montes works with numerous competitive marching ensembles throughout the US. Montes writes drill, designs uniforms/props, choreographs, is a program coordinator, runs visual clinics/consulting and judges Indoor/Outdoor competitions across the country. He is the Executive Director of Eva Independent in Raleigh, NC. The organization has a successful Winds Group and is in the process of starting a Winter Guard and Indoor Percussion group under the same umbrella. When Montes isn’t immersed in the marching arts, he’s playing with his Boxer puppy names Charcoal. 

William S. Erwin III is a passionate music educator dedicated to inspiring the next generation of musicians. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from East Carolina University, graduating with honors.. Erwin has worked with  the Corinth Holders High School Winds and Marching Band since 2022 and has served as the music lead/ensemble director for Eva Independent Winds since 2023.

In addition to these permanent staff roles, Erwin is committed to fostering musical excellence through master classes and private lessons, collaborating with several schools including  the Green Level High School, Corinth Holders High School and Enloe High School concert band programs.

Alayna Galantis received her Bachelor's of Music from Appalachian State University in the spring of 2022. While at Appalachian State University, she was a part of multiple ensembles including the App State Clarinet Studio, Marching Band, Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, and the Symphony Orchestra. She began her teaching career in Alexander County and has worked at East Alexander Middle School for the past 2 years. She is excited to return to Johnston County and start working at Archer Lodge Middle School in the Fall of 2024!