Clinicians
Danny "The Hammer" Schmidt
Dr. Daniel J. Schmidt is Director of Bands and Professor of Music at Northern Arizona University. Prior to this appointment, he was director of bands and professor of saxophone and double reeds at Mars Hill College in North Carolina. College ensembles under his direction have received international reputations, touring Europe, performing at various conventions including the CBDNA Regional Conventions in 2002, 2006, and 2010 as well as a variety of state MENC conventions. The NAU Wind Symphony has made promotional recordings for Warner Bros. Music and Carl Fischer Music. Prior to Dr. Schmidt's appointment at Mars Hill College, he was the associate director of bands at Syracuse University, directing the 230-piece Pride of the Orange marching band and various concert and pep bands.
Dr. Schmidt received the Bachelor of Music Education degree 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 Master of Music in wind conducting from the University of North Texas while emphasizing saxophone performance and musicology (1993). Dr. Schmidt is also the first person to receive the Doctorate of Musical Arts 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 join the Syracuse University faculty. He has served as clinician and adjudicator throughout the country.He is the Primary Conductor and Director of Scholarly Publications for Carl Fischer Music of New York. Projects have included acting as the coordinating editor for the recent series of band scores entitled Percy Grainger: The Critical Edition. He is the author of My First Klos, My First Wagner, My First Universal Method, My First Barrett, 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. He is the conductor of the Trade Winds, a professional ensemble that does promotional recordings of new music for Carl Fischer and Wingert-Jones since 2002. Dr. Schmidt is also a performing artist for the Yamaha Corporation of America and is the Arizona State Chair and President of the Western Region for the College Band Directors National Association.
Bob "The Claw" 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.
Guest Speakers
Jack "All-American" Stamp
Dr. Jack Stamp is currently adjunct Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls where he teaches conducting. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Stamp served as Director of Band Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania for 25 years. In addition, he served as chairperson of the music department for six years. While at IUP, he was award Distinguished University Professor, the highest award granted to a faculty member by the university. He holds a DMA degree in Wind Conducting from Michigan State University where he studied with Eugene Corporon. An internationally recognized composer of wind band music, Dr. Stamp studied composition with Robert Washburn, Fisher Tull, Joan Tower, David Diamond, and Richard Danielpour.
He was the founder/conductor of the Keystone Wind Ensemble, a wind band dedicated to the recording of forgotten band literature. The ensemble boasts over 20 commercial compact disc releases including the recently released “The Band Music of Fisher Tull” on the Klavier label. He is a contributing author to the “Teaching Music Through Performance in Band” series and resides in Hudson, WI with his wife, LeAnn.