The Luther College Concert Band has enjoyed nearly 150 years of success. International tours, regional tours, concerts, service to the college and recording projects aided the success of this small college band that retained its Lutheran, liberal arts identity. Published documents exist about the Luther College band before 1948 but no comprehensive published documents are available after that time. This essay provides a more complete history of the band since 1948 based upon archival research and interviews with Weston Noble, Fredrick Nyline and Joan deAlbuquerque. The Concert Band started as a student led activity, which set it apart from other university bands of the late nineteenth century that had military connections. The Luther band eventually became an academic area of study and performed solely for campus concerts and on tours. The band took tours to Norway and Europe long before most college bands had touring programs. Later the band toured to Japan, China and Europe and continued regional tours throughout the United States. The Concert Band conductors, particularly the tenures of Carlo Sperati, Weston Noble, Frederick Nyline and Joan deAlbuquerque, helped shape the band program and music department at Luther College. This is a study of their educational philosophies that shaped the band, and the support the program received from the college administration, students and alumni. Also included is information about the Dorian Band Festival hosted by Luther College, works commissioned by the band, a review of works programed by conductors, a listing of recordings by the Luther College Concert Band and biographical information about each conductor.

Acoustic Voice Placement has been in use in the United States choral ensembles since the mid-twentieth century, yet research on the topic is limited. Beyond the techniques of Weston Noble (1922-2016), who championed the practice in the United States from 1948 until his death in 2016, there is little known about methods of Acoustic Voice Placement. The purpose of this research is not only to deepen the information available for the reader, but to create a pathway for future research and debate which expands the knowledge about and the practices within the field of Acoustic Voice Placement. Drawn from multiple source types, an empirical analysis of the approaches, methods, and techniques of Acoustic Voice Placement used by three prominent North American choral conductors was conducted. The methods of Weston Noble, James Bass, and Joe Miller were observed and analyzed intent on capturing exemplary practices and detailed methodologies. When compared to Weston Noble's foundational techniques, modern Acoustic Voice Placement techniques showed both convergent and divergent trends.