About Chad Nicholson’s Band Blog

This is a forum for all types of wind bands:  public school, private school, college and university; concert, marching, jazz. I hope to provide an online a focal point for our community of musicians to sound off, give ideas, suggest music, and generally figure this whole thing out.

Bio:

Dr. Chad R. Nicholson is the newly appointed Director of Bands at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music, where he will conduct the University of Arizona Wind Ensemble, the Chamber Winds, and instruct the undergraduate and graduate wind conducting students. Dr. Nicholson is an active author and pedagogue; he has published a book designed to aid conductors in repertoire selection and concert programming titled “Great Music for Wind Band,” and he is a contributing author for the recently published sourcebook for music educators, “Engaging Musical Practices.” Nicholson contributed to a new book edited by Gary Stith that will provide effective rehearsal techniques for band directors. Additionally, he has published articles in “The Instrumentalist” and in eight volumes of “Teaching Music through Performance in Band.”

Dr. Nicholson’s experiences as a music educator span all ages and ensemble types, including concert and athletic groups from public school through university levels. He has conducted many regional and all-state groups in addition to international bands. In 2014 Nicholson was the first conductor invited to lead the Shanghai International School Honor Band, and in 2015 he was a member of the distinguished international panel of adjudicators for the All-Chinese Wind Band Contest.

Nicholson is a frequent presenter and performer at regional, national, and international conferences. Dr. Nicholson led his ensemble in performance at the Taiwan International Band Clinic in Taipei and at the CBDNA Eastern Division Conference. Nicholson has presented twice at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, and he will be a featured presenter at the upcoming NAfME National In-Service Conference in Grapevine, Texas.

Previous to his appointment at the University of Arizona, Dr. Nicholson served as a conductor at the University of Delaware, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, and Colorado State University; he was a public school educator in Beaverton, Oregon and Lawton, Oklahoma. His primary conducting mentors include William Wakefield, Ken Van Winkle, Stephen Pratt and Ray Cramer. Nicholson holds degrees from the University of Oklahoma (BME), New Mexico State University (MM), and Indiana University (DM).

If you are ever in the Tucson, AZ, region, stop by and say hello!