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Andrew Buikema (Rockford, MI) has 27 years of experience in design and instruction in marching band programming, as well as 14 years of teaching experience as a Director of Bands in Grant, Michigan. His marching bands were incredibly successful at local, state, and national competitions and were regular participants in BOA Regional and Grand National competitions. His concert bands and jazz bands were also regular participants in MSBOA festivals and clinics.
His love for the marching arts began with experiencing the pageantry of drum corps in the early 1990s, when he watched DCI finals, especially those of the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps, an organization he would later join and perform with in 2000. Buikema received his Bachelor of Music Education at Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI) and has a Master of Education from Grand Valley State University (Allendale, MI). He was also a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and the “Sound of Western” at WMU.
Buikema’s adjudication experience includes Bands of America, Drum Corps International, Michigan Competing Band Association, Kentucky Music Education Association, Central States Judges Association, Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association, and Scholastic Bands (MI). Mr. Buikema is an active drill writer, program coordinator, clinician, and adjudicator.
Buikema resides in Rockford, Michigan, with his wife and their amazing English Bulldog, Rubble, where he serves as the Assistant Principal at Sparta Middle School.