N. Alan Clark composer / arranger

N. Alan Clark has taught and conducted at all levels, from middle school to professional military bands. He received a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Florida in 1976 and accepted the Director of Bands position at Crystal Lake Junior High in Lakeland, Fla., where he also studied under William C. Miller and Tom Bishop.

Mr. Clark returned to the University of Florida in 1979 to serve as Gator Band graduate assistant. He was awarded a Master’s Degree in Saxophone Performance in June of 1981. That same year he was invited to join the saxophone studio of Jean Marie Londiex in Bordeaux, France, and was also offered a teaching assistantship at Louisiana State University. He accepted the LSU offer and served as a Tiger Band graduate assistant, directed the LSU jazz band, and studied arranging with John Edmunds.

In 1984 Mr. Clark completed his PhD course work in Music Education and returned to Lakeland, Fla. to become director of bands at Kathleen High School. While there he received the ASBDA Stanbury Award, and also served as an adjunct music faculty member at Florida Southern College. In 1985 he joined the staff of the Suncoast Sound Drum and Bugle Corps and worked with Robert W. Smith, Frank Williams, Allan Murray, Mark Sylvester, Karl Lowe, Larry Clark, Kevin Ford, and others.

In 1987 Mr. Clark entered the Air Force, and served as saxophone section leader and enlisted conductor of the Air Force Band of the West in San Antonio, Tex. In 1990 he was selected to become an Air Force Band Officer, and upon completion of Officer Training School moved to Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany, where he served as Deputy Commander of the Band of the United States Air Forces in Europe. While in Europe, he conducted concert tours, ceremonies, and special marching performances in seventeen countries across Eastern and Western Europe, and studied conducting with Burt Corderman, associate conductor of the Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra.

In October of 1993, he returned to the United States to become the Deputy Commander of the Air Force Band of Flight in Dayton, Ohio, as well as the rehearsal conductor of the Miami Valley Symphony Orchestra. In 1995 he was selected to be the Commander and Conductor of The Band of the United States Air Force Reserve, a position he assumed in January of 1996. In 1997 he edited and co-wrote “Band Director Secrets of Success” with William C. Miller. He was selected in 2001 to design, teach, and direct the Air Force marching show for the prestigious Budokan International Tattoo in Tokyo, Japan.

Major Clark accepted the appointment as AFROTC Commandant of Cadets at Louisiana State University in April 2004 where he served until his retirement from the Air Force in 2007.

He completed a PhD in Music Education at LSU in 2012 and in 2013 he published his latest book, "Band Director Foundations for Success." Dr. Clark and is currently Director of Bands at Middle Georgia State College in Cochran, Georgia.