Dr. Andrew F. Poor

Biography

Dr. Andrew F. Poor, DME, is Director of Bands at South Forsyth Middle School in Cumming, Georgia. Previously, he served as the Assistant Director of Bands and Chair of the Fine Arts department at Fayette County High School in Fayetteville, Georgia. 2006-2015, Dr. Poor served as a part-time music education instructor at Columbus State University Schwob School of Music. Dr. Poor received his Doctor of Music Education and Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He also holds a Bachelor of Music Education (High Honors) from the University of Florida. Dr. Poor is a member of Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, ASCAP, NAfME, National Band Association, and the Georgia Music Educators Association.

Dr. Poor is a past chair of the GMEA Band Adjudication Committee and served as an All-State Band Organizer for fourteen years. He has also organized the GMEA District 6 and 9 Large Group Performance Evaluation and the District 6 and 9 Middle School Honor Band. From 2014 to 2018, he served as the Southern Division representative to the National Council for Music Composition.

In his thirty-fourth year as a music educator, Dr. Poor has received numerous honors, notably, the 2015-2016 South Forsyth Middle School Teacher of the Year and Forsyth County Middle School Teacher of the Year. Additionally, he was recognized as the 2016-2017 Forsyth County System-Wide Teacher of the Year. His ensembles have given invitational performances, including the 17th International Cultural Festival in Tottori, Japan, Florida Music Educators State Conference, Southeastern United States Honor Band and Clinic at Troy University, University of Georgia Middle School Honor Band Festival, GMEA State In-Service Conference, University of Alabama Middle School Honor Band, National Band and Orchestra Festival-Carnegie Hall, National Band Association Southern Division Regional Conference, Reinhardt University Middle School Festival, and the Music for All Southeastern Regional Concert Band Festival and the Music for All National Festival. Dr. Poor is a nine-time National Band Association Citation of Excellence recipient. The South Forsyth Middle School Band program received the 2014, 2019, and 2025 GMEA Middle School Exemplary Performance Award.

An active composer, commissioned works by Dr. Poor have been performed at several distinguished events, including Midwest Clinic, GMEA State In-Service Conference, GMEA All-State Band, International Tuba and Euphonium Conference, University of Georgia MidFest, University of Alabama Honor Band Clinic, Music for All National Concert Band Festival, and numerous local concerts. His wind band and chamber works appear in the catalogs of C.L. Barnhouse, Northeastern Music Publications, and Eighth Note Music. His hymn-setting, My Father’s World, was selected by the Midwest Clinic Board of Directors as a notable new work in 2010. His fanfare, To the Stars, was selected by bandworld.org as one of the top new band pieces for 2011. His arrangements for the marching band have been performed by Olivet Nazarene University, the University of Tennessee-Martin, and numerous high schools in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama.

Dr. Poor is frequently invited to serve as a consultant, adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor. He has presented at the Midwest Clinic, Ohio Music Educators Association State Conference, Florida Music Educators Association State Conference, and eight times at the Georgia Music Educators Association State In-Service Conference. He has also served as a curriculum consultant to the Cobb County School District, Bibb County Schools, and the Polk County School District (Bartow, Florida). Active in the drum and bugle corps activity, Dr. Poor served as the brass arranger for the Music City drum and bugle corps, the Brass Caption Head for the Spirit of Atlanta, and on the brass staffs of the Blue Stars, and Phantom Regiment. Before teaching drum corps, he enjoyed a successful eighteen-year career as an adjudicator for DCI. Dr. Poor lives in Suwanee, Georgia, with his wife, Marilyn. He has two children: his son, Addison, is a senior music major at Columbus State University, and his daughter, Kayla, is the band director at Denmark High School, Alpharetta, Georgia.