Most notably, Tanner is the author of The Steel Band Game Plan: Strategies for Starting, Building and Maintaining Your Pan Program. This comprehensive resource, the first of its kind to be published through a major firm, is written for both new and current steel band directors and addresses areas such as instruments, repertoire, technique, and rehearsal strategies. The book is published by Rowman & Littlefield Education under the auspices of MENC.
Chris Tanner (D.M.A., West Virginia University, 2000) is an associate professor of music at Miami University and the founder and director of the Miami University Steel Band. He first became interested in world music as an undergraduate student at West Virginia University, where he studied steel pan performance and construction with Ellie Mannette, an internationally recognized leader in the construction and tuning of steel drum instruments, and African percussion with Phil Faini.
In the steel band idiom, Tanner is active as a performer, educator, and composer/arranger. He has served as a guest clinician or performing artist at numerous festivals, workshops, high schools and universities. He is a seven-time commissioned composer/arranger, and his works are published through both Pan Ramajay Productions and Panyard, Inc.