COMPOSERS
Tyler S. Grant
tylersgrant.com
Tyler S. Grant is an internationally recognized composer, arranger, conductor, and clinician of music for concert bands, orchestras, and chamber ensembles of all levels. His music is featured regularly in performances by both region and all state honor ensembles and is also featured annually on Editor’s or Publisher’s Choice Repertoire Lists around the world. His work, Panoramic Fanfare, was a winner of the Dallas Wind Symphony’s 2014 “Call for Fanfares” Competition. Panoramic Fanfare has since been performed by collegiate and professional ensembles throughout North America.
Since 2010, Tyler has regularly accepted commissions for new works and produced new publications for bands and orchestras each year. He credits his mentor Brian Balmages as pivotal to his success as a composer. Notable performance venues of his works include The Midwest Clinic, Carnegie Hall, Music for All’s National Concert Band Festival, the Meyerson Symphony Center, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Bands of America Grand Nationals, and numerous state-wide, national, and international music conferences and conventions.
In addition to composing and arranging, Tyler enjoys conducting and clinic engagements with ensembles throughout the United States. He has served as a clinician with over 100 school instrumental music programs and honor groups across more than 15 states. Tyler was a contributing author for Alfred Music Publishing Company’s Sound Innovations: Ensemble Development series and has contributed interviews to numerous podcasts and articles including School Band & Orchestra Magazine and The Instrumentalist. Notable conducting venues include The Midwest Clinic and all-state bands in Nebraska, Oregon, Alabama, Louisiana, South Dakota, and North Dakota.
Tyler is a graduate of the University of Alabama where he earned a bachelor’s degree in instrumental music education and studied conducting with Professor Randall Coleman. Before becoming a full-time composer and arranger, Tyler served as the Director of Bands at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School from 2019-2023. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia, and maintains an active composing and conducting schedule. His published works are available through The FJH Music Company, Inc., Alfred/MakeMusic Publications, and Tyler S. Grant Music Works, LLC.
Enrique Granados
Enrique Granados pianist and composer, a leader of the movement toward nationalism in late 19th-century Spanish music.
Granados made his debut as a pianist at 16. He studied composition in Barcelona with Felipe Pedrell, the father of Spanish nationalism in music. He studied piano in Paris in 1887. Returning to Barcelona in 1889, he established himself as a pianist of the front rank, and his 12 Danzas españolas achieved great popularity. The first of his seven operas, María del Carmen, was produced in 1898. In 1900 Granados founded a short-lived classical-concerts society and his own piano school, which produced a number of distinguished players. His interest in the 18th century is reflected in his tonadillas, songs written “in the ancient style.” He wrote extensively and fluently for the piano, in a somewhat diffuse, Romantic style. His masterpieces, the Goyescas (1911–13), are reflections on Francisco de Goya’s paintings and tapestries. They were adapted into an opera that received its premiere in New York City in 1916. Returning home from this performance, Granados drowned when his ship, the Sussex, was torpedoed by a German submarine.
Carol Brittin Chambers
aspenwoodmusic.com
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 Tech University 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.
Brant Karrick
Brant Karrick (b. 1960) joined the faculty of Northern Kentucky University in the fall of 2003 as Director of Bands. His prior teaching experience includes nine years at the University of Toledo and seven years of public school teaching in Kentucky. At NKU, he administrates the entire band program including the Symphonic Winds, the Concert Band and the Chamber Winds. He also teaches classes in conducting, instrumental methods, marching band methods, music theory and orchestration. He is also heavily involved in teacher preparation.
In addition to his responsibilities at NKU, Dr. Karrick remains active as a guest conductor, adjudicator, clinician, composer, and music arranger. His band compositions have been performed throughout the United States, in Canada, Europe, South Africa, South America, Japan and Australia.
In the fall of 1991, Karrick entered the Ph. D. program in music education at Louisiana State University, completing the degree in 1994. His prior education includes a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Louisville which he completed in 1982, and a Master of Arts in education from Western Kentucky University, completed in 1984. Dr. Karrick's musical life has been influenced by many individuals. He studied trumpet with Leon Rapier, music education with Cornelia Yarborough, and conducting with Frank Wickes. His primary composition teachers were David Livingston, Steve Beck, and Cecil Karrick. His professional affiliations include: NAFME, the Kentucky Music Educators Association, Phi Beta Mu, ASCAP, and the College Band Directors National Association. He and his wife Carole, also a band director, reside in Covington, Kentucky. In his leisure time he enjoys golfing, hiking, fishing and traveling.
William Owens
William Owens (b. 1963) is a native of Gary, Indiana. He is a seasoned music educator and very active as a composer, clinician and conductor throughout the United States and Canada. His compositional style for young ensembles displays a keen, practical approach which has firmly established him as a leader in the field. Since 1993, Mr. Owens has written over 200 commissioned and published works for concert band, string orchestra and small ensemble. His music is performed and appears on required music lists nationally and abroad. Principal commissions include those from the California Band Directors Association, the Iowa Bandmasters Association, the South Plains College (TX) Department of Fine Arts, the College of Charleston (SC) and Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity. Several of his works including The Blue Orchid and Maesong have been recorded and analyzed in educational text by the GIA series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. Other works such as Carpathia, Great Wall, The Tahoka Galop and Tudor Sketches have become staples of the young band repertoire.
William is a 1985 graduate of Chicago’s VanderCook College of Music and the recipient of numerous awards and grants for composition. Professional memberships include the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA), the Association of Texas Small School Bands (ATSSB) and Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity. He is recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus by his alma mater, and a recipient of the Texas Bandmasters Association’s Meritorious Achievement Award.
In January 2014, William formally retired from duty as a band director in Texas after 30 years of service. His spare time interests include sightseeing and reading, particularly motivational material and Presidential biography. A proud Chevrolet Corvette owner/enthusiast, he holds membership with Cowtown Vettes, a non-profit service organization in the Dallas/Fort area. William resides in Fort Worth, TX with his wife and best friend, Georgia.
Porter Eidam
Porter Eidam received his BS in Music Education from Mansfield University in 1961, his MM in Woodwind Performance and Pedagogy from Michigan State University in 1978 and is currently in residence for DMA in Orchestral Conducting at Michigan State University. Since 1968 Porter has been teacher of woodwind instruments at Pottstown School District, Pottstown, PA. He is a frequent guest conductor of interscholastic music festivals in the Mid-Atlantic and New England States. Porter is on the PMEA-Approved list of conductors for All State Festival Groups, both for Band and Orchestra. He has assisted in the development of an educational partnership between the Pottstown Symphony Orchestra and the Pottstown School District (a program which has been selected as a state-wide model). Since 1982 Porter has been Music Director/Conductor of the Pottstown Symphony Orchestra and the Pottstown Chamber Orchestra. He has performed with many "name" entertainers such as Liberace, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Margaret Whiting, Andy Williams, Roger Williams, Helen O'Connell, James Darren, Sergio Franke, George Burns, Debbie Boone, Shari Lewis, and many others.
Evan VanDoren
evanvandoren.com
Evan VanDoren is an in-demand music composer regularly commissioned to create engaging & award-winning music for marching bands and concert ensembles at all skill levels. Evan’s music is regularly performed around the country, including premiere performances at the Texas Music Educator’s Association Convention and the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. Currently, Evan serves as brass composer & arranger for the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps, from Santa Clara, California.
Evan is an active clinician and has presented for Drum Corps International, the Music Educators National Convention, the Texas Bandmasters Association, the Texas Music Educators Association, and Music for All. He regularly consults with band programs around the country. Additionally, Evan is an active adjudicator with Bands of America, the University Interscholastic League, and the Texas Music Adjudicators Association.
Before devoting his life to creating music, Evan was a band director at Cedar Park High School, in Cedar Park, Texas, during which time the band was awarded multiple marching state championships and national recognition. He received a Bachelor in Music Education with Honors from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Currently, he lives in Cedar Park, Texas, with his wife, Katie, daughter Anna, and their dog, Cooper.
Nathan Daughtrey
nathandaughtrey.com
Composer and keyboard percussionist Nathan Daughtrey is driven by curiosity, relentlessly seeking ways to meld his lifelong passions. As a performing artist & clinician for Yamaha percussion and Salyers Percussion mallets, his varied career has taken him all over the world, appearing as a keyboard soloist in Australia, Asia, Eastern Europe, and throughout North America. Nathan has released two solo marimba albums – Spiral Passages and The Yuletide Marimba – the latter featuring his original arrangements of popular Christmas carols for the instrument. Additionally, he has appeared on many other albums, including Emma Lou Diemer’s Pacific Ridge, performing as soloist on her Concerto in One Movement for Marimba & Orchestra with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Nathan first discovered and cultivated his compositional voice through works involving percussion, including solos, duets, and ensembles. After one too many experiences being a bored, young “drummer” in the back of a band room, he made it his mission to compose wind band music across all difficulty levels with engaging, independent percussion parts that add color and drive, making those players indispensable. Perhaps best known for his percussion ensemble pieces, like Mercury Rising and Firefly, Nathan has also amassed an impressive catalog of chamber works combining percussion with woodwinds, brass, strings, and voice. Being a collaborative chamber musician on his own pieces has been the most rewarding means of combining his passions for performing and composing. This is best illustrated on the album Praxis with euphoniumist Brian Meixner, which includes recordings of Nathan’s duet Spitfire and his award-winning Coming Home for solo euphonium & percussion quintet. He maintains a healthy commission schedule, composing works across genres for performers, ensembles, and directors worldwide.
In January 2020, Nathan took over as owner and president of C. Alan Publications after wearing many hats for the company since 1998. To this new role, he brings with him the same curiosity and zeal to curate a catalog of music that is genuine, forward-looking, educational, and inspiring. Nathan lives a charmed life full of running, traveling, cooking, and concert-hopping with his wife Katie and daughter Penelope in Greensboro, NC.
Jack Wilds
jackwildsmusic.com
Jack Wilds is a composer and educator whose works have brought him into collaboration with musicians aged 5-95. Ranging from children's choirs to collegiate wind ensembles and professional chamber groups, Jack's music draws on visual art, philosophical and religious texts, poetry, and absolute musical influences to create vibrant works that meet performers where they are while inspiring authentic, artistic music making.
His chamber music has been performed by the Attacca Quartet, the University of Texas New Music Ensemble, the Austin Saxophone Ensemble, and members of the New York Philharmonic and the Atlanta Symphony. His works have also been featured at international festivals and composition workshops including the International Trombone Festival, the Slider Asia Clinic in Hong Kong, the American Trombone Workshop, the International Horn Symposium, New Music on the Bayou and The Wyoming Festival.
A former public school band director, Jack's works for wind ensemble and choir include over 40 publications for developing musicians. His works for wind band are regularly featured on required repertoire lists for festivals on multiple continents and have been performed at the Midwest Clinic and at educator conferences across the United States.
Jack is a lecturer at Texas State University, where he teaches composition, music theory, ear training, and music technology courses. He is also the Co-Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church in San Marcos, a position he has held for 13 years and is privileged to share with his wife Noel. He is an active clinician and adjudicator with regular engagements countrywide.
He has studied composition with Michael Ippolito at Texas State, and Chris Trapani and Donald Grantham at the University of Texas.