Reginald Adrian McDonald, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, currently serves as Director of Bands, and Associate Professor of Music at Tennessee State University. In 2015, Dr. McDonald was promoted to Director Bands following a successful four-year period as Acting Director Bands beginning in 2011. Prior to his appointment as Associate Director of Bands/Assistant Professor of Music at Tennessee State University in 2001, Dr. McDonald served as Director of Bands at McNair Middle School in College Park, Georgia from 1991 to 1996 and Director of Bands/Music Department Chairman at Southwest Dekalb High School in Decatur, Georgia from 1996 to 2001. During his public-school tenure, Dr. McDonald’s middle school and high school bands received ten years of consecutive superior ratings at concert, marching and jazz band state/district evaluations, competitions and festivals.  His bands have performed for prestigious audiences such as the 1999 Atlanta Falcons’ nationally televised NFL-playoff game, President George Bush’s 2001 visit to the Atlanta Fernbank Museum, the 100 Black Men of Atlanta Football Classic, the 2002 Inaugural Honda Collegiate Battle of the Bands, the 2002 Music Educators National Conference Bi-Annual In-Service, annually for the Tennessee Titans NFL games, 2006 & 2014 HBCU-National Band Directors Consortium, the 2009 Tennessee Music Educators Association Annual In-Service, 2011 & 2013 & 2018 first HBCU band invited to perform for Bands of America Grand Nationals, 2014 the first college band in the United States to perform for halftime of the nationally televised NFL Hall of Fame game, 2016 special invitational performance at the White House in front of the Oval Office for President Barack Obama, 2018 the first HBCU concert band to be selected to perform for the Percy Grainger Wind Band Festival, 2018 special guest performance with Mega-Star Keith Urban’s world tour finally, 2019 Performance for the National Football League (NFL) Draft “Red Carpet”, 2019 & 2021 guest appearance/performance on ESPN’s nationally televised “First Take” with Stephen A. Smith and one of four College Bands in America invited to perform at the 2022 Tournament of Roses Parade (Rose Bowl Parade). In 2023 his Marching Band the Tennessee State University Aristocrat of Bands became the first College Band in the world to win a Grammy for their original album “The Urban Hymnal” in which he served as Executive Producer. Also in 2023, Dr. McDonald’s Band was the first HBCU invited to perform for the Inaugural Juneteenth National Holiday Celebration on the White House Lawn for President Biden.  

 

Dr. McDonald has been cited as an expert teacher by Fulton County Board of Education in Atlanta, Georgia and honored as teacher of the year in 1996(McNair MS), 2006(Tennessee State University Department of Music), 2008(Tennessee State University Department of Music), 2009(Tennessee State University College of Arts and Sciences) and the Tennessee Music Educators Association Outstanding University Music Educator of the Year in 2023. He has appeared as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. He is a member of Music Educators National Conference, College Band Directors National Association, Tennessee Music Educators Association, Tennessee Bandmasters Association, American Bandmasters Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity, Phi Beta Mu International Schools Bandmasters Fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi Honorary Band Fraternity, Conn-Selmer Distinguished Educator, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Golden Key International Honor Society, Kappa Delta Epsilon Honorary Education Fraternity, and Who’s Who in America. A graduate of Alabama State University, Dr. McDonald also holds a Master of Music in Music Education Degree from the University of West Georgia, Educational Specialist Degree in School Administration from Clark Atlanta University and he earned a Doctorate in Music Education at “The” University of Alabama. Reginald is married to Cherronda Williams a Tennessee State University Alumni, and they have three daughters Chelsea, Charley and Camille.