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Michael Raiber

About this Artist

In the 2019-20 school year, Dr. Raiber will start his 38th year as a professional music educator.  He began his career in St. Louis, Missouri as the Assistant Director or Bands and Orchestras at Normandy High School.  After three years, he moved to Broken Arrow Oklahoma where he taught 10 years as the Director of Bands at North Intermediate High School.  After completing his residency for his Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma, Raiber was appointed the Associate Director of Bands at Oklahoma State University where he directed the Cowboy Marching Band, University Concert Band, and OSU Jazz Ensemble in addition to teaching courses in music education. In 2000, Dr. Raiber accepted a position at The University of Oklahoma in music education.  He taught undergraduate and graduate courses in music education at OU for 14 years while also conducting and administrating the OU New Horizons Band. In 2013, Dr. Raiber accepted a position as Professor of Music Education at Oklahoma City University.  In addition to this position, Raiber also served as the Director of Teacher Support and conductor of Orquesta Esperanza at El Sistema Oklahoma.  In 2019 Dr. Raiber is returning to his roots as a public school music educator and will open Mustang Central Middle School in Mustang Oklahoma as the inaugural Director of Bands.

Dr. Raiber has presented at conferences nationally and internationally on topics ranging from music teacher identity to student leadership development.  He has authored a number of publications.  His most recent include a chapter on large ensemble leadership as youth development in Music Learning as Youth Development (2019) edited by Dr. Brian Kaufman and Dr. Larry Scripts.  He also authored a chapter on developing effective dispositions for music teaching in the New Oxford Handbook on Music Teacher Education (2019).  In 2014, he coauthored the popular introduction to music education text, From Music Student to Music Teacher:  A Professional Approach. 

Dr. Raiber received his Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music Education degrees from the University of Tulsa and his Ph.D. in music education with an emphasis in conducting from the University of Oklahoma.  He currently serves on the National Executive Board of the National Association for Music Education as the Immediate Past President of the Southwest Division.  He lives Norman, Oklahoma with his wife Lisa and two dogs, Sophie and Roxanne.