Michael Douglas Scott, music director of the Shoreview Northern Lights Variety Band, earned a Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Minnesota, a Masters Degree in Jazz Studies from Indiana University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from S.U.N.Y. College at Potsdam.
Dr. Scott is currently Director of Orchestras at Henry Sibley High School. He has appeared as a guest conductor with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, Southeast Minnesota Honor Band, St. Paul All-High School Honor Band at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Minnesota Symphonic Winds, the Plymouth Community Concert Band, and the Concertino Northeast Orchestra of the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies.
Dr. Scott has been engaged as an artist/clinician and adjudicator throughout the Midwest, including the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra’s Young Performers’ Competition, the Magic City Jazz Festival in Minot, ND, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and St. Olaf College. He has also served as trombone coach for the Minnesota All-State Concert Band and the St. Paul All-High School Honors Concert Orchestra at their summer camps. He served on the board of the Minnesota Music Educators Association (MMEA) as the Socioeconomic & Cultural Issues Chair from 2008 – 2015.
As a freelance musician (tenor and bass trombone), Dr. Scott has performed in shows at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts and the Target Center, concerts with Plymouth Music Series, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Civic Symphony, and national tours with Perry Como, the Four Tops, and the Temptations.
Dr. Scott contributes articles to Interval (the Journal of the MMEA) and authored several biographies in the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (Macmillan), including those of Count Basie, Cab Calloway and Marvin Gaye. He was a senior editor and author of the jazz and popular music entries in the Minnesota Department of Education’s Minnesota Frameworks in Arts Curriculum Strategies (MNFACS) Project.
Dr. Scott lives in Shoreview with his wife Monica and twins Michael and Shelby.
Kevin Mills, Associate Director
Kevin Mills is Director of Bands at Southwest Christian
High School in Chaska. He is a composer, arranger,
and multi instrumentalist, gigging regularly on drums,
saxophone and guitar. Kevin has a Master of Arts in music
education from the University of Minnesota. He has over
30 private music students in the Chanhassen area, and is
doing his best to become an internet sensation.
For more information, check out Kevin’s website: kevinmillsmusic.com