Susan L. Smith

Susan L. Smith has been an educator for more than 25 years at the elementary through collegiate levels, including general music, choral, band, orchestra, guitar, and educational pedagogy in Florida, Virginia, and Alabama. She has served as an author, clinician, conductor, and adjudicator across the United States and is currently a Lecturer of Music Education and Horn at Troy University. Smith is a past Chair of the NAfME Collegiate Advisory Council, a Past President of the Alabama Music Educators Association, and a former Alabama Bandmasters Association District VI Chairman.

Before her appointment at Troy University, Smith served as Director of Bands at the Saint James School in Montgomery, Alabama, where responsibilities included teaching Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Bands, and Guitar, Jazz Band, and Music Technology courses. The Saint James Band consistently received superior ratings in Jazz Band, Solo & Ensemble, Marching Band, and Concert Band festivals. Saint James was a BOA multi-Regional and Super Regional Class Champion and Grand Nationals Semifinalist. Students were selected for district and all-state bands as well as the BOA Rose Parade Honor Band, the Army All-American Marching Band, and the Music for All National Honor Band of America. Smith holds a BME from James Madison University, a Master’s in Education from Troy State University and is currently pursuing a PhD in Music Education from Auburn University.

As a Coordinating Author for Warner Bros. Publications’ Expressions Music Curriculum – a vision for a PreK–12 vertical, conceptual approach to teaching music – Smith co-authored Band Expressions (a secondary component of the curriculum) and was an editor for the Elementary, Orchestra, Choral, Guitar and Jazz texts. Smith has presented clinics at many state conventions, the National and Division NAfME conferences and the Midwest Clinic. She serves as an educational consultant for Music for All, is responsible for the Chamber Music Festival portion of the Music for All National Festival, and is an executive producer for the Mind the Gap Webinar and Podcast series for pre-service and young teachers.

Smith’s professional affiliations include the National Association for Music Education, Alabama Music Educators Association, Alabama Bandmasters Association, Phi Beta Mu, Sigma Alpha Iota, Phi Beta Kappa, National Band Association, and she is an honorary member of Tau Beta Sigma. She has conducted honor bands in Georgia, Alabama, Virginia, Florida, West Virginia, and Kentucky. She currently resides in Troy, Alabama, with her husband Robert and has two daughters, Savannah and Madison. Savannah is a Band Director in her 5th year in Fayette County, Georgia, and Madison is a 3rd year General Music Teacher in Lowndes County, Georgia. (2023)