WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. \u2013 Professor Matthew R. Conaway has been named the next director of Purdue\u2019s Boiler Brass men\u2019s basketball pep band beginning with the 2016-2017 season. This appointment comes after the recent announcement by Professor Max Jones that he will step down as Boiler Brass director at the end of the 2015-2016 season.<\/p>\n
After a decade long tenure as Director of Bands at West Lafayette High School in West Lafayette, Professor Conaway was appointed to the Purdue faculty in August 2012. \u00a0He currently serves as an associate director of the famed Purdue \u201cAll-American\u201d Marching Band and directs the Concert and Varsity bands during the spring semester. In addition, Professor Conaway is the faculty supervisor for the band\u2019s various auxiliary units, serves as the department\u2019s technology advisor, and organizes the annual Purdue Band Day event. \u00a0He is responsible for coordinating marching band travel, including recent international trips by the \u201cAll-American\u201d Marching Band.<\/p>\n
Professor Conaway mentors many students, serving as faculty sponsor for the Beta Sigma chapter of Tau Beta Sigma and the Purdue Musical LGBTQ+ Society. \u00a0Conaway also serves the university as a member of the Advisory Committee on Equity.<\/p>\n
Conaway is an award-winning, internationally-known composer for concert bands, with nearly fifty original works currently in publication. He is also an accomplished arranger, and has written for athletic bands at Purdue University, Indiana University, and many high schools and colleges throughout the country. Millions of people have heard Conaway\u2019s arrangements\u00a0at multiple festivals, bowl games, basketball tournaments, and other major sporting events since 1999. His compositions and arrangements are available globally through the C.L. Barnhouse Company and the Hal Leonard Corporation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMatt Conaway is one of the most talented directors and arrangers in the country and we are honored to have him on our faculty at Purdue.\u00a0 He will do an amazing job as the new director of Boiler Brass\u201d, says Director of Bands, Jay Gephart.<\/p>\n
Matt Conaway received his Bachelor of Music Education degree with Distinction in 2001 from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, and earned a Masters of Music degree from the American Band College of Sam Houston State University in 2010.<\/p>\n