William Jastrow

     Spanning 36 years, William Jastrow’s teaching experience ranges from a community high school with an enrollment of 450 students, to Neuqua Valley H.S. with an enrollment exceeding 4000, to his current position as Coordinator for Music Education for Indian Prairie School District 204. As a member of the Neuqua Valley H.S. music faculty, Jastrow worked with the concert bands, jazz bands, and the Klangfarben Percussion Ensemble, and assisted with the Marching Wildcats as an arranger, drill designer, and pit percussion instructor. Holding degrees in music education from the University of Illinois and Northwestern University, Mr. Jastrow credits his inspiration and skills as a music teacher to six exemplary Illinois music educators and bandmasters: Joel Streightiff, Robert Hindsley, John Kinnison, Ray Makeever, Harry Begian, and John Paynter.

A frequent Illinois All-State, ICMEA, and NAfME clinician, as well as a District and All-State Band conductor, Jastrow served the Illinois Music Educators Association Board of Directors for 12 years as Band Division Vice-President and State President, and has been an author of numerous articles on Music Advocacy for the Illinois Music Educator journal. As a member of the Percussive Arts Society’s Education Committee, Jastrow was a contributing author to Percussion Education: A Source Book of Concepts and Information and appeared as a clinician for the PAS International Convention.

     During his tenure, Neuqua Valley H.S. was recognized as the Kennedy Center National School of Distinction in Fine Arts Education, was awarded the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Flag of Honor, and was a multiple recipient of the GRAMMY Signature Gold School Award. Over his career, Jastrow’s bands have performed for the University of Illinois Superstate Festivals, the NBA National Convention, the West Sussex International Youth Music Festival, and the Liberty, Outback, and Fiesta Bowl festivals and parades. In addition, Jastrow’s bands have performed for international audiences in Canada, Scandinavia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Czech Republic and the People’s Republic of China. Jastrow has also appeared both as a performer and as a conductor at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.

     Personal honors include the Edgard Varese Percussion Award, A.A. Harding Band Award, Chicagoland Music Educator Award, State Board of Education "Those Who Excel" Recognition, John Paynter Lifetime Achievement Award, IMEA Distinguished Service Award, and an inaugural NAfME Teaching Music Award.