2004 Conference Presenter

Jay Gilbert
Middle School Band Conductor

Jay W. Gilbert�Middle School Band Conductor

Dr. Jay W. Gilbert is director of Instrumental Music at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska. He conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble and the Doane Tiger Pep Band and oversees all aspects of the instrumental music education program. He is also music director of the Blue River Community Band. He holds degrees in music education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and master's and doctoral degrees in conducting from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where he studied with the renowned conductor and arranger John P. Paynter, and the outstanding orchestral conductor Victor Yampolsky.

Dr. Gilbert's career as a band director began in the public schools of Wisconsin, where he taught instrumental music in elementary, middle, junior high, and high schools. Prior to his appointment at Doane, Dr. Gilbert was assistant director of Bands at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He has been a guest conductor throughout the United States and Canada. He has also served as a presenter for numerous state conventions and the Midwest International Band/Orchestra Clinic in Chicago.

An interest in composition and arranging has produced a film score for Wisconsin Educational Television, some commercial music, and pieces for speaking chorus and numerous commissions for bands and band instruments. His compositions and arrangements are published by Southern Music Company, Kendor, and Shawnee Music Press. He currently has commissions from school bands in Texas, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Kansas.

His study of quality wind band literature is often cited, and a summary of his research was recently included in the book The Winds of Change by Frank Battisti. He is also a contributing scholar to the series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band, Volumes II, III and IV. Dr. Gilbert has received several awards, including a Distinguished Service Award from the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association, an Artist�s Fellowship from the Nebraska Arts Council and the Zenon Hansen Leadership Award, for his outstanding contributions to Doane College.

Dr. Gilbert is a member of the Nebraska School Bandmasters Association, Music Educators National Conference, College Band Directors National Association, the Conductors Guild, and honorary band fraternity, Phi Beta Mu.

Doane College has occupied a distinguished place among liberal arts colleges of the Midwest and Great Plains since 1872. Doane is a four-year, private college which maintains historical ties with the United Church of Christ. Doane has been named by U.S.News & World Report as a top value in liberal arts colleges in the Midwest.

Doane�s campus in Crete, Neb., occupies more than 300 wooded acres. Modern facilities, as well as historic buildings, house classrooms, administrative offices, and students. More than 1,000 students attend Crete�s residential campus, and approximately 2,200 undergraduate and graduate students study at campuses in Lincoln and Grand Island. A total of 47 undergraduate areas of study are offered in the sciences, business, social sciences, fine arts and humanities, and education. Doane also offers a number of pre-professional degree programs. A variety of intercollegiate sports and other co-curricular activities are also part of the Doane student�s experience.