OUR TEAM
At Clifford Bialkin Designs we have been successfully designing and coordinating marching productions for over 30 years. Our team is comprised of some of today's most cutting edge writers and designers that are currently involved in the upper echelon of the musical arts activity. Trust our team of top notch design professionals to create a custom production that is geared to your ensembles strengths.
Clifford Bialkin
Owner
Program Coordinator/
Arranger/Clinician/Audio Design
Mr. Bialkin retired in 2020 after serving as the Director of Bands at Ramsey High School in NJ
for 32 years. During his tenure, he led numerous award-winning ensembles, including the jazz
band, marching band, wind ensemble, and pit orchestra. His groups had the opportunity to travel
extensively, performing in parades and concerts across Europe, including in London, France, and
Italy.
After retiring, he founded
Clifford Bialkin Designs LLC, a company specializing in custom
music arrangements, drill design, and performance coaching for marching arts ensembles across
the United States. The company also offers soundtrack creation, live audio production, custom
mixing, and audio engineering for musical theatre. Mr. Bialkin is a respected music arranger for
both band and drum corps, including the world-famous Hawthorne Caballeros.
Mr. Bialkin is a freelance
trombonist in the New York metro area and has a studio of students, where he shares his
expertise in brass performance. Mr. Bialkin is also a frequent clinician and adjudicator, offering
his insights to ensembles both domestically and internationally. He and his wife, Sabrina, also an
teacher, live in Ramsey, NJ, where they share a deep passion for educating students, as well as a
love for music and the arts
Matthew Blood
Front Ensemble & Battery Composer/Arranger
Matt Blood is a marching arts designer, educator, and consultant based out of Southern New Jersey. He has worked with many marching bands, indoor percussion ensembles, and drum corps around the country as the sole proprietor of mattbloodmusic.com.
In the past, Matt has held the position of Front Ensemble Arranger for the Jersey Surf from 2019 to 2023, Front Ensemble Arranger/Sound Designer for United Percussion 2 in 2022 and 2023, and taught the front ensemble at United Percussion World from 2019 to 2023, where he was the coordinator in 2021 and caption head in 2022 and 2023. Currently, Matt holds the positions of Front Ensemble Coordinator/Arranger/Sound Designer for the Hawthorne Caballeros and Front Ensemble Caption Head/Staff Arranger for the Rutgers University Marching Scarlet Knights.
Matt received his Bachelor’s degree in classical percussion performance from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, where he learned from Joe Tompkins, Kyle Zerna, Mike Truesdell, and Javier Diaz. In addition, Matt has performed as a member of the United Percussion Front Ensemble during their 2012-2014 seasons, and was fortunate enough to work with many amazing educators, including Steve Ballard and Ian Hale.
Matt prides himself on his fresh percussion and sound designs, seamless integration with battery and wind scores, and arrangements where musicality comes first.
Dominik Schulz
Composer/Arranger
Dominik Schulz, born in 1990 in Stuttgart, began his musical training at age 8 on the piano. At 14 he switched from trumpet to bassoon and never looked back. Dominik earned his B.M. at Mannes College The New School for Music under Kim Laskowski (Associate Principal Bassoonist of the New York Philharmonic) before moving to Frankfurt to study with David Petersen (Principal Bassoonist of the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig).
Dominik's journey has brought him through every position from principal bassoon through contrabassoon, having contracted with orchestras such as the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig, the Robert Schumann Philharmonie Chemnitz, and the Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau. His experience stretches from large houses such as the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, through smaller regional orchestras, to intimate house concerts in living rooms. He has played on Broadway's Phantom of the Operaand toured with popular bands such as Die Prinzen.
As a founding member of the Leitzinger Bassoon Quartet he has played international festivals, inaugurations of regional bishops, festive concerts, and released CD and video recordings. As an arranger he is highly sought after by artists such as Andris Nelsons, the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, the Bassoon Section of the New York Philharmonic, and marching bands all over the United States.
Throughout it all he has remained committed to helping others achieve their best, teaching masterclasses and reed making courses all over the world. In his role as Head of Product Management at Reeds 'n Stuff he not only develops new tools to make the lives of reed playing musicians worldwide easier, but consistely breaks down barriers to understanding and helps facilitate connections across the musical world.