MILLER ASBILL

Miller Asbill's life has been pretty simple. He began playing trumpet in the 6th grade in Columbia, S.C., then switched to euphonium midway through the year after getting braces on his teeth. (They made his lips bleed when playing trumpet.) By the end of that year, he knew he wanted to make a career of it.

"It was simple. I was pretty good at it; it was easy and fun," he says. "How could I go wrong?"

Fortunate to start out with a great teacher, Asbill decided he wanted to teach, too. "I saw someone who enjoyed what he was doing, so that stuck with me," he says. In high school, he was selected to play in the 104-member McDonald's All-American Band. When he was offered a four-year Regent's Scholarship at Arizona State University to study under one of the best euphonium teachers in the country, the decision was easy.

Following graduation, Asbill accepted a job at Laing Middle School in Mount Pleasant, S.C. He built up the program until the band was invited to perform at the Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic, becoming the first middle school band from the State of South Carolina to do so in 52 years. A month later, he was invited to teach at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant.

Four years later, the University of Michigan offered a fellowship to enroll in its conducting program. Again, the decision was simple. "It was a chance of a lifetime," Asbill says. "Not only is the program one of the best in the country, but the high level of the artistic community at the University of Michigan is unparalleled."

After earning his master's degree last spring, Asbill saw a great opportunity to build a strong program at the University of New Mexico. As associate director of bands, he directs the Symphonic Band, the Spirit Marching Band and Sound Pack, the small band that plays at Lobo basketball games. "I'd like to see the marching band grow to 200 members and achieve a higher level of performance," he says. "I also want to assist the music education majors here at the University of New Mexico in their goals of becoming both fine musicians and educators."

HENRY BIAL

Bial became tennis coach at Augsberg College in Minneapolis, a job that lasted only during the tennis season. To supplement his meager income, he taught preparatory courses for various post-secondary school entrance exams, such as the SAT, LAST, MCAT and GMAT. He loved the classroom stage.

He returned to New York and earned a master’s degree and doctorate in performance studies at New York University. While there, he co-edited, with NYU Professor Carol Martin, Brecht Sourcebook, a collection of writings by and about German playwright and director Bertholt Brecht. He currently is working on a book based on his dissertation, entitled, Acting Jewish on the American Stage and Screen, a look at how "Jewishness" is communicated in mainstream American entertainment.

At UNM, he teaches theater appreciation, theater history, theories of the theater and performance theory. In addition to scholarship, Bial, who has provided lilting lighting design for several off-off Broadway plays, continues to engage in the hands-on aspects of theater. "If I go four-to-five months without standing on a ladder, my scholarship gets stale," he says.