Dr. Jeffrey T. Phillips is in his 29th year of teaching, currently at Hendersonville High School in Hendersonville, Tennessee, where he is the Director of Fine Arts in addition to conducting the Symphonic Band, Jazz Ensemble, and Marching Band. He has also taught at Pope John Paul II High School in Hendersonville, Tennessee and as adjunct trombone instructor at Western Kentucky University. He is in his 11th year on the Applied Music Faculty at Belmont University in Nashville where he teaches the trombone studio and performs with the Belmont Faculty Brass Quintet. He has earned degrees from Middle Tennessee State University, Western Kentucky University, and Austin Peay State University, and California Coast University with his dissertation on “Implementing Standards in the Band and Orchestra Rehearsal” (which has been published in part by the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors). He is a regular contributor to the Tennessee Musician and writes articles for the Jupiter/KHS America’s “getbanded.com” project. As a performer, he remains active as a freelance trombonist in the Nashville area performing with groups ranging from the 1969 Rock and Roll Band to the Tennessee Philharmonic, Mr. Jack Daniels Silver Cornet Band, the Nashville Wind Ensemble and the Nashville Symphony. In addition to various recitals and clinics, he has also been the featured performer with the Belmont Wind Ensemble and Belmont Jazz Ensemble. He is a charter member of the Tri-Star Brass Ensemble (which is a collaboration between Belmont, Vanderbilt, and MTSU Brass faculty members). Phillips also holds a Diploma in Trombone Performance from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. Phillips has conducted clinics throughout Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina and Mississippi for students in middle school through college and is active as an adjudicator for music groups of all genres throughout the Southeast. He has also published a variety of articles in the Bandworld, School Band and Orchestra and Tennessee Musician magazines and was a co-author of the MENC’s Strategies for Teaching series and has published numerous music reviews for the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors’ Journal. He has served as President of the Middle Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association, and the Tennessee Chapter of the International Association for Jazz Education. Phillips served two years as the TMEA State Band Chair and served two years as the National Treasurer for the American School Band Directors Association. He was elected to the position of President-elect for the ASBDA and served in the office of President of this organization for the 2008-2009 year. His initiatives with ASBDA during his tenure included a National Task Force on School Reform in cooperation with the American Bandmasters Association and a partnership with the Jason Foundation, Inc. on teen suicide prevention. He is currently the President of the Tennessee Music Education Association. Phillips also holds membership in a variety of music education associations including: the American Federation of Musicians (Local 257), and Phi Beta Mu, and the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors. He is also the Lay Leader of Saundersville United Methodist Church in Hendersonville and is a Certified Lay Servant with the Cumberland District of the United Methodist Church. In 2012, he founded the Sumner County Community Concert Band which he conducts. He is active with the Free and Accepted Masons, Hendersonville (TN) lodge 359, the Scottish Rite, York Rite, and Al Menah Shrine and Sonora (AL) lodge 635. In his “spare” time, he resides in Foley, Alabama with his two rescue dogs, Chrissie and Ginger. Phillips is also a Jupiter Band Instrument Performing Artist and Educational Clinician and performs on Jupiter and XO trombones and euphoniums exclusively.
