OMEA 2002 Conference:

William K. Wakefield
All-State Band Conductor

Dr. William K. Wakefield is Director of Bands and Department Chair of Conducting at the University of Oklahoma School of Music. His responsibilities include conducting the Wind Symphony, and coordinating the doctoral and masters wind conducting programs. Since his appointment in 1985, the OU Wind Symphony has received acclaim for performances of the standard and contemporary band literature while performing for thirteen national and regional conventions of the College Band Directors National Association, the American Bandmasters Association, and Oklahoma Music Educators Association. In the 2000 spring semester the OU Wind Symphony performed for the American Bandmasters Association Convention in Austin, Texas, while also hosting and performing for the CBDNA Southwestern Division Conference in the new Catlett Music Center at the University of Oklahoma.

The OU Wind Symphony has cultivated new music for wind ensemble through commissions for composers Dan Welcher, Cindy McTee, Stephen Rush, Steven Stucky, Don Grantham, Daron Hagen, Carolyn Bremer, David Maslanka, Roland Barrett, Charles Rochester Young, and Jerry Neil Smith. The ensemble has a compact disc recording of wind music spanning three centuries with premiere performances of compositions by Cindy McTee and Carolyn Bremer. In the past several years the Wind Symphony and Symphony Band have collaborated with conductors and artists Jerry Junkin, Craig Kirchhoff, Ray Cramer, Gary Hill, Gary Lewis, Mark Camphouse, The American Brass Quintet, Rhythm and Brass, Harvey Phillips, and Sam Pilafian.

Dr. Wakefield, active as a guest conductor with All-State bands and university ensembles throughout the United States and Canada, is also a collaborative participant in the Music Education Division at OU. The undergraduate music education program has developed an innovative teaching/conducting performance-oriented curriculum that implements role development strategies to develop future band directors. His graduate conducting students have attained substantial positions at the university and secondary school levels.

Wakefield is the recipient of Phi Mu Alpha's Orpheus Award for significant contributions to music in America and has also been recognized for teaching excellence by the Blue Key Society of honor students. In 1997, he received the Outstanding Faculty Member Award from The University of Oklahoma College of Fine Arts, and, in 1998, he was nominated and inducted into the American Bandmasters Association. Recently Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity recognized him as a leader of the 20th Century.

Wakefield's previous positions include Director of Bands at Indiana State University and secondary school positions at Dickinson and Nimitz High Schools in the Houston, Texas, area. His educational background includes a DMA in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Texas at Austin, an MM in Trombone from the University of Houston, and a BM in Trombone from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. Additional studies were obtained from summers at the Aspen Music Festival, the Juilliard School, and the University of North Texas. He is current President for the CBDNA Southwestern Division, state chairman for CBDNA, treasurer and Past President of the Big 12 Band Directors Association, and a member of CBDNA, ABA, MENC, OMEA, OBA, Phi Beta Mu, Pi Kappa Lambda, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Phi Mu Alpha.