Dr. Craig Aarhus

Dr. Craig Aarhus is Associate Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music at Mississippi State University. At MSU, he co-directs the Famous Maroon Band and basketball pep bands, conducts the Concert Band and Campus/Community Band, teaches Conducting and Brass Techniques, and serves as the Area Coordinator for Music Education. As a member of the band faculty, Dr. Aarhus has been part of a team that has helped lead the band program to unprecedented growth, making it currently one of the largest bands in the Southeast. Dr. Aarhus is a member of several professional organizations including the College Band Directors National Association, Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Mu Alpha, Tau Beta Sigma and the Mississippi Bandmasters Association. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the National Band Association and recently completed a 10 year stint as Governor for the Southeast District of Kappa Kappa Psi. He is also the Past-President of the Delta Chapter of Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity. Dr. Aarhus has been an adjudicator and clinician throughout the Southeast, Midwest, and in Canada, and is a contributing author to five volumes of the popular Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. Dr. Aarhus and his family reside in Starkville and are members of First Presbyterian Church, where he has served as Music Director since 2007.