Robert Belser, Associate Professor of Music, is the Director of Bands at the University of Wyoming and conductor of the UW Wind Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra, and Community Concert Band.

He holds a BME from Central Missouri State University, the Master of Science in Music Education degree from the University of Illinois, and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from The University of Iowa.   Belser taught instrumental and choral music in Central Missouri, was Assistant Director of Bands at Eastern Kentucky University and served as Director of Bands at Southwestern Oklahoma State University.  Among Bob’s mentor teachers are Harry Begian, Gary Smith, Dan Perantoni, and Myron Welch.  His conducting and teaching has also been greatly influenced through conducting symposia with Craig Kirchhoff, John Paynter, and Mallory Thompson. 

He was awarded the prestigious John P. “Jack” Ellbogen Award for Meritorious Classroom teaching in 2000, and his colleagues in Wyoming honored Dr. Belser by naming him the 2004 Bandmaster of the Year, awarded by Phi Beta Mu, and by his hometown in being named to the Lee’s Summit High School Hall of Fame for 2004.  Belser is in demand as a guest conductor and adjudicator throughout the U.S., and bands under his direction have also performed in Mexico City and in Western Europe.  Since Volume IV, he has been and continues to be a contributing author for the texts Teaching Musicianship Through Performance in Band.