Awards
Al & Gladys Wright Award
The Wright Award is a newly created recognition made possible by the ASBDA through the generous donation and contribution of Gladys Wright in memory of her husband Al.
The Wright Award is meant to recognize a retired band director who has made significant contributions to school bands during a distinguished career and continues to do so during retirement.
To be eligible for the award a recipient must have:
1. been an active ASBDA member and is currently a retired, dues-paying ASBDA member.
2. had a distinguished career prior to retirement which included service to bands and continued involvement by providing leadership, service, and/or other meaningful value to school bands, their directors, and the profession as a whole.
The American School Band Directors Association created the Edwin Franko Goldman Award as a symbol of high esteem and respect and as a measure of appreciation and gratitude for outstanding personal contributions to the school band movement.
The recipient may or may not be a member of ASBDA, but shall be an active or retired director whose teaching career shall have included work in the schools and who has contributed substantially in the fields of Grade, Junior, and Senior High School Band work
.
Edwin Franko Goldman
2022 Recipients
Davide Saleeba Albert
Dr. Charles "Chip" Staley
David Saleeba Albert began his musical career in Elizabeth City, North Carolina under the direction of Scott C. Callaway playing Trombone, Flute, Bassoon and Percussion in the School Band. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston Mass during which time he was also a studio drummer. He finished his Music Education Degree at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC and went on to become the Conductor of the Band Program in Elizabeth City, later moving to Raleigh, NC, where he began the Band Program and served as the Chair the Arts Department of Leesville Road High School.
Mr. Albert’s bands have performed at numerous State Conventions including three times at the North Carolina Music Educators Annual Conference. The Band has performed in most major cities around the U.S and some abroad. All Leesville ensembles; the Ninth Grade Band, the Concert Band, the Symphonic Band, the Marching Band and the Jazz Band have performed in state and national festivals, including a 2001 performance at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.
Albert retired from North Carolina Public Schools after 31 years of service. Albert has mentored with Buddy Rich and performed with the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra as well as with Butch Miles, Don Menza, Tommy Newsome and the Boston Brass. Albert was a student of the “Tonight Show” drummer, Ed Shaughnessy.
Albert served as President of the North Carolina Bandmasters Association and President of The North Carolina Music Educators Association. He is an elected member of The American School Band Directors Association and is an Honorary Member of Phi Mu Alpha. Albert recently served the North Carolina Symphony as Director of Education.
Albert is an Endorsing Artist/Clinician for Ludwig/Musser, a division of Conn-Selmer. He keeps an active private percussion studio and performs often in the Raleigh area. In addition, Albert serves as academic consultant, supervising and mentoring student teachers from various schools of music in North Carolina.
Dr. Charles “Chip” Staley earned his Bachelor of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, his Masters from the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign, and the Honorary Doctorate at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago. Currently, he directs the Wind Symphony at the Merit School of Music in Chicago. He is the Founder and President of ARTSpeaks, a non-profit arts advocacy organization, supervises student teachers at Roosevelt University and teaches graduate coursework at the VanderCook College of Music.
He began his teaching career at Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, Illinois. Later teaching at Waubonsie Valley High School and Neuqua Valley High School where he was the first Fine Arts Department Chair at both schools. He “retired” in 2015.
Under his leadership, Neuqua Valley High School was twice recognized by the GRAMMY® Foundation as the National GRAMMY® Signature School and was awarded the 2009 John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts National Schools of Distinction in Arts Education Award.
Staley’s bands and orchestras have performed at the Midwest Clinic, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and at venues in the People’s Republic of China, England, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
A. Austin Harding Award
2022 Recipient - Dr. Richard Miles
Exceptional contributions have been made to the school band movement by a number of individuals, whose careers have not included extensive teaching in the fields of Grade, Junior, and Senior High School bands in the schools. The A. Austin Harding Award is presented to these individuals for valuable and dedicated service to the bands of America as a measure of ASBDA's esteem, appreciation, and respect for their outstanding personal contribution to the school band movement.
Dr. Richard Miles holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Florida State University, two graduate degrees from the University of Illinois, and an undergraduate degree from Appalachian State University. He began his teaching career at Elkin High School in North Carolina. After receiving his Masters degree, he served for six years as Director of Bands at Lafayette Jefferson High School in Indiana where the band program obtained national recognition earning consistent Superior Concert Band Ratings, a feature performance at the Indiana Music Educators Association State Conference, a national concert band championship, and four-time Finalist at the Bands of America Grand National Championships. For the next thirty years, Dr. Miles served as Director of Bands and Professor of Music at Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky. During his tenure, the MSU Symphony Band under his direction received national and international recognition having performed for conventions of the Music Educators National Conference, the College Band Directors National Association, The National Band Association, the Kentucky Music Educators Association, and four international concert tours to the People’s Republic of China, Spain and Brazil.
Dr. Miles is a Past President of the Kentucky Music Educators Association, Past President of the College Band Directors National Association – Southern Division, and an elected member to the American Bandmasters Association, currently serving as the Chair of the ABA Research Center at the University of Maryland. Professor Miles has co-authored, compiled and edited twenty-one volumes of the internationally recognized wind band series: Teaching Music through Performance and three additional texts.
Outstanding Potential Award for Young Directors
Sponsored by the ASBDA Foundation