Since 2022, he has taught as an adjunct instructor for applied music, harmonica and tuba at the University of Lynchburg, where he is also a tubist in the faculty brass quintet.
LYNCHBURG, VA, July 18, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Dr. George Wallace Miklas has been inducted into Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
In a career dedicated to educating and guiding young minds, Dr. Miklas has excelled in teaching positions related to music, mathematics and special education, as well as counseling. Since 2022, he has taught as an adjunct instructor for applied music, harmonica and tuba at the University of Lynchburg, where he is also a tubist in the faculty brass quintet. Notably, Dr. Miklas established the very first college-credit course in the United States to study the harmonica at the University of Lynchburg, which was spearheaded in the fall of 2022.
In the past two decades, Dr. Miklas has traveled worldwide with his daughter, Miss Janalyn Autumn Miklas where they have appeared as V.I.P performers, adjudicators, and attendees at harmonica events both domestic and abroad including the 2016 Asia Pacific Harmonica Festival in Hsinchu City, Taiwan, the 2013 World Harmonica Festival, in Trossingen, Germany, Music Week 2015 and 2013, at the Mohonk Mountain House, New Paltz, New York; and the 2011 and 2010 Yellow Pine Harmonica Festival and Contest in Yellow Pine, Idaho. Dr. Miklas and Janalyn are members of the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica and attend the annual SPAH conventions in the United States.
Dr. Miklas has collaborated with Dr. John P. Schaman on using the harmonica for respiratory rehabilitation. Schaman, a Medical Doctor, is the owner of www.harmonicaMD.com and H.E.L.P. – Harmonica Exercise for Lung Program. In 2011, Dr. Miklas assisted Dr. Schaman in his H.E.L.P. presentation at the American Music Therapy Association's annual conference in Atlanta, GA. Dr. Miklas can facilitate H.E.L.P. to assist local cardiac clinics in the use of the harmonica for respiratory rehabilitation and helping pulmonary patients to gain medical outcomes.
Throughout his career trajectory, Dr. Miklas has received multiple accolades for his commitment to music and education. Most recently, he was honored with the Stan Harper Award of Special Merit from the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica in 2020. He was also granted a Lifetime Achievement Award in Music from the National Traditional Country Music Association in 2017, of which he was also inducted into their Hall of Fame in LeMars, Iowa in 2014. In 2013, he was endorsed by Hohner Harmonicas and was pictured in catalogs and on the box of the Hohner Chord 48. Alongside these accomplishments, Dr. Miklas considers performing with Jerry Murad's Harmonicats on stage with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at the age of 20 as the highlight of his career. He recalls this experience defined how he would move forward. In addition to the harmonica, Dr. Miklas also plays the bass guitar, tuba, and electric bass. While a student at the Dana School of Music, Dr. Miklas occasionally performed 2nd tuba with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, and the W.D. Packard Concert Band in the tuba section.
Upon reflection on his abundant career, Dr. Miklas attributes his success to his parents, who taught him to have a strong work ethic, to set goals, and to never give up. Likewise, he credits his family for his initial interest in the harmonica, as his father had played the harmonica all his life. His father was a military policeman and a bodyguard for General George Patton and General Dwight Eisenhower, having played the harmonica to entertain them when, for security reasons, they were unable to leave their barracks.
To prepare for his career journey, Dr. Miklas earned a Bachelor of Music in Education from The Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University in 1991 and a Master of Education in Special Education from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania in 2006. Later on, he matriculated at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he earned a Master of Arts in Music Education-Performance with a dual emphasis in the harmonica and tuba in 2019 and a Doctor of Music Education in 2021. Dr. Miklas' academic research has focused on harmonica pedagogy for the K-12 music classroom and the full-inclusion instrumental music classroom, with the goal of making materials available to teach music educators how to use the harmonica in their classrooms, to expand opportunities for students with disabilities and meet state and national teaching standards for music education.
Prior to his current role at the University of Lynchburg, Dr. Miklas has gained experience in the Lynchburg City Schools and Campbell County Schools in Virginia; Freedom Area School District, Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV, Pennsylvania Distance Learning Charter School, Grove City Area School District, Mercer Area School District, and Moniteau School District, in Pennsylvania; South Range Local School District, Springfield Local School District, and Youngstown City Schools in Ohio; in various teaching capacities including mathematics, science, special education, social-emotional learning, technology education, and substitute teacher including long-term band, and long-term choir, since 1992. Dr. Miklas along with his wife, Jodi, were juvenile counselors from 1997 through 2004 at George Junior Republic in PA, a Residential Treatment Facility for adjudicated juvenile males.
Alongside his career in music and education, Dr. Miklas has gained expertise in various other business-related fields. Since 1985, he has worked as a harmonica repair technician and salesman through his businesses, Harmonica Repair Done Right by George, and Harmonica Gallery Sales, Repair, and Studio. He has been a professional motor coach operator for Liberty University, Campbell Bus Lines, and Bortner Bus and Tour, a relief entertainer coach driver for Casting Crowns LLC, and owner/operator of commercial motor vehicles leased to Quick Shot Inc, part of The Jones Motor Group, and Thompson Emergency Freight Systems.
Dr. Miklas' goal for the next five to 10 years is to provide professional development to current music teachers and seminars to undergraduate music majors. He also looks forward to welcoming his first college harmonica major and to encouraging more colleges and universities to teach the harmonica to all music majors, and the introduction to special education courses from the music educator perspective. His motto is "Love Me, Love My Harmonica."
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