Director of Athletic Bands Joseph Earp To Be Honored By UNC Charlotte

Limestone College Director of Athletic Bands Joseph Earp will receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina Charlotte during a special ceremony next month.

The UNC Charlotte College of Arts recently announced the list of five 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients. The award ceremony will take place on Friday, March 13, at 11:30 a.m. in the Anne R. Belk Theater in Robinson Hall.

The Distinguished Alumni Awards were created by the College of Arts + Architecture in 2015 to recognize the accomplishments of alumni who demonstrate in their work the core themes of the College's vision: professionalism, global perspective, environmental engagement, connectivity with community, collaboration, and the emergence of new ideas, skills, and practices. Each department designates one Distinguished Alum annually, chosen by departmental faculty and administration.

In addition to receiving his undergraduate degree in Music Education from UNC Charlotte in 2006, Earp holds a Master of Music in Music Education from Anderson University. Currently he is pursuing a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administrative Leadership at Liberty University.

Recently, he was inducted into the Omega Nu Lambda National College Honor Society based on his current academic achievement.

Earp’s professional teaching career began in 2006 at Seneca High School in South Carolina as Director of Bands. He later taught band at Robbinsville Middle and High Schools before becoming the founding Director of Bands at Cox Mill High School in Concord, NC. He has had numerous accomplishments teaching at the secondary level: multiple superior ratings, grand championships, and awards and recognitions for his instrumental ensembles, including the selection of one of his symphonic bands to perform at the 2013 North Carolina Music Educators State Conference. In his current role at Limestone, he has elevated many elements of Limestone’s athletic band program.

 In addition to teaching, Earp is an active published composer and clinician, with music performed internationally. His compositions are available from BKJ Publications and RWS Music Company, which is distributed worldwide by C. L. Barnhouse. One of his concert band works, “Where the Wild Things Dance,” was recently selected by J. W. Pepper to be part of their 2019 Editors’ Choice catalog. Other major compositional accomplishments include being winner of the 2010 Claude T. Smith Composition Contest in Missouri and winner of the 2018 Thornton Community Band Composition Contest in Colorado.