By: Raquel Delgado
Southern Adventist University has welcomed Wesley Bradford as a new assistant professor and
band director at the School of Music. But, for Bradford, taking the job feels less like a new
chapter and more like moving back home.
“I was a student here from 1996 to 2000,” Bradford said. “I’m excited about the opportunity to
give back to a university that played such an important role in my own development and to
invest in the next generation of students.”
Bradford joined Southern faculty after previous band director, Ken Parsons, retired in May.
Parsons taught at the university for 26 years, according to a previous Accent article.
As a Southern alumnus, Bradford returned to the Chattanooga area in 2009 and stayed connected
to the university’s music program for over 15 years, participating in the Wind Symphony,
Symphony Orchestra and Horn Ensemble. Some of the faculty who now greet him as a colleague
were once his own instructors.
Bradford said his musical roots run deep.
“My musical background began when I was a boy, listening to my dad play piano and guitar and
sing, mostly gospel music,” he stated. He didn’t receive formal instruction until ninth grade,
when a music teacher at Auburn Adventist Academy in Auburn, Washington, got him started on
the cornet, a valved brass instrument resembling a trumpet in design and range.
Bradford attended La Sierra University as a French horn performance major before switching to
music education and then transferring to Southern his sophomore year. Along the way, he sang
in choir, played in concert band and orchestra, played tuba in community brass and started a
vocal octet that became a student-led chamber choir. Since then, Bradford has also played French
horn with the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra.
Despite his experience, Bradford does not describe himself primarily as a performer.
“I see myself more as a church musician,” he said, also mentioning that he plays piano once a
month at a small country church in Alabama and leads the song service.
“Ultimately, what I hope to do through music is inspire people to sing, to love music, and
especially to experience the joy and meaning of congregational singing,” Bradford said. “I don’t
want the Wind Symphony simply to perform for the church. I want us to participate in worship.”
Bradford’s son and senior music secondary education major, Rafferty Bradford, described his
father’s directing style.
“You can see [he] takes extra time to perfect each section individually,” Rafferty Bradford said.
Bradford has restructured the band practice schedule to give each section dedicated time: flutes
and saxophones on Mondays, brass and clarinets on Tuesdays, percussion on Thursdays and the
full band on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Linton Feitosa, a computer science graduate student, described his experience with Bradford in
rehearsals.
“Mr. Bradford demonstrates creativity, enthusiasm and deep musical knowledge in his
rehearsals,” Feitosa said. “The biggest change is in the way he starts rehearsals. He chooses
various unique warm-up exercises and has us play a hymn as our prayer. One of the best things
he has said frequently is ‘keep trying no matter what.’ He is eager to answer questions and
provide guidance to individual students and the ensemble as a whole.”
Above all, Bradford said he wants his students to leave Southern with the ability to create music
on their own.
“I want every student to understand how to make music, to have the skills and understanding to
continue making music even when they no longer have an instructor or a director telling them
what to do,” he said. “Music should be more than something we do while we’re in school. It
should be enjoyable, meaningful, stimulating and even restorative.”
