5 Questions with Faculty: Justin Miller

ALBANY, N.Y. (Sept. 6, 2022) — Justin Miller is the new director of the Marching and Pep Bands at UAlbany, and a lecturer in the Department of Music and Theatre. As director, a position that is now full time, he says he hopes to grow the bands by delivering engaging performances to audiences and recruiting new students.

Miller plays a number of different instruments including saxophone, trombone and tuba, but his specialty is euphonium — a type of brass horn that resembles a tuba but produces higher notes. Currently a candidate for a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in euphonium performance from George Mason University, his dissertation explores and expands the use of electronic timbre effects on the instrument that mimic guitar.

A native to the Madison, Wisconsin, area, Miller comes to the Capital Region after a teaching and performance career that’s taken him across the country. He has taught athletic bands at the high school and college level, serving as caption head for the Thomas Jefferson High School Marching Colonials in 2019, graduate fellow for the George Mason Green Machine Ensembles from 2017 to 2022, and as the brass caption head at the U.S. Naval Academy Drum and Bugle Corps from 2021 to 2022.

He’s also an active performer, and has performed for the George Mason Wind Symphony, George Mason Jazz Workshop Ensemble, George Mason Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble, Dirty Gold Brass Band, George Mason Brass Ensemble, 8th Division Civil War Band, New Vybe and the Green Machine Pep Band. He spent three years marching with the world class drum and bugle corps, The Cavaliers, and was one of the Horn Sergeants during the 2015 season. He was a featured performer at GMU’s Honors Recital in 2018 and at the U.S. Army Band Tuba and Euphonium Conference with the George Mason Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble in 2019.

Miller earned a bachelor’s degree in K-12 instrumental music education from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and a master’s in music performance with a concentration in euphonium from George Mason.

He lives in Schenectady with his wife, Leah, who is also a music educator, and dog, Wally.
 

I greatly enjoy working with collegiate marching and pep bands and I was looking for a position where I could direct a program. When I researched UAlbany’s program, I could easily see how much students enjoyed participating in the bands. When I was interviewing, I could clearly tell that UAlbany supported the bands and wanted to see them grow, which drew me to accept the position.
 

My primary goal for the bands this year is to make sure that our performances are energetic and engaging to our audience.
 

My first band instrument was actually the saxophone. I picked up euphonium in order to march in a drum and bugle corps which don’t include woodwind instruments. For anyone who isn’t familiar with a euphonium, it is shaped like a smaller tuba and has a similar range to a trombone. My favorite aspect of the euphonium is the flexibility. In a band setting, the instrument can play with nearly any other instrument and blend well. Euphonium can also play nearly any style of music.
 

Snarky Puppy’s Lingus. Watch a recording of Lingus here.

Snarky Puppy does a great job of blending styles to make their own sound and this song is one of the best examples. It also includes an absolutely incredible synth solo by Cory Henry. I particularly enjoy how he changes timbre, how something specifically sounds, on the fly throughout the solo to fit the mood.
 

I’ve lived in six different states: Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Virginia, Maryland and New York.

For my dissertation research I’ve worked on using guitar effects with my euphonium. I recorded an arrangement of  Kansas’s “Carry on Wayward Son” where I played all parts on euphonium, besides the drum set and keyboard, which I programmed. Watch his dissertation recital here.