Everything Band Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 161 - Travis Cross May 12, 2020

Show notes

Travis Cross is the director of the wind ensemble and the Chair of Music at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. He is a champion for greater diversity in the band community and an especially strong advocate for Asian composers, conductors, and teachers.

Topics:

Adopted from Korea as a baby, Travis grew up in a middle class home in the middle of Iowa. He tells the story of how his choir teacher pushed him to take a trip to see Starlight Express in Des Moines and how it changed his life.
How he ended up at St. Olaf for his undergraduate degree, his first job, his doctorate, and his two college jobs all in one big answer!
Banding in the great state of Iowa and how our success is often built with others and why we should be grateful for that support.
Representation and diversity in music.
Studying at Northwestern with Mallory Thompson and two important bits of advice he received from her.
"Move in a way that coaches, influences, and instigates the players to move the air and their fingers and their bodies in a way that creates the sound that you want to achieve."

Links:

Biography:

Travis J. Cross serves as professor of music at UCLA, where he conducts the Wind Ensemble, directs the graduate wind conducting program, and chairs the music department. He was also associate dean for academic mentoring and opportunity during the initial years of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Cross has conducted the UCLA Wind Ensemble at the California All-State Music Education Conference and College Band Directors National Association Western/Northwestern Division conference and prepared the band for centenary performances of Leonard Bernstein's Mass with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

During five years as wind ensemble conductor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., Cross led students in performances at the Virginia Music Educators Association conference, Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall and developed the Virginia Tech Band Directors Institute into a major summer conducting workshop.

Cross earned doctor and master of music degrees in conducting from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and the bachelor of music degree cum laude in vocal and instrumental music education from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. His principal teachers were Mallory Thompson and Timothy Mahr. Prior to graduate study, he taught for four years at Edina (Minn.) High School, where he conducted two concert bands and led the marching band program.

In 2004, Cross participated in the inaugural Young Conductor/Mentor Project sponsored by the National Band Association. The same year he received the Distinguished Young Band Director Award from the American School Band Directors Association of Minnesota. From 2001–2003, Cross served a two-year term as the recent graduate on the St. Olaf College Board of Regents. In 2006, he was named a Jacob K. Javits Fellow by the United States Department of Education. From 2011–2015, he served two terms as national vice president for professional relations for Kappa Kappa Psi, the national honorary band fraternity. In 2017, Cross taught the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps as brass co-caption head.

Cross contributed a chapter to volume four of Composers on Composing for Band, available from GIA Publications. His more than 20 original compositions and arrangements are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Daehn Publications, and Theodore Music. He has appeared as a guest conductor, composer, and clinician in more than 30 states; Canada, China, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates; and at the Midwest Clinic and has engagements in California, Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Virginia during the 2018–19 season. Cross is a Yamaha Master Educator.

Episode 160 - Adrian Barnes May 04, 2020

Show notes

Adrian Barnes is a music education professor at Rowan University. He joins the show for a discussion about his career and culturally responsive teaching.

Topics:

How hip hop and growing up playing music in the church were foundational experiences to Adrian's musical career and how an important teacher helped him put it all together.
Adrian's experiences at Bethune-Cookman and Florida State University before his first job in Manatee County, Florida.
Going back to earn his doctorate at Texas Tech University with a Promise Neighborhood Grant.
Culturally responsive teaching and and advice for teachers to help reach students from a variety of different backgrounds.

Links:

Biography:

Adrian D. Barnes began his teaching career in a Title I school in Bradenton, Florida (grades 6-8) as a band and orchestra director. While in Florida, he served as an assistant director of marching band at Southeast High School working specifically with drum-line, and front ensemble. Dr. Barnes has worked closely with students from historically marginalized communities, as well as students with special needs.

Upon attending Texas Tech University, Dr. Barnes served as an instructor of record, an instructor for the Texas Tech University String Project, and as a research assistant on a grant given to Texas Tech University by the U.S. Department of education for the purposes of establishing better relationships, and providing social capital to African American/Blacks and Latinos of Mexican-origin within a historically disenfranchised section of Lubbock, Texas. In addition, Dr. Barnes has an interest in studying the arts internationally and has traveled to universities within Southwest China as a part of a cultural exchange of American Music Education in Chengdu China to present on hip-hop rhythms through body percussion.

Dr. Barnes research interests include using hip-hop in the music classroom, music and informal learning, aesthetics in music education, and the recruitment of historically marginalized populations by collegiate music ensemble directors.

-------

Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope's outstanding staff to focus on your group's one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 159 - Julie Giroux Apr 27, 2020

Show notes

Julie Giroux joins the show to talk about her remarkable career as a composer and orchestrator as well as her generosity, love of video games, and diversity in music.

Topics:

Julie's background growing up in Louisiana and how she went from playing the piano by ear to Los Angeles orchestrating for one of the biggest mini-series of the 1980's just days after her graduation from LSU.
Some stories and anecdotes from her time writing for film and television, including the why she stopped playing her French horn.
The importance of orchestration and how it is the most crucial learned skill for composers.
Julie's love of role-playing video games and how they help her be creative, the video game industry, and what games we're playing right now during the pandemic.
Julie's generosity and how the person that is doing the giving benefits the most.
Julie gives me a composition tip that I really needed to hear and just when I think the interview is over we end up talking for 20 more minutes about women and diversity in music!

Links:

Biography:

Julie Ann Giroux was born 1961 in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and Monroe, Louisiana. She received her formal education from Louisiana State University and Boston University. She studied composition with John Williams, Bill Conti and Jerry Goldsmith, to name a few. Julie is an accomplished performer on piano and horn, but her first love is composition. She began playing the piano at the age of three and had published her first piece at the age of nine.

In 1985, she began composing, orchestrating, and conducting music for television and films. Within three hours after arriving in Los Angeles, she was at work on the music for the Emmy Award winning mini-series North and South, followed soon by work on the television series Dynasty and The Colbys, as well as the films Karate Kid II, White Men Can't Jump, and Broadcast News. She received her first Emmy nomination in 1988 for North and South Part II - Love and War, and over the next three years was nominated each year for her arranging and original compositions for the Academy Awards show. To date, Julie has well over 100 film and television credits and has been nominated for an Emmy several times. When she won her first Emmy Award, she was the first woman and the youngest person ever to win the award in that category. Julie has also been privileged to arrange for Celene Dion, Paula Abdul, Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, Madonna, Reba McIntyre, Little Richard, Billy Crystal, Michael Jackson and many others.

Julie is an extremely well rounded composer, writing works for symphony orchestra (including chorus), chamber ensembles, wind ensembles, soloists, brass and woodwind quintets and many other serious and commercial formats. She began writing music for concert band in 1983, publishing her first band work Mystery on Mena Mountain with Southern Music Company. Since that time, she has composed and published numerous works for professional wind ensembles, military bands, colleges and public schools and has conducted her music in clinics worldwide. She is also a very well received speaker and clinician. Julie is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).

Episode 158 - Craig Kirchhoff Apr 20, 2020

Show notes

Craig Kirchhoff is emeritus professor of conducting at the University of Minnesota. He joins the show to offer advice about conducting and teaching, and to discuss a career that included working with Frederick Fennell and the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra.

Topics:

Craig's lakefront cabin on the Canadian border and the legacy of Jim Croft.
Craig's background and training growing up in Milwaukee, some early teachers that influenced his career, and his first teaching jobs.
Thoughts about teacher preparation and what young teachers need to be successful.
Meeting Frederick Fennell, some thoughts about the great conductor, and how that changed the course of Craig's career.
Working with the Tokyo Kosei Wind Ensemble.
Conducting skills and advice for young band directors who want to become better at their craft as conductors.
The 80/20 rule.

Links:

Biography:

Craig Kirchhoff is professor emeritus of conducting at the University of Minnesota. Born and educated in Wisconsin, Mr. Kirchhoff brings to his position a wide knowledge of both traditional and contemporary literature. He has won critical acclaim from composers Warren Benson, Henry Brant, Michael Colgrass, Karel Husa, Libby Larsen, George Perle, Vincent Persichetti, Stephen Paulus, Verne Reynolds, Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, Steven Stucky, Elliott Schwartz, Chen Yi, and others.

Mr. Kirchhoff is past president of the College Band Directors National Association and is a member of the American Bandmasters Association, the National Band Association, the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, and the Music Educators National Conference, and he served as the founding editor and principal advisor of the College Band Directors National Association Journal.

Professor Kirchhoff has appeared as guest conductor, clinician, and lecturer throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Europe, and Scandinavia. Mr. Kirchhoff is a frequent guest conductor of the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and has recorded with them on the Kosei Publishing label.

-------

Episode 157 - Jason Fettig Apr 13, 2020

Show notes

Colonel Jason K. Fettig is the 28th Director of "The President's Own" United States Marine Band. In this episode we discuss his career, the Marine Band, and even talk performance practice for Sousa marches.

Topics:

Jason's background growing up as a clarinet player and what are some of the important early lessons he learned.
The audition process for the Marine Band and the story of how he almost didn't go to the audition and how he was able to finish up his student teaching after winning that gig.
Jason's rise through the ranks of the Marine Band and some thoughts about leadership.
An interesting bit of history about the instrumentation of the band and some not to be missed stories and anecdotes from Jason's time as Director the Marine Band.
Performance practice and Sousa marches and yes, it is okay to slow down right before the final strain!

Links:

Biography:

Colonel Jason K. Fettig is the 28th Director of "The President's Own" United States Marine Band. He joined in 1997 as a clarinetist and soon became a frequently featured soloist with both the band and the Marine Chamber Orchestra. After serving four years in the organization, he was selected as an Assistant Director, and he conducted his first concert with the Marine Band Aug. 1, 2001. He was commissioned a first lieutenant in July 2002, promoted to captain in August 2003, and became the band's Executive Officer the following year. He was promoted to major in August 2007 and to lieutenant colonel in July 2014, one week before assuming leadership of "The President's Own." He was promoted to his present rank in August 2017 in the Roosevelt Room by President Donald J. Trump. He is the third Director of "The President's Own" to be promoted to colonel in a White House ceremony.

As Director, Col. Fettig is the music adviser to the White House and regularly conducts the Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra at the Executive Mansion and at all Presidential Inaugurations. He also serves as music director of Washington, D.C.'s historic Gridiron Club, a position held by every Marine Band Director since John Philip Sousa. In his first years as Director, Col. Fettig has led the band for numerous major national events both at the White House and throughout the country. He conducted national broadcast performances for the 200th Anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner at Ft. McHenry in Baltimore, a special Veterans Day performance with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, and an appearance on the David Letterman Show at the invitation of Michelle Obama in New York. He leads frequent concerts throughout the Washington, D.C., area and across the country during the band's annual national tour. Live performances by the Marine Band under his direction are often heard on National Public Radio. Col. Fettig is a fervent advocate for both traditional and contemporary American music and remains dedicated to the ongoing development of music for wind band. In recent years, he has conducted world premières of substantial new works by James Stephenson, Jacob Bancks, David Rakowski, Adam Schoenberg, David Conte, and Narong Prangcharoen.

Throughout his career with the Marine Band, Col. Fettig has been deeply committed to music education and has taken an active role in the evolution and expansion of the many educational initiatives of "The President's Own." In addition to helping refine the Music in the Schools and Music in the High Schools programs, he has made it a priority to maintain a significant presence in schools throughout the nation during the band's national concert tours. He also began an interactive and theatrical Young People's Concert series in 2006 and authored, hosted, and conducted this popular annual event until 2015. In 2014, shortly after assuming command of the Marine Band, Col. Fettig launched an ambitious project to re-record all of the marches of John Philip Sousa and provide free performance and educational materials online to schools throughout the world.

Col. Fettig is a 1993 graduate of Manchester Central High School in New Hampshire and holds two bachelor's degrees from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass) in both clarinet performance (1997) and music education with an emphasis in conducting (1998). In 2005, he earned a master's degree in orchestral conducting at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) where he served as assistant conductor for two productions of the Maryland Opera Studio. He studied clarinet with Michael Sussman and David Martins, and his principal conducting teachers were Malcolm W. Rowell and James Ross. Additionally, Col. Fettig has participated in workshops with several renowned conductors including Osmo Vänskä and Otto Werner Mueller.

Col. Fettig has represented the Marine Band on numerous occasions as a soloist, adjudicator, and clinician, and regularly conducts both concert bands and orchestras for all-state and honor festivals. In 2014, he was elected as a member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association.

Episode 156 - Randall Coleman Apr 06, 2020

Show notes

Randall Coleman is the Associate Director of Bands at the University of Alabama and the director of the exceptional Alabama Winds.

Topics:

Randall's background growing up just north of Birmingham, Alabama and his journey back to the University of Alabama.
The impact of that the football success of Nick Saban has had on the music program and Alabama's Million Dollar Band.
The Alabama Winds and the their stunning performance at the 2017 Midwest Clinic.
Good advice about communication with administrators, owning one's mistakes, and encouragement for young band directors.

Links:

Biography:

Randall Coleman is currently the associate director of bands and associate professor of music at The University of Alabama, where he serves as the conductor of the Alabama Symphonic Band, the Associate Conductor of the Alabama Wind Ensemble, and the co-director of the Million Dollar Band. He also teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting and wind band literature classes. In addition, Professor Coleman is the coordinator of the Crimson Music Camps held each summer at The University of Alabama. Additionally, Professor Coleman serves as conductor and artistic director of the Alabama Winds, an all-adult community wind band based in Birmingham, Alabama.

Prior to his appointment to the faculty at The University of Alabama in 2007, Mr. Coleman enjoyed a successful 25-year career as a high school band director and supervisor in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, and the Masters of Music Education degree from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.

During his teaching career in Georgia, Mr. Coleman was an active member of the Georgia Music Educators' Association, where he held the office of president, first vice-president and state band division chair. He also served as Georgia State Chair for the National Band Association. Professor Coleman has been awarded the Citation of Excellence from the National Band Association on eight occasions and was the 1992 recipient of the American School Band Directors' Association's Stanbury Award for the state of Georgia and the southeastern United States. Mr. Coleman was inducted into the John Philip Sousa Foundation's Legion of Honor in 2004 and is also listed in Who's Who Among America's Teachers. Under his direction, the Milton High School Wind Ensemble performed at the 2004 GMEA Inservice Conference, the 2004 Bands of America National Concert Band Festival, and the 2006 National Convention of the Music Educators' National Conference.

At The University of Alabama, Professor Coleman has conducted the Alabama Symphonic Band at the 2012 Alabama Music Educators' Conference and the ensemble at the 2014 College Band Director's National Association's Southern Division Conference. He also conducted the Alabama Wind Ensemble at the College Band Directors' Association Southern Division Conference in 2010. A strong proponent of new music for wind band, he has commissioned two pieces for wind bands: Diamond Fanfare by Samuel R. Hazo, premiered by the Milton Wind Ensemble and Diabolus Ex Machina by Jim Bonney premiered by the Alabama Wind Ensemble. He conducted the world premiere of Mutiara by Anthony Barfield with the Alabama Wind Ensemble and the regional premiere of Auto '66 by James David with the Alabama Symphonic Band. Professor Coleman has served as a guest conductor of the Sabina Wind Orchestra in Rieti, Italy and conducted the Alabama Wind Ensemble as a part of the International Music Meeting in May of 2012 in Padova, Italy. He presented a Rehearsal Lab clinic session at the 2010 Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois and conducted the 2010 Georgia All State Concert Band.

Professor Coleman has conducted the University of Alabama Million Dollar Band in performances at the Southeastern Conference Football Championships, and in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California and the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, where the Crimson Tide won the 2009, 2011 and 2012 BCS National Championship Games.

Professor Coleman holds membership in the College Band Directors' National Association, the National Band Association, the Music Educators' National Conference, Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters' Fraternity, the Alabama Music Educators' Association and the Alabama Bandmasters' Association.

-------

Episode 155 - Mickey Smith Jr. Mar 30, 2020

Show notes

Mickey Smith Jr. is as inspirational a music educator as you will ever meet. He is a middle school band director in Louisiana and the most recent recipient of the Grammy Music Educator Award.

Topics:

Growing up in a "forgotten town" in Louisiana and how he started out practicing his saxophone outside in the forest and how it took him out of that town and into a career.
"You can con a con, fool a fool, but you can never kid a kid" - A conversation on perspective.
"First Days, Lasting Ways" and the "GPS for Success" - Mickey's plan for the first days of school.
A conversation about teaching our own children music and how to make sure that we deposit more than we withdraw when working with our students.
Be a S.O.U.N.D. adult = See yourself beyond yourself, Operate with optimism and excellence, Utilize all available resources, Nourish relationships, and Don't stop.

Links:

Biography:

The name Mickey Smith, Jr. has become synonymous with the word "music" across the country. As a dynamic and driven sax man that is passionate about music and education, Mickey has been the band director at Maplewood Middle School since 2005. In addition to playing music and teaching, he also serves educators through his SOUND180 EDUCATORS program and supports organizations that promote music education for children; for example, he is president of the non-profit Musicmakers2U, which gives deserving young people musical instruments at no cost. He is currently the 2020 GRAMMY Music Educator Award national winner. This award recognizes the country's top music instructor and influencer in the nation. Mickey uses a unique motivational mixture of music and message to encourage others to KEEP ON GOING and DISCOVER THEIR SOUND.

Episode 155 - Mickey Smith Jr. Mar 30, 2020

Show notes

Mickey Smith Jr. is as inspirational a music educator as you will ever meet. He is a middle school band director in Louisiana and the most recent recipient of the Grammy Music Educator Award.

Topics:

Growing up in a "forgotten town" in Louisiana and how he started out practicing his saxophone outside in the forest and how it took him out of that town and into a career.
"You can con a con, fool a fool, but you can never kid a kid" - A conversation on perspective.
"First Days, Lasting Ways" and the "GPS for Success" - Mickey's plan for the first days of school.
A conversation about teaching our own children music and how to make sure that we deposit more than we withdraw when working with our students.
Be a S.O.U.N.D. adult = See yourself beyond yourself, Operate with optimism and excellence, Utilize all available resources, Nourish relationships, and Don't stop.

Links:

Biography:

Episode 154 - Anthony Mazzaferro Mar 23, 2020

Show notes

Anthony Mazzaferro was the band director at Fullerton College for 29 years. He joins the show to talk about his current career and his current gig at the Orange County School of the Arts.

Topics:

Anthony's background and the story of how he ended up with a Navy surplus tuba and a career was born.
Studying conducting with John Paynter at Northwestern and some tips for score study.
Earning his doctorate at Arizona State University and studying tuba with Dan Perantoni and conducting with Richard Strange.
Teaching elementary music in Palo Alto, California and the move to Southern California to teach at Fullerton College.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Anthony Mazzaferro was born and raised in San Francisco. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from San Francisco State University. During his undergraduate years, he served as the Principal Tubist in the Symphonic Band and Symphony Orchestra. In addition to this he was the Assistant Conductor for both the Symphonic and Concert Bands. After graduating with honors in 1978, Dr. Mazzaferro attended Northwestern University. He pursued a Master of Music degree in Instrumental Conducting where he studied with John P. Paynter. In 1986 he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University.

His guest conducting and adjudication assignments have included Honor Bands and Orchestras throughout the Western United States, Canada, Singapore and New Zealand. In 1994, 2001, and 2014 Dr. Mazzaferro was selected to conduct the California All-State Honor Band. In 2007 Dr. Mazzaferro also conducted the California All-State Junior High Symphonic Band. Dr Mazzaferro has also conducted the Alberta, Canada All-Provincial Honor Band and the Singapore "Junior College" National Honor Band. As a clinician, Dr. Mazzaferro has worked with Concert Bands and Orchestras from The United States, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Canada, and China.

Dr. Mazzaferro is the 2007 recipient of the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) "Don Schmeer/Byron Hoyt Band Educator Award for excellence in Band Education and Performance". Dr. Mazzaferro is active in several other musical affiliations outside of Fullerton College. His most recent activities include serving on the Advisory Board for the Cazadero Performing Arts Camp in Northern California and serving as an Assistant Conductor for the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra (OCYSO).

Dr. Mazzaferro recently retired after 29 years as a full time faculty member of the Music Department at Fullerton College. Dr. Mazzaferro currently is the Conductor of the Frederick Fennell Wind Ensemble at the Orange County School for the Arts, Conductor of the Orange County Wind Symphony, and is Principal Tuba in the Symphony Irvine, Corona Symphony, and Dana Point Symphony Orchestra.

-------

Episode 153 - David Biedenbender Mar 16, 2020

Show notes

David Biedenbender is an Assistant Professor of Composition at Michigan State and a member of the Blue Dot Collective. He joins the show to talk about his music and share his thoughts about composing for band.

Topics:

David's background growing up in Michigan and learning music by watching his mother play organ, and how a high school band director gave him his first big break that led to him studying music.
Studying at Central Michigan University and how he didn't write a single band piece while studying with David Gillingham
The story of how he wrote Melodius Thunk and bringing in popular elements such as jazz and rock and roll into the concert band medium.
Influences on his compositional style, a conversation about development in band music, and why he self-publishes his music and distributes it through Murphy Music Press.

Links:

Biography:

David Biedenbender (b. 1984, Waukesha, Wisconsin) is a composer, conductor, performer, educator, and interdisciplinary collaborator. David's music has been described as "simply beautiful" [twincities.com], "striking" and "brilliantly crafted" [Times Argus] and is noted for its "rhythmic intensity" [NewMusicBox] and "stirring harmonies" [Boston Classical Review]. "Modern, venturesome, and inexorable…The excitement, intensity, and freshness that characterizes Biedenbender's music hung in the [air] long after the last note was played" [Examiner.com]. He has written music for the concert stage as well as for dance and multimedia collaborations, and his work is often influenced by his diverse musical experiences in rock and jazz bands as an electric bassist, in wind, jazz, and New Orleans-style brass bands as a euphonium, bass trombone, and tuba player, and by his study of Indian Carnatic music. His present creative interests include working with everyone from classically trained musicians to improvisers, acoustic chamber music to large ensembles, and interactive electronic interfaces to live brain data.

David has had the privilege of collaborating with many renowned performers and ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, the Stenhammar String Quartet (Sweden), the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, the United States Navy Band, the Philharmonie Baden-Baden (Germany), VocalEssence, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Music from Copland House Ensemble, Detroit Symphony Orchestra bass trombonist Randall Hawes and pianist Kathryn Goodson, the Juventas New Music Ensemble, the Washington Kantorei, the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble, the Boston New Music Initiative, Ann Arbor Dance Works, Composer's Inc. (San Francisco), and the Grand Valley State New Music Ensemble. dsc_3680Recent recognition for his work includes two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards (2011, 2012) and the 2012 Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Composers Award. His music has been heard in many diverse venues, including Carnegie Hall, Gaudeamus Muziekweek/TivoliVredenberg (Netherlands), Symphony Space (New YorkCity), the Smithsonian Museum, the German Embassy (Washington, DC), the Antonín Dvořák Museum (Prague), the Old First Church (San Francisco), Harris Hall (Aspen Music Festival), the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Hill Auditorium (Ann Arbor, MI), the University of Michigan Museum of Art, as well as at numerous universities and conservatories, and it has been broadcast on NPR stations around the country, including on WNYC's Soundcheck with John Schaefer and on Center Stage from Wolf Trap. David's music can also be heard on many commercially available recordings, including recent albums by the U.S. Navy Band, Akropolis Reed Quintet, H2 Saxophone Quartet, Khemia Ensemble, PUBLIQuartet, and the North Texas Wind Symphony. Recent and upcoming commissions and projects include works for yMusic, the New York Virtuoso Singers, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, San Francisco Symphony principal trombonist Tim Higgins, the Albany (NY) Symphony Orchestra, the Edge Ensemble, the Donald Sinta Saxophone Quartet, the Akropolis Reed Quintet, Kevin Sedatole and the Michigan State University Wind Symphony, and pianist Jeannette Fang.

In addition to composing, David is a dedicated teacher. He is Assistant Professor of Composition in the College of Music at Michigan State University, and he previously taught composition and theory at Boise State University, Eastern Michigan University, Oakland University, Madonna University, the Music in the Mountains Conservatory, and the Interlochen Arts Camp. He has also taught an interdisciplinary course in creativity and collaboration in the Living Arts program at the University of Michigan. His composition students have achieved regional and national recognition for their creative work, including numerous awards and acceptance into renowned summer music festivals and undergraduate and graduate composition programs.

He received the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in composition from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the Bachelor of Music degree in composition and theory from Central Michigan University. He has also studied at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala, Sweden with Anders Hillborg and Steven Stucky, the Aspen Music Festival and School with Syd Hodkinson, and in Mysore, India where he studied South Indian Carnatic music. His primary musical mentors include Stephen Rush, Evan Chambers, Kristin Kuster, Michael Daugherty, Bright Sheng, Erik Santos, Christopher Lees, David R. Gillingham, José Luis-Maurtúa, John Williamson, and Mark Cox.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected