Yakima Valley Community Band

Ben Fowler, Band Director

Benjamin Fowler, is a music scholar and pianist originally from Helena, MT. He completed his performance studies at the University of Montana (B.M. 2007) and University of South Carolina (M.M. 2009). While at UM he was a “Winner” of the Concerto/Aria competition playing Liszt’s Totentanz. As a member of the Blue Mountain Piano Trio his group was named “Winner” of the Northwest Division in the MTNA National Chamber Music Competition (2006-7) which allowed them to compete at the National Conference in Toronto Canada. Ben ran a successful studio in Richland Washington (2010-2014) where his students participated in various local and state competitions/festivals receiving high honors.

As a music scholar Ben studied historical musicology at Northwestern University (M.M. 2015) and is currently finishing his PhD at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. While at IU he filled the position of associate instructor in the undergraduate music history sequence and instructor of record for the graduate survey in music history. In 2018 he was awarded a fully funded research trip to Mexico City through the Tinker Foundation and in 2021 he was awarded a fully funded semester through IU-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico Gateway (UNAM) in Mexico City. His scholarly interests include music in Mexico, Wagner, eighteenth-century keyboard music, and Music in the Americas, Music and Spirituality. He will defend his forthcoming dissertation in spring of 2026 titled, In Search of Melesio Morales: Teleology, Tradition, and Nationalism.

In his free time, Ben enjoys spending time with his wife of 15 years, his four children, playing chess, reading, listening, and thinking about Beethoven, and smelling the fresh cow smell of Sunnyside, WA. Ben currently work for the Granger School District as Director of Bands and Choir.