The Midwest Clinic Chat Rooms provide an arena where teachers will learn from and dialogue with expert practitioners. These brief ‘chats’ allow directors a forum for collaboration in a relaxed, intimate environment. The Chat Rooms have limited seating so attendance is granted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Samuel Hairsine
- Biographical Information
Sam Hairsine was a choral scholar at Lincoln Cathedral and took up the euphonium under Robert Childs, becoming a member of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain and Championship Section bands. He joined the Royal Marines Band Service (RMBS) after his A-Levels and commenced a career that took him around the world as a euphonium and cello player. He enjoyed a year in Naples with the AFSOUTH NATO Band and was part of the deployments to the North Arabian Gulf in 2003 and to Afghanistan on Op HERRICK 9. Sam has served in the Bands of HM Royal Marines Dartmouth, Portsmouth, and Scotland; and was delighted to be a founder member of the RM Band Collingwood. He has also been the Volunteer Band Instructor at RNAS YEOVILTON. He was awarded the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and has conducted a number of ensembles, including the Grimethorpe Colliery Band and armed forces bands in Holland and Norway, as well as world and European premieres. Sam was commissioned in 2014 and, after a brief spell as the RMBS Projects Officer, was the Assistant Director of Music (Training). He completed his Masters in Conducting at the Royal Northern College of Music, conducting many different styles and genres of student and professional ensembles, and working with world-renowned conductors, composers and teachers. As Director of Music of the RM Bands CTCRM and Collingwood, he led commitments in Finland, Mexico, Switzerland, Canada, and around the UK. He has also been SO3 Band and the Single Service Tasking Authority, during which time he contributed to Royal Navy People & Training Transformation as part of the Talent Strategy, and as SO3 Mentoring in the RN Divisional and Regimental Review team. Following promotion to Major in 2023, he was appointed the Adjutant of the Royal Marines Band Service, responsible for welfare, discipline, internal communications and other people-focused outputs. He was honored to present ‘Music and the moral component of fighting power’ to the Symposium Militärmusik im Diskurs in Bonn. Sam enjoys sport and brass banding. He lives in Hampshire, UK, and since August 2025 has been in charge of RMBS Human Performance, an innovative program to maximize people’s potential and set environments conducive to excellence.