Chris Copeland is currently a junior studying Music Production at Millersville University's Tell School of Music. Chris has been a percussionist for eight years, studying a wide range of percussion instruments and styles. In his time at Millersville, Chris has performed with numerous ensembles, including the Marching Band, Wind Ensemble, and Percussion Ensemble. Outside of his classes, Chris is involved in numerous creative projects in the styles of Jazz, Commercial, and Ambient music. Throughout his career as a percussionist, Chris has held a strong affinity for jazz music, which pushed him to develop a research project around the genre. Chris decided to look into whether jazz influences the production of other genres of music, such as rap, in today’s music industry. With jazz and rap being two of his favorite genres, Chris wanted to take a deeper look into any musical relationship the two may share, hoping to look deeper into jazz’s place in the current industry. After graduating, Chris aims to pursue several of his passions within the music industry, including music production, live sound, and studio recording. Through interviewing numerous music industry professionals, Chris has gained deeper insight into many production techniques which he hopes to implement into his artistic endeavors in the future.