Concert Calendar 

Ensembles 

Music Faculty

Degrees Offered

Degree Requirements

Scholarship Audition Info

Visit a Rehearsal  

Download SAU Music  

Request Information

Student Resources

Honor Band

Young
Conductor's
Project

CMENC

Eugene F. Bechen, Ph.D.

Chair, Department of Music

Faculty Web Page

Dr. Gene Bechen is in his fourth year as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands at St. Ambrose University.  In addition to serving as department chair, he serves as coordinator of instrumental activities, teaches courses in instrumental music education, conducts the SAU Symphonic and Jazz Bands, and serves as faculty advisor for CMENC.  His 21 years of teaching include instrumental music at the elementary, junior high, high school, and university levels in Iowa, Nevada, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Dr. Bechen received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Education degree from Wayne State College and a Master of Arts Degree and a Doctor of Music Education degree (Ph.D.) from The University of Iowa.  Bechen participated extensively in instrumental music while at the University, performing in the Symphony Band and serving as woodwind instructor for the Hawkeye Marching Band.  He also served as chief drill designer and charted all of the pre-game and halftime drill designs for the band’s performances at the 1997 Norwest Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, as well as the 1996 Builder’s Square Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas.

While teaching in Las Vegas, Nevada, Bechen was voted Clark County School District’s "New Teacher of the Year," having been selected from 1,100 new teachers in the district.  From 1992 to1996, he built and maintained a successful band program at Hempstead High School in Dubuque, Iowa, and was awarded the Hempstead High School Teacher of the Year Award in 1995.  From 1990-2000, Dr. Bechen served as co-director/instructor for the Indiana State University Drum Major Clinic, and the University of Nebraska at Kearney Marching Band Clinic from 1990-2000, where he taught conducting and leadership skills.  In 2001, Dr. Bechen served as a visiting lecturer at University of Transkei (UNITRA) in Umtata, Eastern Cape, South Africa, where he taught conducting and served as a curriculum consultant.  Dr. Bechen was recently awarded with the Wayne State College Outstanding Alumni Award for the School of Arts and Humanities in October, 2003.

Prior to his arrival at St. Ambrose University, Dr. Bechen served as Director of Bands and coordinator of instrumental activities at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.  From 2000-2003, he taught at Indiana State University where he conducted the ISU Concert Band, instructed courses in instrumental music education and graduate studies, coordinated student teaching supervision, and served as faculty advisor to CMENC and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.  Bechen was elected into Pi Kappa Lambda, National Music Honorary Society by the Delta Mu Chapter at ISU in 2002.

Dr. Bechen’s research interests include music educator stress and burnout, student teaching, and competition in music.  He is a contributing author to music education textbooks, Directing the Choral Music Program (Oxford University Press) and Teaching Music Through Performance in Band (Vols. V, VI, GIA).  He is a member of MENC, CBDNA, NBA, IBA, IMEA, and is active as a conductor, clinician, program consultant, and adjudicator throughout the Midwest.