by Dana Swanson

ΤΒΣ ΤΒΣ ΤΒΣ ΤΒΣ ΤΒΣ National Council Honors National Council Honors National Council Honors National Council Honors National Council Honors David L Catron with Paula Crider Award David L Catron with Paula Crider Award David L Catron with Paula Crider Award David L Catron with Paula Crider Award David L Catron with Paula Crider Award

by Dana Swanson ΤΒΣ National Vice President for Educational Programs

David Catron, Professor of Music and Associate Director of the Michigan State University School of Music, is the recipient of the 2002 Paula Crider Award. Catron was nominated by the Zeta Epsilon Chapter of Tau Beta Sigma and was presented with the award at “The Huddle,” the Spartan Marching Band’s annual banquet, held February 22 in East Lansing, Michigan.

A Missouri native and graduate of Western State College in Colorado, Catron began his teaching career in Kansas before coming to MSU in 1970 as Assistant Director of Bands, where he conducted concert band, basketball band, and the popular Spartan Marching Band. In 1974, he was named Director of Bands at Wichita State University, where he was credited with reviving the WSU band program. While in Wichita, he was the sponsor of the Alpha Mu Chapter. In 1979, he returned to Michigan State University as Associate Director of Bands and Director of the MSU Summer Youth Music Camps, and was sponsor of the Zeta Epsilon Chapter. During this time, he elevated the status of the Spartan Marching Band from halftime show to main event. In 1988 he became Associate Director of the School of Music. In 2002 he will be retiring from MSU.

I first met Dave Catron twenty years ago this July, and still remember that day as if it were yesterday; I must have known it was a turning point in my life, even at the age of seventeen. We were in New York City, about to embark on a European concert tour. I was a musician, and he was the conductor. I was a shy, introverted farm kid who hadn’t done much yet in life. He was a college band director at some Big Ten school I’d never heard of. Over the next three weeks I became a different person. I found my self-confidence. I found my sense of purpose. I found someone who believed in my potential, and encouraged me to reach for the stars. It is in no small part due to his support that I am now a national officer in Tau Beta Sigma.

When I heard that Dave was retiring, I felt a deep sense of loss. He has been a fixture in the MSU School of Music for the majority of his career, and has impacted thousands of music educators during those years. He has exactly the right combination of professionalism and personality to make students respond to their fullest potential. I have modeled my own teaching methods on those I’ve gleaned from him.

Dave, I know I speak for all Spartan Marching Band alumni and students when I say, “We’ll miss you.”

ΤΒΣ National Vice President for Educational Programs Dana Swanson presents the Paula Crider Award to MSU’s David Catron as Zeta Epsilon President Sarah Vining looks on.

Paula Crider Paula Crider Paula Crider Paula Crider Paula Crider

Paula Crider began her affiliation with Tau Beta Sigma as an under graduate at the University of Southern Mississippi where she was an active member of the Beta Kappa Chapter and served as chapter president During her tenure at the University of Texas she served as Beta Gamma sponsor She has also served the sorority as National Pro fessional Relations Officer and in was awarded its highest honor the Outstanding Service to Music Award by the National Chap ter Paula began her teaching career in the public schools and holds the distinction of having been the first female in the state of Texas to serve as Director of Bands at a Class A high school She went on the become a highly acclaimed di rector at the University of Texas where she was named Di rector Emeritus of the University of Texas Longhorn Bands In she became only the third woman to be elected to membership in the prestigious American Bandmasters As sociation

The Paula Crider Award was created by Tau Beta Sigma in to honor outstanding university band directors who have distinguished themselves in the field of university bands and who have been supportive of the sorority and its ideals