Garwood Whaley is President and Founder of Meredith Music Publications (1979), Conductor Emeritus of the Bishop Ireton Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Alexandria, VA), former Adjunct Professor of Music at The Catholic University of America, former chief editor for Music for Percussion, Inc., former Curriculum Coordinator of Instrumental Music for the Diocese of Arlington (VA) Schools and two-term Past President of the Percussive Arts Society. He is the author of more than thirty highly acclaimed method books for percussion instruments, two supplementary band methods (co-author), solos and ensembles and numerous articles for music journals. His many publications for percussion instruments have become standard texts worldwide.
Dr. Whaley was educated at the Juilliard School of Music and at The Catholic University of America where he earned the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree (DMA) while performed for six years with The United States Army Band (Pershing’s Own) in Washington, D.C. He has received numerous awards and has been included in Who’s Who in American Music, International Who’s Who in Music and Who’s Who in America. In 1994 he received the Alumni Achievement Award in Education from The Catholic University of America. For five years he received a Grant in the Arts from the Washington Post Newspaper’s Educational Foundation for his “Commissioned Work and Composer-In-The School Project.” In 1998, Bishop Ireton High School named its new performance hall the “Garwood Whaley Auditorium” in recognition of his long-term contributions to the school’s fine arts program. He is the recipient of the 2011 Midwest Clinic’s prestigious Music Industry Award. In 2021, Gar was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame; the highest honor one can receive in this field. Other recipients have included Ringo Starr, Gene Krupa, Louis Bellson, Michael Colgrass (Pulitzer Prize), his teachers from Juilliard, Saul Goodman and Morris Goldenberg, and countless other luminaries.
As a popular clinician and conductor, he has appeared at major music conventions throughout the United States and Canada including the Midwest Clinic, The Juilliard School Conducting Workshop for Music Educators and the Kennedy Center Professional Teacher Outreach Program.
He lives with his wife Adele in Delray Beach, Florida