Members Elected to the Friends of the Yankee Brass, Inc. Board of Directors
Two members of the Friends of the Yankee Brass, Inc. have been elected to the Board of Directors. Tim Cohen, percussionist, has been elected to the role of Vice President. Mike Seckla, tubist, has been elected to the role of Member at Large. Both members have performed with the Yankee Brass Band for many years and bring extensive experience as musicians and educators to their role on the Board of Directors.
Tim Cohen: Vice President
Tim Cohen attended Shenandoah College and Conservatory of Music in Winchester, VA (now Shenandoah University), where he studied under John R. Beck for percussion performance and William Averitt for music composition. He is the Principal Percussionist with the NH Philharmonic Orchestra. He has performed with the Connecticut River Valley Orchestra, South Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Haddonfield Symphony Orchestra, Atlantic Brass Band, East Bay Jazz Ensemble, and many other ensembles throughout the Eastern Seaboard.
His compositions have been performed by the Upper Valley Community Band, Kearsarge Community Band, NH Philharmonic, and the Great Western Rocky Mountain Brass Band and others. Tim is on the faculty at the Upper Valley Music Center where he gives percussion lessons. He also does a large amount of freelance work with jazz, rock, church, etc., and specializes in percussion work in musicals. Tim also enjoys restoring historic percussion instruments and owns and restored over 30 civil war era snare drums and bass drums and timpani from the 1790s. He has been a member of Yankee Brass Band and Great Western Rocky Mountain Brass Band for several years and truly enjoys historic performance opportunities. Tim retired on March 31, 2023 as Captain with the Lebanon Police Department after 28 years of service to NH Law Enforcement.
Mike Seckla: Member at Large
A native of Lyme, Connecticut Mike Seckla has been living and teaching in Southern New Hampshire since 2004. Mike graduated from Keene State College in 2002 with a Bachelor of Music- Instrumental Education, and has studied tuba with Danny Vinson, Daniel Johnson, and Doug Nelson. Since 2006 he has been a Band Director at Hudson Memorial School and an Assistant Director to the Alvirne High School Marching Band. He teaches Tuba, Euphonium, and Brass Methods at SNHU, maintains an active studio of low brass students, and performs regularly with the SNHU Wind Symphony, the Yankee Brass Band, various pit orchestras, and as a sub for other performing groups in the area.