The College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) began holding

national conferences in 1941, and the organization's six divisions have held biennial conferences on alternating years beginning in 1950. The CBDNA Statement of Purpose specifies, "CBDNA is committed to serving as a dynamic hub connecting individuals to communities, ideas and resources." The regional and national conferences are one of the strongest means to that end. This study presents a history and documentation of the events of the College Band Directors National Association Western/Northwestern Divisional Conference held in Reno, Nevada from 1990 to 2016. The events leading up to the first conference are reported. The details of the clinics and concerts are chronicled to provide a foundation for analyses of various trends and threads regarding number and types of ensembles that performed, types and content of clinics presented, trends in repertoire selection, details of featured composers and commissions, and a discussion of gender disparity across all of these facets.

The 14th Army Band of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) occupied a unique role as the longest activated all-female military band unit in the United States. Carrying forth the lineage of the 400th Army Service Forces Band, which was the first of five all-female WAC bands organized during World War II, the ensemble was reconstituted and activated as the 14th Army Band (WAC) on August 16, 1948 at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. After six months of training, the band was relocated first to Fort Lee, Virginia on March 5, 1949, and then to Fort McClellan, Alabama on August 5, 1954.

Operating under the command of twelve female officers and three enlisted band leaders during its history, the 14th Army Band (WAC) performed extensively throughout the United States while simultaneously providing musical support for military and civilian functions at its home duty stations. Able to advantageously promote the novelty of its uniqueness as an all-female ensemble to attain celebrity-like exposure, the band impressed audiences with its high level of musical proficiency, entertaining versatility, and military professionalism.

To document women’s roles as instrumental musicians and to fill gaps in American band and music education histories, this study examines the organizational developments, key leaders, musical training, repertoire, and mission-related activities of the 14th Army Band (WAC) from the time it arrived at Fort Lee in 1949 until its final performance at Fort McClellan on May 14, 1976.

Prior to World War II, females were not permitted to participate in military bands in America. The women of the 14th Army Band (WAC) proved, however, that they were more than capable of fulfilling the Army’s musical mission, and as role models, they paved the way for the participation of all females in American military bands today.

In this study, I uncover the coded meanings of "urban" within the music education profession through an exploration and analysis of the discourse present in two prominent music education journals, Music Educators Journal (MEJ) and The Journal of Research in Music Education (JRME). Using critical discourse analysis (CDA), I investigate how the term "urban" is used in statements within a twenty-year time span (1991-2010), and how the words "inner-city," "at-risk," "race," and "diversity" are used in similar ways throughout the corpus. An in-depth examination of these five terms across twenty years of two major publications of the profession reveals attitudes and biases within the music education structure, uncovering pejorative themes in the urban music education discourse. The phrase "urban music education" is rarely defined or explained in the corpus examined in this study. Rather, the word "urban" is at times a euphemism. Based on a CDA conducted in this study, I suggest that "urban" is code for poor, minority, and unable to succeed. Relying on the philosophical ideas of Michel Foucault, I uncover ways in which the profession labels urban music programs, students, and teachers and how the "urban music education" discourse privileges the White, suburban, middle class ideal of music education. I call for an evaluation of the perceptions of "success" in the field, and advocate for a paradigm shift, or different methods of knowing, in order to provide a more just teaching and learning space for all music education actors.