Ron Coulter is currently Instructor of Percussion, Improvisation, American Popular and World Musics at Casper College. He previously served as Senior Lecturer of Percussion, Improvisation, and Jazz Studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale for a decade and as a Visiting Instructor of Percussion at Clarion University of Pennsylvania.  He has also taught as an Adjunct Instructor of Percussion at John A. Logan College and Youngstown State University, and as an independent contractor at Westminster College.  He has presented clinics, master classes, lectures, and/or performances at more than 90 colleges and universities internationally as a visiting artist.  In 2006 Ron was invited to become an Educational Endorser with the Promark Corporation and Black Swamp Percussion. 

Ron has been a freelance percussionist since 1997, performing in a wide range of musical situations from burlesque cabaret to live electronica.  As a performer, he has toured internationally appearing in 46 U.S. states, the European Union, Norway, Croatia, and most major cities in Canada and Japan.  He has performed with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Harry James Orchestra, Tone Road Ramblers, Four Aces, Linux Laptop Orchestra, Tatsuya Nakatani, Gino Robair, Michael Zerang, Chris Corsano, New Arts Jazztet, Sean Jones, Keith Javors, Al Martino, One-Off Radiophonic Orchestra, Donadi, The Gaylords, Galen Abdur-Razzaq, Marvin Stamm, Dominick Farinacci, Joanne Brackeen, Bruce Johnstone, Sony Holland, Maria Schneider, Chuck Mangione, Lucy Shelton, Susan Botti, Julia Rich, Cristina Fontanelli, Beat Kaestli, Nick Hilscher, Bryan Anthony, Steve Lippia, Dick Johnson, Eric P. Mandat, William O. Smith, James Falzone, Fran ois Houle, Carol Wincenc, Ryan Anthony, Bolokada Cond , Weedie Braimah, Erica Azim, Marvin Hamlisch, Sandy Duncan, Robert Van Sice, Sylvia Smith, Music from China, Altgeld Chamber Players, HaZMaT Percussion Group, The Chance Operations Collective of Kalamazoo, Sam West Trio, Woodbox Gang, Rapture 7, Well Well Wells, and Rum Runners, among many others. 

Ron is a co-founder of the Percussion Art Ensemble and Youngstown Percussion Collective, and founder of the Perkusiv Arts Elektronik, which was a series of sound events exploring the performance of existing, and the creation of new, electro-acoustic music, including 69 world premiers from 2005 to 2006.  Ron has performed with symphony orchestras across the U.S.A. including the Wyoming Symphony, Youngstown Symphony, Paducah Symphony, Powder River Symphony, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Southern Illinois Symphony, Southern Illinois Music Festival Orchestra, Warren Philharmonic Orchestra, Warren Packard Band, Ballet Ariel Orchestra, and the Shenango Valley Lyric Opera.

Ron has presented at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (2013, 2003, 2002), International Society for Improvised Music Symposium (2009 & 2008), Montreal Jazz Festival (2009 & 2004), JVC Jazz Festival, International Clarinetfest, ReVIEWING Black Mountain College 3 John Cage, NIME, LiWoLi, Blurred Edges Festival, Athena Festival VI, Futurisms Centennial Conference, Sound Lines, RadiaLx, a.pe.ri.od.ic Music Series-John Cage Festival, nief-norf s John Cage Research Summit, St. Louis New Music Circle (2012 & 2010), Jazz Education Network International Conference, Big Muddy Film Festival (2011 & 2010), UNCG New Music Festival, redStone Recital & Gallery Series.

(2015 & 2014), Outside the Box New Music Festivals (2014-2007), U.S. Army Band Tuba/Euphonium International Conference, College Music Society National Conference (2012 & 2008), Illinois PAS Day of Percussion (2012, 2010, 2009), Wyoming PAS Day of Percussion, American College Dance Festival Association Conference, Music Educators National Conference, and numerous state and regional Music Education Association conferences, among many others.  Ron was also selected as a finalist in the 2002 Percussive Arts Society International Multiple Percussion Competition and can be heard on more than 30 issued audio recordings with various artists. 

Interests in noise, intermedia, performance art, acoustic ecology, radio art, interdisciplinary collaboration, and non-idiomatic improvisation have led to the creation of the Southern Illinois Improvisation Series (SiiS), Wyoming Experimental Sound Series (WyExSs), and Improvisation Unit, organizing Fluxusconcerts, co-founding REDVIXA, duende entendre, and Marble Hammer, as well as collaborative projects with artists specializing in performance art, sculpture, video, spoken word, and sound art.  The SiiS was a monthly concert series (2014-2007) that presented 135 free sound events exploring interdisciplinary collaboration, technology integration, site-specific work, sound installations, sound empowerment, education, and documentation in the rural southern Illinois region. REDVIXA was a sound-performance-art duo with performance artist Violet Juno (2015-2009).  Duende entendre is a collaboration with poet and bassist, Sam West.  Marble Hammer is a blue-noiz trio with guitarist, Casey James, and bassist, Mike Alderfer.  Additional interdisciplinary collaborators include Mary Beth Edelson (performance art), Craig Gingrich-Philbrook (performance art), Terry Adkins (visual & sound art), Kerry Laitala (video), Wago Krieder (video), Jay Needham (sound & visual art), David Romtvedt (poetry), Erin Taylor (sculpture), and Boris Chesakov (sculpture). 

As a composer, Ron has created more than 280 original compositions for various media encompassing numerous genres.  His compositions have been performed throughout North America, South America, Europe, and have been recorded on the Kreating SounD and A Caldera record labels; selected scores and editions are published by HoneyRock Publishing, Frog Peak Music, Smith Publications, and Kreating SounD. 

Ron s musicological research has unearthed more than twenty unknown percussion works from the 1930s and 1940s, of which he is facilitating premiere live performances, recordings, and publication as audio CDs and/or scores, in addition to forthcoming analytical articles. 

As a curator, Ron has organized more than 400 free public presentations of music and intermedia art involving more than 100 artists across a multitude of disciplines.  During his tenure at SIUC he organized 73 visiting artists presenting 124 events for the university and regional communities.  At present he is the Instrumental Director of the Kinser Jazz Festival and coordinator of visiting percussion artists at Casper College, as well as the founder and artistic director of the Wyoming Experimental Sound Series (WyExSs).  WyExSs presents composed and improvised music in the American Experimentalist tradition and is the first of its kind in the state of Wyoming. 

Originally from Hermitage, Pennsylvania, Ron Coulter (b. 1978) was raised on a dairy farm and eventually earned M.M. and B.M. degrees in Percussion Performance from Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio.  His principle teachers include Dr. Glenn Schaft, Tony Leonardi, Dr. Stephen Gage, Feza Zweifel, John Riley, Fred Morris, Moussa Bolokada Cond , Caution Shonhai, Renold Shonhai, Erica Azim, and Nina DeCiancio.