CLAUDE SMITH  |  President
Claude Smith is relatively new to the Hot Springs Concert Band and its Board of Directors, but he is certainly not new to music or bands. His education and experience make that more than obvious! Claude graduated in 1976 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Education from Arkansas Polytechnic College. In 1985 he graduated with a Masters Degree in Music Education Degree from Arkansas Tech University and in 1993 he received his Arkansas Secondary Principal's Certification from the University of Central Arkansas. Claude served as Junior High Band Director and High School Band Director at Search from 1976 to 2004 and  from 2004 until his retirement in 2017 he was the Assistant Principal of Searcy Junior High School and the Principal of Searcy High School. Claude is a member of the Phi Beta Mu National Band Fraternity and  member Emeritus of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators. He has served as past president of the Arkansas Bandmasters Association and past president of the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association. Claude has been the recipient of several prestigious honors: 2003 Arkansas Bandmaster of the Year, 2009 Principal of the Year – Arkansas Scholastic Press Association, and he has served as Band Clinician/Adjudicator in Tennessee, South Carolina, and all nine band regions of Arkansas. Along with serving on the board of directors and playing French horn in the Hot Springs Concert Band, Claude also serves as one of the associate conductors. As you can see, Claude brings a wealth of credentials, talent and experience to the Hot Springs Concert Band and Board of Directors, and we are very fortunate and pleased that he shares it with us.

 HAL THOMPSON  |  Vice President
After a 32-year career in public school education, the first 16 as a high school band director and then a principal, Hal retired to Hot Springs Village. While serving as a band director, his organizations were consistently rated as outstanding in various state and regional competitions.  He has studied conducting with Fredrick Fennell and Arnold Gabriel, both highly respected members of the national band community. While living in the Chicago area, Hal was able to perform professionally in a variety of musical venues; most notably Musical Theater, both as a conductor and a performer.  His most recent, and 60th production Chicago, was completed with the Pocket Theater in Hot Springs. Since moving to Arkansas, he has been recruited to play with many musical groups in the state as well as several national touring companies. Serving as an associate conductor for the Hot Springs Concert Band continues to be one of his greatest pleasures.  

​​DAVID L. MCALLISTER  |  Treasurer
David McAllister is a native of Camden, Arkansas, and graduated from Fairview High school in 1964. He earned a B.S. in chemistry from Southern Arkansas University, and a Ph. D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Oklahoma. He spent his entire career in the chemical industry with Chemtura Corporation, first in El Dorado, Arkansas, and then in Lafayette, Indiana, retiring in 2013. David continues part time employment as a consultant to the chemical industry. he has lived in Arkadelphia since 2001. David began playing trumpet in fourth grade, and continued through high school and college. Upon moving to El Dorado after graduate school, he played in the pit orchestra for several community theatre productions, and in the South Arkansas Symphony for a few years. While in Lafayette, IN, he played with the Lafayette Citizens Band, one of the oldest community bands in the U.S., having been in existence since 1842. David joined HSCB in 2003, and plays in the church band at First Baptist Church in Arkadelphia. In addition to his musical activities, David enjoys travel with his wife, Cathie, volunteer work with Arkansas Baptist Disaster Relief and the Arms Around Arkadelphia home repair ministry, and spending time at his cabin in the mountains near Jasper, Arkansas.

​​JEFF OLSON
Jeff was born in Washington state and raised in Oklahoma. He is a graduate of Mustang High School and Oklahoma State University. He was employed with the USDA for 38 years, having retired in 2016.

Jeff began his musical journey at the age of 8 with piano lessons. At age 11 he started playing cornet and a year later switched to trumpet which he played through his senior year of high school and two years of college. He received the honor of being selected for the 1973 Oklahoma All-State Stage Band. In 1983, he was encouraged by a friend and church music director to pick up his horn and start playing it again. This he did and has been doing so ever since.

Over the years, Jeff has played for churches, community bands, weddings, memorial services, and theater. In 2008, he joined the Hot Springs Concert Band. He also currently plays for the Hot Springs Village Big Band, the Hot Springs First Baptist Church Orchestra, and the Hot Springs New Horizons Band. Jeff and his wife Denise have raised three children and now take every opportunity and much pleasure in spoiling their three grandchildren. In 2020, they moved to Hot Springs Village from Mena, where they resided for 40 years.

Jeff is proud to be a part of the Hot Springs Concert Band and believes it plays an important institutional role in the communities it serves. In his words: “The band represents some of the best traditions of America’s artistic culture and contributes to the celebration and preservation of our rich and diverse musical heritage which bonds past generations with those of the present and future.”

​​​RICK PERRYMAN
Rick Perryman moved to Hot Springs Village from Midland Texas and graduated from West Texas State University in Canyon, Texas. He majored in Music Education, Tuba performance. He retired in April of 2010 from Entergy as a General Manager after working for them for 31 years, managing Power Plants in Arkansas and Louisiana. He is married to Debbie and they have one daughter, Emily, who now lives in Little Rock. His career took him away from music so he is very happy to be able to play in the band and any other ensembles that need a tuba player.

DENNIS MILLER
Dennis Miller was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and started playing clarinet in the 8th grade.    After graduation from Bryant High School it was on to the University of Arkansas – Little Rock where he graduated with a B.S. In Computer Science and a minor in Accounting.  His career started with Arkansas Power & Light / Entergy in Little Rock and moved to Russellville where he provided programming, network and IT support for Arkansas Nuclear One.  He then moved back to Little Rock to work for FIS (Fidelity Information Services) where he has worked as an Oracle DBA for 20+ years.  His wife, Rebecca works for Baptist Health in Little Rock.  After college, Dennis looked for opportunities to continue playing and this included community bands in Central Arkansas, Russellville, Fort Smith, North Little Rock and he's been with Hot Springs Concert Band since 2004.  Dennis has seen in his travels around Arkansas that community bands are a great asset to the communities they serve.  He considers it a privilege to be a part of the Hot Springs Concert Band in the beautiful Hot Springs area.

 DR. MARY RITCH
In the last 45 years I have lived across the country - Norman, Oklahoma; Jacksonville and West Palm Beach, Florida; Kansas City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. I was blessed to study at three of the finest music schools in the country (UMKC Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory and the University of Southern California) with some of the most luminary musicians in the world, including members of the San Francisco Symphony, the LA Philharmonic, and legends in the film music industry. I attended music school for 11 years, ultimately obtaining my Doctorate in Horn Performance from USC in 2002 with the intention of teaching college and playing in the film music industry. During my time as a student, I won numerous awards as a soloist and performed as a professional musician in many groups in Missouri, California and Utah. My final year as a student, the first of two cataclysmic world events happened which would bookend my professional career. The events surrounding 9/11 profoundly affected me and I decided to pursue a career outside of music as a paralegal for law firms in the LA area. Fifteen years later, I retired and began playing again, nurtured my genealogy business, lost 240 pounds, and became a writer (I’m currently preparing a historical website and blog for the Los Angeles Horn Club, which was a focus of my studies in grad school.) I had only been playing again for two years when the second world-changing event which would bookend my music career occurred - the Covid-19 pandemic. My musical groups in California disbanded and I again stopped playing. My husband retired in April 2021 during the pandemic (yes, he was part of the “Great Resignation”), and we fled California (our home of 26 years), moving to the refuge of a national forest in the middle of Arkansas. God works in mysterious ways. In the late spring of 2022, I began working as a part-time secretary for Coronado Baptist Church in Hot Springs Village and met someone there who played in the Hot Springs Concert Band that encouraged me to start playing again and join the band. In the summer, I began playing in the Hot Springs Concert Band, and that fall learned another instrument (tenor horn) to play in the Natural State Brass Band, a competitive British-style brass band in Little Rock, and also began soloing at churches in Hot Springs Village. By Christmas I was playing professionally again, and in January 2023 I auditioned for and was accepted into Little Rock Winds. In February I gave my first recital in 21 years; by fall I was performing in chamber music groups, playing principal horn in Arkansas Master Singers orchestra, Hot Springs Concert Band, and Hot Springs Baptist Church Orchestra; and by winter was playing in Ouachita Baptist University’s Festival of Christmas pit orchestra and Geyer Springs First Baptist Church’s orchestra. The following year, I started my own music contracting business, became the HSV Symphony Guild’s scholarship committee chair, grant writer, and Board liaison for the Arkansas Symphony’s educational outreach programs; and was invited to join the Board of the Hot Springs Concert Band. In May of 2024 I formed my own Christian musical group, Brass & The Bible, performing traditional hymns and inspirational songs on French horn with lyric and scripture recitations by my husband. By midsummer we had performed at several venues, including churches, missions and senior living facilities, and are currently booked through Memorial Day 2025. My move to Arkansas has provided many new and spiritually fulfilling musical adventures for me. I am excited to see how the Lord is using my talents in this new chapter of my life. My website is maryritch.com.