Kathryn Bredwell is delighted to be directing the Campus Band at GRCC as an adjunct professor. Ms. Bredwell is in her 29th year of teaching with Lowell Area Schools, where she leads all band classes at Lowell Middle School and assists with the LHS Red Arrow Marching Band outside of school hours. Kate earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Instrumental Education from Michigan State University, where she studied clarinet with Frank Ell and conducting with John T. Madden and John Whitwell. She subsequently earned her Master's degree in Music Education from MSU, and has continued her education with post-graduate work at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, IL. Kate is a member of the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association. She is an alumna of the Alpha Lambda chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, a professional fraternity for women in music, and she is a member of the Michigan chapter of Women Band Directors International (WBDI). She was honored to be selected twice as a clinician for the Michigan Music Conference, presenting sessions entitled "Middle School Band: What Works" in 2017 and "Clarinet 101: Teaching Tips for Beginning and Advancing Clarinetists" in 2023. She also presented her "Clarinet 101" session at the WBDI Summer Conference at GRCC in 2024. She is a frequent participant in conducting symposia through MSBOA, WBDI, WMU, and more.
In addition to her teaching duties in Lowell and at GRCC, Ms. Bredwell is an MSBOA adjudicator for Solo & Ensemble festivals at the district and state level, and she has worked with students at many Grand Rapids area schools as staff for marching band and for solo festivals. She has served on the faculty of Calvin University's Knollcrest Music Camp since 2011. In 2024, she served as a staff member with Michigan Musicians Abroad, and taught and conducted in Europe with that organization. She plays clarinet in the Grand Rapids Symphonic Band and the Beer City Winds and has guest conducted both groups, and sings in the choir at Trinity Lutheran Church.
A life-long Michigander, Ms. Bredwell grew up in Port Huron, and now lives in Lowell with her family. She and her husband Bryan met at MSU in the Spartan Marching Band, and have three children: Leah and Kai, who are students at Western Michigan University where they march in the Bronco Band, and Zoe, a 7th grade trombonist at Lowell Middle School.
