Joseph A. Labuta

Joseph A. Labuta is Professor of Music and Director of Music Education at Wayne State University, Detroit,Michigan where he teaches conducting and music education courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Dr. Labuta has extensive background as a teacher in many areas of public school music conducting bands, orchestras and choruses. In addition to Wayne State, he had appointments as professor and director of bands at Central Methodist College and Shepherd College. He was appointed Fellow in Music at the University of Illinois where he earned his doctorate in Music Education. He serves frequently as a clinician, music consultant and adjudicator.

His highly acclaimed book, Teaching Musicianship in the High School Band, has become a standard reference for band directors. Since its publication in 1972, Dr. Labuta has led sessions on teaching musicianship in the band rehearsal at numerous conferences, workshops, and inservice clinics. Although it has been out of print for several years, this seminal work is available again in an updated, revised edition from Meredith Music Publications.

Dr. Labuta’s conducting text, Basic Conducting Techniques, was released recently in its third edition. This book has been adopted as a beginning conducting text by numerous colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Dr. Labuta has also published many articles on music education in professional journals and served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Research in Music Education. He has held positions as President and Research Chairman of the Michigan Music Educators Association.