Cliff Towner

Cliff Towner, Ph.D., is director of band activities and associate professor of music at Georgia College and State University. His responsibilities include conducting the Wind Symphony and Jazz Band, as well as teaching classes in conducting and music education. Towner holds a D.M.A. degree in Wind Conducting from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he studied with Carolyn Barber. He holds a Masters of Music degree in music education from Wright State University, where he studied with David Booth, and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Terrence Milligan. Towner has also taught in the public schools for ten years in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Towner has several scholarly pursuits including wind repertoire, concert programming, and engagement in the rehearsal process. He has presented at many conferences including the Georgia Music Educators Association, the College Band Directors National Association, and the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles. He has been published in the Association of Concert Bands Journal and the Journal of Band Research. His dissertation An Evaluation of Compositions for Wind Band According to Specific Criteria of Serious Artistic Merit: A Second Update has been downloaded thousands of times and is used at universities around the country.

Towner maintains an active schedule as a popular guest conductor and clinician. He holds membership in CBDNA, WASBE, GMEA, NAfME, JEN, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Cliff resides in Milledgeville, GA with his wife Gina, and their daughter, Laura and son, Nathan.