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Marching Mountaineers welcome new associate band director Kevin Richardson
Posted September 14, 2012 at 9:54 am · By ASU News
Filed under Awards, Honors and Promotions, General, Music, Today
BOONE—The rumble of drums and bellow of tubas echo from Kidd Brewer Stadium, filling the air with a peculiar, yet familiar vigor. It's time for football and the Marching Mountaineers marching band at Appalachian State University.
Kevin Richardson, the new Marching Mountaineers and associate bands director, is living the dream at Appalachian State University. (Photo by Marie Freeman)
Kevin Richardson instructs the Marching Mountaineers during an afternoon rehearsal in Kidd Brewer Stadium. (Photo by Marie Freeman)
This year the band welcomes a new director, Kevin Richardson, a longtime fan of Appalachian's football program. He is also the new associate director of bands in Appalachian's Hayes School of Music.Embracing the traditions of the Marching Mountaineers, Richardson has said that his job is not to change the band. "They are already a great band. My job is to make them better, if that's even possible," he stated.
Richardson came to Appalachian from Texas, where he earned his doctoral degree of musical arts in conducting at University of Houston. He received his master's degree from Northwestern State University in Louisiana and taught high school band for 10 years in Texas and college band for six years at Northwestern State. Richardson received his undergraduate degree in music education from the University of Texas.
After living in the High Country for only a month, Richardson speaks highly of the students and faculty at Appalachian. "I am impressed by the students' passion for music performance and their eagerness to learn," said Richardson. "The faculty has been incredible to work with. It is obvious that they are deeply committed to the university. You don't find that at every university."