Don Ester
Don Ester
Professor Emeritus of Music Education

Don Ester joined the Ball State University School of Music faculty in the fall of 1992. He has taught in the public schools as well as at the university level and has served as a full-time church musician. He was previously the director of choral activities in Bloomington, Illinois, Public Schools; instructor of music education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and director of music ministries at the Second Presbyterian Church, Bloomington, Illinois.

His responsibilities have included serving as coordinator of music education and teaching undergraduate and graduate music education courses. He received the 1998 Ball State University Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2006 Indiana Outstanding University Music Educator of the Year Award, and the 2011 Ball State University Outstanding Faculty Academic Advisor Award. He has served on the board of the Indiana Choral Directors Association and the Indiana Music Educators Association. He is a past National Chair of the Society for Music Teacher Education. In 2020, Dr. Ester was named an Outstanding Hoosier Musician by the Indiana Music Educators Association.

Don Ester is a 1980 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University, he holds a Master of Music degree from Southern Methodist University, where he studied choral conducting with Lloyd Pfautsch, and a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.