Dr. Diana Loomer is the director of the “Steely Pan Steel Band” and a Percussion Instructor at Appalachian State University. She is an active percussionist and music educator, currently based in the Asheville, NC area. Diana also teaches Percussion Methods classes and has private lesson studios at Western Carolina University and Livingstone College.
Diana has a D.M.A. in Percussion Performance from the University of Texas at Austin, a M.M. from Indiana University and a B.M. from Appalachian State University in Percussion Performance. She was the timpanist for the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps from 2010-12, and has since developed a passion for "melodic timpani" playing. She is currently working to expand both the potential of the instrument, and the repertoire for this new field. She has since been teaching front ensembles, including the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps in 2016, and the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps in 2017.
Diana has performing experience in many different areas of percussion. She has performed with the Western Piedmont Symphony, Johnson City Symphony, Austin Symphony, and Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestra. She has an extensive background in world percussion, including steel pan, tabla, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, and West African percussion. She traveled to Ghana in 2014 to study gyil and djembe with Bernard Woma. She is a current member of Zabumba Asheville Samba, and a former member of the Austin Samba School, Maracatu Texas, and the Inside Out Community Steel Band. Diana and her partner, Morgan Tao, form the Blue Iron Percussion Duo. Together, they perform and teach steel drums across Western North Carolina and Tennessee.