Augustana Band Festival

66th Annual Band Fest at AU

The 66th Annual Augustana Band Festival will take place on Nov. 10-11, 2023. The festival has brought thousands of students from a five-state area to participate in two full days of ensemble and clinic work featuring three separate bands — Gold, Blue and Honor — led by outstanding music educators/directors. Participating students are nominated by their high school directors, and the festival is organized and carried out by an Augustana committee of outstanding student musicians.

The grand finale concert of the festival will be held in the Mary Sommervold Hall of the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls and will feature performances by the Gold, Blue and Honor bands, as well as the Augustana Band.


Registration Timeline

  • Sept. 27 — Student nominations close
  • Oct. 4 — Directors receive student nominations
  • Oct. 13 — Director nominations due
  • Oct. 20 — Ensemble & part assignments released

 

Clinician Dan Sailer

Dan Sailer is from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he is an instructor of percussion at Augustana University and assistant director of the Viking Marching Band (VMB). Sailer works at Groove Inc. as the ensemble director of Groove Pursuit (PIA). He is the principal percussionist of the Northwest Iowa Symphony Orchestra (NISO) and has also performed with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra (SDSO) and Sioux City Symphony Orchestra. Sailer is currently the assistant percussion caption head at the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps in Rockford, Illinois.

Dan Sailer

Clinician Dr. Boyd Perkins

Dr. Boyd Perkins serves as visiting associate professor of music education and interim director of instrumental studies at Augustana University. At Augustana, Perkins serves as director of the Augustana Concert Band, teaches courses in secondary music education, brass instrument pedagogy and conducting. Prior to Augustana, Perkins served as coordinator of fine arts in the Sioux Falls School District (SFSD), director of bands and chair of the Department of Music and Theater at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, as well as director of bands in public schools throughout South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota.

Dr. Boyd Perkins

Clinician Dr. Wendy Zander

Dr. Wendy Zander is the Instrumental Music Education Specialist and director of the Symphonic Band at Brandon University. As a professor in the School of Music, she also teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music education and conducting. Work as a solo and ensemble adjudicator and clinician for concert and jazz ensembles has taken Zander across Canada and the U.S. She serves as a guest conductor for school, university, community and military ensembles, as a conductor at the International and Rushmore Music Camps, and as facilitator of conducting symposia. She has conducted junior high and high school regional, provincial and state honor bands, as well as the National Youth Band of Canada.

Wendy Zander

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