Anne McGinty is the most prolific woman composer in the field of concert band literature. Her many compositions and arrangements for concert band, string orchestra, flute, and flute ensembles (over 225 titles), all but one of which have been published, extend from the elementary through the professional level. More than 40 of these compositions were commissioned from bands in the United States. Ms. McGinty was also the first woman commissioned to write an original work for the United States Army Band. That composition, entitled "Hall Of Heroes", featured the US Army Band & Chorus and was premiered in March, 2000, with the composer conducting. She was also commissioned to write an original composition for the Bicentennial of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Entitled "To Keep Thine Honor Bright," it was premiered in September, 2001.

Ms. McGinty and John Edmondson formed Queenwood Publications in 1987 and were responsible for the creation, production, promotion, and international sales and distribution of Queenwood's catalog of concert band, jazz band and string orchestra music. They sold their company to the Neil A. Kjos Music Company in March, 2002, and are writing exclusively for them under the Queenwood/Kjos company name.

She began her higher education at The Ohio State University, where Donald McGinnis was her mentor, band director and flute teacher. She left OSU to pursue a career in flute performance, and played principal flute with the Tucson (Arizona) Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Pops Orchestra, and in the TSO Woodwind Quintet, which toured Arizona under the auspices of a government grant. When she returned to college, she received her Bachelor of Music, summa cum laude, and Master of Music from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she concentrated on flute performance, music theory and composition. She studied flute and chamber music with Bernard Goldberg and composition with Joseph Willcox Jenkins.

She is a life member of the National Flute Association and served on its Board of Directors. She taught flute at several colleges in the Mid-West, taught flute and chamber music to underprivileged children and was leader of a Royal American Regiment Fife and Drum Corps. She continued to perform professionally in orchestras, chamber groups and as a flute clinician for a manufacturer.

Although no longer performing as a flutist, Ms. McGinty remains well known as a flute choir specialist and was the first person to convince two major educational music publishers to publish a series for flute choir. As the flute editor at Hansen Publications in Miami Beach, Florida, she arranged and produced the first such flute choir series. She has composed and arranged music for solo flute, flute with piano accompaniment, flute duets, trios and quartets, as well as flute choirs.

She is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and has received annual composition awards since 1986. She received the Golden Rose Award from the Women Band Directors National Association and the Outstanding Service to Music Award from Tau Beta Sigma, a national honorary band sorority. She is listed in Who's Who of American Women and the International Who' SE Who in Music.

Ms. McGinty is also active as a guest conductor, clinician and speaker throughout the United States and Canada. She has conducted regional and all-state bands, given clinics at many state conventions and universities on band performance, literature and emotions in music, and has given speeches at state and national conventions, with many diverse topics, all of which are related to the performance and enjoyment of music and the values of music education.

Anne McGinty and Mr. Edmondson formed Queenwood Publications in 1987 and were responsible for the creation, production, promotion, and international sales and distribution of Queenwood's catalog of concert band, jazz band and string orchestra music. They sold their company to the Neil A. Kjos Music Company in March, 2002, and are writing exclusively for them under the Queenwood/Kjos company name.

Her other interests include weight lifting, reading murder mysteries, learning to play the bagpipes and nurturing her two cats, Starz and Stripes.

John Edmondson is known throughout the world for his more than 700 publications in the field of band and educational music. His contributions to the literature are accessible, enjoyable to perform and exciting to hear. Perhaps most importantly, his music has helped train the young musicians of today.

In addition to his achievements in educational music, he has written several hundred arrangements and compositions for various professional, military, college, and high school groups in the areas of marching band, concert band, jazz band, dance combos, and choral, as well as commercial television and radio jingles. This varied writing experience has brought a unique perspective to his educational writing.

A graduate of Sarasota (Florida) High School (1949), he received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Florida in 1955, majoring in music theory, with minors in English and sociology. After a two-year stint with the U.S. Army 8th and 9th Division Bands, he received his Master of Music in composition from the University of Kentucky in 1960, where he studied composition with Kenneth Wright and band scoring with R. Bernard Fitzgerald. He was the first recipient of the graduate degree from the university.

He taught public school music for 10 years in the Central Kentucky area, where he wrote extensively for his own students. During this same time, he free lanced as a writer for various university and high school marching bands, including seven years as Staff Arranger for the University of Kentucky Wildcat Marching Band. In addition to free lance composing and arranging, he was a professional trumpet player and pianist and developed his own educational publishing firm.

Following his teaching career, he was appointed Alfred Reed's successor as Educational Editor with Hansen Publications in Miami Beach, Florida, and remained in that position ten years. He was responsible for hundreds of publications, including works for concert band, marching band, the Fun-Way Band Method (co-authored with Paul Yoder), instrumental solo books and other instructional materials. From there he went to Wisconsin as Director of Concert Band Publications for Jenson Publications, adding several new works to his growing catalog.

Mr. Edmondson and Anne McGinty formed Queenwood Publications in 1987 and were responsible for the creation, production, promotion, and international sales and distribution of Queenwood's catalog of concert band, jazz band and string orchestra music. They sold their company to the Neil A. Kjos Music Company in March, 2002, and are writing exclusively for them under the Queenwood/Kjos company name.

John Edmondson was honored in 1991 as the recipient of the University of Florida, Department of Fine Arts, Music Department Alumni Achievement Award. He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and is listed in the International Who's Who of Music.

His interests include the study of philosophy and politico-economic theory.

Warren Barker was born in Oakland, California, Warren Barker attended the University of California a Los Angeles and later studied composition with Mario Castelnuevo-Tedesco and Henri Pensis. At the age of 24 he was appointed chief arranger for the National Broadcasting Company's prime musical program, "The Railroad Hour", a position he held for six years.

Barker has been associated with 20th Century Fox, Columbia and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios as composer-arranger-conductor for motion pictures and television. He has composed and conducted music for more than thirty different television series, including seven years as composer-conductor of the highly rated comedy series "Bewitched".

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honored him in 1970 for his original music written for the award winning series "My World and Welcome To It", based on the life of James Thurber. He was a member of the arranging staff for the Oscar winning motion picture "Hello Dolly". He also served as conductor-arranger and recording artist for Warner Bros. and Capital records.

Charles Carter has been composing and arranging band music for more than 45 years. His contributions to the concert band literature are numerous and well known; and his name is synonymous with creative quality music. He received the Bachelor of Music degree from Ohio State University and the Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Bernard Rogers and Wayne Barlow. When he was a senior at Ohio State he wrote his first symphonic band composition, which was performed in concert the next year.

After graduating from Eastman, he returned to Columbus, Ohio, and worked for the U.S. government. During this time he wrote dance band arrangements and played in dance bands and show bands. In the fall of 1951 he began arranging for the Ohio State marching band and was part time instructor of low brass. At that time Manley Whitcomb, the OSU Director of Bands, asked him to write another piece so that he could premiere it during the American Bandmasters Association meeting. In 1952 he wrote his first two compositions designed for the educational market. The titles were Metropolis and Overture In Classical Style, both eventually published by Bourne, Inc.

In 1953 Manley Whitcomb asked Mr. Carter if he wanted to go with him to Florida State University as his assistant. For the next 43 years Carter arranged for the various bands at FSU. During this time he continued to compose band pieces for the educational field and was also invited to guest conduct throughout the South and Mid-West. In 1984 he was presented with the Distinguished Service to Music award by Kappa Kappa Psi National Band Fraternity.

Mr. Carter is now retired from Florida State University but continues to compose and arrange for concert band.

Douglas Akey began his musical training in the public schools of Elmhurst, Illinois. He attended Arizona State University on a performance scholarship, earning a Bachelor of Music degree in Instrumental Music (1979) and a Master of Music in Solo Performance (1985). He also studied brass performance for two summers at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts in Alberta, Canada. He has studied horn with Carroll Simmons of the Grant Park (Chicago) Orchestra, William Strickland, a New York City free lance hornist, Ralph Lockwood of Arizona State University and Roland Pandolfi, Principal Hornist of the St. Louis Symphony.

Mr. Akey is in this tenth year as Director of Bands and Music/Drama Department Chairperson at Hendrix Jr. High School, Mesa, Arizona. He has taught junior high school band for eighteen years in the greater Phoenix area. He is in demand as a clinician and has directed many junior high and high school honor bands throughout the West. He has also presented sessions on young band literature and teaching techniques in Arizona, Colorado, Ohio and Wyoming.

In 1985, Mr. Akey received the Stanbury Award of the American School Band Directors Association as the outstanding young junior high school band director in the United States. Since that time, he has gone onto become recognized as an accomplished composer of school band music. His works have appeared on dozens of state contest lists and are performed by bands throughout the world. In 1996 he was honored as the National Federation of Secondary Schools Music Educator of the year for Section 7, which included Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah.

Mr. Akey is an active performer, having played with the Del Sol Brass Quintet and Arizona Brass Quintet as well as the Phoenix and Tucson Symphony Orchestras. He currently serves as principal hornist with the Tempe Symphony Orchestra.

Richard Meyer has been involved with music education for over 16 years. He received his Bachelor of Arts from California State University of Los Angeles and taught instrumental music at both the middle and high school levels in the Pasadena Unified School District for 12 years. Currently, he directs the orchestras at Oak Avenue Intermediate School in Temple City, California, and is in charge of the city's elementary school string program. Mr Meyer is in his eleventh year as conductor of the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra, a 90 piece honor orchestra composed of 7th, 8th and 9th grade students, which he has led in concerts in Vienna, Austria, Carnegie Hall, New York City and in Sydney, Australia.

Mr. Meyer has served as a guest conductor-clinician on many occasions throughout California, and has been a member of the Bellis Music Camp staff for 15 years. He has a variety of orchestral and band music in print. In 1989 his composition "Celebration" (written especially for the 1988 SCSBOA All Southern Honor Orchestra in California) won the National School Orchestra Association composition contest. Most recently, his "Geometric Dances" won the Texas Orchestra Directors Association composition contest.

In 1994 he was the recipient of the Outstanding Music Educator Award from the Pasadena Area Youth Music Council, and in 1997 received the Pasadena Arts Council Gold Crown Award for performing arts. He lives in Arcadia, California, with his wife and three daughters.