Michael Kamuf
Mike Kamuf holds Bachelor of Music degrees in both Jazz Performance and Music Education from the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University (Youngstown, OH) and a Master of Arts degree in Instrumental Conducting from George Mason University (Fairfax, VA). Mike’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by numerous jazz artists and ensembles, including the Woody Herman and Glenn Miller Orchestras, the USAF Airmen of Note, the US Navy Commodores, James Moody, Eddie Daniels, Sean Jones, Terell Stafford, Bill Watrous, and Nick Brignola, to name a few. Mike is an exclusive writer for the Belwin Division of Alfred Music Publishing, with titles in their jazz, orchestra, and concert band catalogs. He also has compositions for jazz ensemble published by UNC Jazz Press, Neil A. Kjos Music, and FJH Music Company. Many of Mike’s published jazz ensemble arrangements have become standard literature for young jazz ensembles, and he currently has over 100 publications in print.
Mike has performed with the Woody Herman and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras and has recorded as a member of the Alan Baylock Jazz Orchestra. He served as assistant principal trumpet of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra under Maestro David Effron. Currently, Mike leads his jazz octet, the Mike Kamuf Little Big Band, comprised of outstanding musicians from the Baltimore and Washington, DC areas.
Mike began his teaching career in 1991 in Ohio, where he had taught instrumental music for Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools (MCPS) for thirty years. For twenty-seven of those years, Mike served as the Director of Bands and Orchestras and Music Department Chairperson at John T. Baker Middle School (Damascus, MD). Under his direction, the Baker ensembles consistently received high ratings at music festivals and have commissioned several works for young concert bands. Mike has received the MCPS Superintendent’s Above and Beyond the Call of Duty (ABCD) Award for his efforts in involving students in the composition commissioning process. He has directed the MCPS Senior Honors Jazz Band, Junior Honors Band, and the All-County Middle School Band.
Additionally, Mike has directed the Pennsylvania All-State Jazz Band, the Southern California School Band & Orchestra Directors Association (SCSBOA) Jazz All Stars, the New Mexico All-State Jazz Band, and many regional honors ensembles in California, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Mexico, and New York. Mike has served as a jazz faculty member at Youngstown State University and Montgomery College in Rockville, MD. Mike has presented professional development sessions for music educators at the Midwest Clinic, Jazz Education Network Conferences, and at numerous regional and state music education conferences. He has become an in-demand arranger, clinician, conductor, and adjudicator for school conferences and music festivals nationwide.
Please visit Mike’s website at: www.mikekamuf.com
Clinic Offerings
Hit the Ground Running: Best Practices for Middle School & Beginning Jazz Bands
This clinic addresses many of the issues that middle school jazz band directors encounter as they instruct and manage their ensemble, including management (including curricular and extra-curricular topics), communication, planning, making warm-ups effective, introducing improvisation, the importance of listening, selecting literature, and resources for supplemental materials.
It’s All In the Deets: Writing Consideration for Young Musicians
This session focuses on effective writing practices for young musicians. This session will focus on the key elements of great performance selections, technical considerations for young musicians, basic orchestration concepts, percussion writing, planning, structuring, and constructing the piece, as well as generating and proofreading individual instrument parts. (This session can be focused on concert band or jazz bands.)
Making Good Choices: Selecting Repertoire for Your Young Jazz Ensemble
This session will focus on tips and strategies to help directors of beginning and intermediate-level jazz ensembles select the best performance music to motivate and inspire their students. Topics covered will include knowing your ensemble, personalizing criteria for your literature selection, characteristics of quality literature, evaluation of literature choices, and composers and arrangers of quality literature.
Small Steps: Improvisation for the Beginning Jazz Ensemble
This session will focus on key factors of introducing improvisation to the beginning jazz ensemble. Focal points will include limited harmonic palettes, call and response, effective modeling, appropriate literature, and the importance of listening.
Start Your Engines: Building Confidence with A Young Rhythm Section
This session focuses on fostering confidence in young rhythm section players. Topics covered include using the correct gear and instruments, physically setting the section up to promote communication within the section, understanding and interpreting alternate notation, grooves/style, as well as the importance of subdivision, clarity, and deference in comping for chordal instruments.