Robert Musser

Robert Musser is Professor Emeritus at the University of Puget Sound, where he was Director of Bands, Chairman of Winds and Percussion, and Professor of conducting, woodwinds, and music education. He is the founder and Maestro Emeritus of the Tacoma Concert Band. Through his artistic vision and leadership, the band has grown to enjoy a national and international reputation for excellence. He holds academic degrees in conducting, performance, and music education from Lebanon Valley College and the University of Michigan. Musser is a member of the American Bandmasters Association and recipient of the Sudler Order of Merit of the John Philip Sousa Foundation. He taught music at every level, from grade school to college. His high school band in California consistently received superior ratings. While at the University of Puget Sound, Musser developed the University Wind Ensemble into one of the finest in the Northwest. Under his direction, the UPS Wind Ensemble performed on the conference programs of the Washington and Northwest Music Educators Associations, the Northwest and Western Division of the College Band Directors National Association, and the Western International Band Clinic. He conducted amateur and professional orchestras and bands throughout the United States, Canada, China, Russia, and Ukraine. Some of the prestigious ensembles he conducted include The U.S. Air Force Band, The U.S. Army Field Band, the Military Band of The People’s Liberation Army of China, the Pearl River Orchestra of Guangzhou China, and the Shanghai Conservatory Orchestra and Band. Musser played oboe in professional orchestras in Harrisburg (Pennsylvania), Honolulu, and Wichita, and as a “free-lance” professional woodwind performer in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Hawaii, California, and Kansas. For 25 years, he performed as principal oboe with the Tacoma Symphony and as a woodwind specialist (playing oboe, English horn, flute, clarinet, and saxophone) throughout the Northwest. As a soloist, he performed with the Tacoma Symphony and Northwest college, community, and high school orchestras and bands. Musser presents clinics and classes on expressive performance. He studied with some of the most prominent performing artists and conductors in the world. In this book, drawing on those teachings and upon years of personal experience as a performer, conductor, clinician, and teacher, Musser presents an approach to phrasing and performing and using musical nuances and conventions that can render any performance more musical and expressive.