JOSEPH P. SCOTT

Joseph P. Scott (he/him) currently teaches at Pierce College in Puyallup, WA where he serves as Assistant Professor of Instrumental Music. In this position, Joseph conducts the Pierce College Concert Band and Orchestra and teaches courses in music theory. Prior to this appointment, Joseph taught at Saint Martin's University in Lacey, WA where he directed the Wind Ensemble and taught courses in music education and music theory. While in his first year on faculty at SMU, Joseph was nominated for Faculty of the Year (2022-2023) for "excellence in teaching, high standards and rigor in the classroom, high expectations for student performance, and high level of empathy and concern for student growth and development." Joseph served as conductor of the College of the Holy Cross Wind Ensemble & Orchestra and assistant conductor of the University of Maryland’s Wind Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. Joseph served as music director and conductor of the Maryland Community Band based in College Park, MD. In addition to leading ensembles, Joseph's teaching experience includes undergraduate-level conducting classes and guest lectures in music education and ensemble leadership. Joseph was recently a guest conductor with the University of Maryland Repertoire Orchestra and frequently serves as a guest conductor and adjudicator in Washington, California, Maryland and internationally for solo and large ensemble festivals, as well as honor bands.  Before starting at the University of Maryland, Joseph was the Director of Instrumental Music at Clayton Valley Charter High School in Concord, California, where he was responsible for conducting the Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Orchestra, Jazz Band, and Marching Band, as well as instructing Advanced Placement Music Theory. Joseph also taught at Mount St. Mary's University where he directed the Pep Band and was a guest conductor of the wind ensemble.  

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Dr. Scott’s research on 20th-century composers Arthur Meulemans and Paul Hindemith have recently received international recognition, with conference presentations at the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) in Prague, Czech Republic and the International Conference on Wind Music (IGEB) in Bolzano, Italy. Joseph’s article “Exploring the Harmonic Wedge” was published in the peer-reviewed journal Estudios bandisticos in 2020. Joseph has also presented at both national and regional College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) conferences in Atlanta, Georgia and Baltimore, Maryland.  

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In 2019, the American Prize selected Joseph as the Ernst Bacon Award Honorable Mention for his performance of Adolphus Hailstork’s American Guernica. This award “recognizes and rewards the best performances of American music by ensemble and individual artists worldwide…”. Joseph was selected as a semi-finalist for the 2019 American Prize in wind conducting and was also selected as a semi-finalist in 2018.  Joseph was a tier one conductor for the 2017 Frederick Fennell Memorial Conducting Masterclass at the Eastman School of Music where he worked with Mark Scatterday, Donald Hunsberger, and Craig Kirchhoff. Other conducting teachers include David Neely, Jose Luis Novo, James Ross, and Matthew Hall. 

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Joseph completed a Doctor of Musical Arts and a Masters of Music in conducting from the University of Maryland where he was a student of Michael Votta. Joseph earned his Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Oregon where he studied with Dr. Wayne Bennett and Robert Ponto. While at the University of Oregon, Joseph was a founding member of the university’s chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi. After graduating, he returned to San Francisco where he received his teaching credential from San Francisco State University.  During his time at SFSU, Joseph was on staff at the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts where he conducted the Concert Band and taught Music Theory and Survey classes. Joseph is a member of the College Band Directors National Association as well as the National Association for Music Education and served for three years as a board member of the California Music Educators Association-Bay Section.    

 

While in the Bay Area, Joseph kept an active schedule playing the clarinet, performing with the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra, Chabot Wind Symphony, Golden Gate Park Band, and the San Francisco Wind Ensemble, which performed at the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in 2015 and recorded its inaugural CD at Skywalker Ranch in 2014.