As for education, Derrick is Co-Coordinator of Music and Director of Instrumental Music Studies at Richland College in Dallas, TX, where he conducts the Richland Wind Symphony, Percussion Group, and Steel Bands, and teaches percussion and drum set studies.   Derrick has also been a faculty member at The University of North Texas, Texas Wesleyan University, Tarrant County College, Eastfield College, Centennial High School (Frisco, TX) and Duncanville, TX schools. His students have given various solo recitals and musically diverse percussion ensemble concerts and earned scholarships to top music schools across the US such as the Berklee School of Music, the University of North Texas, and the New England Conservatory. They have also consistently won national and state band competitions and earned positions in the Texas All-State Band and Orchestra percussion sections for the past 15 years.

Derrick also manages and writes for his music firm, Derrickmusic, where his bands, publications and recordings are commercially available.  He is the author of the chapter, Marching Percussion History, for the The Encyclopedia of Percussion, (Routledge Publishing) as well as the resource book, Percussion, (Kjos Publishing) for the band method series, Foundations for Superior Performance, which is used in music education programs worldwide. Derrick has presented 3 full-scale percussion clinic presentations at the Percussive Arts Society International Conventions that involved over 100 performers, demonstrators, and speakers from major drum corps, corporations, the Smithsonian Institute and the movie, Gettsyburg. Derrick is also a product endorser of Pro-Mark percussion products. He has a Master's Degree in Music Performance from the University of North Texas, where he taught for 4 years, and a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from the Capital University Conservatory of Music in Columbus, Ohio, where he won various research grants for international publication.