Symphony Band

The Symphony Band is the principal concert ensemble of the TTU Bands and has earned its reputation as one of the finest symphonic organizations in the country. It programs and studies the finest in wind band repertoire. The Tennessee Tech Symphony Band has performed for State, regional, and national conventions of the Music Educators National Conference and the College Band Directors National Association and is regularly asked to record new music for publishers of band music. The Symphony Band's performances have been featured on National Public Radio and Public Television, and the band regularly seeks and is requested to premiere new literature.

Through its activities as a laboratory, the Symphony Band provides service to the Tennessee Conductors' Symposium, a weekend workshop for secondary school teachers and military band commander/conductors. It is a focal point for the annual Festival of Winds and Percussion, an honor band weekend, which creates an atmosphere of learning and sharing between high school and college students and the conductors from the 6-state region. The Festival of Winds and Percussion brings the nations's finest conductors and composers to the TTU campus. Some of the notable guests which have worked with the Tech Symphony Band are Morton Gould, Aaron Copland, Vincent Persichetti, Robert Jager, Vaclav Nelhybel, Claude T. Smith, Fisher Tull, John Paynter, Karel Husa, Mark Camphouse, Frank Erickson, Ken Bloomquist, Jared Spears, Jerry Junkin, Frank Wickes, James Croft, Ray Cramer, James Keene, Elliot Del Borgo, Myron Welch, Tom Lee, John Boyd, and David Waybright.

Graduates of the TTU Symphony Band have held positions in each of the premiere military bands in Washington D.C., have pursued further graduate study at other universities, are serving as noted conductors and teachers in public and private schools and colleges, and are exceptional music professionals and respected colleagues throughout the world.