Byron K. Graves

1984 -

Byron Graves, a clarinetist, is band director at Andrews University, a position he accepted in 2017. He previously taught as a task force music teacher at Union Springs Academy in New York, RMES, then full-time at Great Lakes Adventist Academy in Michigan, and Andrews Academy and Ruth Murdoch Elementary School in Berrien Springs Academy, the latter a position he held beginning in 2011.

Graves was born in Spangle, Washington, where his parents, Randy and Mary Ann Wines Graves, were teaching at Upper Columbia Academy. At age five his parents moved to New Market, Virginia, where he started piano lessons two years later. He also studied clarinet under Bruce Wilson, Shenandoah Valley Academy band director. When his parents moved to Berrien Springs, Michigan, seven years later, he continued study on both piano and clarinet.

Although Graves was home-schooled by his mother, he participated in music ensembles at Ruth Murdoch Elementary and Andrews Academy. After completing his studies at home, he enrolled at Andrews University in December 2002, where he studied clarinet with Phil Barham, Jonathan Gunn, and Jason Gresl, and piano with Peter Cooper.

Graves, a 2007 B.Mus. graduate of AU, with majors in clarinet performance and music education, completed an M.Mus. in instrumental conducting at Central Michigan University and a D.M.A. in music education at Boston University. While at AU he was a J.N. Andrews Scholar, inducted into membership in Pi Lambda Theta, a national honor society, and listed in Who's Who Among American College Students.

ds/2019

Sources: Information provided by Byron Graves, November 2010; Andrews Academy and Andrews University biographies, May 2012 and September, 2019; personal knowledge.