About Justin

Justin Blanchard is a professional drummer, percussionist, and educator living in Greensboro, NC. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University (B. Mus., M.Ed.) in Nashville, TN and has performed and taught in the Nashville, RDU, and Piedmont Triad regions for the past 10 years. 

A native of Lancaster, PA, Justin grew up in a musical family with an orchestral percussionist father and an opera singer mother. Whether sitting through symphony rehearsals, dancing to Beatles records, or falling asleep to the sound of marimba, Justin’s childhood was filled with music. By 4th grade, he started playing the drums in his elementary school concert and jazz bands. Through middle and high school, he excelled as a percussionist and student leader across a broad range of ensembles, winning first place in the Keystone Indoor Drill Association Solo Competition and performing in Winter Guard International competition with the Conestoga Valley Indoor Percussion Ensemble in 2014 where he was awarded the Zildjian/Mark Thurston Scholarship for “outstanding percussion performer.”

Justin studied percussion at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN with renowned marimbist and chamber percussionist Ji Hye Jung, Bill Wiggins (timpanist with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra), Lee Vinson (orchestral percussion), Matt Britain (steel pan and hand percussion), Michael Holland (percussion theater), and Derek Phillips (drum set). He toured internationally and recorded albums with the Vanderbilt Wind Ensemble, recorded studio work with the Blair Big Band, music directed the musical “American Idiot” with Vanderbilt Off Broadway, conducted numerous choral and instrumental ensembles, and performed assorted gigs around Nashville. Simultaneously, Justin trained as a K-12 music educator gaining experience writing and directing drill for the Vanderbilt Spirit of Gold marching band, assisting the Blair Children’s Chorus program, and co-founding University Concert Band, Vanderbilt’s first concert band for non-music major students. He earned his Master’s Degree in Education from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College with the capstone project: “Effect of Conducting Instruction on Rhythm Sight-Reading Accuracy in Beginning Band Students.”

Upon graduating, Justin and his wife, Anna, moved to Raleigh-Durham for Anna to pursue her graduate degree in City and Regional Planning at UNC-Chapel Hill. Justin taught elementary general music at Baileywick Road Elementary School in Raleigh from 2019-2022.

Now in Greensboro, Justin teaches elementary music at Ibraham and Kimmel Farm Elementary Schools in Winston-Salem and operates Gate City Drum lessons, offering lessons on drums, percussion, piano, guitar, and ukulele. You might find Justin hiking or birdwatching at a local park, gigging around town, or serving on the worship team on Sundays at Church of the Redeemer.