Gordon Henderson (band director)

Gordon Henderson is the Director of the UCLA Bruin Marching Band. He is also Associate Director of Bands and Vice Chair of the Department of Music at UCLA. Since becoming Director in 1982, the Marching Band has performed at five Rose Bowls, two Cotton Bowls, three Sun Bowls, three Las Vegas Bowls, the Aloha Bowl, the Freedom Bowl, the Silicon Valley Bowl, the Emerald Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl. The UCLA Bruin Marching Band was the 1993 recipient of the Sudler Trophy, presented by the John Philip Sousa Foundation. He has also conducted the UCLA Band at four NCAA Basketball Final Four Tournaments (1995, 2006, 2007, 2008).

Henderson conducted the UCLA Jazz Ensemble I from 1989 to 1995, and the UCLA Jazz Ensemble II from 1989 to 2002. Guest Soloists with the Jazz Ensembles during this period included Roy Hargrove, Bob Mintzer, Bill Watrous, Gerald Wilson, Allen Vizzutti and Steve Houghton. In 1995, both the Jazz Combo I and the Jazz Ensemble I won their respective divisions at the Reno International Jazz Festival.

Henderson served as Head Brass Instructor and Brass Arranger for the 1989 DCI Champion Santa Clara Vanguard, as Head Brass Instructor for the 1992 DCI Champion Cavaliers, and as Brass Arranger for the 1999 DCI Champion Santa Clara Vanguard. For the Summer of 2008, Henderson served as the Program Coordinator for the Troopers from Casper, WY, for their 50th Anniversary season.

Since 1990, Henderson has arranged the show music for the Tenrikyo Aimachi Marching Band from Nagoya, Japan, the eight-time All-Japan National Champions, and for several bands in Thailand including St. Paul Convent School, Horwang School, St. Joseph Seminary School and Mahathai School.

Henderson has composed or arranged band music for numerous motion pictures including Click, Road Trip, First Daughter, In the Line of Fire, Little Nikita, Don't Say A Word, and Legends of the Fall.

In 1984, Henderson served as a Drill Designer and Assistant Director of the 736-member Olympic All-American Marching Band that performed at the Opening Ceremonies of the Los Angeles Olympic Games. Henderson designed the Band's drill for the "Swing Era" segment of the show and also instructed the Trumpet Section.

In July 2009, he served as an adjudicator at the World Band Contest held in Kekrade, Netherlands, and in December 2009 was a clinician for the Mahathai School Band in Khon Kaen, Thailand and the Montrose College School Band in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and served as an adjudicator for the Kuala Lumpur International Marching Band Championship where bands from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Cambodia performed.

Henderson was born on May 7, 1953 in Fairfield, California, and lived in North Carolina, Montana and Maryland before attending the University of Kentucky, where he received his B.M.M.E. in 1975 and his M.M.M.E. in 1977.

University Teaching

University of Kentucky, Assistant Director of Bands 1977-82

UCLA, Director of the Bruin Marching Band 1982 to present

Drum and Bugle Corps Design, Instruction and Consulting

Imperial Guard, Evansville, IN, Drill Designer 1980

Pride of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, Drill Designer 1981

Guardsmen, Schaumberg, IL, Drill Designer 1982

Santa Clara Vanguard, Santa Clara, CA, Brass Instructor 1983-91, 1996-99, 2002, 2005; Visual Coordinator 1987-88; Brass Arranger 1988-91, 1996-99, 2002; Head Brass Instructor 1989-90

Cavaliers, Rosemont, IL, Head Brass Instructor 1992-94

Cadets, Allentown, PA, Brass Instructor 2003-04

Capital Regiment, Columbus, OH, Drill Designer, 2006

Troopers, Casper, WY, Program Coordinator 2008, Program Consultant 2009-10

The Academy, Tempe, AZ, Brass Consultant 2009

Pacific Crest, Diamond Bar, CA, Program and Performance Consultant 2010

Articles and References

Los Angeles Times - George and Ira Gershwin originally wrote the tune for 'Strike Up the Band for UCLA' in 1927.[1]

UCLA Today - UCLA's solid gold music man [2]

UCLA Magazine - Clothes Make the Band [3]

Tenrikyo Aimachi Band, Nagoya, Japan [4]

UCLA Department of Music [5]

Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps, Casper, WY [6]

Building the Green Machine, a biography of Cavaliers Founder Don Warren by Colt Foutz - Henderson's contribution to the Cavaliers' 1992 DCI Championship described by Don Warren in this book [7]

Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps Historical Archives - 1989 [8] and 1999 [9]

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) - List of Credits[10]

University of Kentucky Bands History [11]

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Name	Henderson, Gordon
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Date of birth	1953
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