Mr. Thomas R. Best

Thomas R. Best has served instrumental music for thirty-six years in the Tennessee public at Lenoir City High School, and at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga where he was assistant to the director of bands and instructor for a variety of methods courses and arranging classes.He has held several positions of leadership including seventeen years on the Tennessee Music Educators Association Board of Directors, President of the East Tennessee Band and Orchestra Association, president of the Tennessee Secondary Schools Band Directors, and President and Executive Secretary of the Phi Beta Mu honorary band fraternity, Tennessee chapter.In several national venues and state conventions, Mr. Best has been called upon to offer a variety of workshops and sessions addressing a broad range of new and emerging concepts in instrumental music, including special topic presentations for music education classes at several southern university schools of music.He is well published with articles appearing in local, regional and national print publications.Mr. Best is frequently called upon for a variety of regional and national adjudication and clinic assignments.He has been twice recognized by the Tennessee General Assembly, designated an Aide de Camp to the Tennessee House of Representatives, received the Tennessee Outstanding Achievement Award, the Sudler Order of Merit, the Music Educators National Conference Certificate of Excellence and the National Band Association Citation of Excellence.He additionally serves as the Director of Music for the East Tennessee Concert Band, a community based organization that has performed in Whitehall Court, London, England, for the Lord Lieutenant Mayor's New Year's Reception.