Biography: Wayne R. Downey
Wayne Downey's life has been defined by his uncanny ability to invest his students wholly in the "Art of Making Music." His musical career includes his many years as Music Director, Brass Supervisor and Composer/Arranger for the 19-time DCI Champion Concord Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps from Concord, CA. Under his supervision as Brass Caption Head and Brass Supervisor the brass section has been awarded the Jim Ott Memorial Trophy for "Excellence in Brass Performance" for an unprecedented 23 times, more than any other brass section in the history of DCI.
Recognized as one of the finest brass teachers/clinicians and music composer/arrangers in the world, Mr. Downey played an active role as arranger and musical consultant for the Tony & Emmy Award-winning show "Blast", the All-Japan Marching Band Champion Soka Renaissance Vanguard, the DCA Champion Syracuse Brigadiers, the DCI Division II Champion Magic of Orlando and the award-winning Riverside City College RCC Marching Tigers.
In his role as program consultant, Wayne has guided Northmont High School (IN), Flower Mound High School (TX) and Ben Davis High School (IN), Union High School (OK) to the Bands of America Grand National Finals as well as The Woodlands HS Band from The Woodlands, Texas to the 3A National Championship. His crowning accomplishments in the world of marching band include guiding the Lassiter H.S. Band from Marietta, Georgia the Westfield H.S. Band from Houston, Texas and most recently The Woodlands HS Band to the coveted crown of Bands of America "Grand National Champion."
Marching Round Table Interview Listen to Wayne being interviewed by Marching Round Table.
Following the success of "Blast," Wayne brought his many years of experience to the stage shows "Shockwave," "Blast II," "CyberJam" and "Odyssey" as their musical director, arranger and member of their creative team. Along with fellow arranger Jim Prime, the League of American Theatres and Producers nominated Wayne Downey in the category of "Best Score" (Orchestrations) for the National Broadway Theater Awards for the touring production of "Blast." Other musical accomplishments include scoring instrumental cues for the 20th Century Fox film "The First 20 Million is Always the Hardest", Universal Pictures "American Pie: Band Camp" as well as UPN's television show "Veronica Mars".
Wayne's other pageantry experiences include coordinating the halftime shows for the BCS Championship, the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl and Gator Bowl for "Bowl Games of America," as well as conducting the Grand Finale massed band performances of Youth Music of the World's "New Year's Day Parade & Festival" in both Rome, Italy and London, England. His teaching experience includes a three year tenure as Marching Band Director of the San Jose State University "Marching Spartans."
Known for his work in educational music publishing, Wayne has served as an arranger/composer for Jenson Publications, Warner Bros/Columbia Pictures Publishing, Arrangers Publishing Co. Barnhouse Music Publishing and most recently XtremeBrass Music Publishing. Wayne co-authored the State of the Art Ensemble Techniques for Marching Band with his colleague Jack Meehan and co-authored the Yamaha Corp. of America's curriculum for the "Sounds of Summer" Music Camps with Jay Bocook, Tim Salzman and Jay Dawson. Wayne is currently clinician/endorser and design consultant with Conn-Selmer and King Ultimate Marching Brass.
The most recent addition to his educational offering is "XtremeBrass & Percussion," which is an educational website - www.xtremebrass.com - designed to improve the technical and performance skills of both brass & percussion performers alike. Featured on the site is Wayne's "Virtual Learning Center," with "CyberLesson" & "CyberClinic," which are "real time," "one on one" interactive video lessons/clinics via the Internet.
In 1991 Wayne was inducted into the Drum Corps International Hall of Fame for his contributions to the Drum & Bugle Corps activity as the musical director for the Concord Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps. Other honors include his induction into the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame and the Buglers Hall of Fame.
