Glenn Welch

Glenn Welch is a freelance musician from Marion, Indiana. He was born in Ludington, Michigan, grew up in Mishawaka, South Bend, Fort Wayne, and Indianapolis, Indiana and returned to Ludington as a teenager. He studied euphonium with Robert Whaley and composition with Ramon Zupko at Western Michigan University and received a Bachelor of Music degree in 1984. Since that time, Glenn has been active as a performer, instructor, and composer across Indiana and beyond.

For most of his career he was Music Director for The Salvation Army in Bloomington and Marion, Indiana. He led the Salvation Army Indiana Divisional Band for seven years and directed Indiana Music Institute five years. He also had short stints with The Salvation Army in New Albany and Vincennes, Indiana, and as the Divisional Music Director in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was Pep Band Director at Taylor University, coordinated four OcTUBAfests at Taylor University and Indiana Wesleyan University, and has served on faculties of music camps across nine states, often being presented as a special guest artist.

Glenn has had one-off performances with Washington D.C.’s National Capital Band, Toronto’s Agincourt Temple Band, the Chicago Staff Band, the Indianapolis Brass Choir, and the brass sections of the Kalamazoo Symphony, Lafayette Symphony and Kokomo Symphony. He is a member of the historic Bluffton Street Fair Band and the OomPapas Tuba Quartet. He’s also a longtime euphonium soloist with the Kokomo Park Band and was featured at the band’s 100th Anniversary Concert. He has soloed at the North American Brass Band Championships and at six universities. He has presented hundreds of solo performances, including thirty accompanied by fourteen different bands. That can mean only one thing: He’s old.

Glenn is a certified adjudicator for the Indiana State School Music Association. He led worship and briefly served as Director of Bands at Lakeview Christian School in Marion, coached brass at Eastbrook High School and Vincennes University, and has given private instruction to hundreds of students through the years. He has sung and played guitar, drums and keyboard in a few short-lived Christian rock bands (Amish Rockers, Media, Redwood, Rufus, Messenger) and taught guitar at Taylor University. He was the pianist at Marion Bethel AME Church for a year, and directed Chapel Pike Wesleyan’s choir for its centennial celebration.

As a composer, to date Glenn has written 589 songs and 150 other compositions and arrangements with 23 pieces published, recorded, and distributed internationally by The Salvation Army. He has received numerous commissions to arrange music, including a solo for Broadway trumpeter Chris Jaudes and a marimba solo for Jessica Swan, which she performed in London, England. He’s written works for The Salvation Army’s Flint Citadel Band, Norridge Citadel Band, Rockford Temple Band, St. Louis Carondelet Band, Indianapolis Eagle Creek Band, the Indianapolis Maennerchor, and the Bloomington Brass Band.

Glenn’s pieces have been performed by many bands across the globe, including the Canadian Staff Band, New York Staff Band, Chicago Staff Band, Amsterdam Staff Band, Norwegian Territorial Band, Caribbean Staff Band, New Zealand National Youth Band, and Salvation Army bands in Perth, Australia and Scarborough and Enfield, England. A performance of a cornet solo he’d written, entitled “Happy Dance”, won first prize in Central Music Institute’s Wonderland Solo Contest in 1989, and he received 2nd place in the Central Territory Composition Contest of 2011 with “Under the Blood” (original choral work category).

When Glenn was 36, he met Sarah Newland and they were married in 2000. In 2003, their daughter Lydia was born. These two ladies have been the greatest blessings Glenn has received from the Lord as an adult. Glenn currently serves as Praise Music Leader and works with the youth at the Sunnycrest United Methodist Church in Marion. He also often performs at retirement communities and other events. His constant drive to produce music springs from a desire to live in obedience to God’s will, using his gifts for God’s glory and for the enjoyment of anyone who’s listening.