Clinician Detail

Craig Aarhus - Biographical Information

Craig Aarhus is Associate Director of Bands, Associate Professor of Music, and Music Education Area Coordinator at Mississippi State University. At MSU, he co-directs the Famous Maroon Band and basketball pep bands, conducts Wind Ensemble “B,” Concert Band, and Campus Band, teaches Conducting and Brass Techniques, and supervises student teachers. Prior to his appointment at MSU, Dr. Aarhus was a successful high school and middle band director in the public schools of Alabama. He received his BME from Auburn University and his MA and DMA degrees in Conducting from The University of Iowa and is a member of several professional organizations including the College Band Directors National Association and the Mississippi Bandmasters Association. Dr. Aarhus is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the National Band Association and is a former governor for the Southeast District of Kappa Kappa Psi. He is also the Past-President of the Delta Chapter of Phi Beta Mu. Dr. Aarhus has been an adjudicator and clinician throughout the country and in Canada and is a contributing author to five volumes of the popular Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. The Southeast District of Kappa Kappa Psi recently named their "Outstanding Director/Sponsor" Award after Dr. Aarhus. He has been a clinician/instructor at the Smith-Walbridge Drum Major Clinics for nearly 20 years. He and his family reside in Starkville and are members of First Presbyterian Church, where he has served as Music Director since 2007.