West Plains, MO. – Missouri State University-West Plains recently announced its new musical instrumental program, jazz band, and community concert band beginning in the fall. The courses at MSU-WP will create a music pathway within the Associate of Arts in General Studies degree that could lead to a Bachelor of Arts in Music at a four-year college or university.
University officials have announced that Rocky Long, the 20-year director of bands at West Plains R-7 School District, will be leading the program. He will be retiring from the West Plains school district on July 1st. Starting off, the focus of MSU-WP’s program will be on instrumental music. The community band will be available for MSU-WP students to take as a class for credit and for other community members and area musicians to play in for non-credit. The jazz band will most likely begin as a program for students only. They hope to add a jazz band for the community later down the road.
In addition to teaching the classes, Long will visit area high schools to help teach and recruit them into the Universities music program. There will be plenty of performance opportunities when entering the program.
For more information about the music program, contact the MSU-WP academic affairs office at 417-255-7272 or email WPAcademics@MissouriState.edu. For more information about enrolling at MSU-WP, call 417-255-7955, email WPAdmissions@MissouriState.edu, or visit WP.MissouriState.edu/FutureStudents.
For more information about Rocky Long, read below.
Rocky Long was named one of ” Fifty Directors Who Make A Difference” by the national music publication School Band & Orchestra which selects one music director from each state for the annual publication. In addition to his teaching duties at West Plains, he has served as the district president for the South Central Missouri Music Educators Association and as the band vice president coordinating district district band events. Long has personally performed in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin, Ireland, and also for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.
He received his Bachelor of Music – Education degree from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville in 2000, and his Master of Music – Instrumental Conducting degree from Missouri State University (MSU) in Springfield in 2002. In 2021, he received a Specialist in Education – Teacher Leadership degree from MSU.
