2008 Virginia Tech Band Directors Institute

About the Insitute

The Virginia Tech Band Directors Institute (VTBDI) is now in its second year and seeks to provide band directors in Virginia and surrounding states the opportunity for concentrated study in the field of instrumental music education to gain new insights and knowledge that can be applied in the classroom. The institute is open to band directors from elementary through the university level and provides an environment where attendees can share ideas with each other and interact closely with the presenters.

All participants in the VTBDI receive Continuing Education Units (CEUs) that can be used towards professional recertification. Graduate credit (1 or 2 credit) options are also available for those who are interested and requires admission in Virginia Tech’s Commonwealth Campus. Institute presenters come from the Department of Music faculty at Virginia Tech as well as respected band directors from the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Featured Clinicians

Travis Cross

Travis J. Cross was recently appointed as Assistant Professor of Music at Virginia Tech where he will conduct the University Symphonic Wind Ensemble and teach courses in conducting. He is currently completing his doctoral coursework at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where he studies with Mallory Thompson. He received the bachelor of music degree cum laude in vocal and instrumental music education from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., and the master of music degree in conducting from Northwestern.

Cross taught for four years at Edina (MN) High School, where he conducted two concert bands and oversaw the marching band program. In 2004, he was selected to participate in the inaugural Young Conductor/Mentor Project sponsored by the National Band Association and received the Distinguished Young Band Director Award from the American School Band Directors Association of Minnesota. In 2006, he was named a Jacob K. Javits Fellow by the United States Department of Education.

Cross is a regularly commissioned composer and his original works and arrangements for band, choir, and orchestra are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Daehn and Theodore Music.

Denton Stokes

Denton D. Stokes has served as Director of Bands and Music Department Chairman at James W. Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Virginia since August 1998. Under his direction, the Robinson Symphonic Band has twice performed at the Virginia Music Educator's Conference and has earned "Virginia Honor Band" citations yearly. The Robinson Symphonic Band is one of the only schools in the United States to twice receive the prestigious Sudler Flag of Honor.

Elected to the American Bandmasters Association in 2005, Mr. Stokes serves on the Sudler Flag selection committee of the John Philip Sousa Foundation and the NBA Revelli Composition Committee. His membership on the VMEA Executive Board has included serving as instrumental chairman ofVBODA Districts Eleven and Twelve. He currently serves as Past President of VBODA.

Virginia Tech Department of Music Faculty Presenters

• John Adler                     Trumpet & Jazz Studies
• Travis Cross                  University Symphonic Wind Ensmble & Conducting
• Wallace Easter             Horn
• Brian Gendron              University Choirs
• Stephen King                Music Education
• James Miley                  Jazz Studies & Composition
• David McKee                University Bands & The Marching Virginians
• William Petersen         University Bands, Tuba & Euphonium, The Marching Virginians
• David Widder               Clarinet