Director and Staff

Steve Barnett
Director of Bands

barnetts@marshall.edu

Steven R. Barnett is currently in his tenth year as Director of Bands and Professor of Music at Marshall University. He conducts the Marshall University Wind Symphony and the "Marching Thunder” Marching Band, where he also serves as music arranger and drill designer.  Mr. Barnett is the Music Program Director for the MU School of Music and Theatre.  He is also the coordinator for music education, teaches arranging, advanced conducting, supervises student teachers, and teaches additional music education courses at Marshall University. In 2012, Barnett received the Marshall and Shirley Reynolds Teacher of the Year Award, one of the highest awards that a faculty member may receive at Marshall University and was also nominated by Marshall University as the CASE Council National Teacher of the Year for 2012-2013.

Mr. Barnett received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Mississippi and a Masters of Music Education degree from Mississippi College. He has previously held band directing positions in Mississippi at the University of Mississippi, Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Madison, Forest, Oxford, Newton and Pearl High Schools, and taught music education in Mississippi for 24 years.  Mr. Barnett has served as President of the Conference USA Band Directors Association.  He was elected President of the Mississippi Junior and Community College Band Director Association and served as Editor on the Phi Beta Mu International Board. Mr. Barnett is also a member of the College Band Directors National Association, the National Band Association and was elected President of the Copiah-Lincoln Education Association. While Director of Bands at Copiah-Lincoln Community College, he received the HEADWAE Award (Higher Education Appreciation Day: Working for Academic Excellence) for the most outstanding instructor and was honored by the Mississippi State Legislature. 

Mr. Barnett is an active adjudicator and clinician throughout the southeast and mid-west and is currently a staff arranger for Jalen Publishing Company of Orlando, FL where he currently has 15 marching band arrangements published.