Dr. Christopher Knighten

Dr. Christopher Knighten is Director of Athletic Bands and Associate Professor in the University of Arkansas Department of Music. His duties include directing the 330-member Razorback Marching band, overseeing all aspects of Athletic Bands, conducting the Symphonic Band, and teaching conducting and music education courses.

Prior to his appointment at UA, Dr. Knighten served as Associate Director of Bands at East Carolina University. Under his direction the Symphonic Band performed at the 2005 NC Music Educators Association conference and the ECU Marching Pirates performed at seven bowl games and several NFL games for the Washington Redskins and Carolina Panthers. He has also served as Director of the Baylor University Golden Wave Band and taught instrumental music at Richland High School in North Richland Hills, TX.

Dr. Knighten has presented sessions on band literature and pedagogy at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the College Band Directors National Association Conference, the Music Educators National Conference, and the North Carolina and Tennessee Music Educators conferences. His articles on conducting and band literature have been published in The Instrumentalist, The Journal of Band Research, The North Carolina Music Educator, Today’s Music Educator, and in the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. He is a member of the College Band Directors National Association, the Music Educators National Conference, the SEC Band Directors Association, Kappa Kappa Psi National Band fraternity, and the Golden Key International Honor Society.

Dr. Knighten holds the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Instrumental Conducting and the Master of Music Degree in Wind Conducting from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the Bachelor of Music Education Degree from Baylor University. His primary conducting teachers were Michael Haithcock and Allan McMurray.

In his spare time Dr. Knighten is an avid triathlete, and is a two-time finisher of the Ironman distance, including the 2007 Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.