Dr. John Hagan is currently the Low Brass Instructor and Assistant Band Director at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatobia, Mississippi. He has been a distinguished music educator in the greater Memphis area for over a decade, having received the Outstanding Teacher award from the Tennessee Governor's School for the Arts as well as recognition from the Tennessee Lottery as Educator of the Week. He has appeared extensively throughout the Mid-South as a soloist, clinician, and adjudicator.

 

As a performer, Dr. Hagan has a wide range of professional experience. He earned a position in the United States Navy Band Program, where he served as a trombonist from 2002 - 2010. While in the Navy Band, Dr. Hagan was a part of many high-profile performances, including the opening of the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library and headlining the Oklahoma State Fair. Locally, he has performed and recorded with the Memphis Jazz Orchestra and the Memphis Repertory Orchestra. He is a former member of the local music institution FreeWorld, which earned the prestigious Brass Note award on Beale Street. Dr. Hagan is also no stranger to musical theater. In addition to serving as music director for the Poplar Pike Playhouse productions of The Little Mermaid, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Sweeney Todd, he has performed in the orchestras for local productions of Urinetown, Anything Goes, Tarzan, The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, The Wizard of Oz, and Desoto Family Theater's award-winning production of Les Miserables. 

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A native of Steubenville, Ohio, Dr. Hagan studied music education at Youngstown State University. He went on to complete a Master's degree in trombone performance from the University of Memphis, during which time he directed the Jazz Ensemble II and was a staff member with the Mighty Sound of the South Marching Band. Most recently, he has completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in trombone performance from the University of Memphis Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music. His primary teachers include Dr. Michael Crist, Dr. Albert Nguyen, and Dr. John Mueller.

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Dr. Hagan lives in Germantown, Tennessee, with his wife, Sara, and their two children. When he's not nerding out on the trombone, he enjoys cooking meats low and slow on his backyard cooker, rewatching the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (again), and impromptu getaways with his family.