Kenneth L. Neidig

Kenneth L. Neidig is an experienced editor/writer with publication credits now spanning 70 years. He was editor of The Instrumentalist from 1970 to 1984, when he left to found and edit his own magazine (Band, then BDGuide) until retirement in 1995. Ken served as editor of his high school annual (Washington, New Jersey, 1948) and his first book, Band Director’s Guide, was published in 1964 by Prentice-Hall, followed by Choral Director’s Guide (1967) and Music Director’s Complete Handbook of Forms (1973). Ken Neidig has music education degrees from two Kentucky schools (Murray and UK), and he taught in that state for 15 years (Elizabethtown, 1955-62 and Fort Knox, 1962-70). He was also active in the state music education association and edited their official publication, the Bluegrass Music News (1967-70). In 2008, he produced three books for Meredith Music Publications: Rehearsing the Band, A Conductor’s Interpretive Analysis of Masterworks for Band, and Performance Study Guides of Essential Works for Band. And his latest book, Brushes with Brilliance, People Who Shaped My Career as a Music Magazine Editor was published in 2022. During the Korean War, he served a 3-year enlistment in U.S. Army Bands, including the 293rd at the United Nations Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. He continued to play clarinet, saxophone, and bassoon in various amateur groups and wrote arrangements for the Mesilla Valley Concert Band, a 100-piece community organization in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Ken's 7th book, Brushes with Brilliance, was published in 2023. It is an autobiographical chronicle of personal contacts throughout a life centered on music -- as a player, teacher, writer, editor and photographer. All of his "papers” have been gathered together and are available in the Ken Neidig Collection at the Archive Library of Murray (KY) State University. In July 2023, at age 92, Ken moved to Eugene, OR to a retirement facility that is less than 5 minutes away from his son, Robert E. Neidig.