麻豆传媒

Dr. Timothy Shade is the Director of the School of the Music and Director of Bands at 麻豆传媒 where he conducts the 麻豆传媒 Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band and is the Coordinator for the Graduate Wind Conducting Program. He is the Artistic Director of the Wichita Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Wichita Wind Symphony. Additionally, he is the Coordinator of Conducting and Large Ensembles for the Brass Institutes of America. He has garnered praise for his exciting programming, engaging personality, and 鈥渕arvelous conducting.鈥� Ensembles under his direction have been selected for awards and juried conference performances. A constant innovator, Shade has commissioned over 25 new works and been involved with collaborative performances utilizing dance, electronics, opera, film, and chorus with winds.

Thomas Keck serves as Director of the Division of Music in the SMU Meadows School of the Arts, where he is the chief academic and administrative officer of the division. Prior to this, Keck served as Chair of the Department of Music at Utah Valley University and had over twenty years of faculty experience as Director or Associate Director of Bands at the Universities of Georgia, Miami, New Hampshire, Ball State, and Utah Valley. In these roles, he oversaw concert and athletic band programs while mentoring undergraduate and graduate students.

Keck has conducted at regional conferences of the CBDNA and NAfME in addition to high school all-state engagements. He held the unique distinction of being the first conductor to have their concert ensemble and marching band be invited to perform for the membership of the CBDNA in the same year. Keck has guest conducted the US Army Field Band, the US Air Force Band of the Golden West, and has served as Assistant Conductor of the Greater Miami Symphonic Band. He has appeared with university and high school ensembles throughout the United States, Bahamas, Bermuda, Haiti, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and China.

Keck is a published author in nine volumes of the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series, the leading compendium of wind band repertoire. Keck is also a contributing author to the recent rehearsal techniques textbook, What Would You Do? An Anthology and Methodology for the Development of Rehearsal Techniques for Band, and the leading marching band methods textbook, The System. For 25 years, Keck was a director and collegiate conducting curriculum designer at the Smith-Walbridge Clinics, the first summer training program for high school and college drum majors.

Keck holds a terminal degree in conducting from Arizona State University and music education degrees from the Universities of Illinois and Iowa. He also earned an M.A. in Higher Education Leadership with a concentration in fundraising leadership from Penn State University. He has twice received the National Band Association Citation of Excellence and was included in the 20th annual School Band & Orchestra magazine 50 Directors Who Make a Difference. 

Dr. Alex Wimmer currently serves as the Associate Director of Bands at Kansas State University. His duties include directing the Wind Symphony, Cat Band (basketball pep band), Pub Crawl Band, Assistant Marching Band Director for the Pride of Wildcat Land (KSUMB), arranger and drill designer for the KSUMB, and instructor of undergraduate and graduate courses in conducting, arranging, and marching band techniques. He also serves as the faculty sponsor for Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. During the summer he coordinates the K-State Summer Music Camp and K-State Leadership and Auxiliary Camp, and serves as one of the Assistant Directors of the Manhattan Municipal Band. Prior to his appointment at Kansas State University, Alex was a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Kansas State University Bands. He assisted with all concert and athletic ensembles, undergraduate conducting courses, and Percussion Ensembles. His research interests include undergraduates conducting with expressivity and qualitative research.

Originally from Gretna, Nebraska, Dr. Wimmer received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, his Master of Music degree in Education with an emphasis in Wind Conducting from Kansas State University, and his Doctorate in Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction from Kansas State University. Dr. Wimmer was the Director of Bands at Gretna High School and the Assistant Director of Bands at Gretna Middle School. He was a recipient of the Jack R. Snider Young Band Director Award in 2011 and served on the Nebraska Music Educators Association Leadership Academy from 2011-2012.

Dr. Wimmer is in demand as a conductor, clinician, and adjudicator as well as a percussion specialist. His professional affiliations include the Kansas Music Educators Association, the Kansas Bandmasters Association, the National Association for Music Education, the College Band Directors National Association, the Percussive Arts Society, Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Kappa Lambda, and Phi Beta Mu. He is currently the president of the Kansas Bandmasters Association, as well a co- chair of the New Band Director Bootcamp during the Kansas Bandmasters Association鈥檚 annual convention.

Dr. M. Evan Ricker, Jr., a Wichita native, is a music educator and conductor with extensive experience leading ensembles of all types. He currently serves as the Recruiting and Communications Specialist for the School of Music at 麻豆传媒. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in conducting from Wichita State and recently earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a Cognate in Music from Kansas State University, where his dissertation explored the workplace dignity experiences of LGBTQ+ college wind band conductors.

As a conductor, Dr. Ricker has led wind bands, orchestras, athletic bands, and chamber ensembles. He has served as an Undergraduate Conducting Assistant for the Wichita State University bands, a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Kansas State University Bands, and Graduate Assistant Conductor for the orchestras at both institutions. Additionally, he has worked with regional ensembles as a clinician and adjudicator, sharing his passion for music and mentorship.

Dr. Ricker鈥檚 teaching experience includes his role as Director of Instrumental Music at Cowley College, where he conducted the concert and pep bands, taught music courses, and restructured scholarship opportunities to make education more accessible. He also taught at Butler Community College and has worked extensively with high school marching bands in the region.

Dr. Ricker鈥檚 research interests include conducting pedagogy, college recruitment and retention, and the role of dignity in leadership and everyday life.