Episode 24 - Andy Pease

Everything Band Podcast

An interview with conductor Andy Pease of Hartwick college and author of the Wind Band Literature blog and Wind Band Symphony Archive.

Topics:

• Andy's background through his time at Columbia University as well as lessons learned while studying with Gary Hill at Arizona State.
• His current position at Hartwick College, commissioning composers, and the value of "putting a face" to the music.
• Learning to take risks and to let go of inhibitions as a conductor and finding balance in your programming.

Links:

• Andrew Pease
• Hartwick College
• Catskill Valley Wind Ensemble
• Wind Band Literature
• Wind Band Symphony Archive
• Steven Bryant: Concerto for Wind Ensemble
• Julie Giroux: Riften Wed

Biography:

Andrew D. Pease serves as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Instrumental Music at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY, where he directs the Wind Ensemble and Brass Ensemble and teaches conducting, orchestration, and brass methods.

In the early part of his career, he helped to put the wind band back on the map in New York City. While music director of the Columbia University Wind Ensemble from 2002-2013, he began a student guest conductor program with Columbia’s Teachers College and helped to start the Columbia Festival of Winds. Concurrently, he conducted the community band Columbia Summer Winds, which inaugurated its Outdoor Composition Contest under his watch.

He completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in wind conducting at Arizona State University, where his teachers included Gary Hill, Wayne Bailey, and William Reber. While there, he conducted large ensembles and various chamber groups, including the professional Sun Valley Chamber Winds, which he founded in 2015. His work with these groups earned him the 2016-2017 American Prize in Wind Band Conducting at the collegiate level. His other past teaching positions include South Mountain Community College (Phoenix, AZ), Ironwood High School (Glendale, AZ), and Lakewood Elementary School (Congers, NY). He has degrees from Dartmouth College, Teachers College at Columbia University, and Hofstra University. His past conducting teachers include Max Culpepper, Melinda O’Neal, Dino Anagnost, and Peter Boonshaft, as well as clinics with other leading figures in the conducting world.

Dr. Pease runs two websites dedicated to the music of the wind band. Wind Band Literature has grown immensely from its beginnings as Andy Pease's Wind Band Blog and has been used as a resource for bands around the world. The Wind Band Symphony Archive is a living, dynamic record of all known symphonies written for wind band.