Robert Floyd

Robert Floyd began his 35 year career in music education in Richardson, Texas after completing his music education degree at Southern Methodist University in 1967. His first teaching position was at West Junior High School in the Richardson ISD where he taught classes half a day and did student teaching half a day. The assistant director there had been called up by the Army National Guard and Floyd was paid $5 per hour to cover his classes for the spring semester. He was hired as the full-time assistant the following fall, and became head director two years later.

After five years of junior high teaching Floyd was named the Director of Bands at Berkner High School, also in the Richardson ISD. He took over a band of 60 young musicians and won Honor Band that first year in what was then Class AAA. The Berkner Band performed its Honor Band concert at TMEA in Houston in 1973. It was the first of three honor band titles for the Berkner program under his direction.

Floyd served as Director of Bands at Berkner for twenty-one years. By his last year there the program enrollment was approaching 250 students in three grades. During his tenure the band amassed twentythree UIL consecutive Sweepstakes awards and advanced to the UIL State Marching Contest in 1988. The band also received Best-in-Class honors at festivals on thirteen different occasions.

In 1990 the Berkner Band was one of five high school bands in the nation selected to perform at the prestigious Midwest Clinic in Chicago. In addition, the Berkner program received the coveted Sudler Award from the Sousa Foundation in 1986.

Floyd received the Ross Perot Award for Teaching Excellence in the Richardson ISD. He also served as the high school representative on the National Band Association Board on two different occasions and in 1986 was one of eight band directors in the United States elected to membership in the American Bandmasters Association. In 1992 Floyd was one often band directors in the United States named to the Bandworld Legion of Honor by the Sousa Foundation. Throughout his career Floyd served TMEA in many capacities at both region and state levels, culminating in his state-wide election as Vice-President and Band Chairman in 1977-78 and as President in 1982. During his tenure as President the TMEA Executive Board took on the formidable task of hosting the Music Educators National Conference biennial national meeting in San Antonio during the TMEA Clinic/Convention. The convention was a huge success and did much to heal the ill feelings between MENC leadership and TMEA.

During the late eighties and early nineties Floyd served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Dallas Wind Symphony and during the years immediately following the death of founder Howard Dunn, he served as interim resident conductor and was influential in keeping that organization going during those unstable times.

In September of 1992 Floyd was selected by the Executive Board to succeed the retiring Bill Cormack as the Executive Director of the Texas Music Educators Association. That following summer he left Richardson for Austin to assume that position, one he has held for the past nine years.

In the position TMEA Executive Director Floyd was responsible for management of the association, production of the annual clinic/convention which has over 21,000 people in attendance, editing the monthly journal, "The Southwestern Musician", and lobbying the Legislature and State Board of Education to promote and preserve fine arts in the public schools of Texas. Through the years, beginning in 1981, Floyd has presented much of the testimony and lobbying efforts with the State Board and Legislature on such issues as graduation requirements, textbooks, extracurricular activity rules, inclusion of fine arts in the Required Curriculum, protection of instructional time for fine arts classes during the school day and protection of the marching band substitution for physical education.

During his nine years at TMEA the association has grown by almost 2,000 members, the staff has expanded from five to nine, member and student services have been greatly increased, and TMEA has built and paid for a new headquarters building.

Floyd currently resides in Austin with his wife, Melinda and two children Michael and Lauren.