Music, Theatre and Dance Department Faculty

Professor Gary Corcoran is Director of Bands, teaches trumpet, instrumental music education, and coordinates the New England Band Directors Institute. Before coming to Plymouth State University in 1991, Dr. Corcoran held similar positions at Pittsburg State University in Kansas and Georgia State University in Atlanta, having taught previously in the public schools of Maine and Massachusetts. He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Maine and later earned his master's degree and doctorate at the University of Illinois, where he studied conducting with Dr. Harry Begian.

Dr. Corcoran is President of the New England College Band Association. He is the founder and past president of the New Hampshire Band Directors Association and is past president of the Eastern Division of the College Band Directors National Association. He is also past president of the Kansas Bandmasters Association and served on the Executive Board of that organization for 10 years. Dr. Corcoran is currently a member of the Board of Directors of International Gesellschaft zur Erforschung und Förderung der Blasmusik (the International Society for the Promotion and Investigation of Band Music). He was the founding editor of the CBDNA Report, an international publication for college band directors, and served for 10 years in that position, and now serves on the Editorial Board of the CBDNA Journal. Dr. Corcoran is also the author of The Addition System for Teaching and Learning Rhythm and is a contributing author for The Music Director's Cookbook: Recipes for a Successful Program.

In 1990, Dr. Corcoran was honored as the "Outstanding Band Director" by the Kansas Bandmasters Association. In 2002, he received the "Outstanding Band Director Award" presented by the New Hampshire Band Directors Association. Throughout his collegiate career, Dr. Corcoran has maintained a very close relationship with public school musicians assisting as a clinician and as a guest conductor with concert bands and orchestras. He conducts numerous bands each year and is very active as an adjudicator and clinician.