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Time:

Thursday
December, 19, 2019
03:00 PM - 04:00 PM

Location:

Meeting Room W179

Clinician(s)

Luke Johnson

Luke Johnson

[email protected]
Langston Hemenway

Langston Hemenway

[email protected]
Cassandra Bechard

Cassandra Bechard

[email protected]
Melanie Brooks

Melanie Brooks

[email protected]
Aaron Perrine

Aaron Perrine

[email protected]
Kevin Walczyk

Kevin Walczyk

[email protected]

No Oboes? No Problem! Finding Artistic and Accessible Mixed Wind Chamber Repertoire for Grade IV and Below

Clinic Synopsis:

Finding artistic and technically accessible wind chamber repertoire is a challenge, especially when seeking music Grade IV and below. This clinic will offer solutions for discovering and creating quality mixed chamber wind repertoire. A panel of composers and band directors will demystify the commissioning and consortium processes and provide access to a database of currently available music for mixed chamber winds.

Luke Johnson - Biographical Information

Dr. Luke D. Johnson currently serves as the Director of Bands and Music Education and Associate Professor of Music at MidAmerica Nazarene University. A frequent guest conductor and clinician, Dr. Johnson is also a freelance trumpet player in the Kansas City area. He is a proponent of new music, having been involved in commissions and premiers of several new pieces including composers Jack Stamp, James Mobberly, Daniel McIntosh, Nick Omiccioli, Aaron Perrine, Kevin Walczyk, and Joni Greene. Past experience includes teaching ten years in the public schools of Kansas, Adjunct Professor of Trumpet at Dodge City Community College, and a vibrant private trumpet studio in the Kansas City area. Dr. Johnson completed the Bachelor’s degree in Music Education at MidAmerica Nazarene University in 2003, the Master of Music degree with an emphasis in Band Conducting from Kansas State University in 2008, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Conducting from the University of Kansas in 2015 where he studied conducting with Dr. Paul W. Popiel.

Langston Hemenway - Biographical Information

Dr. Langston Hemenway serves as the Director of Instrumental Studies at William Jewell College in Liberty, MO where he conducts the Symphonic Band, directs the Jazz Band, teaches conducting and instrumental technique classes, supervises music education students and administrates the instrumental division of the music department Dr. Hemenway earned his Doctorate in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Michigan, his Master’s degree in Conducting from the University of Kansas, and his Bachelor’s in Music Education from the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Hemenway is an active conductor, adjudicator, and clinician, regularly working with community and school bands from a wide array of experience levels. Prior to his position at Jewell, Hemenway served on the music faculty at North Central College in Naperville, IL and also taught for seven years as a public school band director in Texas and Kansas, working with distinguished high school programs in the Houston and Wichita areas. In 2017, Dr. Hemenway became conductor and music director of the Kansas City Wind Symphony, an accomplished ensemble made up of professionals in the KC metro area.

Cassandra Bechard - Biographical Information

Dr. Cassandra Bechard currently serves as Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Instrumental Music at the University of Dubuque. Dr. Bechard is an active clinician, presenter, and guest conductor; she has presented at conventions in South Dakota, Oklahoma, and Idaho, and has upcoming guest conducting engagements in Minnesota and South Dakota. She is an advocate for new music and has been involved in commissions and premieres of several new works both for chamber winds and solo bassoon including composers Aaron Perrine, JoAnne Harris, Corey Jahlas, Matt Silverberg, Erin Lillifors, Scott Farkas, Garrett Gillingham, and James Stephenson. Dr. Bechard has experience conducting ensembles of various ages; most recently she served as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Seward Concert Band, a community band based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Prior to her doctoral studies Cassandra taught for five years at Roosevelt High School in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Dr. Bechard received her Bachelor degrees in Music Education and Music Performance from Central Michigan University in 2009, the Master of Music in Bassoon Performance from Bowling Green State University in 2011, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Band Conducting from the University of Minnesota in 2019 where she studied with Dr. Emily Threinen. 

Melanie Brooks - Biographical Information

Melanie Brooks is the Director of Bands at Winona State University. She received her DMA and Masters degrees in Wind Conducting at Arizona State University in 2018 and 2016. Dr. Brooks received her Bachelor of Arts from Saint Olaf College in Northfield, MN. In 2014-2015, Dr. Brooks received a Fulbright grant to study at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. While in Finland, she conducted four of the country’s five professional military bands, worked at youth and adult music camps in Kouvola and Terälahti, directed student honor bands in Varkaus, Lahti, and Tampere, and visited music schools across the country. Before beginning her graduate studies, Dr. Brooks taught 5th grade and high school band in Pine City, MN and grades 5-12 band at Bethlehem Academy in Faribault, MN.

Aaron Perrine - Biographical Information

With works in a variety of genres, Aaron Perrine’s music has been performed by some of the leading ensembles and soloists across the United States and beyond. He is a two-time winner of the American Bandmasters Association Sousa/Ostwald Award for his compositions: Only Light in 2015 and Pale Blue on Deep in 2013. Only Light—commissioned by the University of Iowa Symphony Band, Richard Mark Heidel, conductor—was included on the latest University of Kansas Wind Ensemble recording (Of Shadow and Light, Klavier). Another one of his compositions—Temperance—recently won the 2017 CBDNA Young Band Composition Contest. His music for winds has also been featured at the 2017 CBDNA National Conference, multiple regional CBDNA Conferences, The Midwest Clinic, The Western International Band Clinic, and at numerous all-state, state conference and honor band concerts. Perrine’s music for saxophone has also received many notable performances. Primal—for saxophone quartet—was performed at the 2014 NASA Biennial Conference in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, and the 2012 World Saxophone Congress XVI in St. Andrews, Scotland. Bridge Suite—for alto saxophone and cello—was performed at the 2012 NASA Biennial Conference in Tempe, Arizona. This past summer, It Has to Be Beautiful, a concerto for alto saxophone and wind ensemble, was premiered by Kenneth Tse with the Symphonic Wind Orchestra of Croatian Armed Forces at the 2018 World Saxophone Congress, in Zagreb, Croatia. In addition to composing, Perrine is an active conductor and educator. He has conducted a variety of honor bands, with his most recent appearance being the 2018 All-Iowa 8th Grade Honor Band. Future conducting engagements include the 2021 South Dakota All-State Band. He is currently on the faculty at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Perrine has received degrees from the University of Iowa, the University of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota, Morris. For more information, please visit aaronperrine.com.

Kevin Walczyk - Biographical Information

Walczyk is Professor of music at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oregon where he teaches composition, orchestration, jazz arranging, and film scoring/media production. Walczyk’s recent composition honors include nominations for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in music composition (2011) and the Grawemeyer Award (2012) and election into the American Bandmasters Association. His recent prizes include the 9th annual Raymond & Beverly Sackler Music Composition Prize (2012) and the 2012 Big East Conference Band Director’s Association Composition Contest. He has received grants from Meet the Composer, Argosy Foundation, American Music Center, Reach Out Kansas, Inc., and Western Oregon University. He has earned prizes or finalist status from the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble’s Harvey Gaul Competition (commissioning prize), Chamber Orchestra Kremlin’s International-Blitz Competition (2nd Grand Prize), the National Band Association’s William D. Revelli Memorial Composition Contest, College Band Directors National Association, ASCAP, BMI, Lionel Hampton Creative Composition Contest, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Wind Ensemble Composition Competition, three Masterworks of the New Era recording prizes from ERM Media, Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, Los Angeles Philharmonic Synergy project, the Lionel Hampton Creative Composition Competition, and Pacific Coast College Jazz Festival Merit of Achievement in Composition. Walczyk was selected as the Midwest Clinic 2010 commissioned composer and was selected for a special commission for the 2011 Midwest Clinic international conference. For his commitment to composing for the wind ensemble, Walczyk was elected into membership of the American Bandmasters Association in 2017. His works have been featured throughout Europe, Asia, South America and North America and at new music festivals in the United States, Holland, Belgium, the Ukraine, Japan, Taiwan, Russia and Peru.

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