Dale W. Richards experienced his first exposure to formal music training when he began studying piano at age five under the guidance of his mother, Cynthia V. Richards. His piano studies continued for seven years under Steve Thomas, Patricia Smith and Carmen Hall. At age eight, he began studying the trumpet under Dr. David P. Blackinton, then the Director of Bands at Brigham Young University. He continued his studies under Blackinton until graduation from high school, when he was admitted to the Brigham Young University School of Music and began studying under David C. Brown. He studied composition with professors Murray Boren and Christian Asplund at BYU.

While studying at the BYU School of Music, Dale performed with the 2002 Olympic Winter Games All-State Intercollegiate Orchestra, the BYU Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras, the BYU Wind Symphony, the Galloway Brass Quintet, the BYU Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band, and Synthesis, BYU’s premier jazz ensemble. He has toured with the university’s Wind Symphony to Finland, the Baltic States and Russia, and twice with the Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band and Synthesis to the International Association for Jazz Education Convention. He recently returned from tour with the BYU Chamber Orchestra to New England and the Great Lakes.

More recently, Dale has focused on piano, organ, and composition. He serves as an organist for the LDS Eagle’s Gate 1st Ward and teaches piano. He composes and arranges a variety choral settings and occasionally dabbles in original instrumental works.