2006 International Conducting Symposium Winners Announced

Larry Doran has been the Director of Bands for the Midlothian Independent School District in Midlothian, Texas for nine years. He is also adjunct Professor of Percussion at Dallas Baptist University. In addition to his teaching duties, he is an active freelance percussionist in the metropolitan Dallas/Ft. Worth area. A native of New Castle, Pennsylvania, Larry attended Penn State University where he graduated in 1990with a Bachelorês degree in Music Education. He then continued his education at the University of Michigan where he received a Masterês in Percussion Performance 1991.

He has performed with the Ft. Worth Symphony, Ft. Worth Opera and Ft. Worth/Dallas Ballet. Larry has also performed and recorded with the Dallas Wind Symphony. In 1991, Larry toured the United States and Spain as a member of Percunits A2 percussion ensemble. He was visiting professor of percussion at the Encuentros de Percussion in Xixona, Alicante, Spain that same year.

Larry directs the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, Marching Band and assists two additional concert bands at Midlothian High School. He has maintained a busy summer schedule teaching at various band camps in the United States including: Yamaha Sounds of Summer camps in Texas and Iowa and the International Music Camp in North Dakota. Prior to his current appointment, Larry was Associate Director of Bands at North Mesquite High School for four years.

Larryês marching and concert bands have received recognition in state and national festivals. The Midlothian High School Wind Ensemble has qualified for the semi-finals in the Texas State Honor Band competition three times, the finals once and will be the feature performing ensemble at the 2006 MENC National Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition to performing, teaching and clinic presentations, he is an active adjudicator with Heritage Festivals.

Larry is the president of the local chapter of ATPE- The Association of Texas Professional Educators. His professional affiliations include the National Band Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasterês Association, Music Educators National Conference, Percussive Arts Society, Texas Music Adjudicators Association, Local 72-147 American Federation of Musicians and Phi Mu Alpha. He is an elected member to Pi Kappa Lambda.

Larry is an artist/clinician for Yamaha Corp. and Sabian cymbals. He and his wife Sherry and five-year-old daughter Sophia live in DeSoto, Texas.


Brian Froedge is currently the Associate Director of Bands and Director of the Marching Band at North Hardin High School in Lexington, Kentucky. In his sixth year of teaching at North Hardin High School, Mr. Froedge previously was Director of Bands at Radcliff Middle School for six years. He holds a BA in Music from Transylvania University and a MA in Music Education from Western Kentucky University, and under his direction, the Radcliff Middle School Bands and North Hardin High School Bands have received numerous honors. The North Hardin marching band has been a Bands of America Regional Finalist, a Grand National Semi-Finalist, and a Regional class champion. In 1998, Mr. Froedgeês Radcliff Middle School band was a featured ensemble at the KMEA State Inservice Conference, and the concert Bands at Radcliff Middle School and North Hardin have consistently received distinguished ratings at the District and State levels of the Kentucky Music Educators Association state music evaluation process. In 2005, Mr. Froedgeês North Hardin Symphonic Band performed by invitation at the University of Kentucky High School Invitational Concert Band Festival.

Mr. Froedge was named the 1997 Fourth District Middle School Music Teacher of the Year, and has been selected for inclusion in Whoês Who Among American Teachers. He was honored as the 1999 Phi Beta Mu Outstanding Young Band Director in Kentucky and has served as a presenter at the KMEA Inservice Conference. Additionally he has been asked to appear as a guest conductor, guest clinician, and adjudicator throughout the state of Kentucky. Mr. Froedge has served as a sectional coach for the Louisville Youth Orchestra; been president of the Fourth District Band Directors Association, is a member of KMEA, MENC, Phi Beta Mu, and the National Band Association, and has been named a –Kentucky Colonel.”

Mr. Froedge conducted the premiere of –Iêll Be Home Afore Ye” by Julie Giroux during the 2004 Midwest Clinic appearance of the North Hardin High School Symphonic Band. Brian also has conducted at the Sydney Harbor Jazz Festival in Australia, and this spring will have the opportunity to conduct at Carnegie Hall.