Janis Potter
Janis Potter is a percussionist with "The President’s Own" United States Marine Band in Washington DC where she is known by her married name as Staff Sergeant Potter-Paulson. Ms. Potter has performed numerous solos with the band including Thea Musgrave’s Journey Through a Japanese Landscape, which she played at the Concert Band Director’s National Association Convention in February 1999, and her own arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, which she performed 18 times during the 1999 fall concert tour of the Western United States.

On her "time-off" from the band she performs approximately twenty solo recitals each year- many of which are sponsored by The Piatigorsky Foundation. She has presented master classes at major universities throughout the country and was a guest clinician at the 1997 and 98’ Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. She has also had two articles published by Percussive Notes Magazine: "Avoiding the Marimba Shuffle" in November 1998, and "Wrap it Up" in June 2000.

She has expanded the repertoire for marimba by commissioning, transcribing, and arranging new works including her marimba duos which were transcribed and arranged for Madam Rubio (The Zeltsman-Potter Marimba Duo.) Her popular solo transcriptions of the Prelude from Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin and Bach’s Lute Suite in e minor have recently been published by Go Fish Music. (www.GoFishMusic.com) Janis has just released her first solo CD entitled Marimba Tracks, which can be purchased directly from her, or online at www.percussionmusic.com, over the phone from Steve Weiss Music, or by special order from most major record stores.
She received her Bachelors and Masters Degrees in music performance from The Juilliard School where she is now faculty member and coordinator for the Summer Percussion Seminar for high school percussionists. She endorses Adams marimbas, Pearl drums, and Innovative Percussion mallets.