Gerry Miller
Directory of Fine Arts - Coppell ISD
Former Head Band Director - Coppell High School (2016-2021)
Mr. Miller has served as the Director of Fine Arts for Coppell ISD since 2020. From 2016-2021, he served as the Director of Bands at Coppell HS. Under his leadership, the Coppell High School Band has been recognized as a UIL 6A State Marching Band Finalist, a Bands of America Regional and Super Regional Finalist and Medalist, as well as a TMEA 6A State Honor Band Finalist. 2018 marked the Coppell HS Wind Symphony's 8th TMEA State Honor Band appearance. In 2016, 2018, and 2020, the Coppell Band advanced to the prestigious UIL 6A State Marching Contest and was named a UIL State Marching Band Contest Finalist.
Prior to joining Coppell ISD, Mr. Miller served as the founding Director of Bands and Fine Arts Department Chair at Dr. Justin Wakeland High School in Frisco ISD. During his tenure at Wakeland HS, the Wind Symphony was a four-time TMEA State Honor Band Finalist and performed at the 2011 Music for All National Concert Band Festival. The Marching Band was a four-time UIL State Marching Band Contest Finalist. The Wakeland HS Marching Band was a six-time finalist and three-time Class Medalist at Bands of America Regional and Super Regional Championships.
Mr. Miller taught for 10 seasons on the staff of DCI’s 10-time World Champion Drum Corps – The Cadets. The Cadets earned Drum Corps International’s Silver Medal in 2007, Bronze Medal in 2009, Gold Medal in 2011, and Bronze Medals in 2013 and 2014. He currently serves as an adjudicator for Drum Corps International in the areas of General Effect, Music Analysis, and Brass judging DCI Open Class Championships for the first time in 2019 and DCI World Class Championships in 2022.
Mr. Miller has served on the Editorial Board for The Instrumentalist Magazine starting in 2014. Additionally, Mr. Miller serves as an Educational Consultant for Perform America Texas. Mr. Miller has presented at both the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention (2019, 2022), the Texas Music Educators Association Convention (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023) and the Midwest Clinic (2021).
He serves as the Texas Music Adjudicators Association UIL Area/State Marching Band Liaison, having previously served as the Marching Band Vice President (2020-2024). Mr. Miller in TMEA Region and Area Leadership positions in Regions 3, 24, and 31 and Area B. He is the Coordinator of Music Distribution for the TMEA All-State Audition process and the Chair for the State Honor Band Competition. Mr. Miller led TMEA's efforts to reform the Honor Band Process into a multi-level Prelims-Finals format in 2019. In addition, Mr. Miller served the Texas Music Adjudicators Association and the University Interscholastic League as a member of the TMAA Ad-Hoc Marching Band Adjudication Study Committee, developing the marching adjudication system going into place in 2021. Mr. Miller is an at-large member of the UIL Marching Band Rules Committee and the liaison between UIL and TMAA focusing on matters of adjudication and competition dynamics.
Mr. Miller received his Bachelor of Music Education degree at Loyola University - New Orleans where he served as President of the Loyola University Collegiate Music Education Chapter, President of the Loyola University Bands, and Student Coordinator for the Dean's Student Advisory Council. His primary teachers include Dr. Joseph G. Hebert and Col. John R. Bourgeois (conducting), Prof. Sue Loegering Daves (bassoon), and Prof. John Reeks (clarinet). In 2008, Mr. Miller was awarded the prestigious UIL Sponsor Excellence Award. In 2017, Mr. Miller was inducted into the Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Mu, the International School Bandmaster Fraternity.
Mr. Miller and his wife Lori live in Frisco, Texas. Lori works in publishing. Their older son Gerry is an alum of the University of North Texas. Their younger son Benjamin is a bassoonist at Wakeland High School. In his spare time, Mr. Miller is an avid fiction reader, having read every work ever awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In addition, he enjoys podcasts on philosophy and aesthetics, backpacking, camping, hiking, distance running, cooking, and playing with the Miller family's two dogs - Max and Aubrey.
