Mr. A. R. Barker

Mr. A. R. Barker - Tidewater Winds Sousa Impersonator
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A. R. Barker as John Phillip Sousa
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A. R. Barker - Sousa Impersonator

Mr. Barker was the band's first librarian when The Tidewater Winds was founded in 1985 and held this position for two years, He returned to The Tidewater Winds in 2000 and served two more seasons as the band librarian.He is now our "Sousa" Impersonator, conducting well known Sousa marches at Tidewater Winds Concerts.

A native of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Mr. Barker graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1966 with a B.M.E. in Music Education and subsequently joined the U.S. Army.While at UNM, he was the band librarian and bass trombonist of the University Concert Band under the direction of William E. Rhoads (Rhoads was a classmate of Dr. Sidney Berg at the University of Michigan), and the University Orchestra.He attended the Armed Forces School of Music at the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base - Little Creek, Virginia from 1966 to 1967 (Our Conductor, Alberto Asercion, was one of Mr. Barker's instructors) and was later a member and band librarian of 4th Army Band - 97th Army Band based at Fort Sill, Oklahoma from 1967 to 1969.He returned to the University of New Mexico where he received his M.M.E. in Music Education in 1971.He was the Director of Bands at Zachary Taylor Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico from 1971 to 1978.While in Albuquerque he was Bass Trombonist for four years with The Albuquerque (Later - New Mexico) Symphony Orchestra

Mr. Barker returned to Hampton Roads, Virginia in 1978 and was the Director of Bands at Northside Middle School in Norfolk, Virginia retiring from this position in 1996 after 18 years.He was a co-founder of the Tidewater Brass Ensemble and has performed and conducted with the Tidewater Community Band and the Princess Anne County Community Band.

He currently holds memberships in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Beta Mu and Pi Kappa Lambda Music Fraternities and is a former member of the Virginia Music Educators Association.He is currently a free-lance bass trombonist and private music instructor in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area.