JAson Smigell

Hockey Band Director

Jason Smigell has been a musician, educator, mentor, and creator for over 30 years.  He recently retired from public school as the Director of Bands at Howell HS in Howell, MI.  Over his twenty-five-year career as a band director, Jason has given hundreds of performances with his students, earning exemplary ratings at festival, and positive reviews from audiences all over Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, Florida, and Illinois. He has sent dozens of his students to music school, and many of them still work in the business as performers, educators, sound engineers, music therapists, and music producers.

Awards and accolades include being nominated 15 years in a row for district teacher of the year, 2022 high school teacher of the year for Livingston County, and a special commendation by the Michigan State Legislature.  In graduate school, he was awarded the Donald R. Shepherd Fellowship in Music Education, for which he is very grateful.

Jason has been very fortunate to be influenced and guided by many fantastic teachers over the years, particularly at the University of Michigan, where he earned both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Music Education.   He has studied conducting with H. Robert Reynolds, Michael Adelson, Donald Schleicher, Glen Adsit, and Gary Lewis.  He has studied saxophone with Carrie Koffman, Christopher Creviston, and his hero, Donald Sinta.