Music professor named 'Outstanding Mentor'

School of Music professor and Director of Bands Ray E. Cramer was recently recognized by the National Band Association as an Outstanding Mentor. \nDuring a concert on Oct. 28, former students Stephen W. Pratt, Associate Director of Bands, and Jay Gephart, Associate Director of Bands at Purdue University, presented the award to Cramer.\nAccording to the NBA Web site, the Outstanding Mentor Award represents a demonstration of substantive contributions to the quality of bands and band music. The award is presented on behalf of students around the country for whom Cramer has provided leadership, encouragement and musical insight during his career.\nCramer is one of only a few who have ever received the Outstanding Mentor Award, Pratt said. He was nominated by a member of the NBA whom he had served during his career. Numerous former students from around the country submitted letters to the NBA attributing part of their success to having Cramer as a mentor.\n"It was a complete surprise," Cramer said. "I knew nothing about it."\nPratt, who played in Cramer's ensemble as an undergraduate at IU, was among those who sent in a letter recommending Cramer for the award.\n"Professor Cramer is a role model to his students as a professional and as a teacher," Pratt said. "He is enthusiastic and personable. He treats all his students as individuals."\nSenior Meredith Holzer, a member of the Marching Hundred, said she sees why Cramer won the award.\n"He still comes to Marching Hundred practices even though he isn't the director anymore to support us," Holzer said. "I feel like he's checking up on us. Even though he is a figurehead for the department, he is a real person. He is very approachable when many in his position would not be." \nCramer said the award is very meaningful to him as a teacher. \n"One of the great joys of being at the University is having contact with students and watching them enter careers of their own and see them become successful," Cramer said. "Any teacher hopes to recreate ourselves, we want to instill the desire to do what we do."\nCramer started his serious music education as an undergraduate at Western Illinois University. After two weeks, he was sold.\n"Music has kept me young," he said. "It has made my life even and kept me motivated over the years. There is a spirit and energy about music that is self-perpetuating," he said. \nCramer started his career teaching in public schools in Illinois, Iowa and Ohio. He came to IU in the fall of 1969 as Associate Director of Bands, becoming Director of Bands in 1982. He has also served as the Director of the Marching Hundred. \nCramer conducts the Wind Ensemble, Chamber Winds and University Orchestra. He also teaches graduate conducting and wind literature classes. Besides contributing to the IU band program, Cramer is a regular guest conductor at the Masushino Academy of Music in Tokyo. He is president of the American Bandmaster's Association and president of the board of the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. \nThe NBA was established in 1960 and has become the largest band organization in the world. According to the NBA Web site, the organization strives to promote the musical and educational significance of bands and is dedicated to attaining a high level of excellence for bands and band music.\nFor more information about the NBA, visit www.nationalbandassociation.org/.\n-- Contact staff writer Haley Beck at habeck@indiana.edu.