The Texas Bandmasters Association recently named Dick Clardy of Flower Mound, Texas recipient of the 2026 Lifetime Administrator Achievement Award. This award recognizes a person who has made a major difference in Texas Band Programs by offering outstanding contributions and leadership in their role as a Music Administrator. Mr. Clardy is the twenty-sixth person to receive this award, which was established in 2001. TBA President Christopher Yee will present this award to Mr. Clardy during the annual TBA Convention/Clinic in downtown San Antonio this summer. The Awards Ceremony will take place on Thursday, July 16 at 9:00 a.m. in the Lila Cockrell Theatre during the Opening Session of the 79th annual TBA Convention/Clinic.
Dick Clardy is currently the Coordinator of Instrumental Music for the Fort Worth Independent School District in Fort Worth, Texas. Prior to this appointment, he served on the trumpet brass faculty at UNT and spent twenty-seven years developing band and orchestra programs in Texas. They include programs in Denton, Marcus High School in Flower Mound, The Colony High School, and Klein High School in Houston where he served as the Director of Bands and Chair of Department of Fine Arts. (More on Mr. Clardy below. Photo attached.)
The Texas Bandmasters Association promotes the value of music education in our society, and the vital role instrumental music plays in our cultural, intellectual, and social lives. Each year during the annual Awards Ceremony, TBA recognizes individuals who have had a significant impact on the lives of band students and band programs in Texas.
TBA is comprised of people working in or retired from the music education profession. Over six thousand band directors, spouses and family members, music students, performers, and exhibitors will attend the convention July 16-18 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio. The schedule includes over seventy educational clinics, numerous concerts and performance demonstrations, and an Exhibit Hall with approximately three hundred vendors presenting the latest products from leaders in the music industry. The TBA website offers more information on the Convention/Clinic and an extended catalog of educational material for band directors, music teachers, and students www.texasbandmasters.org.
Dick Clardy Dick Clardy is the Coordinator of Instrumental Music for the Fort Worth Independent School District in Fort Worth, Texas. Fort Worth ISD is an urban school district that has a vibrant secondary instrumental music program that is growing in numbers and quality. The program includes bands, orchestras, and mariachi. Mr. Clardy has assembled an amazing staff of veteran music teachers with the sole purpose of recruiting and mentoring young and emerging secondary instrumental music faculty. Mr. Clardy also serves on the board of The Foundation for Music Education, a not-for-profit organization supporting music education that annually recognizes outstanding ensembles through the project entitled Mark of Excellence. The project includes the National Wind Band Honors, the National Orchestra Honors, the National Choral Honors, the National Jazz Ensemble Honors, and the National Percussion Honors.
Mr. Clardy is an active clinician, adjudicator, and mentor for numerous music programs. Prior to his position in the Fort Worth Schools, Mr. Clardy performed as principal trumpet with the United States Army Field Band in Washington, D.C. and was invited to perform on a national tour with The United States Armed Forces Bicentennial Band. He served on the trumpet brass faculty at UNT and spent twenty-seven years developing band and orchestra programs in Texas. They include programs in Denton, Marcus High School in Flower Mound, The Colony High School, and Klein High School in Houston where he served as the Director of Bands and Chair of Department of Fine Arts. Mr. Clardy’s bands were invited to perform at the Midwest Clinic in 1994 and 1998, the TMEA Convention as the TMEA State Class 5A Honor Band in 1997, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade in 1997, the American Bandmasters Association Convention in Austin in 2000, the Chicago Symphony Hall in 2004 and Carnegie Hall in 2001 and 2006. The John Philip Sousa Foundation honored The Colony Band with The Sudler Flag of Honor in 1994.
Mr. Clardy has championed new works for band from such composers as Robert Linn, William Latham, Martin Mailman, Dan Welcher, Eric Richards, and Eric Whitacre. He has served the Texas Music Educators Association as both the State Band Division Chair and President. Mr. Clardy is a member of Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Mu and in 1997 was inducted into membership of the American Bandmasters Association. He served as President of the Texas Music Educators Association in 2000-2001. The Texas Bandmasters Association honored Mr. Clardy with the Meritorious Achievement Award and he was recently inducted into the Texas Phi Beta Mu Band Director’s Hall of Fame.
