CHRIS EATON
INSTRUCTOR OF MUSIC, ST. MARY SCHOOL
mail@chriseaton.com

EDUCATION
B.A. MUSIC PERFORMANCE, SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY

Chris Eaton joined the St. Mary School faculty team in the fall of 2022 as instructor of music where he teaches grades K-8.

Mr. Eaton is a native of California and a graduate of Gunderson High School in San Jose. Prior to coming to St. Mary School, he was the percussion instructor at Christopher High School, South Valley Middle School, Ascension Solarsano Middle School and Brownell Middle School. He is the owner and director of music instruction for Encore Music Studio providing private music instruction in Gilroy for over ten years. He is also the guitar and percussion instructor for Pacific Music Academy in San Jose.

As an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Mr. Eaton has performed with the South Valley Symphony, Bobby McFerrin, Shelia E., Jerry Garcia, Pete Escovedo, Chris Cain, Tobie Keith and Ritchie Cole to name a few. He has played in numerous Bay Area concert halls, festivals, nightclubs and as house band drummer/singer for several years in California’s largest club “The Saddle Rack”. In a drum solo competition sponsored by Guitar Center, a panel of judges gave Mr. Eaton 2nd highest score out of 200 Bay Area Drummers.

As a composer and producer, Mr. Eaton owns and operates his own recording studio where he has produced two solo albums on which played all the instruments. His music is available on the iTunes music store as well as other online steaming services. A lot the sounds heard on his recordings were either designed or edited by himself and some of these custom patches have been featured in Keyboard Magazine. He was also featured in Digital Drummer Magazine with his unique electronic drum kit. As an author Mr. Eaton has written two drum method books as well as music and worksheets for his students.

Mr. Eaton holds a Bachelor of music degree from San Jose State University. While there he had the privilege of studying orchestral percussion under Anthony Cirone, vocal performance with Bobby McFerrin, electronic music with Alan Strange, and studio production with Dan Wyman.