Reid Wixson
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This is Mr. Wixson's twentieth year of teaching and each year just keeps getting more fulfilling, more rewarding, and more musically satisfying.
He graduated from St. Olaf College in 2003 and from the University of St. Thomas with a Masters in Instrumental Music Education in 2010. In 2018, Reid was invited to speak at the acclaimed 'Midwest Clinic' on the topic of repertoire selection and he continues to be a force for change as music education moves towards a more inclusive body of concert repertoire. Reid recently co-chaired the Minnesota Music Educators Association Equity Task Force which produced a set of guidelines to help music educators choose repertoire for pedagogical and performance performances (see below for more on that!). Most notably, Mr. Wixson was recently honored as the 2019-2020 Minnesota Music Educator of the Year by the Minnesota Music Education Association (MMEA) and was a candidate for the 2022 Minnesota Teacher of the Year.
Mr. Wixson is the co-founder of the Black Composer Revival Consortium. This project focuses on bringing historically overlooked Black American composers into the high school band and orchestra classrooms through arrangements done by contemporary Black American composers. The consortium has premiered two works and a third is on it's way! You can learn more about the Black Composer Revival Consortium here: https://blackcomposerrevivalconsortium.weebly.com/.
As a guest conductor, Mr. Wixson can be seen frequently filling in for GTCYS or for district honor bands. In addition to directing the groups at Southwest, this year Mr. Wixson has joined the conducting team at the Minnesota Youth Jazz Bands, where he will be leading MYJB3, the first time that group has existed since the pandemic.
This is his tenth year at Southwest and prior to teaching in Minneapolis, Mr. Wixson taught in Eden Prairie, Lakeville, and Burnsville. From 2010-2013, both he and his wife taught at the American School of Bombay in Mumbai, India where she taught elementary music and he directed the 6-12 grade band program.
It was in Mumbai that their son was born. They love to travel, (recently venturing down to Ireland in June 2022), enjoy spending time outdoors, biking, fishing and canoeing around the lakes here in Minneapolis and at the family cabin in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, and getting together with friends. Their daughter was born in the spring of 2016 and they are now a happy family of four. Both kids happily attend Clara Barton Elementary School in the Kingfield neighborhood where they live.
They love their life here in South Minneapolis and enjoy frequently seeing members of the SWHS Performing Arts community while out and about.
He graduated from St. Olaf College in 2003 and from the University of St. Thomas with a Masters in Instrumental Music Education in 2010. In 2018, Reid was invited to speak at the acclaimed 'Midwest Clinic' on the topic of repertoire selection and he continues to be a force for change as music education moves towards a more inclusive body of concert repertoire. Reid recently co-chaired the Minnesota Music Educators Association Equity Task Force which produced a set of guidelines to help music educators choose repertoire for pedagogical and performance performances (see below for more on that!). Most notably, Mr. Wixson was recently honored as the 2019-2020 Minnesota Music Educator of the Year by the Minnesota Music Education Association (MMEA) and was a candidate for the 2022 Minnesota Teacher of the Year.
Mr. Wixson is the co-founder of the Black Composer Revival Consortium. This project focuses on bringing historically overlooked Black American composers into the high school band and orchestra classrooms through arrangements done by contemporary Black American composers. The consortium has premiered two works and a third is on it's way! You can learn more about the Black Composer Revival Consortium here: https://blackcomposerrevivalconsortium.weebly.com/.
As a guest conductor, Mr. Wixson can be seen frequently filling in for GTCYS or for district honor bands. In addition to directing the groups at Southwest, this year Mr. Wixson has joined the conducting team at the Minnesota Youth Jazz Bands, where he will be leading MYJB3, the first time that group has existed since the pandemic.
This is his tenth year at Southwest and prior to teaching in Minneapolis, Mr. Wixson taught in Eden Prairie, Lakeville, and Burnsville. From 2010-2013, both he and his wife taught at the American School of Bombay in Mumbai, India where she taught elementary music and he directed the 6-12 grade band program.
It was in Mumbai that their son was born. They love to travel, (recently venturing down to Ireland in June 2022), enjoy spending time outdoors, biking, fishing and canoeing around the lakes here in Minneapolis and at the family cabin in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, and getting together with friends. Their daughter was born in the spring of 2016 and they are now a happy family of four. Both kids happily attend Clara Barton Elementary School in the Kingfield neighborhood where they live.
They love their life here in South Minneapolis and enjoy frequently seeing members of the SWHS Performing Arts community while out and about.