Kevin Staggs

Kevin Staggs is a versatile clarinetist and woodwind specialist with extensive training and performance experience across the full spectrum of single- and double-reed instruments. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in Clarinet Performance and a Graduate Performance Certificate in Clarinet Performance from the University of Central Arkansas. His advanced study includes graduate coursework in Multiple Woodwind Performance at Indiana University, covering all five woodwinds, as well as doctoral study in Clarinet Performance at the University of Oklahoma. Kevin serves as a Woodwind Specialist in Sales and Repair and as an Educational Services Specialist with Saied Music Company, supporting music programs and educators throughout western and northwestern Arkansas. As a performer, Kevin is active in classical music and musical theatre. His recent theatre credits include Something Rotten!, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Newsies. He also performs with the clarinet quartet No Strings Attached, which was featured in the Walton Arts Center's Artosphere Festival event Taking Flight: Woodwind Quartet & Bird Watching in Northwest Arkansas.

Kevin Staggs performs on the Royal Global Firebird Soprano and Firebird Low C Bass clarinets, paired with a Black Nickel Sergio Bosi barrel and James Pyne Clarion PK (soprano) and Brian Corbin Custom 215 (bass) mouthpieces. The instruments hooked him "from the first note." He recalls, "Out of all the clarinets I tried, the Firebird is what I kept coming back to," as it won him over with a "perfect balance: buttery playability, premium craftsmanship, and a price that doesn't make your wallet weep." The Firebird line allowed his tone to "blossom — dark, rich, velvety, and endlessly expressive." He also values Royal’s ergonomics and the freedom to shape his playing without fighting the instrument. For Staggs, the value is in the artistic freedom and the sheer capability of the instruments, which provide "ease of expression, character and tone flexibility, technique facilitation, and power and projection." Even after more than five years of playing them, he says, "I haven't found the limit yet." He concludes, "I didn't just choose a clarinet — I found my voice."