Ashley Jarrell, D.M.A.

Dr. J. Ashley Jarrell currently serves as Director of Instrumental Music at the University of North Georgia - Gainesville Campus, where his responsibilities include conducting instrumental ensembles and overseeing all facets of the instrumental music program. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Jarrell served as Assistant Director of Bands at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where his teaching and conducting responsibilities included the Hindsley Symphonic Band, Introduction to Conducting, Advanced Conducting and Graduate Wind Literature and History.

Previously, he served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and the inaugural candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Wind Conducting at the University, where he was a recipient of the Begian Conducting Assistantship. While a graduate student at the University, Dr. Jarrell served on the School of Music Graduate Committee and he received the Edmund C. Williams award for excellence in bands. He received the Master of Arts degree in Wind Conducting from Middle Tennessee State University and the Bachelor of Music degree from East Tennessee State University. Before coming to the University of Illinois, Dr. Jarrell served as Director of Bands at Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet School in Nashville, Tennessee.

Consistently named by U.S. News and World Report and Newsweek magazines as one of the fifty best high schools in the nation, Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet School Bands received numerous superior ratings, accolades, and three performances for the Tennessee Music Education Association Conference in the span of six years during Dr. Jarrell’s tenure. Previously, Dr. Jarrell also served as Associate Director of Bands at Middle Tennessee State University and Associate Director of Bands at Harpeth High School. 

Dr. Jarrell is active as a clinician and adjudicator throughout the United States. He is also an active member of many professional organizations including National Association for Music Education, National Band Association, College Band Directors National Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and elected membership with American School Band Directors Association, Phi Beta Mu and Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society.