DR. ANDREA E. BROWN was appointed the Associate Director of Bands at the University of Maryland in 2018. In this position she conducts the University of Maryland Wind Ensemble and serves as the Director of Athletic Bands in which she leads the Mighty Sound of Maryland and all aspects of the athletic band program. Brown is formerly a member of the conducting faculty at the University of Michigan where she served as the assistant director of bands. In this position, she was the conductor of the Campus Bands and director of the Campus Band Chamber Ensembles, associate director of the Michigan Marching and Athletic Bands, director of the Men's Basketball Band, guest conductor with the Symphony Band and Concert Band, taught conducting, and was a faculty sponsor of a College of Engineering Multidisciplinary Design Project team researching conducting pedagogy technology. Previously Brown was the director of orchestra and assistant director of bands at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta where she also led research in conducting pedagogy technology and was a member of the Oxford Program faculty. She is a frequent guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator in the US, Europe, and Asia.
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Brown has had several rehearsal guides published in the popular GIA Publications series, "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band" and has presented at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Music For All Summer Symposium, the Yamaha Blaserklasse in Schlitz, Germany, the International Computer Music Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, the College Music Society International Conference in Sydney, Australia, and multiple times at the College Band Directors National Association National Conference.
A proponent of inclusion and equity issues in the music profession, Brown is a frequent guest speaker on these topics. She currently serves on the CBDNA Gender and Ethnic Minority Committee, and as a member of the recently formed Drum Corps International In Step Committee. Brown is also the founder of Women Rising to the Podium - an online group of 4000 members supporting and celebrating women band directors. She also serves the chair of the Sigma Alpha Iota Women's Music Fraternity Graduate Conducting Grant.
Brown is currently a music adjudicator for DCI and served on the brass and conducting instructional staff of the DCI World Champion Phantom Regiment from 2004 - 2017. Other marching organizations with which she has instructed are the U.S. Army All-American Marching Band, Carolina Crown, Boston Crusaders, Kennesaw Mountain High School (GA), Father Ryan High School (TN), and McGavock High School (TN).
Brown completed a DMA in instrumental conducting at UNC Greensboro where she was a student of John Locke and Kevin Geraldi. While at UNCG, she was named Outstanding Teaching Assistant and was both guest conductor and principal horn on UNCG Wind Ensemble's fireworks! and finish line! CDs released on the Equilibrium label. As a performer, Brown was a member of the AA Brass Quintet, which won the International Brass Quintet Competition hosted by Fred Mills at the University of Georgia. She performed with the horn sections of the Boston Brass All Stars Big Band, North Carolina Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, and the Brevard Music Center Orchestra. Brown has studied brass performance and pedagogy with Abigail Pack, Jack Masarie, Freddy Martin, J.D. Shaw, Dottie Bennett, Randy Kohlenberg, Richard Steffen, and Ed Bach.
Originally from Milan, Tennessee, she is a graduate of Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, TN) where she was named "Outstanding Student in Music." Brown earned a master of music degree in horn performance and a master of music education degree with a cognate in instrumental conducting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Prior to her position at Georgia Tech, Brown was the assistant director of bands at Austin Peay State University and taught public school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Dallas, Texas. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi, Pi Kappa Lambda, and CBDNA. She was awarded the Paula Crider Outstanding Band Director Award from Tau Beta Sigma, the Rose of Honor as a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, and is an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma.