Bryan Powell, DMA

Chief Program Officer

Dr. Bryan Powell joined the Music Will team in 2014. Prior to his role as Chief Program Officer, Bryan worked at the organization as both the Senior Director of Programs and the Director of Higher Education. Bryan also served as the Director of Programs for Amp Up NYC, a partnership between Berklee College of Music and Little Kids Rock. A former NYC public school music teacher, Bryan is an Assistant Professor of Music Education and Music Technology, and the Coordinator for the Recording Arts and Production degree at Montclair State University where teaches classes in music education, music technology, modern band, popular music, and directs the Montclair State University popular music ensemble. Since 2013, Bryan has also served as the Executive Director of the Association for Popular Music Education, an organization dedicated to promoting and advancing popular music at all levels of education.

Dr. Powell is the Past-Chair of the National Association for Music Education’s Special Research Interest Group for Popular Music Education, and is a current member of the International Society for Music Education’s Committee for the Popular Music Education Special Interest Group. Bryan is an in-demand clinician, having delivered modern band and popular music workshops at over 50 colleges and universities across the globe, and has presented at over 100 music education conferences, including providing keynote addresses at the 2015 Research in Popular Music Education Symposium in Huddersfield, England, the 2018 Mountain Lake Symposium, and the 2019 Iowa Music Educators Association conference. Bryan is also in demand as a modern band ensemble director, serving as a Director for the 2022 NAfME All-National Honors Modern Band Ensemble, the 2023 NAfME All-Eastern Division Honors Modern Band Ensemble, the 2022 New York City All-City Honors Modern Band Ensemble, the 2022 PMEA District 7 and 2023 PMEA District 8 All-District Honors Modern Band Ensemble, and the 2023 Missouri MEA All-State Popular Music Collective.

Bryan is a widely published researcher and author. He is the founding co-editor of the Journal of Popular Music Education, a peer-reviewed, academic journal. Bryan has co-edited several books including the Bloomsbury Handbook of Popular Music Education (Bloomsbury), Places and Purposes of Popular Music Education: Perspectives from the Field (Intellect), Teaching Instrumental Music: Perspectives and Pedagogies for the 21st Century
(Oxford University Press), and The Modern Band Handbook (OUP). Bryan also co-authored multiple books including Popular Music Pedagogies: A Practical Guide for Music Teachers (Routledge) as well as The Music Learning Profiles
Project: Let’s Take this Outside (Routledge). He has published over a dozen articles in peer-reviewed journals including: International Journal of Music Education; Journal of Music Teacher Education; International
Journal of Community Music;* Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education; Research Studies in Music Education, Music Education Research, Journal of Music, Technology and Education; Journal of Historical Research in Music Education; Update: Applications of Research to Music Education; Visions of Research in Music Education; @IASPM Journal; Education 3-13; Music Educators Journal; and Action Critique and Theory in Music Education. He also has authored multiple chapters in Oxford and Routledge Research Handbooks.

Bryan has a Bachelor of Music degree from Pepperdine University, a Master’s degree in Teaching from Chapman University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University. His research interests include popular music education, music technology education, and community music research.

Music will help us connect.