Frederick Harris received a Master of Music Degree from New England Conservatory and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. His major teachers included Frank Battisti, Gunther Schuller and Craig Kirchhoff. Dr. Harris was also a conducting student at the Tanglewood Music Center and the Schweitzer Institute of Music at the Festival at Sandpoint. Since 1992 he has commissioned 24 works for winds and various mixed media. He has guest conducted and presented lectures on commissioning new music at many universities and conservatories in the New England area. He has also conducted performances at the Eastman School of Music and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
At the University of Minnesota, Harris served as conductor of the Concerto Grosso Ensemble and a guest conductor of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Baroque Orchestra, and various contemporary music ensembles. More recently he guest conducted the New Hampshire Philharmonic.
Formerly an instrumental music director in the Belmont (MA) Public Schools, Harris is a strong advocate for music education. As a professional percussionist, he has performed a diverse body of music ranging from chamber ensembles, small and large jazz ensembles and symphony orchestras.
Rich Holly currently holds the position of Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University. A Professor of Percussion at NIU since 1983, he has also held administrative positions within the NIU School of Music as Director of the Jazz Camp, Graduate Coordinator, and Assistant Director.
Rich remains active as a solo performer and clinician, and has appeared over 300 times at schools, colleges, universities, conventions and festivals throughout the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia. Rich received his formal training at the State University of New York at Potsdam and East Carolina University. His principal teachers were Henry Gates, Howie Mann, James Petercsak, and Harold Jones. In addition, Rich studied Brazilian percussion with Manoel Monteiro, Afro-Cuban drumming with Frank Malabe, and West African drumming with Abraham Adzenyah and Famoudou Konate. Rich was a founding member of the Abraxas Percussion Group, and has performed with the Long Island Holiday Festival Orchestra, the Lyric Opera of New York, and the North Carolina Symphony. For 11 seasons Rich was Timpanist of the Illinois Chamber Symphony.
As a drumset artist, Rich has appeared with Allen Vizzutti, John Fedchock, Dave Samuels, Bill Molenhof, Ethel Merman, Red Skelton, Bob McGrath and Sesame Street and many others. From 1984 to 2000 Rich played drumset and percussion with Inner City recording artists Rhythmic Union.
Rich’s articles have appeared in almost every major music journal, and from 1986 to 2002 he was Associate Editor for Percussive Notes magazine. His published percussion compositions are sold around the world, and he is currently the Immediate Past President of the Percussive Arts Society, the world’s largest society for percussionists with over 9000 members in 75 chapters worldwide (www.pas.org). His guest appearances are sponsored in part by Yamaha Music Corporation of America, Sabian Cymbals, Ltd., and Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets, and he is a member of the Latin Percussion Educational Advisory Board.
Mr. Holly’s current and recent music research is in the area of world percussion. Other research interests include how teams and organizations work, and recruitment and retention strategies for institutions of higher education.
Ronald Horner is a member of the music faculty at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Frostburg State University. As a former member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, he has performed in the major music centers of North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East with most major conductors and soloists.
Mr. Horner holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Music degree in Music Performance and an Artist Diploma in Timpani from Duquesne University. He is currently a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion Performance at the World Music Center of West Virginia University. His primary timpani teachers include Stanley Leonard, Roland Kohloff and Gary Olmstead.
In addition to his academic responsibilities, he is a member of the Johnstown and Westmoreland Symphony Orchestras in Western Pennsylvania, and has performed regularly with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He is a clinician for the Ludwig-Musser division of the Selmer Company.
Tim Huesgen is currently a percussionist with The United States Army Band in Washington, D.C. He received a bachelor of music degree from The University of Tennessee and a master of music degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he also served as graduate-teaching assistant. Tim has been a featured soloist with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Chamber Orchestra.
His articles on applying polyrhythms to the drum set have appeared in Percussive Notes magazine. Additional credits include performances with Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Trisha Yearwood, Lee Greenwood, Merv Griffin, Nashville Now and others.
Robert Jager was born in Binghampton, New York on August 25, 1939. He received his education at Wheaton College and the University of Michigan. From 1963-1965, while serving in the U.S. Navy, he was a staff arranger at the Armed Forces School of Music. He directed the band at Old Dominion College and taught composition and theory at Tennessee Technical University.
Jager has won several awards for his works, including two Roth awards, three Ostwald awards, and the Distinguished Service to Music medal (Kappa Kappa Psi). He has written for chamber groups, orchestra, and concert band and has fulfilled many commissions for works for high school and college music groups.
Shelley M. Jagow, Ph. D.: Associate Professor of Music at Wright State University is director of the Symphonic Band and Saxophone Quartet; and professor of Saxophone and Music Education courses. She earned Music Education degrees from the University of Saskatchewan (Canada) and the University of Missouri (Columbia). She earned her Ph. D. in Music Education at the Union Institute & University (Cincinnati) where Colonel Timothy Foley, Frank Battisti, and Edward Wingard served as her mentors. Dr. Jagow is a Selmer Artist Clinician for both saxophone and conducting. She has commissioned works for solo saxophone and ensembles from both national and international composers, and has presented clinics and performances at OMEA (Ohio Music Educators Association), MENC (Music Educators National Conference) and NASA (North American Saxophone Alliance). Her publications can be found in the College Music Symposium Journal, TRIAD, National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors, Canadian Winds, Music Educators Journal, the Canadian Band Journal, and in her book Teaching Instrumental Music: Developing the Complete Band Program (Meredith Music Publications).
Dr. John Knight is professor of Conducting and Ensembles and Music Education at Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin, Ohio. He has been a member of the Conservatory faculty since 1978 and received his baccalaureate degree from the University of Central Arkansas and the master's and doctoral degrees from Louisiana State University. He is a guest conductor of professional bands and orchestra, all state and honor ensembles throughout the nation, Europe and Asia.
At the Oberlin Conservatory he was awarded numerous teaching grants to study wind pedagogy with members of the Chicago Symphony and has been the recipient of the H.H. Powers travel grant to visit the major music conservatories of West Germany, Italy, Holland, England, Japan and China where he presented lectures and workshops concerning the teaching of music education and conducting in the United States. At the Parma Conservatory in Italy, Dr. Knight did extensive research on the conducting techniques of Arturo Toscanini. In England, he researched the wind music of Percy Grainger, Gustav Holst, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Three times he has been visiting professor of conducting at Salford University and the Birmingham Conservatory, England where he was guest conductor of wind bands, brass bands, and guest conductor of the Birmingham Conservatory Orchestra.
Dr. Knight is consulting editor to The Instrumentalist Magazine where he has had over 100 published articles on conducting. For his articles he received the Citation of Excellence for creative writing from the Educational Press Association of America. Currently he is writing two conducting textbooks for teachers of band and orchestra. His band textbook is devoted to the conducting pedagogy needed for the interpretation of the major concert band repertoire and his orchestra textbook, Golden Age of Conductors will compare the interpretive practices among the great conductors of the past. He is also co-author of the popular textbook "Prelude to Music Education," published by Prentice Hall which is used in college classrooms throughout the nation.
Oberlin's College Community Winds, directed by Dr. Knight, performed the world premier of Toccata in E by Vaclav Nelhybel, which was dedicated to Dr. Knight and the Oberlin College Band.
Roland Kohloff (1935-2006), a spirited and precise master of the timpani began his career with the San Francisco Symphony before spending thirty-two years with the New York Philharmonic. Mr. Kohloff joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1956, a twenty-one year old virtuoso fresh from the Juilliard School as a student of Saul Goodman, then timpanist with the New York Philharmonic. He quickly made an impression with the subtlety and verve of his playing.
Praising Mr. Kohloff’s contributions to a Richard Strauss score during his first season with the Symphony, Chronicle music critic Alfred Frankstein wrote, “He is one of the most dramatic as well as one of the ablest timpanists in the business, and some day he ought to be a soloist with the Symphony in his own right.”
That day came the following season, when Mr. Kohloff was the soloist in a vividly theatrical performance of Darius Milhaud’s Concerto for Percussion and Small Orchestra. In subsequent seasons, he appeared in works by William Jay Sydeman, Niccolo Castiglioni, Lukas Foss and George Crumb.
After sixteen years as principal timpanist in San Francisco, Mr. Kohloff left the 1973 for the New York Philharmonic, replacing his famed teacher Saul Goodman, where he spent the rest of his career. He also taught at Juilliard where many of his students now play in major orchestra throughout the world.
Joseph A. Labuta is Professor of Music and Director of Music Education at Wayne State University, Detroit,Michigan where he teaches conducting and music education courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Dr. Labuta has extensive background as a teacher in many areas of public school music conducting bands, orchestras and choruses. In addition to Wayne State, he had appointments as professor and director of bands at Central Methodist College and Shepherd College. He was appointed Fellow in Music at the University of Illinois where he earned his doctorate in Music Education. He serves frequently as a clinician, music consultant and adjudicator.
His highly acclaimed book, Teaching Musicianship in the High School Band, has become a standard reference for band directors. Since its publication in 1972, Dr. Labuta has led sessions on teaching musicianship in the band rehearsal at numerous conferences, workshops, and inservice clinics. Although it has been out of print for several years, this seminal work is available again in an updated, revised edition from Meredith Music Publications.
Dr. Labuta’s conducting text, Basic Conducting Techniques, was released recently in its third edition. This book has been adopted as a beginning conducting text by numerous colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Dr. Labuta has also published many articles on music education in professional journals and served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Research in Music Education. He has held positions as President and Research Chairman of the Michigan Music Educators Association.
Morris Lang attended the Juilliard School. In 1955, shortly after graduation, he was appointed Associate Principal Timpanist and percussionist with the New York Philharmonic. He has performed with music directors from Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta to Kurt Mazur on hundreds of recordings and on television including the famous Leonard Bernstein's "Young People's Concerts" and "Live from Lincoln Center." Tours with the Philharmonic included all of Western Europe, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Korea, India, South America, the former Soviet Union, Poland, Romania and Hungary.
Among his solo recordings is Stravinsky's l’Histoire du Soldat and he is the first person to have recorded all Eight Pieces for Timpani by Elliot Carter. His publications include The Beginning Snare Drummer, The New Conception (drum set), and Dictionary of Percussion Terms. Mr. Lang is Professor of Percussion at the Conservatory at Brooklyn College and in charge of the Doctoral Percussion Program at CUNY. At the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) 2000 he was inducted into the prestigious Hall of Fame.
Kenneth Laudermilch is Professor of Instrumental Music and Director of the Wind Ensemble at West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He is Principal Trumpet of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and the Westminster Brass, a Philadelphia based brass quintet, which has performed in over fifty cities throughout the United States. In addition, he performs as a regular substitute trumpet with the Philadelphia Orchestra and is the cornet soloist in residence with the New Holland Band, the second oldest community band in the United States. Each summer he directs the Elementary and Junior High School Instrumental Music Workshops at the University and the Annual High School Music Camp.
Dr. Laudermilch received a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Lebanon Valley College, a Master of Music degree in Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree from The Catholic University of America. He has studied trumpet with the principal trumpeters of the Boston, New York, Philadelphia and National Symphony Orchestras. He serves as guest conductor at state, regional and county levels and is a regular contributor to The Instrumentalist Magazine. His column in the Pennsylvania Music Educator's Association News, "New Music for Band," has run for twenty consecutive years.
Dr. Laudermilch is the recipient of several teaching awards including Citations of Music Excellence from the National Band Association and the Pennsylvania Music Educator's Association. He has served as a board member for the American Youth Symphony and the North American Brass Band Association. He is a former chapter coordinator for the International Trumpoet Guild and was a founding member of the American Baroque Trumpet Ensemble. Dr. Laudermilch has presented master classes at high schools and colleges, as well as the Curtis Institute of Music.
Edward S. Lisk is an internationally recognized clinician, conductor, and author who has traveled extensively and presented sessions at more than 500 state and national conventions and universities throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Mr. Lisk is an inducted member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and in the year 2000, served as the 63rd President of this distinguished organization founded by Edwin Franko Goldman. He was recently (Dec. 2006) elected to the National Band Association Hall of Fame of Distinguished Band Conductors. He has an active guest-conducting schedule that includes all-state bands, honor bands, university, and professional bands.
Mr. Lisk is an appointed member of the Midwest Clinic Board of Directors and serves the John Philip Sousa Foundation. as Vice-president for Administration. He is a past-president of the National Band Association ('90-'92) and served NBA as Executive Secretary Treasurer ('97-'02). In 1978 he was one of the original founders of the New York State Band Directors Association. He holds membership in several professional associations and is an International Honorary Member of Phi Beta Mu. He is the recipient of many distinguished awards, titles, and citations and is listed in Who's Who in American Education.
Rick Mattingly is Publications Editor for the Percussive Arts Society and former Senior Editor of Modern Drummer magazine. His articles have appeared in Percussive Notes, Modern Drummer, Modern Percussionist, Drum!, Down Beat, Jazziz, Musician, and Pointe magazines, and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. He is author of the books All About Drums, The Drummer's Time, and Creative Timekeeping, and co-author (with Rod Morgenstein) of The Drumset Musician and (with Blake Neely) FastTrack Drums vols. 1 and 2, all published by Hal Leonard Corporation. He has edited instructional books by such artists as Bill Bruford, Peter Erskine, Joe Morello, Bob Moses, Nancy Zeltsman, Gary Chester, Casey Scheuerell, Vernell Fournier, Jack DeJohnette, Rod Morgenstein, Carl Palmer, Airto, Dave Lombardo, Tony Verderosa and others for such publishers as Hal Leonard, Berklee Press, and MI Press. He has written liner notes for CDs by such prominent drummers as Joe Morello, Steve Smith, and Elvin Jones.
Joanne May is orchestra director and music department chair at Glenbard East High School in Lombard, Illinois, is a National Board-certified teacher and currently serves as president of the Illinois Chapter of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA). She has been named Outstanding School Orchestra Director by Illinois ASTA, is recipient of "Those Who Excel" Award for excellence in teaching and has been a guest conductor and clinician throughout the Midwest.
A native of Chicago, Jon Ceander Mitchell is conductor of the Chamber Orchestra at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he is also Professor of Music and Chair of the Department of Performing Arts. In addition he teaches conducting and orchestration there. Before his 1992 arrival in Boston, he held full-time music faculty positions at The University of Georgia, Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA), and Hanover College (Hanover, Indiana), all of which involved conducting. During his tenure at Carnegie Mellon, the Wind Ensemble, under his conducting, was selected to perform at the 1991 MENC Eastern Division Conference. Also during that time he was conductor and music director of the North Pittsburgh Civic Symphony.
In recent years he has done a significant amount of guest conducting, including the Sinfonia Bucuresti, Archangelsk (Russia) Chamber Orchestra, Filharmonia Sudecka of Walbrzych, Poland, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic (Zlin, Czech Republic), Hradec Kralove Philharmonic (Czech Republic), the Vratza, Bulgaria Philharmonic, the Pazardjik, Bulgaria Symphony Orchestra, the Keweenaw Symphony (Michigan), Metropolitan Wind Symphony (Boston), The Longy School Orchestra (Boston), Waltham Philharmonic, and The Belmont Orchestra. Among guest artists who have appeared with him are clarinetists Wojciech Mrozek, Chester Brezniak, and Michael Dejnova, the Renaissance City Winds, Cuarteto Latinoamericano (string quartet), pianists Grigorios Zamparas, Yoko Hagino, Zofia Antes, Timothy McFarland, Jeffrey Jacob, and Maria Stäblein, guitarist Joe Negri, sopranos Marilyn Bulli and Aga Winska, mezzo soprano Suzanne Ehly, and flutists Judy Grant, Mary Oleskiewicz, and Natasha Uzunova.
He has appeared as conductoalso features Linnéa Bardarson, this time with The Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra of Olomouc, Czech Republic. It contains J.S. Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in D Minor (BWV 1052), Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D “Haffner,” and the premiere recording of Gustav Holst’s Gavotte [H190A].
His research covers many areas, but is centered mostly on two compoaers: Holst and Beethoven. He has over fifty publications, including three published books, The Braunschweig Scores: Felix Weingartner and Erich Leinsdorf on Beethoven’s First Four Symphonies (The Edwin Mellen Press, 2005), A Comprehensive Biography of Composer Gustav Holst (The Edwin Mellen Press, 2001) and From Kneller Hall to Hammersmith: The Band Works of Gustav Holst (Tutzing, Germany: Haus Hans Schneider, 1990). Two articles have been solicited: “Gustav Holst: The Hammersmith Sketches” (for the premiere issue of the CBDNA Journal) and “JAC Somerville and the British Band in the Era of Holst and Vaughan Williams” (for The Wind Ensemble and Its Repertoire; Essays on the Fortieth Anniversary of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, 1994, ed. Donald Hunsberger). Among other important articles are “Holst, Stock, and The Planets” (Journal of the Conductors Guild), “Adrian Boult and Bruno Walter: A Forty-Year Friendship” (JCG), “John Philip Sousa: A Comparative Study of Selected Orchestral Manuscripts at the Library of Congress” (JCG), and “Paul Robert Marcel Fauchet: Symphonie pour Musique d’Harmonie” (Journal of Band Research), in which the true composer of the work is identified. He also served as editor of the first issue of The WASBE Journal and is currently editor of the CODA (College Orchestra Directors Association) Journal. He has edited some music, including Bach’s Fugue a la Gigue, arr. by Gustav Holst, for Boosey & Hawkes’ Windependence series (2005). His latest book, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Wind Works, is available from Meredith Music Publications.
He received the Bachelor of Music degree cum laude from Millikin University, and the Master of Science in Music Education and Doctor of Education in Music Education degrees from the University of Illinois. His conducting mentor at University of Illinois was Harry Begian and since that time he has attended conducting workshops featuring clinicians Florin Totan, Victor Feldbrill, Jonathan Sternberg, Eugene Migliaro Corporon, Elizabeth Green, H. Robert Reynolds, and Craig Kirchhoff. His teaching/conducting career started in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, where he was part of the University of Illinois-Puerto Rico Programs. In his spare time (which is very lean), he also composes; his Piano Concerto in F, Op. 15 was premiered by pianist Timothy McFarland. Three works have been composed especially for his performing ensembles: Landon Rose’s Natick Fanfare, Nancy Galbraith’s Two Psalms, and Timothy Broege’s Sinfonia XIV. Recently, he was honored by inclusion in the 57th edition of Who’s Who in America and the 30th edition of Dictionary of International Biography. Hobbies include a burgeoning coaster collection and model railroading. He, his wife Ester and son David, the youngest of their three children, reside in the Greater Boston area.
Bruce Musgrave serves as Assistant Head of School for Academics at Palmer Trinity School in Palmetto Bay, Florida, where he also teaches a course in Advanced Placement English Language and Composition. During his forty-year career in education he has taught English and mathematics, coached 60 athletic teams for boys and girls in seven sports, and provided educational leadership as a departmental chair, director of studies, curriculum coordinator, principal, and assistant head of school. He has held positions in the public schools of Brighton, New York and State College, Pennsylvania, and at independent schools in Kamuela, Hawaii; Hilton Head, South Carolina; Albuquerque, New Mexico; North Hollywood California; Joplin Missouri; and Palmetto Bay, Florida.
As a member of Frank Battisti's IHS Marching and Concert Bands from 1962-65, Musgrave played the trombone and served as Drum Major and IHS Band President. He js a 1965 graduate of Ithaca High School, and he earned B.A. and M.A.T. degrees in English from Cornell University in 1970 and 1971 respectively. Born and raised in Ithaca, New York, he is the son of Robert and Mildred Musgrave. His three sisters, two of whom were also members of the Ithaca High School Band, are also career educators. His wife of forty years, Peggy Mercer Musgrave, also graduated from Ithaca High School, where she too was a member of the IHS Marching and Concert Bands.
Musgrave's professional honors include recognition as the inaugural State Teacher of the Year for Upper Schools by the South Carolina Independent Schools Association in 1986. In 1988 he was awarded the initial F. X. Slevin prize for Distinguished Teaching by Albuquerque Academy, where he was later named as the first Robert N. Philips Teaching Chair. In 1990 he was commissioned as an essayist on English instruction for the New Standards Project and the Coalition of Essential Schools, and he is a former guest columnist for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle's “Concerning Children” feature. A Cum Laude Society member, over the years he has been awarded teaching prizes for instructional excellence by Williams College, the University of Chicago, and Southern Methodist University, all on the recommendation of former students of his who had enrolled in those institutions. His service to regional professional education organizations includes membership on ten accreditation teams. His athletic teams won six state championships in girls' tennis, and two boys' tennis state finalist trophies; his boys' soccer teams finished as state runners-up twice, one of those teams was ranked seventh in the US for a season by USA Today, and he coached a district-champion girls' soccer team in New York, where he also served twice as the Empire State Games Western Region Scholastic Women's Soccer Coach. He has said often that all the professional distinctions he achieved throughout his career put together were not as great an honor as being a member of the IHS Band.
Clair Omar Musser (b. October 14, 1901; d. November 7, 1998) is as inextricably associated with the Marimba as are Henry Steinway and Antonio Stradivari with their namesakes. As a virtuoso recitalist, he performed internationally in more than 400 concerts. As an arranger, his brilliant transcriptions have been heard internationally. As a composer, his preludes, etudes, caprices, and concerti have enjoyed international acclaim by marimba artists. As a conductor, he performed at the White House, on international broadcasts, at universities, with symphony orchestras, and conducted large symphony marimba orchestras. As an educator, he taught in numerous eastern cities before settling in Chicago where he headed the Northwestern University Marimba Department over a ten-year term. The first Master’s Degree recital at Northwestern was presented by Musser’s student, Carolyn Reid, on April 26, 1948. Musser’s innovations in grip, mallets, and technique revolutionized marimba and vibraphone playing. Out of the multitudes of compositions and arrangements for solo marimba by Clair Musser, only eight works remain in print. As an innovator, he created unprecedented designs for marimbas, vibraphones, chimes, celesta, and orchestra bells. As a designer, scores of his design patents reflect his originality in concept in the many models manufactured by both the Deagan and Musser companies. As a manufacturer, he founded the Chicago firm bearing is name. In 1975, he was elected into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame. The last part of Musser’s life was spent as a resident in the San Fernando Valley, not more than fifteen minutes from California State University, Northridge.
Clair Omar Musser was responsible for the organization of numerous
marimba ensemble groups over the years.
Some of these ensembles included:
Kenneth L. Neidig is an experienced editor/writer with publication credits now spanning 60 years.
Ken served as editor of his high school annual (Washington, New Jersey, 1948) and in 2008 he produced three books for Meredith Music Publications: Rehearsing the Band, A Conductor’s Interpretive Analysis of Masterworks for Band, and Performance Study Guides of Essential Works for Band.
He was editor of The Instrumentalist from 1970 to 1984, when he left to found and edit his own magazine (Band, then BDGuide) until retirement in 1995.
His first book, Band Director’s Guide, was published in 1964 by Prentice-Hall, followed by Choral Director’s Guide (1967) and Music Director’s Complete Handbook of Forms (1973).
Ken Neidig has music education degrees from two Kentucky schools (Murray and UK), and he taught in that state for 15 years (Elizabethtown, 1955-62 and Fort Knox, 1962-70). He was also active in the state music education association and edited their official publication, the Bluegrass Music News (1967-70).
During the Korean War, he served a 3-year enlistment in U.S. Army Bands, including the 293rd at the United Nations Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. He continued to play clarinet, saxophone, and bassoon in various amateur groups and now writes arrangements for the Mesilla Valley Concert Band, a 100-piece community organization in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Chad R. Nicholson is the Director of Instrumental Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he conducts the wind ensemble and teaches conducting and music education courses. Additionally, he is the music director of the acclaimed Fort Wayne Area Community Band. Nicholson is a frequent guest conductor and clinician throughout the United States. He has published articles in The Instrumentalist as well as in four volumes of Teaching Music through Performance in Band; additionally, his arrangements are currently performed by high school and university bands throughout the country. Nicholson has presented clinics nationally, including the Midwest Clinic in Chicago. Additionally, Nicholson has produced commercial band recordings, works as a frequent adjudicator for concert and marching bands, and has served as the Director of the Rocky Mountain Summer Music Camp in Colorado.
An Oklahoma native, Nicholson’s teaching career encompasses the junior high, high school, and university levels. He holds degrees from the University of Oklahoma (BME), New Mexico State University (MM), and Indiana University (DM).
Dr. Brian Norcross is director of instrumental music at Franklin and Marshall College where he directs the F & M Symphony Orchestra, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble and Chamber Music Society. In addition he teaches conducting and French Horn. Since 1986 he has directed over 30 world premiere performances with F & M performing ensembles. He is the founding director of the F & M Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Music Society. Dr. Norcross also initiated the F & M Commissioning Cooperative, a program designed to provide high school ensembles with quality twentieth century repertory. He also initiated the F & M High School Invitational Festival to give high school students a non-competitive festival designed to enhance their musical experiences as well as highlighting F & M performing ensembles. Dr. Norcross is an active guest conductor and clinician in the Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey areas. He is also the director of music at the First United Methodist Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and a member of the Lancaster Symphony.
Dr. Norcross received his Doctor of Music Arts degree, with distinction, From The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.; with academic and performance honors he received his Master of Music degree from The New England Conservatory of Music; and is Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Dr. Norcross resides in the Lancaster area with his wife Kim, daughters Molly and Megan, and son Greyson. Both he and Kim are active volunteers for the Willow Street Elementary School in Pennsylvania.
Timothy A. Paul is Associate Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Instrumental Music Education at the University of Oregon. Appointed to the faculty in 2005, he conducts the Oregon Symphonic Band and serves as associate conductor for the Oregon Wind Ensemble. In addition, Paul teaches courses in conducting and wind band literature. He holds the D.M.A. in wind band conducting and literature from the University of Colorado and the M.M. in music education from Florida State University.
Paul maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. Ensembles under his direction have performed at the Northwest MENC Biennial Conference, Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Southern Division CBDNA/NBA Conference, and the MENC Conference Southern Division. Notable awards include the Phi Beta Mu Florida Chapter’s Distinguished Director Award, John Philip Sousa Foundation's Sudler Flag of Honor, and national winner of the UMI/ASBDA Distinguished Young Band Director's Award.
Currently, he is Vice-President of the College Band Directors National Association Northwest Division and an elected member of Phi Beta Mu
Phyllis M. Paul is Associate Professor and Chair of Music Education at the University of Oregon, where she joined the faculty in 2003. Paul teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in early childhood and elementary music education, music for special learners, and research methods.
An active clinician, Paul has given workshops and research presentations across the United States. Her research interests include children's aesthetic experiences with music, music teacher preparation and continuing education, and pre-school at-risk populations. Her articles have appeared in several leading journals, including the Journal of Music Therapy, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Contributions to Music Education, and General Music Today. She is currently Chair of the MENC Affective SRIG and Northwest Division Representative for the MENC Early Childhood SRIG.
She holds the B.M. from Lenoir-Rhyne College and an M.M. and Ph.D. in music education from Florida State University.
Al Payson has been a percussionist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1958. He received his BA in Music fro the University of Illinois in 1956. After graduating, he performed for one season with the Louisville Orchestra, then one season with the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra before being invited to join the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by then-music director Fritz Reiner.
Always interested in music education, Mr. Payson taught at the college level for twenty-five years, first at De Paul University and then at Northwestern. He has authored several percussion textbooks and is a clinician for Ludwig Industries.
In addition, he has been responsible for many innovations in the filed of percussion instruments. These include the Roto-toms, which, manufactured by Remo, Inc. are used world-wide in all areas of music. Another innovation is the use of tubular aluminum shafts for timpani mallets.
Mr. Payson has a small business that produces timpani mallets, bass drum beaters and gong beaters of his own design.
Elizabeth B. Peterson, associate professor of music, is the conductor of the Ithaca College Symphonic Band and has been teaching conducting and instrumental music education courses at Ithaca College since 1998. Professor Peterson is currently the supervisor of the junior instrumental student teaching program at Ithaca College. Peterson’s current research focuses on the experiences of first year music teachers. She is active as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician in the United States and Canada. She received a Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Education from Shenandoah Conservatory, a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan.
Before moving to Ithaca, from 1986 to1998, Peterson was an arts administrator and director of bands at several public schools in Ohio and Illinois. Peterson played trumpet in the North Shore Community Band under the direction of John P. Paynter. She studied trumpet with Armando Ghitalla and Vincent Cichowicz. Peterson is a “New Music” reviewer for the Instrumentalist Magazine and currently serves as co-conductor of the Ithaca Concert Band, Ithaca's community band.
Richard Polonchak was the former Principal Bassoonist of both the United States Marine Band, “The President’s Own” and the White House Orchestra, in Washington, D.C. He also performed with the Marine Woodwind Quintet and “Trio d’anches” which recorded through National Public Radio in addition to appearing with both the band and orchestra as featured soloist. A frequent bassoon soloist and clinician, he has served on the faculties of The University of the District of Columbia, Catholic University, James Madison University, Southern Oregon State College (part of the American Band College), and the University of Virginia. His articles on all aspects of bassoon have appeared in The Instrumentalist, The School Musician, Woodwind World, The Double Reed, and Bandworld Magazine.
Mr. Polonchak studied bassoon with Arthur Kubey and later with Benjamin Spiegel at Duquesne University where he earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music. He studied woodwind chamber music with Bernard Goldberg. He has also studied bassoon repair and maintenance with Lewis High Cooper, designer of the Cooper-Puchner bassoon. In the 1980’s, through a personal interest in Jungian Psychology and body-oriented psychotherapy, he became certified in Bioenergetic Analysis and has used this perspective to help musicians connect to a different aspect of learning the instrument.
A consultant/clinician to Custon Music Company since 1977, Mr. Polonchak services the entire line of Kroner bassoons and contrabassoons. In addition, along with Lewis Hugh Cooper, he has worked extensively at the factory in Germany designing the Kroner Model 450 bassoon.
John Pratt was inducted into the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame in 1990. As a teenager, he studied with Norman Peth who encouraged him to join the "Appleknockers" Winnek American Legion Post drum and bugle corp. After enlisting in the United States Army in 1949, John was assigned to the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point. During his career as an Army Band musician, he became Rudimental Drum Instructor of Field Music and in 1959-60 published four books with Belwin, Inc.
While at West Point, he instructed several New York State drum corps including Rochester "Grey Knights," Troy "Interstatesmen," Kingston "Criterions," Bronx "Kingsmen," and the Newburgh "Ambassadors." He also became a member of the All-American Drum & Bugle Corps and Band Association and the All-American Association of Contest Judges in New York State. Also while at West Point, John attended Fairleigh Dickinson University and in 1969, the year he retired from active military service, he graduated suma cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education. Later, he received a Master of Arts degree in English from William Paterson College of New Jersey. John has taught English at Hackensack High School, and Bergen Community College where he continues as an adjunct faculty member.
In addition to having numerous drumming articles, solos and collections published, as a poet, he has had over 50 poems published and received four major awards for his poetry. John Pratt is still active as a clinician, writer and instructor. In 1998 he was honored at a clinic he gave for the Canadian Associates Drumming Rudimental Excellence (C.A.D.R.E.) in Ottawa and was made an honorary member of the Ottawa Heritage Hands Drum Club.
Stephen Primatic is currently director of percussion studies at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah Georgia where he teaches percussion, theory, jazz, and music technology. Steve earned his Bachelor of Music in percussion performance from Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA. He received his Masters of Music from The University of Miami, and his Doctor of Musical Arts from The University of Georgia. In addition to teaching, Steve maintains an active performing career in the southeastern United States. He is currently principal percussionist with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in Hilton Head South Carolina, a member of the Darius Rucker (of Hootie and the Blowfish) Big Band, and he also plays in jazz, classical, and theater venues throughout the region.