Ken Parsons is Associate Professor of Music at Southern Adventist University.  He directs the Wind Symphony, Brass Choir, and Jazz Ensemble and teaches various music education courses as well as applied trumpet.

Before coming to SAU in 2000, Mr. Parsons chaired the Music Department and served as Director of Wind Ensembles at Forest Lake Academy in Apopka, Florida from 1986-2000.  His ensembles consistently earned high ratings at district and state Florida Bandmaster Association adjudications.  Additionally, a significant number of his private students received Superior adjudication ratings, as well as many music performance scholarships to SAU.  He taught extension courses in Music Appreciation for both SAU and Oakwood College from 1998-2000.  In addition to his duties at Forest Lake, Mr. Parsons was for four years the brass ensemble director and trumpet instructor at Rollins College in nearby Winter Park.

After graduating from Walla Walla College in 1983 with degrees in Music Education and Theology, Parsons taught music at Redlands Junior Academy in California before attending the University of Oregon and completing a M.Mus. Degree in Brass Performance in 1987.  He has performed extensively on trumpet in various orchestral and wind ensembles and as a soloist in the Northwest, Southern California, Florida, and Tennessee.  He and his wife, Kristi, have two children, Kristofer, 10, and Kaarsten, 8.