About
Aaron Railey is a composer, arranger, educator, and performer based out of Columbia, South Carolina. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Music Education, with an emphasis in percussion performance from The University of South Carolina. Aaron currently serves in the Lexington County School District One’s district office as the Production Manager for the district’s Performing Arts Center. Prior to this position, Aaron served the Associate Director of Bands at River Bluff High School in Lexington, SC, where he directed marching and concert bands, lead the Audio Engineering program, and founded the county’s first ever world music ensemble. Aaron is also the Director of Steel Drum Ensembles at Logan Elementary School in Columbia, SC, where he teaches a before school musical outreach program to third through fifth graders. He and his wife Caroline, reside with their son Christian in Lexington, SC.
Versatility is the word that best describes Aaron's performance abilities. He has been a featured concert percussion soloist on a performance tour throughout China, and has performed as a featured artist at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in Indianapolis, Indiana. As a marching percussion artist he achieved multiple international finalist and championship performances with the DCI and WGI organizations Carolina Crown, Palmetto Percussion, and Spirit of Atlanta. Aaron is also a steel pan solo artist performing around the state of South Carolina for various events and is a worship team member at Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church in Lexington, SC.
As an educator, Aaron has an undeniable passion for instilling positive life skills through music. Along with his present teaching positions, he is an active clinician across the country, and a devoted private lesson instructor. Ensembles under his direction have consistently placed in the top positions at state championships, been named BOA regional finalists and WGI national finalists, and have been the featured performance ensembles at various national education conventions.
Aaron is a well-sought after and internationally published composer and arranger. He is currently the resident percussion and audio designer for the music arranging company Marching BandWorks, under the direction of CEO Joshua V. Hinkel. His marching arts designs have been heard in state marching band championships, college football stadiums, and in WGI and BOA regional and national championships. Through his partnership with C-Alan Publications, Aaron has composed many new works for percussion ensemble and steel band, many of which have been added to the Texas UIL list! He also has popular music arrangements published through Hal-Leonard’s Composer Press on Sheet Music Plus.
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In April of 2022, Aaron also released his first ever original instrumental album entitled “Redeemed” to all streaming platforms. Using industry standard software, and ground breaking instrumental library technology, this album was created and distributed all digitally. Aaron did all the composing, orchestrating, mixing, and mastering on this album and truly takes pride in it being his most ambitious work yet.
Aaron is honored to be endorsed and be apart of the educational artist families of Remo Inc. The Vic Firth Company, and The Zildjian Company.
