Dan Brickner graduated from Eastern Illinois University in 2017 with a degree in Music Performance. Following that, Dan attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison in pursuit of a Master’s Degree in Music Performance. After leaving Madison, Dan returned to EIU again to complete a second Bachelor's degree in Music Education with Suma Cum Laude distinction and graduated in 2021. After being an active member of his high school marching band, Alton High School, for four years, he worked as an assistant technician for the front ensemble and drumline for two summers. 

Since then, he has been in high demand in Central Illinois as a percussion specialist, working with high schools and middle schools in Paris, Effingham, Robinson, Newton, Richland County, and Casey-Westfield. He has also judged marching competitions and solo and ensemble festivals held in Robinson, Sullivan, Effingham, and Lawrenceville. In addition to working as a Percussion Assistant for Eastern Music Camp, where he taught masterclasses and sectionals for 3 years, Dan is active as a private instructor and has been teaching private percussion lessons for the past 9 years. In the spring of 2019, Dan revived the Red Regiment Indoor Drumline which had been on a 7-year hiatus, and he began Robinson High School's first-ever Percussion Ensemble.

While at Eastern, Dan performed in the Panther Marching Band, Eastern Wind Symphony, the Percussion Ensemble, the Eastern Symphonic Orchestra, the Vanguard Sextet Jazz Combo, the New Music Ensemble, and the Jazz Lab Band. In the fall of 2017, Dan served as the Drumline Teaching Assistant for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Marching Band, which traveled to Miami Florida to perform at the Orange Bowl. While at Wisconsin Dan performed with the Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Orchestra, and the Western and World Percussion Ensembles. Dan's collegiate teaching experience continued while he was the drumline instructor for the EIU Panther Marching Band from 2019-2022.

 

Currently, Dan is the Director of Bands at Robinson High School in Robinson, IL. Recently, Dan took his marching band to the Autozone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, TN to perform with the band Starship in a mass band performance. In Memphis, they also won second place in both field show and parade competitions while earning multiple caption awards and winning the Autozone Liberty Sweepstakes Grand Champion trophy.