A special award of
The John Philip Sousa
Foundation
Ron Rogers has been the Director of Bands at William Blount HS in Maryville, TN for the past 10 years of his 37 year teaching career. Rogers is a Tennessee native who attended UT at Knoxville where he earned his B.S.in Music Education. He stayed in Tennessee for his teaching career starting at Rutledge HS, moving to Doyle HS, then on to Farragut HS and finally in 2011 to Wm. Blount.
Roger’s successes are easily seen in that his ensembles have been chosen to perform in the TN Music Education Association’s annual conference, in the National Band Association’s convention, in the Bands of America’s National Concert Festival and even at the joint College Band Directors National/National Band Association’s Southern Division Conference.
The Bandworld Legion of Honor was established in 1989 to honor, over the course of a year, eight of the finest band directors in our business.
Recipients have taught for at least fifteen years, have maintained a very high-quality concert band program, and have contributed significantly to the profession through dedication to bands and band music.
Each is honored at the annual Sousa Foundation awards ceremony during the Midwest Band Clinic in Chicago, Illinois.
Chairman of the Legion of Honor Committee is Terry Austin, Virginia Commonwealth University.
He has served as the President of the East TN SBAOA, East TN Secondary SBDA, TN Music Education Association, TN Bandmasters and Phi Beta Mu State Fraternity.
Some of the factors he credits for his successes are these,”From my beginning band class as a sixth grader through my graduation from college, I only had two band directors. My middle and high school director was S.L. Valentine. My college director was W.J. Julian. They could not have been any further apart in their approach on how to do band. However, I believe I have been able to use both of their teaching approaches in my career.
From Mr. Valentine, I learned to importance of band family. When I was in high school, the place I wanted to be above all others during the school day was the band room. That’s where my greatest friends were and that is where I felt the most comfortable. It has always been of great importance to me that my students feel the same. I can confidently say that they do. This family aspect of my bands have been a great contributing force in any of my successes.
From W. J. Julian, I learned so, so very much. However, the greatest thing I learned from him was the relentless expectation of excellence from each and every student that I teach. That excellence will vary from student to student. However, I know I must require each student to give their best for themselves, for the good of the program and for those other band members around him.”
You can also tell about his successes from his philosophy. This is how he puts it,”Band can and should be for everyone. I have discovered through the years that in many cases students need band far more than the band might need that student. With that being said, we must be there to provide support, guidance, and family. Above all, we must be there to provide a solid instrumental music education to each and every one of our students without ever expecting anything but the very best they have to offer.”
