Faculty

Darrell Brown is the Director of Bands in the Fred and Dinah Gretsch School of Music at Georgia Southern University (Statesboro, GA), where he conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble and is the coordinator of the graduate wind conducting program. He has held similar positions at Bradley University (Peoria, IL), Carroll University (Waukesha, WI), Brigham Young University–Idaho (Rexburg, ID), and Del Mar College (Corpus Christi, TX). 

Brown also serves as the conductor of the Statesboro Chamber Orchestra at the Averitt Center for the Arts (Statesboro, GA), and he has previously held the positions of interim director of the Youth Symphony and Preparatory Orchestra for Youth Music Illinois (Peoria, IL); as the musical director and conductor of the New Berlin Community Band (New Berlin, WI), Youth Wind Orchestra of Wisconsin (Waukesha, WI), and as the assistant bandmaster of the Civil War brass band, the 1st Brigade Band (Watertown, WI); with the Rexburg Tabernacle Orchestra (Rexburg, ID) and the Idaho Falls Youth Symphony (Idaho Falls, ID); the Corpus Christi Municipal Band (Corpus Christi, TX); and as the assistant director of the Utah Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra (Orem, UT). Guest conducting engagements have included domestic engagements and abroad in Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Cuba, and Spain, and ensembles under his direction have performed at conferences for the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the Illinois Music Educators Association (ILMEA), and the Wisconsin Music Educators Association (WMEA). 

As an advocate for new music and wind band repertoire, Brown has commissioned and/or premiered over seventy-five new works for the medium and continues to be active in doing so on a regular basis, working closely in collaboration with composers such as David Maslanka, Nubia Jaime-Donjuan, Benjamin Taylor, Erika Svanoe, Joseph Sowa, Bárbara López Gondolbeu, José Ignacio Blesa-Lull, Rung-Radis Chanchampa, Lynnsey Lambrecht, Renato Goulart, Tom Davoren, Erberk Eryilmaz, Peter Ettrup Larsen, Rodrigo Lomán, Mohamad Abdelwahab Abdelfattah, Ricardo Ramírez Durán, Alicia Hansen, and others. 

With a foot squarely rooted in music education, Darrell taught music at the Camelot Schools in Kwekwe, Zimbabwe and in the public schools in Sussex, Wisconsin, Las Vegas, Nevada, Agua Dulce, Texas, and Provo, Utah. Dr. Brown received his DMA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he studied with G. Thomas Leslie and worked with the renown UNLV Wind Orchestra. He received his MM in Instrumental Conducting and his BM in K-12 Instrumental Music Education from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. 

Beyond his activities as a conductor and music educator, Darrell is also an active composer and arranger. He writes music for a wide array of ensembles with recent premieres of works for choir with chamber orchestra, wind band, solo vibraphone, solo voice with piano, and arrangements for chorus and cello choir and transcriptions for the wind band. He has had premieres at organizational conferences such as CBDNA, WASBE, and the Iowa Bandmasters Association, and has music published through Murphy Music Press. 

Dr. Brown is a member of the National Band Association, International Society for Research and Promotion of Wind Music (IGEB), Windjammers Unlimited (The Circus Music Historical Society), NAfME, CBDNA, and is part of the administrative team for the international wind band organization the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE). 

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Mr. Michael Thomas, Associate Director of Bands / Director of Athletic Bands
Director, Southern Pride Marching Band

michaelthomas@georgiasouthern.edu

Mr. Michael Thomas serves as the Associate Director of Bands and the Director of Athletic Bands at Georgia Southern University where he directs the Southern Pride Marching Band, Wind Symphony, and Pep Bands.  He also teaches marching band techniques and graduate level drill writing and arranging.

Mr. Thomas received his Bachelor of Music Education Degree and Master’s Degree in Conducting Performance from Georgia Southern University.

Mr. Thomas started his career in Drum and Bugle Corps at the early age of thirteen and spent four years marching with the Division 2 Phantom Regiment Cadets.  Shortly after moving to Georgia he joined the Army National Guard Band in Atlanta, GA in 1994.  The military band allowed him to attend Georgia Southern University in the fall of 1995 in pursuit of his Mechanical Engineering Degree. He marched with the Division I Champions, The Cadets in 1998.  After graduating in fall of 2000, Mr. Thomas spent the next eight years working at Gulfstream Aerospace in Savannah, GA.

In 2001, he joined the Air Force National Guard Band of the South in Marietta, GA and in 2012 transferred to McGhee Tyson Air Base in Maryville, TN.  During his time in the Air Force, he has been deployed to serve in Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.  His deployment took him to seven different countries playing music for thousands of troops at several different bases.  Mr. Thomas is also the director of Sound Barrier, a twenty member performing ensemble that tours all over the southeast performing music ranging from classic rock to funk, Motown to today’s greatest hits.

Mr. Thomas is an accomplished trumpet and guitar player.  While in the Air Force Band, he performs regularly with the concert band, jazz ensemble, and also the brass quintet.  He also performed on guitar in the rock band, Space-A. During the summer of 2002, Mr. Thomas played trumpet with BLAST II, Shockwave, a product of the Tony and Emmy Award winning production, BLAST!

Mr. Thomas was previously the director of bands at East Paulding High School in Dallas, GA from 2014 to 2021. From 2003 to 2014, he designed and taught the marching band program at Richmond Hill High School in Richmond Hill, GA, where they have won several competitions, including the Georgia Marching Series in 2014. The marching band also performed at Bands of America in Atlanta, GA in 2007.  Mr. Thomas is also an accomplished drill writer, music arranger, and show designer writing for hundreds of ensembles over the past sixteen years.

His professional affiliations include the National Band Association, the National Association for Music Education, and the Georgia Music Educators Association.  Mr. Thomas is also an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi music fraternity.

Last updated: 3/12/2025