James Ripley
James C. Ripley is Professor of Music, and Director of Instrumental Music Activities at Carthage College. He also serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the Sakuyo Wind Orchestra at Sakuyo University in Kurashiki, Japan, where he was Music Director from 2001-2011. At Carthage, Dr. Ripley conducts the Wind Orchestra, Concert Band and the chamber winds group AMATI. He also teaches classes in conducting, teaching methods and psychoacoustics. Prior to his appointment at Carthage, Dr. Ripley served as Assistant Professor of Conducting and Ensembles at the Eastman School of Music, where he was the Associate Conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble and Wind Orchestra, and conductor of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble at the River Campus of the University of Rochester. In 2012, Dr. Ripley received the Carlo A. Sperati Award from Luther College for outstanding service in the field of instrumental music.
Dr. Ripley received his D.M.A. in conducting from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Donald Hunsberger. He has a M.M. in Wind Conducting from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and a B.A. in Music Education from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Former positions held by Dr. Ripley were as Associate Director of Bands at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, and as a clinical faculty member at Luther College. In addition, Dr. Ripley has taught for eleven years in the public schools of Minnesota and Iowa.
Mr. Ripley is an active arranger and editor of wind ensemble music. His performing edition of Howard Hanson’s Triumphal Ode for Military Band is published by Carl Fischer, and his arrangements for The Donald Hunsberger Wind Library are available through Warner Brothers Publications. He collaborated with Morton Gould on the completion of the American Ballads for band and has made editions of Gould’s American Patrol and Howard Hanson’s Pan and the Priest for chamber winds and piano. Current projects include work on historical editions of music by Healy Willan, Percy Grainger, and Leo Sowerby. He has authored several articles that have appeared in The Instrumentalist, Wind Works, BD Guide, and the Journal of Band Research.
His professional affiliations include the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (President), College Band Directors National Association (Music Education Committee), National Band Association, and the National Association for Music Education. Mr. Ripley has appeared as guest clinician and conductor throughout the United States, Canada, and Japan.
