Crow Receives Awards For Band Service

  Over a decade after his retirement as a public school band director, Stanley Crow received two prestigious awards during the 2007-08 year from the current Mississippi band directors.

  Selected as the “2007 Phi Beta Mu Outstanding Contributor to Mississippi Bands,” he was presented the award at the Mississippi Bandmasters Association in December. Several past recipients of the prestigious award include collegiate band directors such as former Mississippi State University Band Director Kent Sills and former Delta State University and Lions Band Director Gary Cook.

  During the spring academic year, Mr. Crow was inducted into the North Mississippi Hall of Fame during the Northeast Band Clinic.

    Born December 8, 1946, Mr. Crow grew up in Ruleville. He began his band career in the sixth grade as a clarinet player under the direction of William Harry Clark. After a year, David Young became his band director and remained so until his high school graduation.

  Mr. Crow graduated from Mississippi State University (BME) in 1969. There he participated in the Famous Maroon Band under Prof. West, Dr. Pete Crowder, and Dr. Kent Sills. He was also a member of the Clarinet Choir, directed by Dr. Warren Lutz, and was a staff member of the MSU Band Camp during his college years and for several years afterwards.

  A rare event among band directors, Mr. Crow became band director of the Water Valley High School Band and remained so for twenty-eight years. During these years he had many successful bands, with the band growing from sixteen in the high school band to one hundred and seventeen at its peak. His wife, Becky, was his assistant during twenty of those years.

  He was one of the founders of the I-55 Band Clinic, which he served as president for two terms, and he was also president of the Northeast MS Band Directors Association.

  He received his Master of Music from Ole Miss. During his career he had numerous student teachers in his program, and was a Star Teacher. He was a member of the staffs at Northeast Community College and Itawamba Community College Band Camps for many years. In 1989 he received the “George Henry Schultz Award.”

  While Mr. Crow’s main focus since retirement has been band instrument repair, he and Becky were chaperones for the Oxford Band for three years while their son, Michael, a 3-year Lions Band Member, was in the band. After their son’s graduation, they continued to chaperone (including a trip to Disney last year), load the equipment truck, and kept a repair kit handy. Mr. Crow as also a long time substitute band director at Hernando and Oxford Middle Schools, and has served as a woodwind consultant at South Panola and Lafayette Schools. He has also helped Keith Sanders with fall rental programs in North Mississippi for Amro Music. The Crow Family are charter members of the Oxford Community Band.    He is active in First Baptist Church, he is a member of the hand bell choir and a deacon.

  In May of 2003, Mr. Crow was asked by the Town and Country Garden Club to direct the organization of a community band for the Watermelon Carnival in Water Valley. The organization caught on and has completed its thirteenth session. The band is comprised of local community members, former students, current as well as retired band directors, and a few members from surrounding communities.

  Mr. Crow is currently serving on the Lions Band Committee as one of the representatives of District 20-0. Last year he served as Chairman of that committee which has the task of appointing a new director and helping obtain the funding for new uniforms.

  “With all these prestigious accomplishments, honors and awards, though, Mr. Crow’s crowning glory is the influence he has had on the many young people who have passed though his programs during his years of service as a band director, clinician, and friend,” stated former student, Jim Shearer, Professor of Music, New Mexico State University.