Composers
Claude T. Smith
Claude T. Smith was born in Monroe City, Missouri on March 14, 1932. He began his undergraduate degree at Central Methodist College in Fayette, Missouri, eventually enlisting in 1952 and serving in the 371st U.S. Army Band during the Korean War. After his service, he completed his Bachelor of Music Education degree at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
Smith composed over 180 works for band, orchestra, choir, solos, small ensembles as well as three method books for band and orchestra. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by leading musical organizations throughout the world including the U.S. Air Force Band, the “President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band, the U.S. Navy Band, and the U.S. Army Field Band. His solos were written for noted artists such as “Doc” Severinsen, Dale Underwood, Brian Bowman, Warren Covington, Gary Foster, Rich Matteson, and Steve Seward.
Smith was first published in 1964 with his work for band Emperata Overture. This led to many other works being published by Jenson Publications, Inc. (now Hal Leonard) and Wingert-Jones Music, Inc. where he was also an educational consultant. His composition Flight was adopted in 1984 as the “Official March” of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institute. His orchestral works were written for many ensembles, including the Kansas City (MO) Youth Symphony, South Bend (IN) Youth Symphony, Springfield (MO) Symphony Orchestra, and the 1981 Missouri All-State String Orchestra.
Smith taught instrumental music in the public schools of Nebraska and Missouri. He also served as a member of the faculty of Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield where he taught composition and theory, and conducted the University Symphony Orchestra. Sacred music was also a deep passion of Smith as he directed church choirs for five years in Cozad (NE), 10 years in Chillicothe (MO), and 10 years in Kansas City (MO).
Smith was active as a clinician and guest conductor throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, and Europe. He received many awards for his contributions to music education and for his work in composition including numerous ASCAP Composers Award. Following his death, he was awarded the National Band Association Academy of Wind and Percussion Arts (AWAPA) Award (1987), honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Central Methodist College (1988), Missouri Bandmasters Association Hall of Fame (1988), Kappa Kappa Psi Distinguished Service to Music Medal (1988), Missouri Music Educators Association Hall of Fame (1992), and named School Director of the Year from the Christian Instrumental Directors Association (1994).
Smith was a member of the Music Educators National Conference (now NAfME), Missouri Bandmasters Association, National Band Association, American Bandmasters Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and served as past president of the Missouri Music Educators Association.
Claude T. Smith passed away on December 13, 1987 in Kansas City, Missouri having completed a Christmas Concert at church. His wife, Maureen Faye Smith and his daughter, Pam Smith Kelly, along with Pam’s husband, Jim, founded Claude T. Smith Publications, Inc. in 1993, and C.L. Barnhouse Co. became the exclusive distributor for his instrumental works in 2016 with the mission of keeping the music of Claude T. Smith alive and in the hearts of musicians worldwide.
Adrian B. Sims
Adrian B. Sims (b. 2000), born in Seattle, Washington is an accomplished composer, conductor, educator, and trombonist. Adrian’s music has been performed at prestigious conferences such as The Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic and at new music reading sessions across the country. His music has also been selected for the Bandworld Top 100 List, and many of his works appear on the J.W. Pepper Editor’s Choice List. Adrian has also been selected as a winner in multiple composition competitions including the Maryland Music Educators Association Young Composers Project and the Make Music Young Composers Contest. He is frequently invited to rehearse, conduct, and lead clinics with bands and orchestras across the United States. Adrian is also active as an educator in the Maryland area and has worked with a variety of programs including the Baltimore County Summer Music Camp, Terrapin Music Camp at the University of Maryland, and the DC Youth Orchestra Programs.
Adrian is a graduate of The University of Maryland with degrees in Music Education and Composition. He is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Composition at The University of Texas at Austin. As a trombonist, he has performed in a wide variety of musical ensembles including pit and symphony orchestras as well as jazz and concert bands. Adrian studied trombone with Matthew Guilford, solo bass trombonist with the National Symphony Orchestra, and Aaron LaVere, principal trombonist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He is grateful for the continued support from his middle and high school band directors Cindy Stevenson and Christopher Gnagey. He credits Dr. Robert Gibson, Professor of Composition at The University of Maryland, and world-renowned composer Brian Balmages for his development as a composer.
Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst was a British composer and teacher. He was born on Sept. 21, 1874, in Gloucestershire, U.K., and died May 25, 1934, in London. Holst learned piano at an early age along with the trombone. His formal training was at the Royal College of Music in London. While attending the college he met a fellow composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. They became lifelong friends.
Along with Williams, Gustav Holst became one of the most famous of all British composers. Throughout his busy career, he composed close to 200 works. His most famous composition was called “The Planets”.
Early in his career, Holst studied the works of three inspirational composers: Richard Wagner, Richard Strauss, and Maurice Ravel. I addition to these influential composers was his study of the English “folk tune”. This is obvious in the two suites for the military band. A third influence was his interest in “astrology” (not astronomy). This is the inspiration behind his most famous composition – The Planets.
Brian Balmages
Brian Balmages is known worldwide as a composer and conductor who equally spans the worlds of orchestral, band, and chamber music. His music has been performed by groups ranging from professional symphony orchestras to elementary schools in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Sydney Opera House, Toronto Centre for the Arts, and many more. He is a recipient of the A. Austin Harding Award from the American School Band Directors Association, won the 2020 NBA William D. Revelli Composition Contest with his work Love and Light, and was awarded the inaugural James Madison University Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Visual and Performing Arts. In the same year, he was commissioned by his other alma mater, the University of Miami, to compose music for the inauguration of the institution’s 6th president, Dr. Julio Frenk. His music was also performed as part of the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service, which was attended by both President Obama and Vice President Biden.
As a conductor, Mr. Balmages enjoys regular engagements with all-state and regional ensembles as well as university and professional groups throughout the world. Notable guest conducting appearances have included the Midwest Clinic, Western International Band Clinic, Maryborough Music Conference (Australia), College Band Directors Conference, American School Band Directors Association National Conference, numerous state ASTA conferences, Teatro dell’Aquila (Italy), and others. He is an elected member of the American Bandmasters Association and has taught instrumental conducting at Towson University where he also served as Assistant Director of Bands and Orchestras. Currently, he is Director of MakeMusic Publications and Digital Education for Alfred and MakeMusic.
JaRod Hall
JaRod Hall (b. 1991) is a Texas-native composer, educator, and performer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of North Texas where he studied conducting with Nicholas Williams and Dennis Fisher. JaRod's bands have received consistent sweepstakes awards at the Texas University Interscholastic League Concert and Sightreading Evaluations, as well as being recognized at the state level. In 2018 and 2019, JaRod's bands at Griffin Middle School earned the Citation of Excellence award, honoring the top two non-varsity bands in the state of Texas. Under his leadership, the R. L. Turner Marching Band in Carrollton, TX received 1st divisions and advanced to the Area Marching Contest for the first time in almost a decade; his Varsity band at Sam Houston Middle School in Irving, Texas received the unanimous 1st division ratings from all UIL judges for the first time in the school's history; his Varsity band at Hobby Middle School in San Antonio, TX achieved the same feat for the first time in five years.
JaRod is a tuba and trombone player by trade and has been a part of many esteemed ensembles such as the North Texas Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band, 3 O’ Clock Lab Band, Carrollton Wind Symphony, and Metropolitan Winds. During his time in high school, JaRod made the Texas All-State Band for all four years of his eligibility - the first 3 years of which were on tuba, eventually earning 1st chair Jazz Bass Trombone in the state his fourth and final year. He served as drum major for the 2013 Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps, and was a member of the 2014 Disneyland All-American College Band.
As a composer, JaRod's compositions appear on the Texas Prescribed Music List, The J.W. Pepper "Editor's Choice" list, and the Bandworld Top 100 list. His composition Lost Woods Fantasy was showcased at the 73rd annual Midwest Clinic in Chicago by the Berkner High School Band composed of the first students JaRod taught as a band director in Richardson ISD. His composition "Silver Fanfare" was selected as a winner of the Dallas Winds Call for Fanfares and "Through the Storm" was selected as the 2021 Barbara Buehlman Prize winner for middle school band - commissioned by David Puckett and the Keller Middle School Band, premiered for Midwest by Robert Herrings the Artie Henry Middle School Band. Additionally, JaRod is a nationwide marching band and WGI arranger and consultant.
JaRod is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in Composition at Texas State University. He resides in San Antonio, Texas with his wife, Rachel (the smart one in the family) who is a medical student at the University of Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine.
Katahj Copley
Carrollton, Georgia native, Katahj Copley (he/him/his) premiered his first work, Spectra, in 2017 and hasn’t stopped composing since. As of 2017, Katahj has written over 100 works, including pieces for chamber ensembles, large ensembles, wind ensembles, and orchestra. His compositions have been performed and commissioned by universities, organizations, and professional ensembles, including the Cavaliers Brass, Carroll Symphony Orchestra, California Band Director Association, Admiral Launch Duo, and the Atlanta Wind Symphony. Katahj has also received critical acclaim internationally with pieces being performed in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, China, and Australia.
Katahj received two Bachelor of Music degrees from the University of West Georgia in Music Education and Composition in 2021. He is currently studying composition with Omar Thomas at the University of Texas at Austin.
Aside from composing, Katahj is an excited educator who teaches young musicians the joy of discovering music and why music is a phenomenal language.
“Music for me has always been this impactful thing in my life. It can soothe, it can enrage, it can quiet, and it can evoke emotions that are beyond me and this world we live in. I believe that music is the ultimate source of freedom and imagination. The most freedom I have had as a musician was through composing. Composition is like me opening my heart and showing the world my drive, my passion, and my soul.”
Carl Mader (6 April 1885, Munich, Germany – 2 April 1952, Forest Park, Ill.) was a German-American composer and conductor.
Mader studied violin, cornet, and piano in Munich. He came to the United States, settling in Chicago in 1900. He was a member of the Naval Reserve Band in Chicago in 1906, and in 1916 he enlisted in the U.S. Army as a bandsman. Shortly after the beginning of World War I, he was sent to France with the American Expeditionary Force as bandmaster of the 131st Infantry Band.
After the war, he returned to the Chicago area and assumed a prominent role in the music community. In addition to being bandmaster of the Chicago Post Office Band, he also led the Winfield Scott Post Junior Band of Forest Park, Illinois, and the orchestra of the Old Forest Park Theatre. In Forest Park, where he resided, he established a school where piano, violin, and cornet were taught, and where musical instruments and his own music was sold.
Mader's compositions were numerous. His prize-winning piece, Salute to the Twin Cities March, took all honors at the Rock River Valley Music Festival of 1946. In addition to his music, Mader was active in veterans' and fraternal organizations.
Carl Mader
Randall D. Standridge
Randall Standridge (b.1976) received his Bachelor's of Music Education from Arkansas State University. During this time, he studied composition with Dr. Tom O'Connor, before returning to Arkansas State University to earn his Master's in Music Composition, studying with Dr. Tom O'Connor and Dr. Tim Crist. In 2001, he began his tenure as Director of Bands at Harrisburg High School in Harrisburg, Arkansas. He left this post in 2013 to pursue a career as a full-time composer and marching arts designer.
Mr. Standridge's music is performed internationally. He has had numerous works selected for the J.W. Pepper's editor's choice. His compositions Snake Charmer, Gently Blows the Summer Wind, and Angelic Celebrations have been included in the "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band" series. He has had numerous works performed at the prestigious Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. The Arkansas State University Wind Ensemble premiered his work Art(isms) at the 2010 CBDNA conference in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and his work Stonewall: 1969 was premiered at the National LGBA conference in 2019. Mr. Standridge is also a contributing composer for Alfred Music's Sound Innovations: Ensemble Development series. His Symphony no.1: A Ghost Story waspremiered in 2023.
In addition to his career as a composer, Mr. Standridge is the owner and editor of Randall Standridge Music, LLC and Grand Mesa Marching. He is in demand as an arranger/designer for the marching arts. He lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas, with his husband and their very, very spoiled pets.Adrian is a graduate of The University of Maryland with degrees in Music Education and Composition. He is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Composition at The University of Texas at Austin. As a trombonist, he has performed in a wide variety of musical ensembles including pit and symphony orchestras as well as jazz and concert bands. Adrian studied trombone with Matthew Guilford, solo bass trombonist with the National Symphony Orchestra, and Aaron LaVere, principal trombonist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He is grateful for the continued support from his middle and high school band directors Cindy Stevenson and Christopher Gnagey. He credits Dr. Robert Gibson, Professor of Composition at The University of Maryland, and world-renowned composer Brian Balmages for his development as a composer.
Carol Brittin Chambers
Carol Brittin Chambers, composer and arranger, is currently the composer and owner of Aspenwood Music. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, where she is also on the music faculty at Texas Lutheran University, teaching composition and serving as Composer in Residence.
Chambers is commissioned each year to compose and arrange works for concert band, marching band, orchestra, and chamber ensembles. Her concert works have been selected to the J.W. Pepper Editors’ Choice List and the Bandworld Top 100 and have been performed at state educator conferences across the country, including the Midwest Clinic. She was most recently named the winner of the 2019 WBDI (Women Band Directors International) Composition Competition.
Chambers has arranged and orchestrated show music for numerous high school marching bands across the country, as well as The Crossmen DrumCorps. High schools include CT Johnson HS, San Antonio, TX (2020 6A State Champion, 2019, 2016, 2011 BOAGrand Nationals Finalist, 2017 BOA San Antonio Super-Regional, Austin, & Midland Champion, 2014 BOA San Antonio Super-Regional & Houston Champion, multi-year State Finalist), Keller HS, TX (2015 BOA Grand Nationals Finalist, 2017 & multi-year BOA Regional and State Finalist), Broken Arrow Senior High School, OK (2006 BOA Grand Nationals Finals Champion), and Ronald Reagan High School, San Antonio, TX (2005 Bands of America Grand Nationals Semi-Finals Champion), to name a few. In addition to her own shows, she also orchestrates the shows of Aaron Guidry, at www.yataforluda.com.
Before coming to TLU, Chambers taught middle school and high school band and private lessons for many years in the North East Independent School District, San Antonio, TX. She has also consistently performed with groups such as the Mid-Texas and San Antonio Symphonies.
Chambers received a Bachelor of Music Education from Texas TechUniversity and a Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from Northwestern University. She studied under Vincent Cichowicz, Will Strieder, John Paynter, Arnold Jacobs, and James Sudduth. She and her husband Mark have three children: Catherine, Joshua, and Julia.
Robert W. Smith
Robert W. Smith (1958-2023) has over 600 publications in print with the majority composed and arranged through a long association with Warner Bros. Publications and the Belwin catalog.
Mr. Smith’s credits include many compositions and productions in all areas of the music field. His original works for winds and percussion have been programmed by countless military, university, high school, and middle school bands throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, South America and Asia. His Symphony #1 (The Divine Comedy), Symphony #2 (The Odyssey), Symphony #3 (Don Quixote), Inchon and Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual have received worldwide critical acclaim. His educational compositions such as The Tempest, Encanto, and The Great Locomotive Chase have become standards for developing bands throughout the world.
Mr. Smith’s music has received extensive airplay on major network television as well as inclusion in multiple motion pictures. From professional ensembles such as the United States Navy Band, United States Air Force Band, Boston Pops and the Atlanta Symphony to school bands and orchestras throughout the world, his music speaks to audiences in any concert setting. As a conductor, clinician and keynote speaker, Mr. Smith performed throughout North America, Asia, South America, Europe and Australia. His music has been recorded by various ensembles and is available on CD and download through iTunes, Amazon, and other recorded music outlets.