Ashby Goldstein, Wind Ensemble Director
Ashby Goldstein, assistant professor, serves as the Director of Music Education and Bands at Carson-Newman University, where he teaches courses in music education. His responsibilities also include supervising student teachers and conducting the Carson-Newman concert and marching bands. Before joining the faculty at Carson-Newman, Mr. Goldstein taught music education courses and conducted concert ensembles as a Graduate Teaching Associate at The Ohio State University.
Mr. Goldstein has experience as a middle school, high school, and collegiate music educator. Under his direction, the Gifford Middle School bands performed at the Florida Music Educators Association Professional Development Conference, the University of Georgia’s Middle School Band Festival, the Music for All National Middle School Music Festival, and the National Band Association/College Band Directors National Association Southern Division Conference. During his tenure as the Director of Bands at Sebastian River High School, the Wind Symphony performed at the Western International Band Clinic and the marching band was awarded eight grand championships at various competitions in Florida and Georgia.
Mr. Goldstein has been awarded two Citations of Excellence from the National Band Association and was recognized as the 2014 Gifford Middle School Teacher of the Year, the 2020 Sebastian River High School Teacher of the Year. More recently, he received The Virginia A. Bridges Music Education Award and was acknowledged as an ‘Outstanding Graduate Associate in Music Education’ at Ohio State University. Mr. Goldstein has presented at the Florida, Texas, Georgia, Ohio, South Carolina, Virginia, and Indiana music education association conferences and is published in Contributions to Music Education. He is a highly sought-after clinician as a leader of professional development workshops for music educators in various school districts across the Eastern United States and has conducted honor bands in Florida, Georgia, and Montana. He is an active Florida Bandmasters Association adjudicator for both concert and marching band Music Performance Assessments.
Mr. Goldstein is currently ABD at The Ohio State University, where he is currently completing a Ph.D. in music education. He holds a bachelor’s degree in instrumental music education from Florida State University and a master’s degree in instrumental conducting from Southern Oregon University.
Dr. Eric Simpson, Symphonic Band Conductor
Dr. Eric Simpson serves as the Director of Bands/Associate Professor of Music Education at Maryville College. He earned a Bachelor of Music Education from Stetson University and a Master of Music degree in music education from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). He received his Ph.D. in music education from Florida State University, where he served as Clifford Madsen’s Graduate Assistant. His articles have been published in the Florida Music Director, the Instrumentalist, and the Journal of Music Teacher Education.
As director of bands, Simpson conducts the Tartanband: an ensemble of student instrumentalists who create vibrant performances in the wind and percussion medium. He also administers and teaches classes for the Bachelor of Music Education degree at Maryville College. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor of Music Education at Texas Christian University, where he was Coordinator of Instrumental Music Education, Associate Conductor of the university’s Concert Band, and was recognized as “Professor of the Year” in 2013. His professional career started in the public schools of Florida, where he taught at the same middle school at which he began his band journey.
