Rick DeJonge

Rick DeJonge has a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Educational Leadership from Western Michigan University as well as a degree in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television from the University of Southern California. He spent thirteen years in public education having taught high school and middle school band, high school choir, and elementary music. He remains active working with bands across the country and has recently worked with Honor Bands and All State Bands in Colorado, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Rick is an adjunct professor at Lipscomb University in Nashville where he teaches Composition, Orchestration, and Film Scoring.

As a conductor, Rick has conducted his own scores at Paramount Studios, Fox Studios, Spielberg Scoring Stage, and Firehouse Studios in Pasadena, California. DeJonge’s score for the action film “Fighting with Anger” contained a song by the composer which won Best Original Song at the New York Independent Film Festival and was recorded by Willie Nelson. Maestro DeJonge has been the official arranger/composer for Walt Disney World’s Thanksgiving Day Parade since 2011. In 2022 Rick worked with Netflix for a new promotion for the popular series “Stranger Things” and his score for the independent short film “Kubrick” won Best Original Score at several different film festivals.

As a songwriter and arranger, Rick has composed music and written lyrics for several artists including The Boston Brass, Presidio Brass, Roger Ingram, Pat Sheridan, Willie Nelson and Liza Minnelli. For over two decades Rick has been working in artist relations covering over 25 different brands of musical instruments ranging from drums to guitar and from timpani to piccolo and everything in between. He has worked with over 500 artists and bands including Reliant K, Capital Cities, Youngblood Brass Band, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Big Bad VooDoo Daddy, and the band FUN! In 2008 Rick received Music Industry Person of the Year from the Texas Band Master’s Association and the same award in 2015 from the Tennessee Music Educators Association. Since 2023, Rick has been working as the Director of Artist Relations and Strategic Partnerships for Conn Selmer.