Craig Alberty Bigraphy

Born and raised in South Dakota, Craig Alberty holds music degrees from the University of South Dakota and Arkansas State University. To the bewilderment of many, he has published over 40 works for concert band, jazz band, and brass ensemble. Jammin', his beginning jazz improvisation method published by C. L. Barnhouse, has been used nation-wide for 15 years. His compositions have astonishingly found their way onto programs at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago, The World Saxophone Congress in Montreal, and other state and regional meetings including the North American Saxophone Alliance. His band compositions are included on several contest performance lists in the U. S. and Australia.

Trained as a trumpet player, Alberty moved to the dark side at the new millennium and took up saxophone. The venture has landed him in a rock band, the pit for numerous shows, a symphony orchestra (soloist!?), and incited him to start a jazz quintet -- truly a passion out of control. For over 20 years he has operated an audio production studio specializing in the creation of accompaniment recordings for educational music publishers, most notably Ed Sueta Music and Macie Publishing.

Before initiating an electronic music program at the University of South Dakota in 1988, he taught instrumental music at public schools in Iowa and South Dakota. In 1996 he was offered the opportunity to start a new instrumental music program at Francis Marion University in Florence, SC. He recerntly completed 14 years there having directed jazz and concert bands, taught music theory, and served as coordinator of the music industry program he helped to establish. If you want more details (I can't imagine) just click the "curriculum vitae" image in this paragraph.

The Alberty family includes wife Lyn (euphonium, trombone); daughter Erin (piano, trumpet) toiling as a newspaper reporter in Salt Lake City; son Seth (trombone) a mechanical engineer and cartographer living in China; son Thad (trumpet, piano) in 10th grade; and son Grant (trombone, piano) in 7th grade. Oh, they have a dog named Muffy -- she smiles.