The PODIUM
Alumni ARTICLES
by Michael Bradford-Calhoun Iota Zeta, Alumni - North Carolina A&T State University
M
usic is still the greatest of the arts! That is a statement that all brothers of this great organization agree upon verbally. However, as we transition from active brothers to alumni, life gets in the way forcing music to take. For one brother, music has become a focal point in his career. Brother Bruce Ayers, a 2009 initiate into the Zeta Psi Chapter seated at Virginia State University, is actively demonstrating why music is the greatest of the arts. Brother Ayers is the establishmentarian of the Nashville African American Wind Symphony, Inc. Brother Bruce V. Ayers, Jr., is a native of Dover, Delaware. He serves as a Professor of Music and an Instructor of Applied Euphonium at Tennessee State University. Before his role at Tennessee State University, Mr. Ayers served as the Director of Bands at the Grammy awardwinning Pearl-Cohn Entertainment Magnet High School in Nashville, Tennessee. He obtained his bachelor’s
6 - Kappa Kappa Psi & Tau Beta Sigma
degree in Music Education from Virginia State University, where he served as Head Drum Major for the Trojan Explosion, and his master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Music at Tennessee State University, where he also served as a graduate assistant for the Music Department and world-renown Aristocrat of Bands. The Nashville African American Wind Symphony, Inc. presents a broad range of educational, entertainment, and cultural programs. We aim to be a key regional service as a professional performance ensemble, a key youth instrumental musical training, and a means of preserving the wind band community in Nashville, TN and as an established premier wind band organization. Bang Co, National Vice President of Membership and Expansion, and I had the privilege of interviewing Bro. Ayers this past fall. Here’s what we talked about: Michael: “Great to have you here with us man, could you share a little bit about your background”
Bruce: So outside of the symphony, I am a music professor and applied euphonium instructor at Tennessee State University as well as the game-day operations manager for the Tennessee State Aristocrats of Bands marching band . Michael: What inspired you to pursue this opportunity? Bruce: My inspiration came from the desire for African American representation in the wind band community. Growing up as a kid and auditioning for various honor bands like All-State, County, and Districts, I would often notice that I was the only person of color in these ensembles. As I got older, I wanted to understand this more and discovered root of this issue. Before Tennessee State, I was the band director at Pearl-Cohn Magnet High School where we grew the band program from 6 to 75 musicians. While we saw major progress, we discovered there was a lack of access and exposure that was driving the lack of representation in the advanced ensemble community. Many of the students had no exposure to the
