Meet Our Battery Staff

GRISHOK THAYANITHY

Bass Drum Instructor

Grishok is the bass tech for the Dakota Winter Drumline.  He has been working with the Winter Drumline for the past four seasons and he is excited to be back with the bass line this winter.  When instructing, he strives for cultural excellence within his section while cultivating a fun environment.  His teaching experience includes three seasons teaching the flub line and five seasons with the bass line. In addition to his music instruction, he is currently studying accounting at Oakland University.
 
His marching experience started when he was a student at Dakota High School where he was a part of the Marching Band for four years, and with the Winter Drumline for three years. During high school, he played the alto saxophone, baritone, cymbals, and bass drum. Following high school, Grishok went on to march bass with multiple other groups including world class ensembles "Redline Percussion" and the "Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps". 

SARAH MARTEL

Snare Drum Instructor

​Sarah Martel has been teaching snare drum at Dakota since 2019.  Sarah is a 2018 graduate of Dakota High School where she participated in eight seasons of marching between the Marching Band and the Winter Drumline in addition to being a member of the Concert Band.  She has experience on multiple instruments including the snare drum, bass drum, clarinet, and bass clarinet. After high school, Sarah went on to march independent open class on snare drum at Motor City Percussion in 2019 and Apex Percussion as center snare in 2020. She is very excited to continue teaching and mentoring her students to be the best they can be. Sarah is a recent Walsh College graduate working as a database developer. Outside of drumming, she loves to paint and listen to music.

ANNA KOH 

Cymbal Instructor/Visual Instructor

Anna Koh is a cymbal instructor from Farmington Hills, Michigan. She began marching trumpet at North Farmington High School then went on to become drum major. Anna began to play cymbals in 2015 at Farmington United Percussion Ensemble. Anna has marched at Farmington United Percussion Ensemble, Genesis Percussion, Redline Percussion, Legends DBC and the Madison Scouts.  She began teaching in 2019 and has been at Dakota since the 2020 winter season. Anna will be choreographing the 2022 winter production. In addition to instructing for the Dakota Winter Drumline, she has taught cymbals at Huron Valley Percussion, P-CEP Percussion and Lake Orion High School/Lake Orion Percussion.  She has also done visual instruction at Novi High School, P-CEP Marching Band and North Farmington High School.
 
Anna is currently studying visual art education at Eastern Michigan University. She founded and runs Flashpoint, a cymbal sleeve company, along with her partner Brooklyn Simpson. Most importantly, she thinks creamy peanut butter is superior.

TRISHA BEAUCHEMIN 

Cymbal Instructor

Trisha Beauchemin began her percussion career in the L’Anse Creuse High School Band Program. She has been teaching with the Dakota Drumline in 2018.  She has also been a cymbals instructor at West Bloomfield High School (2017) and Lake Effect Percussion (2019).  Trisha marched Motor City Percussion cymbals in PIO (Percussion Independent Open) from 2015-2018, as well as EMU drumline cymbals/bass drum from 2016-2018. She also spent the summer of 2019 with Legends DBC cymbal line.
 
Trisha has learned much from her past instructors and makes every effort to embody what she has learned when she teaches. She hopes to provide education that will contribute to the bright futures of young performers, as well as the future of the cymbal community.

PATRICK MILLER

Bass Consultant

Patrick Miller is a recent graduate of Dakota High School and marched for Dakota High School for two seasons in both Marching Band and Winter Drumline.  This is his first year teaching at Dakota at a Bass Drum Instructor.  Patrick is currently attending Western Michigan University.