Notre Dame Band Directors


Dr. Ken Dye
Director of Bands, Professor of Music
Dr. Ken Dye is Director of Bands and Professor of Music at the University of Notre Dame. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, where he holds a Doctorate in Music Education and a MBA in Marketing. He has also earned degrees of Master of Arts in Music from California State University and Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California.

As a composer/arranger, Ken Dye serves as a staff writer for several publishers and served as composer/arranger for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Band and pops arranger for the Dallas Symphony. His writing activities have produced over 1800 works for Band and orchestra performed throughout the U.S. and overseas.

Under his direction, the Notre Dame Band has performed concerts in the Sydney Opera House, Beijing Concert Hall, and Carnegie Hall, as well as toured Europe, Asia, and Brazil. In 2012 the Notre Dame Band performed with the Band Chicago at Soldier Field and performed at the 2013 National Championship. In 2011 the Notre Dame Band was awarded the prestigious Sudler Trophy, considered the “Heisman Trophy” of collegiate bands.

Dye also serves as a concurrent professor of Computer Applications, developing the course Music through Technology, and teaches music from a business perspective in a course entitled The Business of Music. Most recently Dye’s research has involved the musical history of the Olympics and is incorporated in the course Music and the Olympics: A Soundtrack for Competition, Ceremony, and Celebration.

Prior to Notre Dame, Ken Dye taught at Rice University, University of West Georgia, high school in California, and schools in Mexico City. He has also served as director of the Opening Ceremonies of the U.S. Olympic Festival and conductor of the All-American College Band at Disney World.

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Larry Dwyer
Assistant Director of Bands, Director of Jazz Studies
Mr. Dwyer is a graduate of Notre Dame, where he was Outstanding Bandsman (1966), trombone soloist all four years with the concert band, and twice named “Best Trombonist” at the Collegiate Jazz Festival. He earned his Masters degree in music education and did doctoral studies at the University of Illinois.

Dwyer has been principal trombonist of the South Bend Symphony Pops Orchestra, pianist with his own jazz trio, and has performed with such jazz greats as Thad Jones, Clark Terry, Sonny Stitt, and Sarah Vaughan. Among his jazz band compositions are a religious trilogy: The Old Beelzebub Blues, Lord Save the Sinner, and The Abha Kingdom. His orchestral arrangements of the music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and others have been performed and recorded by the South Bend Symphony, Houston Pops, Utah Symphony, and Rochester Philharmonic. Prior to coming to Notre Dame, Mr. Dwyer taught band and jazz band in the South Bend public schools, and was director of jazz studies at Concordia University in Montreal.

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Dr. Sam Sanchez
Associate Band Director
Sam Sanchez is an Assistant Director with the Notre Dame Band Program. He is a “Double Domer,” holding a Bachelor of Arts in Percussion Performance and a Master of Arts in Musicology, both from the University of Notre Dame.  Additionally, he holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Education from Boston University. He is also a recipient of Notre Dame’s Outstanding Band Member Award.  Dr. Sanchez is responsible for designing all of the halftime drills for the Notre Dame Band.  He also shares the conducting responsibilities of the concert bands and basketball bands, specializes in music technology and video editing, and rehearses the flute choir, percussion ensemble, and drumline.

Dr. Sanchez served three terms on the CBDNA Committee for Athletic Bands.  He also has served as an adjudicator/clinician for several groups and events, including Bowl Games of America and the New Zealand Concert Band Association’s National Festival.  Most recently, Dr. Sanchez worked internationally with the Artane Band (Dublin, Ireland) and designed the drill for their performance at the Liverpool Tattoo.  He has also enjoyed taking basketball bands to several Women’s Basketball Final Fours and the 2018 National Championship.

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Matt Merten
Associate Band Director
Matt Merten is a graduate of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota where he earned a degree in Music Education and Trombone Performance. After teaching in the public schools of Saint Cloud and Albany (MN), he earned a Master of Music in Trombone Performance and Literature from the University of Notre Dame. He has performed with the St. Cloud Amadeus Orchestra (MN), Minnesota Center Chorale, and Regis Philbin’s Pop Orchestra. At Notre Dame he directs the New Orleans Brass Band, Trumpet Ensemble, Trombone Choir, co-directs the Brass Ensemble, Jazz Bands and teaches applied trombone lessons.

Mr. Merten is very active in music technology at Notre Dame. In addition to teaching portions of the Music Through Technology Course, he offers private instruction in multi-track recording and software synthesizers. He is also responsible for the production of the Band’s audio recordings.

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Emma Fell
Assistant Band Director

Emma Fell is an Assistant Band Director at the University of Notre Dame. She holds both a Bachelor of Music Education and a Master of Science in Music Education from Troy University. As a graduate student, she served as a conductor for the Troy University Concert Band, a guest conductor with the premiere Symphony Band, and instructor for the Sound of the South marching band and basketball pep band. She has regularly served as a clinician and horn instructor for a variety of camps, clinics, and honor bands throughout the Southeast. Ms. Fell is an active member of several professional organizations, including Women Band Directors International and Tau Beta Sigma, a music organization dedicated to serving collegiate band programs where she has held multiple district leadership roles and, most recently, served on the national Grace and A. Frank Martin Chapter Excellence Award selection committee. 

 

Ms. Fell’s duties at Notre Dame include shared conducting responsibilities of the concert bands, varsity bands, marching band, and various brass chamber ensembles as well as teaching portions of several music courses in the Department of Music along with the ND Band staff.



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Victoria Paspalas
Assistant Band Director

Victoria Paspalas is an Assistant Band Director at the University of Notre Dame. She holds both a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and a Master of Music in Saxophone Performance from Boston University where she also served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant with the BU Bands program for two years. During her time as a Graduate Teaching Assistant with the BU Bands program she served as interim Band Director for a majority of the 2021-2022 academic year, conducted the men’s & women’s hockey and basketball pep band, and served as Woodwind Technician with the marching band. She also served as Marketing Coordinator and Recruitment Manager as an undergraduate student, was an active member of Tau Beta Sigma, and enjoyed taking the hockey band to the 2023 NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament including the Frozen Four in Tampa Bay, Florida during her last year as a graduate student. 

 

Ms. Paspalas’s duties at Notre Dame include shared conducting responsibilities of the concert bands, varsity bands, marching band, and various woodwind chamber ensembles as well as teaching portions of several music courses in the Department of Music along with the ND Band staff.



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