Robert W. Smith is one of the most popular and prolific composers of concert band and orchestral literature in America today. He has over 600 publications in print with the majority composed and arranged through his long association with Warner Bros. Publications and the Belwin catalog.

As a conductor and clinician, Mr. Smith has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe, South America and Australia. In addition, he is co-creator of the Expressions Music Curriculum. This comprehensive Pre-K through 12 music program includes Band Expressions, an innovative new approach to teaching music through the band.

Robert may best be known to fans for being at the forefront of creating original programming for drum corps in the 1980s. A brass arranger who brought the Florida-based Suncoast Sound to prominence during the corps’ finalist seasons of 1983-1989, he also wrote shows for the Velvet Knights, Spirit of Atlanta, Magic of Orlando, Glassmen and the Cadets.

Smith was with Suncoast Sound from the corps’ earliest days and through his arranging and brass instruction, rapidly brought the corps into the DCI World Championship Finals in 1983. In 1984, his show based on the 1960s and the Vietnam War prominently featured some original compositions. But it was his 1985 “Florida Suite” that was the first to exclusively feature new works of music specifically composed for a drum corps. Robert was inducted into the DCI Hall of Fame in 2010.

Mr. Smith is currently teaching in the Music Industry program at Troy University in Troy, AL. His teaching responsibilities are focused in music composition, production, publishing and business.