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Cale Self is Assistant Professor of Music, Assistant Director of Bands, and Instructor of Euphonium & Tuba at the University of West Georgia in beautiful Carrollton, GA. Also serving as the Director of Athletic Bands, Dr. Self directs The Sound That Lights the South Marching Band and the Wolfgang Basketball Pep Band. He also conducts the UWG Symphonic Band, Brass Ensemble, and Tuba Ensemble.
Holding degrees in music education and instrumental conducting from West Texas A&M University in Canyon, TX. Dr. Self also holds a doctorate in euphonium performance from the University of Georgia in Athens. His teachers include David Zerkel, John Lynch, Allen Crowell, Patrick Sheridan, Sam Pilafian, Gary Garner, Joe Nelson, and Joseph Cox. He has participated in lessons and masterclasses with Christian Badea, Marty Erickson, Adam Frey, Sarah McKoin, Tim Northcut, Demondrae Thurman, and Charles Villarubia.
Between graduate degrees, Dr. Self spent three years teaching high school band in his hometown of Midland, TX. During that time, bands under his direction performed at the BOA National Concert Band Festival in Indianapolis and at the National Band & Orchestra Festival at Carnegie Hall in New York City. In his first year at MHS, the Bulldog Marching Band advanced to the Texas State Marching Band competition for the first time in its history.
In the summertime, Dr. Self is the Dean of Students at the Brevard Music Center in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina. In that capacity, he administers the non-musical side of life at BMC, supervising a staff of 4 assistant deans and 35 resident advisors as well as over 400 student musicians who study at the music center each summer. Dr. Self is also an active musician at BMC as a frequent performer in the wind band, chamber music, and orchestral programs.
Dr. Self has performed at state, regional, national, and international conferences and festivals in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. He has performed under conductors Keith Lockhart, JoAnn Falletta, Thomas Wilkins, Steven Smith, Kraig Williams, Don Wilcox, James Keane, Harry Begian, Michael Haithcock, Manu Mallaerts, and Fred Mills.
An advocate for new music, Dr. Self has participated in commissioning consortiums that have resulted in fifteen new works for euphonium, tuba, or concert band over the past six years, and has performed or conducted premiere performances of eleven of those pieces. He has performed at state, regional, national, and international conferences and festivals in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Dr. Self remains active in the state of Georgia and throughout the Southeast as a soloist, ensemble musician, conductor, and clinician.
Jeremy Crawford is the Assistant Professor of Tuba & Euphonium at the University of Alabama. Additional teaching responsibilities include brass chamber music, brass methods, and directing the UA Tuba & Euphonium Ensemble. At Alabama Dr. Crawford is a member of the Faculty Brass Quintet, which performs every year for students across the state of Alabama, and in the spring of 2012 toured Italy in a featured solo group with the UA Wind Ensemble. Prior to joining the faculty at UA, Jeremy served as an instructor at Alabama State University, where he taught applied tuba and euphonium, music appreciation, brass ensemble, and brass methods, and as an adjunct instructor at Shelton State University. In addition to teaching, Dr. Crawfird has performed in numerous ensembles throughout his career, including the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Brass Band, Northwest Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Evanston Symphony Orchestra, Dubuque Brass Quintet, and the Southeast Tuba Euphonium Quartet. Recent solo performances have included guest solos with the University of Alabama Trombone Choir, the UA Tuba & Euphonium Ensemble, and the UA Wind Ensemble. Recent conference appearances include performances at the College Music Society Southern Regional Conference, the Southeast Horn Workshop, the South-central and Southeast Tuba & Euphonium Conferences, the World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg, France, and the 2016 International Tuba Euphonium Conference.
In addition to performing and teaching, Dr. Crawford is a passionate advocate for new music for the tuba. Dr. Crawford has commissioned several tuba ensemble pieces from student composers at the University of Alabama, helping to both expand the tuba ensemble repertoire and also help young composers establish themselves. Dr. Crawford recently gave the premiere of UA faculty member Dr. Amir Zahiri’s “to Bring to Bloom” at the 2016 International Tuba Euphonium Association, and in the fall will present one of the premieres of John Stevens’ new work for tuba and piano: “Five Muses.” Dr. Crawford is currently leading a commissioning consortium for a new tuba concerto for tuba and wind ensemble by renowned composer David Maslanka. Dr. Crawford will premiere this vital new work in April of 2019.
Jeremy hails from the Midwest, where he began his studies with John Manning at the University of Iowa, earning his bachelors of music in tuba performance. He continued his studies with Rex Martin at Northwestern University, completing his masters of music in tuba performance and literature in 2010. Jeremy headed south to study with Demondrae Thurman at the University of Alabama, where he earned the doctor of musical arts in tuba performance in 2014.
Jeremy currently resides in Tuscaloosa with his wife Veronica, and their two cats.