A1C JR Alberto is a percussionist and librarian with the United States Air Force Band of the Golden West, Travis Air Force Base, California. Originally from Cedar Park, Texas, his Air Force career began in 2023.
Airman Alberto is a 2017 graduate of the Texas Christian University School of Music in Fort Worth, TX, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in music education. In 2020, he received a master’s degree in music performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana. His teachers include Brian West, Joseph Gramley, John Tafoya, Steve Houghton, and Michael Spiro. Prior to his Air Force career, Airman Alberto had an expansive career as a freelance musician and educator internationally.
Airman Alberto’s civilian performance experience includes multiple appearances at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention – the global hub for percussion performance, education, technology, literature and research – as both a performer and director on their percussion ensemble showcase concerts. As an advocate for expanding the contemporary solo and chamber percussion music repertoire, Airman Alberto has been a part of several new music commissions and has premiered works by some of the most renown composers in the contemporary percussion music world such as Nathan Daughtrey, Raymond Helble, Adam Silverman, and Kevin Bobo. In addition, Airman Alberto is an avid freelance percussionist and has collaborated and performed with orchestras and other musicians around the country.
As an Educator, Airman Alberto has worked extensively in public schools around the country and internationally as a private lesson instructor, ensemble coach, arranger, clinician and adjudicator. Groups he has worked with such as the Center Grove High School Indoor Percussion in Greenwood, IN, the Trinity High School Percussion Ensemble in Euless, TX, and the Harwood Junior High Percussion Ensemble in Bedford, TX, have received national recognition for elevating the artistic standard for concert percussion ensemble repertoire and marching arts performance in public schools. In 2023, Airman Alberto conducted various masterclasses, workshops, and performances with university students and faculty in Metropolitan Manila, Philippines, sharing pedagogical and musical ideas for marching percussion, chamber music, and solo repertoire.
EDUCATION
2017 Bachelor of Music Education, Percussion, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX
2020 Master of Music Performance, Percussion, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
2024 Graduate, Basic Military Training School, Lackland AFB, TX
ASSIGNMENTS
- February 2024 – present, Band of the Golden West, Travis AFB, CA
MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Army Achievement Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Air and Space Training Ribbon
EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
Airman First Class February 1, 2024
(Current as of September 2024)