Dr. Barbara McLain has succeeded Dr. Matthew Williams as the Music Director for the Tucson New Horizons bands.
Dr. McLain retired from her position as a Professor of Music Education at the University of Hawaii – Manoa in 2017. At the University of Hawaii, she was the founder and director of the Online Master of Arts Degree program in Music Education, the first accredited graduate distance learning program in music in the U.S. Prior to her appointment in Hawaii, she was a member of the music education faculty at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and taught instrumental and vocal music in the public schools of Arizona, Illinois, and Indiana.
Dr. McLain is an active adjudicator, clinician, author and has served in a variety of leadership positions including: President of the Western Division of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), President of the Hawaii Music Educators Association, National Collegiate Chair for NAfME, editor for the Leka Nuhou Bulletin of the Hawaii Music Educators Association, and on the Editorial board for Teaching Music. She is a proud recipient of a national Lowell Mason Fellows award for excellence in music education.
Dr. McLain has presented national and international conference sessions, most notably in Nashville, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Washington, D.C and Phoenix and for state MEA conferences in Utah, California, Arizona, Nevada, Ohio, North Carolina and Hawaii. She has numerous guest conducting appearances to her credit in Canada, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Connecticut, Virginia and Hawaii. She has published several books, and her articles have appeared in professional journals including Update, The Journal of Asynchronous Learning, CRME Bulletin, NASM Proceedings, The Instrumentalist, the Music Educators Journal, the Journal of the College Band Directors National Association, College Music Society Symposium, New Ways, T.U.B.A. Journal, and Triad.
She received a B.M.E. degree from Augustana College, Rock Island, IL; a M.M. degree from the University of Arizona, and the Ph.D. degree from The Ohio State University. She lives in Tucson, Arizona with her two obnoxious and lovable dogs.