Rate My Professor Birch Browning

Dr. Birch Browning is Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Cleveland State University School of Music, where he has served on the faculty since 2002. Specializing in Music Education, he also holds the position of Music Director of the Cleveland Winds, a professional wind band based at CSU that he founded in 2009. Prior to joining CSU, Browning taught music education courses at Stetson University and Florida State University. Before pursuing his doctorate, he taught high school band and orchestra in Florida. He earned a Ph.D. in Music Education from Florida State University. As a conductor and clinician, Browning is in demand nationally, with his ensembles including the CSU Symphonic Band, Chamber Winds, and Cleveland Winds performing at the Ohio Music Education Association Professional Development Conference in 2005, 2015, and 2017. They have broadcast live on WCLV, Cleveland's classical music station, on six occasions and appear on the recording Timothy Reynish International Repertoire Series, Vol. 12, available on iTunes and Spotify. The Cleveland Winds won The American Prize in the Band/Wind Ensemble Performance—community and school division.

Browning's research centers on music education pedagogy, particularly strategies for improving instructional delivery through self-observation. He is the author of Becoming a Musician-Educator: An Orientation to Musical Pedagogy, published by Oxford University Press in April 2017. Additionally, he developed eMirror, an online software application that facilitates quantitative time use and sequence data analysis from video episodes, enabling customized observation templates and data-informed reflection for preservice music education students. Research on eMirror demonstrates that users significantly modify their instructional practices. Browning has presented his research findings at numerous state and national conferences. He serves as a member of the College Band Directors National Association Research Committee and, since 2015, on its Research and Editorial Review Committee. From 2008 to 2020, he contributed to the editorial board of Contributions, a research journal sponsored by the Ohio Music Education Association, serving four years as Editor and six years as Associate Editor.