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Biography of Dr. Mark Watkins
Mark Watkins received his baccalaureate
from Brigham Young University and his masters and doctorate in five woodwind
instruments from Indiana University's School of Music with secondary areas
in music history and jazz studies. He has studied saxophone with C. Raymond
Smith (BYU–Provo), Eugene Rousseau (IU), Daniel Deffayet (of the Paris
Conservatory), and Yushi Ishiwata (of the Tokyo Conservatory); clarinet with
David Randall, Earl Bates, and Howard Klug; flute with Peter Lloyd and Kathryn
Lucas; oboe with Marc Lifschey; and bassoon with Rodney Ackman and Sidney
Rosenberg. While at Indiana University, Dr. Watkins was afforded the opportunity
to perform and study jazz and composition with David Baker and Dominic Spera.
Dr. Watkins
performs regularly on all five woodwinds but prefers saxophone in both classical
and jazz idioms. He has been a member of several professional ensembles including
the ER Big Band, the Jazz Arts Group Big Band, the Hard-Bop Saxophone Quartet,
and Swingset. He has participated in numerous CD recording projects including
a 1999 release with the HBSQ (Don’t Step On Your Neck) on the Sea Breeze
Jazz label. Concerning this CD, Jazz Times (5/00, p.194) states, "...Offers
a delightful variety of timbres, groupings and styles....perfectly executing
intense, no-nonsense jazz charts....employing clever, inventive arrangements,
and many of the improvised solos...soar." His latest CD project, Swingset:
My Favorite Things, on the Rock House Records label, was released in April,
2002.
Dr. Watkins’
most recent concert tour (July, 2001), with Swingset, the Brigham Young University–Idaho
faculty jazz group, included performances throughout Italy including Rome,
Terni, Sperlonga, Pescara, Spoletto, and L’Aquila. He is active as a
composer, publishing with Walrus Music and writing commissions for concert
band, jazz ensemble, solo, and chamber ensembles. He has been and is active
across the United States as a clinician and adjudicator on all five woodwinds
and in the classical and jazz styles.
His research into saxophone tone production
has lead to regional and national presentations and clinics at such events
as the 1998 Minnesota Music Educators Association Conference in Minneapolis,
the 1998 Biennial Conference of the North American Saxophone Alliance in Chicago,
the 1999 National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors’
National Symposium at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, the 2000 Idaho
Music Educators Association Conference in Idaho Falls, and the 2000 World
Saxophone Congress in Montreal, Canada. A three-part series of articles explaining
the usefulness of this research will be published in the 2002 and 2003 editions
of The Saxophone Symposium (Part 1 is currently available in Vol. 27, 2002).
Dr. Watkins has been an Associate Instructor at Indiana University, an Instructor at Brigham Young University, an Assistant Professor of Music at North Dakota State University, Director of Woodwind at Ricks College/BYU-Idaho, and is currently Director of Jazz Studies at Brigham Young University–Idaho in Rexburg.