Pitt Director of Bands Jack R. Anderson Receives Music Honor

PITTSBURGH-The National Council of Kappa Kappa Psi Fraternity has awarded Jack R. Anderson, director of bands at the University of Pittsburgh, the Distinguished Service to Music Medal in the Marching Band category. Anderson received the honor at the Pitt Symphonic Band's annual spring concert yesterday.

The Alpha Omega Chapter of the fraternity nominated Anderson, an alumnus of the fraternity, for the award, which recognizes extraordinary accomplishments by those actively supporting college and university bands. Anderson joins a list of previous recipients that includes Ken Singleton, Tim Lautzenheiser, Stanley F. Michalski Jr., and former Pitt director of bands Robert L. "Ace" Arthur, one of Anderson's mentors.

At Pitt, Anderson directs the Varsity Marching Band, leads the Pep Bands at athletic events, and conducts the Pitt Symphonic Band. He has been involved with the Pitt Band since the age of two when he went to his first Pitt band camp, accompanying his father, who was the assistant director of bands. Anderson played in the Pitt Band in the late 1960s and early '70s and holds an undergraduate degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Anderson became Pitt's director of bands in 1995, after serving for nine years as a Pitt assistant director.

A music educator for more than 35 years, Anderson has led band programs in the Corry, Greenville, and Keystone Oaks school districts. He has been a guest conductor and adjudicator for the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) throughout Western Pennsylvania and has traveled professionally throughout the United States and Canada. Anderson also serves as the director of the South Hills Community Concert Band, an adult band that performs primarily in the South Hills area of Pittsburgh.

Anderson holds membership in Music Educators National Conference and PMEA, and such honorary organizations as Omicron Delta Kappa, Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma, Mu Kappa Upsilon, and Iota Beta Kappa. Pitt's Student Government Board chose him as an "Outstanding Leader" on campus, and in 2001, he received the Paula Crider Outstanding Band Director Award, presented annually to a college or university band director with distinguished service in the field of university bands.

In the 1960s, Kappa Kappa Psi became the first national band-oriented organization to honor those who have contributed "above and beyond" themselves and their talents to help bands and band music grow in both performance and purpose.

Other Distinguished Service to Music Medal award categories are Composition, Concert Band, Instrumental Music Education, Artist Performer, Alumni Achievement, and Fraternity Service. Notable honorees include Karl King, Frank Ticheli, William D. Revelli, Raymond Dvorak, Don Wilcox, John Whitwell, Robert Fleming, and Carl H. "Doc" Severinsen.

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4/16/07/tmw