Dr. Nick Williams and Brad Kerr Green, both members of the Madison Scouts brass staff, will be presenting at the Wisconsin State Music Conference on Friday, October 26, 2012. Their presentation is titled Incorporating Performance Standards into Your Marching Program and will be held from 2:45-4:00 p.m. in the Founders Room at the Madison Hilton.The presentation synopsis is as follows:In the marching arts activity, getting your band to perform at its highest levels is the ultimate objective. Young students are challenged to understand and achieve their optimal performance. Drum corps, as an activity, has developed and set new standards for individual and ensemble performance. The Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps in particular has developed a number of performance standards that they have implemented to help establish themselves as one of the top corps in the activity. Dr. Nick Williams and Brad Green will define some practical approaches to identifying and implementing similar performance standards within your band program. This session will be applicable for competitive marching band programs at all levels. Attendees will obtain an appropriate vocabulary and basic tools to practically define and implement new standards in their marching band program.

Dr. Nick Williams is the assistant director of wind studies, conductor of the Concert Band and the director of athletic bands, including the North Texas Green Brigade Marching Band and the Basketball Pep Band at the University of North Texas. He is also the conductor for the GDYO Wind Symphony in Dallas, Texas. In addition, he is a frequent conductor and guest conductor for the Dallas Wind Symphony and Dallas Wind Symphony Brass Choir.Prior to his assignment at the University of North Texas, Dr. Williams, a multiple-edition honoree of Who’s Who Among America’s Educators, was the director of bands at Clark High School in Plano, Texas. In his last year of public school teaching, he was honored as the Clark High School Teacher of the Year, a Finalist for the Plano ISD Teacher of the Year, and was named a “Ross Perot Excellence in Teaching Award” recipient—an award given to only four secondary teachers annually in the Plano ISD. During his tenure at Clark High School, the band program received consistent sweepstakes awards for marching, concert and sight reading; under his baton, the Honors Band was awarded best in class or best in contest in every festival in which the band performed.Dr. Williams is active in the Drum Corps International activity, where he is currently the Senior Brass Consultant for the Madison Scouts, based in Madison, Wisconsin. He has also taught for Southwind (Lexington, KY), the Boston Crusaders (Boston, MA), and the Santa Clara Vanguard (Santa Clara, CA), where he has served in various capacities ranging from brass instructor to brass caption head/staff coordinator.His professional affiliations include Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, College Band Directors National Association, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. In addition, Dr. Williams was recently honored with an invitation to membership into Phi Beta Mu, an international bandmasters fraternity.

Brad Kerr Green has served as an instructor, clinician, adjudicator, and arranger/composer for marching bands and drum and bugle corps across the United States. He has completed course work for Music Education at the University of North Texas, and he has earned his Bachelor of Arts with Honors from The New School University in New York City.From 1999 to 2004 Brad was a member of the Tony and Emmy Award winning production BLAST!. An original London cast member, his roles included conducting, trombone and euphonium, as well as didgeridoo and singing. From 2001-2004 he was the brass supervisor/manager for the Broadway, Anaheim, and National Touring casts of BLAST!.Brad began his drum corps career as a euphonium player for the Cadets of Bergen County in 1995. He aged-out as Drum Major for The Cadets in 1998 – the year the corps earned its seventh DCI World Championship title and the year Brad was presented with the Jim Jones Leadership Award. His drum corps teaching experience includes: Low Brass instructor for the 2003 Blue Knights, Brass Caption Head for the 2004 Blue Knights, Low Brass instructor for the 2006 Santa Clara Vanguard, Assistant Brass Caption Head for the 2007 Santa Clara Vanguard, Brass Caption Head for the 2008 and 2009 Blue Stars, and Brass Caption Head for the 2010-2012 Madison Scouts.