WMU Band Directors Symposium

Dr. Scott Boerma - Scott Boerma is the Director of Bands and Professor of Music at Western Michigan University. Prior to this appointment, he was the Associate Director of Bands and Director of the Michigan Marching Band at the University of Michigan. Before those positions, Boerma was the Director of Bands at Eastern Michigan University, and he began his career teaching music in the Michigan public schools at Novi and Lamphere High Schools. Boerma earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in wind conducting at Michigan State University, his Master of Music degree in music education from the University of Michigan, and his Bachelor of Music degree in music education from Western Michigan University.

Boerma is an elected member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association. He is active as a band/orchestra conductor, adjudicator, and clinician, also serving as a guest conductor for several honor bands and community bands throughout the nation each year. He often conducts the Detroit Chamber Winds Brass holiday concerts.

An active composer, Boerma’s concert band works have been performed by many outstanding ensembles, including “The President’s Own” Marine Band, the U.S. Navy Band, the Dallas Wind Symphony, and the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, to name just a few. His works have been featured in the popular GIA series, “Teaching Music Through Performance in Band” and at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic.

Also a prolific arranger, Boerma receives yearly commissions to write music for many university and high school marching bands and drum and bugle corps. For twenty-three years from 1989-present he has been the music arranger for the acclaimed Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps. Boerma has also written arrangements for the Boston Pops and the Detroit Chamber Winds Brass.

Dr. Trey Harris - Trey Harris is the Associate Director of Bands for the School of Music. Harris began his professional musical career as a trombonist playing in the United States Marine Corps. He served in the III Marine Expeditionary Force Band (Okinawa, Japan) and Marine Forces Reserve Band (New Orleans, La.). After an honorable discharge from service, he studied music education at Michigan State University, receiving a B.M.E degree. While working on his degree, Harris maintained an active schedule as a freelance trombonist, private trombone/euphonium teacher, and band director. Upon graduation, he moved to the Midwest and pursued an M.M. degree at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Conservatory of Music and Dance.

During his time in Kansas City, Harris consistently performed as a trombonist and conductor, holding the position of 2nd trombone in The Peoples’ Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City. Receiving his M.M. in conducting in 2009 from UMKC, Harris continued his career as a public school band director achieving success with both middle school and high school bands in Missouri and Florida. In 2017, Harris graduated with his Ph.D. in Music Education from Florida State University.

An advocate for new music, Harris has participated in multiple consortia leading to original compositions for wind band. Most recently, he led a consortium for composer Adam Silverman. This resulted in a new work for upper high school/young college band called Raining Bricks in which Harris conducted the world premiere on April 12, 2018.

Harris served as Assistant Director of Bands at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Ga. In addition to his work with the bands at Kennesaw State, Harris also worked as guest conductor for the Georgia Brass Band during their NABBA Championship concert cycle. He maintains an active schedule as a trombonist, conductor, and clinician.

Dr. Mary Land - Mary Land is the Associate Professor Music Education at Western Michigan University. Prior to this appointment, she was Director of Bands and Instrumental Music Education at Young Harris College in Young Harris, Georgia. Before those positions, Land was a public-school band director in Georgia. She received her Educational Doctorate from the University of Georgia. Land received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Georgia and her Master of Music Education degree from Vandercook College of Music in Chicago, Illinois. She has served the Georgia Music Educators Association in various state and local offices. Land is currently the immediate past president of the Georgia Music Educators Association and the former CNAfME state chair. Land serves on the Board of Directors for the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic and is a member of the Zeta Chapter of Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity She continues to make numerous appearances as adjudicator, conductor, and clinician throughout the United States and has recently joined the Conn Selmer Division of educational clinicians. Land is also on the faculty of the prestigious Interlochen Arts Camp as the conductor of the Intermediate Division Wind Symphony and conductor of the Interlochen Faculty Brass Ensemble.

Many professional awards and recognitions have been awarded Land during her career. She has recently been presented with The Distinguished Alumni Award from the Vandercook College of Music. Land has been featured in many issues of the Instrumentalist magazine discussing her teaching techniques and her band program in the public schools and her band program at Young Harris College. She has been presented the National Band Association Citation of Excellence on twelve separate occasions and has been presented the Women Band Directors International Scroll of Excellence five times. Land was selected by the national publication School Band and Orchestra in their December 2013 issue as one of “50 Directors Who make a Difference”. Land’s band program was the recipient of the Georgia Senate Resolution 212 commending the success of the Pickens County School Band Program. Land and the Pickens County Middle School Band were the recipient of the Magna Cum Laude Award, a prestigious International Award for Middle School Bands.

Dr. Rob Abend (Guest Clinician) - Robert Abend is in his third year as the Associate Director of Bands at the University of South Alabama. At USA his responsibilities include; director of the Symphony Band, director of the Jaguar Marching Band and athletic bands, and teaching courses in conducting, music education, and marching band techniques. Prior to his appointment at USA, he completed his graduate studies at Michigan State University, where he earned his DMA in Wind Conducting. At MSU he assisted and guest conducted with all concert bands, assisted with athletic bands, marching band methods, and undergraduate conducting courses. His primary conducting teacher was Dr. Kevin L. Sedatole. Rob earned his Masters degree in wind conducting at Western Michigan University where he studied with Dr. Scott Boerma. Upon graduation from WMU, Rob was recipient of the All-University Graduate Teaching Effectiveness Award, an honor given to only three masters teaching assistants across the entire university.

Prior to his graduate studies, Rob taught instrumental music in Michigan for eight years. Most recently, he served as the Director of Bands at Dakota High School in Macomb, Michigan from 2013 to 2018. Under his direction the Dakota High School band program was made up of approximately 200 students and included four concert bands, marching band, jazz band, winter drumline, and winterguard. In 2015, the Dakota High School Wind Ensemble was selected to perform at the Michigan Music Conference. Prior to his tenure at Dakota High School, Rob taught at Southgate (MI) Anderson High School and Elizabeth Ann Johnson High School in Mt. Morris, MI. 

Dr. Marja Kerney - Dr. Marja Kerney is an instructor at Western Michigan University teaching percussion and music theory. Prior to her appointment at WMU, she was on faculty at Kennesaw State University and Stetson University teaching percussion, aural skills, music history, and the honors course This Is America: Protest Music in the U.S. A native of Michigan, Kerney earned her B.M. from the Michigan State University College of Music and M.M. and D.M.A. from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance. An avid chamber music performer, she cofounded the quartet P4 for two pianos and two percussion as well as the clarinet/percussion duo 421. The duo has performed at various universities and were featured performers at ClarinetFest 2017 in Orlando, Fla., where they premiered their newly commissioned work, Two Trees, by Baljinder Singh Sekhon II.

As a new music collaborator, Kerney has worked with composers Chen Yi, James Mobberley, Sydney Hodkinson, Zack Browning, Philip Wharton, Baljinder Sekhon, Thad Anderson, Lee Hartman, Shawn Hundley, Ethan Greene, and Chad Rehmann. In addition to her extensive contemporary chamber experience, Kerney has performed as a percussionist/timpanist with the Kansas City Symphony, Kansas City Ballet, Florida Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Wichita Symphony, West Shore Symphony, Midland Symphony, and Greater Lansing Symphony, and has served as a pit percussionist for musicals including A Chorus Line, La Cage Aux Folles, 9 to 5, and Spamalot. She was also a member of Marimba Sol de Chiapas, an authentic Mexican marimba quartet based in Kansas City. 

Aside from her previous appointments at Kennesaw State and Stetson, she has served on the faculties at Bethune-Cookman University and Seminole State College. Kerney is a longtime member of the Percussive Arts Society, currently serving on the University Pedagogy Committee and the Leadership Steering Committee, and formerly as Secretary/Treasurer of the Florida chapter of PAS. In addition to percussion-related education, she has a vested research interest in protest music and has developed courses and presented well-received lectures on the topic. She remains active as a freelance percussionist and timpanist in Southwest Michigan.

Dr. Robert White - Dr. Bob White enjoys an active career as an orchestral, chamber, commercial, and solo musician. He is a member of the Western Brass Quintet and has spearheaded commissions and recordings as part of that ensemble. Robert also serves as an artistic consultant and performing member of the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings.

White performs regularly with such ensembles as the Detroit Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, and the Michigan Opera Theatre, and has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra. He has been engaged as guest Principal Trumpet with the Detroit and Grand Rapids symphonies, both in concert and on recordings, and has appeared at Carnegie Hall with both the Detroit and Milwaukee symphonies. White has taught and performed on four continents, including concerts in Nairobi, Tokyo, Paris, and Tenerife in the Canary Islands. A versatile artist, he has been fortunate to appear onstage with such musical luminaries as Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Boyz-II-Men, Burt Bacharach, The Temptations, and The Who in addition to such conductors as Gerard Schwarz, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi, Edo deWaart, and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.

Prior to joining the faculty of the Irving S. Gilmore School of Music, White won an international audition for the Charlotte Symphony in North Carolina where he worked for five years. Robert was an adjunct faculty member at Grand Valley State University from 2012–14. He previously also taught at Bowling Green State University, Gardner-Webb University, Indiana State University, University of Indianapolis, DePauw University, and was a Graduate teaching assistant at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. As a member of the Motor City Brass Quintet, Robert was faculty-in-residence at the 2011 Boston University Tanglewood Institute in Lenox, Massachusetts. From 2006 to 2010, Robert was a faculty member of the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina where he also performed in the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra and EMF Chamber Players.

Group 2 (Grade 4 - Grade 6)