Manfred Heidler (born 1960) joined the Bundeswehr Military Music Service in 1979 after finishing his apprenticeship as a printer. He studied at the music colleges in Düsseldorf, Detmold and Trossingen (tenor horn/trombone, instrument pedagogy and conducting). After serving as a senior non-commissioned officer in the 2nd Airforce Band of the Bundeswehr, he started his music officer training. From 1994 he studied musicology, psychology and educational science at the universities of Heidelberg and Düsseldorf and attained his doctorate at the Robert Schumann University in Düsseldorf in 2004. His dissertation deals with the topic Musik in der Bundeswehr. Musikalische Bewährung zwischen Aufgabe und künstlerischem Anspruch. (Music in the Bundeswehr. Playing Music in the Context of Assigned Tasks and Artistic Ambition).

In 2006, Captain (Army) Dr. phil. Manfred Heidler was head of the 2nd Air Force Band in Karlsruhe. Since September 2007, he has been working for the Military Music Section of the Armed Forces Office in Bonn, where he is responsible for special tasks. Since the winter semester 2007/2008 he has been teaching the subject “history of military music” at the Robert Schumann University in Düsseldorf. Since August 2009 Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Manfred Heidler is still working at the Centre of military music of the German Armed Force in Bonn