Robert Breithaupt enjoys one of America’s most diverse musical careers.
Breithaupt is considered one of the nation’s leaders in percussion education. He is Professor of Music and Department Chair of Music Business & Industry Studies at Capital University. Since 1978 he has developed one of the most recognized undergraduate percussion programs in the United States, producing students that are successful in performing, teaching and the music industry. He is the co-director of the Summer Drum Set Workshops, the author of the textbook, The Complete Percussionist, the DVD entitled Snare Drum Basics, and presents and is features in clinics and seminars worldwide. He is also a past-president of the Percussive Arts Society, the international society for drummers and percussionists.
While leading the Jazz Arts Group (JAG) as Executive Director since 2001, he has also served as the drummer of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra since 1980. As a consultant and speaker, he promotes the organizational structure of JAG, one of America’s leading non-for-profit jazz organizations, as a model to be replicated by other communities.
He has performed with a virtual “Who’s Who” of great jazz talents, has served as an extra percussionist with the Columbus Symphony and continues to perform with many of the nation’s finest orchestras as drummer/percussionist trumpet virtuoso Byron Stripling and for Broadway star Sandy Duncan.
Breithaupt is an endorser and consultant for the Yamaha Corporation, the Sabian, Ltd., Innovative Percussion, and Remo, Inc. As a businessman, Breithaupt was one of the founders of Columbus Pro Percussion, Inc., and served as co-owner and vice-president for twenty-five years.
The recipient of numerous honors and awards, he was awarded Bowling Green State University’s Outstanding Graduate Award, participated as a fellow in the Jefferson Academy for Leadership and Governance, was a participant in the prestigious Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders in the Arts, a joint program of National Arts Strategies and the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and currently serves as the chair of the Columbus Cultural Leadership Consortium.