Wingert-Jones Publications

Composer Profiles

William L. Ballenger
William L. Ballenger is Director of the School of Music at Texas Tech. Prior to his appointment at Texas Tech, he served for twelve years as Department Head of Music at Oklahoma State University. Professor Ballenger's previous academic appointments include Associate Director of Bands at Oklahoma State University, Associate Director of Bands at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and public school teaching positions in Ankeny and Oskaloosa school districts in Iowa. Mr. Ballenger has composed more than seventy original compositions and arranged more than six hundred works for various ensembles. In 2007 Mr. Ballenger was appointed to the Nomination Committee for the National Association of Schools of Music. In 2008 Mr. Ballenger was appointed Chair of the Commission on Music in General Education for the Texas Association of Music Schools. In 2005, Mr. Ballenger served as Chair of the Ethics Committee of the National Association of Schools of Music. Previous elections include President of the Oklahoma Association of Music Schools, and Vice Chair and Chair of Region 9 of the National Association of Schools of Music.

Professor James Barnes
Professor James Barnes teaches in both the Music History and Music Theory-Composition divisions at the University of Kansas. At KU he served as Assistant, and later Associate Director of Bands for 27 years. His numerous publications for concert band and orchestra are performed in the United States, Europe, and the Pacific Basin. He has twice received the American Bandmasters Association Ostwald Award for outstanding band composition, and is also the recipient of many other prizes and awards. He has recorded three CDs of his music with the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and has completed a CD of his works with Koeninklijke Kapel (The Queen's Royal Military Band) in the Netherlands. He travels extensively as a guest composer, conductor, and lecturer throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, Japan, and Taiwan.

Roland Barrett
A native of Nebraska, Roland Barrett has been Assistant Director of the University of Oklahoma Bands since 1985. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Peru (Nebraska) State College in 1977, and for the following six years he served as the band director in Indianola, Nebraska (1977-1979) and in Fairbury, Nebraska (1979-1983). He received his Master of Music Education degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1984, after which he soon became their Assistant Director of Bands. He earned his doctorate in music composition from O.U., and he is presently on the Music Theory and Composition faculty at the University of Oklahoma. Roland Barrett has earned recognition and respect for his musical arrangements and compositions, and for his outstanding work with the University of Oklahoma marching band and basketball band. He continues to be one of the nation's most respected athletic band directors and arrangers. In addition to his work with O.U. Band, he also teaches various music education classes, and is active as a guest conductor and adjudicator. His published works include marching band arrangements, concert band compositions, brass quintet pieces, and video soundtracks.

Jeffrey S. Bishop
Jeffrey S. Bishop is Director of Orchestras and Division Coordinator of Fine Arts at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, Shawnee Mission, Kansas. Under his direction, the strings enrollment at SMNW has grown from fourteen players in one orchestra to 120 players in three orchestras. In addition to the string orchestras, he also conducts the Northwest Symphony Orchestra. Orchestras under his direction have appeared at the Kansas Music Educators Association In-Service Workshop and the American String Teachers Association National Orchestra Festival. He is also the Music Director/Conductor of the Youth Symphony of Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra.

A published composer and writer, Jeffrey is in demand as a clinician throughout the United States. He has appeared as a clinician at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic and at the ASTA National Convention. He has guest-conducted all-state and regional orchestras in Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Oregon, and Minnesota. His articles have appeared in the books Teaching Music Through Performance in Orchestra (Volumes 1 & 2) and The String Teacher's Cookbook and in the magazines The Instrumentalist and Orchestra News.

Jeffrey won the 1997 National School Orchestra Association Composition Contest with his Symphony for Strings No. 1. Since then he has had over three dozen pieces published by the Neil A. Kjos Music Company, Wingert-Jones Publications, and C. Alan Publications. He continues to receive commissions from college, high school, junior high, regional, and state ensembles across the country.

Jeffrey earned his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Northwest Missouri State University. He then went on to complete his Master of Music in conducting at the Wichita State University School of Music. While at WSU, he studied composition with Walter A. Mays.

Jeffrey currently resides in Prairie Village, Kansas with his wife Amy Fear-Bishop, also a graduate of Wichita State University. Ms. Fear-Bishop is Director of Orchestras at Blue Valley High School in Stilwell, Kansas. They both are members of GP VeloTek, a local bicycle racing team, and enjoy spending as much time together on their bikes as possible.

John R. Bourgeois
John R. Bourgeois was born in 1934 in Gibson, Louisiana, and he attended Loyola University in New Orleans. While a student at Loyola he performed with the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra and the New Orleans Opera Company. He joined the Marine Corps in 1956 and was stationed with the Department of the Pacific Marine Band. In 1958 he joined "The Presidents Own" United States Marine Band as a french hornist and member of the arranging staff. He became the 25th director of the United States Marine Band on May 31, 1979.

Col. Bourgeois is president of the John Philip Sousa Foundation. He has served as president of the National Band Association, and as president and later chairman of the board of directors of the American Bandmasters Association. He has been a member of the board of directors of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, and as American Vice President of the International Military Music Society. He is also a member of the Military Order of the Carabao, the Alfalfa Club, and Washington's prestigious Gridiron Club.

On July 11, 1996 Col. Bourgeois retired as Director of the United States Marine Band, conducting a brilliant Change of Command concert at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. which was followed the next day with a personal reception in President Clinton's private quarters in the White House. Today the Colonel maintains a very active professional schedule serving as a guest conductor, clinician, artist in residence, and adjudicator for bands all over the world.

The Bourgeois Editions are published exclusively by Wingert-Jones Publications and represent the musicianship, musical integrity, and research which have been hallmarks of Col. Bourgeois' work for many years. These classic works for concert band are now made available in valid, meticulously prepared editions which make better, more enlightened performances possible by good bands everywhere.

Andrew Boysen, Jr.
Andrew Boysen, Jr. is presently an assistant professor in the music department at the University of New Hampshire, where he conducts the wind symphony and teaches conducting, orchestration and composition. Previously, Boysen served as assistant professor and acting associate director of bands at Indiana State University, where he directed the Marching Sycamores, conducted the symphonic band and taught in the music education department. Prior to that appointment, he was director of bands at Cary-Grove (Illinois) High School, and was the music director and conductor of the Deerfield Community Concert Band. He remains active as a guest conductor and clinician, appearing with high school, university and festival ensembles across the United States and Great Britain.

Boysen earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in wind conducting at the Eastman School of Music, where he served as conductor of the Eastman Wind Orchestra and assistant conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble. He received his Master of Music degree in wind conducting from Northwestern University and his Bachelor of Music degree in music education and music composition from the University of Iowa.

He maintains an active schedule as a composer, receiving commissions from the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library, the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Orchestra Festival, the Iowa All-State Band, the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association, and many university and high school concert bands across the United States. Boysen won the International Horn Society Composition Contest in 2000, the University of Iowa Honors Composition prize in 1991, and has twice won the Claude T. Smith Memorial Band Composition Contest in 1991 for I Am and in 1994 for Ovations. His published works include pieces for band, orchestra, clarinet and piano, and brass choir. Recordings of his music appear on the Sony, Mark, St. Olaf, and Elf labels.

Daniel Bukvich
Daniel Bukvich has been a member of the faculty of the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho since 1978. He holds a Master of Music degree in composition and arranging from the University of Idaho.

He began composing while still in high school in Butte, Montana. His compositions and arrangements are performed worldwide by symphonic bands, wind ensembles, orchestral winds, choirs, jazz bands, symphony orchestras, and marching bands. He currently resides in Moscow, Idaho, where he is Professor of Music at the Lionel Hampton School of Music. He teaches percussion, freshman music theory and ear training, composition, and jazz choirs. He continues to perform regularly as a jazz drummer throughout the United States and Canada. In July 1999, he was the Commissioned Composer for the National Intercollegiate Band, which was part of the national convention of Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma, the national honorary band fraternity and sorority, in St. Louis, Missouri.

Frank Byrne
Frank Byrne became the executive director of the Kansas City Symphony in 2002. Prior to that appointment, he served as the Symphony's general manager, functioning as the chief operating officer and coordinating all divisions of the Symphony.

Before joining the Kansas City Symphony in 2001, Byrne spent 27 years in Washington, D.C. with the "President's Own" United States Marine Band. During his career with the Marine Band, Byrne combined managerial ability with broad musical experiences as a performer, writer, lecturer and active member of national and international music associations.

Byrne's published editions of original marches by John Philip Sousa have been acclaimed as the most carefully researched and edited editions in history. They have become a standard part of the repertoire of bands all over the world who are interested in presenting authentic, musically valid and accurate performances of the great marches by the "March King."

Daniel Chisham
Daniel W. Chisham is currently Director of Bands at Raymore-Peculiar High School in the Kansas City area. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree and education certification from Wichita State University. He also holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has taught instrumental music in the Wichita Public Schools in Kansas.

Ben Clinesmith
Ben Clinesmith, cellist, conductor, arranger and educator, received his formal training at the University of Kansas, Indiana University and the Manhattan School of Music. As a young professional cellist he played in the Houston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barirolli and Andre Pervin, and later he was a member of the American Symphony Orchestra in New York City, conducted by Leopold Stokowski.

For fourteen years Ben was the cello instructor at Bates and Bowdoin Colleges in Maine, and also conducted a youth orchestra made up of select players from throughout the southern half of the state. Currently, along with being the cellist in the New England Trio in which he has been a member for the last 25 years, Ben teaches at the Calhoun School in New York City, where he is also the assistant academic dean.

Marcus D. Dowty
Mr. Dowty holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree with emphasis is strings from Wichita State University and a Masters of Liberal Arts with emphasis in the Fine Arts from Baker University. His thirty-five years of teaching experience encompasses both the private and public educational setting. Currently he is in his fourteenth year at Sumner Arts and Science Academy, a college prep school located in the Kansas City Kansas Public School system. Mr. Dowty directs three orchestras and also teaches a required humanities class for all seniors. In the district, he as String Specialist provides instructional resources at the secondary level. Previous tenure has been with the Shawnee Mission School District, Blue Valley School District, and the Costa Rica National School of Music.

Honors for Mr. Dowty include having been guest conductor of honor orchestras throughout the Midwest as well as his own ensembles performing for the state and national MENC conferences. He has guest conducted at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Convention in Chicago performing one of his published arrangements. As a composer and arranger, Mr. Dowty has published twenty-six compositions with Wingert-Jones Publications and RBC/Wynn Music Series. His works for school string orchestra range from easy to medium difficulty. He has received a citation of excellence from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts.

Christian Earl
The composer and music educator Christian Earl is a school band director in Kaysville, Utah. He received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Webber State University where he studied composition with Thomas R. Root. He has been involved in various music education organizations and served as editor of Utah's Music Educator Journal for four years. He is a member of the National Band Association, and he served for four years on the new band music reading committee in Utah.

Kathy Fishburn
Kathy L. Fishburn received her degrees from Sherwood School of Music and West Texas State University. She has taught orchestra in Texas for many years and is currently the Orchestra Director at Tascosa High School in Amarillo, Texas. Kathy is the Executive Director of the Greater Southwest Music Festival.

Ms. Fishburn is a former president of the Texas Orchestra Directors Association, the Texas Music Educators Association, and the Texas Music Adjudicators Association. As a member of TMAA, she has judged orchestra contests throughout Texas and its surrounding states. She is a former president of the Texas Unit of the American String Teachers Association.

Ms. Fishburn has served as a conductor for many TMEA All-Region Orchestras on the junior high and high school levels, as well as All-State Orchestras. She has many published arrangements and compositions for string orchestra and is an ASCAP Composer Award recipient.

Robert E. Foster
Robert E. Foster is Professor of Music, and Assistant Chairman of Department of Music and Dance at the University of Kansas. He was Director of Bands at the University of Kansas from 1971 to 2002, and prior to that time he served as associate director of bands of the University of Florida. Before moving to Florida he taught in the public schools in Texas.

He has served as president and as chairman of the board of directors of the American Bandmasters Association and the National Band Association, and as president of the Southwest Division of CBDNA and of the Big 12 Conference Band Directors Association. A life member of NBA and CBDNA, he has been on the board of directors for CBDNA, ABA, NBA, The John Philip Sousa Foundation, and the Kansas Bandmasters Association, and was selected Bandmaster of the year by KBA. He was selected one of the Ten Music Educators honored by the School Musician magazine, and was awarded the "Higher Education Service Award" by the students of the University of Kansas in 1975. He is on the advisory board of the Instrumentalist Magazine, and has served as the band adviser for the MENC Adviser column in their magazine, "Teaching Music" from 1995 through 2001.

An active composer/arranger/conductor/clinician, he has numerous published compositions and arrangements, and he serves as educational consultant in the publications division of Wingert-Jones. He has served as a conductor, clinician, or adjudicator throughout the United States and in Europe, Canada, Mexico, Singapore, and Japan.

Robert E. Foster, Jr.
Robert E. Foster, Jr. is in his eleventh year of teaching at the collegiate level, and is recognized for establishing award winning public school band programs with both the middle school and the high school bands in Eudora, Kansas. He is presently in his fifth year as band director at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. Prior to accepting that position he served as Associate Director of Bands at Texas Christian University and at the University of Maryland where he was responsible for the athletic bands.

He has written numerous customized marching shows and musical arrangements for collegiate and competitive high school marching bands, and is active as a clinician, adjudicator and composer. He was recently commissioned to write a new work for the first annual John Philip Sousa Honor Band in Kansas, which was premiered in February 2004.

Foster received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Kansas, and his Master of Music Education degree from the University of Illinois. He has also completed doctoral work in conducting and music education from the University of North Texas. His professional memberships include the College Band Directors National Association, the National Band Association, Kansas Bandmasters Association, Kansas Music Educators Association, and Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma.

Gary P. Gilroy
Gary P. Gilroy is a Professor of Music and Director of Bands at California State University, Fresno. In 1993 he was appointed Associate Director of Bands and Director of the Bulldog Marching Band. After 13 years in this position and building one of the finest collegiate marching bands on the west coast, Dr. Gilroy became Director of Bands. Prior to this appointment he served for a decade as Director of Bands at Fred C. Beyer High School in Modesto, California where his band was awarded several national honors as well as the International Sudler Shield Award from the John Philip Sousa Foundation. Dr. Gilroy is active as a guest conductor and clinician throughout the United States. Most notably, he has served as guest conductor for the Oregon All-State JHS Honor Band and the California All-State High School Symphonic Band. He has published numerous compositions and arrangements for concert band, percussion ensemble, and marching band. He is a three-time recipient of an ASCAP Composers Award. Dr. Gilroy is a Past President of the California Band Directors Association and has served twelve years on that board. He is also a Past President of the Fresno Madera Counties Music Educators Association and currently serves as the Western States Chair for the National Band Association.

David Gorham
David Gorham has been director of bands at Owasso, Oklahoma High School since 1989. The Owasso bands enjoy a wonderful reputation as being one of the finest school band programs in the nation, receiving consistent superior ratings in every competition for may years while performing some of the finest and most difficult band literature available. In addition to performances throughout the state and region, the band has appeared in the Pasadena Tournament of Rose Parade on three different occasions.

Gorham received his Bachelor of Science degree in Education from the University of Arkansas in 1982, and received his Master of Music Education degree from the same university in 1993. Prior to moving to Owasso he taught in the Van Buren (AR), Hartshorne (OK), and McAlester (OK) public schools.

With over 30 band compositions published by Wingert-Jones Music, he has clearly established himself as one of the premier composers of music for school bands not only in the United States, but throughout the world. His music appears on almost every state list in the U.S., and is also included on lists in Australia and in Japan. He is the recipient of many commissions, including music for the University of Arkansas Symphonic Band, the Van Buren H.S. Band, the Richomnd (MO) H.S. Band, the North Hills (PA) H.S. Band, the Arkansas All State Band, the Pratt (KS) Community College Band, the Northeast Kansas Band Directors Association, the Valley (Des Moines, IA) School Band, and for the Northwood Junior High School Bands.

Dr. Walter J. Halen
Dr. Walter J. Halen is professor emeritus from Central Missouri State University and now resides in Houston, Texas. He was professor of music at CMSU for 22 years, teaching composition, violin and viola and conducting the university symphony. Prior to his CMSU appointment, he was on the staff of Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, and was concertmaster of the Springfield Symphony. He attended Miami, Ohio and Northwestern Universities before earning his doctorate from Ohio State University in 1969.

Among his many awards are two teacher recognition awards from the Music Teachers National Association, the Achievement in Music Award from Ohio University, the Arts and Sciences Distinguished Faculty Award and Byler Distinguished Service Award from CMSU. In 1992, he was chosen to be the first recipient of the 'Artist Teacher' award from the Missouri unit of the American String Teachers Association. He was the Missouri Music Teachers Association 'Composer of the Year' in 1976 and was the Missouri-ASTA Commissioned Composer for a new composition for the MMEA High School String Orchestra in 1991.

His compositions for young string orchestras have been acclaimed by leading string teachers and conductors for their excellence and practicality.

Walter S. Hartley
Walter S. Hartley (born Feb. 21, 1927) received all of his degrees from the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester. He received his Ph. D. in composition there in 1958. Some of his teachers were Burrill Philips, Thomas Canning, Herbert Elwell, Bernard Rogers, Howard Hanson, and Dante Fiorillo.

He is Professor Emeritus of Music and Composer-in-Residence at State University College, Fredonia, NY. He also taught at the National Music Camp (now Interlochen Arts Camp) at Interlochen, Michigan from 1956 to 1964.

His list of compositions now exceeds 200, dating from 1949. They include works for nearly every instrumental and vocal medium. His solos and chamber works for winds are performed by serious performers all over the world, and he has numerous works for band and orchestra.

Hartley's Sinfonia No. 4 is one of the standard works in the wind band repertoire, and will be seen on every serious list of major works of the mid-twentieth century.

Samuel Hazo was born in 1966. The recipient of the National Band Association's 2001 Merrill Jones Memorial Composition Award, he has received commissions at the professional, university and public school levels in addition to composing original scores for television, radio and stage. He has written symphonic arrangements for three-time Grammy Award winning singer Lucinda Williams. His works for wind ensemble have been premiered at the Music Educators National Conference, performed by a variety of All-State and Honors Bands, and aired in full-length programs on National Public Radio.

Mr. Hazo's degrees are from Duquesne University. He teaches on the music faculty in the Upper St. Clair (Pennsylvania) School District. He and his wife and two children reside in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Pete Havely
Pete Havely retired in 2002 as Head of the Department of Music and Director of Bands at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri, a position he held for 23 years. A native of Oklahoma, Mr. Havely has 34 years of teaching experience in public schools and colleges in Oklahoma, Michigan, and Missouri. The colleges include Eastern Oklahoma State College, The University of Central Oklahoma, Missouri Southern State University, and Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan. While in Michigan, Mr. Havely served on the faculty of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.

Mr. Havely is a composer/arranger, and has written many compositions and arrangements for concert band, jazz band, marching band, vocal and instrumental ensembles. His music is published and distributed worldwide. He is the recipient of many commissions from high school, college, community, and all-district concert bands and jazz bands. He also composes and arranges for marching bands throughout the country. Two of Mr. Havely's compositions were recently selected for the Bandworld Magazine's Top 100 New Compositions For Concert Band.

Mr. Havely is in constant demand as an adjudicator, clinician, lecturer, and guest conductor. He currently resides in Joplin, Missouri.

Samuel Hazo
Samuel R. Hazo (b. 1966) has been a music teacher at every educational grade level from kindergarten through college, including tenure as a high school and university band director. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Duquesne University, where he served on the Board of Governors and was awarded as Duquesne's Outstanding Graduate in Music Education.

In 2003, Mr. Hazo became the first composer in history to be named winner of both composition contests sponsored by the National Band Association, and was twice named "Teacher of Distinction" by the Southwestern Pennsylvania Teachers' Excellence Foundation. He has composed for the professional, university, and public school levels, in addition to writing original scores for television, radio, and the stage. His original symphonic compositions have been performed on programs that included actors Brooke Shields, James Earl Jones, David Conrad, and Richard Kiley. He has also written symphonic arrangements for three-time Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter Lucinda Williams.

Mr. Hazo's compositions have been performed and recorded worldwide, including performances by the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra (national tour), the Birmingham Symphonic Winds (UK), and the Klavier Wind Project's recordings with Eugene Corporon. Additionally, his music is included in the series "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band." Mr. Hazo's works have been premiered and performed at the Music Educators' National Conference, Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Convention, National Honor Band of America, National Band Association/TBA Convention, and College Band Directors' National Association Convention, and have also aired in full-length programs on National Public Radio. He has served as composer-in-residence at Craig Kirchhoff's University of Minnesota Conducting Symposium, and has lectured on music and music education at universities and high schools internationally. In 2004, Mr. Hazo's compositions were listed in a published national survey of the "Top Twenty Compositions of All Time" for wind band.

Mr. Hazo serves as a guest conductor and is a clinician for Hal Leonard Corporation. He is also sponsored by Sibelius Music Software. Recordings of his compositions appear on Klavier Records and Mark Records. He resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his wife and children.

Robert Hendrickson
Robert Hendrickson, a native of the Pacific Northwest, has a bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Washington. He has taught all aspects of music, with a concentration in middle school band and choir. With interest and experience in orchestral music, his use of harmony is rooted in the sounds of the late Romantic period. Drawing upon a love for composing and teaching, he uses both to create concert pieces that add to classroom instruction. Mr. Hendrickson currently resides in Springfield, Missouri with his wife Melissa. With study under John Prescott and Michael Murray, A Master of Music in Composition is expected from Missouri State University in 2008. He has been active in the Music Educators National Conference (MENC), American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), and Missouri State Fine Arts Grade-Level-Expectation Writing Committee.

Brian Holmes
Brian Holmes is both a violinist and a music educator. He graduated from William Jewell College with degrees in Violin Performance and Music Education. He has spent the past three years as Orchestra Director at Truman High School. Through the years, Brian has taught private lessons in violin and viola at home, Meyer Music, the Lydia Lovan School of Music, Northland Cathedral School of Music and most recently, the Music Arts Institute. He has been a member of the MAI String Quartet and currently plays in the Mt. Zion Chamber Ensemble as well as other chamber groups around the Kansas City area. Brian is also a violin maker in his spare time.

Composing music is another activity in which Brian is frequently involved. He specializes in writing for String Orchestra and Small String Ensembles. Brian has written several musical works which have been performed for various events or occasions. His works have been performed by Collegiate and High School Orchestras.

Brian has had many opportunities to perform. He has won several concerto competitions and has soloed with many orchestras. Brian won the Independence Symphony's Young Artist competition in 1999 and soloed with the Independence Symphony. He also won the Liberty Symphony's Young Artist competition in 2001 and 2003 and soloed with the symphony on both occasions. In 2004, Brian soloed multiple times with the William Jewell Chamber Orchestra. Brian also had the opportunity to perform in the National Festival Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

David Holsinger
David Holsinger is on the faculty at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, where he teaches conducting, composition, and serves as Director of the Wind Ensemble. Prior to accepting this position, he served as Composer-in-Residence to Shady Grove Church, Grand Prairie, Texas.

His compositions have won four national competitions, including a two time ABA Ostwald Award. Educated at Central Methodist College, Fayette, Missouri, Central Missouri State University, Warrensburg, and the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Holsinger was recently honored with an honorary Doctorate and the Gustavus Fine Arts Medallion from Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota.

In addition to his university duties, Holsinger spends much of his time and energies as a guest composer and conductor with All State organizations, professional bands, and university ensembles throughout the United States.

Darren Jenkins
The gifted young composer, Darren Jenkins, is a native Kansan, growing up in Topeka, where he attended the public schools. He is a graduate of Washburn University and of the University of Kansas where he studied composition with James Barnes. An award winning composer, his works have been performed and recorded by various groups across the country, as well as internationally. He has written successfully for virtually every area of instrumental music. In addition to his work as a composer/arranger, Jenkins also enjoys a very successful career as a music educator.

Barry E. Kopetz
Barry E. Kopetz is Director of Bands at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, where he conducts the Wind Symphony and Chamber Winds. Other responsibilities include teaching courses in conducting, rehearsal techniques and arranging. He has held positions at the University of Utah, the University of Minnesota and Bowling Green State University (Ohio), as well as in the public schools of Ohio and South Carolina.

Dr. Kopetz received both his Bachelor and Master degrees from Ohio State University and holds a Doctorate with Distinction from the School of Music at Indiana University. He studied conducting with Frederick Fennell in Tokyo in 1989, and his previous conducting teachers include Frederick Ebbs, Ray Cramer and Donald McGinnis.

As a composer and arranger, Kopetz has more than 50 published works to his credit. He is active as a guest conductor and adjudicator throughout the United States and Australia, and is a frequent contributor to The Instrumentalist magazine with his analyses of works from the standard repertoire for band. In addition to his busy schedule as a teacher and conductor, Kopetz has recently been active orchestrating music for television and film. He is a member of numerous professional organizations and was elected to membership in the American Bandmasters Association in 1998.

Larry MacTaggart
Originally a native of the Quad-City area of Illinois, Larry MacTaggart has strong ties to both Arkansas and Nebraska. A 1976 graduate of Pea Ridge High School in Pea Ridge Arkansas, MacTaggart attended the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas. He transfered to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, graduating in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in music education.

In 1981, MacTaggart accepted a graduate teaching assistantship with the University of Nebraska - Lincoln Band Department. Upon completion of a Master of Music Performance (percussion) degree in 1983, he accepted a position as director of bands for the Fairbury (NE) Public Schools. In 1985, he was selected principal percussionist with the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command Band stationed at Offutt Air Force Base Nebraska. He served in this position until 1995 when he was appointed chief musical arranger for the unit. In 1997, MacTaggart was reassigned to the United States Air Force Band in Washington D.C. as a staff music arranger. He was appointed Chief Music Arranger and Production Manager in 2001.

In 2007, MacTaggart was assigned to serve as the career field functional manager for 700 Air Force band members. Based out of the Pentagon, he coordinates all matters pertaining to manning, assignments, deployments and training of twelve Air Force bands. MacTaggart was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal three times, the Air Force Commendation Medal three times, and the Air Force Achievement Medal twice. He was selected as Noncommissioned Officer of the Year for the United States Air Force Heartland of America Band (formerly the SAC Band) in 1993 and 1995, and Bandsman of the Year for the entire Air Force Band career field in 1995. He was selected as Operations Group Senior Noncommissioned Officer of the Year (Bolling Air Force Base, D.C.) for 2003 and 2004.

From 1995 - 1997, MacTaggart served as music director and conductor of the Nebraska Wind Symphony. This 90-member volunteer community concert band based in Omaha performed four formal concerts per year, an active summer series, and for special community events throughout eastern Nebraska. MacTaggart remains active throughout the country as a guest clinician, adjudicator and conductor. MacTaggart's compositions and arrangements for concert band are published by Wingert-Jones Publications of Kansas City, a subsidiary of J.W. Pepper and Son, Inc.

The MacTaggart family consists of Larry and his wife, the former Jill Divis, a native of Brainard, NE, and a daughter, Mallory.

Ryan Main

Tim McCarrick
Tim McCarrick has directed both string orchestras and jazz bands at the high school and college levels. Tim's eclectic background includes performing on several string instruments in various musical styles, as well as classical training in violin performance, music education and composition. He conducted the All-Catholic Festival Orchestra for the city of Philadelphia from 1993-1997. His passion for traditional fiddling goes back decades and his writings on fiddle playing and fiddlers have been published by Fiddler Magazine, Fiddle Sessions, and his own website, The Irish Fiddle. Tim reviews music and edits the orchestra catalog for J.W. Pepper. He makes his home in Pennsylvania with his wife, an elementary school string teacher, and two musical daughters.

Keith Michael Davis
Keith Michael Davis was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1962 and was raised there. His musical interests began with playing horn and singing tenor in his school music programs. He continued his studies in composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where his principal instructors were Dr. Gerald Kemner and Dr. James Mobberley; he received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1988 and his Master of Music Degree in 1990. He has composed pieces for a wide variety of ensembles, but his focus on wind band music has yielded several successful commissions, compositions and arrangements, including Deus ex Machina, A Western Plains Overture, Entebbe Variations, Native Hunters, and Bastion of Freedom. One of his more recent pieces is Boil That Dust Speck!, a concert scherzo for solo piano and band.

Currently, he is working on incidental music for a new stage adaptation of Dracula, and is looking ahead to a commission for the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association's 2006 Convention. Since 1990, Mr. Davis has made his home in Omaha, Nebraska with his wife, Deanna.

Kirt Mosier
Kirt N. Mosier is currently in his twenty second year of teaching. Mr. Mosier is presently teaching for the Lee's Summit R-7 School District. He is the director of orchestras at Lee's Summit West High School. Prior to his teaching position with the R-7 school district, Mr. Mosier taught for the Raytown C-2 School District. During his nine years of teaching for the Raytown C-2 district, Mr. Mosier was the director of orchestras at Raytown South High School, and at Raytown South Middle School. Mr. Mosier has been an adjunct professor for Baker University where he taught music history. Mr. Mosier is currently an adjunct professor for the University of Missouri at Kansas City where he teaches arranging for music education and masters degree candidates. Mr. Mosier holds a BME degree from the University of Missouri at Kansas City, as well as a Masters of Music in composition from the same institution.

During his teaching career, Mr. Mosier's groups have consistently received the highest honor ratings, and have performed throughout the United States. In 1993, Mr. Mosier's Orchestra won the outstanding performing group at a national festival in San Antonio, Texas. During his tenure at Raytown South High School, the orchestra's string section grew from thirteen to one hundred and five members.

Mr. Mosier is an active clinician and adjudicator throughout the Midwest and southern regions of the United States. Mr. Mosier is also a composer and has had works featured at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. In 1993, Mr. Mosier's piece Baltic Dance won the National School Orchestra Association Composition Contest. That same year, Mr. Mosier was commissioned by the Missouri chapter of ASTA to write the All-State Orchestra piece, Revelation.

Mr. Mosier has held the office of Orchestra Vice President for the Kansas City Metro District No. 3 of the Missouri Music Educators Association and has been the Missouri state representative for the National School Orchestra Association. In 1995, Mr. Mosier was the Missouri state coordinator for the National High School Honors Orchestra which performed at the 1996 MENC convention.

Mr. Mosier has several published works for orchestra, and most recently has written the 2004 commissioned work, Out Of Adullam for the Missouri All State Orchestra. His piece American Reel won the 2004 Merle J. Isaac composition contest.

Currently, Mr. Mosier is directing the Digital Media Technology Center of Excellence for the Lee's Summit R-7 School District. Students from multiple school districts enroll at the center to learn how to produce music and video for today's media market. His students at the academy won first place in the Association for Career and Technical Education's national public service announcement competition. Mr. Mosier is the director of orchestras at Lee's Summit West High School in Lee's Summit, Missouri. Mr. Mosier was named the 2007-2008 outstanding music educator for the state of Missouri by the National Federation of State High School Associations. Mr. Mosier was also listed by School Band and Orchestra magazine as one of 50 directors in the United States who make a difference. Mr. Mosier is the 2009 Teacher of the Year for the Lee's Summit School District. He is also the worship director at Deerbrook Covenant Church in Lee's Summit.

Jacob Narverud
Jacob J. Narverud (b.1986) is originally from Meriden, Kansas. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree from Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. Jake is an active composer/arranger, conductor, teacher, and performer in both the vocal area (bass-baritone) and instrumental area (horn & piano). He has appeared in numerous Musical Theatre and Opera productions, performs in a wide-variety of ensembles, and works as a freelance musician. Jake also currently serves as the director of the Madrigal Singers at Emporia State. Upon graduating from ESU, Jake plans to attend graduate school to obtain a Masters Degree in Conducting.

John Prescott
John Prescott is a Professor of Music at Missouri State University where he teaches theory, composition, and commercial music. His works are published by Alfred Publications, Cimarron Press, Dorn Publications, Eighth-Note Press, the International Trombone Association Press, JPM Publications, Tezak Publications, TRN Publications, Warner Brothers, and Wingert-Jones Publications. His compositions include works for band, orchestra, chorus, solo and chamber works, and multi-media pieces, and have been performed nationally and internationally.

Dr. Prescott holds degrees in music theory and composition from Florida State University and from the University of Kansas where he studied composition with John Pozdro and James Barnes. Dr. Prescott has been a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) since 1988, and has been the recipient of an ASCAP Standard Award every year since 1989. He is also a member of the Music Educators National Conference (MENC).

Nancy H. Seward
Nancy H. Seward (1930-2004) was one of the truly outstanding music teacher/educators in the Midwest. Her understanding of young players and her approach to teaching through good music make her compositions particularly useful for young bands. Her selections in the Achievement Series are among the best 'teaching pieces' for young musicians.

Born on August 9, 1930, in Henryetta, Oklahoma, Seward grew up in Lincoln, Illinois. She studied at Central Methodist College (Fayette, Missouri) where she received her Bachelor of Music Education cum laude, and did graduate work at the University of Michigan, University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, and the University of Missouri-Columbia. She taught instrumental music in elementary and secondary schools in Leavenworth, Kansas, as well as Excelsior Springs, Hickman Mills, Richmond and Polo, Missouri, and at Central Methodist College, where she received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1978. She was also the recipient of the Missouri Bandmasters Association Hall of Fame Award in 1993. After 38 years of teaching, she was active as a clinician, adjudicator and composer, with more than 30 published band works. Her compositions appear on the festival lists of at least five states and in Japan.

Claude T. Smith
Claude T. Smith (1932-1987) was one of the most successful composers of band music in the world when his untimely death brought an abrupt end to a brilliant career.

A native of Missouri, he received his education at Central Methodist College, Fayette, Missouri, and at the University of Kansas. He taught instrumental music in the public schools of Nebraska and Missouri, and served on the faculty of Southwest Missouri State University. He was the composer or arranger of over 100 publications, and he had clearly established himself as one of the most popular composers and conductor/clinicians of our time. A dedicated educator and prolific composer, he left a legacy of works for bands and orchestras at virtually every level. At the time of his death, he was Educational Consultant and composer for Wingert-Jones Music, Inc. and a staff composer for Jenson Publications.