Hall of Fame Member Biographies

Joseph Missal

Joseph Missal earned his bachelor’s degree in instrumental music education from Michigan State University. He later pursued his master’s degree in wind conducting from the University of Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music and earned a doctorate of musical arts in wind conducting from the University of Colorado.

Dr. Missal is currently celebrating his 35th year as the Director of Bands and Regents Professor of Conducting at Oklahoma State University. In addition to guiding all aspects of the OSU band program, he conducts the university’s wind ensemble and chamber winds, directs the graduate conducting program, teaches undergraduate conducting, and serves as the Coordinator for Wind and Percussion Studies. He has appeared as a guest conductor throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Israel, as well as collaborating with performing artists such as Chris Martin, Leona Mitchell, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Canadian Brass among many others.

Known for showcasing Oklahoma bands the world over, Dr. Missal’s ensembles have performed for a convention of the Japan Band Clinic in Hamamatsu City in 2006 and 2013, the British Association for Symphonic Band and Wind Ensembles in Manchester in 2003, and the World Association for Symphonic Bands in Austria in 1997 and in California in 1999. More local engagements have included the College Band Directors National Association, the National Band Association, the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Sonneck Society, the Oklahoma Music Educators Association, the Percussive Arts Society, and the Western States Collegiate Wind Band Festival. His former conducting students now hold high school, college, and professional conducting positions throughout the country.

A champion of contemporary musicians, Dr. Missal has received personal praise for his expressive interpretations of works by living composers such as David Maslanka, Karel Husa, Cindy McTee, David Gillingham, Joel Puckett, Paul Dooley, Steven Bryant, Scott McAllister, Michael Daugherty, Frank Ticheli, Shafer Mahoney, Kathryn Salfelder, James Kazik, Roshanne Etezady, Donald Grantham, Dan Welcher, John Mackey, Michael Martin, Zhou Tian, Dana Wilson, and others. He has also served as a guest conductor for the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the International Trombone Association, and the United States Army Field Band.

A member of College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma, Pi Kappa Lambda, Phi Beta Mu, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Dr. Missal has published academic work in the CBDNA Journal, the Canadian Band Journal, and in GIA Publication’s Teaching Music through Performance in Band. He has also served as co-chairman of the International Wind Band Education Committee for WASBE and is a past president of the Southwest Division of the College Band Directors National Association as well as the Big Twelve Band Directors Association.

In 2001, Dr. Missal was selected as a Distinguished Music Professor at Oklahoma State University and also received the Wise-Diggs-Berry Award for Teaching Excellence in the Arts, which is given to a faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in the visual, performance, or written arts. He is an elected member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and has also received the Distinguished Service to Music Medal and the Bohumil Makovsky Memorial Award from the National Council of Kappa Kappa Psi.