Dr. Shawn Smith

Dr. Shawn Smith is Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Conducting at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Smith holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in instrumental conducting from Arizona State University and Master of Music and Bachelor of Music Education degrees from Louisiana State University and Boise State University respectively.

In high demand as a band and orchestra conductor, clinician and adjudicator, Dr. Smith has been invited to work with professional and educational ensembles throughout the United States and conducts regularly at music festivals in Brazil. Dr. Smith has been invited to conduct professional ensembles including the State Symphonic Band of São Paulo, the Corpus Christi Symphony and members of the Charlotte Symphony. He has also presented numerous educational clinics and speeches, most notably at the International Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Illinois and at the Texas Music Educators Association’s Convention.

Smith has been published in the Journal of the World Association for Symphonic Bands & Ensembles and in Alta Musica and has presented research on the wind music of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos at the national conferences of the College Music Society and the College Band Directors National Association. In the summer of 2012 Smith was invited to present research at an international conference in Portugal and has been invited twice as a Visiting Professor of Conducting for music academies in Brazil.

As a public school teacher, Dr. Smith served as Director of Bands and Orchestra at one of the largest high schools in Idaho where he administered a comprehensive instrumental music program. While at Meridian High School, ensembles under his direction were distinguished as among the finest in the state.

An accomplished trumpeter, Dr. Smith has served as principal trumpet in the top ensembles at Louisiana State and Boise State. He has also performed with the Corpus Christi Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic Orchestra (Idaho), the Acadiana Symphony (Louisiana), Keith Brion’s New Sousa Band and with the Temptations.

As a faculty member at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Smith received the Texas A&M System Teaching Excellence Award twice, has been included in Who’s Who Among American Teachers and holds honorary memberships in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Sigma Alpha Iota and Kappa Kappa Psi. He also holds memberships in the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) and the World Association for Symphonic Bands & Ensembles (WASBE).