Conducting and Teaching Workshop

The Conducting and Teaching Workshop will provide an enriching opportunity to blend the artistic and technical growth of the conductor, with a focus on conducting technique, rehearsal pedagogy, administrative, and teaching skills. Each conducting participant will conduct daily with ample time on the podium.

Participant $400

Participants will receive feedback and coaching on their conducting from the Workshop Faculty. The participant track is designed for conductors of all levels with a desire to learn and grow. Preference for the conducting participant track will be given to applicants with a completed bachelor’s degree.

Observer $150

Observers will attend all sessions but will not conduct the live ensemble.  This track is open to all and recommended for all levels of musicians.

Allan McMurray is an internationally acclaimed artist conductor, teacher, author and collaborator. He has conducted professional orchestras, ballet, opera and contemporary chamber ensembles, but it is his passion for wind music and the teaching of conducting that has inspired the majority of his artistic career.

As Professor of Conducting Emeritus and Distinguished Professor at the University of Colorado, where he served as the Robert and Judy Charles Professor and Director of Bands from 1978-2013, Professor McMurray established the Masters and Doctorate degrees in Wind Conducting and for three decades hosted and taught the College Band Directors National Association Conducting Symposium. Former conducting students currently hold leadership positions at colleges, universities and conservatories in America and abroad. As a result of his impact, Professor McMurray has been recognized as one of the leading teachers of wind ensemble and conducting in America.

In demand as a visiting artist, Allan McMurray has guest conducted and taught conducting throughout the United States, Asia, Australia , Europe and Central America.. He also created and published a three volume set of DVDs on the teaching of conducting entitled Conducting from the Inside Out.

Professor McMurray is past president of the College Band Directors National Association and is a recent recipient of CBDNA’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. William K. Wakefield, Professor of Music Emeritus and Director of Bands at the University of Oklahoma, retired in 2017 after 32 years of serving the band program and conducting the OU Wind Symphony. During his tenure the Wind Symphony earned performance invitations for over 20 national, regional, and state professional conferences including the College Band Directors National Association, the American Bandmasters Association, Music Educators National Conference, and Oklahoma Music Educators Association. In 1991 he established the graduate wind band conducting program from which his student graduates have attained university appointments in institutions of higher education including the University of Michigan, University of Kansas, University of Oklahoma, University of Oregon, Stephen F. Austin University, Washington State University, Eastern Kentucky University, Central Michigan University, University of Houston, Kennesaw State University, Wright State University, University of Southern Mississippi, Morehead State University, East Central University, Oklahoma Baptist University, and the United States Air Force Bands.

Wakefield has guest conducted for all-state and collegiate honor bands, university ensembles, professional and military bands throughout the United States. His honors include the recipient of Phi Mu Alpha’s Orpheus Award for significant contributions to Music in America. He was also the recipient of the Blue Key Honor Society Teaching Excellence Award. In 1997 he received the Outstanding Faculty Member Award from the University of Oklahoma College of Fine Arts and in 1998 was inducted into the American Bandmasters Association. In 2001, Kappa Kappa Psi National Band Fraternity awarded him the Silver Baton Award for a record of excellence and quality of service to bands, band members, and instrumental music education. The Oklahoma Bandmasters Association inducted Wakefield into the OBA Hall of Fame in the summer of 2008. Wakefield was elected and completed the 2007-2009 term as President of the College Band Directors National Association and for 12 years served on the CBDNA Board of Directors. He was President of the five-state Southwestern Division of CBDNA from 2002-2004. In 2010 he was awarded the Irene and Julian J. Rothbaum Presidential Professor for Excellence in the Arts by the University of Oklahoma Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts. In 2013 he was awarded Kappa Kappa Psi’s highest national award, the Distinguished Service to Music Medal.

Wakefield’s educational background includes a DMA in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Texas at Austin, an MM in Trombone from the University of Houston, and a BM in Trombone from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. Additional studies were obtained from summers at the Aspen Music Festival, the Juilliard School, and the University of North Texas. From 1980-85 he was Associate Director and Director of Bands at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. His secondary school experience includes positions at Dickinson and Nimitz high schools in the Houston, Texas, area.

Dr. Shanti Simon
Director of Bands
University of Oklahoma

Dr. Caroline Hand
Associate Director of Bands
University of Oklahoma

Professor Brian Britt
Director of the Pride of Oklahoma
Associate Dean
University of Oklahoma Weitzenhoffer College of Fine Arts

Dr. Brian Wolfe
Assistant Director of Athletic Bands
University of Oklahoma