MHS Directors and Instructors
Keith Reed
Director of Bands
Mr. Reed is a graduate of Morgantown High School and holds both Bachelor and Master’s degrees from West Virginia University. He has been a member of the West Virginia Band Masters Association for twenty six years and was inducted into Phi Beta Mu, the National Band Directors’ Honorary. He is also a member of the Music Educators National Conference.
Mr. Reed has been Director of Bands at Morgantown High School since 1987 and was Assistant Director for 6 years prior to that. Under his direction the Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Bands have been selected as West Virginia State Honor Band 6 times, and the marching band has participated and placed highly in both national and international field and parade competitions throughout the eastern U.S. In February 2004, the Percussion Ensemble was one of 5 ensembles selected to perform at the National Percussion Festival in Indianapolis, IN. Students have achieved honors including All-State recognition and superior ratings in the Regional Solo and Ensemble Festival. In 2006 Mr. Reed was honored to be named “The West Virginia State High School Band Director of the Year”.
Keith and his wife Linda (also an MHS grad) reside in Morgantown with their daughter Kristin (a junior at WVU) and son Brian, (a junior percussionist).
Joel E. Cotter
Asst. Director of Bands
Mr. Cotter graduated from West Virginia University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance in 1979, post-graduate study at the Berklee College of music in Boston, MA, and a Master’s Degree in Music Performance from WVU in 1985.
Mr. Cotter is a member of the American Federation of Musicians Local 580, Music Educators National Conference, West Virginia Music Educators Association, where he serves on the Executive Board as a chairman of the West Virginia All-State Orchestra, and the West Virginia Masters Association and Phi Beta Mu, the national band director’s honorary. In addition, he is a member of the American String Teachers Association, the West Virginia String Teachers Association and the International Trumpet Guild.
In addition to his duties as Assistant Director of Bands at Morgantown High School, he is also the director of the Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble and teaches Music theory. Mr. Cotter is a member of the Appalachian Brass Quintet, which is the Ensemble in Residence at Fairmont State University and has performed with the West Virginia Public theatre Orchestra for the past 20 seasons. Mr. Cotter has also performed with The Temptations, The Four Aces, Mynary Ferguson, The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Dean Jones, Judy Norton-Taylor, Bill Hayes, and Susan Seaforth-Hayes, Fabian, The Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, The Pittsburgh Chamber Opera, The Pittsburgh Bach Choir, and has performed extensively as a free-lance trumpeter throughout the region.
Joel and his wife Annette, son Stefan (a 2004 MHS Band alumni and a seniorMusic education major at WVU) and daughter Emily (a freshman saxophonist) reside in Morgantown.
Wendy Beth Thomas
Choreographer
Ms. Thomas is a 1995 graduate of Morgantown High School, where she was a member of the Wind Ensemble, a Mohiganette, Majorette and featured dancer with the Red and Blue Marching Band. In 1999 she graduated summa cum laude with a cumulative 3.9 GPA from WVU with a B.S. in Business Administration, majoring in Accounting.
During her career at WVU, Wendy was extremely active both in and out of the classroom. From the Dance Team to Homecoming Court to being honored as the outstanding Greek Woman of the Year as a Kappa Kappa Gamma, her activities were many. Bestowed upon her were the highest honors for an undergraduate student – Wendy was one of the top 8 Foundation Outstanding Seniors inducted into the prestigious Order of Augusta.
Wendy continued her education at the WVU College of Law and graduated in May 2002. Because of her excellence in trial performance, Wendy was known as an executive officer in the Lugar Trial Association and was chosen to represent WVU at the Association of Trial Lawyers of American national competition. The faculty at the College of Law also honored her by selecting Wendy as one of the ten trial advocates in her graduation class to be inducted into the national honorary of the Order of Barristers.
Currently, Wendy is working in the real estate industry here in Morgantown, as a successful REALTOR with J.S. Walker Associates and continues to be a Multi-Million Dollar Producer. She resides in Morgantown with her husband, David Puderbaugh and 2 sons.
Kristin Reed (Choreographer)
Kristin is serving in her third year on the Red and Blue Marching Band staff. She is a 2005 graduate of MHS where she was a member of the saxophone section, Mohiganette and Head Majorette. She was also a member of the WV All-State Orchestra on oboe. While at MHS Kristin was a 4-year member of Junior Orchesis Dance Honorary, serving as Vice-President in her senior year. She has studied all forms of dance over the last 17 years with special emphasis on jazz and tap. Kristin is a junior at WVU in the benedum education program majoring in Secondary Math Education with a minor in Dance. She is a member of Alpha Omicron Pi, an officer on the Panhellenic Council and a member of the WVU Chapter of NESS (National Exemplary Scholars in Service).
Brian Kain (Drill Designer/Instructor)
Brian ia a graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School in Princeton Jct., NJ. He received his Bachelors in Exercise Physiology from WVU in 1997 and Masters in Secondary Education in 2002. He has taught in the Morgantown School District, North Myrtle Beach High School and Wheeling Park High School. He currently resides in Cheat Lake and is working locally as a Microscopy Specialist in the Biomedical Research division of Nikon (Fryer Company). This is Brian’s 10th year working with the “Red and Blue”.