The Charlotte Concert Band (CCB) is a volunteer community band of professional and dedicated amateur musicians from Charlotte, North Carolina. Our mission is to provide lifelong participation in music through quality performances of classic concert band repertoire (see below for a sample listing of what we play).

We are a non-profit 501(c)(3)organization; our funding comes from grants, donations, and a few paying performances. Because we are a community band and our goal is to serve all parts of the community, we do not charge for our concerts.

CCB members develop friendships that last a lifetime. Some of our members have played together in the band for over 30 years; others just moved to the greater Charlotte region recently. At rehearsals, members quickly discover a warm place to make new acquaintances. CCB proves the theory of "six degrees of separation." 

Students at Queens University of Charlotte may participate in the CCB for academic credit. There are music majors as well as talented non-majors who enroll in the CCB each semester. As a smaller university, Queens offers both an intimate learning environment and close student-teacher interaction. Through Queens' sponsorship, the CCB gives students the opportunity to play challenging repertoire in a large ensemble. Many of our Queens students in the CCB come from high schools with outstanding band programs.

Dr. Donald Morris has more than 30 years of experience conducting public school and university bands in Tennessee, Illinois, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina including Northwestern University, University of Illinois Chicago, Florida State University, Charleston Southern University, Western Carolina University and Morehead State University.  While still an undergraduate, Dr. Morris made his conducting debut leading the Dogwood Arts Festival Chamber Orchestra in Copland's Appalachian Spring (original version for 13 instruments).

Dr. Morris's leadership began in the fall of 1999, and since then the Charlotte Concert Band has grown in size and quality.  Their most recent achievement was a performance for the North Carolina Music Educators Conference in November 2008.

Dr. Morris holds a B.S. in Music Education from the University of Tennessee, a Master's in Conducting from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in Music Education from Florida State.  While at Florida State, Dr. Morris was awarded a Dissertation Fellowship for his research on the life and works of composer Vincent Persichetti.  In addition to his dissertation, "The Life and Works of Vincent Persichetti, with Emphasis on the Works for Band," Dr. Morris has been a contributor to the "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band" series and wrote the liner notes for the University of North Texas CD "Composer's Collection: Vincent Persichetti."  He has studied conducting with W. J. Julian, Donald Neuen, John Paynter and James Croft.