Music, teaching and Murray State are a throughline in the life of professor Todd Hill. After a 20-year career in the Murray State music department, Hill is retiring from his alma mater; however, he has no plans to abandon his dedication to music in Murray.
Hill, a professor of music and the director of jazz studies, leads the MSU Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Band and the Blue and Gold Jazz Combos. He will be retiring from Murray State at the end of the spring 2026 semester. He has led an accomplished career both at the University and in his own professional music groups. Many students from the music department speak highly of Hill as a beloved member of the community who they will dearly miss.
Hill has been working in music education for almost four decades, originally as a band director in middle and high schools. After pursuing his master’s in music education, he said he wanted to not only train young musicians, but also usher in the next generation of music educators.
“I came back to (Murray State) to complete my master’s degree, and by the time I was finished, I had a new, deeper passion that went beyond the performance of the music and the information that went with it,” Hill said. “I knew that I wanted to teach teachers how to teach.”
He became a professor at the University in 2006, returning to the place he graduated from twice — and a place with deep family history.
“Murray is a ‘home base’ to my family,” Hill said. “My great-great-grandfather was the first schoolmaster in the Crossland community, and also the Methodist songleader. Two hundred years later, and I’m still around. … I taught for 19 years all over the country before coming home twenty years ago to establish a real jazz program here at (Murray State).”
Aside from jazz being Hill’s personal favorite music genre, he said it is America’s art form. He said it’s something that could only happen here, and it is the greatest gift we’ve given to the world. As for his favorite musical artist, Hill said he always comes back to Louis Armstrong.
“(Armstrong’s) is the language of jazz, and he had a tremendous effect on every kind of American popular music — as well as American classical styles, to be honest,” he said. “Duke Ellington would have to be a close second because of his importance as a composer.”
He has led professional music groups since 1982, including the 19-piece Todd Hill Orchestra. What started with a small music group when he was a freshman at Murray State has only flourished since.
“(The) trio grew into a quartet, and that grew into a small ‘dance band,’ eventually growing to an 18-member big show band,” he said. “Concerts, festivals, shows, weddings and dances. We have played from down deep in Starkville, Mississippi, to Columbus, Ohio, in the past few years.”
During his time at Murray State, Hill said his most memorable experience was the MSU Jazz Orchestra’s selection by an international panel to perform at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in 2014.
“(The Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic) is the granddaddy of all band activity at that level in the U.S.,” Hill said. “Thousands of music educators from around the world attend that clinic annually in Chicago and see the finest groups from around the world perform there. To have been presented in that environment was a lifetime honor. Nothing like it for me or for the students, either.”
Hill’s favorite part of the job is working with young people, guiding them into their career paths and watching them succeed. He said he teaches students to never stop seeking and learning, because “that’s when you start to die.”
Alyssa Shrader is a senior music business major and has taken Jazz Band, Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Combo with Hill. During her freshman year, Shrader said Hill’s support was the reason she stayed in the jazz program.
“I hadn’t done anything jazz related in years, so I was scared to join because I didn’t know if I could keep up,” Shrader said. “But Dr. Hill just kept encouraging me and supporting the band in a way that always made you feel good about your progress.”
Shrader said the biggest thing Hill has taught her is to take chances in her music, which has strengthened her courage outside of the classroom as well.
“In jazz, sometimes you have to improvise solos or try something new that can feel scary,” she said. “Personally, I’m not that much of a risk taker, so I’ve always shied away from that aspect of jazz, but Dr. Hill pushes you to take chances and try things in the safety of the classroom. … Now, because I took a chance on something I was scared of, I’m moving to Illinois to start my first job.”
Ezra Burton, a sophomore engineering physics major, took Hill’s Honors Seminar in Music. He said the energy Hill brought to the class lightened what could have been stressful moments — particularly when Hill would sing or dance to the music during “listening” sections of tests.
“There is nothing more genuine than Todd Hill dancing or singing along to a jazz song during a test,” Burton said. “Especially during finals week when … you’re so tired, you don’t want to be there, and you have four other classes to study for, and he knows that. So he’ll be more than happy to do a little jig in order to cheer you up in the morning.”
Despite being in and around music his entire life, Burton said he never gave much thought to what he listened to. He said Hill’s class pushed him to listen to music more intentionally.
“If I’m in a car, (I listen to) what’s on the radio, and other than that, nothing, and slowly I’ve been growing more and more listening-wise,” he said. “It was (Hill’s) class specifically that made me go, ‘maybe I should listen to more genres’ … and still now, every time I study, I will pick out a new jazz playlist.”
Hill said when he retires this semester, without a doubt, he will miss the daily contact with students the most. He said his plans for retirement include spending more time playing and touring with his music groups and in the other positions he currently holds.
“I will remain in my post at Murray First United Methodist Church, where I serve as Chancel Choir and Traditional Worship Director,” Hill said. “And I will keep teaching, but part-time, at little Bethel University down in McKenzie, Tennessee.”
Hill also plans to continue volunteering at WKMS and producing his radio documentary series “The Black Cats Jump.” The series was originally aired in the 1980s and celebrates the “legacy and expansive repertoire of African American big bands,” according to an article by WKMS. Hill and others at WKMS have worked to restore and recreate episodes to air weekly on WKMS.
Shrader and Burton expressed similar reasons why Hill is such a beloved professor at Murray State. They shared that Hill is funny, caring, supportive and genuinely passionate about what he teaches.
“He’s one of the kindest, most genuine professors on campus, and he loves what he’s doing,” Burton said. “You can tell that in his classes, you can tell that in his ensembles … you can also tell it because he effectively has made his entire life jazz. He directs, he performs, he studies … he loves what he’s doing and it’s infectious.”
