Danny Schmidt

Dr. Daniel J. Schmidt, retired full professor and director of bands at Northern Arizona University, is currently a strings specialist for the School Board of Hillsborough County in Tampa, FL. Prior to his appointment at NAU, he was director of bands and professor of saxophone and double reeds at Mars Hill College in North Carolina. College ensembles under his direction received international reputations, touring Europe, performing at various conventions including the CBDNA Regional Conventions in 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2016, as well as at a variety of state MENC conventions in North Carolina and Arizona, made several promotional recordings with Dr. Schmidt for Warner Bros. Music and Carl Fischer Music..

Dr. Schmidt received the BME from Florida State University and was appointed director of bands at Hudson High School in Pasco County, Florida, in 1987. He is the first person to receive the MM in Wind Conducting from the University of North Texas (1993) and is also the first person to receive the DMA in Wind Conducting from the University of Kentucky (2000). Dr. Schmidt was the recipient of a Fulbright Award to Australia in 1993, but refused this opportunity to become the associate director of bands at Syracuse University. He has served as clinician and adjudicator throughout the country. Publishing projects have included serving as the coordinating editor for the series of band scores entitled Percy Grainger: The Critical Edition. He is the author of My First Klose, My First Wagner, My First Universal Method, My First Barrett-Niemann, and My First Weissenborn, five intermediate lesson workbooks for woodwinds, and is the co-author of Protocol: A Guide to the Collegiate Audition Process for trumpet, clarinet, trombone, saxophone, and flute—all published through Carl Fischer Music. He is the contractor and conductor of the Trade Winds, professional string and wind ensembles that have made promotional recordings of new music for Carl Fischer Music, Play-In-Time Music, and Wingert-Jones Publishing since 2001, and is proud to annouce its new relationship with Excelcia Music Publishing as of this year. Dr. Schmidt is also a performing artist for the Yamaha Corporation and is a Past-President of the Western Region for the College Band Directors National Association.

Bob Meunier

Robert Meunier is Director of Bands and Professor of Percussion at Drake University where he is the conductor of the wind symphony, and director of percussion studies. Meunier is in demand as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator throughout the United States. He is a contributing author to ten volumes of Teaching Music Through Performance in Band, Teaching Music Through Performing Marches, and Teaching Music Through Jazz Performance. Meunier has appeared in twenty-six states, and in China, Sweden, Canada, and Mexico, where he has been an artist/conductor in residence at the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica, and at the Academia de Musica Escuela de Musica Ollin Yoliztli in Mexico City. He is the founder of the Drake University Wind Symphony that, since its inception in 1998, has received national recognition for excellence in live performance and recordings. With the Wind Symphony, Meunier has six internationally released compact discs through Mark Custom Recording, and has given invited performances for the North Central Division of the College Band Directors National Association (2000, 2008, 2012), the Iowa Bandmasters Association (1999, 2006, 2012), and the North American Saxophone Alliance (2005).

A member of the percussion section of the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra for twenty-seven years, Meunier has experiences in orchestral, jazz, show, solo performance, and recording. He includes Don Rickles, Robert Goulet, the Smothers Brothers, Red Skelton, Roger Williams, the Temptations and many others among his numerous professional performance credits.

Meunier holds a Bachelor of Science in music education from the University of Mary, a Master of Music in percussion performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has pursued doctoral studies in wind conducting at the University of North Texas where he was a student of Eugene Migliaro Corporon and Dennis Fisher. In 2005, Meunier was honored as Drake's College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher of the Year, and in 2009, he was honored by Drake as a nominee for the Outstanding Teacher of the Year. He is a past- president of the Iowa Bandmasters Association, past-president of the South Central Iowa Bandmasters Association, and past-president of the Iowa Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society. Meunier is a member of the College Band Directors National Association, Iowa Bandmasters Association, Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society, the Percussive Arts Society and an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

Jack Stamp

Dr. Stamp received his Bachelor of Science in Music Education Degree from IUP, a Master’s in Percussion Performance from East Carolina University (ECU), and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Conducting from Michigan State University, where he studied with Eugene Corporon. Dr. Stamp’s primary composition teachers have been Robert Washburn and Fisher Tull, though he was strongly influenced by his music theory teachers at IUP and ECU. Recent studies include work with noted American composers David Diamond, Joan Tower, and Richard Danielpour.

He retired as Professor of Music and Director of Band Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) in 2015 after 25 years, where he conducted the Wind Ensemble and Symphony Band and taught courses in undergraduate and graduate conducting. Prior to his appointment at IUP, he served as chairman of the Division of Fine Arts at Campbell University in North Carolina. He also taught for several years in the public schools of North Carolina. In addition to these posts, Dr. Stamp served as conductor of the Duke University Wind Symphony (1988-89) and was musical director of the Triangle British Brass Band, leading them to a national brass band championship in 1989.

He is active as a guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and composer throughout North America and Great Britain. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by leading military and university bands across the United States. He has won the praise of American composers David Diamond, Norman Dello Joio, Michael Torke, Samuel Adler, Robert Ward, Robert Washburn, Fisher Tull, Nancy Galbraith and Bruce Yurko for performances of their works. He is also a contributing author to the “Teaching Music Through Performance in Band” series.

In 1996, he received the Orpheus Award from the Zeta Tau Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha for service to music and was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In 1999, he received the Citation of Excellence from the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association. In 2000, he was inducted into the prestigious American Bandmasters Association.