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Dr. Charles R. Jackson is starting his 42nd year as a music educator. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Music at Kennesaw State University (KSU) in Kennesaw, GA. In addition to supervising student teachers at KSU, he teaches all Woodwind and Brass Techniques courses for all Music Education majors. Dr. Jackson currently serves as the conductor of the Cobb New Horizons Symphonic Band, a 94-member adult community band based in Cobb County, GA. Before his appointment at KSU, Dr. Jackson served 34 years as Director of Bands at the high school and middle school levels in Cobb County, GA. He is sought nationally as a band and trumpet clinician, guest conductor for honor bands, and adjudicator.
Dr. Jackson’s collegiate music studies began in 1969 at the Miami-Dade Junior College, Miami, FL. He completed degrees at the University of Southern Mississippi (B.M.Ed.); the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (M.M.); Georgia State University (Ed.S); and the Shenandoah Conservatory (D.M.A). Dr. Jackson is a principal author for Teaching Music Through Performance in Middle School Band published by GIA, a contributing author for the InTune Magazine, and author of The Band Directors’ Book of Secrets published through Barnhouse Publishing.
He has presented sessions for the Music for All Summer Symposium at Ball State University; the Western Carolina University Summer Symposium; Spirit Camp at Jacksonville State University; the Summer Band Director Symposium at Kennesaw State University; the Art of Teaching Music Summit in Atlanta, GA; and the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago, IL.
Honors awarded to Dr. Jackson include Nationally Registered Music Educator (MENC); Nationally Certified Music Educator (MENC); Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers (1991,1996, 2002, 2003, 2006); Teacher of the Year, Garrett Middle School (1997-98). Teacher of the Year, Dodgen Middle School (2004-2005). In the spring of 2013, he was one of 217 music educators selected as a quarterfinalist for the Music Educator Award conferred by the Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Foundation. In total, more than 30,000 nominations were submitted from all 50 states. In 2019, he received the Olin G. Parker Leadership Award presented by the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia International Musicians Fraternity.
Dr. Jackson served the Georgia Music Educators Association (GMEA) as Chairman for District 12, overseeing all public and private schools in Cobb and Douglas counties and 24,000 music students and served two years on the State Board of Directors for GMEA. The State of Georgia recognized Dr. Jackson with a Congressional Proclamation as a Georgia STAR teacher. He and his wife, Jane, have four children and live in Acworth, GA.