Dr. Thomas Bough joined the faculty of Northern Illinois University in the fall of 2005 as
the Director of Athletic Bands. He also conducts the Wind Symphony and teaches
courses within the music education curriculum. Bough holds MM and DMA degrees in
Tuba Performance from Arizona State University, where he was a student of Sam
Pilafian and Dan Perantoni. He holds the degree Bachelor of Science in Music
Education from Missouri State University, where he was active in both vocal and
instrumental music. From 1999 - 2005 Bough served as the Assistant Director
of Bands and Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Southern Illinois University in
Carbondale, Illinois, and from 1992-1999 as the Band Director at
Westwood High School in Mesa, Arizona.
Dr. Bough’s diverse performance background includes wind bands, brass bands,
orchestras, chamber music, jazz bands, Dixieland, the Walt Disney World All American
College Band and the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps. He is a Yamaha
sponsored artist, and performs on the Yamaha 822 CC tuba and Yamaha 822 F tuba.
Bough has contributed more than a dozen articles and hundreds of new music reviews to
the Instrumentalist magazine as well as articles to three volumes of the Teaching Music
Through Performance series as well as Teaching Music Through Performance in Jazz.
Dr. Bough is an active conductor, arranger, composer, clinician, and adjudicator for both
concert band and marching band, with dozens of appearances per year to his credit across
the United States. He has presented workshops at the Midwest Clinic, the U.S. Army
International Tuba-Euphonium Conference, three MENC multi-state regional
conventions, as well as Music Educators Association State Conventions in Illinois,
Arizona, Iowa, Tennessee, Alaska, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Colorado and Nebraska.
Much of his recent travel has focused on presenting his new supplemental method book
for band, The Band Boot Camp, to students across the United States.
Visit Dr. Bough's and the Downbeat Design Teams new website:
http://downbeatdesignteam.com/web.aspx?