Tarik Rowland

Dr. Tarik Rowland is in his sixteenth year as Director of Bands at Tri-Cities High School in East Point, Georgia and his twenty-first year as a music educator.  An Atlanta native, Dr. Rowland attended Riverwood High School.  His undergraduate work was completed at Georgia Southern University and Masters of Music Education work at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia. Dr. Rowland received a Doctorate in Music Education from The University of Georgia, Hugh Hodgson School of Music. 

During his undergraduate career, Dr. Rowland was a member of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Band, the Georgia Southern University Wind Ensemble, the Georgia Southern University “Southern Pride” Marching Band, Lead Trumpet player for the Jazz Ensemble, and the Principal Trumpet for the Georgia Southern-Statesboro Symphony Orchestra.  He studied undergraduate conducting with Dr. Daniel Pittman and graduate conducting with Dr. John Lynch, Mr. Mark Cedel, Dr. Scott Nelson and Colonel L. Bryan Shelburne, Jr. of The U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own”.

Under Dr. Rowland’s leadership, the Tri-Cities Band Program has grown from 45 members to 185.  The Wind Ensemble (performing level VI music) and the Symphonic Band (level IV/V), the Concert Band (performing level II/III) along with the Marching and Jazz Bands consistently earn superior ratings at all adjudicated events.  His bands have performed in Disney World’s Magic Music Days, the 2009 Historically Black College & University Band Directors Consortium, the Atlanta Jazz Festival, Southern Star Invitational Southwest Airlines, Delta Airlines, and for MTV’s Boost Mobile Rock Corps Concert. The Wind Ensemble was invited to perform at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts and to participate in the Pre-Olympic Ceremonies in Beijing, China for the 2008 Olympics. In 2012 and 2018, Dr. Rowland was selected as one of Fulton County’s Star Teachers. Dr. Rowland was selected as a Quarter Finalist for the first ever GRAMMY Music Educators Award in 2014. In 2014, he also received the Georgia Musical Theater Shuler Award for best Orchestra. Dr. Rowland currently serves as the Fulton County School System Fine Arts Support Teacher for Band and the Southern Division chair for the William P. Foster Project sponsored by the National Band Association (NBA).

Dr. Rowland’s professional affiliations include the Georgia Music Educators Association, National Band Association, National Association for Music Educators, Minority Band Directors National Association, Jazz Educators Network, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity, Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity, the International Trumpeters Guild, and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated.  Dr. Rowland resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his beautiful and loving wife, Alva, who is an operatic performer and elementary music specialist, along with their sixteen-year-old son, Tarik Jr. “TJ”; their twelve-year-old daughter, Tarin; and six-year-old daughter, Tarianna.