Clinician – String Orchestra

Recipient of the American String Teachers Association Elizabeth A. H. Green Award for a distinguished career in string teaching, James Palmer is the Orchestra Director at Allatoona High School in Acworth, Georgia, the Music Director for the Youth Orchestras of Greater Columbus in Columbus, Georgia and an editor, arranger, and featured clinician for Alfred Music. He is the Co-Author of The Sound Orchestra Full Orchestra Method Book and has published over twenty compositions for String Orchestra. Mr. Palmer has served as the Orchestra Director at Manatee High School in Bradenton, Florida; Music Department Chairman and Orchestra Director at Cypress Lake Center for the Arts in Fort Myers, Florida; and Fine Arts Department Chairman and Orchestra Director at Chattahoochee High School in John’s Creek, Georgia. In addition to his teaching career, Mr. Palmer has also served as conductor with the Florida West Coast Symphony Youth Orchestra, Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestra, and former Music Director for the Tampa Bay Youth Orchestra and the Southwest Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra. Mr. Palmer’s orchestras have performed at the Florida Music Educator’s Conference in Tampa, the MENC Southern Division Conference in Savannah, the ASTA National Orchestra Festival in Dallas, the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, and the 2005 ASTA National Conference in Reno, Nevada.

Jim Palmer has received the Teacher of the Year Award in three separate high schools and has been inducted into the Florida Collegiate Music Educators Hall of Fame. He is a frequent clinician having conducted All State and honors orchestras in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Vermont. Mr. Palmer has also maintained a career as a professional violist serving as Principal Violist for the Sarasota Pops Orchestra, section violist, and substitute principal for the Southwest Florida Symphony and Chamber Orchestra as well as a freelance violist in the Atlanta area. Mr. Palmer is a member of GMEA, Past President of the Georgia American String Teachers Association, Past Chairman of the ASTA National Orchestra Festival, and is a graduate of Florida State University.