Band Staff

Mr. Austin Bralley has served as Director of Bands at Beechwood High School since the summer of 2017. During his tenure, both the middle and high school concert bands have earned all distinguished ratings at every KMEA Concert Assessment event, including the district's exemplary ensemble distinction seven times. The Marching Tigers have qualified for the KMEA State Finals each year and have earned four KMEA State Championships (2019, 2021, 2023, 2025).

The band has also been named a Bands of America Grand National Semifinalist four times and BOA Regional Class Champions three times. In 2022, the Marching Tigers were awarded the John Philip Sousa Foundation's prestigious Sudler Shield award in their first year of eligibility. Mr. Bralley was named the KMEA District 6 High School Teacher of the Year for the 2019-2020 school year and was recognized as Northern Kentucky Educator of the Year in 2023 by NKU and the University of Cincinnati.

Prior to his tenure at Beechwood, Mr. Bralley served as Assistant Director of Bands at Adair County High School in Columbia, Kentucky from 2014 to 2017. During his time there, the marching band was a KMEA State Finalist and Bands of America National Semifinalist each year, and earned the KMEA State Championship in 2015. The Adair County Band also won three consecutive BOA Class A National Championships in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

As a trombonist and brass musician, Mr. Bralley has performed in more than 30 states at prestigious venues and events, including Carnegie Hall in New York City, the PGA Ryder Cup, the FEI World Equestrian Games, the NCAA Men's Final Four, the CBDNA National Band Conference, the Jazz Education Network National Conference, the Great American Brass Band Festival, and multiple Kentucky Music Educators Association State Conferences.

Internationally, he has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Beaujolais Jazz Festival in France, and the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands. Mr. Bralley has also performed alongside world-class artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Branford Marsalis, Wynonna Judd, Arlo Guthrie, and EGOT winner Marvin Hamlisch, and considers himself very fortunate to have had these amazing opportunities.

Mr. Bralley is a graduate of the University of Kentucky, where he continues to participate in the Alumni Basketball Pep Band. He is also an alumnus of the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps of Rockford, Illinois. He has served on the KMEA State Marching Band Committee since 2018 and on the Bands of America Marching Band Advisory Committee since 2019.

His professional affiliations include the Kentucky Music Educators Association, the National Association for Music Education, the American School Band Directors Association, the National Band Association, and Psi Chapter of Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity.

Mr. Bralley resides in Crestview Hills, Kentucky, with his wife, Kelli.

Savannah Starks has been the Associate Director of Bands at Beechwood Independent Schools since 2022. During Ms. Starks' time at Beechwood, the middle and high school concert bands have earned distinguished ratings at each KMEA concert assessment, and they were awarded exemplary awards in 2023 and 2024. In 2024, Ms. Starks served as a guest clinician and conductor for the Quad State Middle School Honor Band Festival at Murray State University.

She has also served as the Vice President and Middle School Band Chair of KMEA District 6 since 2023. In 2025, Ms. Starks was awarded the Middle School Teacher of the Year for KMEA District 6.

As the Associate Director, Ms. Starks also teaches the Beechwood Marching Tigers. This group has earned placement in KMEA State Finals each year and were KMEA State Champions in 2023 and 2025. The Marching Tigers were Bands of America Grand National Semifinalists in 2022 and 2023, and in 2022, the Marching Tigers were awarded the John Philip Sousa Foundation's Sudler Shield Award.

Outside of teaching, performing continues to be an important part of Ms. Starks' life. Since 2023, she has been a member of the Cincinnati Wind Band playing clarinet. In 2022, Ms. Starks also completed a month-long orchestra festival with the Prague Summer Nights Music Festival. Involvement in these groups has allowed her to perform in places such as Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Rudolfinum and Estates Theatre in Prague, Czechia, Louisville, Kentucky for KMEA, and Columbus, Ohio for OMEA.

Ms. Starks graduated from the University of Kentucky with two degrees: Music Education and Clarinet Performance. She grew up in Columbia, Kentucky where she was a part of the Adair County Bands. With the marching band, she became a two-time KMEA State Champion and a four-time BOA Class A National Champion. During this time, she was accepted into the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts for Instrumental Music and earned placements in the KMEA All-State Bands four years in a row. Ms. Starks currently resides in Fort Wright, Kentucky.