Charles Jackson

Dr. Charles R. Jackson is currently in his 44th year as a professional music educator and his first year as a Full-Time Lecturer in Music Education at Georgia State University’s School of Music in Atlanta, GA. In addition to his teaching responsibilities at the undergraduate and graduate levels, he supervises student teachers. He serves as the Faculty Advisor for the Georgia State National Association for Music Education Collegiate chapter. After serving 34 years as a Director of Bands in the public schools, Dr. Jackson retired in June of 2013 from the Cobb County School District. He began his position as a Part-Time Assistant Professor of Music at the Kennesaw State University (KSU) School of Music in August 2013. During nine years at KSU, he supervised student teachers, taught all Woodwind and Brass Techniques courses for all Music Education majors; the Instrumental Methods, Curriculum, and Materials course for Music Education majors with Instrumental (Band) concentration; and Music in Society for non-Music majors. From 2014 through 2022, he served as the Faculty Advisor for the KSU chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the world’s largest and oldest music fraternity.

Dr. Jackson served as the Georgia Music Educators Association District 12 Chairman, overseeing state and regional activities involving over 300 music faculty and over 24,000 music students. In the spring of 2013, he was one of 217 music educators selected as a quarterfinalist for the Music Educator Award conferred by the Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Foundation. Dr. Jackson served Music for All/Bands of America as the Organizing Chairman for the National Middle School Concert Band Festival in Indianapolis, IN, and as a guest speaker and clinician for the Directors’ Track at the week-long Summer Symposium at Ball State University for fifteen years. Dr. Jackson has served as a guest speaker and clinician for the Directors’ Track at the Western Carolina University Summer Symposium since 2017. In 2018, he presented a session at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago, IL. Other guest speaking engagements include the Directors’ Track at the Jacksonville State University Spirit Camp, the Summer Band Director Symposium at Kennesaw State University, and the Art of Teaching Music Summit in Atlanta, GA. He serves as a guest conductor for Honor Bands and Regional Bands in Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia. In addition, he serves as an adjudicator for bands and orchestras at the middle and high school levels in Tennessee, Indiana, and throughout Georgia.

Dr. Jackson’s collegiate music studies began in 1969 at the Miami-Dade Junior College in Miami, FL. He earned his Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Southern Mississippi (1979); his Master of Music Education degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1984); his Education Specialist degree from Georgia State University (1994); and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Education from the Shenandoah Conservatory (2008) with cognate areas of conducting and trumpet performance. Dr. Jackson is a principal author of Teaching Music Through Performance in Middle School Band, published by GIA; a contributing author for the InTune Magazine; and author of The Band Director’s Book of Secrets, published by Barnhouse Publishing. In April of 2016, he began his appointment as full-time conductor of the Cobb New Horizons Symphonic Band, a 98-member all-adult community band based in Cobb County, GA, a position he currently holds.

Honors include Nationally Registered Music Educator (MENC); Nationally Certified Music Educator (MENC); Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers (1991,1996, 2002, 2003, 2006); Teacher of the Year, Garrett Middle School (1997-98). Teacher of the Year, Dodgen Middle School (2004-2005). The State of Georgia officially recognized Dr. Jackson in 2003 with a Congressional Proclamation as a Georgia STAR teacher. In 2019, he received the Olin G. Parker Leadership Award for Georgia’s Province 33 of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity.

Dr. Jackson and his wife, Jane, live in Acworth, GA, and will celebrate their 42nd wedding anniversary in August of 2023. They have four children (Mary-39, Vince-37, Stephen-34, and Angela-23) and one grandson (Kasper- 10).