Potential new band director visits campus

Logan Hickman
Thu, 02 Apr 2015 04:38:42 +0000
Area, Campus, Local, News, Band Director, Corey Spurlin, job, jon waters, marching band, osu

Members of the OSU Marching Band perform at the College Football Playoff National Championship game on Jan. 12 in Arlington, Texas. Credit: Mark Batke / Photo editor

The Ohio State Marching Band seems one step closer to choosing a new director as finalists make campus visits.

Corey Spurlin, associate director of bands, marching band director and associate professor of music at Auburn University, is one finalist for the OSU director position. He met with members of the OSU spring athletic band, as well as the marching band, on Wednesday and Thursday, according to an email sent to band members from Scott Jones, associate director of university bands. That email was obtained by The Lantern on Wednesday.

The email said Spurlin’s visit included conducting the athletic band’s rehearsal Wednesday, followed by a question and answer period with athletic band members.

Band members’ feedback was set to be collected electronically afterward.

Spurlin was also scheduled to meet members of the 2014 OSU Marching Band during his visit.

The email said Spurlin’s visit is the “first of two campus visits for finalists.”

Another candidate is set to visit campus and participate in a similar itinerary of events next week, a current member of the marching band told The Lantern.

“The School of Music is considering a number of highly qualified candidates,” OSU spokesman Chris Davey said in an email Wednesday. “We look forward to when we will be able to make the exciting announcement of a new band director very soon.”

OSU originally said it expected the search process for a new director to wrap up by mid-February. Time constraints slowed the selection process last semester, Davey said in February.

The band’s previous director, Jonathan Waters, was fired after an OSU investigation found the band contained a sexualized culture.

Michael Huson contributed to this article.