In
the fall of 1988, Roger Garrett was selected from over 200
applicants to become the
full time clarinet professor at in
Bloomington, Illinois, where his duties included teaching the ,
conducting the Symphonic Winds, and teaching the Fundamentals of
Conducting Classes. He retired as Associate Professor of
Clarinet and Conducting Emeritus in the summer of 2020 In addition to overseeing all aspects of the Titan Band between 1988 and 2000, other duties have included teaching Marching Band Practicum, Chamber Music coaching, student coaching for the Titan Band, and 14 years of managing and advising the Illinois Wesleyan University Recording Studio. Prior to accepting his position at Illinois Wesleyan University, Mr. Garrett taught instrumental music and general music in the public schools of Longview, Washington, and Bozeman, Montana.
Professor Garrett graduated With Distinction from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor with multiple degrees in Music Education. As part of the Ph.D. Program, his cognates included extensive study in the areas of clarinet performance and instrumental conducting. Professor Garrett has guest conducted throughout the state of Illinois as well as in Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Colorado and even transcontinental in Sweden. His conducting teachers have included H. Robert Reynolds, Elizabeth Green, Donald Schliecher, and Carl St. Clair. Besides his conducting activities, Mr. Garrett’s wind band editions and full scores have been published by Boosey & Hawkes Music, Inc., Ballerbach Music, and Roncorp Music Inc. During
his retirement year, Mr. Garrett painstakingly listened to and
chose live performances from the 32 years and over 200 concerts
of Concert Band and Symphonic Winds performances to represent
his bands at IWU. This is a professionally recorded and edited
two Compact Disc recording with a booklet containing extensive
concert notes, history of the band program at IWU, pictures, and
discussion of the Concert Band's evolution from a fledgling 19
piece concert band to a 96 piece group that eventually became a
60 piece wind ensemble. This recording is available, and
contains titles such as Symphony No. 6 for Band by Vincent
Persichetti, The Gum Sucker's March by Percy Grainger, Blue
Shades by Frank Ticheli, Divertimento for Band by Vincent
Persichetti, Armenian Dances Pt. I by Alfred Reed, Toccata and
Fugue in D minor by Bach, William Byrd Suite by Gordon Jacob and
Suite No 2 in F for Military Band by Gustav Holst. These
represent only half of the selections from Mr. Garrett's CD 30
Year Retrospective.
Mr. Garrett began his clarinet performance career at the age of seventeen as a guest soloist with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra. He has since performed within the ranks of several professional orchestras, including the Oregon Symphony, the Ann Arbor Symphony and Ann Arbor Chamber Orchestra, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Illinois Chamber Orchestra, and the Peoria Opera Orchestra. He is currently Principal Clarinetist of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra in Peoria, Illinois.
A basset horn and low clarinet specialist, Mr. Garrett has performed basset horn trios with members of the Chicago Symphony Clarinet section. He has also performed chamber music with such ensembles as the Milwaukee Symphony wind section, the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra Wind section, and the Colorado Music Festival Chamber Ensemble. His compact disc entitled Extended Clarinets!, released by NOViTAS Records, features Mr. Garrett performing chamber music with clarinetists of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, former members of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, Seattle Opera Orchestra, Oregon Symphony Orchestra, and Eugene Symphony Orchestra. This compact disc includes published arrangements by Mr. Garrett, such as Zwölfen Variations for Three Clarinet and Bass Clarinet (originally for piano) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as well as his setting for clarinet choir of St. Paul’s Suite for String Orchestra by Gustav Holst. In 1998, Mr. Garrett was honored by Boosey & Hawkes, distributors of Buffet Clarinets, by accepting a position with the prominent clarinet makers and distributors as a Buffet Performing Artist. Up until that 2020, Mr. Garrett performed exclusively on Buffet clarinets. In 2020, Mr. Garrett selected two beautiful A and Bb clarinets from the Yamaha CSVR Custom Clarinet Line to replace his aged Buffet A and Bb clarinets. After a bind test in the auditorium, he elected to move to the Yamaha platform of soprano clarinets, and Yamaha endorsed him as a Yamaha Performing Artist.
Mr. Garrett is well known internationally for his custom made clarinet and bass clarinet mouthpieces--many of which are used in professional orchestras throughout the world. An avid woodworker, Professor Garrett’s handmade reed cases for clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, bassoon and contrabassoon are currently offered in several international music supply catalogues and in stores across the United States. His custom made conducting batons, created individually in his shop at home, have been purchased and used by professional conductors across the United States, England, Canada, Germany, Australia, and China, and are used by university students in conducting classes throughout the United States.
