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Gordon W. Bowie, Ph.D.

Montgomery Village Community Band is proud to have as its Director, Dr. Gordon W. Bowie. He comes to us from the great state of Maine, having relocated to the Washington D.C. area in 1997. He left behind a 32 year career in music and music education.

His experience includes many years as Principal and Bass Trombonist of the Bangor Maine Symphony Orchestra and also as Conductor of the Bangor Band from 1985 to 1997. The Bangor Band is a semi-professional New England town band dating back to 1859 and said to be the second oldest continuous community band in the nation. Anyone familiar with march music will recognize the name "R. B. Hall." A specialty of the Bangor Band under Dr. Bowie's direction was the music of R. B. Hall, Maine's own march composer, who was a contemporary of John Philip Sousa. And, to add an extra bit of trivia, R. B. Hall also conducted the Bangor Band a century earlier. Gordon Bowie has also composed several marches, including the march, "U. S. S. MAINE" which was commissioned for performance at the christening of the Trident submarine SSBN 741, the U. S. S. Maine, in 1994.

Dr. Bowie holds a B.A. in Music from Colby College; a Masters in Music Education from the University of Colorado; and a Ph.D. in Music from the University of Maine. He is a member of the review board of On Line Trombone Journal at Indiana Wesleyan University as well as President of Serendipity Press, a publisher of brass and woodwind solo and ensemble music with nationwide distribution. He currently is performing on Bass Trombone with the National Concert Band of America, the Virginia Grand Military Band and the McLean Symphony.