The best-known name in American band music is that of John Philip Sousa. His stirring marches will survive as long as band music is played. During his 12 years as director of the United States Marine Band, he composed Semper Fidelis (1888), The Washington Post March (1889), and Liberty Bell (1893). Altogether he composed about 140 military marches, earning him the title “March King.” His most famous work is The Stars and Stripes Forever (1896). He also prepared an official arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner for the Army and Navy.

Sousa was born in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 6, 1854, the son of a Portuguese father and a German mother. His father was a trombonist by profession. Sousa showed an early interest in music and started studying violin and trombone. His career as a performer began at age 11, when he played the violin in a dance band. In 1868 he enlisted in the Marine Corps as an apprentice musician. For five years he played with the Marine Band before taking up the violin again as a conductor of theater orchestras. In 1876 he played in the orchestra of the French composer Jacques Offenbach at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Sousa directed the Marine Band from 1880 until 1892. He then toured the United States and Europe with his own band. Between 1879 and 1915 he wrote several comic operas, of which El Capitan and The Bride-Elect are the best known.

When the Spanish-American War began he was appointed music director for the Sixth Army Corps. For the Department of the Navy he compiled a collection called National, Patriotic, and Typical Airs of All Lands in 1890. In World War I he enlisted in the United States Navy and took charge of the band training center at the Great Lakes naval base in Illinois. After the war he continued his band tours. In addition to his music Sousa wrote three novels and an autobiography, Marching Along, published in 1928. He died in Reading, Pa., on March 6, 1932. 

Calvin Custer (1939-1998) attended Carnegie Mellon University and Syracuse University. His composition teachers included Nikolai Lopatnikoff, Ernst Bacon, and Earl George. He also studied conducting with Karl Kritz, first music director of the Syracuse Symphony. Custer was associated with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra during the majority of his musical career serving in the keyboard, horn and string bass sections; holding various conducting positions; and serving as staff arranger. He helped to implement the orchestra's chamber music program which continues to perform in local schools and libraries to this day. Calvin was a member of the both the rock and percussion ensembles in which he played numerous instruments including keyboard and guitar. Custer was prolific in his creations of arrangements for orchestra, many of which were performed by orchestras across the country including the Boston Pops Orchestra. In 2006, the Syracuse Symphony released a CD of Custer's arrangements on the disc Big Band Bash. His many arrangements for band include Adagio for Strings (Barber), Ashokan Farewell (Ungar), Rolling Thunder (Fillmore), and Star Wars® Main Theme(Williams).

Carol Brittin Chambers, composer and arranger, is currently the composer and owner of Aspenwood Music. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, where she is also on the music faculty at Texas Lutheran University, teaching composition and serving as Composer in Residence.

Chambers is commissioned each year to compose and arrange works for concert band, marching band, orchestra, and chamber ensembles. Her concert works have been selected to the J.W. Pepper Editors’ Choice List and the Bandworld Top 100 and have been performed at state educator conferences across the country, including the Midwest Clinic. She was most recently named the winner of the 2019 WBDI (Women Band Directors International) Composition Competition.

Chambers has arranged and orchestrated show music for numerous high school marching bands across the country, as well as The Crossmen DrumCorps. High schools include CT Johnson HS, San Antonio, TX (2020 6A State Champion, 2019, 2016, 2011 BOAGrand Nationals Finalist, 2017 BOA San Antonio Super-Regional, Austin, & Midland Champion, 2014 BOA San Antonio Super-Regional & Houston Champion, multi-year State Finalist), Keller HS, TX (2015 BOA Grand Nationals Finalist, 2017 & multi-year BOA Regional and State Finalist), Broken Arrow Senior High School, OK (2006 BOA Grand Nationals Finals Champion), and Ronald Reagan High School, San Antonio, TX (2005 Bands of America Grand Nationals Semi-Finals Champion), to name a few. In addition to her own shows, she also orchestrates the shows of Aaron Guidry, at www.yataforluda.com.

Before coming to TLU, Chambers taught middle school and high school band and private lessons for many years in the North East Independent School District, San Antonio, TX.  She has also consistently performed with groups such as the Mid-Texas and San Antonio Symphonies.

Chambers received a Bachelor of Music Education from Texas Tech University and a Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from Northwestern University.  She studied under Vincent Cichowicz, Will Strieder, John Paynter, Arnold Jacobs, and James Sudduth.  She and her husband Mark have three children:  Catherine, Joshua, and Julia.

William Owens (b. 1963) is a native of Gary, Indiana. He is a seasoned music educator and very active as a composer, clinician and conductor throughout the United States and Canada. His compositional style for young ensembles displays a keen, practical approach which has firmly established him as a leader in the field. Since 1993, Mr. Owens has written over 200 commissioned and published works for concert band, string orchestra and small ensemble. His music is performed and appears on required music lists nationally and abroad. Principal commissions include those from the California Band Directors Association, the Iowa Bandmasters Association, the South Plains College (TX) Department of Fine Arts, the College of Charleston (SC) and Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity. Several of his works including The Blue Orchid and Maesong have been recorded and analyzed in educational text by the GIA series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. Other works such as Carpathia, Great Wall, The Tahoka Galop and Tudor Sketches have become staples of the young band repertoire.

William is a 1985 graduate of Chicago’s VanderCook College of Music and the recipient of numerous awards and grants for composition. Professional memberships include the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA), the Association of Texas Small School Bands (ATSSB) and Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity. He is recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus by his alma mater, and a recipient of the Texas Bandmasters Association’s Meritorious Achievement Award.

In January 2014, William formally retired from duty as a band director in Texas after 30 years of service. His spare time interests include sightseeing and reading, particularly motivational material and Presidential biography. A proud Chevrolet Corvette owner/enthusiast, he holds membership with Cowtown Vettes, a non-profit service organization in the Dallas/Fort area. William resides in Fort Worth, TX with his wife and best friend, Georgia.

Jack Wilds is a composer and educator whose works have brought him into collaboration with musicians aged 5-95. Ranging from children's choirs to collegiate wind ensembles and professional chamber groups, Jack's music draws on visual art, philosophical and religious texts, poetry, and absolute musical influences to create vibrant works that meet performers where they are while inspiring authentic, artistic music making.

 His chamber music has been performed by the Attacca Quartet, the University of Texas New Music Ensemble, the Austin Saxophone Ensemble, and members of the New York Philharmonic and the Atlanta Symphony. His works have also been featured at international festivals and composition workshops including the International Trombone Festival, the Slider Asia Clinic in Hong Kong, the American Trombone Workshop, the International Horn Symposium, New Music on the Bayou and The Wyoming Festival. 

A former public school band director, Jack's works for wind ensemble and choir include over 40 publications for developing musicians. His works for wind band are regularly featured on required repertoire lists for festivals on multiple continents and have been performed at the Midwest Clinic and at educator conferences across the United States.

Jack is a lecturer at Texas State University, where he teaches composition, music theory, ear training, and music technology courses. He is also the Co-Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church in San Marcos, a position he has held for 13 years and is privileged to share with his wife Noel. He is an active clinician and adjudicator with regular engagements countrywide. 

He has studied composition with Michael Ippolito at Texas State, and Chris Trapani and Donald Grantham at the University of Texas.

Randall Standridge (b.1976) received his Bachelor's of Music Education from Arkansas State University. During this time, he studied composition with Dr. Tom O'Connor, before returning to Arkansas State University to earn his Master's in Music Composition, studying with Dr. Tom O'Connor and Dr. Tim Crist. In 2001, he began his tenure as Director of Bands at Harrisburg High School in Harrisburg, Arkansas. He left this post in 2013 to pursue a career as a full-time composer and marching arts designer.

Mr. Standridge's music is performed internationally. He has had numerous works selected for the J.W. Pepper's editor's choice. His compositions Snake Charmer, Gently Blows the Summer Wind, and Angelic Celebrations have been included in the "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band" series. He has had numerous works performed at the prestigious Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. The Arkansas State University Wind Ensemble premiered his work Art(isms) at the 2010 CBDNA conference in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and his work Stonewall: 1969 was premiered at the National LGBA conference in 2019. His Symphony no.1: A Ghost Story was premiered in 2023.  In addition, Mr. Standridge's "unBroken Project," a musical initiative about mental health, has received widespread acclaim for its musical content and for providing opportunities to normalize discussions about mental health for music students and audiences.

In addition to his career as a composer, Mr. Standridge is the owner and editor of Randall Standridge Music, LLC and Grand Mesa Marching. He is in demand as an arranger/designer for the marching arts.  He lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas, with his husband, Steven, and their very, very spoiled pets.