T: 817-272-3471
F: 817-272-3434
Address
UTA Music Department
700 Greek Row Drive
Room 101 Fine Arts Bldg, Box 19105
Arlington, TX 76019
NASA Region 4 Conference 2023
North American Saxophone Alliance Region 4 Conference
Randy Hamm
Mr. Randy Hamm, Professor of Music, joined the faculty of Missouri State University in 1989 and teaches classical saxophone and jazz studies, and also serves as the Director of Jazz Studies and Woodwind Division Coordinator. Randy has been an artist/clinician at numerous North American Saxophone Alliance Regional, and National Conferences, The World Saxophone Congress, and the International Jazz Educators Convention. Awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Fellowship Grant, Randy has studied with Dave Liebman, Debra Richtmeyer, Jim Riggs, Dan Haerle, Jack Peterson, and Frank Mantooth. A founding member of the Thrascher Saxophone Quartet which has release four Compact Discs; A Sound Thrasching, Another Sound Thraschng, Axes of Evil, and Music For No Occasion. Hamm maintains an active performance schedule and his work as a composer, arranger, and featured soloist can be heard on the Arabesque, Seabreeze, and Origin/OA2 record labels. Hamm has released two solo CD’s on the Encore Music Presents (EMP) record label, “Yellow Cadenza” and “Abstract Thought.”
Will Campbell
Will Campbell is the Director of Jazz Studies and Professor of Saxophone at UNC Charlotte. He holds the DMA in Saxophone Performance and Literature degree from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the BM (Jazz Studies) and MM (Saxophone Performance) from the University of North Texas. While attending UNT, he was a member of the One O'Clock Lab Band and directed the Three O'Clock Lab Band. From 1990 to 1994, he toured internationally as a member of the Harry Connick, Jr. Orchestra. Recording credits include Blue Light, Red Light, When My Heart Finds Christmas, and The New York Big Band Concert (Video). In 2007, Dr. Campbell released Think Tank (Cellar Live Records), his debut recording as a leader and composer. Dr. Campbell is also a member of Unhinged Sextet, a cooperative jazz ensemble that has released two recordings on OA2 Records, Clarity and Don’t Blink. In 1995, he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Fellowship Grant, which allowed him to study with Dick Oatts in New York. Dr. Campbell has been invited to direct All-State Jazz Bands in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and North Carolina, and has performed at conferences for the North American Saxophone Alliance, International Association for Jazz Education, The Jazz Education Network, and the World Saxophone Congress. His arrangements and compositions are available through University of Northern Colorado Jazz Press. Dr. Campbell is an Artist/Clinician for the Conn-Selmer Company and a Performing Artist for D’Addario Reeds and endorses these products exclusively.
Joe Eckert
Joe Eckert is the first full-time Professor of Saxophone at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. In 2011, he assumed additional duties as Director of Jazz Studies. From 1987-2007, he served as Professor of Saxophone at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia and Director of Jazz Studies from 2004-07. He retired in 2004 from a 20-year career as lead alto saxophonist/woodwind specialist and director for the USAF Band’s Airmen of Note in Washington, D.C. Mr. Eckert received his B.M. from Baldwin-Wallace College in saxophone performance and went on to complete graduate and post-graduate studies at the University of North Texas, where he was a member of the famous One O’Clock Band, Wind Ensemble and soloist with the Symphony Orchestra. He has also held teaching positions at Southern Methodist University (1980-81) and West Virginia University (1981-84). Comfortable in both jazz and classical idioms, he was the only member of the faculty at Shenandoah to have been a guest soloist with the Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble and Brass Quintet and has performed with the TCU Symphony Orchestra, Wind Symphony and Jazz Ensemble. He continues to remain active as a performer, playing regularly with the Fort Worth Symphony and as a jazz soloist and recitalist nationally. He has served as an adjudicator and clinician at music festivals, high schools, and colleges nationally and internationally. Mr. Eckert’s professional affiliations include The American Federation of Musicians, Music Educators National Conference and the North American Saxophone Alliance. Mr. Eckert is a Yamaha-Performing Artist/Clinician and a VENN Performing Artist.
Debra Richtmeyer
Debra Richtmeyer, professor of saxophone at the University of Illinois, is an internationally renowned soloist and clinician in the United States, Europe and Asia. She has performed as a concerto soloist with numerous bands and orchestras, including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, The Slovak Radio Orchestra, The Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the U.S. Navy Band, Washington D.C. She has commissioned and premiered numerous compositions and performed as principal saxophonist with the Dallas Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony and the UI Sinfonia da Camera. A pioneer for women concert saxophonists, Professor Richtmeyer has given master classes and performed as a featured concerto soloist with orchestra at World Saxophone Congresses and North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) national and regional conferences. A two-time Grammy List Nominee, her solo CDs have received reviews such as "…flawless...an extraordinary album..." by the American Record Guide and “atmospheric ... and ravishing ... first-class solo playing” by the Dallas Morning News. She has served as a member of the jury for state, national and international competitions, including the Adolphe Sax International Saxophone Competition, the Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
Her honors and awards include the NASA “Honorary Life Member” Award, the University of Illinois Campus “Excellence in Graduate and Professional Teaching” Award and the UI College of Fine and Applied Arts“Outstanding Faculty” Award. Her students have won numerous national and international prizes as soloists and chamber musicians and perform and teach in military bands, chamber groups, universities and secondary schools. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Illinois, she served as a saxophone professor at the University of North Texas, saxophone instructor at Lawrence Conservatory, member of the Chicago Bears Jazz Band and backup musician for numerous entertainers in Chicago and Dallas. Professor Richtmeyer earned her degrees from Northwestern University where she studied saxophone with Dr. Frederick Hemke and clarinet with Larry Combs. She is a Selmer Artist/Clinician, Past President of the North American Saxophone Alliance, elected member of the International Saxophone Committee and a mentor for the NASA Committee on the Status of Women’s inaugural mentoring program. Her new book, “The Richtmeyer Method for Saxophone Mastery Volumes 1 and 2” is available through Presser.com and was selected as “Editor’s Choice” by J.W Pepper for their 2022 Catalog.
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James Barger
A dynamic performer and teacher, saxophonist James Barger has appeared as a guest artist and clinician in high schools and universities across the United States. An accomplished chamber musician, he has won awards in the Fischoff, MTNA, Enkor, and American Prize competitions with the Mirasol Quartet. He has presented and performed at conferences hosted by the Texas Music Educators Association, North American Saxophone Alliance, Midwest Clinic, the US Navy Band, and the International Music by Women Festival. Additionally, he teaches during the summer on the faculties of the WTAMU Band and Orchestra Camp, the Young Saxophonist’s Institute, and the Asia Pacific Saxophone Academy in Bangkok, Thailand. Dr. Barger is the Associate Professor of Saxophone at West Texas A&M University and is a proud artist and endorser of Selmer Saxophones and D’Addario Woodwinds.
UTA Faculty Saxophone Quartet
Chris McGuire, Michael Morrison, Mike Nguyen, Tim Ishii
Exhibitors will be set up in Fine Arts Building room 115.
TB Winds - Denton TX - www.tbwinds.com
Young Saxophonist's Institute - www.ysicamps.com
Dr. Bryan Manning Kendall, author of In Search of the Saxophone: It's Origin and Functions
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89572917-in-search-of-the-saxophone
Timothy Ishii, M.M. University of North Texas
Department of Music
Professor, Jazz Studies Area Coordinator
Area: Jazz Studies, Saxophone
Bio: Tim Ishii has been Director of Jazz Studies at UT Arlington since 2004. Under his direction, the Jazz Orchestra has performed in Mexico City, Germany, Hawaii, Kansas, throughout Texas and the surrounding Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. In 2007 the Jazz Orchestra was selected to perform at the Texas Music Educators Conference in San Antonio, Texas and in 2009 the band was awarded the “Gene Hall” award as the Outstanding Collegiate Band at the University of North Texas/City of Addison Jazz Festival which included bands selected by taped audition from coast to coast. Tim is active as a clinician and has conducted numerous high school and college honor bands in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Oregon. In December 2014, he appeared as guest artist with the Iolani High School Jazz Band (Honolulu, Hawaii) in Kobe, Japan performing at the Konan Boys High School Winter Jazz Festival and Konan Women’s University. He is Past President of the Texas Jazz Educators Association and is Co-Music Director for the Hawaii Jazz Institute, a joint collaboration between the University of Texas at Arlington and the Iolani School in Honolulu, Hawaii. As part of the 2015 Hawaii Jazz Institute, the UT Arlington Jazz Orchestra performed aboard the USS Missouri battleship that is now docked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In addition, Tim and the UT Arlington Jazz Faculty performed and provided educational enrichment at the 2015 Maui Jazz Festival. In May of 2016, Tim was invited to give big band clinics in Detmold, Germany at the Hochschule Fur Musik and also presented a master class to area saxophonists at the Haus Die Musik in Detmold. In October of 2016, Tim along with fellow UTA Jazz Faculty and students traveled to Stockholm, Sweden to finalize arrangements for a Study Abroad Exchange program with the Royal College of Music. The group also was invited to participate in the 2016 International Jazz Education Festival hosted by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In June of 2016, Tim, the UT Arlington Jazz Faculty, and Jazz Orchestra returned to Hawaii to work with students from the Honolulu area in the Hawaii Jazz Institute. Since 2016, the UT Arlington Jazz Area has continued outreach efforts in Hawaii, Sweden, Germany, and China. The UT Arlington Jazz Program is proud to sponsor the Eddie Gomez Trio in Residence each fall and spring semester. Tim maintains an active freelance and clinician schedule. Tim is an Artist/Clinician for Conn-Selmer and D’addario.
Mike Nguyen, M.M. University of Texas at Arlington
Department of Music
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Area: Woodwinds, Saxophone
Email: mike.nguyen@uta.edu
Office: FA 367-M
Bio: Saxophonist Mike Nguyen is an active performer, chamber musician, and educator in the DFW Metroplex. Since 2017, he has served on the faculty of the University of Texas at Arlington as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Saxophone, where he teaches applied saxophone, chamber music, coordinates the saxophone studio class, and directs the UTA Saxophone Choir. Nguyen maintains a vibrant private studio in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and actively encourages chamber music throughout the area by performing it himself, and by organizing engaging performances for his private and collegiate students in modern urban venues. Under his direction, the UTA Saxophone Choir was selected to perform at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention in 2020. In addition to an active teaching schedule, Nguyen is a committed performer. In 2020, he performed John Williams’ Escapades for saxophone and wind orchestra with the Dallas Asian Wind Ensemble, where he holds the position of principal saxophone. He is also principal saxophone of the Allen Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dallas Civic Wind Ensemble, and is a member of the Texas Dixieland Band. In 2019, Nguyen co-founded the Dallas Asian Wind Ensemble, a group dedicated to increasing diversity in classical music by showcasing the highest quality compositions and performances by Asian musicians. Nguyen continues to serve the ensemble as principal saxophone, and as a member of the Board of Directors. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Dallas Civic Wind Ensemble. Nguyen holds a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Saxophone Performance from the University of Texas at Arlington, where he studied classical saxophone under professor Timothy Ishii. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Music Arts in Saxophone Performance at the University of North Texas, in the studio of Dr. Eric Nestler. He is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, the North American Saxophone Alliance, and the Young Saxophonists’ Institute.