Marshall University Bands

Current students and faculty, please RSVP for this great event!

We welcome the George Washington High School band and their fantastic conductor Mr. Bobby Jenks! The Marshall University Wind Symphony is thrilled to bring you another great performance on Thursday, November 20, 2025 at 7:00 PM in the Smith Music Recital Hall.

Two concerts next week (11/18 & 11/20 - Both at 7:00PM - Smith Music Recital Hall). Each with fantastic visiting high school bands! Williamstown High School 11/18 (sharing a concert with our Symphonic Band) and George Washington High School 11/20 (sharing a concert with our Wind Symphony).

Don't miss out on two great performance evenings!

Chamber Winds and Symphony Orchestra are ready for a great concert. Don't miss out! Tuesday, October 14, 2025 at 7:30PM. Smith Music Recital Hall

The 2026 High School Honor Band will take place on February 18-20, 2026. We are looking forward to having so many high school students in the honor ensembles, under the direction of our three fantastic guest conductors.

Mr. Kevin Welborn, The University of Alabama
Ms. Ingrid Larragoity, CEO, El Sistema, Colorado
Dr. Adam Wilke, James Logan High School

Our 2026 Guest Ensemble will be Greenbrier East High School and their director James Allder!

Registration will open in late November. Stay tuned

On behalf of the Marshall University Wind Symphony Board of Directors, I would like to formally invite you and your respective students to join us for our first concert of the fall semester, "Wind Dances," on Thursday, September 18th at 7:30 pm, in Smith Music Hall on Marshall's campus.

This concert will feature an exciting and diverse program, including:

Fanfare Politeia by Kimberly Archer
Country Gardens by Percy Grainger
La Danza by Gioachino Rossini, featuring soprano Rachelle Snyder, winner of last semester's Concerto Competition
Symphonic Dance No. 3, "Fiesta," by Clifton Williams
Libertadores by Oscar Navarro
Inglesina by Davide Delle Cese

We have worked hard over the last three weeks to put this program together for what promises to be a dynamic and exciting performance, and we would love to share it with you and your students. Please feel free to circulate this invitation and respective flyer to anyone who may be interested.

Thank you so much for your continued support of music in our community and state, and we hope to see you next Thursday!

I’m excited for another great year of the Marshall University Middle School Honor Band. I truly look forward to this event every year. We have 2 fantastic conductors, Kimberly Cook from Lincoln County High School and Tracey Filben from John Marshall High School.

The Middle School Honor Band Festival is an event developed for the purpose of recognizing the achievements of exceptional middle school musicians. The festival includes rehearsal/final concert preparations with quality clinicians from great public schools. This year, we will seat two middle school honor bands at the festival. The Festival Honor Bands will be made up of a Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band. Students will be placed appropriately in the festival honor bands.

Band Directors: You will submit nominations in 20-student increments here, using the link associated with the link here. (https://forms.office.com/r/eLxffLXenU) Please include all necessary information for you and your students and nominate them in order of preference. You can nominate up to 20 students at one time. If you have additional students you would like to nominate, you can simply submit another nomination form after the first.

The deadline for nomination submissions is Friday, October 10th. Students will then be placed into one of two bands of balanced performance levels and we will try to distribute music shortly after. Notification of who made the honor band and which band they are in will be provided by Friday, October 17th.

Once the students are placed in ensembles, we will email all directors an invoice for their student(s). Directors, boosters, budget keepers, or parents can pay online via the links that will be sent with the invoice. The cost of attending the MU Festival Band is $30.00 per student. Students will receive a t-shirt and certificate of participation, as well as a positive musical experience. Credit cards and checks are accepted. Checks must be made out to “Kappa Kappa Psi” and please provide us one check for the total amount. If this is an issue, please contact us. The deadline for Honor Band payment is due by Friday, November 7th.

Please help spread the word to directors you know that might benefit from sending students to our honor band festival.

Go Marshall! Go Herd!

Fresh off our tour of CA, check out, "La Chancla" by Dennis Llinás!

La Chancla is Spanish for a slipper - more accurately a flip flop. While Cubans usually say "chancleta", Puerto Ricans refer to it as "chancla." It is a common meme or joke among Hispanics that a mother with a chancla in her hand could get an entire room of unruly kids in line or even chase away a bear.

Needless to say, this is one spicy work and the Marshall University Wind Symphony did not disappoint!!!!!!

Warning!!!! Watch out for flying objects!

La Chancla - Marshall University Wind Symphony March 15, 2025 La Chancla by composer Dennis Llinás, was commissioned by a consortium of band programs led by Thomas Verrier and Vanderbilt University. Tom had the vision o...

We have an exciting semester planned for the Marshall University Wind Bands!!!!!