Jim Daughters, D.M.A
Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands — Music
Dr. Jim Daughters serves as Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music at Southeast Missouri State University, overseeing the university band program and teaching instrumental conducting and music education. He is the artistic director and conductor of the Cincinnati Wind Band, where he holds the Terence G. Milligan Endowed Conducting Chair. Daughters also serves as the College/University Vice President for the Missouri Music Educators Association. Before joining the faculty at Southeast, he was Associate Director of Bands and Music Education Coordinator at Arkansas Tech University. He held an adjunct appointment at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Daughters previously spent 16 successful years as a public-school band director in Kentucky. He holds graduate degrees from the University of Kentucky, where he studied with Cody Birdwell, Richard Clary, and George Boulden.
Ensembles under Daughters’ direction have received invitations to perform at many of the nation’s most prestigious events, including The Midwest Clinic, the Music for All National Concert Band Festival, the Jazz Educators Network Conference, the National Middle School Conference, the International Women’s Brass Conference, numerous state conferences in Missouri, Kentucky, and Ohio, as well as the American Music Celebration at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The Southeast Missouri State University Marching Band has performed in exhibition, by invitation, at Bands of America Super Regionals in Indianapolis and St. Louis. In a commitment to the same values of equity, access, excellence, and education that have shaped his experiences first as a student and now as an educator, Daughters has presented clinics in support of emerging music educators, sharing the insights and experiences he has gained throughout his career. His clinic work has included presentations on young band pedagogy, student-centered and experiential learning, performance practice, leadership, and live rehearsal demonstrations at several state music conferences and The Midwest Clinic.
A three-time semifinalist for the GRAMMY Awards National Music Educator of the Year, Daughters is also a multiple recipient of the National Band Association Citation of Excellence. He has received Teacher of the Year honors from the Kentucky Music Educators Association District 6 and Conner Middle School and was twice recognized as a Teacher Who Made a Difference by the University of Kentucky. In 2005, he was inducted into the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, the highest honor awarded by the Governor of Kentucky to a private citizen. While at Arkansas Tech, he was the first faculty member featured on the Human Core virtual series and received the ATU Human Resources Service Award in 2020. Daughters is an elected member of Phi Beta Mu, the international bandmasters’ fraternity, and an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi, Theta Epsilon chapter. He has presented clinics on young band pedagogy, student-centered and experiential learning, performance practice, leadership, and live rehearsal demonstrations at several state music educators conferences and The Midwest Clinic.
In 2024, Daughters received the Provost Award for Teaching Excellence and Student Recruiting from Southeast Missouri State University and was named a “Difference Maker” by B Magazine and the Southeast Missourian Newspaper. In 2025, he also received the University Contributor Award for Significant Impact to University Life, an honor presented annually to one faculty member whose work has made a meaningful impact across the university community. That same year, Southeast’s marching band drum majors and senior assistants were also recognized with the Holland College of Arts and Media Provost Award for Experiential Learning, which honors outstanding hands-on learning achievements that reflect the university’s mission.
Daughters is active as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, working with ensembles and organizations across the United States and Europe. In 2025, he led the Luxembourg Military Band (Musique Militaire Grand-Ducale) in a sold-out gala performance in St. Vith, Belgium, and conducted the Cincinnati Wind Band in a sold-out debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Over the next two years, his upcoming engagements include performances at Severance Hall in Cleveland, the ensemble’s first international tour in Spain, and a debut appearance as a conductor in South America. In 2015, he was awarded a graduate fellowship from the University of Kentucky to participate by invitation in the Conductor’s Lab in Aix-en-Provence, France, where he collaborated with members of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Dedicated to the advancement of contemporary wind literature, Daughters has commissioned more than 30 original works and joined consortiums for numerous others. His catalog of over 300 arrangements and transcriptions has been performed by artists and ensembles across the country, including world-renowned trumpeter Arturo Sandoval. In 2019, he transcribed Planet Damnation, a landmark timpani solo by John Psathas, which premiered with Kae Hashimoto Reed and the Cincinnati Wind Band at WindFest in Cincinnati Music Hall. Daughters has also written and arranged for several of the nation’s top high school marching bands, with programs earning state and circuit championships and medaling at Bands of America Regional and Grand National Championships. Earlier in his career, he served as head clinician for the Kentucky Band Camp and was drum major of the University of Kentucky Wildcat Marching Band from 1997 to 1999.
Ensembles under Daughters’ direction have received invitations to perform at many of the nation’s most prestigious events, including The Midwest Clinic, the Music for All National Concert Band Festival, the Jazz Educators Network Conference, the National Middle School Conference, the International Women’s Brass Conference, numerous state conferences in Missouri, Kentucky, and Ohio, as well as the American Music Celebration at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The Southeast Missouri State University Marching Band has performed in exhibition, by invitation, at Bands of America Super Regionals in Indianapolis and St. Louis. In a commitment to the same values of equity, access, excellence, and education that have shaped his experiences first as a student and now as an educator, Daughters has presented clinics in support of emerging music educators, sharing the insights and experiences he has gained throughout his career. His clinic work has included presentations on young band pedagogy, student-centered and experiential learning, performance practice, leadership, and live rehearsal demonstrations at several state music conferences and The Midwest Clinic.
A three-time semifinalist for the GRAMMY Awards National Music Educator of the Year, Daughters is also a multiple recipient of the National Band Association Citation of Excellence. He has received Teacher of the Year honors from the Kentucky Music Educators Association District 6 and Conner Middle School and was twice recognized as a Teacher Who Made a Difference by the University of Kentucky. In 2005, he was inducted into the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels, the highest honor awarded by the Governor of Kentucky to a private citizen. While at Arkansas Tech, he was the first faculty member featured on the Human Core virtual series and received the ATU Human Resources Service Award in 2020. Daughters is an elected member of Phi Beta Mu, the international bandmasters’ fraternity, and an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi, Theta Epsilon chapter. He has presented clinics on young band pedagogy, student-centered and experiential learning, performance practice, leadership, and live rehearsal demonstrations at several state music educators conferences and The Midwest Clinic.
In 2024, Daughters received the Provost Award for Teaching Excellence and Student Recruiting from Southeast Missouri State University and was named a “Difference Maker” by B Magazine and the Southeast Missourian Newspaper. In 2025, he also received the University Contributor Award for Significant Impact to University Life, an honor presented annually to one faculty member whose work has made a meaningful impact across the university community. That same year, Southeast’s marching band drum majors and senior assistants were also recognized with the Holland College of Arts and Media Provost Award for Experiential Learning, which honors outstanding hands-on learning achievements that reflect the university’s mission.
Daughters is active as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, working with ensembles and organizations across the United States and Europe. In 2025, he led the Luxembourg Military Band (Musique Militaire Grand-Ducale) in a sold-out gala performance in St. Vith, Belgium, and conducted the Cincinnati Wind Band in a sold-out debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Over the next two years, his upcoming engagements include performances at Severance Hall in Cleveland, the ensemble’s first international tour in Spain, and a debut appearance as a conductor in South America. In 2015, he was awarded a graduate fellowship from the University of Kentucky to participate by invitation in the Conductor’s Lab in Aix-en-Provence, France, where he collaborated with members of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Dedicated to the advancement of contemporary wind literature, Daughters has commissioned more than 30 original works and joined consortiums for numerous others. His catalog of over 300 arrangements and transcriptions has been performed by artists and ensembles across the country, including world-renowned trumpeter Arturo Sandoval. In 2019, he transcribed Planet Damnation, a landmark timpani solo by John Psathas, which premiered with Kae Hashimoto Reed and the Cincinnati Wind Band at WindFest in Cincinnati Music Hall. Daughters has also written and arranged for several of the nation’s top high school marching bands, with programs earning state and circuit championships and medaling at Bands of America Regional and Grand National Championships. Earlier in his career, he served as head clinician for the Kentucky Band Camp and was drum major of the University of Kentucky Wildcat Marching Band from 1997 to 1999.
Audience Links
Southeast Missouri State University