Hall of Fame 2022

Randal Box

Randal Box, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, concluded a 42-year career in music education
with his retirement in December 2021 as Director of Bands at West Memphis High School and
Supervisor of Bands for the West Memphis School District. He assumed this role following his
2018 retirement from Brentwood High School in Brentwood, Tennessee, where he the Director
of Bands for 27 years. Prior to his tenure in Brentwood, Mr. Box taught in Pocahontas, Arkansas,
and Clarksville, Tennessee. He holds degrees from Middle Tennessee State University and
Arkansas State University.

Throughout his career, Mr. Box established a reputation for building high-achieving and
artistically rich programs in both concert and marching band performance. His ensembles have
appeared at major national events, including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York
City (1995, 2001). Brentwood’s travel portfolio includes performances in Honolulu, Phoenix, Miami, New Orleans, San Antonio, Philadelphia, Detroit, St. Louis, Atlanta, and Indianapolis.

Under his direction, the Brentwood Marching Band was a four-time Bands of America (BOA) Grand Nationals Semi-Finalist and a consistent finalist in multiple BOA regional championships held in Indianapolis, St. Louis, Atlanta, Powder Springs, GA, and Jacksonville, AL. The band was a ten-time finalist at the MTSU Contest of Champions and the Reserve Grand Champion in 2002.

The Brentwood band gained national attention when it performed on country music star Brad Paisley’s CMA Video of the Year, Online, and performed live with Paisley during the international broadcast of the Country Music Association Awards, seen by over 30 million viewers worldwide on ABC.

Mr. Box’s concert ensembles were equally distinguished, regularly earning superior ratings in both concert and sight-reading assessments. In 2000, he established a conductor-in-residence program at Brentwood High School, bringing nationally recognized guest conductors—including past presidents of the National Band Association and the American Bandmasters Association—for multi-day residencies culminating in concert performances. In 2002, the
Brentwood Wind Ensemble performed at the National Conference of MENC—The National Association for Music Education—in Nashville.

Mr. Box has served in various leadership capacities within professional organizations. He is past president of both the Middle Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association and the Tennessee Bandmasters Association and has served the Tennessee Music Education Association (TMEA) as State Jazz Chair, Conference Program Chair, and Conference Performance Auditions Chair. He is an elected member of Phi Beta Mu, the international bandmasters fraternity.

His achievements have been widely recognized. In July 2008, The Instrumentalist magazine featured him in a cover article. The John Philip Sousa Foundation named Mr. Box a "Legion of Honor Laureate" during the 2011 Midwest Clinic, and he was inducted into the Middle Tennessee State University “Band of Blue” Hall of Fame in 2013.

Mr. Box and his wife Tawana, an esteemed flute instructor who has placed numerous students in all-region and all-state ensembles, have four children, all of whom, along with one son-in-law,are or have been music educators in public schools in Tennessee or Texas.

Since 2003, Mr. and Mrs. Box have served as directors of the Tennessee Ambassadors of Music. Together, they have led ten European concert tours featuring outstanding high school musicians
from across Tennessee. The most recent tour, in June 2024, included performances in major European capitals as well as smaller towns and Alpine villages, presenting ten concerts—five by the band and five by the choir—to enthusiastic international audiences.

Throughout his career, Mr. Box has been committed to providing students with outstanding opportunities and experiences, and he continues to contribute to the music education community in retirement, maintaining an active schedule as a guest conductor, adjudicator for concert and marching bands, clinician and consultant. In addition to presenting professional development sessions for music educators, he is a marching band drill designer, arranger, and program consultant.

---