Faculty & Staff Directory

Gary Hill

Gary W. Hill is Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Arizona State University where he conducts the Wind Symphony and the Chamber Winds, teaches graduate conducting, and is founder of the Digital Conducting Laboratory.

Prior to Hill's appointment at ASU, he was Director of Bands at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where he also served as Music Director for the Kansas City Youth Wind Ensemble, and conducted two professional groups: the Kansas City Symphony Brass Ensemble and newEar, a chamber ensemble devoted to contemporary music. Previously, he held a similar post at East Texas State University and was Associate Director of Bands at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Hill began his teaching career in Michigan where he served as Director of Bands for the West Bloomfield and Traverse City public schools.

High school, university, and professional ensembles under Hill's direction have given performances for the National Band Association, the Music Educators National Conference, the College Band Directors National Association, the American Bandmasters Association, the International Horn Symposium, the National Flute Association, at many state conventions, and throughout North America, and Europe. Performances conducted by him have consistently drawn praise from composers, performing musicians, and critics alike for their insightful, inspired, and cohesive realizations, and for their imaginative programming.

As a guest conductor and clinician, appearances in more than a dozen countries and throughout most of the United States have included performances with myriad high school honor bands, numerous college and university wind bands and orchestras, at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, and at World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles' conferences. Additionally, he is in constant demand as a conducting teacher and as a clinician for bands and orchestras.

Hill's current research is two-fold: he is engaged in an ongoing investigation of digital technologies applicable to the conducting classroom; and he is writing a book on the past, present, and future of wind band.

Gary W. Hill is a member of numerous professional organizations including the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, the Music Educators National Conference, The Society for American Music, The American Bandmasters Association, and the College Band Directors National Association, for which he hosted the Fiftieth Anniversary National Conference (1991) as well as the joint conferences of the North Central and Southwestern Divisions in conjunction with The Society for American Music (1998), served as president of the Southwestern Division (1989-91), and as national president (2003-05).