Devon Melillo joins the faculty in Brandon Valley as an active music educator from Sioux Falls, SD. Mr. Melillo graduated from South Dakota State University with his Bachelor of Music Education and minor in Spanish, where he led the SDSU Pride of Dakotas Marching Band Drumline, as well as served as principal percussionist in collegiate-level Wind Ensembles and Intercollegiate Bands. In BV, Mr. Melillo directs the Middle School Bands, serves as Assistant Director of the Marching Band, and directs Brandon Valley Indoor, a national open-class finalist competitive indoor drumline.

 

Mr. Melillo has been a music instructor in Brandon Valley since 2015; before joining full-time, he student-taught at Rosemount High School in Rosemount, Minnesota, and then became the High School and 5th Grade Band Director in Lennox, SD. He is currently the Artistic Director of the non-profit parade drumline, SuFuDu. Additionally, Mr. Melillo marched in River City Rhythm Drum & Bugle Corps in 2015 and 2018. In his senior year of college, he was awarded the Schultz-Werth Research Grant Award based on his published paper, The Impact of Percussion from John Cage, and he was named SDSU School of the Performing Arts Honoree. 

 

Mr. Melillo is a teacher and clinician for scholastic and independent marching programs in the Sioux Falls/Twin Cities area and was invited to present performance clinics at Minnesota’s 2020 “Day of Percussion” event. He is also a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. In his free time, Mr. M enjoys finding new recipes in the kitchen, tending to the vegetable garden, and spending time with his fiancé & family.