Todd Clearwater retired from the classroom in 2022 after 34 years in public school, 30 of them in the Klein Independent School District north of Houston, Texas. For the most recent 17 years, he was the head band director at Klein Oak High School. Under his direction, the band program at Klein Oak grew from 145 students to well over 300. Students in the Klein Oak Band participated in solo performances, chamber music, jazz band, symphony orchestra, pit orchestra, and marching band. Prior to that, he was an assistant band director and assistant orchestra director in the Klein, Ysleta, and Aldine School Districts. In addition to teaching band and orchestra, Mr. Clearwater also taught Advanced Placement Music Theory and International Baccalaureate Music. His bands consistently earned 1st division ratings at University Interscholastic League contests and evaluations. In 2016, the Klein Oak Wind Ensemble was a featured group at the “Music for All National Festival,” and the marching band appeared regularly at Bands of America competitions, as well as the UIL Area and State marching contests.

 

For nine years, Mr. Clearwater was the associate conductor of the Klein High School Symphony Orchestra, winning the coveted title of TMEA Honor Orchestra in 1997, 2001, and 2003. In 2014, he joined the Klein Oak Symphony Orchestra as a conductor at The Midwest Clinic. He has conducted 14 school musical productions and was recognized for musical direction in 2005 and 2013 by the Tommy Tune High School Musical Theatre Awards, as well as being nominated for “Best Pit Orchestra” numerous times. In 2009, Mr. Clearwater was the recipient of the “Texas Exes Award for Outstanding High School Teachers,” an award granted by the alumni association of the University of Texas.

 

Mr. Clearwater has been active in leadership of the Texas Music Educators Association. He served as Band Division Chair in Region 9 for eight years and as the Area F Chair for both all-state auditions and the honor band process for six. In 2019, he was the chair of the 5A All-State Wind and Percussion auditions. He has served multiple terms on the UIL Music Advisory Committee and was also on the Board of Directors for the Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Mu, an International Bandmasters Fraternity, ending with his term as president in 2016–2018. Mr. Clearwater has presented clinics at the Texas Bandmasters Association and the Texas Music Educators Association and, in his retirement, maintains a busy schedule judging scholastic music contests, clinicing, and supervising student teachers from the University of Houston.