In the fall of 2023, Dr. Eric Scott will begin his appointment as Director of Bands at Indiana State University, where he will conduct the ISU Wind Orchestra, as well as teach courses in conducting and music education. Most recently, Dr. Scott spent two years serving as Visiting Assistant Director of Bands at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM), where he assisted with all facets of the USM band program, taught courses in the undergraduate conducting curriculum, as well as conducted the Concert Band and the University Band. In addition, Dr. Scott was responsible for coordinating annual recruitment activities, including the All-South Marching Band Day, All-South Drum Major and Guard Camp, and the Lion’s All-State Band Audition Workshop, recruitment events which brought hundreds of high school students to campus annually.

Highlights from his conducting career include guest conducting the USM Wind Ensemble at the 2022 Mississippi Bandmasters Conference and collaborating with the ~Nois Saxophone Quartet at the 2023 North American Saxophone Alliance Conference. Off the podium, highlights include a premiere performance of his transcription of “SkyLine” from City Scapes by Jennifer Higdon by the Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble and an interview with composer Augusta Read Thomas. Current projects include a wind ensemble transcription of Blue Hour Skyline by Kevin Day, which will be premiered in the fall of 2023. He has been a consortium member for new works by composers Joni Greene, Ivette Herryman Rodriguez, and Aaron Perrine. He is currently the consortium lead for two new wind ensemble works: a grade three composition by New York composer, Anthony Barfield, and a wind setting of Coincident Dances by Jessie Montgomery, the Mead Composer-in-Residence of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to being an advocate for living composers, Dr. Scott’s scholarship interests include ‘Entartete Music,’ music that was banned in Nazi Germany, with specific focus on the works of Erwin Schulhoff. In addition to presenting a lecture recital on Schulhoff’s music, he recently presented a session on Schulhoff’s Hot Sonata at the North American Saxophone Alliance Conference. As an advocate for music education, he has presented professional development sessions at the Mississippi Bandmasters Association and worked with numerous band programs throughout the region.

A Tennessee native, Dr. Scott spent a decade as a public school teacher in the greater Nashville area. Highlights from his teaching career include wind ensemble performances in the Atlanta Symphony Hall, a performance in the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade, consistent state and regional marching distinctions, and a featured performance at the opening session for the 2015 National Association for Music Education (NAfME) National Conference.

Dr. Scott holds a Doctorate in Wind Conducting at Northwestern University, where he was a conducting student of Dr. Mallory Thompson, a Master’s in Wind Conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, where he studied conducting with Steven D. Davis, and a Bachelor of Music Education from Middle Tennessee State University. Dr. Scott is a member of the Mississippi Bandmasters Association, American School Band and Orchestra Association, National Association for Music Education, and the College Band Directors National Association. In his free time, Dr. Scott enjoys hiking and photographing the U.S. National Parks, as well as spending time with his partner, Noah, and their two lovable rescue dogs, Tucker and Squiggles.