Prior to moving to Murfreesboro in 2005 and joining the MTSU faculty, Joe D. Lloyd was Assistant Professor of Instrumental Music and conductor of the Wind Ensemble, String Ensemble, and Jazz Ensembles at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona from 1994-2005.  He also taught applied conducting, trumpet, percussion and was the Director of Music Education.

Prior to 1994, Lloyd spent 30 years in the Mesa, Arizona Public Schools as a high school band director.  He conducted concert bands, orchestras, choirs, jazz ensembles and marching bands at Red Mountain, Mountain View and Westwood High Schools.  His highly rated groups have performed throughout Arizona and California.  Special invitational performances included a Western Division MENC conference in Northern California, and in the summer of 1987, the Wind Ensemble performed a series of concert in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the United States Constitution.

In 1992, Lloyd was selected as Music Educator of the Year by the Arizona Music Educators Association.  He has held various offices in that organization and has been active in AMEA and the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association since 1962.  From 1971 to 1996, he was associated with the Northern Arizona University Summer Music Camp in Flagstaff, most of those years as Associate Director and Director of the camp.  He has been invited as a guest conductor for Arizona Regional Bands, various school district honor bands and is frequently invited to judge instrumental music festivals and contests throughout Arizona and California.