Band directors
Hudson, James G.
Director of ASU Athletic Band programs
James G. Hudson is the director of Athletic Bands for the ASU Herberger Institute School of Music. He coordinates and directs the Sun Devil Marching Band, Basketball Bands and the Dixie Devils Dixieland Band.
Hudson received a bachelor’s degree in music education from Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) and a master’s degree in music in wind band conducting from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. His professional affiliations include CBDNA, Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma, Phi Mu Alpha, Phi Beta Mu, MENC, Texas Music Educators, Texas Bandmasters, Kansas Music Educators, Kansas Bandmasters, Missouri Music Educators, Missouri Bandmasters and Iowa Bandmasters.
He is a very active adjudicator, drill designer and clinician. He has adjudicated for Bands of America, the University Interscholastic League (Texas), the Kentucky Music Educators Association, the Kansas Music Educators Association, the Oklahoma Bandmasters Association, the Iowa High School Music Association and the Iowa Jazz Championships Inc., as well as many university-sponsored festivals and contests.
He is currently on the instructional staff for Bowl Games of America. He has assisted in producing halftime shows for the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, the Alamo Bowl, the Orange Bowl and the BCS National Championship Game.
Before ASU, he served three years as director of athletic bands at the University of Kansas and 11 years as director of bands at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University).
While at the University of Kansas, he directed the University of Kansas Marching Jayhawks, the Volleyball and Basketball Bands, KU Jazz Ensemble II and the University Band. He also coordinates the Midwest Music Camps.
While at Southwest Texas, the Pride of the Hillcountry Marching Band performed internationally in Switzerland, Italy, France and Ireland and nationally at the 1999 Bands of America Grand National Championships. The band also performed extensively in Texas for the University Interscholastic League and Bands of America. In 1995, Video Express selected the Pride to appear on its “Best of the College Bands” production.
His public school teaching experience includes one year at Harmony Community Schools in Farmington, IA and nine years at Oskaloosa Community Schools in Oskaloosa, IA. While at Oskaloosa, his band received many honors and distinctions, including four Bands of America Summer National Class A Championships, performances at the Fiesta Bowl National Pageant of Bands and Parade, 1990 State 3-A Jazz Champions and 1990 Iowa Bandmasters Honor Jazz Band.
His family includes his wife Denise, who is currently a colorguard instructor for the Sun Devil Marching Band and has been on the instructional staff at Oskaloosa High School, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Southwest Texas State University, the University of Kansas, Blue Springs High School and the Sky Ryders Winterguard. Additionally, she was co-founder of the Millennia Winterguard in Texas. They have one son, Aaron, a graduate of ASU and alums of the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps.
Associate professor of music and director of bands
Jason Caslor assumed his duties as associate professor of music and director of bands at ASU in the fall of 2019 after four years as its associate director of bands and orchestras. In addition to overseeing all aspects of the ASU Wind Bands program, he directs the Wind Ensemble, mentors graduate conducting students, and teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting courses. In concert, Caslor has collaborated with, among other ensembles, the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the National Youth Band of Canada, the South Dakota All State Band, and the Alberta Wind Symphony. As a researcher and teacher, his efforts have led to engagements in Sweden, Austria, Germany and North America.
From 2010–15, he was an assistant professor of instrumental conducting at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. He conducted the Wind Ensemble and oversaw the undergraduate and graduate instrumental conducting programs. Before that, he spent three seasons as resident conductor with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. During his tenure with the TBSO, he conducted more than 75 concerts, including a CBC Radio national broadcast. He recorded a full-length, internationally distributed CD with Canadian blues artist Rita Chiarelli. Recipient of an “Excellence in Teaching Award” from Memorial University’s Students’ Union in 2012, Caslor also spent several years teaching in the public school system as an instrumental and choral educator.
In addition to numerous regional engagements, Caslor has conducted the National Youth Band of Canada, the South Dakota All State Band, the South Dakota Intercollegiate Band, the Oregon State University Wind Ensemble, the University of Nevada-Reno Wind Ensemble, and Canadian honour bands in Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, and Prince Edward Island.
He has also presented research at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the WASBE International Conference (San Jose, CA), the CBDNA National Conference (Greensboro, NC), the International Society for Music Education - Special Music Education and Music Therapy Pre-Conference Commission Seminar (Austria), the International Society for Research and Promotion of Wind Music International Conference (Germany), and the Riksförbundet Unga Musikanter Wind Band Symposium (Sweden).
Caslor completed his doctorate in conducting at ASU. Before earning a master's in conducting from the University of Manitoba, Canada, he earned dual bachelor's degrees in music and education from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.