North Carolina Music Educator Winter 2023

Guard International World Championships finalist and was
promoted to Open Class after its fourth place finish in 2008.
The Silver Winter Guard was a WGI Regional Championship
finalist and Atlantic Indoor Association Scholastic A class Gold
Medalist. The wind ensemble and concert bands earned consistent
superior ratings at state Music Performance Adjudication events.
The Wakefield band program was featured twice at the NCMEA
Professional Development Conference, in 2005 and 2011.
Southeastern District – Ryan McPhail
Ryan McPhail is a native of Eastover,
where he attended Cape Fear High School
and graduated in 1990. He completed
his undergraduate in Music Education at
East Carolina University and studied with
renowned percussion instructors Harold
Jones and Mark Ford. McPhail has taught
in Montgomery County, Richmond County,
and Harnett County before returning to his
roots at Mac Williams Middle School, where he assists Felicia
MacNaught with the BIG MAC BAND. His children have both
been a part of the band at Mac Williams Middle School. He also
works as percussion instructor for the Cape Fear High School
Marching Colts. He hopes his work as director, mentor, and
private instructor encourages students to enjoy music for the rest
of their life.
Eastern District – Rod Reed
Rod Reed is currently in his 25 th year as
director of bands at John T. Hoggard High
School in Wilmington, after teaching 10
years in Illinois. He received his Bachelor
of Arts in music education from Western
Illinois University in 1987 as a firstgeneration
college student.
Under his direction, the Hoggard
band program developed a competitive
marching band program that has gone on to earn multiple grand
championship awards and continued a tradition of excellence on
the concert band stage, consistently earning excellent and superior
ratings at NCBA Music Performance Adjudication performances
in Grades IV, V, and VI. Reed’s passion for music education
began as a saxophonist in his high school band program and his
dedication to his vocation shows through his students today.
He has a great fervor for student leadership and strives to
develop superintendence as well as musicianship. He regularly
keeps up with band alumni who have taken their skills into the
business world and to the collegiate and professional stage. He
has been a clinician for multiple Honor Bands including Craven
County, Columbus County and The NCBA Eastern District 9/10
All-District Band.
He holds professional memberships in NAfME, NCMEA,
and NCBA, and is the current secretary for the NCBA Eastern
District. He also chairs the New Hanover County School All-
County Band, NHCS Marching Band Showcase and the Cultural
Arts Department at Hoggard High School.
Western District – Tyson Hamrick
Tyson Hamrick is currently in his seventh
year as band director at Charles D. Owen
High School in Black Mountain. Prior to
that position, he served as band director at
Charles D. Owen Middle School, and Enka
Middle School. After graduating from Mars
Hill College in 1994, he was band director
at Mullins High School in Mullins, S.C. He
returned to the mountains of western North
Carolina in 1995.
Over the past 29 years of his teaching career, students under
his direction have earned honors at the county, district, and
state levels. Hamrick has had bands selected to perform at the
Lake Eden Arts Festival in Black Mountain, New Year’s Eve
performances in Asheville, and performances in Universal Studios
and Walt Disney World. He was chosen as the Teacher of the
Year at Enka Middle School in 1999, and as the Teacher of the
Year at Owen Middle School in 2011. He was also named the
Owen District Teacher of the Year and was honored as the First
Runner Up Teacher of the Year for Buncombe County Schools in
2011. He currently serves as the Auditions chair for the Western
District. He served as a member of the Asheville Jazz Council
and as a member of the Buncombe County Fine Arts Advisory
Board. In addition to NCMEA and NAFME, his professional
affiliations include Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and the National Band
Association.
Hall of Fame Inductees
Founded in 2002, the NCBA Hall of Fame honors retired or
deceased NCBA members who made significant contributions
to the improvement of music education and betterment of the
teaching profession. Criteria includes active service in North
Carolina for a period of not less than ten years, demonstration
of excellence in the teaching of music, consistent maintenance
of a well-balanced band program with active participation in
various activities of the organization, and fulfillment of the
highest ideal and professional integrity during the time of service.
Congratulations to the following 2022 inductees!
Alice Aldredge
Alice Adkins Aldredge is a member
of the South Carolina Band Directors
Association, NAfME, Women Band
Directors International, and the prestigious
American School Band Directors
Association. She is currently serving
as past president of the North Carolina
Bandmasters Association and recently
retired from teaching in North Carolina.
She has worked as a clinician and adjudicator for marching
and concert bands in Texas, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina,
and South Carolina. Before relocating to South Carolina, she was
the director of bands at Northwest Cabarrus Middle School. Other
teaching experience includes nine years working as the director of
bands at Croatan High School in Newport, N.C.
During her tenure at Croatan, the program garnered national
recognition at Bands of America and Winter Guard International
Championship events. Additionally, she has been an educator
in Scotland and Robeson counties. Personal accolades include
NCBA Award of Excellence for Southeastern District and Teacher
of the Year awards from Carver Middle School and Northwest
Cabarrus Middle School. Her bands have received consistent
superior ratings in Grades II, III, IV, V, and VI literature, and
her ensembles have performed for the NCMEA Professional
Development Conference, Bands of America Regional Concert
Band Festival, Bands of America Regional and Grand National
Marching Band Championships, and Winterguard International
Regional and World Championships. She has continually placed
students in All-District Bands, North Carolina All-State Honors
Band, North Carolina All-State Honors Orchestra, North Carolina
Eastern Region Jazz Ensemble and North Carolina All-State Jazz
Ensemble.
Robert “Bob” Black
Robert Black came to Mount Holly
after completing military service in World
War II and graduating from Shenandoah
Conservatory with a teaching degree
in music. He began teaching band and
chorus at Mount Holly High School in
1950, building the music program into one
recognized not only in Gaston County, but
statewide.
The Mount Holly High School Marching Band received
honors through invitations to march in Chicago’s Christmas
parade in 1953 and in Miami during the Orange Bowl in 1957.
At football games in Mount Holly, a new halftime show was
produced each and every time. The infamous ‘Lights Out”
halftime shows were always a crowd favorite with majorettes
twirling fire batons and band members with shoulder harnessed
flashlights covered in various colors of cellophane. The concert
band was also exceptional and went to the North Carolina State
Band Contest in 1964,1965, 1967, and 1970, receiving four
superiors. In 1970, Mayor Raymond Moore and the Mount Holly
City Council recognized the Mount Holly High School Band
for the way it represented the town in such a distinguished and
admirable manner.
When Mount Holly High School closed in 1972, he continued
at Mount Holly Junior High and began teaching at the newly
formed East Gaston High School. The senior band class of
1976 was his last at East Gaston, but he continued at both
Stanley Junior High and Mount Holly Junior High Schools until
1985. Among his individual honors, Black was named Mount
Holly’s Man of the Year in 1962 and later was inducted into the
Bandmaster Association in 1976.
Mayor Charles Black of Mount Holly proclaimed June 12,
1985 “Robert H. Black Day.” The mayor’s proclamation describes
Bob Black’s service beautifully: “His 35 years of service in
Mount Holly School System were marked by outstanding loyalty
and devotion to the youth of our community, teaching hundreds
of boys and girls, along with being a friend and counselor to them
and their parents... His sphere of influence has extended beyond
the classroom into the life of our community, enriching and
improving life for all of us…”
Lesli Clowes
Lesli Clowes is the assistant director
of bands at Providence Day School
in Charlotte, a position she has held
since 2016. Clowes has a Bachelor of
Music Education, with a concentration
in instrumental music, from Duquesne
University in Pittsburgh, Penn., a Master
of Music with a concentration in wind
conducting from Winthrop University, and
is a National Board Certified Teacher.
She has more than 35 years experience teaching elementary,
middle and high school band. Prior to her current position,
she served as director of bands at Crestdale Middle School in
Matthews for 18 years, receiving 17 consecutive superior ratings
at North Carolina MPA and an invitation to perform at the
NCMEA Professional Development Conference in 2009.
Other teaching experiences include over 30 years as the color
guard instructor at East Mecklenburg High School, director of
bands at Spaugh Middle School, and an elementary band director
in several Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools. She was one of the
conductors for the 2017 North Carolina Ambassadors of Music
European Tour.
She continues to be active as a clinician and adjudicator for
both concert and marching bands. She has served as a member of
the board of directors for the South Central District Bandmasters
Association and is a past chair for the South Central District
Bandmasters Association. Clowes enjoys sharing her passion for
music with young musicians and strives to foster an appreciation
for the arts through playing an instrument.
Scott Clowes
Scott Clowes started on the faculty at
East Mecklenburg High School in 1987,
serving as assistant director of bands. In
1992, he was named director of bands at
East Mecklenburg High School. During this
time, he also served as an assistant director
at McClintock and Crestdale Middle
Schools.
Clowes graduated from Duquesne
University in Pittsburgh, Penn., with a Bachelor of Science in
music education. While there, he studied music history with
Joseph Wilcox Jenkins, brass with Dr. Donald S. Reinhardt, and
Rodger Sherman of the Pittsburgh Symphony. He completed his
master’s degree at Winthrop University, under the direction of
Dr. William Malambri. While teaching at East Mecklenburg High
School, he earned his National Board Certification in instrumental
music.
His marching and concert bands consistently received superior
ratings and first place awards. These include over one hundred
superior ratings at marching band festivals and 27 superior ratings
at North Carolina State Concert Festival. His symphonic band
performed at the 2001 North Carolina State Music Educators
Conference. Since 1994, his bands have commissioned and
premiered seven works for band including Britannic Variants by
Elliot Del Borgo, Century Point by Robert Sheldon, Twin Oaks
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