New director of California ensemble chosen

The California Community Ensemble, a community band drawing members from California and across mid-Missouri, has a new director.

They will play under his direction at 7 p.m. Aug. 5 at the Moniteau County Fairgrounds, prior to the annual fair vespers service at 7:30 p.m.

In early 2018, Chris Small, Training and Events Manager for Missouri Community Action Network, assumed the duties of the director. Known in musical circles as Dr. Christopher A. Small, the new director appears to be well suited to be the ensemble director.

He follows the former director, Phil Lewis, who served the community in many ways, not the least of which was the as director of the ensemble. Lewis relinquished his directorship of the ensemble when he relocated to St. Joseph.

Small, a native of Warrensburg, grew up surrounded by musical influences from his earliest years. He attended the University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, as a euphonium major, where he played and sang in virtually every ensemble within the department of music. He taught instrumental music in several Missouri schools before moving into school leadership roles.

Small has been a featured euphonium soloist with the Sedalia and Marshall Symphonies; University of Central Missouri Concert Band; the Gulf Coast Wind Symphony; the Greater New Orleans Civic Band; and the Pensacola, Florida, Community Band.

Notable performances with those groups have included multiple engagements on the Independence, Kansas, and Overland Park, Kansas, Concert Series; Missouri Music Educators Association annual conference (twice); the Kansas Music Educators Association annual conference; Missouri Western University Recital Series; William Jewell College Concert Series; and the International Tuba and Euphonium Association Regional Symposium in St. Paul, Minnesota.

He has played in the euphonium master classes of Brian Bowman, Skip Gray, Earle Louder and Dennis Winter. In 1987, he earned the "Distinguished Young Artist" certificate at the National Brass Summit in Aspen, Colorado, hosted by the Summit Brass Ensemble.

He was a founding member of both the Western Missouri British Brass Band and the Mid-America Tuba and Euphonium Quartet.

Small was assistant conductor of the Gulf Coast Wind Symphony, a dedicated performance ensemble drawing members from and serving communities throughout the greater gulf coast region, from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Pensacola, Florida, during the 1994-95 season.

He received his Ph.D. in educational leadership and research from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1995, where he was the Ratton-Credo Education Research Fellow, liaison to the Fulbright Scholars Program, and played in the famed Southern Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble.

Small earned bachelor's, master's and education specialist degrees from the University of Central Missouri, where he received the Lovinger Graduate Scholar designate.

He maintains professional memberships in the Missouri Association of School Administrators, Missouri Music Educators Association, International Tuba and Euphonium Association, and the Missouri Bandmasters Association, among others.

Over the past 27 years, Small has served as graduate adjunct professor of educational leadership for Southwest Baptist University, William Woods University, Mid-America Nazarene University, Park University, and Columbia College.

He plays a Willson 2950 euphonium, King 4B Symphony trombone, and a Getzen 4-Valve Eterna flugelhorn.