Marching Band

Drum & Bugle Corps

As a performing member, Colby played Euphonium in The Santa Clara Vanguard in 2010, 2011, & 2012. Since “aging out”, Colby has worked as a staff member for both the Santa Clara Vanguard & Vanguard Cadets in several roles:

• 2013 & 2014: Admin & Visual Staff for Vanguard Cadets (2013 DCI Open Class Champions & High Visual Award Winners)

• 2015 & 2016: Admin Staff for Santa Clara Vanguard

• 2017, 2018, & 2019: Visual Caption Head for Vanguard Cadets (2017 & 2018 DCI Open Class Champions, 2017 High Visual Award Winners)

• 2022: Visual Caption Head for Santa Clara Vanguard

• 2023: Assistant Corps Director for Santa Clara Vanguard, Visual Consultant for Seattle Cascades.

• 2024 & 2025: Assistant Corps Director for Santa Clara Vanguard

Collegiate Marching Band & Pep Band

Colby currently serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the University of Florida Gator Marching Band, under the direction of Professor Jay Watkins. Colby has written drill for Gator Band and lead the basketball pep band, including the 2024 Women’s SEC Tournament in Greenville, SC and the 2025 Men’s NCAA Tournament in Raleigh, NC.

From 2014-2015 Colby served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band under the direction of Dr. Timothy T. Anderson and Professor Thomas P. Hannum. During this time, he worked as the lead visual instructor for the Minuteman Band, acted as a sideline conductor for the band during performance, and led the band in performance of “stand-tunes” during home football games.  Colby was also actively involved with the UMass Hoop Band, leading the band at several Basketball & Hockey Games including the 2016 Men's A-10 Basketball Tournament in Brooklyn, NY and the 2015 & 2016 Women's A-10 Basketball Tournaments in Richmond, VA.

As a grad student, Colby wrote supplemental drill for the UMass Band’s smaller shows like “The Defense of Fort McHenry” (2014) and “Bruno Mars” (2015). After graduating, he became the associate drill writer for the band, and became the primary drill writer during the 2018 season. In addition to writing drill, Colby occasionally takes a short residency as a visual instructor for the UMass Band during their August band camp.

In 2019 Colby advised the Santa Clara University Athletic Department on strategies to increase the student participation and musical quality of their basketball pep band. During this time Colby lead the SCU Pep Band in rehearsals and performances at home basketball games.

From 2008-2012 Colby played trombone in the Fresno State Bulldog Marching Band and bass guitar in the “Bulldog Beat” scholarship pep-band. During that time Colby performed at 3 NCAA Football Bowl Games, The Mountain-West Basketball Tournament, and rounds of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

High School Marching Band & Pep Band

Colby served as the Marching Band Director for the Clovis West High School Golden Eagle Marching Band from Fresno, California from 2020-2023. He still serves as a consultant for the program.

Previously, he worked as an instructor for several Central California high school marching bands including Clovis High School, Buchanan High School, and Clark Intermediate School in Clovis, as well as Sierra High School in Tollhouse. In California’s Silicon Valley, Colby has worked as a visual instructor for Evergreen Valley High School in addition to drastically expanding the William C. Overfelt High School Pep Band while serving as director.

As an adjudicator, Colby has judged for serval different Marching Band & Winter Pagentry organizations like The University of Wyoming (Laramie WY), Central Valley Guard & Percussion Circuit (Modesto CA), San Joaquin Valley Color Guard and Percussion Review (Fresno CA), and Pep & Pageantry Arts Association of Central California (Bakersfield, CA).

Drill Writing

Since 2018, Colby has been the Drill Writer & Visual Designer for the 400 member University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band. Additionally, Colby has supplied drill and visual design for several high school marching ensembles including Santa Paula High School (Santa Paula, CA), Yosemite High School (Oakhurst, CA), Arroyo Grande High School (Arroyo Grande, CA), Fred C. Beyer High School (Modesto, CA), Monta Vista High School (Cupertino, CA), and Leominster High School (Leominster, MA).