Brother Christopher Heidenreich (Delta Eta Chapter – Youngstown State University – 2007) will join the faculty at Louisiana Tech University this fall. He will take up the baton after Brother Jim Robken (Mu Nu Chapter – Louisiana Tech University 1969), who decided to step down after 30 years of service to the university and the “Band of Pride.”
Dr. Heidenreich comes to Ruston, Louisiana, after serving at the University of Michigan-Flint since 2009. His duties included conducting the Wind Symphony and Orchestra, as well as teaching courses in orchestration, wind literature, marching band, brass methods, applied trumpet, brass pedagogy, and classes in music education. In the spring of 2011, he was named conductor of the Washtenaw Community Concert Band, an adult community band located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
From 2006-2009, Heidenreich served as Associate Director of Bands at Youngstown State University and Director of the YSU “Marching Pride.” He began teaching public school in Ohio in 1989 and served as Director of Bands at Lancaster High School, Lancaster, Ohio, from 1992-2003. While at Lancaster, his bands were consistently recognized for their excellence in both the concert hall and on the marching band field. His bands performed for the 1996 Bowling Green State University Reading Clinic and for the 1997 Ohio Music Education Convention held in Toledo, Ohio. In February 2002, he was awarded the American School Band Directors Association’s “Distinguished Band Director” Award for Ohio and the North Central Region, recognizing young band directors for their achievements in conducting concert and marching bands.
Heidenreich continues to be in demand as an adjudicator for concert and marching bands throughout Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana. He has twice been a clinician at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, appeared three times at the Ohio Music Education Association Professional Development Conference, and three times at the Michigan Music Conference. His presentations at the MMC have each utilized demonstration groups from the Flint area, including the Grand Blanc High School Wind Ensemble, the Flushing Wind Ensemble, and the Davison Symphonic Band. He has published articles in The Instrumentalist Magazine, Teaching Music for the National Association for Music Education, National Band Association NBA Journal, and The International Trumpet Guild. He is also a contributor to Teaching Music Through Performing in Band, Vols. 5, 6, & 7.
Completing his Doctor of Music in Wind Conducting from Indiana University in the spring of 2006, Heidenreich studied under the mentorship of Ray E. Cramer (Kappa Psi Chapter – Western Illinois University – 1962) and Stephen W. Pratt. While at IU, he assisted with the Marching Hundred, held various guest conducting responsibilities with each of the wind bands, and continued trumpet study with Professor Joey Tartell. His doctoral project, completed in partial fulfillment of the degree, included creating a new edition of Gordon Jacob’s An Original Suite, composed in 1924. In addition to creating a full score from the published parts, the project attempted to maintain the original orchestration and scoring of the composer while eliminating numerous errors in both parts and the score. The Boosey and Hawkes Windependence Series published the new edition in December of 2007. His new corrected edition of Glenn Cliffe Bainum’s arrangement of Basil Kalinnikov’s Finale to Symphony No. 1 in G Minor was released by Hal Leonard Publications in the fall of 2011. He continues to edit and arrange works for wind band, including a transcription of Grieg’s Piano Concerto for piano solo and band, as well as several Renaissance works for brass ensemble.
He holds a Master of Arts in Music Education from The Ohio State University (1998) in which he continued studies in both conducting and trumpet, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Bowling Green State University (1989) where he graduated cum laude.
Brother Heidenreich was granted honorary membership in the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, the National Association of Music Education, the College Band Directors National Association, the National Band Association, and former chair for the state of Ohio, a lifetime member of the National Eagle Scout Association, and Pi Kappa Lambda.
Congratulations, Brother! We look forward to seeing your success in your new role.
