Family & Friends Package Holders Important Event Information .BSDI r*OEJBOBQPMJT *OEJBOB National Presenting Sponsor 2013 MUSIC FOR ALL NATIONAL FESTIVAL

FESTIVAL INFORMATION FOR FAMILY/FRIEND PACKAGES

Arrival Family and Friend Package participants have been emailed their Festival Hotel assignment. If you did not receive an email from us or have questions about your hotel assignment please contact us immediately.

Upon arrival please proceed to the hotel’s front desk (except those on a student/family package, see below). When you check-in at the front desk you will receive a packet of information containing your name badge and the Honor Ensemble Concert Ticket that is included in your package. Please keep your name badge and wear it at all times. Your name badge will admit you to all of the Festival’s functions.

Parents who are rooming with an Honor Ensemble member on a Student/Family package should proceed to the Honor Ensemble Check-In area of the hotel to pick up their check-in packet, name badge, and room key. Honor Ensemble Check-In is located on the 2nd floor of the JW Marriott, near the lobby escalator and Starbucks.

Music for All staff members may be reached on-site as follows:

Music for All On-Site Event Hotline: 877.643.6043

Official Festival Headquarter/Check-In Locations: JW Marriott Indianapolis Official Staff Headquarters Room 109, 1st Floor (Wednesday - Thursday) Room 314, 3rd Floor (Thursday - Saturday)

Honor Ensemble Check-In: 2nd Floor near Starbucks (Tuesday-Wednesday) Info Desk: 3rd Floor Conference Space near escalators (Thursday-Saturday)

OFFICIAL FESTIVAL HOTELS Marriott Place Indianapolis

JW Marriott Indianapolis SpringHill Suites Fairfield Inn & Suites 10 S. West Street 601 W. Washington Street 501 W. Washington Street Indianapolis, IN 46204 Indianapolis, IN 46204 Indianapolis, IN 46204 317.860.5800 317.972.7293 317.636.7678

FESTIVAL ACTIVITIES

Opening Sessions The High School Opening Session start time is 1:00pm in Grand Ballroom 5/6, located in the JW Marriott Hotel on the 3rd floor. The Middle School Opening Session is from 6:30-7:30pm in Grand Ballroom 5, located in the JW Marriott Hotel on the 3rd Floor. Both Opening Sessions are open only to those who have purchased a Festival package.

Page 1 of 8 Parent Session Parents play an important role in the extending the benefits of your student’s experiences into everyday life. Parents are invited to attend a special Parent Session with Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser on Thursday from 2:45-3:30pm in Meeting Room 304-306 of the JW Marriott Indianapolis. All parents are welcome and encouraged to attend this informational session. You don’t want to miss this special opportunity!

Schedules and Meals Please refer to the Daily Schedule on our website for Festival activities. We welcome you to follow your affiliated ensemble’s schedule, which will be provided to you in your check-in packet. Music for All would like to extend an invitation to you to listen to other ensembles that are performing in the Festival. These ensembles would greatly appreciate the supportive audience that your students could provide.

You are included in the meal count of your affiliated ensemble. For an example, if your ensemble eats at Buca di Beppo, you are included in that meal count. Also, package purchasers will be seated at the banquet with the ensemble with which they are affiliated. Check with your ensemble director on Saturday afternoon to find the school’s seating assignment or check with an MFA staff member at the door to the banquet hall for assistance. A detailed schedule for your affiliated ensemble will be included in your check-in packet at the hotel.

Tickets and Admission to the Concert Venues You are admitted to high school and middle school ensemble concerts with your name badge. However, in your check-in packet you will receive your Honor Ensemble concert ticket, either for the Honor Band, Honor Orchestra or Jazz Band of America, depending on which package you purchased. These concerts are reserved seating. Additional ticket ordered by March 4 will be shipped. Orders received after March 4 will be available at Will-Call. Please note the Honor Band of America concert is currently sold-out. It may be possible that tickets will become available, please call our office to inquire. All Band and Honor Band Family Friend Package Holders automatically receive admission to the Honor Band, no additional ticket purchase for this concert is necessary. Concert Venues Phone numbers and addresses to each of our concert venues are as follows:

Clowes Memorial Hall (Butler University) 317.940.6444 4602 Sunset Avenue Indianapolis, IN 46208 (National Concert Band Festival, Honor Band Concert and Jazz Band Concert Venue)

Schrott Center for the Arts (Butler University) 800.368.6852 4600 Sunset Avenue Indianapolis, IN 46208 (Middle School National Music Festival and High School Additional Ensemble Venue)

Warren Performing Arts Center 317.532.6280 9500 East 16th Street Indianapolis, IN 46229 (Sandy Feldstein National Percussion Festival Venue) Hilbert Circle Theatre 317.262.1100 Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra 32 East Washington Street Indianapolis, IN 46204 (Orchestra America National Festival and Honor Orchestra Concert Venue)

No Video or Audio Recording Allowed Due to the professional crew on-site and in order to comply with copyright laws, no personal recording devices – audio or video – will be allowed into the concert halls. Please communicate this policy to your parent group and refer to the “No Video or Audio Recordings” document on our website for further information.

Page 2 of 8 ABOUT THE HONOR ENSEMBLES

HONOR BAND OF AMERICA

Jerry Junkin, Honor Band of America Conductor Beginning his 25th year on the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Vincent R. and Jane D. DiNino Chair for the Director of Bands, Jerry Junkin is recognized as one of the world’s most highly regarded wind conductors. He also holds the title of University Distinguished Teaching Professor. Previously, he served on the faculties of both the University of and the University of South Florida. In addition to his responsibilities as Professor of Music and Conductor of the Texas Wind Ensemble, he serves as Head of the Division and teaches courses in conducting and wind band literature. He is a recipient of multiple teaching awards, and his students hold major positions throughout the world.

He has served as Music Director and Conductor of the Hong Kong Wind Philharmonia since 2003. Additionally, 2012 marked the beginning of his 20th season as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Dallas Wind Symphony. He has also recently been named as principal conductor of the Sensoku Gakuen College of Music Wind Ensemble in Kawasaki, Japan. In 2005, he was presented the Grainger Medallion by the International Percy Grainger Society in recognition of his championing of Grainger’s works.

Performances under Junkin’s direction have won the praise of such notable musicians as John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, Gunther Schuller, Karel Husa, William Kraft, Jacob Druckman and Michael Colgrass, among many others. Junkin has released over 30 compact disc recordings for the Reference, Klavier and Naxos labels. The New York Times named his recent release on the Reference Recordings label, Bells for Stokowski, one of the best classical CDs of the year. His performance of Circus Maximus with The University of Texas Wind Ensemble was recently released on the world’s first Blu Ray audio disc in 5.1 surround sound by Naxos. In 2014, he will lead The University of Texas Wind Ensemble on a four-week tour around the world.

Junkin is an enthusiastic advocate of public school music education, having conducted All-State bands and festivals in forty-eight states and on five continents. He spends his summers in residence at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, as well as appearing at major music festivals throughout the world.

Junkin has served as President of the Big XII Band Directors Association, is a member of the Board of Directors of The Foundation, is Past-President of the American Bandmasters Association and is Past President of the College Band Directors National Association. Regularly making guest appearances with ensembles such as the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and the Taipei Symphonic Winds, the 2012-13 season finds him conducting throughout the in addition to appearances in Japan, China, Spain and Austria.

Joseph Alessi, Honor Band of America Guest Artist Joseph Alessi was appointed Principal Trombone of the in the spring of 1985. He began musical studies in his native California with his father, Joseph Alessi, Sr. as a high school student in San Rafael, California, and was a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony before continuing his musical training at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music. Prior to joining the Philharmonic, Alessi was second trombone of The Philadelphia Orchestra for four seasons and principal trombone of L’Orchestre symphonique de Montreal for one season. In addition, he has performed as guest principal trombonist with the London Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall led by . Alessi is an active soloist, recitalist and chamber music performer. In April 1990, he made his solo debut with the New York Philharmonic, performing Creston’s Fantasy for Trombone, and in 1992 premiered Christopher Rouse’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Trombone Concerto with the Philharmonic, which commissioned the work for its 150th anniversary celebration. His most recent appearance with the Philharmonic as soloist was in world premiere performances of Melinda Wagner's Trombone Concerto in February of 2007.

Alessi is currently on the faculty of The Juilliard School; his students now occupy posts with many major symphony orchestras in the U.S. and internationally. As a clinician for the Edwards Instrument Co., he has also given master classes throughout the world and has toured Europe extensively as a master teacher and recitalist. He has performed as soloist with several leading concert bands, including the U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point, U.S. Army Band (Pershing's Own), and the U.S. Marine Band (President's Own).

Page 3 of 8 David Collier, Honor Band of America Percussion Coordinator, Sponsored by Yamaha Dr. David Collier is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at Illinois State University. He was recently named the College of Fine Arts Outstanding Teacher for 2012. Collier is currently principal timpanist with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Chamber Orchestra, the Peoria Symphony Orchestra and the Heartland Festival Orchestra. In addition, Collier is also active as a freelance percussionist and has performed with artists such as Mannheim Steamroller, Marvin Hamlisch, Joel Gray, Mitzi Gaynor, Henry Mancini, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Petula Clark, Aretha Franklin, Tommy Tune, Roger Williams, Shirley Jones and Bobby Vinton.

Collier received his Bachelor of Music degree from Florida State University, his Master of Music degree from Indiana University and his doctorate in Percussion Performance and Electronic Music from the University of Illinois. His teachers include Gary Werdesheim, George Gaber, Barry Jekowsky, Richard Holmes, Thomas Siwe, William Moersch and Scott Wyatt.

Collier has served as an adjudicator for Drum Corps International and Bands of America. He is an artist/clinician for a number of percussion music industry members and a Performing Artist for Yamaha.

Brian Miller, Honor Band of America Assistant Brian Miller is a graduate of the Baldwin Wallace College Conservatory in Berea, Ohio. After then earning his Masters degree in Trumpet Performance from the , Miller spent most of the last 10 years living and performing in Atlanta, where he was one of the most sought-after brass instructors in the area. His private students regularly participated in the Georgia All State Band and Orchestra and the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, and three of his high school groups were accepted to perform at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago.

Miller currently teaches in the Middle School and Lower School at King Low Heywood Thomas in Stamford, Connecticut. In addition to his duties at King, Miller also works with the Greater Bridgeport Youth Orchestra program as a winds and brass instructor. He teaches private lessons throughout Fairfield County and continues to be a guest clinician throughout the country. Miller has previously worked for the Interlochen Arts Academy Michigan All State Program, the Debut Orchestra of Los Angeles Summer Program, the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra and the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra of Atlanta, in addition to various other high school and university programs. Locally, Miller has performed with the East Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, the Ridgefield Symphony and Waterbury Symphony.

HONOR ORCHESTRA OF AMERICA

Gary Lewis, Honor Orchestra of America Conductor Gary Lewis is the Music Director and Conductor of the Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra in Texas. He is also the Director of Orchestral Studies and Professor of Music at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he conducts the University Symphony Orchestra and oversees the entire orchestra program. His orchestral conducting graduate students have been successful conductors of university, youth and professional orchestras, and many have won prestigious conducting competitions and been awarded Fulbright grants.

Lewis received a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Oklahoma and a Master of Music degree in Conducting from Texas Tech University. He has worked with a number of university ensembles across the country serving as a faculty member, conducting performances and leading master classes. Lewis has conducted numerous professional and youth ensembles, and he served as the Resident Conductor of the Pine Mountain Music Festival in Michigan for seven years.

As a strong advocate of music education, Lewis has presented many workshops for public school educators, both in-service and at music education association conferences. He continues to conduct All-State Orchestras and other honor ensembles throughout the country, including a regular presence at the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp. Lewis is a strong proponent of new music. He has collaborated with composers such as George Crumb, William Bolcom, John Harbison, Chen Yi, Michael Daugherty and Stephen Paulus, among many others.

Larry J. Livingston, Honor Orchestra of America Supervisor

Larry Livingston is a distinguished conductor, educator and administrator, as well as a highly respected motivational speaker. The founding Music Director of the Illinois Chamber Orchestra, Livingston has appeared Page 4 of 8 with the Houston Symphony and in the Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella Series. He has conducted at the Festival de Musique in Evian, France, and has led the Stockholm Wind Orchestra, as well as the Leopoldinum Chamber, Chopin Academy, Wroclaw Philharmonic and Academy Orchestras in Poland. He served as Music Director of the Pan Pacific Festival Orchestras in Sydney, participated as a performer and clinician at the International Jazz Festival in Rome, and conducted an electro-acoustic ensemble in concerts in Tokyo under the auspices of Yamaha International. Livingston has led the American Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra, the USC Thornton Chamber and Symphony Orchestras in Los Angeles and the USC Thornton Contemporary Music Ensemble in Berlin, and served on the jury for the renowned Besancon International Conducting Competition in Besancon, France.

Livingston has performed with soloists Keiko Abe, Ran Blake, Shelly Berg, John Barrows, Maureen Forrester, Adolph Herseth, Lawrence Lesser, Yehudi Menuhin, Robert Merrill, Itzhak Perlman, Donald Sinta, Nadja Salerno- Sonnenberg, John Walz and Time for Three, and has premiered and/or recorded works by Jan Bach, Paul Cooper, Mario Davidovsky, Robert Erickson, Ernst Krenek, Kasia Livingston, Edwin London, Pauline Oliveros, Russell Peck, Roger Reynolds and Yuji Takahashi.

Livingston frequently appears with professional, festival, collegiate, and all-state wind ensembles, bands and orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. From 1983 to 2002, he served as a conductor in the University of Michigan All-State Program at Interlochen, has been the Conductor of the Festival Orchestra at Idyllwild Arts since 1989, and is the Music Director of Music for All’s National Honors Orchestra.

From 1997 to 2001, Livingston regularly toured Germany and Slovakia with the Internationale Junge Orchesterakademie. The performances and subsequent recordings were "the most successful in this organization's history," according to its director. In the last decade, he has conducted extensively in Eastern Europe, and particularly throughout Poland, leading orchestras in Warsaw, Wroclaw, Jelenia Gora, Bialystok and Olsztyn, attracting consistent critical acclaim. Reviews described “long, unending applause, enthusiastic cheers, like at a rock concert, standing ovation.”

Since 2004, Livingston has toured with the famed Landes Jugend Orchester; served as clinician and guest conductor at the College Band Directors National Conference in Alice Tully Hall; and led All-State Ensembles in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Texas, where he appeared for the sixth time, a record unmatched in Texas All-State history. He has also twice conducted the George Enescu Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra in Romania. In 2009-12 Livingston directed the Thornton Symphony and Chamber Orchestra; guest conducted the Thornton Wind Ensemble; served as the Principal Juror for the 3rd Annual Winnipeg Symphony International Conducting Symposium; conducted the All-State Orchestras or Bands of Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas; and guest conducted the University of Michigan . He also returned to Katowice, Poland to conduct the opening concert in an international festival of academy orchestras from across the globe. In 2012-13, Maestro Livingston will conduct the All-State Bands or Orchestras of Kentucky and Colorado, serve as clinician for the Disney Honors Program, and guest conduct in Texas, Indiana, Florida and California.

Holding Baccalaureate and Masters degrees from the University of Michigan, Livingston completed Ph.D. coursework in theoretical studies at the University of California, San Diego. He studied conducting and interpretation with Laurence Livingston, Elizabeth Green, William Revelli, Rafael Druian and Herbert Zipper. In 1988 he received the Alumnus of the Year Award from the University of Michigan School of Music. Livingston served as Vice President and Music Director of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he was also Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra and Contemporary Music Ensemble, and, subsequently, became Dean of the Shepherd School of Music and Elma Schneider Professor of Music at Rice University in Houston. From 1986 until 2002, Livingston served as Dean of the USC Flora L. Thornton School of Music, where he is Chair of the Conducting Department and Music Director of Thornton School Orchestras. The first music administrator accepted into the Harvard University Executive Education Program, he is a recipient of the Life in the Arts Award from Idyllwild Arts and an Outstanding Teacher Award from the student chapter of the USC Center for Religion. As a motivational speaker, he has established a national reputation for inspiring presentations to corporate and business leaders across the United States. From 2002 to 2007, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Guitar Center, which he now serves as Director of Educational Initiatives. Also, at the request of Quincy Jones, Livingston now chairs the Education Committee of the Quincy Jones Musiq Consortium.

Page 5 of 8 Sey Ahn, Honor Orchestra of America Assistant Conductor

Born in 1986 in Seoul, Korea, Sey Ahn began playing the piano at the age of three. After immigrating to America at the age of ten, she consistently won accolades at numerous competitions such as the National Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Music Teachers National Association Piano Competition, International Young Artist Piano Competition and the Ylda Novik Piano Concerto Competition, to name a few. As a result, she concertized extensively, performing recitals as well as soloing with various orchestras including the Georgetown Symphony Orchestra and the Frederick Orchestra.

From 2004-2008, Ahn attended the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, where she received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance under the guidance of Professors Alan Chow and James Giles. During her years at Northwestern, Ahn also studied conducting with Maestro Victor Yampolsky, Professor and Director of Orchestras at the Bienen School.

In 2008, Ahn moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance at the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California. While studying piano with Professor Norman Krieger, Ahn was accepted into the private conducting class of Professor Larry Livingston, Chair of the Department of Instrumental Conducting and Music Director of Thornton School Orchestras. Subsequently, in the fall of 2010, she was admitted as one of two orchestral conducting majors in the Master’s Degree program.

Ahn has taken part in master classes and workshops led by renowned maestros Kurt Masur, Carl St. Clair, Jorge Mester, Helmuth Rilling, Mei-Ann Chen, Alexander Mickelthwate and Larry Rachleff. This past November, Ahn was among a cohort of nine conductors chosen from a field of one hundred applicants to enroll in the Kurt Masur Conducting Seminar at the Manhattan School of Music. She was subsequently chosen by Maestro Masur to conduct in the final concert.

Selected to participate in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra International Conducting Symposium in 2010, Ahn was mentored by Maestro Alexander Michelthwate and Larry Livingston. Ahn has also participated in the California Conducting Institute, where she worked with Don Thulean, formerly head of the American Symphony Orchestra League Conducting Program, and Maestro Jon Farrer, Music Director of the Bakersfield Symphony in Bakersfield, California.

Commencing in 2010, Ahn began serving as an assistant conductor to Maestro Larry Livingston with the Idyllwild Summer Music Festival Orchestras. Continuing that role in the summer of 2011, Sey also managed both the Idyllwild Summer Symphony and Chamberfest Orchestras. As of fall 2011, she has been appointed as a co- conductor and administrator of the USC Concert Orchestra.

Trained from childhood to be a Tae Kwon Do black belt, she is an expert dancer, golfer and tennis player, and has studied flute and voice extensively. Ahn lives in Buena Park, California and carries a demanding teaching schedule.

Jon Crabiel, Honor Orchestra of America Percussion Coordinator, Percussion Master Class, Sponsored by Yamaha Jon Crabiel is currently Artist-in-Residence in Percussion at Butler University’s Jordan College of the Arts School of Music, where he serves as Director of Percussion Studies, conducts Percussion and Steel Drum Ensembles and teaches courses in percussion pedagogy and world drumming. In addition, he serves as director of the Butler Total Percussion Camp held every summer.

Crabiel is a regular extra percussionist/drum set and timpanist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. He has served as Principal Timpanist at Bear Valley Music Festival and has performed with the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Empire Brass and Ronen Chamber Ensemble. He is a member of the Icarus Ensemble, an eclectic, five-piece jazz group made up of members of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

Crabiel is a Yamaha Performing Artist and endorses Yamaha Drums and Percussion, Vic Firth Drumsticks and Mallets, Remo Drumheads and other music industry members.

Page 6 of 8 Brian Worsdale, Honor Orchestra of America Manager Brian Worsdale is the artistic director and conductor of the French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts located in the Catskill Mountains of New York state. French Woods is one of the largest and most comprehensive performing arts summer programs in the United States. In addition, he is the founder and conductor of the ISO Symphonic Band and maintains a busy schedule conducting bands and orchestras throughout the United States. Studies include the Manhattan School of Music, St. John’s University and Brooklyn College. Teachers include Jonathan Strasser, David Finlayson and Anthony Maiello.

Jazz Band of America

Lou Fischer, Jazz Band of America Conductor, Sponsored by Yamaha As a Yamaha performing artist, playing the Silent Bass exclusively, Lou Fischer has been an extremely active performer in the entertainment industry since he was 12 years old, having performed on over 2,000+ commercials and 50+ Broadway shows. He has toured worldwide with The Crusaders, Airto, Charlie Byrd, Bill Watrous, Red Rodney, Rich Matteson, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams and Emmy Lou Harris, plus the orchestras of Woody Herman, Louis Bellson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Les Hopper, Tex Beneke and Jimmy Dorsey, among many others.

Having performed on over 200+ recordings, Fischer has four big band album releases under his own name as a bandleader. He is also featured as a founding member of the groups: “highTIME” Morning Walk co-produced with Ndugu Chancler, featuring Pat Coil-kybds, Fred Hamilton-guitar; “Three As One” Decisions with Steve Houghton-drums and Stefan Karlsson-piano; and “Beaux J Poo Boo” on All Things Are New featuring Shelly Berg-piano, Fred Hamilton-guitar, and Steve Houghton-drums. A select group of additional recordings include: The Manne We Love: Gershwin Revisited (Steve Houghton); A Time For Love and Bone-I-fied (Bill Watrous); The Joy (Shelly Berg); A Miracle (The Frank Mantooth Big Band); and High Wire (Sunny Wilkinson).

Fischer has appeared as a performer, clinician and/or director at jazz festivals in Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Scandinavia, Sweden and South Africa, in addition to over three hundred high schools and universities in the United States. He recently conducted the All-State or Intercollegiate jazz ensembles of Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, South Carolina and Wisconsin.

A music publisher for thirteen years, Fischer now publishes his compositions with Walrus Music. He is author of Jazz Bass Solos Vol. II (Kendor) and has co-authored Rhythm Section Workshop for Jazz Band Directors (Alfred) and Stylistic Etudes in the Jazz Idiom (Hal Leonard). Additionally, Fischer has contributed various articles to JAZZed magazine, the Jazz Educators Journal and The Instrumentalist regarding jazz and jazz pedagogy. As a composer, Fischer has penned commissions for the Muncie Symphony Orchestra; for the jazz ensembles of Louisiana Tech, Illinois Wesleyan, Capital University and Ball State Universities; and has completed a four- movement symphonic work titled Shades of Winter, premiered by the Capital-Bexley Community Orchestra in 2003.

A member of the University of North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band (1971-1974), Fischer earned a Bachelor of Music in jazz performance (’91), Magna Cum Laude, and a Master of Arts in composition with honors from the University of Denver (’92). He holds a Doctor of Arts in bass performance, with a secondary in theory and composition from Ball State University in Indiana (’99). Fischer is professor of music, jazz activities coordinator and jazz ensemble director at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, where he teaches American Pop/Jazz Theory and Jazz Arranging and directs the Fusion Band and award-winning Big Band. In addition, Fischer acted as a faculty member and jazz division head for the Music For All Summer Symposium from 1995-2011. “Dr. Lou” is one of two Co-Founders and Immediate Past President of the Jazz Education Network.

Ndugu Chancler, Jazz Band of America Guest Artist, Sponsored by Yamaha Ndugu Chancler is a drummer, percussionist, producer, composer, clinician and educator. As a studio musician, Chancler has recorded with such greats as Frank Sinatra, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, John Lee Hooker, Kenny Rogers and Michael Jackson. He worked on “Thriller” and “Bad” and was the drummer on the hit single “Billie Jean.” Chancler has also played on a number of movie soundtracks including “An Officer and a Gentleman,” “Indecent Proposal” and “The Color Purple.”

As a songwriter, Chancler co- wrote hits including “Dance Sister Dance” for Santana, ”Reach For It” for George Duke, and “Let It Whip” for the Dazz Band. His production credits include Flora Purim, Bill Summers and Toki, Page 7 of 8 along with his own solo recordings as “Ndugu and the Chocolate Jam Co.” and “Ndugu Chancler.” He has co- produced recordings for Santana, George Duke, The Crusaders, Joe Sample, Wilton Felder, Tina Turner and The Meeting, a group he co-leads with Patrice Rushen and Ernie Watts. Through these associations he has earned many Gold and Platinum albums and Grammy Awards.

As an educator, Chancler has worked with the Jazz Mentorship Program in Los Angeles, as Faculty Advisor to the USC JazzReach, and as Faculty of the Stanford Jazz Workshop and the Diaz Music Institute. He does clinics all over the world for various percussion and audio equipment companies including Yamaha, Remo and Vic Firth. Chancler is an Adjunct Professor of Jazz Studies at The University of Southern California, Flora L. Thornton School of Music.

Brian Blocker, Jazz Band of America Assistant Brian Blocker has been a music educator in Indiana for 12 years. Blocker holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Butler University’s Jordan College of Fine Arts. While at Butler, he studied percussion with Jon Crabiel and John Hill. Blocker is currently the Director of Bands for the School Town of Highland in northern Indiana, teaching k-12 music, and is pursuing his Masters degree in Music Education at VanderCook College of Music. Blocker maintains professional memberships in both National Band Fraternity and the Indiana Bandmasters Association. This is his third year as an assistant for Music for All. He served as the assistant to the Honor Band of America for the past two years, and 2013 marks his first year working with the Jazz Band of America.

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