While at Western, Franklin studied tuba under Dr. Kenneth Kroesche and served as tubist for the wind ensemble, the concert band and the artist-in-residence orchestra. He studied piano under Dr. Lillian Buss Pearson and conducting under Dr. Robert Holquist and Dr. Kenneth Kroesche. As a member of the Catamount Chamber Singers, under the direction of Emmy award winning musician Dr. Bruce Frazier, he shared the same stage with such artists as The Manhattan Transfer and Edwin McCain. As a member of the Concert Choir, Franklin had the opportunity to perform such master works as the Mass in E Flat by Schubert and the Reqium by Mozart.
In 2002, Franklin was a member of the Western Carolina University Tuba Euphonium Quartet who represented North Carolina at the Southeast Regional Chamber Music Conpetition sponsored by the Music Teachers National Association. As a member of the Catamount Five, a brass quintet, he represented North Carolina at the same event in 2003. Franklin served the Western Carolina University "Pride of the Mountains" Marching Band not only as a member of the sousaphone section, but as a member of the equipment staff, sousaphone section leader, low brass coordinator and joined the staff as Staff Coordinator.
Mr. Franklin is currently pursuing a Masters Degree from Western Carolina University in Educational Supervision with concentrations in Curriculum and Instruction, Instructional Technology and Computers.
Franklin served on the instructional staff of the East Lincoln High School Mustang Band and serves annually as a facilitator for conferences on education as a profession and diversity in the classroom, both of which are sponsored by the North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program.
Mr. Franklin is a member of the North Carolina Music Educators' Association, the Music Educators National Conference, the North Carolina Association of Educators, the National Education Association, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the International Tuba Euphonium Association and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity. |
