Mike Holmes is currently in his 32nd year of teaching and his 5th year with the Mountain Brook School system.  He previously taught in the Trussville and Jefferson County School systems.  He served as band director of the Hewitt-Trussville Middle School Band with a membership of over 240 students.  He started the band program at Clay-Chalkville Middle School with over 275 band members in grades six through eight.  Prior to that he was the band director at Bottenfield Jr. High School in Adamsville, Alabama with an enrollment in band approaching 300 members in grades 7-9.  His bands have consistently received superior ratings at the district, state and regional level.  At one point in time his Bottenfield bands won “Best in Class” in an Atlanta based concert band competition ten out of eleven years from 1985-1995.  His bands have earned superior ratings at district contest twenty-five out of twenty seven years attending.  Mr. Holmes’ bands have not made less than a superior rating at state contest (during the years he chose to attend) since 1985.  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Education Degree from the University of North Alabama where he served as principal tuba from his freshman through his senior years.  Mr. Holmes has presented clinics regarding young bands for the Alabama Bandmasters Association.  He has held the office of Chairman of the Alabama Bandmasters Association District IV on two separate occasions.    He has also served as an adjudicator for both marching and concert band contest throughout the state.  He has also served as guest conductor for over thirty honor bands including the prestigious Southeastern United States Middle School Clinic and Honor band on the Troy University campus.  Mr. Holmes is the director of the Alabama Lions Club All-Star Band.  This band performs at the Lions Club International Convention when held in the United States or Canada.  He has been working with this band consisting of high school students from bands throughout Alabama since 1985.  He is a member of the RHO chapter of Phi Beta Mu (Alabama’s professional band directors fraternity) and has been since his first year of eligibility, having been nominated for membership by three members of the Phi Beta Mu Alabama Band Directors Hall of Fame.  He has been selected as one of the “Outstanding Young Men of America” in 1998.  He has been honored in “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers” five times.  He receive the “Superintendent’s Award of Excellence” as the “Second Mile Teacher” at Clay-Chalkville Middle School for the 2001-2002 school year.  Mr. Holmes is most proud of the fact that he has over thirty former students or interns that are currently teaching in the field of music education.

Mr. Holmes lives in Alabaster, Alabama with his lovely and talented wife Janet, a native of Muscle Shoals, Alabama and a Language Arts teacher at Clay-Chalkville Middle School.  Holmes enjoys fishing, boating, gardening, collecting authentic German beer steins and serving as an active member of the Vestavia Hills Lions Club. We do not have any children (having taught thousands over the years), nor do we currently have a dog or cat.  However, we do like dogs, cats and children.