Joseph Hermann
Joseph Hermann is a recently retired Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee, where he served for twenty-eight years.
Before his appointment at Tennessee Tech in 1989, Hermann held conducting/director positions at the University of Arizona, Indiana University, and East Tennessee State University. Secondary school teaching includes directing the Dowling High School Band, West Des Moines, Iowa, and supervision of the Des Moines Catholic Instrumental Music Program. Under his leadership, the school music program grew to unprecedented enrollment. In addition, he served briefly as the Educational Director for Bands of America and McCormick’s Enterprises, a music corporation, in Chicago, Illinois.
Hermann is sought after as a conductor, adjudicator, and speaker and has presented clinics, workshops, and has conducted in over thirty states, in Canada, and throughout Japan. His symphonic bands have been featured ensembles at state, regional and national conventions; his interpretations have been broadcast on National Public Radio, and recordings of his ensembles have been issued as reference for music educators nationwide through music publishers and on the Mark Custom label. He is a proponent of new music for the winds, has premiered numerous works for wind band and remains an active participant in commissioning projects.
Committed to music education, Mr. Hermann has been instrumental in developing the Tennessee Conductors Symposium, a seminar for secondary-school instrumental and vocal conductors. This annual conference has grown to national proportions, features the United States’ finest conductors as clinicians, and is uniformly committed to sustaining the teachers that conduct ensembles in the schools.
Hermann is a member of CBDNA, MENC, NBA, the Tennessee Bandmasters Association, has served as the editor for the New Music Reviews for the Tennessee Musician, and is a past board member of the Tennessee Music Educators Association. In 1996, Hermann was elected to the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and served as a member of its Board of Directors. He is a member of Phi Beta Mu, a past President of the PAC-10 Band Directors Association, a past Province Governor for Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and holds honorary memberships in Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. Mr. Hermann holds degrees from Drake University where he was a student of Professor Don R. Marcouiller. He and his wife, Kay, have two daughters and four grandchildren.
