Administration

William Ballenger, Director, School of Music

William L. Ballenger is the Director of the School of Music at Texas Tech. Prior to his appointment at Texas Tech, he served for twelve years as Department Head of Music at Oklahoma State University. Professor Ballenger's previous academic appointments include Associate Director of Bands at Oklahoma State University, Associate Director of Bands at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and public school teaching positions in Ankeny and Oskaloosa school districts in Iowa. Professor Ballenger has composed more than seventy original compositions and arranged more than six hundred works for various ensembles. In 2007 Professor Ballenger was appointed to the Nomination Committee for the National Association of Schools of Music. In 2008 Professor Ballenger was appointed Director of the State-supported four-year Colleges and Universities for the Texas Association of Music Schools. In 2005, Professor Ballenger served as Chair of the Ethics Committee of the National Association of Schools of Music. Previous elections include President of the Oklahoma Association of Music Schools, and Vice Chair and Chair of Region 9 of the National Association of Schools of Music.

Director, School of Music

William Ballenger can be contacted through email at: william.ballenger@ttu.edu

Michael Stoune, Associate Director, Graduate Studies

Michael C. Stoune is Associate Director of the School of Music for Graduate Curriculum. He holds Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music (Music History) degrees from The University of Texas (Austin), and the Doctor of Music Arts from the University of Michigan. He is the flutist in the Devienne Trio, which has played twice for the National Flute Association, at Music Teacher National Association (Spokane) and the International Double Reed Society in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Dr. Stoune also performs in the Lubbock Symphony and Roswell (NW) Symphony orchestras. He chaired the Special Publications Committee of the National Flute Association for eleven years and supervised and edited five books. He has been president of the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors. A student of flute bands in Northern Ireland, he has conducted their music at the NFA in 1989, and is preparing a paper on flute bands for presentation. Music Theory, Ph.D in Fine Arts.

To contact Dr. Michael Stoune, email Michael.Stoune@ttu.edu.

Alan Shinn, Associate Director, Undergraduate Studies

Alan D. Shinn is Professor of Percussion and Associate Director for Undergraduate Studies at Texas Tech University. He holds the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Missouri and the Master of Music degree from Texas Tech University. His primary teachers were Tim Lautzenheiser and Ron Dyer. He served as Chair of the Winds/Percussion Area from 2004-2007. Shinn was the Director of Jazz Studies at Tech from 1985-2005 and continues to lead the summer jazz program. Prior to coming to Texas Tech in 1982 as faculty percussionist, he served as Instructor of Percussion and Jazz at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, TX. Over 100 percussion students have graduated with music degrees at TTU since 1982 and are enjoying careers in education (all levels) and performance as well as music business and industry. Shinn is Principal Timpanist with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra and a former member of the Austin Symphony Orchestra. He has also served as Principal Timpanist/Percussionist with the Roswell, NM Symphony and has performed a number of times with the chamber orchestras of Santa Fe Pro Musica and 20th Century Unlimited. As a member of these organizations and the musical communities in which he lives, he has performed with Itzhak Perlman, Christopher O'Riley, Henry Mancini, Peter Nero, Roger Williams, Doc Severinsen, The Fifth Dimension, Rita Moreno, Michael Martin Murphy, Tony Bennett, William Warfield, Mark O'Connor, Jose Feliciano, Mitzi Gaynor, Engelbert Humperdinct, Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan and Carol Channing in Hello Dolly. Alan Shinn is also a busy drum set artist as well as an active clinician and adjudicator throughout the Southwest and Midwest and has served as an Educational/Product Consultant for REMO, Inc. and Innovative Percussion. He is currently an Artist Endorser of Pro-Mark.

Under the direction of Alan Shinn, Texas Tech's Jazz Ensemble 1 has taken honors at many jazz festivals. The group has performed with such renowned jazz artists as Louie Bellson, Frank Mantooth, Kevin Mahogany, Willie Hill, Clay Jenkins, Kim Richmond, Denis DiBlasio, Tony Campise, Phil Wilson, Bob Mintzer, Tuck and Patti, Dave Pietro, Ed Calle, Ernie Watts, Mike Mainieri, Brad Leali, Bobby Watson, Carla Helmbrecht, Peter Horvath, Nelson Rangell, Marvin Stamm and Les DeMerle. The Tech Jazz Ensemble has opened shows for Spyro Gyra, the Yellowjackets and Jay Leno. In 1996 the ensemble was invited to open for Arturo Sandoval and the UNC Jazz Lab Band 1 at the UNC/Greeley, Colorado Jazz Festival. Other major performances have included the Beaches Jazz Festival in Toronto (July, 2004) and the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas (March, 2005).

Their CD Seein' the Light...Hearin' the Hub-Tones (Sea Breeze Jazz) received a Grammy nomination in 1998. The ensemble's second CD was released in August of 2007. Entitled Glimmer of Night and Day (Sea Breeze Jazz), it features the sax, flute and vocal talents of Austin jazz legend Tony Campise. He has recorded as a percussionist on many of his own projects as well as on albums by Lubbock artists Terry Allen and The Maines Brothers.

To contact Alan Shinn, email alan.shinn@ttu.edu.

Eric Fried, Assistant to the Director

Eric Fried, Associate Professor of Music and Assistant to the Director of the School of Music, earned music degrees from Indiana University, the University of Denver, and the University of Arizona. He served for fifteen years as music director/conductor of the Lubbock Youth Symphony Orchestra. Prior to coming to Texas Tech, he served as orchestra director and professor of violin on the music faculties of Oklahoma State University and Hendrix College (AR). During the summers of 1997 and 1998 he was assistant concertmaster of the Classical Music Festival Orchestra based in the Schloss Esterhazy in Eisenstadt, Austria, and performing in numerous locations throughout Austria and Hungary. He also has served as concertmaster of the Arkansas Symphony Chamber Orchestra, the Little Rock Chamber Orchestra, and the Arkansas Ballet and Opera orchestras. He was president-elect of the Oklahoma String Teachers Association immediately before accepting his position at Texas Tech.

Dr. Fried has published articles in American String Teacher, California Music Educator, and Upbeat (publication of the American Symphony Orchestra League).

To contact Eric Fried, email eric.fried@ttu.edu.