Everything Band Podcast

Episode 212 - Farewell! Jun 16, 2024

It's been quite a run, but all good things must come to an end. A special thank you to all of my listeners, all of my guests, and to my sponsors Celtic Horizons and Kaleidoscope Adventures. All of your support and belief in this show kept me going for so many episodes.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Jake Walker, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes for the final 50 or so episodes to create the website, change the branding, and create the amazing images we see for the final run of the show. He's been invaluable to me and I couldn't have gotten as far as I did without him. Ditto Colin Peters who wasn't with me for as long as Jake, but who helped relieve some of my work load by taking on the scheduling for me for a while. Both of them have my gratitude.

If you ever want to talk about anything and everything band, please feel free to reach out to me at mark.connorprincipia.edu. Replace the with an @ and you're good to go! I plan on retiring from this job, so barring something unfortunate, I should be at that email address for a while.

Thank you all so much for everything. You're the best, and remember to help your students become their best selves through music!

Episode 211 - Benjamin Taylor Jun 16, 2024

Benjamin Dean Taylor (born 1983), has been described as “elegant and energetic” (Kenneth Thompson) and “powerful and direct with delightful surprises in each work.” (Marilyn Shrude) Having grown up as a performer in jazz, rock, ska, country, and concert bands as well as in choirs and orchestras, Taylor is driven to write music that highlights the strengths of each performing ensemble. His catalog of more than 100 works covers a large range of styles and genres including music written for orchestra, wind band, opera, choir, jazz big band, gamelan, chamber ensembles, and soloists with live electronics. Further, Taylor has written music for multimedia collaborations with dancers, filmmakers, poets, and visual artists. Taylor has received commissions from ensembles including the Calidore String Quartet, Omaha Symphony, Solaire Saxophone Quartet, New World Youth Symphony, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Civic Wind Symphony. His music has been performed by ensembles around the world including the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Kenari Quartet, L’ensemble Itineraire, Nurnberg Hochschulorchester and has been championed by soloists Keith Kirchoff, Zach Herchen, and Scotty Stepp. As a sought-after composer for wind band, Taylor has been commissioned by over 100 band directors of players at all educational levels.

Episode 210 - Don Stinson Jun 15, 2024

Don Stinson is a comprehensive music educator with a robust background spanning roles as an author, speaker, and clinician. He holds educational degrees from an array of prestigious institutions including Joliet Junior College, VanderCook College of Music, and Northern Illinois University. Adding to his educational background, Don also holds a Master’s in Education Administration from the University of St. Francis, bringing unparalleled expertise to his educational endeavors.

Currently, Don is the director of bands at Joliet Central High School in Joliet, Illinois, distinguishing himself as only the fifth individual to hold this honor in the band’s history. Under his guidance, the band has flourished, receiving invitations to esteemed state and national festivals, including a special performance at the seventy-fifth Midwest Clinic in 2021.

Over the years, Don has accrued numerous awards and recognitions including the Yale University Educator Award, the Chicagoland Outstanding Music Educator Award, and a spot on Yamaha’s 2021 “40 Under 40 Music Educators” list. His unwavering commitment to education has also earned him the Dr. William P. Foster Project Community Development Award and multiple citations of excellence from the National Band Association.

As a sought-after speaker, Don has been invited to present at high-profile conferences including the National Association for Music Education National Conference and the Illinois Music Education Association Conference. He has recently served as the keynote speaker at both the Omaha Public School Music Teacher In-Service and the Northern Illinois University Urban Education Summit. In 2023, he spoke at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago.

Episode 209 - Evan VanDoren Jun 14, 2024

DISCLAIMER

Episodes 209-2011 were recorded in 2023 and have only recently been uploaded to the internet. There are some things that have changed since their recordings, so be aware that you are not listening to the most current events.

Evan VanDoren is a freelance arranger, composer, and educational consultant. As the owner of VanDoren Music, Evan is commissioned each year to create works for concert and marching ensembles. He has arranged and orchestrated award-winning marching shows for numerous high school bands across the country.

Evan is an active clinician, presenting for Drum Corps International, the Music Educators National Convention, the Texas Bandmasters Association, the Texas Music Educators Association, and Music for All. He regularly consults with band programs around the country. Additionally, Evan is an active adjudicator with Bands of America, the University Interscholastic League, and the Texas Music Adjudicators Association.

Evan is the brass arranger for the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps, from Santa Clara, California, as well as the leadership faculty of SASI Leadership, based in central Texas.

Before devoting his life to creating music, Evan was a band director at Cedar Park High School, in Cedar Park, Texas, during which time the band was awarded multiple marching state championships and national recognition. He received a Bachelor in Music Education with Honors from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Currently, he lives in Cedar Park, Texas, with his wife, Katie, and their dog, Cooper.

Episode 208 - Adrian Gordon Jun 21, 2023

Adrian Gordon is an internationally performed composer and seasoned music educator and currently serves as the director of orchestras at Providence Day School in Charlotte, NC. In addition to teaching, Adrian is the founder of Leap Year Music Publishing, which publishes string music for elementary, middle, and high school ensembles. His compositions appear on the Florida, Texas, Maryland, and Georgia Orchestra Association Music Performance Assessment Lists. His compositions are distributed through J.W. Pepper and have been performed throughout the world. Learn more at www.adriangordonmusic.com.

Episode 207 - Sixto Montesinos Apr 26, 2023

Dr. Sixto F. Montesinos Jr. is assistant professor of music and head of instrumental studies at Saint Mary’s College of California in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is an active Mexican-American conductor, flutist, music educator, and scholar researching new and effective ways to strengthen Mexican-American relations through the study and performance of music. These include overcoming stereotypes as well as Mexican, LGBTQ+, and LatinX representation in the field of music education, repertoire, and performance He is the artistic director of the Saint Mary's College Jazz Band as well as its Chamber Musicians program. He also oversees the instrumental private lessons faculty at The College.

Dr. Montesinos is a regular guest conductor with the Awesöme Orchestra, a Bay-Area organization that amplifies voices of marginalized folk, forms deeper partnerships with communities and organizations as well as creates more equity and representation at every level. The mission of the Awesome Orchestra is also to make awesome orchestral adventures accessible to musicians and the public. He has also been a guest conductor with the Youth Musical Theater Company, most recently for their spring 2022 production of Stephen Sodnheim's Sweeney Todd.

He presented a clinic in December 2021 at the 75th Annual Midwest Clinic entitled "Surpassing La Cucaracha dn the Mexican Hat Dance" and spoke to the importance of diversifying Mexican-themed repertoire for instrumental ensembles and debunking common musical stereotypes,

Dr. Montesinos earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Wind Conducting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey where he studied with Professors William Berz, Kraig Alan Williams, and Darryl J. Bott. His terminal research project focused on the evolution and socio-political influence of wind bands in Mexico from the War of Independence to the Mexican Revolution. During his time at Rutgers, Dr. Montesinos also served as a teaching assistant with the Rutgers University Marching Scarlet Knights participating in performances for President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. During the fall and spring, he worked as a Graduate Assistant Conductor of the Rutgers Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Winds. In 2016, he programmed and conducted with the Rutgers University Concert Band, the United States premiere of two wind pieces by Colombian composer Victoriano Valencia: Chande and Tango from his larger series Ritmos de la Tierra. He also presented and conducted Valencia's music in March of 2018 at the new music reading session during the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) Eastern Division Conference at Yale University.

Before moving to California, Dr. Montesinos served as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Ferrum College in southwest Virginia where he established The Ferrum College Panther Marching Band, Ferrum College Mountain Winds, and Ferrum College Iron Mountain Brass. Enrollment in the band program doubled under his tenure. He also served as music department coordinator and developed the curriculum to create a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree. Dr. Montesinos led an initiative to establish an Appalachian Folk Music Program and started a guest artist recital series designed to bring live music to the Ferrum College community throughout the year.

Before his doctoral studies at Rutgers University, he was a public school high school band director at Jersey Village High School, a high school within the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Northwest Houston. In this capacity, he assisted with the instruction of a 300-member marching band, four concert bands, and conducted the all-school musical. He also taught beginning instrumental classes at the middle school feeder. At Jersey Village, He was the primary conductor of the Symphonic II band. Symphonic II earned division one ratings at the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Concert and Sightreading Contest.

Dr. Montesinos completed a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Texas at Arlington under the tutelage of his long-time mentor and former high school orchestra director, Dr. Clifton Evans. Montesinos also completed additional studies in wind and orchestral conducting at the following programs: The Frederick Fennell Memorial Conducting Masterclass at the Eastman School of Music and the Cincinnati Conservatory, The University of North Texas Conductors Collegium, The Art of Band Conducting at the University of Texas at Austin, The International Conductors Workshop and Competition at Mercer University, and The International Institute for Conductors in Bacau, Romania. Additionally, he worked closely and shared the podium with H. Robert Reynolds as a doctoral conducting student during a week-long residency at Rutgers University.

As a flutist, Dr. Montesinos was a featured soloist at the 70th Annual Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference performing Gabe Mussella’s Cumbia de Xavier with the Ridgeview Middle School Percussion Ensemble. He has also been on the faculty at FlootFire Houston. He completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Instrumental Music Education at the University of Houston Moores School of Music where he performed two graduate-level flute recitals and was principal flute of the University of Houston Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra. Upon graduation from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, he was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to study flute performance at Arizona State University in Tempe where he completed two years of flute studies before attending the University of Houston. In high school, he studied flute at the American Festival for the Arts Summer Music Conservatory with Kirsten “Kiki” Larsen and at the Brevard Music Center in North Ca rolina as a pupil of Thomas Robertello. He was a flute student of Judy Dines, second flutist of the Houston Symphony, for two years and performed with the Houston Symphony twice at Jones Hall. He has played for Carol Wincenc at The Juilliard School and Leone Buyse, Christina Jennings, and Robert Langevin in various masterclasses. He is also a proud alumnus and supporter of the Virtuosi of Houston Youth Chamber Orchestra and the Greater Houston Youth Orchestra. In 2004 he toured China extensively as an orchestral flutist with the Northwest Houston Symphony.

Dr. Montesinos enjoys working outside of the United States and has established strong ties with high school and middle school band directors in Peru. In March of 2017, he gave a week-long seminar to local high school and middle school band directors in Lima, Peru as part of their required professional development. Most recently he was a featured speaker on marching and concert band techniques in January of 2018 at the PERUBANDAS National Congress in Lima, Peru. Additionally, he held interim teaching positions at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania as conductor of the concert band and at Lewisville High School in Lewisville, Texas as director of the orchestra program. He has also served as the Associate Dean of Students at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. His writing has been published by the Instrumentalist Magazine and internationally by the WASBE Journal. Montesinos is a native of the town of Coyoacan in Mexico City where he began his musical career at the early age of four studying piano at the prestigious Yamaha Institute.

Episode 206 - Vu Nguyen Feb 22, 2023

Vu Nguyen is the Director of Wind Ensembles and Conducting at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Connecticut, he served as the Director of Bands at the University of Indianapolis, was a conductor of the Wind Ensemble at Washington University in St. Louis, and was a visiting conductor of the Indiana University Concert Band. He began his career teaching in the public schools of San Ramon, CA.

Dr. Nguyen has conducted throughout the western United States and in Japan. He maintains an active schedule as a clinician and has served as guest conductor with the United States Air Force Bands of the Golden West and Mid-America, as well as regional honor bands in northern California, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Ensembles under his direction have been invited to perform at state music educator conferences in California and Indiana, at the Midwest Clinic, and most recently at the 2020 College Band Directors National Association Eastern Division Conference. His research interests focus on contemporary wind band literature, the music of Frank Zappa, and conducting pedagogy. His book chapter on composer Carter Pann was published in the fifth volume of A Composer’s Insight: Thoughts, Analysis, and Commentary on Contemporary Masterpieces for Wind Band (Meredith Music Publications).

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Dr. Nguyen earned a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from University of the Pacific, a Master of Music in Conducting from the University of Oregon, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting from the University of Washington.

In addition to his academic career, Dr. Nguyen continues to serve as an officer in the Air National Guard (ANG) where he is the commander/conductor of the ANG Band of the West Coast. In this position, he is responsible for all activities of the 40-member squadron, including participation in ceremonies, parades, concerts and other public performances. The Band of the West Coast is one of five ANG Bands in the United States covering an eight-state area of responsibility that includes California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Episode 205 - John Wojciechowski Oct 14, 2022

Saxophonist John Wojciechowski is originally from Detroit and has spent the last 18 years performing and teaching in Chicago. In addition to leading his own groups, he has performed or recorded with The Chicago Jazz Orchestra, The Chicago Jazz Ensemble, The Woody Herman Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Clark Terry, Charlie Haden, and Kurt Elling among many others. John was also a third place finalist in the 1996 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. John has appeared on dozens of recordings as a sideman, and has two recordings as a leader: “Lexicon", released in 2009 and “Focus” which was released in the fall of 2015 on Origin records to critical acclaim. Besides being an active performer, John (a National Board Certified Teacher) is also an educator noted for his versatility, creativity and enthusiasm. He has taught at the public school as well as university levels and has appeared all over the country as a guest artist, clinician and conductor. He is currently on the music faculty at St. Charles North High School in St. Charles, Illinois where he teaches Jazz Bands, Concert Band and Music Theory. His student groups have performed at the IAJE Conference, Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, JEN Conference and the Illinois All-State Music Educator Conference. In addition to his public school teaching, he has also taught at Northern Illinois University and Northwestern University.

Episode 204 - Josh Johnson (w/ host Jake Walker) Sep 26, 2022

Joshua Johnson currently serves as the Associate Director of Bands at Traughber Junior High in Oswego, Illinois. Prior to coming to Oswego, Josh served as Director of Bands at North Kirkwood Middle School and Associate Director of Bands in Kirkwood, Missouri.

Joshua attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he received his Bachelor of Music Education Degree with Honors. During his time at Illinois, he was a member of the Illinois Wind Symphony, the Marching Illini, the University of Illinois Black Chorus, and many other university ensembles. Josh studied Oboe with Professor John Dee & studied conducting and pedagogy with Dr. Stephen Peterson, Dr. Beth Peterson, Dr. Linda Moorhouse & Professor Barry Houser.

Josh has been recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education in 2021 as a finalist for the 2021 Outstanding Early Educator division of Illinois Teacher of the Year. He was also the recipient of the 2021 Outstanding Early Educator Award of Meritorious Service.

Josh spent two years serving as a Conductor (Drum Major) for the two time Drum Corps International World Champion, Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps. He is still very active in the marching band activity. Josh has worked as a designer, instructor, choreographer and judge throughout the states of Missouri and Illinois.

Josh’s professional affiliations include the Illinois Music Education Association and the National Band Association.

Episode 203 - Karen Fannin Sep 13, 2022

Karen Fannin is Professor, Director of Bands, and Interim Director of the School of Music at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where she conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting, instructs courses in music education, and provides leadership for all aspects of the UNO band program.

Previously, Dr. Fannin served as Director of Bands and Department Chair at Hendrix College. While in Arkansas, Dr. Fannin also held the position of Music Director and Conductor of the Little Rock Wind Symphony. A native of Iowa, Dr. Fannin began her teaching career in the Lynnville-Sully Schools as Director of Bands and subsequently served as Director of Bands at Lockport Township High School in suburban Chicago.

Dr. Fannin maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. Recent professional engagements include a residency in Guangdong, China, a conference presentation in Stockholm, Sweden, and guest conducting or adjudicating in Canada, Alaska, Washington, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. An active presenter, Dr. Fannin has shared her research at international, national, regional, and state conferences. Passionate about making interdisciplinary connections that impact a conductor’s work with an ensemble, Dr. Fannin has presented on topics such as pacing in rehearsals and performance, communication in music, parallels between the ensemble and business, and the lineage of Nadia Boulanger through wind repertoire. She is published in the Journal of Band Research and is a contributing author to the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series published by GIA.

Dr. Fannin earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from the University of Colorado where she studied with Allan McMurray; a Master of Music in Conducting from Northwestern University as a student of Mallory Thompson; and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Northern Iowa, where she was recently honored with a Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Episode 202 - Mary Cogswell Mar 23, 2022

Mary Cogswell is the current president of the South Dakota Bandmasters Association, the editor of the Beginning Band Adaptable series, and a long time beginning band teacher. If you teach beginners, this is the episode for you!

Episode 201 - Kenneth Collins Mar 09, 2022

Biography Capt. Kenneth C. Collins, a native of Reno, Nevada, entered the Navy in 1989 and attended recruit training in San Diego, California. Upon completion of Musician "A" school, he served as a percussionist in fleet bands in Guam and Newport, Rhode Island. His first assignment upon receiving a commission as a limited duty officer bandmaster in 1998 was as the ceremonial band leader and associate conductor of the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, D.C., and shortly thereafter an assignment as the assistant director of the U.S. Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, Maryland. Collins served as the director of Navy Band Northwest from 2001-2004, director for U.S. Pacific Fleet Band from 2004-2007, director of Navy Band Southeast from 2007-2008, and director of the U.S. Naval Forces Europe Band from 2009-2012. He was selected for assignment to Navy Postgraduate School through the civilian institutions program in 2008, and completed a Master of Music with an emphasis in wind band conducting at the University of Illinois in 2009. Most recently, he completed a tour as director of Fleet Band Activities from 2012-2015. He reported to his current assignment as commanding officer of the U.S. Navy Band in July 2015. In addition to his military assignments, Collins studied drums and percussion with Jonathan Wacker, Dom Moio and Gary Chaffee and conducting with A.G. MacGrannahan, Anthony Maiello, James Keene, Abel Ramirez and David Waltman. He has served as a clinician for bands from all over the United States and in Europe. He served as the assistant conductor of the Rainier Symphony from 2002-2004, the Central Oahu Honor Band conductor/clinician in 2006 and adjunct faculty to Hawaii Pacific University, teaching undergraduate courses in music. Collins holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Nevada, a Master of Business Administration from Hawaii Pacific University and a Master of Music from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His military decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal (2 Awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (3 awards) and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (3 Awards).

Episode 200 - Matthew Maslanka Feb 27, 2022

Matthew Maslanka is David Maslanka’s second son and the primary caretaker of David’s music. Born in New York City in 1982, he grew up listening to his father composing at the piano. From the age of 10, Matthew started helping out by making photocopies of scores and dubbing cassette tapes for David to send to conductors interested in the music. At 12, Matthew discovered the delights of engraving music with a computer. By 14, he was skilled enough to handle the preparation of his father’s music and proceeded to engrave virtually every work from that point forward. In this way, he built up a deep understanding of the underpinnings of David’s writing and long-term development as a composer. He frequently accompanied his father on trips to work with ensembles and observed his working process closely. Matthew enjoyed a particularly close personal and professional relationship with David.

Matthew is a versatile musician, performing on euphonium and trombone, preparing sheet music for performance and publication, and publishing his father’s music. He studied euphonium performance as an undergraduate at Michigan State University with Philip Sinder and as a master’s student at Indiana University with Daniel Perantoni. He also studied trombone as a doctoral candidate at Indiana University with Carl Lenthe. He has performed on Broadway in the orchestra of Fiddler on the Roof and plays with the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra and the Chelsea Symphony, among others.

Along with performing, Matthew is an accomplished music engraver and copyist. Equally at home in the commercial and classical worlds, he has prepared music in diverse genres. Projects have included the Pixar film The Incredibles 2, Warner Brothers’ Shazam!, the hit video game Destiny 2 by Bungie Inc. and the acclaimed musicals Far From Heaven by Scott Frankel with orchestrations by Tony Award winner Bruce Coughlin, Chess by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA, and Sycamore Trees by Ricky Ian Gordon. He has also engraved opera, wind ensemble, and chamber music for the New York-based publisher Carl Fischer and Internationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski in Hamburg.

In 2012, Matthew founded Maslanka Press to publish his father’s works. Dedicated to producing beautiful, affordable new editions, promoting David’s music, and supporting performers, educators, and enthusiasts, Maslanka Press now publishes more than 70 works worldwide. Following David’s passing in 2017, he started the David Maslanka Foundation with his brother Stephen and sister Kathryn to preserve and promote David’s music and life. As part of that mission, Matthew travels worldwide, coaching performing groups on his father’s music.

Matthew is an avid photographer and lives in New York City with his two dogs, Cassie and Max.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

The Everything Band Podcast team includes the following contributors:

Host and Creator: Mark Connor
Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
Creative Director: Jake Walker

Episode 199 - Gary Green Dec 16, 2021

Gary Green is Director of Bands Emeritus at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, Florida. Prior to joining the faculty at UM, Gary served for ten years as Director of Bands at the University of Connecticut. Gary joins the show today to discuss the important life lessons that music teachers need to know to build a culture of excellence.

Gary Green and was influential in commissioning and recording new works for winds and percussion which included Symphony No. 3 by David Maslanka and A Cornfield in July and The River by William Penn. Urban Requiem by Michael Colgrass was commissioned by the Philip Frost Commission Fund and has become a standard in the repertoire for wind ensemble.

Throughout his career, Professor Green has received numerous honors and awards including The Phillip Frost Award for Scholarship and Teaching at the University of Miami. In March 2007, he joined the ranks of Frederick Fennell, William Revelli, and John Paynter in the Bands of America Hall of Fame.

Gary has conducted events in Florida, Texas, Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland, Georgia, Utah, Virginia, Washington, amongst many others. In addition, he has conducted all state, regional, national, and international honor bands.

Gary holds a B.M. degree from Boise State University and an M.M. degree from the University of Idaho.

Mr. Green is a member of the American Bandmasters Association, the College Band Directors Association, the Music Educators National Conference, the Florida Bandmasters Association and the Florida Music Educators Association.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

The Everything Band Podcast team includes the following contributors:

Host and Creator: Mark Connor
Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
Creative Director: Jake Walker

Episode 198 - Mark Connor Dec 14, 2021

For this episode I'm going to be sitting across from the microphone while Colin Peters interviews me. I have had pretty rough go of it during the pandemic and felt that it was the right moment to share some thoughts and encouragement from my own experience.

Biography:

Mark J. Connor (b. 1971) is a composer, conductor, educator, and podcaster who has a passion for everything band. His music is diverse, his interviews are inspiring, and his ability to capture the listener’s attention for both means of expression is remarkable.

As a composer, Mark has written a collection of wind band literature ranging in various levels, orchestral music, and chamber ensembles. His works have been published by Alry Publications, Grand Mesa Music, and RWS Music Company. As an educator for more than 20 years, Mark has had the fortune to teach students at every level from elementary to postgraduate. Through reflection and continued education, Mark adapts his philosophy of teaching to fulfill the needs of his diverse students. Prior to his current position as band director at the Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School, he was a visiting assistant professor and adjunct professor at several universities nationwide.

Popularly known for his role as the host of Everything Band, Mark enjoys producing this weekly podcast that features interviews with leaders in the band community. He has a faithful following for each episode and takes pride in delivering a motivational message of gratitude, inspiration, and perseverance in regards to music, education, and life.

Learn more about Mark: http://www.markjconnor.com

Episode 196-- Kevin Sedatole Nov 22, 2021

Kevin Sedatole is the Director of Bands and Chair of the conducting area at Michigan State University. He has had a celebrated career in music as a conductor, clinician, teacher, and advocate for new music.

Biography

Kevin Sedatole serves as Director of Bands, Professor of Music, and Chair of the conducting area at the Michigan State University College of Music. At MSU, Professor Sedatole serves as administrator of the entire band program totaling over 700 students that includes the Wind Symphony, Symphony Band, Concert Band, Chamber Winds, Campus Bands, Spartan Marching Band and Spartan Brass. He also guides the graduate wind-conducting program in addition to conducting the MSU Wind Symphony.

Prior to joining MSU, he was director of bands and associate professor of conducting at Baylor University. Previous to his appointment at Baylor he served as associate director of bands at the University of Texas and director of the Longhorn Band, and as associate director of bands at the University of Michigan and Stephen F. Austin State University.

Sedatole has conducted performances for the College Band Directors National Association, American Bandmasters Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, and the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, as well as performances in Carnegie Hall. He has conducted across the United States and Europe. Most recently the MSU Wind Symphony, under the direction of Professor Sedatole, has given featured performances at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic held in Chicago, Ill. and at the national conventions of the College Band Directors’ National Association held in Austin, Texas and Kansas City, Missouri. Performances conducted by Professor Sedatole have won accolades from prominent composers including Robert Beaser, John Corigliano, Michael Colgrass, Donald Grantham, David Maslanka, Ricardo Lorenz, Michael Daugherty, John Mackey, Jonathan Newman, Carter Pann, Joel Puckett, Dan Welcher as well as many others. Professor Sedatole also serves on the summer faculty of the Interlochen Music Camp, Board of Directors for the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic and as the president of the CBDNA North Central division. His international engagements include residencies at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, Tokyo, Japan and the Mid Europe Festival, Schladming, Austria.

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Please join us at the second annual Ultimate Music Business Summit, which will be held January 6-8, 2022! This is a virtual summit where musicians (from across the globe) can gather and learn about entrepreneurial ideas. The goal of this summit is to ignite curiosity and offer valuable information from an array of experts. The entrepreneurial-minded musician who attends the summit will leave with new, creative ideas that will not only inspire them but will give them the necessary tools to utilize in our ever-changing musical world. The desire to connect, educate, learn, and grow together is UMBS’s hope and mission. Please visit our website at musicsummit.biz for more information! Thanks!

Prices of Tickets:

Basic Ticket: $17
Basic Ticket Early Bird (purchased before Nov. 30): $14
VIP (access to all video recordings): $137
Early Bird (purchased before Nov. 30): $97

Dates:

January 6-8, 2022

Episode 195 - Glenn Eichelberger Sep 10, 2021

Glenn Eichelberger is the Director of Bands at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Glenn has been involved in HBCU bands for his entire career and joins the show to discuss his career and his experiences with HBCU excellence in music.

Links:

Biography:

Mr. Eichelberger currently serves the Director of Bands at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Mr. Eichelberger recently completed his Masters of Arts in Instrumental Conducting at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland (2020). Mr. Eichelberger is a native of Miami Florida where he graduated from Miami Carol City Senior High School (1997). He started his undergraduate studies at Florida A&M University where he was a member of the FAMU Marching 100, Symphonic, Jazz, Brass Ensemble and Trombone Choir. In 2000 and 2002 Mr. Eichelberger was selected for the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) Southeast Intercollegiate Honors Band. He is also a former member of the U.S. Marines Basic Musician Enlistment Program where he studied at the Armed Forces School of Music in Norfolk, Virginia. Mr. Eichelberger also holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from Florida Memorial University (2011). Mr. Eichelberger is also the Founder and President of the Palm Beach Band Director Coalition.

Prior to his appointment as the Director of Bands at Stillman College, Mr. Eichelberger served as the Director of Bands at Park Crossing High School in Montgomery, AL (2020-2021), a Graduate Conductor at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD (2017-2020), Music Teacher at Holabird Middle School in Dundalk, MD (2017-2019), Department Chair and Director of Bands at Jeaga Middle School in West Palm Beach Florida (2015-2016), Director of Bands and Music Coordinator at N.E.W. Preparatory High School of Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (2014-2015), Director of Bands at American Senior High School in Hialeah, Florida (2008-2013). Mr. Eichelberger has also served as the Assistant to the Director of Band and Music Arranger at Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC (2005-2006). Mr. Eichelberger has also served as the Assistant Director of Band and Music Arranger at James S. Rickards High in Tallahassee, Florida (2002-2003). During his Tenure at James S. Rickards the band was selected as the honor band for the Veterans Day Celebration and was selected to perform a post-game performance at Florida A&M University; Assistant to the Director of Band and Arranger at Thomasville High School in Thomasville, Georgia (2004-2005), during his time at Thomasville High the band was featured in a commercial for White Wheat Bread for the Hostus Bread Company. In the summer of 2006 Mr. Eichelberger was asked to serve as the Assistant Director of Bands and Music Arranger at his alma mater Miami Carol City Senior High. In April of 2007 Mr. Eichelberger was asked to serve as the Interim Director of Bands at Miami Carol City Senior High after the Promotion of Fedrick C. Ingram to Secretary/Treasurer of United Teachers of Dade. Mr. Eichelberger has been a Guest Clinician at the Savannah State University Summer Band Camp, (2012), Florida A&M University Marching 100 Summer Band Camp (1998-2002, 2004) Dade County Parks and Recreation Annual Summer Performing Arts Camp (1999), Miami Northwestern Senior High (1999), North Miami Beach Senior High (2004) and Florida Memorial University Miami All-Star Summer Band Camp (2003-Present), and several high schools in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. He has served as a guest Conductor at Miami Carol City Senior High, Thomasville High School, Florida Memorial University, and Savannah State University.

Mr. Eichelberger is a member of the HBCU-National Band Director Consortium, Music Educator National Conference (MENC), Florida Bandmasters Association (FBA), Florida Music Educators Association (FMEA), International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE), FAMU Marching 100 Alumni Band Association, (DAC) Diaspora Arts Coalition, (UTD) United Teachers of Dade, Florida Education Association (FEA), National Education Association (NEA), Teacher Association of Baltimore County (TABCO), Alabama Education Association (AEA), Maryland Music Educators Association, and an honorary member of the Eta Omicron Chapter of Tau Beta Sigma.

Episode 194 - Cam Stasa Aug 18, 2021

Cam Stasa is a well known figure in the marching arts community as the Director of Participant Relations for Music for All (Bands of America). She joins the show to discuss Music for All programs, her personal journey through music, and her prospective on winning and losing in competition.

Links:

Music for All

Band of America Hall of Fame

Biography:

A graduate of Eastern Michigan University and Wayne State University (MI), she taught English and Communications in secondary schools prior to her arrival at MFA. Originally hired as Director of Operations for Bands of America, her job description evolved into the “sales” director of Music for All. Whether talking to directors by phone, or in person, Cam developed the most direct communication with music directors to encourage them to participate within the events produced throughout the year.

For over 15 years Cam has announced the Lake Park Lancer Joust, a high school marching band competition held annually on the campus of Lake Park High School in Roselle, Illinois. She is also the announcer of the Normal West Marching Band Invitational at Illinois Wesleyan University. Cam has been the Master of Ceremonies at the Chicagoland Invitational Concert Band Festival since 2003.

On March 8, 2014, Cam was inducted into the Bands of America Hall of Fame joining the ranks of William Revelli, John Paynter, Gary Green, Greg Bimm, Alfred Watkins and others that have been recognized for their impact on Bands of America, the nation’s band activity and music education.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

The Everything Band Podcast team includes the following contributors:

Host and Creator: Mark Connor
Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
Creative Director: Jake Walker

Episode 193 - Paula Crider Jun 02, 2021

Paula Crider has had an illustrious 33 year teaching career as a band director, 17 of those as the director of the University of Texas Longhorn Band. She continues to be powerful voice in the band community as a clinician and consultant.

Links:

Biography:

Following a distinguished 33-year teaching career, Professor Paula A. Crider continues to share her passion for making music through an active schedule as guest conductor, lecturer, clinician, and adjudicator. She has enjoyed engagements in 47 states, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Singapore, Italy, Germany, Spain, Hong Kong, and Australia. Professor Crider has taught in the public schools at all levels and holds the unique distinction of having been the first female in the state of Texas to serve as director of bands at a class 5-A high school. Her Crockett High School Bands in Austin, Texas enjoyed both state and national recognition for musical excellence on the concert stage and were twice named Texas 5A State Marching Champions.

A tenured Full Professor at The University of Texas, Crider conducted the Symphony Band and was Director of the acclaimed University of Texas Longhorn Band. During her 17 year tenure, she was twice accorded the “Eyes of Texas” Award for distinguished teaching. She continues to serve as a visiting guest professor at universities throughout the country. She has written numerous articles for The Instrumentalist, The Band Directorʼs Guide, the National Band Association Journal, and has published manuals for Brass Techniques, Marching Band Methods and Instrumental Conducting. She is a co-author for the Hal Leonard “Masterwork Studies” series, and author of The Composerʼs Legacy, Conductors on Conducting for Wind Band published by GIA.

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The Everything Band Podcast team includes the following contributors:

Host and Creator: Mark Connor
Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
Creative Director: Jake Walker

Episode 192 - JaRod Hall May 24, 2021

JaRod Hall is a band director in Irving, Texas and an up and coming composer at the beginning of his writing career. He is infectiously positive throughout our conversation about his creative journey, including a discussion of representation and why it matters for our students.

Links:

Biography:

JaRod Hall (b. 1991) is a Texas-native educator, performer, and composer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music education fom the University of North Texas where he studied conducting with Nicholas Williams and Dennis Fisher. Upon graduating, he served as an associate band director for Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas. A passionate performer, JaRod has been a part of many ensembles such as the North Texas Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band, 3 O’ Clock Lab Band, Carrollton Wind Symphony, Metropolitan Winds, and during his time in high school the Texas All-State Symphonic Band (2007-09) and Jazz Band (2010). He served as drum major for the 2013 Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps, and member of the 2014 Disneyland All-American College Band. He is currently a freelance tubist and trombonist in the DFW metroplex. JaRod is the associate director of bands at Sam Houston Middle School in Irving, Texas. He resides in Carrollton, Texas with his fiancée, Rachel.

The Everything Band Podcast team includes the following contributors:

Host and Creator: Mark Connor
Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
Creative Director: Jake Walker

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 191 - Greg Bimm May 12, 2021

Greg Bimm has been the band director at Marian Catholic in Chicago for 44 years. During his time there his bands have been consistently excellent both on the marching field and on the stage, including Bands of America's Grand National Champion seven times and a whopping 40 straight years undefeated in their class at the Illinois Superstate competition.

Links:

Biography:

Greg Bimm has been Director of Bands at Marian Catholic High School since 1977. Under his direction, the Marian Band has grown from 70 to over 280 members, has earned over 600 awards and honors, and has become one of the premier high school band programs in the United States.

Mr. Bimm's history with Bands of America dates back to 1981 when the Marian Catholic marching band came to the BOA Summer Workshop/Festival (now the Summer Symposium) to serve as the "lab band." Directors enrolled in the Directors Workshops observed marching teaching theory in practice with the Workshop faculty and the Marian Catholic Band.

Since then, the Marian Catholic bands are among the most honored in BOA history. Marian has been named the BOA Grand National Champions seven times and is the only marching band to win the Grand National Champion title three consecutive years. They have participated in 21 consecutive Grand Nationals, numerous Regional Championships and the BOA Summer Nationals held in the 1980s, winning five Summer National titles.

The Marian Catholic Symphonic Band was one of only eight bands invited to perform at the first National Concert Band Festival in 1992, held at Northwestern University and has performed again in 1995 and 1998. Mr. Bimm is a member of the 2005 Summer Symposium faculty. Most recently, Mr. Bimm was part of the teaching staff for the Bands of America Honor Band that appeared in the 2005 Tournament of Roses Parade.

Mr. Bimm is a current member and past chairman of the Bands of America Advisory Board and has served several terms on BOA advisory bodies. His input and expertise have been instrumental in guiding the direction of Bands of America programming. "Greg and the Marian Catholic band program serve as an inspiration and model for band directors across the nation," says Scott McCormick, MFA President and CEO.

Mr. Bimm has received five National Band Association Citations of Excellence and the NBA Certificate of Merit, was named the 1983 national winner of the ASBDA Stanbury award for young band directors, and received the Sudler Order of Merit from the John Philip Sousa Foundation in 1991 and 1997. In 1999, Mr. Bimm was among the first to be awarded the “Mary Hoffman” Award of Excellence by the Illinois Music Educator’s Association and in 2000 was recognized for contribution and support to art education by the Illinois Alliance for Arts Education. In 1994, Bimm was elected to membership in the prestigious American Bandmasters Association. Mr. Bimm holds degrees from Illinois State and Western Illinois Universities. His professional affiliations include ABA, ASBDA, IMEA, NAfME, NCBA, NBA, Phi Beta Mu, and Phi Mu Alpha. He has served on the Illinois High School Association Music Advisory Committee, and has served as Band Division chairman, District I and state equipment manager for IMEA. In constant demand, Mr. Bimm has performed as conductor, clinician, adjudicator, drill writer, or music arranger throughout the United States and Canada.

The Everything Band Podcast team includes the following contributors:

Host and Creator: Mark Connor
Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
Creative Director: Jake Walker

Episode 190 - Alfred Watkins May 05, 2021

Alfred Watkins was the longtime band director at Lasseter High School in Georgia and one of the finest band directors of his generation. He joins the show to talk about his career and share the wisdom from his 37 years as an instrumental music teacher.

Links:

Biography:

Educator, conductor, clinician, and lecturer Alfred L. Watkins, retired band director at Lassiter High School, in Marietta, Georgia, enjoyed a storied 37-year career that surpassed even his “wildest dreams.” Hailing from the small time of Jackson, Georgia and an alumnus of Florida A & M University (FAMU), Watkins built an outstanding and multi-faceted high school band program of international stature. The program was anchored by outstanding concert bands, which provided strong backgrounds for a lifetime of excellence and artistic appreciation to his over 10,000 former students.

Ensembles under his baton are recognized for their sonorous sound, excellent intonation, impeccable precision and meaningful musical interpretations. His bands have performed four times at the Midwest Clinic, National Band Association Convention, National Concert Band Festival and GMEA. The Trojan Marching Band performed four times in the Tournament of Roses, three times in the Macy*s Thanksgiving Day Parades and has been viewed on television by over 1.5 billion people. The Trojan Band was named Sweepstakes Winners in 103 of 110 competitions entered included being named the Bands of America Grand National Champions on two occasions.

Watkins is a member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association, the FAMU Gallery of Distinguished Alumni, the Bands of America Hall of Fame and the Phi Beta Mu Georgia Bandmasters Hall of Fame. He has received 16 Certificates of Excellence from the National Band Association and is the recipient of the Edwin Franko Goldman Award, Sudler Order of Merit, Legion of Honor Award, and the Turnett LeadershipCharacter Award. He holds the unique distinction of having led bands that received the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Flag of Honor, Sudler Shield, and Sudler Silver Scroll Awards.

Watkins is Co-founder, Musical Director and Conductor of the Cobb Wind Symphony, an award-winning all-adult community band based in Marietta. He is also Co-founder and President of the Minority Band Directors National Association. The $1.5 million Alfred L. Watkins Band Building at Lassiter bears his name. He and his wife, Rita live in Atlanta. They have two adult sons, Christopher and Jonathan.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

The Everything Band Podcast team includes the following contributors:

Host and Creator: Mark Connor
Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
Creative Director: Jake Walker

Episode 189 - James Swearingen Apr 26, 2021

James Swearingen has composed over 700 published works and is one of the most recognizable names in the wind band community. He joins me to discuss not only his music but also the story his early career as a band director and some of the wisdom he has acquired over a stellar career.

Links:

Biography:

James Swearingen’s talents as a performer, composer/arranger and educator include a background of extensive training and experience. He has earned degrees from Bowling Green State University and The Ohio State University. In recognition of distinguished contributions, Mr. Swearingen was recently accorded the title of Professor Emeritus from Capital University located in Columbus, Ohio. Prior to his appointment at Capital in 1987, he spent eighteen years teaching instrumental music in the public schools of central Ohio. His first teaching assignment took him to the community of Sunbury, Ohio. He then spent fourteen years as Director of Instrumental Music at Grove City High School, where his marching, concert, and jazz bands all received acclaim for their high standards of performing excellence.

Mr. Swearingen currently serves as a staff arranger for the famed Ohio State University Marching Band. In addition to his arranging responsibilities, Mr. Swearingen manages to be very active as a guest conductor, adjudicator and educational clinician. Appearances have included trips throughout the United States, as well as Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, Norway, the Republic of China and Singapore.

School directors, student performers and audiences worldwide have enthusiastically received Mr. Swearingen’s numerous contributions for band. With over 650 published works, he has written band compositions and arrangements that reflect a variety of musical forms and styles. Many of his pieces, including 120 commissioned works, have been chosen for contest and festival lists. He is a recipient of several ASCAP awards for published compositions and in 1992 was selected as an Accomplished Graduate of the Fine and Performing Arts from Bowling Green State University. In March of 2000, he was invited to join The American Bandmasters Association, considered to be the most prestigious bandmaster organization in the world. Mr. Swearingen received the 2002 Community Music Educator Award given annually by the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. In that same year, he became conductor of the Grove City Community Winds. This highly talented ensemble consists of many fine musicians from the central Ohio area. On June 20, 2009, The American School Band Directors Association, Inc., presented Mr. Swearingen with the A. Austin Harding Award. This prestigious award is presented annually by the organization and is reflective of valuable and dedicated service to the school bands of America. In 2011, he received the Hall of Fame Award presented by the Ohio Chapter (Mu) of Phi Beta Mu. The OMEA Distinguished Service Award was presented to him at the 2014 OMEA Professional Development Conference. Later that year, he was presented the Signature Sinfonian Award by Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. On April 21, 2015, The Ohio State School of Music honored Mr. Swearingen with their Distinguished Alumnus Award. It should be noted that he is also a member of numerous professional and honorary organizations including NAfME, ASBDA, Phi Beta Mu and Pi Kappa Lambda.

The Everything Band Podcast team includes the following contributors:

Host and Creator: Mark Connor
Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
Creative Director: Jake Walker

Episode 188 - Ronnie Wooten Mar 31, 2021

Dr. Ronald Wooten is a professor of music at Northern Illinois University and has a long history of success as a band director and music educator. He joined the show to spin an entertaining story of his life and share some tremendous wisdom.

Biography:

Ronnie Wooten DMA, Professor of Music, believes that “It is absolutely critical for those of us who are engaged in the art and practice of musicing-- particularly in colleges and universities, to actively assist all others in their quest to find and recognize their own personal uniqueness as people.”

He is widely recognized and frequently invited to share with others in both traditional/ nontraditional, musical/non-musical venues his own energetic, passionate and continuously evolving uniqueness in the intentional human activity that is universally recognized as MUSIC.

Ronnie Wooten remains actively engaged in the areas of conducting—its pedagogy, history and evolution with particular focus on applications of nonverbal communication systems in conducting pedagogy; historical and theoretical analysis of wind band repertoire---including the unique contributions of Black Composers, intersectionalities and functions of music in human societies, and pedagogical approaches and methodologies in diverse populations in musicing and education.

Dr. Wooten is “a strong advocate for assisting students, colleagues and others to find their uniqueness through musicing”. He received degrees in music education and conducting from East Carolina University (with honors) and Michigan State University where he studied conducting with conductors Eugene Migliaro Corporon, Kenneth G. Bloomquist and Herbert L. Carter. He studied applied clarinet with Deborah Chodacki and Frank Ell, piano with Donna Coleman, and completed additional studies in conducting and wind band literature at the University of Calgary, Campbell University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Michigan.

Prior to his appointment at NIU as Conductor of the Wind Symphony and Area Coordinator of Music Education in Fall 1994, Dr. Wooten previously held posts as Director of University Bands at SUNY Fredonia and Florida International University. His initial teaching and conducting career began in the public schools of North Carolina, where he served as Assistant Director of Bands of the three-time Bands of America Grand National Champion Rocky Mount High School Band, and as Director of Bands and Instrumental Music for grades 8-12 in the Goldsboro City School District.

Dr. Wooten maintains an active national and international musicing schedule as guest conductor, adjudicator, lecturer and consultant for instrumental music and education, and was invited to serve as Guest Conductor of the United States Army Field Band at Ft. Meade, Resident Orchestra Conductor for the international conference: “A Multicultural Celebration of Diversity in Music”, where he conducted a performance of Black composer Florence Prices’s Symphony No. 3 , which at that time had not been heard in over 60 years; a live recreation of the 1930s landmark “Deep River Radio Hour, which featured live actors for the commercials, soloists and lesser-known full orchestral works by African-American composer William Grant Still and others, all of which were aired over National Public Radio.

He served as Guest Conductor of the Kentucky Intercollegiate Band, the Provincial Honor Band of Alberta, Canada, the International Music Camp Band, and as guest conductor of All-State and All-District Honor Bands in 32 US states thus far. Wooten has served as Chief Adjudicator for Bands and Solo Wind Instrument Performance for the Kiwanis International Music Festivals in Toronto and Ottawa, Canada and has presented original research for the Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic, College Band Directors National Association, Illinois, Kentucky, North Carolina and Texas Music Educators Associations, Illinois Committee on Black Concerns in Higher Education, People of Color in Predominantly White Institutions Conference and The National Association of Black Cultural Centers. He delivered the keynote address for the Rhode Island Music Educators Association Conference and served as Artist-in -Residence at the University of Louisville for their annual Festival of African American Music.

Additionally, Dr. Wooten has conducted the NIU Wind Ensemble at the National Association for the Study and Performance of African American Music Conference and the Illinois Music Educators Association In-Service Conference. In 2013 he was invited by PanTrinbago to serve on an international panel of adjudicators for the National Steelband Finals Championship in Trinidad and Tobago where he also presented a workshop at the National Performing Arts Center entitled: “The Maestro at Work”.

Dr. Wooten holds professional memberships in the College Band Directors National Association, where he served as a member of the Task Force on Ethnicity and Gender Issues, The National Association for Music Education, Illinois Music Educators Association, Mid-America Bandmasters Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Pi Kappa Lambda, and Kappa Kappa Psi.

Dr. Wooten received the Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at Northern Illinois University where has taught the following courses:

(Undergraduate): Introduction to Music Education, Secondary Instrumental Methods, Techniques of Woodwind Instruments, Black Music, Student Teaching, Conducting;

(Graduate): Foundations of American Music Education, Supervision and Administration of the Music Program, Diverse Populations in Music Education, Wind Instrument Literature, Conducting, in addition to conducting the NIU Wind Symphony, Wind Ensemble and All-University Bands.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

The Everything Band Podcast Team:

Host and Creator: Mark Connor
Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
Creative Director: Jake Walker

Episode 187 - Colin Peters and Jake Walker Mar 17, 2021

In this special episode we welcome Colin Peters and Jake Walker to the podcast and interview them to learn their stories and hear their plans for the future of the podcast. Topics covered include origin stories, teaching during COVID, teaching beginners, and their answers to the big questions.

Colin Peters Bio:

Mr. Colin Peters has completed his fourth year of teaching public school band and is now pursuing a Masters degree in Wind Conducting at Sam Houston State University. Prior to Sam Houston, Colin served four years as the Assistant Band Director at York Junior High in Conroe ISD. While at York, he conducted the Symphonic band, Concert II/III bands, assisted with the Wind Ensemble and other concert bands, as well as assisted with the marching band at Grand Oaks under the direction of Mr. Peters, the Symphonic Band and Concert II/III Bands received superior ratings at the UIL Concert & Sight-Reading Contest, along with First Division and "Best in Class" awards at local area festivals.

Colin Peters grew up in Dickinson, TX, just south of Houston. He graduated from the University of Houston with a bachelors degree in Music Education. While at UH, he studied clarinet under Chester Rowell and Randy Griffin. His performance experiences include playing clarinet and bass clarinet in the UH Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, and Opera Orchestra. While at UH he also had the opportunity to perform with the Wind Ensemble at the Texas Music Educators Association, The Midwest Clinic and Convention, and the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Convention. Colin was also a five-year member of the “Spirit of Houston” marching band where he served as Drum Major for three of those years.

With his time outside of teaching, Mr. Peters has played in the Woodlands Concert Band, worked with marching bands and leadership teams, and judged solo and ensemble contests around the Houston area. He also spends his summers attending Texas area workshops, including the Sam Houston State University’s Teaching the Middle School Band.

Colin's professional affiliations include the Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, Tau Beta Sigma and Phi Mu Alpha.

Jake Walker Bio:

Mr. Jake Walker is in his second year as the 5th Grade Band Director at Hannah Martin Elementary School, in Huntley, Illinois. After earning his teaching degree, Jake launched the new Martin Band program. In his first year, he recruited over 100 beginning band students into the program. In 2018, he was named the Assistant Marching Band Director at Huntley High School, where he worked for two marching band seasons alongside his full time position.

Jake is also a Summer School Band Director for the Wauwatosa School District in Wisconsin for 5th-10th grade students, a position he accepted in 2020. In January of 2021, he joined the Everything Band Podcast team as their Creative Director, where he creates graphics and manages social media content.

Jake graduated and received his Bachelor of Music Education degree in 2019 from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. While attending NIU, Jake studied with trumpet professor Dr. Mark Ponzo, ensemble and conducting professors Dr. Thomas Bough and Dr. Ronnie Wooten, and music education faculty Dr. Mary-Lynn Doherty and Dr. Christine D’ Alexander. In 2018, he was named the Head Drum Major for the NIU Huskie Marching Band and the President of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) collegiate chapter. Jake was recognized for his efforts in the Huskie Marching Band when he received the Outstanding Band Member of the Year for two consecutive seasons (2016, 2017) and the “Director’s Award” for excellence (2018).

In the Fall of 2020, Jake contributed to the Illinois Music Education Association (ILMEA) Band Best Practice Committee to curate a collection of health and safety recommendations during the Covid-19 pandemic for Illinois band programs.

Jake was selected to represent Illinois in the upcoming 2022 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California as a member of the "Salute to America's Band Directors Marching Band". The band will be composed of up to 300 band directors from across North America and will pay tribute to the exceptional instruction, character development and inspiration provided by music educators everywhere.

Links:

The Everything Band Podcast team includes the following contributors:

Host and Creator: Mark Connor
Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
Creative Director: Jake Walker

Episode 186 - Tonya Mitchell-Spradlin Mar 02, 2021

Tonya Mitchell-Spradlin is the director of bands at Penn State University. She joined the show to share the story of her career, challenges that she has faced, and some thoughts about concert band programming.

Topics:

Tonya's background and education.
Representation matters!
Programming music.
Thoughts about teaching and conducting.

Links:

Biography:

Tonya Mitchell-Spradlin is Director of Wind Band Studies and Assistant Professor of Music. In addition to conducting the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, overseeing the graduate wind conducting program, teaching courses in wind band literature and wind conducting, she oversees all aspects of the concert band programs at Penn State. Her appointment at PSU follows three years as Assistant Director of Bands and Associate Director of Athletic Bands at the University of South Carolina. Prior to her tenure at UofSC, Mitchell-Spradlin taught at Valdosta State University as Director of Athletic Bands and was Director of Bands at Chamblee High School in Chamblee, Georgia.

Mitchell-Spradlin has a diverse background as a clinician, adjudicator, educator, and speaker. She is a frequent guest conductor, and has presented regionally at the South Carolina Music Educators Association Conference, nationally at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, internationally at the International Society for the Promotion of Wind Band in Austria, and has served as Tau Beta Sigma’s local and national Women in Music Speaker.

As a proponent of new music, she is engaged in building the wind band medium. She led the consortium and premiere of Aaron Perrine’s Beneath a Canvas of Green for wind ensemble and percussion quartet which was also the source of her doctoral dissertation. Additionally, she is active in a number of premieres and consortiums for new music.

Mitchell-Spradlin serves as the National Vice President of Professional Relations for Tau Beta Sigma: National Honorary Band Sorority. She also holds memberships in Kappa Kappa Psi, the College Band Directors National Association, National Association for Music Education, and Women Band Directors International.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

The Everything Band Podcast Team:

Host and Creator: Mark Connor
Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
Creative Director: Jake Walker

Episode 185 - Jared Cassedy Feb 18, 2021

Jared Cassedy is the current band director at Lexington High School in Massachusetts, after teaching in New Hampshire for many years. He was the 2015 recipient of the Grammy Music Educator of the Year award and offers some great perspective for all band directors.

Topics:

Jared's background growing up in New Hampshire, his education and training and his early career.
Winning the Grammy Music Educator of the Year Award and being locked in a room with Kanye and Kim.
Advice for band directors of all ages about the value of music education and some wisdom that he's learned during his career.

Links:

Biography:

Jared Cassedy is currently the K-12 Performing Arts Coordinator for the Lexington Public School System in Lexington, Massachusetts where he supports, supervises, and evaluates the department’s teachers, curriculum and assessment development, budget, and performing arts programming. Along with his administrative responsibilities he conducts the most advanced concert band at the high school, the LHS Wind Ensemble. Jared is also the conductor of the Junior Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and currently serves as Chair-Elect for the Massachusetts Music Educators Association: Northeastern District. Previous to coming to Massachusetts, he served as President-Elect for the New Hampshire Music Educators Association (NHMEA). In 2015 Jared was the recipient of the prestigious GRAMMY Music Educator Award furnished by the GRAMMY Foundation and The Recording Academy having been selected out of a pool of almost 10,000 nominees nationwide.

Previous to his appointment in Lexington, Jared was the Director of K-12 Performing Arts for the Salem School District in Salem, NH and was the Director of K-12 Fine Arts for the Windham School District, in Windham, NH. Jared began his teaching career in Windham, NH in 2005 first as the middle school band director and then was appointed as the first Director of Bands for the newly constructed Windham High School in 2009. Jared’s continued collaboration with his students has enabled his ensembles to be selected to participate in a myriad of national performances and festivals including the National Band and Orchestra Festival at Carnegie Hall in NYC, the Festival of Gold at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, the NAfME Eastern Division Conference in Hartford, CT., and the Bands of America National Band Festival sponsored by Music for All and Yamaha in Indianapolis. His ensembles were also selected to perform for the Mayor of Quebec City and the Governor of Montreal. In 2011 the New Hampshire Band Directors Association honored Jared with the “Outstanding Young Band Director of the Year Award.” He was also nominated for New Hampshire Teacher of the Year in 2014.

Jared has conducted a number of regional honor bands in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Connecticut, given a variety of lectures on leadership and best practices in teaching, and has participated in TEDx talking about his journey and philosophies through education. He graduated Summa cum Laude from the University of New Hampshire – Durham where he received his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and has a Masters of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus in Educational Leadership from Southern New Hampshire University. He is a member of NAfME, MMEA, NBA, and ASCD, and the prestigious Pi Lambda Theta Education Honors Society.

Episode 184 - Steve Danyew Feb 09, 2021

Steve Danyew is a composer living in Rochester, New York. He has written several very successful for band, including Magnolia Star and Into the Silent Land.

Topics:

Steve's background growing up and his musical education.
Steve plays saxophone and I sing a few notes!
Steve's music, including Magnolia Star and the story behind Into the Silent Land.
Thoughts about composing and publishing.

Links:

Biography:

Steve Danyew’s music has been hailed as “startlingly beautiful” and “undeniably well crafted and communicative” by the Miami Herald, and has been praised as possessing “sensitivity, skill and tremendous sophistication” by the Kansas City Independent.

Danyew (b. 1983) is the recipient of numerous national and international awards for his work, and his compositions have been performed throughout the world in venues such as the Sydney Opera House, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and the steps of the US Capitol. Danyew’s recent work Into the Silent Land was named the winner of the 2019 Walter Beeler Memorial Composition Prize. Three of his compositions for wind band are featured in Volume 11 of Teaching Music Through Performance in Band (GIA).

In addition to composing, Danyew is a passionate educator who teaches courses focused on helping young musicians craft their own creative careers at the Eastman School of Music’s Institute for Music Leadership. He is the contributing author for the 2nd edition of Ramon Ricker’s book Lessons from a Street-Wise Professor: What You Won’t Learn at Most Music Schools (Soundown, 2018). He is also a frequent guest composer and lecturer at schools through the United States.

In 2020, Danyew and his wife Ashley created Musician & Co., a new resource that equips 21st-century musicians to be both artists and business owners. The mission of Musician & Co. is to provide an innovative model for bridging the gap between the practice room and a profitable business.

Danyew grew up in New England, playing the saxophone and improvising music on the piano. After a performance of his own work, the South Florida Sun Sentinel proclaimed him a “saxophone virtuoso par excellence, making the instrument sing as well as shout.” Danyew performed as a saxophonist in the University of Miami Wind Ensemble under the direction of Gary Green, and this formative experience led him to begin composing works for wind band.

Danyew received a B.M., Pi Kappa Lambda from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and holds an M.M. in Composition and Certificate in Arts Leadership from the Eastman School of Music. Additionally, Danyew has served as a Composer Fellow at the Yale Summer Music School with Martin Bresnick, and as a Composer Fellow at the Composers Conference in Wellesley, MA with Mario Davidovsky.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

The Everything Band Podcast team includes the following contributors:

Host and Creator: Mark Connor
Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
Creative Director: Jake Walker

Episode 183 - Frank Troyka Feb 03, 2021

Frank Troyka was a longtime band director in Richardson, Texas and now serves as an adjunct instructor at SMU, educational consultant for Conn-Selmer, and director of education for System Blue.

Topics:

Frank's background growing up in several different locations and the story of how he ended up in Texas.
Meeting Eddie Green at Western Michigan and how that led to him moving to Texas to jumpstart his teaching career.
Teaching in Texas and some insight into the methodology and structure of Frank's program.
Lots nuts and bolts about teaching band and some philosophical discussions about teaching instrumental music.

Links:

Biography:

A teacher of 35 years, he is the retired director of bands and coordinator of Fine Arts at Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas. Troyka came to Berkner in May 2006 following seven years as director of bands at Cypress Falls High School in Houston. Ensembles under his direction have been selected to perform at the Music for All National Festival; the Percussive Arts Society International Convention; and the Midwest Clinic on two occasions with the Symphonic Band at Cypress Falls in 2004 and with the Berkner Symphonic Band in 2011. Troyka is an active lecturer and clinician, presenting in Texas, the U.S. and at international destinations including Canada, the Philippines, Singapore, China and South Africa. He is a frequent presenter at faculty development workshops for public schools and universities, as well as a guest lecturer and “hands-on” instructor for both students and teachers at all levels. In 2016, Troyka assumed the role as collegiate track director at the annual Conn-Selmer Institute in Mishawaka, Ind.

Troyka is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, the Texas Bandmasters Association, Phi Beta Mu International Bandmaster Fraternity, and the National Association for Music Education. He is an educational consultant with Conn-Selmer, Inc.; the director of education for System Blue, the educational arm of the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps of Concord, California; and the coordinator of the Generation Next series of presentations for The Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference. He was honored as the 2002-03 Teacher of the Year at Cypress Falls High School and, while at Berkner High School, was one of 15 Texas recipients of the 2010 UIL Sponsor Excellence Award. In 2014, Troyka was honored by the Texas Bandmasters Association as a recipient of the Meritorious Achievement Award. In 2015, he was named to the International Board of Experts for the World Music Contest of Kerkrade, The Netherlands and in March of 2016, Troyka was inducted into the Bands of America Hall of Fame.

The Everything Band Podcast team includes the following contributors:

Host and Creator: Mark Connor
Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
Creative Director: Jake Walker

Episode 182 - Allan McMurray Dec 07, 2020

Allan McMurray enjoyed a 35 year career as the Director of Bands at the University of Colorado. Over the course of his remarkable career he has earned numerous honors and awards and is a past president of CBDNA.

Topics:

Allan’s background in music and his early influences.
The influence of H. Robert Reynolds on Allan’s career and some thoughts about the importance of finding great models to emulate.
Thoughts about motivating students and showing them that you care and pursuing excellence in your career.
“Imitation is the greatest form of flattery but the lowest form of artistry.”
The relationship between composers and conductors and how that collaboration can bring out the best in the music.

Biography:

Allan McMurray is Distinguished Professor and Professor of Conducting Emeritus at the University of Colorado. He served for 35 years as Director of Bands and Chair of the Conducting Faculty before retiring from CU at the end of the 2013 academic year. Prior to this position, he was on the faculty of the University of Michigan, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Considered one of the world’s leading teachers of conducting, Professor McMurray has guest conducted and taught conductors in 48 states and 15 foreign countries. He has been a featured visiting professor and conductor at over 200 universities and conservatories internationally.

During his tenure at Colorado, the University of Colorado Wind Symphony performed by invitation at major conferences and conventions, including The First International Conference for Symphonic Bands in Manchester, England; the All-Japan Band Conference in Nemo Nu Sato, Japan; the College Band Directors National Association Convention (twice); and the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in Hamamatsu, Japan. The ensemble also has released two CDs on the Klavier label featuring original works by composers Daniel Kellogg, Carter Pann and Frank Ticheli and collaboration with the Takacs String Quartet, Patrick Mason, Baritone and Jennifer Bird-Arvidsson, Soprano.

With a strong commitment to new music, Allan McMurray has been a strong proponent in commissioning and performing new compositions by American composers. He has won praise for his interpretive and expressive conducting by many composers including Pulitzer Prize winners Michael Colgrass, George Crumb, John Harbison, Karel Husa and Steven Stucky.

Professor McMurray has performed with the St. Louis Symphony, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Debut Orchestra and has guest conducted the Colorado Symphony, the Thai Philharmonic Orchestra and the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra. He also conducted the Prague Chamber musicians in a festival featuring the music of George Crumb in Prague and subsequently in the US. McMurray also completed four seasons with the Colorado Ballet Orchestra as conductor of Philip Feeney’s Dracula.

Professor McMurray’s internationally acclaimed DVD series on the Art of Conducting includes three DVDs: “Conducting from the Inside Out: Gesture and Movement” published by GIA; “Conducting from the Inside Out: Conductor and Composer with Frank Ticheli” published by Manhattan Beach Music; and “Kindred Spirits” with friends and well-known conductors Richard Floyd, Craig Kirchhoff and Robert Reynolds also published by GIA. He is currently working on a companion textbook to the DVD series.

Allan McMurray has received numerous honors and awards. He is a Past-President of the College Band Directors National Association, he is a recipient of the Bohumil Makovsky Award for Outstanding College Band Directors from the National Band Fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi, and has been recognized by California State University Long Beach as “Distinguished Artist in Classical Music.” In December 2004, the Board of Regents of the University of Colorado designated Allan McMurray as the university’s 25th “Distinguished Professor” in recognition of his lifetime professional achievement in the teaching of conducting.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 181 - Mark Spede Nov 24, 2020

Mark Spede is the band director at Clemson University and the current president of the College Band Directors National Association. In this episode he shares his story and talks about CBDNA’s role in funding the aerosol study at the University of Colorado.

Topics:

Mark’s background and musical origin story.
His journey from marching band novice to the director of the Clemson University band.
Mark’s path to becoming president of CBDNA and the work that the organization has done with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The backstory behind the aerosol study conducted during the summer of 2020.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Mark J. Spede is Professor, Director of Bands, Director of Tiger Band, and Conductor of the Symphonic Band at Clemson University, where he administrates the band program (symphonic, athletic, and jazz bands). Dr. Spede is the recipient of the Clemson University 2009 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities), and three Clemson University Board of Trustees Awards for Faculty Excellence (2008, 2009, and 2012). He teaches a number of courses, including two for the Calhoun Honors College: aesthetics of music and science of music. In 2012, Dr. Spede conducted the Clemson University Symphonic Band at venues in London, England, for the Summer Olympic Games. Also in 2012, he founded the Clemson Faculty Jazz Quintet, for which he plays drums. Dr. Spede earned a Bachelor of Music from the University of Michigan (1984), a Master of Music from Ball State University (1988), and a Doctor of Musical Arts from The University of Texas at Austin (1998). He has served the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) in a number of capacities. From 2003 to 2005, Dr. Spede served as state chair for South Carolina. He also served on the CBDNA “New Era Think Tank” from 2005 to 2007, and served as chair of the “Athletic Band Task Force” from 2005 to 2009. He served as President of the Southern Division of CBDNA (encompassing eleven southern states) and is currently serving as National President. In addition, he has served as president of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Band Directors Association. Dr. Spede previously served on the faculties at The University of Texas at Austin (1998-1999) and the University of Florida in Gainesville (1989-1995) as Assistant Director of Bands. At Florida, he also taught studio percussion. As a freelance arranger, Dr. Spede has written extensively for high school and college marching bands (over 200 arrangements). His wind band arrangements and transcriptions are published by Peer Music, Schirmer, Boosey and Hawkes, and Carl Fischer, including “D.C. Fanfare” by John Corigliano, “Red Cape Tango” by Michael Daugherty, “Wedding Dances from Bandanna” by Daron Hagen, “Acrostic Song” by David Del Tredici, and “Millennium Canons” by Kevin Puts. He served as Assistant Conductor of the Dallas Wind Symphony, where he also helped produce two of their recordings. His professional performing experience includes orchestra (principal percussion in the Gainesville Chamber Orchestra, Muncie Symphony Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Flint Symphony Orchestra), jazz (performing with such artists as Randy Brecker, Ray Brown, Pete Christlieb, Dennis DiBlasio, Duffy Jackson, Dave Pell, Bobby Shew, Marvin Stamm, Bill Watrous, Ernie Watts and Phil Wilson), as well as at Walt Disney World.

Episode 180 - Michael Giannetta Nov 10, 2020

Michael Giannetta is the band director at Oyster Bay High School on Long Island. He has been a band director for 18 years and joins the show to talk about his program and also the Long Island Wind Ensemble.

Topics:

Michael’s background and the program at Oyster Bay High School.
Thoughts about switching beginners.
Michael’s experience at the American Band College.
Teaching music and band on Long Island as compared to other regions.

Links:

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 179 - Susan L. Smith Nov 02, 2020

Susan L. Smith has taught general, choral, and instrumental music at the elementary through collegiate level in Florida, Virginia and Alabama and has served as an author, clinician, conductor, and adjudicator across the United States

Topics:

Susan’s early career and education, including the lessons she learned from her mother, who was a high school band director in Virginia.
The importance of teaching the students who are in front of you, especially now when everything is so uncertain from the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Servant leadership and putting others before yourself as a teacher.
Setting goals, exercise challenges, and the importance of staying healthy so that you can be there for others.
Susan’s work at Troy University with the music education program and the importance of moving past just checking the boxes and focusing on excellence.
The importance of connecting with kids and finding ways to bring more kids under your influence by offering technology or guitar classes.
Marketing your program.

Links:

Biography:

Susan L. Smith, B.M.Ed, M.A.Ed., has taught general, choral, and instrumental music at the elementary through collegiate level in Florida, Virginia and Alabama and has served as an author, clinician, conductor, and adjudicator across the United States. She is currently Director of Bands at the Saint James School in Montgomery AL. Mrs. Smith is responsible for teaching the Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Bands as well as Guitar, Jazz Band, and Music Technology. The Saint James Band consistently receives Superior ratings in Concert, Jazz and Marching band events including the Alabama Music Performance Assessment, Smokey Mountain Music Festival and Bands of America Super Regionals and Grand National Championships. She is currently the President of the Alabama Music Educators Association.

She was a Coordinating Author for Warner Bros. Publications’ Expressions Music Curriculum, a vision for a vertical, conceptual approach to teaching music. She consulted on the Elementary Music Curriculum Music Expressions and served as an author for Band Expressions, a secondary component of the curriculum. Smith has presented clinics at many state conventions including AMEA, TMEA, FMEA, IMEA, VMEA, GMEA and National and Regional NAfME conferences. She is on the Middle School Clinician team for the Music for All Summer Symposium, presenting clinics each summer to directors and pre-service college students. In addition, Mrs. Smith serves as an educational consultant for Music for All. She is responsible for the Chamber Music portion of the Music for All National Concert Band Festival.

Episode 178 - Scott Rush Oct 05, 2020

Scott Rush is the Director of Fine and Performing Arts in Dorchester School District Two in South Carolina and is the former Director of Bands at Wando High School. He is the lead author of the "Habits" series published by GIA and is an active conductor, adjudicator and clinician.

Topics:

Scott’s background and early teaching career.
Studying with Frank Battisti at the New England Conservatory.
How to build a band culture, and the program at Wando High School while Scott was the director.
The Habits series

Links:

Biography:

Scott Rush is the Director of Fine and Performing Arts in Dorchester School District Two in South Carolina and is the former Director of Bands at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, SC. He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and the University of South Carolina. He currently serves as conductor of the Charleston Wind Symphony, a semi-professional ensemble in Charleston, South Carolina.

Under his direction, the Wando Symphonic Band performed at the 2007 Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic and were recipients of the 2007 Sudler Flag of Honor administered by the John Philip Sousa Foundation. His marching bands were two-time BOA Grand National finalist and won the South Carolina State 5A marching band championships nine consecutive years.

Mr. Rush is active as a conductor, clinician and adjudicator throughout the United States and Canada. He is lead writer for the Habits series and has authored or co-authored ten highly touted books: Habits of A Successful Band Director, Habits of A Successful Musician, Habits of a Successful Middle School Musician, The Evolution of A Successful Band Director, Habits of A Successful Middle School Band Director, Habits of A Successful String Musician, Habits of a Successful Middle Level String Musician, Quality of Life Habits of A Successful Band Director, Habits of a Successful Choir Director, and Habits of a Significant Band Director for GIA Publications. Mr. Rush has served as President of the South Carolina Band Directors Association and is a former member of the Board of Directors for the National Band Association. In 2010, Mr. Rush was elected into the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and in 2011 was awarded the Bandworld “Legion of Honor.” In 2015, he was elected into the South Carolina Band Directors Association Hall of Fame and in 2016 was awarded the Edwin Franko Goldman Award by the ASBDA for contributions to music education.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 177 - Nicholas Williams Sep 22, 2020

Nicholas Williams is an Associate Professor of Music, Music Director and Conductor of the Wind Symphony and Concert Band at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He joins the show to talk about growing up and starting his career in Texas and his recent move to Australia.

Topics:

Nick’s origin story growing up in Texas, the role of the church in his early musical development, and why his Mom wouldn’t let him play the clarinet.
Going to the University of North Texas as an undergraduate and Nick’s first teaching job.
Teaching only 9th and 10th graders at Clark High School in Plano, Texas.
The story of how Nick ended up in Australia and his early observations about the differences between his experience there versus his experiences in Texas.

Links:

Biography:

Dr Nicholas Enrico Williams is an Associate Professor of Music, Music Director and Conductor of the Wind Symphony and Concert Band at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in Melbourne, Australia. Before moving to Melbourne, for sixteen years Dr Williams was the Assistant Director of Wind Studies, Conductor of the Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, and the Director of Athletic Bands at the University of North Texas.

For a decade, he was the Conductor of the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony. In addition, he is a frequent guest conductor for the Dallas Winds (formerly Dallas Wind Symphony).

As an advocate of chamber music, Dr Williams was the founder and conductor of the East Plano Brass and was the principal guest conductor for the Harmoniemusik chamber ensemble. In the wind band world, he has been a guest conductor with the United States Air Force Band; Dallas Wind Symphony; Lone Star Wind Orchestra; at the annual Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Illinois; the College Band Directors National Association regional conference; the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention; and the Texas Music Educators Association Annual Clinic in San Antonio, Texas.

Dr Williams is active in the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe, and Southeast Asia as a conductor, clinician, adjudicator, consultant, and arranger; his arrangements and transcriptions for wind band, percussion ensembles, drum corps, and school pagentry ensembles are performed by outstanding organizations throughout the world.

Dr Williams is a sought-after recording session producer, associate producer, and editor, having been involved with numerous CDs and DVDs on the Klavier, Mark Records, GIA labels, as well as UNT projects. In addition to his work in the recording arts, he has written several conductor study guides that are published in the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. He is a primary consultant of Women of Influence in Contemporary Music and is an honorary member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity. His professional affiliations include the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, College Band Directors National Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Phi Beta Mu, an international bandmasters fraternity.

Episdoe 176 - Curtis Gaesser Sep 15, 2020

Curtis Gaesser has been the band director at Folsom High School in Sacramento, one of the most successful jazz programs in the country, for the past 37 years.

Topics:

Curtis’ background growing up in Hawai’i and the story of how he ended up at Folsom High School
The importance of good administrators.
The band program at Folsom High School, particularly the jazz ensembles and choir.
What do you do with 51 saxophones?
Teaching improvisation.
Building a jazz program.

Links:

Biography:

Curtis Gaesser has been teaching in the Folsom Cordova Unified School District since 1984, and at Folsom High School since 1987. He currently teaches Marching Band, 2 Orchestras, Jazz Choir, 3 Jazz Bands, Concert Band, Color Guard, and Drum Line for grade levels 9-12.

IMGP3846.JPG Mr. Gaesser was honored as 1995's "Most Outstanding Music Educator" by the California Association for Music Education and was "California State Jazz Educator of the Year" in 2003. In 2017, the California Association for Music Education Capitol Section honored Mr. Gaesser as the "Music Educator of the Year".

In 2008, he was awarded the "Annual National Achievement Award in Jazz Education" by DownBeat Magazine and the "Music Achievement Award" by Sacramento News & Review.

The City of Folsom presented Mr. Gaesser with the "Man of the Year" award in 2001 and the Folsom Chamber of Commerce awarded him the "Outstanding Educator of the Year" title in 2016. He also received the Folsom Cordova Unified School District's "Teacher of the Year" award in 1990 and again in 2011.

But the most important accolade at Folsom High School is the winning philosophy that musical participation presents students some of life's greatest lessons.

To quote Curtis Gaesser, "I don't think there is anything more rewarding than to see kids perform at their best after a lot of hard work. I don't care if we win or lose; I just want these kids to do their best."

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 175 - Mike Howard Sep 01, 2020

Mike Howard is the band director at Vandegrift High School in Austin, Texas. Under his direction, the Vandegrift Band has won numerous awards and honors and most recently was the 2019 BOA Grand National Champion.

Topics:

Mike’s background in Texas and his early career, including the story of how he opened Vandegrift High School.
Advice from Eddie Green as a young band director.
Teaching jazz.
Advice for those who are looking to build their programs.

Links:

Biography:

Mr. Howard is currently in his 11th year at Vandegrift High School and in his 17th year of teaching h igh school band. He was one of the founding directors of the band when VHS opened in 2009 and became Head Band Director in the Fall of 2014. While at Vandegrift, Mr. Howard’s bands have been consistent UIL Concert Competition Sweepstakes Award Winners. He has also been instrumental in several marching band high honors such as BOA Regional Champion, BOA Super Regional Finalist, BOA Super Regional Class Champion, multiple invitational marching contest championships, UIL State Marching Contest Finalist, 6A UIL State Marching Contest Bronze Medalist, 5A UIL State Marching Contest Silver Medalist and 4A UIL State Marching Contest Champion. At Vandegrift, Mr. Howard is the director of the Viper Marching Band, Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band.

Aside from being the Director of Bands at VHS, Mr. Howard is an active Leadership Consultant and Workshop Presenter. He has been a facilitator for SASI for the last 11 years. In this time, Mr. Howard has had the opportunity to work with thousands of students and directors from around the United States. As a lead facilitator for SASI, he is heavily involved with the operations of all Drum Major camps as well

as teaching several site-based workshops throughout the summer.

Before coming to Vandegrift, Mr. Howard taught at James E. Taylor High School in Katy, Texas. As Associate Director of the JE Taylor HS Band his responsibilities included directing the Jazz Program, assisting with the marching band, conducting the Concert Band, and coordinating and teaching the drumline. Mr. Howard, a native of Hondo, TX, started his teaching career at Morton Ranch High School,

where he was a band director and helped open the school in 2004. At Morton Ranch, he taught the Concert Band, Jazz Band, assisted with the marching band. Before teaching at Morton Ranch, Mr. Howard was an instructor for the Cedar Park High School Band in Cedar Park, Texas and an instructor for the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps from Madison, Wisconsin. As a performer, Mr. Howard has

performed with the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps, the Austin Symphony Orchestra, the Austin Lyric Opera and several bands around the Austin/San Antonio area. Mr. Howard graduated from Texas State University in San Marcos, Suma Cum Laude, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education. He lives in Leander with his wife Amber, his daughter, Madison and his son, Justin.

Episode 174 - Daniel Morrison Aug 24, 2020

Daniel Morrison is the Director of Bands at Ronald Reagan High School in San Antonio, Texas where he and the the bands under his direction have performed at the Midwest Clinic, marched in both the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Rose Parade, and been consistent Bands of America Regional, Super Regional and Grand National Finalists.

Topics:

Daniel’s background growing up in suburban Chicago as the son of a very successful high school band director.
The story of how Dan ended up graduating from the University of Illinois and getting a band director position in Texas right out of school.
The differences between teaching band in Chicago and Texas.
The hugely successful band program at Ronald Reagan High School.
Happy, not Satisfied.

Links:

Biography:

Daniel Morrison is currently the Director of Bands at Ronald Reagan High School in San Antonio, TX where he manages and teaches the Marching Band and conducts the Wind Ensemble. In addition, he assists with the Symphonic Band, Concert Band and various chamber ensembles. In his time at Reagan, the concert bands have received superior ratings at the UIL Concert and Sight Reading Contest, and the Marching Band has been a consistent Bands of America Regional, Super Regional and Grand National Finalist as well as a UIL State Marching Contest finalist. Under Mr. Morrison’s direction, the Marching Band is a multiple time BOA Regional Champion and was selected to march in the 2018 Rose Parade and the 2019 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. The Marching Band was also named the 2019 BOA San Antonio Super Regional champion. The Wind Ensemble was selected to perform at the 2018 Midwest Clinic and has been named a TMEA State Honor Band Finalist as well as a Mark of Excellence National Winner. In 2020, Mr. Morrison was selected as the Texas Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity “Outstanding Young Bandmaster.” Mr. Morrison graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in Music Education. Dan currently resides in San Antonio with his beautiful wife Ellie and their dog Pudge.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 173 - Scott Edgar Aug 17, 2020

Scott Edgar is a music education professor and band director at Lake Forest College and the author of Music Education and Social Emotional Learning.

Topics:

Scott’s background, education, and early teaching positions.
The basics of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
The application of SEL concepts at each level of band teaching.
Using SEL to teach equity and justice.
Creating a safe space for all students in the band room.
Scott’s book and other resources for further study in SEL.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Scott N. Edgar is Associate Professor of Music, Music Education Chair, and Director of Bands at Lake Forest College. He received his Doctorate of Philosophy in Music Education from the University of Michigan, his Masters degree in Education from the University of Dayton, and his Bachelor of Music in Music Education degree from Bowling Green State University.

His previous teaching experience in higher education includes work at Adrian College and Concordia College Ann Arbor. Prior to his work in higher education, he taught K-12 instrumental music in Ohio and Michigan. Dr. Edgar is the author of Music Education and Social Emotional Learning: The Heart of Teaching Music and is an internationally sought-after clinician on the topic. In addition to clinics, he also teaches graduate courses on Musical Social Emotional Learning at VanderCook College of Music. He is an active clinician and adjudicator for both concert band and marching band and regularly presents at professional development and research conferences. Dr. Edgar is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the American Educational Research Association, the College Music Society, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity and Kappa Kappa Psi Band fraternity. He lives in Lake Forest with his wife Steph, their son Nathan, and their cats Elsa and Wolfie.

Episode 172 - Christian Michael Folk Aug 10, 2020

Christian Michael Folk is a graduate student in music education at the University of South Carolina and the creator of the Diverse Composers of Wind Band Music database. He joins the show to tell the story of his young career and to share the story of how the database came to exist, some of the criticisms he faces, and thoughts about diversity in music education practice.

Topics:

Christian’s background and his early teaching experiences.
The Diverse Composers of Wind Band Music database.
A LONG conversation about diversity in music.

Links:

Biography:

Christian Folk is a music educator, conductor, and performer interested in advocacy and resources for diverse composers and incorporating equity and anti-racism into the music education curriculum. Christian taught for three years in public and private schools in the Charlotte, NC, and Columbia, SC area, and is currently working on his Master's Degree in Music Education with emphasis in Conducting and Euphonium Performance at The University of South Carolina. As a conductor, Christian has guest conducted with the Carolina Wind Symphony and the Congaree New Horizons Band, and has participated in conducting symposia with John Locke, Cormac Cannon, and Scott Weiss. Christian has commissioned pieces from Cait Nishimura, Kimberly Archer, John Mackey, and Nathan Daughtrey. A strong advocate for music by diverse composers, Christian is the creator of two databases for wind band and orchestra that cataloged thousands of works by women composers and composers of color, which have been featured in clinics at The Midwest Clinic and the National Association for Music Education Conference. He is also a representative of the "...And We Were Heard" project. Christian lives in Columbia, South Carolina, with his wife, Christy, their dog, Linny, and two cats, Sirius and Kingsley.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 171 - Eric Jimenez Jul 27, 2020

Eric Jimenez is a co-host of The Score podcast and assistant band director at Prairie View A&M University. He joins the show for an exceptional conversation about his career, being a Latino band director, and ways that we can create more culturally responsive classrooms.

Topics:

The score podcast and the story of Eric’s music journey, including the story of being a student at Prairie View A & M, the HBCU traditions, and his early career as a band director.
Band director turnover in Title 1 schools and some advice for teachers.
Eric’s decision to leave high school teaching to pursue his doctorate and the story of how he ended up back at Prairie View A&M.
The lack of representation of Latinx composers and band directors in the band community.
Culturally responsive teaching, avoiding appropriation, and teaching music authentically.

Links:

Biography:

Eric Jimenez, Assistant Director of Bands/Adjunct Instructor at Prairie View A&M University, has revitalized several band programs throughout the Houston Independent School District. His programs at Sharpstown MS, Hamilton MS, Waltrip HS, Davis HS, & Heights HS Jimenez’ band programs increased both student participation and instrument inventory, as well as earned Division I and “Best in Class” ratings at UIL and numerous other festivals.

He is the recipient of Hamilton Middle School’s Teacher of the Year award in 2012, LULAC- League of United Latin American Citizens- Educator of the Year in 2015, and a Grammy Educational Award for his work at Davis HS in 2015. He is an active clinician, mentor, and consultant for arts educational programs within the Houston area and across Texas.

Eric is a 2009 graduate of Prairie View A&M University and earned his and his Master of Education in Educational Leadership from Lamar University in 2014. He is currently a Doctoral Music Education Student at the University of Houston Moores School of Music. His professional affiliations include Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA), Texas Bandmasters Association (TBA), Texas Jazz Educators Association (TJEA), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), Sigma Lambda Beta International Fraternity and honorary member Kappa Kappa Psi Honorary Band Fraternity.

Episode 170 - Theresa Hoover Ducassoux Jul 20, 2020

Theresa Hoover Ducassoux is the band director at Dorothy Hamm Middle School in Arlington, Virginia and co-author of a forthcoming book titled Pass the Baton: Empowering All Music Students

Topics:

Theresa tells the story of how she turned her piano skills into an instrumental music education track despite not playing a traditional band instrument.
Following in the footsteps of a legend for her first job and the trials and tribulations of that experience.
Using Solfege to teach students sound to sight and a timely discussion about technology for band directors in anticipation of at least partial remote learning for next year.
Building relationships with students in an online environment.
Empowering students and Theresa’s new book Pass the Baton: Empowering All Music Students

Links:

Biography:

Theresa Hoover Ducassoux is a music educator, speaker, and writer. She is an advocate for student voice in the music room and helps teachers empower students throughout their musical experiences by transforming their classrooms into student-centered learning environments.

Currently, Theresa teaches middle school band at a newly opened school in Northern Virginia. Prior to moving to Virginia in 2016, she taught instrumental, general, and vocal music in a variety of settings in Pennsylvania for 13 years. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Penn State University and a master’s degree in wind conducting from West Chester University, both in Pennsylvania.

Theresa is a recognized presenter and clinician at local, regional, and national level conferences including the International Music Education Summit, the Virginia Society for Technology in Education, and several state music education conferences. She is a Google for Education Certified Trainer and was selected as a member of the Google Certified Innovator program, participating in the London 2019 cohort.

In addition to her school teaching, Theresa served as the founding director of the Chester County Youth Wind Ensemble and is currently on staff of the Virginia Winds Academy. She has also been the guest conductor for several elementary and middle school ensembles in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Theresa’s writing has been featured on websites including the NAfME Music in a Minuet blog, EdTechTeam, Band Directors Talk Shop, and We Are Teachers, as well as on her own blog, Off the Beaten Path: A Music Teacher’s Journey. Theresa is also the co-author of Pass the Baton: Empowering Students in the Music Room, set to release in the summer of 2020.

When not teaching, you can find Theresa curled up with a good book, on the running trail, traveling to visit family and friends, or spending time with her dog Dizzy.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 169 - Justin McLean Jul 14, 2020

Justin McClean is a band director in Houston, Texas and co-host of the “The Score”, which is an urban music education podcast. He joins the show for a very remarkable conversation about how we build a better band community.

Topics:

Justin’s background story growing up in Texas and the role of the church in his background and why the church is so relevant to so many African-American musicians.
Making connections to kids with the music that they listen to and some lessons that Justin took from his own high school band director.
Justin’s thoughts about attending an HBCU (Historically Black College or University) and the important role that HBCU’s play in the music education community.
A broad discussion about race in music and the band community and what we can do as band directors to communicate better and build a more inclusive profession.

Links:

Biography:

Justin McLean is currently the Percussion Director/Assistant Director of Bands at Hightower HS and Lake Olympia MS Band in Fort Bend ISD.

Prior to his appointment at Hightower he was the Percussion Director/Associate Director of Bands at Heights High School and former director of bands at Hamilton Middle School. During his time there he has received superior UIL ratings at both middle and high school, developed region band students, and a quality indoor percussion ensemble.

Mr. McLean is a Texas native raised in Rosenberg, Texas a humble community right outside of Houston. Justin’s love of music began at an earlier age and was heavily influenced in church through both gospel and secular artists/musicians. His ambitions propelled him to strive for excellence not only in his personal aspirations, but also in his academic/professional life.

He received a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Prairie View A&M University in 2011 and has had the pleasure of educating and training young musicians as a band director and percussion instructor for the past 9 years in HISD and now Fort Bend ISD. He is also devoted music director and student minister in his local church and currently pursuing an Masters Divinity degree through Reformed Theological Seminary.

Episode 168 - Joseph Hansen Jul 06, 2020

Major Joseph Hansen is the commander and conductor of the United States Air Force Band of the Golden West based at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California.

Topics:

Joseph’s early career growing up in Western Colorado and attending Brigham Young University.
His early career as a teacher and the story of how he transitioned from teaching in Colorado Springs to joining the Air Force.
A broad discussion of the Air Force Bands including careers in the Air Force, the organization the Air Force bands, and the overall mission of the units.
Joseph’s career in the Air Force and a brief rundown of his assignments and deployments.
Some of the resources provided by the Air Force Bands that are available to music educators.

Links:

Biography:

Major Joseph S. Hansen serves as the Commander and Conductor of the United States Air Force Band of the Golden West at Travis Air Force Base, California, a 60-member musical unit comprised of eight different performing groups with a 5-state area of responsibility serving Air Mobility Command.

Prior to this command assignment, Major Hansen served as an opinion leader engagement action officer for the Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs. He was the think tank engagement advisor and liaison for the Chief of Staff and Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, as well as senior Pentagon and MAJCOM leaders, and was responsible for developing and implementing public support and understanding of Air Force roles and missions.

Previously, Major Hansen served as assistant director of operations and flight commander for the United States Air Force Band, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Washington, D.C. During his tenure with the band, he served as officer in charge of the Concert Band, Singing Sergeants, Air Force Strings, and Max Impact as well as overseeing the unit’s marketing, operations, and resource sections.

He deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (2014) and Operations Inherent Resolve and Freedom’s Sentinel (2018) to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar and served as the U.S. Air Forces Central Command (AFCENT) Band officer in charge. Through his leadership, deployed bands traveled to Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt and 10 other countries performing for 50,000 military and local audience members on over 250 missions.

Major Hansen began his Air Force career in 2009 as deputy commander of the USAF Band of the West at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. In 2011, he planned and directed the band’s first combined concert with the San Antonio Symphony.

Prior to joining the Air Force, Major Hansen was a band and orchestra teacher in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He graduated with honors from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education in 2006. He went on to complete his Master of Music degree from Southern Oregon University through the American Band College in 2009. Major Hansen completed all coursework and exams towards his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Education in 2017, and is currently in the dissertation process.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 167 - Cheryl Floyd Jun 29, 2020

Cheryl Floyd has taught middle school band in Austin, TX for over 30 years and is one of the most highly regarded middle school band directors in the country. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors and has commissioned or been part of the consortium for 14 works for band.

Topics:

Cheryl's background growing up in Texas, going to Baylor University and starting her career as a teacher.
The importance of encouraging students and giving them the type of positive feedback that keeps them playing.
The background stories of a few of the 14 works that she has been a part of commissioning.
Peer leadership in the middle school band.
Teaching in Texas and the power of sound to sight teaching.
A general discussion about teaching beginners and middle school band.
An anecdote about George Steinbrenner.

Links:

Biography:

Cheryl Floyd completed her twenty-fifth year as Director of Bands at Hill Country Middle School in Austin, Texas in May 2017. The Hill Country Middle School Band is recognized as one if the exemplary middle school programs in the nation. Prior to her tenure at Hill Country, she served as Director of Bands at Murchison Middle School, also in Austin, for eight years. Musical organizations under her leadership have consistently been sited for musical excellence at both local contests and national invitational festivals. Mrs. Floyd is recognized nationally for her educational and musical vision and commitment at the middle school level. In 1990 her Murchison program was the recipient of the coveted Sudler Cup Award presented to exceptional middle school band programs by the John Philip Sousa Foundation. The Hill Country Middle School Band has performed at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in 1998 and again in 2006, Music For All’s National Concert Band Festival in Indianapolis (March 2012),and most recently at the Western International Band Clinic (November 2014) under Mrs. Floyd’s direction. Mrs. Floyd routinely serves as a conductor on the University of Texas at Austin band camp faculty and has been a member of summer music faculties at Music For All's Summer Symposium, Arkansas Tech University, Baylor University, Texas Lutheran University Stephen F. Austin University, University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She enjoys an active schedule as an adjudicator, clinician, author and guest conductor throughout the United States, having served as one of the first women guest conductors of the United States Navy Band in Washington, D.C. in September, 1998. Cheryl Floyd was the recipient of the Texas Bandmasters Association Exemplary Middle School Band Program Citation and she appeared on the cover of the May 2005 Instrumentalist magazine which contained a featured article on the Hill Country Middle School band program.

In 2003, Mrs. Floyd was elected to the American Bandmasters’ Association. She is the fifth female member of this 225 member organization and was the first middle school band director to be chosen for ABA membership. She serves on that organization’s selection committee for the prestigious Sousa/ABA/Ostwald Composition Competition. For nearly three decades, she has maintained a keen interest in commissioning new works for concert band and has collaborated with such internationally recognized composers as Frank Ticheli, Cajun Folk Songs, Shenandoah, Bob Margolis, Renaissance Fair, Dana Wilson, Sang!, Ron Nelson, Courtly Airs and Dances, Steven Barton, Hill Country Flourishes, Chris Tucker, Twilight in the Wilderness. Catherine McMichael, Cape Breton Postcard, Undertow, by John Mackey Spangled Heavens by Donald Grantham, a consortium commission for TMEA's MS Region 18 by Viet Cuong entitled Diamond Tide, and most recently, Sparkle by Scott McAllister.. The works generated by these ongoing projects have been widely acclaimed as being among the most significant works for young band. A 1980 graduate of Baylor University, Mrs. Floyd has also done graduate work at the University of Texas with Paula Crider, Robert Duke and Karl Kraber. Since 1985 she has served as co-principal flute with the Austin Symphonic Band and in this capacity has performed at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in 1989, 1997 and 2007, the American Bandmasters Association in 1993 and 2006 and before the Texas Music Educators Association and Texas Bandmasters Association on numerous occasions. She is a member of ABA, TMEA, TBA, and Phi Beta Mu. In 2016 she was named a Yamaha Master Educator, one of only 18 in the nation. As such she is positioned to appear throughout the United States as a conductor, clinician and educator representing Yamaha. She annually serves as an evaluator for the Music For All National Concert Band Festival and was recently appointed to the Middle School Educational team for the Music For All Summer Symposium. Looming on the horizon is a book to be published by GIA Publications entitled “Middle School My Way.” Paramount in her life is her musical family including her husband, Richard Floyd, State Director of Music Emeritus at the University of Texas and their son, Richard Weston, who holds a trombone performance degree from the University of Texas and is pursuing his musical career in Los Angeles.

Episode 166 - Richard Floyd Jun 22, 2020

Richard Floyd has been involved in music education for 58 years. His accolades and achievements are too numerous to list and he is a legendary name not only in Texas, but throughout the entire band community.

Topics:

Richard’s background growing up in the Dallas area, his early band experiences, marching in Eisenhower’s inauguration, and how he got involved in music education.
Thoughts about building connections and growing during your career.
The Texas band tradition and the University Interscholastic League (UIL).

Links:

Biography:

Richard Floyd is presently in his 57th year of active involvement as a conductor, music educator and administrator. He has enjoyed a distinguished and highly successful career at virtually every level of wind band performance from beginning band programs through high school and university wind ensembles as well as adult community bands. In 2014 Floyd retired as State Director of Music at the University of Texas at Austin where he coordinated all facets of secondary school music competition for some 3500 performing organizations throughout the state for 30 years. He now holds the title Texas State Director of Music Emeritus. He also serves as Musical Director and Conductor of the Austin Symphonic Band that is viewed to be one of the premier adult concert bands in America. In addition, he maintains an active schedule as conductor, clinician, lecturer and mentor.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Texas, Mr. Floyd served on the faculty at the University of South Florida as Professor of Conducting and at Baylor University in Texas where he held the position of Director of Bands for nine years. He began his career as band director at Richardson Junior High School and then become the first director of the award winning J.J. Pearce High School Band in the same city. He also served as Director of Fine Arts for that district for two years before moving to Baylor University in 1973.

His musical achievements include performances at numerous state and national conventions and conferences including the 1977 College Band Directors National Association, the 1981 Music Educators National Conference and concerts at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago in 1989, 1997 and 2007. Other distinguished performances include concerts for the American Bandmasters Association in 1993 and 2006 and the 2004 Western International Band Clinic in Seattle, Washington. Performances by his various ensembles have been heard throughout the United States, Australia and Europe.

Mr. Floyd is a recognized authority on conducting, the art of wind band rehearsing, concert band repertoire, and music advocacy. As such, he has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe as a clinician, adjudicator and conductor including appearances in 43 American states and in 9 other countries. He is a frequent featured clinician for the Texas Music Educators Association, the Texas Bandmasters Association, countless other state conferences and has presented five conducting and rehearsal technique clinics for the Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic.

In 2002 he was the single recipient of the prestigious A.A. Harding Award presented by the American School Band Directors Association in recognition of his significant and lasting contributions to the school band movement. The Texas Bandmasters Association named him Texas Bandmaster of the Year in 2006 and also recognized him with the TBA Lifetime Administrative Achievement Award in 2008. Most recently he received the Texas Music Educators Association Distinguished Service Award in 2009 and was inducted into the Bands of America Hall of Fame and Texas Phi Beta Mu Hall of Fame in 2011. Also, in 2011 he was awarded the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic Medal of Honor for distinguished service and contributions to bands, orchestras and music education. In 2014 he was inducted into the National Band Association Academy of Wind and Percussion Arts considered to be the “academy award” for wind band conductors. The same year he was also honored with the Kappa Kappa Phi Distinguished Service to Music medal. Most recently the Dallas Winds, Jerry Junkin conductor, recognized Floyd as the 2017 Texas Legendary Bandmaster.

Publications include co-authorship of Best Music For Beginning Band and contributing author for The Musician’s Walk by James Jordon and published by GIA. In addition, his articles have appeared in numerous national and international publications. In 2006 he was featured on the GIA Produced DVD entitled Kindred Spirits from the series Conducting From The Inside Out. Other conductors included H. Robert Reynolds, Craig Kirchhoff and Allan McMurray. In 2015 his book entitled The Artistry of Teaching and Making Music was published to critical acclaim by GIA Publications. A second book, The Seven Deadly Sins of Music Making will be published in late 2020.

During Mr. Floyd’s professional career, he has held positions of leadership on many state and national committees for music education and wind music performance. He served as National Secretary of the College Band Directors National Association from 1979 to 2007 and has played an active leadership role in the implementation of that organization’s many projects and services for over three decades. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Music For All, as a member of the John Philip Sousa Foundation Board of Directors, and in 2016 was named a Yamaha Master Educator.

Paramount in his life is his wife Cheryl, who enjoys her own distinguished career as one of the premier middle school directors in the nation, their son Weston who is pursuing his own musical journey and Dick’s daughter Chris and her extended family.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 165 - Andrew David Perkins Jun 15, 2020

Andrew David Perkins is a band director and composer. He joins the show and offers a very clear-eyed view of our profession and offers some wisdom and advice earned from his own career.

Topics:

Andy’s background, his early high school teaching experiences and how being in Phantom Regiment and the Michigan State Marching Band helped to shape his success teaching a marching band.
The balance between over programming and under programming and how it can set students up for success or failure.
Moving from teaching high school to middle school and the experience of having your 18th year as a teacher be your first to teach beginners.
Andy’s growing composition career, how he got his start writing music, and music publishing models.

Links:

Biography:

Composer, conductor, three-time ASCAP+ Award recipient, and GRAMMY® nominated music educator Andrew David Perkins (b.1978) holds a specialist certificate in Orchestration from the Berklee College of Music, a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Michigan State University. Finalist for The National Band Association Revelli Award & Merrill Jones Award, The American Prize, and the Ravel International Composition Prize, Perkins' music is regularly performed at national and state contests, conferences, and at the Midwest International Band Clinic. A celebrated guest clinician nationally and abroad, he enjoys working with musicians of all ages, and is the winner of the 2018 National Band Association/Alfred Publishing Young Band Composition Contest.

Mr. Perkins is a member of the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and his music is exclusively published through APOLLO STUDIOS Music Publishing. He resides in Michigan with the love of his life and their daughters.

Episode 164 - Robert Ambrose Jun 01, 2020

Robert Ambrose is the director of bands at Georgia State University, the conductor of the Atlanta Chamber Winds and the National Chamber Winds, founder of the Digital Director's Lounge, and is the chair of the CBDNA Covid-19 Response Committee.

Topics:

Robert’s journey from guitarist to college band director and all of the people who took an interest in his career and helped to push him along.
Having the courage to ask for what you want and a brief discussion of impostor syndrome.
The band program at Georgia State, the Atlanta Chamber Winds, and the National Chamber Winds.
The CBDNA Covid-19 Response Committee and the Digital Director’s Lounge.

Links:

Biography:

Conductor Robert J. Ambrose is a versatile musician who pursues a wide range of professional activities. Ambrose currently serves as Director of Bands at Georgia State University, a research institution of over 53,000 students located in Atlanta. Under his direction, the Georgia State Band program has received widespread recognition with performances at the College Band Directors National Association Southern Division Conferences, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Parade; and internationally-distributed recordings on the Summit and GIA labels. Ambrose is in constant demand as a guest conductor throughout the world and has conducted on four continents. Recent engagements include performances in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan as well as across the United States. Dr. Ambrose has a particularly strong relationship with the Finnish music community, having been engaged in that country over a dozen times as a guest conductor, teacher, master clinician, and lecturer. He has also served as a guest conductor on tour with The United States Army Field Band. Ambrose is Founder and Music Director of the Atlanta Chamber Winds and the Washington D.C.-based National Chamber Winds, Co-Founder of Bent Frequency Contemporary Music Ensemble, and Founder and Principal Guest Conductor of the Metropolitan Atlanta Youth Wind Ensemble. Ambrose’s transcriptions and editions are published by Presser Music, C. Alan Publications, and Fennica Gehrman, and his arrangements appear on several state music lists. Ambrose studied at Boston College, Boston University, and Northwestern University, where he received the Doctor of Music degree in conducting. Ambrose is a Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 163 - Aaron Perrine May 26, 2020

Aaron Perrine is a composer and two-time winner of the American Bandmasters Association Sousa/Ostwald Award. He joins the show to talk about his career and shares some remarkable anecdotes from his journey so far.

Topics:

Aaron’s daughter and keeping kids motivated during the period of online learning.
Aaron’s background in music and growing up in Minnesota as the grandson and son of band directors.
Aaron’s experiences at the University of Minnesota Morris and the importance of jazz in his musical development.
A brave decision by a studio teacher that helped Aaron be successful in his music degree an also helped to kick off his composition career.
Aaron’s decision to leave college teaching to become a full-time composer and advice for anyone thinking about starting to write music.

Links:

Biography:

With works in a variety of genres, Aaron Perrine’s music has been performed by some of the leading ensembles and soloists across the United States and beyond. He is a two-time winner of the American Bandmasters Association Sousa/Ostwald Award for his compositions: Only Light in 2015 and Pale Blue on Deep in 2013. Only Light—commissioned by the University of Iowa Symphony Band, Richard Mark Heidel, conductor—was included on the latest University of Kansas Wind Ensemble recording (Of Shadow and Light, Klavier). Another one of his compositions—Temperance—recently won the 2017 CBDNA Young Band Composition Contest. His music for winds has also been featured at the 2017 CBDNA National Conference, multiple regional CBDNA Conferences, The Midwest Clinic, The Western International Band Clinic, and at numerous all-state, state conference and honor band concerts.

Perrine’s music for saxophone has also received many notable performances. Primal—for saxophone quartet—was performed at the 2014 NASA Biennial Conference in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, and the 2012 World Saxophone Congress XVI in St. Andrews, Scotland. Bridge Suite—for alto saxophone and cello—was performed at the 2012 NASA Biennial Conference in Tempe, Arizona. This past summer, It Has to Be Beautiful, a concerto for alto saxophone and wind ensemble, was premiered by Kenneth Tse with the Symphonic Wind Orchestra of Croatian Armed Forces at the 2018 World Saxophone Congress, in Zagreb, Croatia.

In addition to composing, Perrine is an active conductor and educator. He has conducted a variety of honor bands, with his most recent appearance being the 2018 All-Iowa 8th Grade Honor Band. Future conducting engagements include the 2021 South Dakota All-State Band. He is currently on the faculty at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa.

Perrine has received degrees from the University of Iowa, the University of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota, Morris. For more information, please visit aaronperrine.com.

Episode 162 - Oscar Dames May 18, 2020

Oscar Dames is a music educator in Nassau, Bahamas where he serves as a lecturer at the University of the Bahamas after recently retiring as the band director of C.R. Walker Senior High School. He has a fascinating story and is also the author of book titled Oscar's A+ Band Director Guide: A Veteran Band Teacher's Guide to Teaching Music.

Topics:

The unique logistical challenges of living and teaching in the Bahamas and the nature of the school situation in the islands.
Oscar’s background growing up and how he started on percussion, switched to clarinet, joined the Defense Force band, and eventually got his degree in music and began teaching.
The story of how Oscar built a terrific music program at C.R. Walker Senior High School, including the a marching band to serve the Bahamian culture.
Oscar has done it all as a band director, arranger, performer, instrument repairman, etc. and he’s written a book about it!

Links:

Biography:

Oscar Dames is a certified teacher and is now the Dean of Scholars at Akhepran International School in Nassau NP, Bahamas. He also is a part-time music lecturer at the University of the Bahamas in the School of Communication and Creative Arts. He holds an AA (Music) and a Bachelor of Education degree from the College of the Bahamas, and a Masters in Music Education from Vander Cook College of Music in Chicago.

Oscar was C.R. Walker Senior High School’s Teacher of the Year 2010-2012. He was the school’s band director and coordinator for the School’s Junior Junkanoo program, setting a new record when the school became the only high school to win first place in three consecutive Junior Junkanoo parades.

A big believer in culture and community building, Oscar spends much of his time teaching community bands, as he is the band director for the Nassau Village Urban Renewal Band, Assistant Director of the Royal Ambassadors Band, and the leader and founder of the Fiesta Fun Junkanoo Group.

Oscar was a member of the Saxons Superstars Junkanoo Group, beating the tom-tom and bass drum before taking over the “Brass Section,” and setting a new record winning five consecutive best music awards, which remains today. Oscar also plays solo clarinet and bassoon with the Bahamas Symphony Orchestra.

Oscar Dames graduated in 1988 from R.M. Bailey Senior High School with the Most Outstanding Music Award. Upon graduating, he joined the Royal Bahamas Defence Force in 1989. Oscar served for 14 years in the Defence Force where he was a member of the Hull Engineering Department, and he also played with and served as a training officer for the Defence Force Band. Upon transferring from the Royal Bahamas Defence Force to the Ministry of Education, Oscar enlisted in the Royal Bahamas Police Force Reserve on 17 May 2005. He is a member of the Royal Bahamas Police Force Band and serves as education instructor for the Police Reserve Band section.

Oscar is also a Journeyman plumber registered with the Ministry of Works, Nassau Bahamas. He holds a second degree black belt in Judo; and he enjoys teaching, swimming, and playing music in various ensembles.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 161 - Travis Cross May 12, 2020

Travis Cross is the director of the wind ensemble and the Chair of Music at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. He is a champion for greater diversity in the band community and an especially strong advocate for Asian composers, conductors, and teachers.

Topics:

Adopted from Korea as a baby, Travis grew up in a middle class home in the middle of Iowa. He tells the story of how his choir teacher pushed him to take a trip to see Starlight Express in Des Moines and how it changed his life.
How he ended up at St. Olaf for his undergraduate degree, his first job, his doctorate, and his two college jobs all in one big answer!
Banding in the great state of Iowa and how our success is often built with others and why we should be grateful for that support.
Representation and diversity in music.
Studying at Northwestern with Mallory Thompson and two important bits of advice he received from her.
“Move in a way that coaches, influences, and instigates the players to move the air and their fingers and their bodies in a way that creates the sound that you want to achieve.”

Links:

Biography:

Travis J. Cross serves as professor of music at UCLA, where he conducts the Wind Ensemble, directs the graduate wind conducting program, and chairs the music department. He was also associate dean for academic mentoring and opportunity during the initial years of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Cross has conducted the UCLA Wind Ensemble at the California All-State Music Education Conference and College Band Directors National Association Western/Northwestern Division conference and prepared the band for centenary performances of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

During five years as wind ensemble conductor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., Cross led students in performances at the Virginia Music Educators Association conference, Kennedy Center, and Carnegie Hall and developed the Virginia Tech Band Directors Institute into a major summer conducting workshop.

Cross earned doctor and master of music degrees in conducting from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and the bachelor of music degree cum laude in vocal and instrumental music education from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. His principal teachers were Mallory Thompson and Timothy Mahr. Prior to graduate study, he taught for four years at Edina (Minn.) High School, where he conducted two concert bands and led the marching band program.

In 2004, Cross participated in the inaugural Young Conductor/Mentor Project sponsored by the National Band Association. The same year he received the Distinguished Young Band Director Award from the American School Band Directors Association of Minnesota. From 2001–2003, Cross served a two-year term as the recent graduate on the St. Olaf College Board of Regents. In 2006, he was named a Jacob K. Javits Fellow by the United States Department of Education. From 2011–2015, he served two terms as national vice president for professional relations for Kappa Kappa Psi, the national honorary band fraternity. In 2017, Cross taught the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps as brass co-caption head.

Cross contributed a chapter to volume four of Composers on Composing for Band, available from GIA Publications. His more than 20 original compositions and arrangements are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Daehn Publications, and Theodore Music. He has appeared as a guest conductor, composer, and clinician in more than 30 states; Canada, China, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates; and at the Midwest Clinic and has engagements in California, Florida, Indiana, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Virginia during the 2018–19 season. Cross is a Yamaha Master Educator.

Episode 160 - Adrian Barnes May 04, 2020

Adrian Barnes is a music education professor at Rowan University. He joins the show for a discussion about his career and culturally responsive teaching.

Topics:

How hip hop and growing up playing music in the church were foundational experiences to Adrian’s musical career and how an important teacher helped him put it all together.
Adrian’s experiences at Bethune-Cookman and Florida State University before his first job in Manatee County, Florida.
Going back to earn his doctorate at Texas Tech University with a Promise Neighborhood Grant.
Culturally responsive teaching and and advice for teachers to help reach students from a variety of different backgrounds.

Links:

Biography:

Adrian D. Barnes began his teaching career in a Title I school in Bradenton, Florida (grades 6-8) as a band and orchestra director. While in Florida, he served as an assistant director of marching band at Southeast High School working specifically with drum-line, and front ensemble. Dr. Barnes has worked closely with students from historically marginalized communities, as well as students with special needs.

Upon attending Texas Tech University, Dr. Barnes served as an instructor of record, an instructor for the Texas Tech University String Project, and as a research assistant on a grant given to Texas Tech University by the U.S. Department of education for the purposes of establishing better relationships, and providing social capital to African American/Blacks and Latinos of Mexican-origin within a historically disenfranchised section of Lubbock, Texas. In addition, Dr. Barnes has an interest in studying the arts internationally and has traveled to universities within Southwest China as a part of a cultural exchange of American Music Education in Chengdu China to present on hip-hop rhythms through body percussion.

Dr. Barnes research interests include using hip-hop in the music classroom, music and informal learning, aesthetics in music education, and the recruitment of historically marginalized populations by collegiate music ensemble directors.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 159 - Julie Giroux Apr 27, 2020

Julie Giroux joins the show to talk about her remarkable career as a composer and orchestrator as well as her generosity, love of video games, and diversity in music.

Topics:

Julie’s background growing up in Louisiana and how she went from playing the piano by ear to Los Angeles orchestrating for one of the biggest mini-series of the 1980’s just days after her graduation from LSU.
Some stories and anecdotes from her time writing for film and television, including the why she stopped playing her French horn.
The importance of orchestration and how it is the most crucial learned skill for composers.
Julie’s love of role-playing video games and how they help her be creative, the video game industry, and what games we’re playing right now during the pandemic.
Julie’s generosity and how the person that is doing the giving benefits the most.
Julie gives me a composition tip that I really needed to hear and just when I think the interview is over we end up talking for 20 more minutes about women and diversity in music!

Links:

Biography:

Julie Ann Giroux was born 1961 in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and Monroe, Louisiana. She received her formal education from Louisiana State University and Boston University. She studied composition with John Williams, Bill Conti and Jerry Goldsmith, to name a few. Julie is an accomplished performer on piano and horn, but her first love is composition. She began playing the piano at the age of three and had published her first piece at the age of nine.

In 1985, she began composing, orchestrating, and conducting music for television and films. Within three hours after arriving in Los Angeles, she was at work on the music for the Emmy Award winning mini-series North and South, followed soon by work on the television series Dynasty and The Colbys, as well as the films Karate Kid II, White Men Can’t Jump, and Broadcast News. She received her first Emmy nomination in 1988 for North and South Part II - Love and War, and over the next three years was nominated each year for her arranging and original compositions for the Academy Awards show. To date, Julie has well over 100 film and television credits and has been nominated for an Emmy several times. When she won her first Emmy Award, she was the first woman and the youngest person ever to win the award in that category. Julie has also been privileged to arrange for Celene Dion, Paula Abdul, Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, Madonna, Reba McIntyre, Little Richard, Billy Crystal, Michael Jackson and many others.

Julie is an extremely well rounded composer, writing works for symphony orchestra (including chorus), chamber ensembles, wind ensembles, soloists, brass and woodwind quintets and many other serious and commercial formats. She began writing music for concert band in 1983, publishing her first band work Mystery on Mena Mountain with Southern Music Company. Since that time, she has composed and published numerous works for professional wind ensembles, military bands, colleges and public schools and has conducted her music in clinics worldwide. She is also a very well received speaker and clinician. Julie is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).

Episode 158 - Craig Kirchhoff Apr 20, 2020

Craig Kirchhoff is emeritus professor of conducting at the University of Minnesota. He joins the show to offer advice about conducting and teaching, and to discuss a career that included working with Frederick Fennell and the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra.

Topics:

Craig’s lakefront cabin on the Canadian border and the legacy of Jim Croft.
Craig’s background and training growing up in Milwaukee, some early teachers that influenced his career, and his first teaching jobs.
Thoughts about teacher preparation and what young teachers need to be successful.
Meeting Frederick Fennell, some thoughts about the great conductor, and how that changed the course of Craig’s career.
Working with the Tokyo Kosei Wind Ensemble.
Conducting skills and advice for young band directors who want to become better at their craft as conductors.
The 80/20 rule.

Links:

Biography:

Craig Kirchhoff is professor emeritus of conducting at the University of Minnesota. Born and educated in Wisconsin, Mr. Kirchhoff brings to his position a wide knowledge of both traditional and contemporary literature. He has won critical acclaim from composers Warren Benson, Henry Brant, Michael Colgrass, Karel Husa, Libby Larsen, George Perle, Vincent Persichetti, Stephen Paulus, Verne Reynolds, Gunther Schuller, Joseph Schwantner, Steven Stucky, Elliott Schwartz, Chen Yi, and others.

Mr. Kirchhoff is past president of the College Band Directors National Association and is a member of the American Bandmasters Association, the National Band Association, the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, and the Music Educators National Conference, and he served as the founding editor and principal advisor of the College Band Directors National Association Journal.

Professor Kirchhoff has appeared as guest conductor, clinician, and lecturer throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Europe, and Scandinavia. Mr. Kirchhoff is a frequent guest conductor of the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and has recorded with them on the Kosei Publishing label.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 157 - Jason Fettig Apr 13, 2020

Colonel Jason K. Fettig is the 28th Director of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. In this episode we discuss his career, the Marine Band, and even talk performance practice for Sousa marches.

Topics:

Jason’s background growing up as a clarinet player and what are some of the important early lessons he learned.
The audition process for the Marine Band and the story of how he almost didn’t go to the audition and how he was able to finish up his student teaching after winning that gig.
Jason’s rise through the ranks of the Marine Band and some thoughts about leadership.
An interesting bit of history about the instrumentation of the band and some not to be missed stories and anecdotes from Jason’s time as Director the Marine Band.
Performance practice and Sousa marches and yes, it is okay to slow down right before the final strain!

Links:

Biography:

Colonel Jason K. Fettig is the 28th Director of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. He joined in 1997 as a clarinetist and soon became a frequently featured soloist with both the band and the Marine Chamber Orchestra. After serving four years in the organization, he was selected as an Assistant Director, and he conducted his first concert with the Marine Band Aug. 1, 2001. He was commissioned a first lieutenant in July 2002, promoted to captain in August 2003, and became the band’s Executive Officer the following year. He was promoted to major in August 2007 and to lieutenant colonel in July 2014, one week before assuming leadership of “The President’s Own.” He was promoted to his present rank in August 2017 in the Roosevelt Room by President Donald J. Trump. He is the third Director of “The President’s Own” to be promoted to colonel in a White House ceremony.

As Director, Col. Fettig is the music adviser to the White House and regularly conducts the Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra at the Executive Mansion and at all Presidential Inaugurations. He also serves as music director of Washington, D.C.’s historic Gridiron Club, a position held by every Marine Band Director since John Philip Sousa. In his first years as Director, Col. Fettig has led the band for numerous major national events both at the White House and throughout the country. He conducted national broadcast performances for the 200th Anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner at Ft. McHenry in Baltimore, a special Veterans Day performance with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, and an appearance on the David Letterman Show at the invitation of Michelle Obama in New York. He leads frequent concerts throughout the Washington, D.C., area and across the country during the band’s annual national tour. Live performances by the Marine Band under his direction are often heard on National Public Radio. Col. Fettig is a fervent advocate for both traditional and contemporary American music and remains dedicated to the ongoing development of music for wind band. In recent years, he has conducted world premières of substantial new works by James Stephenson, Jacob Bancks, David Rakowski, Adam Schoenberg, David Conte, and Narong Prangcharoen.

Throughout his career with the Marine Band, Col. Fettig has been deeply committed to music education and has taken an active role in the evolution and expansion of the many educational initiatives of “The President’s Own.” In addition to helping refine the Music in the Schools and Music in the High Schools programs, he has made it a priority to maintain a significant presence in schools throughout the nation during the band’s national concert tours. He also began an interactive and theatrical Young People’s Concert series in 2006 and authored, hosted, and conducted this popular annual event until 2015. In 2014, shortly after assuming command of the Marine Band, Col. Fettig launched an ambitious project to re-record all of the marches of John Philip Sousa and provide free performance and educational materials online to schools throughout the world.

Col. Fettig is a 1993 graduate of Manchester Central High School in New Hampshire and holds two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass) in both clarinet performance (1997) and music education with an emphasis in conducting (1998). In 2005, he earned a master’s degree in orchestral conducting at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) where he served as assistant conductor for two productions of the Maryland Opera Studio. He studied clarinet with Michael Sussman and David Martins, and his principal conducting teachers were Malcolm W. Rowell and James Ross. Additionally, Col. Fettig has participated in workshops with several renowned conductors including Osmo Vänskä and Otto Werner Mueller.

Col. Fettig has represented the Marine Band on numerous occasions as a soloist, adjudicator, and clinician, and regularly conducts both concert bands and orchestras for all-state and honor festivals. In 2014, he was elected as a member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association.

Episode 156 - Randall Coleman Apr 06, 2020

Randall Coleman is the Associate Director of Bands at the University of Alabama and the director of the exceptional Alabama Winds.

Topics:

Randall’s background growing up just north of Birmingham, Alabama and his journey back to the University of Alabama.
The impact of that the football success of Nick Saban has had on the music program and Alabama’s Million Dollar Band.
The Alabama Winds and the their stunning performance at the 2017 Midwest Clinic.
Good advice about communication with administrators, owning one’s mistakes, and encouragement for young band directors.

Links:

Biography:

Randall Coleman is currently the associate director of bands and associate professor of music at The University of Alabama, where he serves as the conductor of the Alabama Symphonic Band, the Associate Conductor of the Alabama Wind Ensemble, and the co-director of the Million Dollar Band. He also teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting and wind band literature classes. In addition, Professor Coleman is the coordinator of the Crimson Music Camps held each summer at The University of Alabama. Additionally, Professor Coleman serves as conductor and artistic director of the Alabama Winds, an all-adult community wind band based in Birmingham, Alabama.

Prior to his appointment to the faculty at The University of Alabama in 2007, Mr. Coleman enjoyed a successful 25-year career as a high school band director and supervisor in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, and the Masters of Music Education degree from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.

During his teaching career in Georgia, Mr. Coleman was an active member of the Georgia Music Educators’ Association, where he held the office of president, first vice-president and state band division chair. He also served as Georgia State Chair for the National Band Association. Professor Coleman has been awarded the Citation of Excellence from the National Band Association on eight occasions and was the 1992 recipient of the American School Band Directors’ Association’s Stanbury Award for the state of Georgia and the southeastern United States. Mr. Coleman was inducted into the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Legion of Honor in 2004 and is also listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. Under his direction, the Milton High School Wind Ensemble performed at the 2004 GMEA Inservice Conference, the 2004 Bands of America National Concert Band Festival, and the 2006 National Convention of the Music Educators’ National Conference.

At The University of Alabama, Professor Coleman has conducted the Alabama Symphonic Band at the 2012 Alabama Music Educators’ Conference and the ensemble at the 2014 College Band Director’s National Association’s Southern Division Conference. He also conducted the Alabama Wind Ensemble at the College Band Directors’ Association Southern Division Conference in 2010. A strong proponent of new music for wind band, he has commissioned two pieces for wind bands: Diamond Fanfare by Samuel R. Hazo, premiered by the Milton Wind Ensemble and Diabolus Ex Machina by Jim Bonney premiered by the Alabama Wind Ensemble. He conducted the world premiere of Mutiara by Anthony Barfield with the Alabama Wind Ensemble and the regional premiere of Auto ’66 by James David with the Alabama Symphonic Band. Professor Coleman has served as a guest conductor of the Sabina Wind Orchestra in Rieti, Italy and conducted the Alabama Wind Ensemble as a part of the International Music Meeting in May of 2012 in Padova, Italy. He presented a Rehearsal Lab clinic session at the 2010 Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois and conducted the 2010 Georgia All State Concert Band.

Professor Coleman has conducted the University of Alabama Million Dollar Band in performances at the Southeastern Conference Football Championships, and in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California and the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, where the Crimson Tide won the 2009, 2011 and 2012 BCS National Championship Games.

Professor Coleman holds membership in the College Band Directors’ National Association, the National Band Association, the Music Educators’ National Conference, Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters’ Fraternity, the Alabama Music Educators’ Association and the Alabama Bandmasters’ Association.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 155 - Mickey Smith Jr. Mar 30, 2020

Mickey Smith Jr. is as inspirational a music educator as you will ever meet. He is a middle school band director in Louisiana and the most recent recipient of the Grammy Music Educator Award.

Topics:

Growing up in a “forgotten town” in Louisiana and how he started out practicing his saxophone outside in the forest and how it took him out of that town and into a career.
“You can con a con, fool a fool, but you can never kid a kid” - A conversation on perspective.
“First Days, Lasting Ways” and the “GPS for Success” - Mickey’s plan for the first days of school.
A conversation about teaching our own children music and how to make sure that we deposit more than we withdraw when working with our students.
Be a S.O.U.N.D. adult = See yourself beyond yourself, Operate with optimism and excellence, Utilize all available resources, Nourish relationships, and Don’t stop.

Links:

Biography:

The name Mickey Smith, Jr. has become synonymous with the word "music” across the country. As a dynamic and driven sax man that is passionate about music and education, Mickey has been the band director at Maplewood Middle School since 2005. In addition to playing music and teaching, he also serves educators through his SOUND180 EDUCATORS program and supports organizations that promote music education for children; for example, he is president of the non-profit Musicmakers2U, which gives deserving young people musical instruments at no cost. He is currently the 2020 GRAMMY Music Educator Award national winner. This award recognizes the country's top music instructor and influencer in the nation. Mickey uses a unique motivational mixture of music and message to encourage others to KEEP ON GOING and DISCOVER THEIR SOUND.

Episode 155 - Mickey Smith Jr. Mar 30, 2020

Mickey Smith Jr. is as inspirational a music educator as you will ever meet. He is a middle school band director in Louisiana and the most recent recipient of the Grammy Music Educator Award.

Topics:

Growing up in a “forgotten town” in Louisiana and how he started out practicing his saxophone outside in the forest and how it took him out of that town and into a career.
“You can con a con, fool a fool, but you can never kid a kid” - A conversation on perspective.
“First Days, Lasting Ways” and the “GPS for Success” - Mickey’s plan for the first days of school.
A conversation about teaching our own children music and how to make sure that we deposit more than we withdraw when working with our students.
Be a S.O.U.N.D. adult = See yourself beyond yourself, Operate with optimism and excellence, Utilize all available resources, Nourish relationships, and Don’t stop.

Links:

Biography:

The name Mickey Smith, Jr. has become synonymous with the word "music” across the country. As a dynamic and driven sax man that is passionate about music and education, Mickey has been the band director at Maplewood Middle School since 2005. In addition to playing music and teaching, he also serves educators through his SOUND180 EDUCATORS program and supports organizations that promote music education for children; for example, he is president of the non-profit Musicmakers2U, which gives deserving young people musical instruments at no cost. He is currently the 2020 GRAMMY Music Educator Award national winner. This award recognizes the country's top music instructor and influencer in the nation. Mickey uses a unique motivational mixture of music and message to encourage others to KEEP ON GOING and DISCOVER THEIR SOUND.

Episode 154 - Anthony Mazzaferro Mar 23, 2020

Anthony Mazzaferro was the band director at Fullerton College for 29 years. He joins the show to talk about his current career and his current gig at the Orange County School of the Arts.

Topics:

Anthony’s background and the story of how he ended up with a Navy surplus tuba and a career was born.
Studying conducting with John Paynter at Northwestern and some tips for score study.
Earning his doctorate at Arizona State University and studying tuba with Dan Perantoni and conducting with Richard Strange.
Teaching elementary music in Palo Alto, California and the move to Southern California to teach at Fullerton College.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Anthony Mazzaferro was born and raised in San Francisco. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from San Francisco State University. During his undergraduate years, he served as the Principal Tubist in the Symphonic Band and Symphony Orchestra. In addition to this he was the Assistant Conductor for both the Symphonic and Concert Bands. After graduating with honors in 1978, Dr. Mazzaferro attended Northwestern University. He pursued a Master of Music degree in Instrumental Conducting where he studied with John P. Paynter. In 1986 he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University.

His guest conducting and adjudication assignments have included Honor Bands and Orchestras throughout the Western United States, Canada, Singapore and New Zealand. In 1994, 2001, and 2014 Dr. Mazzaferro was selected to conduct the California All-State Honor Band. In 2007 Dr. Mazzaferro also conducted the California All-State Junior High Symphonic Band. Dr Mazzaferro has also conducted the Alberta, Canada All-Provincial Honor Band and the Singapore “Junior College” National Honor Band. As a clinician, Dr. Mazzaferro has worked with Concert Bands and Orchestras from The United States, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Canada, and China.

Dr. Mazzaferro is the 2007 recipient of the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) “Don Schmeer/Byron Hoyt Band Educator Award for excellence in Band Education and Performance”. Dr. Mazzaferro is active in several other musical affiliations outside of Fullerton College. His most recent activities include serving on the Advisory Board for the Cazadero Performing Arts Camp in Northern California and serving as an Assistant Conductor for the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra (OCYSO).

Dr. Mazzaferro recently retired after 29 years as a full time faculty member of the Music Department at Fullerton College. Dr. Mazzaferro currently is the Conductor of the Frederick Fennell Wind Ensemble at the Orange County School for the Arts, Conductor of the Orange County Wind Symphony, and is Principal Tuba in the Symphony Irvine, Corona Symphony, and Dana Point Symphony Orchestra.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 153 - David Biedenbender Mar 16, 2020

David Biedenbender is an Assistant Professor of Composition at Michigan State and a member of the Blue Dot Collective. He joins the show to talk about his music and share his thoughts about composing for band.

Topics:

David’s background growing up in Michigan and learning music by watching his mother play organ, and how a high school band director gave him his first big break that led to him studying music.
Studying at Central Michigan University and how he didn’t write a single band piece while studying with David Gillingham
The story of how he wrote Melodius Thunk and bringing in popular elements such as jazz and rock and roll into the concert band medium.
Influences on his compositional style, a conversation about development in band music, and why he self-publishes his music and distributes it through Murphy Music Press.

Links:

Biography:

David Biedenbender (b. 1984, Waukesha, Wisconsin) is a composer, conductor, performer, educator, and interdisciplinary collaborator. David’s music has been described as “simply beautiful” [twincities.com], “striking” and “brilliantly crafted” [Times Argus] and is noted for its “rhythmic intensity” [NewMusicBox] and “stirring harmonies” [Boston Classical Review]. “Modern, venturesome, and inexorable…The excitement, intensity, and freshness that characterizes Biedenbender’s music hung in the [air] long after the last note was played” [Examiner.com]. He has written music for the concert stage as well as for dance and multimedia collaborations, and his work is often influenced by his diverse musical experiences in rock and jazz bands as an electric bassist, in wind, jazz, and New Orleans-style brass bands as a euphonium, bass trombone, and tuba player, and by his study of Indian Carnatic music. His present creative interests include working with everyone from classically trained musicians to improvisers, acoustic chamber music to large ensembles, and interactive electronic interfaces to live brain data.

David has had the privilege of collaborating with many renowned performers and ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, the Stenhammar String Quartet (Sweden), the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, the United States Navy Band, the Philharmonie Baden-Baden (Germany), VocalEssence, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Music from Copland House Ensemble, Detroit Symphony Orchestra bass trombonist Randall Hawes and pianist Kathryn Goodson, the Juventas New Music Ensemble, the Washington Kantorei, the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble, the Boston New Music Initiative, Ann Arbor Dance Works, Composer’s Inc. (San Francisco), and the Grand Valley State New Music Ensemble. dsc_3680Recent recognition for his work includes two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards (2011, 2012) and the 2012 Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Composers Award. His music has been heard in many diverse venues, including Carnegie Hall, Gaudeamus Muziekweek/TivoliVredenberg (Netherlands), Symphony Space (New YorkCity), the Smithsonian Museum, the German Embassy (Washington, DC), the Antonín Dvořák Museum (Prague), the Old First Church (San Francisco), Harris Hall (Aspen Music Festival), the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Hill Auditorium (Ann Arbor, MI), the University of Michigan Museum of Art, as well as at numerous universities and conservatories, and it has been broadcast on NPR stations around the country, including on WNYC’s Soundcheck with John Schaefer and on Center Stage from Wolf Trap. David’s music can also be heard on many commercially available recordings, including recent albums by the U.S. Navy Band, Akropolis Reed Quintet, H2 Saxophone Quartet, Khemia Ensemble, PUBLIQuartet, and the North Texas Wind Symphony. Recent and upcoming commissions and projects include works for yMusic, the New York Virtuoso Singers, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, San Francisco Symphony principal trombonist Tim Higgins, the Albany (NY) Symphony Orchestra, the Edge Ensemble, the Donald Sinta Saxophone Quartet, the Akropolis Reed Quintet, Kevin Sedatole and the Michigan State University Wind Symphony, and pianist Jeannette Fang.

In addition to composing, David is a dedicated teacher. He is Assistant Professor of Composition in the College of Music at Michigan State University, and he previously taught composition and theory at Boise State University, Eastern Michigan University, Oakland University, Madonna University, the Music in the Mountains Conservatory, and the Interlochen Arts Camp. He has also taught an interdisciplinary course in creativity and collaboration in the Living Arts program at the University of Michigan. His composition students have achieved regional and national recognition for their creative work, including numerous awards and acceptance into renowned summer music festivals and undergraduate and graduate composition programs.

He received the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in composition from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the Bachelor of Music degree in composition and theory from Central Michigan University. He has also studied at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala, Sweden with Anders Hillborg and Steven Stucky, the Aspen Music Festival and School with Syd Hodkinson, and in Mysore, India where he studied South Indian Carnatic music. His primary musical mentors include Stephen Rush, Evan Chambers, Kristin Kuster, Michael Daugherty, Bright Sheng, Erik Santos, Christopher Lees, David R. Gillingham, José Luis-Maurtúa, John Williamson, and Mark Cox.

Episode 152 - Damien Crutcher Mar 10, 2020

Damien Crutcher is the founder of Crescendo Detroit and the conductor of the Farmington Community Band, Civic Concert Band, and the Detroit Community Concert Band. He joins the show to share the stories of the remarkable people in his life and the decisions to help make his home city of Detroit an even better better musical place.

Topics:

Damien’s early story growing up in Detroit including going to the legendary Cass Technical High School and meeting a horn teacher that changed the course of his career.
The story of why Damien decided to become a music teacher and how he ended up at Michigan State for his undergraduate.
How an act of kindness from a graduate student at Michigan State helped Damien become a better conductor.
Studying with H. Robert Reynolds at the University of Michigan and the lessons that he learned.
How the decisions to not pursue a doctorate and to leave his high school job ultimately found the remarkable Crescendo Detroit.
Damien’s ensembles.

Links:

Biography:

Damien Crutcher is a native Detroiter and a graduate of Cass Technical High School. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from Michigan State University, and a Master’s in Conducting from The University of Michigan. Damien studied horn with Bryan Kennedy and Doug Campbell and Conducting with Dr. Ronnie Wooten and Profesor H. Robert Reynolds.

After graduating from The University of Michigan, Damien served as Director of Bands and Orchestra at Southfield-Lathrup High School. Under his direction the Southfield-Lathrup ensembles, including the Lathrup Symphony Band have performed in San Francisco, Chicago, the Bahamas, the White House and Carnegie Hall. Many of his students from Southfield Lathrup are currently professional musicians, music teachers and artists across the country.

He is currently the co founder and CEO of Crescendo Detroit. Crescendo Detroit is a nonprofit who’s mission is to transform the lives of school age children, ages 5-18, in Detroit, by engaging kids in intense instrumental music, vocal music and dance programs that promote artistic excellence and character building. It is the goal of Crescendo Detroit to create a neighborhood to college pipeline using the arts.

Damien is a frequent quest conductor and clinician throughout Michigan and Ohio and also serves as the conductor of the Farmington Community Band. Damien is in his third season as conductor of the Civic Concert Band and the Detroit Community Concert Band.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 151 - Finding Community at NJMEA Mar 02, 2020

For this special episode, I recorded live from the New Jersey Music Educators Association Conference in Atlantic City. During the conference, I had the opportunity to speak with seven music teachers in the state and asked them about community. A special thank you to Kaleidoscope Adventures for making this possible.

Guests and Topics:

Philip Aguglia of PaGu batons and a high school band director in Buffalo, New York talks about some of the ways he builds community in his program, leaving a footprint behind, and tells us about his batons.
Larissa Skinner, a music teacher in the Passaic School District and a Ph.D. student in Urban Education at Rutgers University talks about some of the activities that she uses to help build community to help her students feel successful.
David Taylor is a 28 year teacher at Northern Burlington Regional High School who joined me to talk about the community of our profession.
Yale Snyder is the district percussion specialist and band director in the Monroe Township School District. He talked about building relationships that can last forever.
Heidi Haderthauer teaches 6-12 band in New Milford, New Jersey. She talks about the three levels of community.
Scott Visco teaches at Point Pleasant Borough High School. He talked about the importance of the high school band in a small town and how a quality program can become the artistic center of a community.
Melissa Clark teaches 7-8 grade orchestra and 4-6 grade string players in the Lawrence Township Public Schools. She shared her experiences of living in the community where she teaches and how that helped her feel more connected to her students.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 150 - Robert W. Smith Feb 24, 2020

Robert W. Smith is a prolific composer, educator, and publisher. He joins the show to tell his stories, share some advice, and talk about copyright. If you want to know the importance of making connections, then this is the episode for you!

Topics:

Robert’s background growing up in a military family and the story of an extraordinary piano teacher that had an indelible influence on Robert’s early music education.
How music educators are keepers of knowledge for a long line of musicians that spans centuries.
How Robert has come full circle from student to professor at the Troy University and the influences of John M. Long and Paul Yoder on his career, particularly on his decision to write for band.
Robert’s first teaching job, his move to Tampa to teach at Pinellas Park and Clearwater High Schools, and of course Suncoast Sound.
RWS Music Company, C.L. Barnhouse, music publishing, copyright law, and why we can’t legally copy parts for our kids.
The advice Robert gave his daughters as they embarked upon their careers as music educators.

Links:

Biography:

Robert W. Smith (b. 1958) is one of the most popular and prolific composers in America today. He has over 600 publications in print with the majority composed and arranged through his long association with Warner Bros. Publications and the Belwin catalog.

Mr. Smith’s credits include many compositions and productions in all areas of the music field. His original works for winds and percussion have been programmed by countless military, university, high school, and middle school bands throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, South America and Asia. His Symphony #1 (The Divine Comedy), Symphony #2 (The Odyssey), Symphony #3 (Don Quixote), Inchon and Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual have received worldwide critical acclaim. His educational compositions such as The Tempest, Encanto, and The Great Locomotive Chase have become standards for developing bands throughout the world.

Mr. Smith’s music has received extensive airplay on major network television as well as inclusion in multiple motion pictures. From professional ensembles such as the United States Navy Band, United States Air Force Band, Boston Pops and the Atlanta Symphony to school bands and orchestras throughout the world, his music speaks to audiences in any concert setting. As a conductor, clinician and keynote speaker, Mr. Smith has performed throughout North America, Asia, South America, Europe and Australia. His music has been recorded by various ensembles and is available on CD and download through iTunes, Amazon, and other recorded music outlets.

Mr. Smith is the President/CEO of RWS Music Company, exclusively distributed through C. L. Barnhouse. In addition, he is currently teaching in the Music Industry program at Troy University in Troy, Alabama. His teaching responsibilities are focused in music composition, production, publishing and business.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 149 - Amy Knopps Feb 17, 2020

Amy Knopps is the Associate Director of Bands and the Director of Athletic Bands at the University of Missouri, Columbia. In this episode, Amy shares her story of growing up in the Kansas City area and how she found her way to her dream job as the director of the Marching Mizzou.

Topics:

Amy’s background growing up in Lee’s Summit through her college experience as a student at the University of Missouri.
Amy’s first job, the connections that made her first teaching job in Kansas City so special, and her first college teaching job at Eastern Michigan University.
Some lessons that we can apply to our own teaching from her story.
The Marching Mizzou, leadership, community, and the advantages of being the athletic band director at the flagship university of her native state.
The challenges of being a female band athletic band director and words of encouragement for young female band directors.

Links:

Biography:

Amy M. Knopps is the Associate Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands at the University of Missouri where she directs Marching Mizzou, Mini Mizzou, Symphonic Band, and teaches courses in the music education curriculum of the School of Music. Prior to her appointment in the fall of 2017, Dr. Knopps served for seven years as Associate Professor of Music, Associate Director of Bands, and Director of Athletic Bands in the School of Music and Dance at Eastern Michigan University. While at Eastern Michigan she was a Faculty Spotlight Recipient, the Eastern Michigan University Thank-A-Teacher Inaugural Recipient, and featured in a historic exhibition titled, "In Her Shoes: Forging Paths at EMU" as she was the first woman to direct the Eastern Michigan University Marching Band and serve as Associate Director of Bands.

Dr. Knopps earned degrees from The University of Georgia (DMA), the University of Kansas (MM), and the University of Missouri (BS, Ed.) where her principal conducting teachers were Dr. John P. Lynch and Dr. Dale J. Lonis. While at Georgia and Kansas she held conducting associate positions that involved conducting both concert and athletic bands as well as teaching courses in the music curriculum. During her time at The University of Georgia, Dr. Knopps received the Hugh Hodgson School of Music Director’s Excellence Award and at the University of Kansas she received the Russell L. Wiley Graduate Conducting Award.

Additional teaching experience includes numerous years as Director of Bands at Center High School and Center Middle School in her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri where she guided all aspects of the diverse and award winning band program. While in the Center School District, Dr. Knopps received the 2003 Missouri Fine Arts Outstanding Teacher Award and the 2004 You Make the Difference Award for her dedication and commitment to excellence in education. As an advocate for new wind music she solely commissioned and premiered Jonathan Newman’s 1861 for concert band in 2003 and continues her commitment to contributing to the wind band repertoire through additional commissions for Symphonic Band at the University of Missouri.

Dr. Knopps continues to be an active conductor, clinician, and adjudicator across the United States and internationally having worked and performed throughout Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, and South America. Each summer she serves as a clinician/instructor at the Smith-Walbridge Clinics held in Charleston, Illinois working with high school and college drum majors from across the country. Dr. Knopps is also known for her published contributions as she has authored several articles for School Band and Orchestra Magazine, and has contributed to seven volumes of the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. In addition to her published articles she has completed extensive research on American-Sponsored overseas secondary band programs in the People’s Republic of China.

Dr. Knopps maintains professional affiliations with the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), currently serving on the CBDNA Athletic Bands Committee, World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE), the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), National Band Association (NBA), currently serving as the Missouri State Chair, Phi Beta Mu, Tau Beta Sigma, Kappa Kappa Psi, currently serving as the sponsor for the Eta Upsilon chapter, the Griffiths Leadership Society for Women, currently serving on the Executive Committee, and QEBH, the oldest of six secret honor societies at the University of Missouri. She currently resides in Columbia, Missouri with her two cats Buddy and Rocky.

Episode 148 - Mary Kate McNally Feb 10, 2020

Mary Kate McNally is the Director of Athletic bands at Ohio Wesleyan University, a co-founder of the And We Were Heard project, and a tireless advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the band community.

Topics:

The band program at Ohio Wesleyan University, Mary Kate’s musical origin story, and a high school band director that had a tremendous influence on her career.
Gender stereotypes in musical instruments and what we can do to help our boys feel comfortable with playing any instruments.
Advice for working with transgender and nonbinary students and creating meaningful dialogues to best serve all of our communities.
The Twin Bands of Kent State in the 1940s and being willing to learn from our mistakes and grow as music educators.
Mary Kate’s experiences teaching in rural Eastern Colorado and some strategies for differentiating instruction when you have homogeneous students at different levels.
A report on And We Were Heard a year after its founding.

Links:

Biography:

Mary Kate McNally has been the Director of Athletic Bands at Ohio Wesleyan University since the fall of 2017. Under her leadership, the university's marching band performed in the fall of 2018 for the first time in almost six decades. Mary Kate earned her Bachelor of Music Education summa cum laude and with honors from Henderson State University in 2012 and her Master of Music in Wind Band Conducting from Kent State University in 2017. She was a public school teacher in Colorado for three years, where she was the K-12 music teacher for a small rural school district. She is an active member of the professional band directing community with memberships in the National Association for Music Education, the Ohio Music Education Association, and the College Band Directors National Assocation. She is also a board member for And We Were Heard, a digital recording project dedicated to promoting wind band works by underrepresented composers. Mary Kate is a self-professed crochet addict and lives with her hedgehog, Maestro.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 147 - Larry Neeck Feb 03, 2020

Larry Neeck has written or arranged over 150 works for C.L. Barnhouse and is now retired after a 32 year career as a middle school band director in Rochester, New York.

Topics:

Larry’s musical background growing up in Pennsylvania and how he passed on a chance to be a varsity quarterback to instead play bells in the band.
Larry’s journey from cocktail hour pianist to middle school band director in Rochester, New York.
The story of how Larry got his start as a composer writing jazz charts for his own students and some advice for composers about getting their music played.
Advice and perspectives on teaching middle school including some excellent advice about being yourself in your classroom.
The challenges of changing from a 7-9 junior high school to a 6-8 middle school.

Links:

Biography:

Larry Neeck is an internationally recognized composer, with more than one-hundred fifty works for concert band, jazz ensemble, and orchestra published by C.L. Barnhouse Company and Arco String Publications. He is frequently commissioned to write for schools, bands, and festivals, and often works as a guest conductor and clinician. His CDs, “Swing Machine,” recorded by the Studio A Big Band, and “Midnight Escape,” recorded by the Washington Winds are available from Walking Frog Records. His music has been heard on PBS television, and he has received numerous ASCAP awards for his compositions. 

In addition to his work as a composer, Mr. Neeck had a successful career as a middle school band director, retiring after thirty-two years from the Webster (NY) Central School District. He directed concert bands, jazz ensembles, taught wind and percussion classes, and co-founded the Willink Middle School Student/Parent Band, now in its twenty-fifth season. The years he spent as a school band director have informed his composing style, resulting in works that engage students and audiences alike. 

Mr. Neeck holds a B.A. in Music from the University of Pittsburgh, and an M.M. in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music. He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA), and the New York State Band Directors Association (NYSBDA).

Episode 146 - Jay Londgren Jan 27, 2020

Jay Londgren is the band director at the Singapore American School, one of the largest international schools in the world. He joins the show to talk about teaching band abroad and shares stories of teaching in Venezuela, South Korea, and Singapore.

Topics:

Jay’s early years as a musician and some teachers who mentored him on his way to becoming a music teacher.
Moving to Venezuela, teaching in that first job, and some anecdotes from that job.
His move to the Korean International School (KIS), a terrific story about his first budget meeting with his new principal, and the growth of the program during his time there.
The demographics of the international schools and the founding of the KIMEA.
The music programs at the Singapore American School.

Links:

Biography:

Jay Londgren is currently director of HS Bands and Jazz at Singapore American School. Prior to SAS he served as head of music at Korea International School and taught PreS-12 music at CIPLC in Barcelona, Venezuela. At native of rural Minnesota and former "farm kid," Jay earned his undergraduate degrees (with majors in Music, Education and English Composition) at Luther College in Decorah, IA. He is also a graduate of the American Band College. Jay has spent his entire career overseas. He is an active member in the Association of Music in International Schools (AMIS) community, bringing students to festivals throughout the world and presenting at AMIS conferences in Scotland, Bangkok, Seoul, Dubai and Hong Kong. He currently serves on the AMIS Board of Directors. Additionally, while in Korea he helped found the Korea International Music Educators Association (KIMEA). KIMEA grew to host (and continues to host) multiple MS and HS music festivals throughout the year in Korea.

When not at work you might find him running, taking pictures or attempting to cook something - all three of which he does with mixed success.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 145 - John A. Thomson Jan 20, 2020

John Thomson enjoyed a hugely successful 40-year career as a band director at New Trier High School (IL) and East Allegheny High School (PA). He is also a contributing author to the Instrumentalist Magazine.

Topics:

John’s early career including playing trumpet duets with his father, how he got his first job at East Allegheny High School, and how he came to write reviews for the Instrumentalist.
A discussion of his program at East Allegheny High School and his thoughts about selecting literature including playing transcriptions.
The program at New Trier High School including his emphasis on sight reading and chamber ensembles.
Thoughts about being patient in your career, the importance of fundamentals to the band, commissioning new music, and raising funds for big projects.

Links:

Biography:

John A. Thomson received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in trombone performance and music education from Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied with Richard Strange and Philip Catelinet. While completing course work towards a PhD in Music Education at Northwestern University, he served for two years as a Teaching Assistant in both the Departments of Conducting and Performing Organizations and Music Education, where he studied with John Paynter and Bennett Reimer.

Mr. Thomson was the Director of Bands at East Allegheny High School near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1967 to 1981. Under his direction, East Allegheny bands presented feature performances at the 1976 Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the 1975 Music Educators National Conference Eastern Regional Meeting, two Mid-East Instrumental Music Conferences in 1973 and 1977, and three Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Conferences in 1970, 1975 and 1980.

From 1982 to 2007, Mr. Thomson was Director of Bands at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. During these years, his ensembles regularly performed with established guest conductors, accompanied well-known solo artists, and collaborated with various contemporary composers leading to sixteen world premiere performances. In 1984, the wind ensemble completed a successful concert tour of Switzerland, Germany and Holland. He conducted a New Trier Honor Band on a concert tour of Hawaii and Australia in 1998. Under his direction, New Trier wind ensembles performed at the l985 and l990 Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinics, the 1994 Music Educators National Biennial In-Service Conference, the l989, l993, 1998 and 2007 Illinois Music Educators Association All-State Conferences, the l990 Western Illinois University Band “Showcase”, the 1996 Atlanta International Band and Orchestra Conference, the 1999, 2000 and 2001 Superstate Festivals at the University of Illinois and the 2003 Chicagoland “Invitational” Concert Band Festival. The wind ensemble received the Downbeat Magazine Award for best classical instrumental ensemble (band) in 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2004.

For twenty-three summers, Mr. Thomson conducted student and staff bands at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan, and conducted the camp’s 1992 International Band on their four week performance tour in Europe. Currently, Mr. Thomson is a Contributing Editor and New Music Reviewer for THE INSTRUMENTALIST Magazine and is active as a clinician, guest conductor and adjudicator. Following his New Trier retirement, he served for 10 years as an adjunct professor in music education at Roosevelt University in Chicago and has observed student teachers in the field for Northwestern University and the University of Illinois.

Personal awards include several National Band Association Citations of Excellence, the American School Band Directors Association Stanbury Award, the Mr. Holland’s Opus Award (sponsored by Bob Rogers Travel), the Chicagoland Outstanding Music Educator Award (sponsored by Quinlin & Fabish Music Company), the Phi Beta Mu Outstanding Illinois Bandmaster Award and the Phi Beta Mu Illinois Band Directors Hall of Fame at Northwestern University.

Mr. Thomson is an elected member of the American Bandmasters Association and serves as that organization’s Goldman Memorial Citation Committee Chair. Additional professional affiliations include the National Band Association (Revelli Composition Award Committee), American School Band Directors Association (Past Illinois State Chair), National Association for Music Education, Illinois Music Educators Association (Past District VII Band Chair and All-State Selection Committee), Phi Beta Mu and Phi Mu Alpha.

Episode 144 - James M. David Jan 13, 2020

James David is a composer on the faculty of Colorado State University. He’s enjoyed a great deal of recent success with his composition for band and joins the show to tell his story.

Topics:

Jim’s background growing up in Southern Georgia and the importance of gospel and jazz in his musical development.
Advice for young composers and what we can do as band directors and music teachers to help young, aspiring composers to realize their dreams.
Commissioning music and some thoughts about commercial publishing versus self-publishing.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. James M. David (b. 1978) is an internationally recognized composer who currently serves as associate professor of composition and music theory at Colorado State University and is particularly known for his works involving winds and percussion. His symphonic works for winds have been performed by some of the nation’s most prominent professional and university ensembles including the U.S. Army and Air Force Bands, the Dallas Wind Symphony, the Des Moines Symphony, the Ohio State University Bands, Northwestern University Bands, and the University of North Texas Wind Symphony among many others. His compositions have been presented at more than fifty national and international conferences throughout North and South America, Asia, Europe, and Australia. These events include the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the American Bandmasters Association Convention, the College Band Directors National Association Conferences, the National Band Association Conferences, the College Music Society National Conference, the Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference, seven International Clarinet Fests, the International Horn Symposium, the World Saxophone Congress, the International Trombone Festival, and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Among the distinctions David has earned as a composer are an ASCAP Morton Gould Award, the National Band Association Merrill Jones Award, national first-place winner in the MTNA Young Artists Composition Competition, two Global Music Awards, and national first-place winner in the National Association of Composers (USA) Young Composers Competition. Commissions include projects for Joseph Alessi (New York Philharmonic), John Bruce Yeh (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), Zachary Shemon (Prism Quartet), the Oasis Quartet, BlueShift Percussion Quartet, Gerry Pagano (St. Louis Symphony), The International Saxophone Symposium and Competition, The Playground Ensemble, and the Atlantic Coast Conference Band Directors Association. As a native of southern Georgia, Dr. David began his musical training under his father Joe A. David, III, a renowned high school band director and professor of music education in the region. This lineage can be heard in his music through the strong influence of jazz and other Southern traditional music mixed with contemporary idioms. He graduated with honors from the University of Georgia and completed his doctorate in composition at Florida State University under Guggenheim and Pulitzer recipients Ladislav Kubik and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. His music is available through Murphy Music Press, C. Alan Publications, Wingert Jones Publications, and Potenza Music and has been recorded for the Naxos, Mark, GIA WindWorks, Albany, Summit, Luminescence, and MSR Classics labels.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 143 - Tim Heath Jan 06, 2020

Tim Heath is the Director of Athletic Bands at Wake Forest University.

Topics:

Tim’s background growing up in Eastern North Carolina playing trumpet in the high school band and drum set on the side and how he ended up becoming a music teacher.
Tim’s early teaching jobs, his decision to go back to school to earn a doctorate, and why that led him to teaching middle school for a year.
Thoughts about how to communicate the value of the arts.
Being a doctoral student at the University of Alabama and working with the Million Dollar Band.
Moving from Samford University to Wake Forest University and what he’s learned as a college athletic band director that he would apply if he could go back to his days as a high school band director.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Tim Heath is the Director of Athletic Bands and Assistant Teaching Professor at Wake Forest University. Prior to Wake Forest, he was the Director of Athletic Bands and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Samford University. He also served as Assistant Director of the Wind Ensemble and was a member of the conducting faculty during his tenure at Samford. Prior to teaching at Samford University, Dr. Heath was a graduate teaching assistant with The University of Alabama Bands. At the University of Alabama, Dr. Heath conducted the pep bands for all major sports, The University of Alabama Concert Band, and served as a staff member with The Million Dollar Band where he also arranged for the Million Dollar Band’s Front Ensemble. Dr. Heath received the Outstanding Instrumental Music Education Graduate Student awarded for the 2016-2017 academic school year. Dr. Heath served as the front ensemble coordinator for the Music City Drum & Bugle Corps for the 2014 season and has held staff positions with Methodist University’s “Pride of the Carolina’s” in Fayetteville, North Carolina and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke’s “Spirit of the Carolina’s” in Pembroke, North Carolina. Dr. Heath’s previous collegiate teaching experience includes instructor of music at The University of Mount Olive in Mount Olive, North Carolina where he directed the pep band and instructed music education courses. Dr. Heath is an active clinician and adjudicator for both concert band and marching band and is a regular conductor for the Cookeville (Tennessee) Community Band’s Summer Concert Series. As a music educator, Dr. Heath has presented sessions and research at both the state and national levels and is published in Percussive Notes and The Instrumentalist. Dr. Heath holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a Master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and a Doctorate from The University of Alabama. Dr. Heath is an active member of the National Association for Music Education, College Band Directors National Association, National Band Association, College Music Society, Kappa Delta Epsilon Education Fraternity, Mu Phi Epsilon, the Percussive Arts Society’s Scholarly Research Committee, and is an Honorary Member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity at the University of Alabama.

Episode 142 - Podcast Pedagogy and the 2019 Midwest Clinic Dec 30, 2019

On December 20th I had the honor to present a session at the 2019 Midwest Clinic titled "Podcast Pedagogy: Band Wisdom from 125 Composers, Conductors, and Performers." The holidays have made it difficult to schedule a guest, so instead I have recreated the session and am sharing it here.

Normal episodes resume in 2020!

Topics:

A bit of podcast business.
My story and how I arrived here as the host of the podcast.
Common answers to the big questions.
Valuable things for my listeners to remember.
What I've learned and how it has changed me as a teacher.

Links to Podcasts:

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 141 - Brian Wis Dec 16, 2019

Brian Wis, the band director at St. Charles North High School in St. Charles, Illinois joins me for a discussion about booster groups, music literacy, and to share his thoughts about music education.

Topics:

Brian’s background growing up around the Cavaliers and how he got his instrumental start as a fourth grader on the bugle.
Building strong relationships with your colleagues to create a shared philosophy and to join forces for the greater good.
Booster groups and the importance of strong bylaws.
Thoughts about getting along with administrators and an important bit of advice to avoid conflicts.
Music literacy, the emphasis that Brian and his colleagues place on it, and how it helps his band program.
The Facebook Band Director’s Group and the state of music teacher education in the United States.

Links:

Biography:

Brian Wis teaches bands at St. Charles North High School in St. Charles, Illinois. His bachelors degree is from Northern Illinois University, his masters degree is from VanderCook College of Music, and he completed his doctoral coursework at the University of Illinois (UIUC). Before coming to SCN Mr. Wis was a faculty member and administrator at Roosevelt University, and prior to that taught at Naperville North High School.

A "hopeless early-adopter" in technology, Brian can be found incorporating new technology into the classroom regularly. He is also a self-taught iOS developer with several music training apps available for free in the App Store including NoteNames+ and RhythmTapper Turbo. He is the originator of the Band Director Group on Facebook, a group which currently numbers more than 27,000 members.

Mr. Wis has had his ensembles invited to the Super State Invitational, the Illinois All State Convention, the National Concert Band Festival, Disney Honors, and the Midwest International Clinic. He is also a former Golden Apple Finalist. He is married to Ramona Wis who is a music professor at North Central College, writer, and yogi.

Episode 140 -Bobby Lambert Dec 09, 2019

Bobby Lambert is the band director at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. He is also the host of "That Band Life" podcast and will be conducting the Wando Symphonic Band at the 2019 Midwest Clinic.

Topics:

Bobby’s background including the story of how he grew up in rural North Carolina and ended up as a student at Western Carolina and the drum major of the Pride of the Mountains Marching Band.
The importance of concert band music and a deep dive into Irish Tune from County Derry.
Teaching at Marian Catholic with Greg Bimm and the most important lesson that Bobby learned from his time with Greg.
Bobby’s move to Wando High School and the emotions and challenges he faced in his new position.
“You can’t control your talent and you can’t always control the instrument you have, but you can always control your effort. Hard work always pays off.”
Student leadership and the value of chamber ensembles to the band program at Wando High School.
Advice about teaching marching band, particularly for the young band director.

Links:

Biography:

Bobby is Director of Bands at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Originally from Cherokee, North Carolina, Mr. Lambert attended Western Carolina University to obtain his Bachelors Degree in music education and then the University of Massachusetts to receive a graduate assistantship and a Masters of Music Degree in saxophone performance.

From 2001 until 2013, Mr. Lambert was the assistant band director at Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois where he enjoyed great success in both the marching and concert arena. The marching band was a consistent finalist at the Bands of America Grand National Championships and a repeat winner of the 2A National Championship. At the state level, the band continued its winning streak as the Class Champion for the State of Illinois Marching Band Championship begun in 1980. Under his direction, the Concert Band at Marian found great success in performance assessment: consistently receiving superior ratings and being named overall champion at The State of the Art Catholic Concert Band Festival, and class champion at The Illinois State University Concert Competition and The University of Illinois Superstate Concert Festival.

In 2005, he founded the school-wide leadership program at Marian, designing the curriculum and coordinating its implementation to over 1200 students with over 50 faculty members. Drawn from the world of business, finance, and psychology, the Leadership Program curriculum gives every student practical experience with communication skills, group dynamics, and ethical leadership.

Since 1997, Mr. Lambert has directed student leadership camps around the country. In 2013, Mr. Lambert headed the inaugural Bands of America Drum Major Institute at Ball State University as part of the BOA Summer Symposium. This contemporary camp brings the most experienced staff and the latest information to student leaders from across the country. Over 1000 high school students participate in various leadership programs with Mr. Lambert each summer.

In addition to serving as consultant with several programs across the country, Mr. Lambert has worked with the All-American Marching Band sponsored by the U.S. Army and the Bands of America Tournament of Roses Marching Band. He has also served as guest conductor for honor bands in Virginia and Illinois.

Mr. Lambert’s professional affiliations include MENC and Phi Mu Alpha. He has been honored with an induction to the Marian Catholic Fine Arts Hall of Fame in 2013 and voted a Chicagoland Outstanding Music Educator in 2009. He now lives in South Carolina with his wife Alysia, who is a choral director and their daughters, Maria Katherine and Olivia Claire.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 139 - Jonathan Grantham Dec 02, 2019

Jonathan Grantham is the band director at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, California. The AVHS Wind Ensemble 1 is making its second appearance at the Midwest Clinic this month.

Topics:

Jonathan’s background growing up in rural Michigan and the band director who inspired him to a career as an educator.
The story of Jonathan’s first job and the story of why he felt compelled to leave that job and take a break from teaching before moving to California.
The culture shock of moving from teaching in Michigan to teaching in California and the instrumental program at Amador Valley High School.
The process of applying for the Midwest Clinic, the reaction of his students, and the program that his group will play at the conference.

Links:

Biography:

Jonathan Grantham, director of bands at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, California, leads a band program of 350 students involved in five concert ensembles, three jazz bands, a competitive marching band, various chamber ensembles, two winter percussion units, and two winter guards. In his eighteen years at Amador Valley the band program has grown to triple in size and the ensembles have earned consistent superior ratings and high honors. Under Mr. Grantham’s guidance, Amador Valley’s top wind ensemble has performed at the CBDA state conference three times (2007, 2010, 2018), at WASBE in the summer of 2015 and twice at The Midwest Clinic (2013, 2019). Mr. Grantham is active as an adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor. He was an executive board member for NaFME/CMEA Bay Section and the Western Band Association and served for several years on the Special Projects Committee for the California Band Directors Association. Jonathan received his bachelor's degree in music education/trombone performance from Central Michigan University, graduating magna cum laude, and earned his master’s degree in conducting at the American Band College of Sam Houston State University, graduating summa cum laude. Honors include twice earning the Excellence in Education Award from Pleasanton Unified School District (2009, 2016) and being chosen as Pleasanton Unified School District’s Teacher of the Year (2013). Mr. Grantham was honored by the CMEA State Association in 2015 with the Don Schmeer/Byron Hoyt Band Educator Award. In 2018 Jonathan was inducted into the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Bandworld Legion of Honor. He resides in Martinez, California with his partner Ryan.

Episode 138 - Keith Hodgson Nov 25, 2019

Keith Hodgson joined the music education faculty at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2016 after a 26 year teaching career.

Topics:

Keith’s background growing up learning the piano and then percussion and the important influences on his decision to pursue music as a career.
Finding opportunities outside of your formal studies to learn more about being a band director.
Keith’s high school teaching career, the lessons he learned in his first five years, and his program at Mainland High School.
The music education program at the University of the Arts and the lessons that he tries to teach his students.
The importance of community bands and commissioning music.

Links:

Biography:

Keith W. Hodgson is the Director of Music Education at the University of The Arts in Philadelphia, PA. He teaches graduate & undergraduate conducting, percussion methods, is Director of the Master of Arts in Teaching program (MAT), oversees the music education minor program, fieldwork experiences and supervises student teachers in their elementary and secondary field placements.

Mr. Hodgson currently serves as President to the Eastern Division of the National Association for Music Education, is a Past-President of the New Jersey Music Educator's Association, a National Board Certified Teacher, the recipient of the 2014 New Jersey Governor's Award in the Arts for Leadership in Music and was a Grammy Nominated Music Educator Quarter Finalist in 2014. Mr. Hodgson holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from William Patterson University, NJ and his Masters Degree in School Leadership and Administration from Rowan University, NJ with Supervisor and Principal Certifications. Mr. Hodgson’s teaching career includes twenty-six years as a high school band director in New Jersey, the majority of which were as Director of Instrumental Music at Mainland Regional HS in Linwood, NJ. His experience with concert, jazz, marching, orchestra and chamber ensembles is extensive.

Mr. Hodgson is the Conductor and Music Director for the South Jersey Area Wind Ensemble, an adult community band of music educators and professional musicians. Mr. Hodgson has held the principal conducting post of the SJAWE since its founding in 1997. Mr. Hodgson is also the Head Director of the American Music Abroad Gold Tour, an annual three week summer music tour of band and choral students performing in six countries throughout Europe. He has over 20 years experience in group travel and performing for European audiences.

Mr. Hodgson is an active guest conductor for high school honor bands, community bands and summer music camps; a band clinician, guest speaker and professional development presenter. He has presented in numerous state, regional and national conferences including the 2007 MidWest Clinic in Chicago. As a conductor, he has studied with many master conductor/teachers such as Ed Lisk, Stephen Melillo, Anthony Maiello and Mallory Thompson among others. His guest conducting appearances have included honors ensembles in NJ, CT, NY, PA, AK, AL and Europe. Mr. Hodgson is proud to be Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician and was honored as the recipient of the 2016 Distinguished Service Award by the New Jersey Music Educators Association and was nominated to the 2016 Class of the American School Band Directors Association. He is also currently a WorldStrides Heritage Festivals Adjudicator and a contributor to a new edition of a GIA Band Curriculum Guide by the American School Band Directors Association

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 137 - Jeff Herwig Nov 18, 2019

Jeff Herwig is a composer and the the Director of Bands at Mercer Area Middle-Senior High School in Mercer, Pennsylvania.

Topics:

Jeff’s background growing up including the story of his late start as a saxophone player and how he was inspired by the rock band Queen.
The program at Mercer Area High School and the mistakes that Jeff made at his first position and the lessons he learned when he took on his current position.
Jeff’s composing and how he got started and why he made the decision to be self-published.

Links:

Biography:

Jeff Herwig is currently the Director of Bands at Mercer Area Middle-Senior High School in Mercer, Pennsylvania. He is responsible for all secondary instrumental activities in the district. He directs the Middle School Concert Band, Senior High Concert Band, Senior High Wind Ensemble, Chamber Winds, Jazz Ensemble, Pep Band, and Marching Band. Jeff is a member of the Millennium Composers Initiative, and is also the founder of M&M Music Press, LLC, based out of Mercer, Pennsylvania. Many of Jeff’s works for concert band and chamber ensembles are distributed exclusively through M&M Music Press. His piece, "The Bridge," was recently chosen as a winning selection in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association 2019 Composition Contest. Prior to working in the Mercer Area School District and starting up M&M Music Press, Jeff served as the Director of Bands at Titusville Area High School located in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Jeff completed his undergraduate work in Music Education at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, and recently earned his Master of Music in Conducting from Messiah College. Jeff currently resides with his wife Megan and their two children in Mercer, Pennsylvania.

Episode 136 - Keith Ozsvath Nov 11, 2019

Keith Ozsvath is the band director at Rotolo Middle School in Batavia, Illinois and is the co-founder and coordinator for the Middle School Concert Band Camp at the Music for All Summer Symposium.

Topics:

Keith’s background including the story of how childhood organ lessons helped prepare him for a late start in band.
The band program at Rotolo Middle School.
Keith’s duties as Middle School Coordinator for the Music for All Summer Symposium.
Why every band directors should try to connect with composers whenever possible.
Thoughts about choosing band music.

Links:

Biography:

Music educator Keith Ozsvath is passionate about helping other directors improve their craft. He maintains an active schedule as a blogger, professional development leader, and clinician for middle school bands. He’s a dad, coffee addict, runner, northwoods fisherman, and edtech enthusiast.

Keith has been sharing his life-long passion for music with the students at Rotolo Middle School in Batavia, Illinois, a four-time NAMM Best Community for Music Education, since 2000. Keith currently directs the Symphonic Band, Eighth Grade Band, and Jazz Ensemble, while finding unique ways to integrate technology to enhance his students’ learning.

In addition to being a dedicated middle school teacher, Keith teaches graduate courses at VanderCook College of Music. He has presented numerous professional development sessions for music educators at the The Midwest Clinic, Virginia Music Educators Association, Illinois Music Educators Conference, VanderCook College of Music, and the Association of Middle Level Educators. His dedication to teaching has been recognized through the Chicagoland Outstanding Music Educator award in 2015 and twice by “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers”. In 2017, Keith was honored with an “Exemplary Educator Award” from the Batavia CANDO parent organization. Most recently, he was inducted to the Nazareth Academy Fine Arts Hall of Fame in 2018. Keith is part of the ILMEA Clinician Network which provides professional development to music educators across Illinois. He has had the distinguished honor of being an Illinois Summer Youth Music conductor at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and is the co-founder and coordinator for the Middle School Concert Band Camp at the Music for All Summer Symposium held at Ball State University.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 135 - Jonathan Newman Nov 04, 2019

Jonathan Newman is a well-known composer and is the Director of Composition & Coordinator of New Music at the Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia.

Topics:

Jonathan’s background, how playing the trombone has helped his career, and important teachers in his life.
How writing in a variety of genres helps him stay focused and the importance of exploring a plurality of styles as a composer.
BCM International and how four friends found a way to have a booth at Midwest and launch their careers.
Being a pioneer as a self-published composer in the early 2000’s and how a job at Boosey & Hawkes helped him learn how to publish his own music.
Jonathan’s newest work Pi‘ilani and Ko‘olauan.

Links:

Biography:

Jonathan Newman composes music rich with rhythmic drive and intricate sophistication, creating broadly colored musical works that incorporate styles of pop, blues, jazz, folk, and funk into otherwise classical models. Trained as a pianist, trombonist, and singer, his work is informed by an upbringing performing in orchestras, singing in jazz choirs, playing in marching bands, and accompanying himself in talent shows. From opera to bubblegum pop, Newman delivers a new perspective on American concert music.

Recent work includes Mass, a large-scale project with texts by poet Victoria Chang which premiered in 2018 with The Choir of Trinity Wall Street as part of their Mass Reimaginings commissioning program. In 2016 he was appointed Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras Composer-in-Residence; work with CYSO included performances of Metropolitan, Tree, and 3 O’Clock Mix, Chicago’s 2016 Ear Taxi Festival, and the commissions for Meridian and Blow It Up, Start Again—which have subsequently been performed by orchestras worldwide, including the Minnesota Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, the 2015 Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2015 BBC Proms.

Other recent commissions include Prayers of Steel for Chicago’s Gaudete Brass (recorded on Cedille Records, 2017) and These Inflected Tentacles for chamber quartet. Newman’s ensemble transcriptions include arrangements of Beck, George Harrison, Puccini, Sufjan Stevens, Eric Whitacre, Led Zeppelin, and electronica premiered at the 2005 Lincoln Center Festival and recorded on Acoustica: Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin (Cantaloupe Records). As a MacDowell Fellow, he began work on an opera based on the 1962 cult horror film Carnival of Souls, in collaboration with playwright Gary Winter. He is currently working with Winter on an imaginary ballet suite for the Florida State University Wind Orchestra based on the Hawaiian story of Pi’ilani and Ko’olau.

Wind and educational ensembles around the world frequently perform from his large catalog of works, including Blow It Up, Start Again (transcription for winds), Symphony No. 1, My Hands Are a City—a wind ensemble consortium commission based on themes of mid-century American Beat Culture, Sowing Useful Truths, commissioned by the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and Moon by Night, 2003 winner of the NBA/Merrill Jones Composition Award.

Born in 1972, Newman received the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and holds degrees from Boston University’s School for the Arts, where he studied composition with Richard Cornell and Charles Fussell and conducting with Lukas Foss, and The Juilliard School, where he studied with composers John Corigliano and David Del Tredici and conducting with Miguel Harth-Bedoya. At Juilliard, his collaborative works for dance enjoyed multiple performances at The Juilliard Theater, Alice Tully Hall, P.S. 122, and Dance Theater Workshop. His early training includes Boston University Tanglewood Institute and the Aspen Music Festival where he studied with composers George Tsontakis and Bernard Rands. His works have been recorded on Avian, BCM, Brain Music, Cantaloupe, Cedille, Klavier, Mark Custom, Naxos, Potenza, and Summit Records.

Newman is a founding member of the composer-consortium BCM International: four stylistically-diverse composers dedicated to enriching the repertoire with exciting works for mediums often mired in static formulas. BCM recorded two albums: BCM Saves the World (Mark Custom Records, 2002) and BCM Men of Industry (BCM Records, 2004). He resides in Virginia, where he serves as Director of Composition & Coordinator of New Music at Shenandoah Conservatory.

Episode 134 - Cynthia Wagoner Oct 28, 2019

Cynthia Wagoner taught middle school and high school band for 27 years in Indiana before going back to school and becoming a music education professor at East Carolina University.

Topics:

Cynthia’s background growing up in Terra Haute, Indiana in a musical family and the story of how she became and oboe player involved in both orchestra and band.
The importance of mentors and some of the important teachers in Cindy’s life and the lessons that she learned from them.
Her experience as a young female band director in the early 1980’s and some of the topics she has to discuss with her female music education students to help prepare them for entering the profession.
Cindy’s duties as an Associate Professor of Music Education at East Carolina University and some of the lessons she would like to pass on from observing student teachers.
An extended discussion of teaching beginners and teaching sound to sight in both homogeneous and heterogeneous classes.
Seven words or less.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Cindy Wagoner is an Associate Professor of Music Education at East Carolina University, specializing in instrumental music instruction and pre-service music teacher education. Her regional and international research presentations focus on music teacher identity, mentoring new teachers, and pedagogy. Her publications appear in Teaching Music Through Performance in Jazz, Teaching Music, Psychology of Music, Research Issues in Music Education, Journal of Music Teacher Education, and several book chapters. Her heart still lies in the teaching of music through instrumental performance, and she is dedicated to serving the music education community in her current position at ECU. Wagoner holds a B.S. and M.S. from Indiana State University and spent 27 years in Indiana teaching high school and middle school instrumental music, known for having a large and successful program across marching, concert, small ensemble, and jazz events. Graduating from the University of Carolina Greensboro with a Ph.D. in Music Education, she was honored for her teaching with the Graduate Teaching Assistant Award in 2009. As an assistant professor at East Carolina since 2011, she was selected as a finalist for a 2015-16 ECU Alumni Award for excellence in teaching, 2017-18 Nominee for Five Year Award, and was awarded the ECU Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2019. She was also semi-finalist for the 2017 Music & Arts Educator of the Year. Wagoner continues to be active as a guest conductor and adjudicator across the south and Midwest and holds membership in Society for Music Teacher Education, Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC), International Society for Music Education (ISME), NAfME, and NCMEA.

---- I am thrilled to announce a new partnership between the Everything Band podcast and Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel to over 40 destinations. They offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 133 - Danny Mesa Oct 21, 2019

Danny Mesa is an Army musician, conductor, and drum major for the 25th Infantry Division Band in Hawai’i.

Topics:

Danny’s background growing up in Miami and some early teachers that helped him get his start and the lessons that they taught him.
His first teaching job out of college and the decision to join the Army after just two years as a teacher.
Danny’s role at the Army Music School and the nature of that program and how military musicians are recruited and trained.
The Army bands, the musical activities of Danny’s unit, and his personal responsibilities as an Army musician.

Links:

Biography:

A native of Miami, Danny is completing his 12th year of active duty service in the US Army. Currently stationed with the 25th Infantry Division Band, Army Music Hawaii, his roles and responsibilities include: performing as a trombonist, conductor, drum major, group leader and head of the training department. Prior to his assignment in Hawaii, Danny served on the faculty at the U.S. Army School of Music in Virginia Beach, VA where he taught and directed: the Ceremonial band, chamber ensembles as well as concert band for the Advanced Individual Training Music Course. While at the school of music, Danny trained over 1200 Soldier Musicians, was named Cadre of the Quarter and earned the Senior Instructor Badge. Enlisting in February of 2008 as a trombone player, other assignments include: The Fort Lee Army Band, and the Army Ground Forces Band where he has served as a musical ambassador traveling around the country performing for spectators, students, Veterans, members of Congress and the 44th President of the United States. Danny earned a Bachelor degree in Music Education from Florida International University in Miami, FL where he was the a founding drum major of the “Golden Panther Marching Band,” studied trombone with Mark Hetzler of “Empire Brass” and conducting with Dr. Roby George and M. Gregory Martin. Danny also earned a Master of Music in Music Education from Boston University. Prior to enlisting, Danny taught High School Band. Danny is married to Nikki and is a proud father of two boys: Robbie, 3 and Oliver, 5 months. Twitter @dmesa_conductor | facebook.com/dmesaconductor

Episode 132 - William Owens Oct 14, 2019

William Owens is a composer and music educator with over 200 works for band and 30 years of teaching experience.

Topics:

Willie’s background growing up in Gary, Indiana and the high school band teacher who changed his life.
The story of how Willie ended up moving from Chicago to Brownsville, Texas and how that ended up shaping his entire career.
How Willie got his start as a composer through arranging marching band music for a friend and how that grew into his terrific success as a composer.
Willie’s association with TRN Music and the difficult decision to move over to FJH Music as his primary publisher.
His process and procedure for writing a piece of music and what to expect if you wanted to commission Willie to write a piece of music for your band.
Some wonderful advice for young composers or others who might want to write music for band.

Links:

Biography:

William Owens (b. 1963) is a native of Gary, Indiana. He is a seasoned music educator and very active as a composer, clinician and conductor throughout the United States and Canada. His compositional style for young ensembles displays a keen, practical approach which has firmly established him as a leader in the field.

Since 1993, Mr. Owens has written over 200 commissioned and published works for concert band, string orchestra and small ensemble. His music is performed and appears on required music lists nationally and abroad. Principal commissions include those from the California Band Directors Association, the Iowa Bandmasters Association, the South Plains College (TX) Department of Fine Arts, the College of Charleston (SC) and Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity. Several of his works including The Blue Orchid and Maesong have been recorded and analyzed in educational text by the GIA series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. Other works such as Carpathia, Summit Fanfare, The Tahoka Galop and Tudor Sketches have become staples of the young band repertoire.

William is a 1985 graduate of Chicago's VanderCook College of Music and the recipient of numerous awards and grants for composition. In 2014, he was recognized by the Texas Bandmasters Association as the Feature Composer and named Distinguished Alumnus by his Alma Mater. Professional memberships include the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA), the Association of Texas Small School Bands (ATSSB) and Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity.

In January 2014, William formally retired from duty as a band director in Texas after 30 years. His spare time interests include sightseeing and reading, particularly motivational material and Presidential biography. A proud Chevrolet Corvette owner/enthusiast, he holds membership with Cowtown Vettes, a non-profit service organization in the Dallas/Fort area.

William resides in Fort Worth, TX with his wife and best friend, Georgia.

---- I am thrilled to announce a new partnership between the Everything Band podcast and Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel to over 40 destinations. They offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 131 - Corey Pompey Oct 07, 2019

Corey Pompey is the director of athletic bands and associate director of bands at the University of Wisconsin.

Topics:

Corey’s background and how he started with violin, switched to cello, then trumpet, and then finally the saxophone.
Corey’s experiences as an undergraduate at the University of Alabama and as a member and drum major of the “Million Dollar Band.”
Corey’s K-12 teaching experience and his doctorate at the University of Texas as a student of Jerry Junkin.
The importance of marching band and what great marching programs have in common with each other.
The marching program at the University of Wisconsin and taking over for Mike Leckrone and becoming only the second marching band director since 1969!

Links:

Biography:

In the spring of 2019, Corey Pompey was appointed associate director of bands at UW-Madison, succeeding longtime director Mike Leckrone.

Most recently, Dr. Pompey was assistant professor of music, associate director of bands/director of athletic bands at the University of Nevada-Reno. Prior, he served as the assistant director of bands at Pennsylvania State University, where he assisted with the Penn State Marching Blue Band and Athletic Bands, conducted the Concert Band, taught undergraduate conducting, and assisted with student teacher supervision.

Dr. Pompey also served as an assistant instructor with University Bands at The University of Texas at Austin. He was involved in all creative and administrative aspects of the program, some of which include The University of Texas Wind Ensemble and The Longhorn Band. Dr. Pompey taught in the public schools of Alabama for seven years prior to moving to Texas.

Dr. Pompey holds the bachelor of science degree in music education and the master of arts degree in music education from The University of Alabama. He earned his doctor of musical arts degree in wind conducting at The University of Texas. Principal conducting teachers include Jerry F. Junkin, Kenneth Ozzello, and Gerald L. Welker.

Professional affiliations include the College Band Directors National Association, Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, and Phi Mu Alpha.

Episode 130 - Michael Hudson Sep 30, 2019

Michael Hudson is Associate Professor of Music Education and serves as chair of the music education and music therapy division at the University of Kentucky.

Topics:

Michael’s background growing up in Florida and the influence of his middle school band director.
The importance of music ensembles as a social place and community for adolescents.
Coming back to music education after earning and undergraduate degree in trombone performance at Florida State University.
Michael’s position and responsibilities at the University of Kentucky.
Thoughts about pacing and classroom management.

Links:

Biography:

Michael W. Hudson is an Associate Professor of Music Education (instrumental) and serves as chair of the music education and music therapy division at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Hudson teaches undergraduate courses in secondary instrumental music pedagogy, instrumental ensemble conducting, and oversees the music education student teacher program. Additional teaching responsibilities include graduate seminars in the psychology of music, research methods in music education, and serving as chair and member of committees for thesis and dissertations in music education and music therapy. Dr. Hudson is a frequent presenter of research at state, regional, national, and international conferences. His research manuscripts have been published in the Journal of Research in Music Education, the Journal of Historical Research in Music Education, the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, and the Missouri Journal of Research in Music Education. Dr. Hudson serves as an editorial member of the Journal Research and Issues in Music Education and is an advisory board member for the Journal of Music Education. He currently serves as the state chair for research for the Kentucky Music Educators Association. Dr. Hudson is a frequent collaborating conductor with the UK Symphony Band and is in demand as a conductor/clinician for honor bands around the nation.

---- I am thrilled to announce a new partnership between the Everything Band podcast and Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel to over 40 destinations. They offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 129 - Darcy Vogt Williams Sep 23, 2019

Darcy Vogt Williams is the head band director at Stiles Middle School in Leander, Texas. She is also a host of the After Sectionals podcast and the author or co-author of three books on education: Count Me In, Teaching Rhythm Logically and Pacing for Success: Beginner Band.

Topics:

Darcy’s superhero origin story as the daughter of two musicians who went to college to be an architect before discovering that music was her true calling.
Teaching Rhythm Logically
Darcy’s relationship with her father who was also her high school band director and the importance of making each student feel really confident and important to the band’s success.
The band program at Stiles Middle School, in defense of ability splitting large beginner classes, front loading music theory, and the importance of teaching beginners.

Links:

Biography:

Darcy Williams is the head band director at Stiles Middle School. Born to parents who met in their beginner trombone class, Darcy is 100% a product of the Texas music system. Her own musical education began in her father’s band hall in Harper, Texas where she spent her afternoons learning to play any instrument she could find in the storage closet while waiting to go home. Darcy received her Bachelor of Music in 2004 from West Texas A&M University.

Mrs. Williams bands have performed at The Midwest Clinic in Chicago, the Western International Band Clinic in Seattle, and are consistently state finalists in the TMEA Honor Band contest. In addition to teaching

In addition to teaching Mrs. Williams clinics both students and music educators across the United States. She is the author of two books on education: Teaching Rhythm Logically and Pacing for Success: Beginner Band.

Darcy is married to John Vogt, and together they have a future All-State Band member - their daughter Caroline - and 2 spoiled fur babies, Lucy and Cloey.

Episode 128 - Heather Hoefle Sep 17, 2019

Heather Hoefle is a composer and longtime band director in the Chicagoland area. After years of arranging and rewriting music for her students, she recently began writing her own music, and has had terrific success with pieces published by RWS Music and Kjos Music.

Topics:

Heather’s teaching job in the suburbs of Chicago, her musical background growing up in the Indianapolis area, and the story of two influential teachers.
What her first year teaching at seven different school each week taught Heather about the importance of school culture and the story of some of her other early teaching gigs.
The importance of being authentic as a teacher.
The story of how Heather got a late start as a composer, her recent success, and the people she turns to for critical advice during the creative process.

Biography

Heather Archer Hoefle is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana. She is a graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana with degrees in Flute Performance and Audio Technology. She earned her educational certification from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois and earned a Master of Music from VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, Illinois. Growing up in Indianapolis, she studied flute with Philip Sample and Rebecca Price of the Indianapolis Symphony. At Indiana University in Bloomington, she was a student of renown flute soloist Carol Wincenc. In addition to the orchestras at IU, she also performed with the Indianapolis Symphony. In 2000 she founded and became principal flutist in the Tudor Winds Wind Quintet, which performs professionally in the Chicago area.

As a public school teacher, Mrs. Hoefle has successfully taught band at grades 5-12. Finding her love of teaching beginners, she started composing and arranging for her bands. As a current teacher, Ms. Hoefle has a firm grasp of the development of the beginning band student, and her compositions reflect the needs and wants of these students. She currently teaches at Flossmoor School District 161 in Illinois.

Links:

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I am thrilled to announce a new partnership between the Everything Band podcast and Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel to over 40 destinations. They offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 127 - Renee Todd Sep 09, 2019

Renee Todd is the band director at Ligon GT Magnet Middle School in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 2019-20 the Ligon Wind Ensemble was selected to perform in the Music For All National Concert Festival and the Jazz Ensemble at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic.

Topics:

Renee’s background as a trumpet player and her studies at the University of Maryland.
Renee’s first couple of teaching jobs and how she stayed patient until she ended up in her current position at Ligon GT Magnet Middle school.
The process of preparing to take her jazz ensemble to Midwest Clinic and some thoughts about teaching jazz in the middle school.

Links:

Biography:

Renee Todd is currently in her eighth year as Director of Bands at Ligon GT Magnet Middle School and twenty-seventh year of teaching music. Under the direction of Ms. Todd, the Ligon Band program has grown to over 230 band members, with four wind bands and a jazz ensemble achieving superior ratings at both local and national music festivals. Ligon Bands will have a banner year as the Wind Ensemble was selected to perform in the 29th Music For All National Concert Festival in Indianapolis in March of 2020 while the Jazz Ensemble was selected to perform at the prestigious 73rd Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in December 2019. In 2018, the Ligon Jazz Ensemble performed for NCMEA (NC Music Educators Convention) in November and Ligon Wind Ensemble recently was awarded invited ensemble at the Music For All-Southeastern Regional Concert Band Festival in Atlanta in 2017 and selected to perform at NCMEA (NC Music Educators Convention) in 2015. Ms. Todd was honored in 2019 to receive the Award of Excellence by the Central District Band Directors Association. In 2018 she received Jazz Educator of the Year from the NC Central Region Jazz Educators and in 2016 awarded Band Director of the Year for the NC Central District.

In 1993, Ms. Todd received her Bachelor of Science in Music Education from the University of Maryland College Park, where she studied under John Wakefield, Emerson Head and L Richmond Sparks. While in college Ms. Todd was the drum major and trumpet section leader of the Mighty Sound of Maryland Marching Band and recipient of the Otto Sibenachen- Most Outstanding Musician in the top wind band at Maryland.

Before her appointment at Ligon, Ms.Todd was nominated Teacher Of The Year at both Dillard Drive and Wendell Middle Schools. She has served for site host for the Central District Band MPA and Wake All-County Band and served on the board for the Central District Band Association. Ms. Todd is a member of the National Association for Music Education, American School Band Directors Association, National Band Association, the North Carolina Music Educators Association, and Tau Beta Sigma.

As an active guest clinician and conductor, Ms. Todd is scheduled to direct several NC District Middle School Bands including the Southeastern All-District and South Central All-District Bands in 2020. In 2018 she conducted the Northwest All-District Band. Ms. Todd has conducted the Red Jr and Blue Jr Bands at UNCG Summer Music Camp, the Eastern, Central and Western Region Middle School Jazz Bands and the North Carolina Area Independent Schools Honor Band. She has served or is scheduled as a guest clinician for the Buncombe, Cleveland, Davidson, Durham, Johnston and Forsyth All-County, Bands. Ms. Todd is an active freelance trumpeter as well as a private instructor in the Triangle area.

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I am thrilled to announce a new partnership between the Everything Band podcast and Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel to over 40 destinations. They offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

Episode 126 - Matthew Arau Sep 03, 2019

Matthew Arau is the Chair of the Music Education Department and Associate Director of Bands at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin. He also teaches conducting at the American Band College and student leadership at numerous clinics and academies.

Topics:

How a tennis racket, some empty Baskin Robbins tubs, and a 6th grade Dixieland group launched a musical career.
The tremendous program at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento, California and Matthew’s appearance on the Mickey Mouse Club Show with his own Dixieland group.
Thoughts about building a culture of excellence in a band program.
Matthew's experience as an undergraduate at Lawrence University where he earned a quadruple degree!
Early teaching in Colorado and how it ultimately led to his current position as the Director of Bands at Lawrence University.
Thoughts on leadership and how to create servant leaders in your band program.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Matthew Arau is the Chair of the Music Education Department and Associate Director of Bands at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin where he teaches conducting and instrumental music education courses and is the conductor of the Symphonic Band, associate conductor of the Wind Ensemble, and guest conductor of the Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Dr. Arau is on the faculty of the American Band College of Central Washington University where he teaches conducting to graduate students, and he is on the staff for the Western International Band Clinic in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Arau also serves as a Conn-Selmer Education Clinician and he is the founder of Upbeat Global, LLC.

In demand as a music teacher and speaker, Dr. Arau has presented on leadership, growth mindset, rehearsal techniques, and creating positive cultures at the following: the International Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Western International Band Clinic, numerous State and Regional Music Education Association Conferences, the American Choral Directors Association NextDirection Conference, the Conn-Selmer Institute, the International San Diego Mariachi Summit, and universities, music camps, school districts, and schools in 26 states and 4 continents. Dr. Arau has taught student leadership in Singapore, Malaysia, Greece, and Cyprus. In February 2019, Dr. Arau delivered the keynote address at the Northwest NAfME (National Association for Music Education Conference) and he will deliver the keynote address at the National NAfME Conference in November 2019 in Orlando, Florida to all of the high school national honor ensembles.

In addition, Dr. Arau conducts and clinics all-state bands and honor groups across the United States and around the world. He has conducted honor bands in Australia, Greece, Cyprus, and Malaysia, the Michigan and Utah All-State Middle School Honor Bands, the Texas Region 26 Honor Band, and the South Carolina All-State Band, and honor bands across the country. The Instrumentalist, Bandworld Magazine, Make Music Inc., and Conn-Selmer have published his articles on leadership and teaching music. His wind chamber music transcriptions are published by C. Alan Publications. Dr. Arau draws on a deep reservoir of fifteen years of experience as a successful middle school and high school band director in Loveland, Colorado, where he led his groups at Loveland High School to numerous championships and pioneered the Leadership Symposium.

Dr. Arau holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting and Literature from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Master of Science in Music Education from the American Band College of Southern Oregon University. He graduated magna cum laude from Lawrence University, where he earned a Bachelor of Music in Instrumental Music Education, Music Performance (Classical), Music Performance (Jazz Studies), and a Bachelor of Arts in Government. He resides with his wife, Merilee, in Neenah, Wisconsin.

Episode 125 - Patrick Dunnigan Aug 26, 2019

Patrick Dunnigan is the Director of Bands at Florida State University where he directs several concert bands and the Marching Chiefs. He also teaches courses in conducting, literature, and music education.

Topics:

The story of how Patrick got his start and how a guitar as a kid helped him develop some of the hearing and writing skills that have helped him throughout his career as a music educator.
Patrick’s position at Florida State and a story of an empowering encounter with Phillip Glass.
Thoughts about what defines an artist, advice from two legendary music educators, and what we should be aspiring towards as musicians and teachers.

Links:

Biography:

Patrick Dunnigan is Director of Bands and Professor of Music at The Florida State University College of Music. A member of the FSU faculty since 1991, Dr. Dunnigan is the principal conductor and music director of the University Symphonic Band, the University Concert Band and the Marching Chiefs. His other teaching duties include undergraduate conducting courses and instrumental music methods. He received FSU’s prestigious University Teaching Award in 2003.

A nationally recognized guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician, Dr. Dunnigan has published numerous articles on conducting, instrumental music methodology, and research in leading journals. His textbook, Marching Band Techniques, is published by The Instrumentalist Company and has become the leading college textbook of marching band methodology. His transcriptions and arrangements for concert band are performed regularly by leading university, community, and professional wind bands including the Dallas Wind Symphony. He has presented clinic sessions for the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Music Educators National Conference, the Florida Bandmasters Association, and the College Band Directors National Association.

A native of Frankfort, Kentucky, Dr. Dunnigan received the Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education degree from the University of Texas at Austin, the Master of Music in Conducting degree from Northwestern University, and the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Kentucky. He was a member of the faculty at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo from 1987 to 1991, and prior to collegiate teaching he was Director of Bands at Lafayette High School in Lexington, Kentucky, where his symphonic, jazz, and marching bands received numerous national and regional awards for excellence. He is an active member of the College Band Directors National Association, Music Educators National Conference, Florida Music Educators Association, National Band Association, Florida Bandmasters Association, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity. He is also an honorary member of the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Tau Beta Sigma, and received the Friend of the Arts award from Sigma Alpha Iota.

Episode 124 - Joseph Kreines Aug 19, 2019

Joseph Kreines is a legendary conductor in Florida and co-author of Music for Concert Band.

Topics:

Joseph’s background in music and how a Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert featuring Artur Rubinstein inspired his career as a musician.
How he came to Florida as the Assistant Conductor of the Florida Orchestra and his first steps as a conductor and clinician for young bands and orchestras in the state.
The story of how, as a young conductor he caught the attention of the faculty at Tanglewood, including Lukas Foss and Aaron Copland.
Advice for score study when approaching an unfamiliar work.
A discussion of the works on his first Florida All-State Concert band and a more generalized discussion about literature.

Links:

Biography:

A native of Chicago, Joseph Kreines came to Florida as associate conductor of the Florida Symphony Orchestra, where he served for four years. Subsequently, he was conductor of the Brevard Symphony, associate conductor of the Florida Orchestra in Tampa, and musical director for several opera and musical theatre productions. He has served as clinician and guest conductor with some 300 bands, orchestras and choruses throughout the nation and also appears as piano accompanist at numerous recitals and festivals.

In addition, Mr. Kreines has composed a number of original works for various media, and has made numerous transcriptions for concert band and brass choir, and other chamber ensembles, being particularly well-known for those of the music of Percy Grainger. He is also the author of Music for Concert Band, a selective annotated guide to band literature.

Kreines received a Masters degree in Music from the University of South Florida and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago. He did additional study at the Tanglewood Music Festival in 1958 where he was chosen to participate in the conducting class with fellow classmates Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, David Zinman, and Gustav Meier. In 2004, he was honored as an inductee to the Roll of Distinction in the Florida Bandmasters Association Hall of Fame.

Episode 123 - Wendy Higdon Aug 12, 2019

Wendy Higdon is the award winning Director of Bands at Creekside Middle School in Carmel, Indiana. Under her baton the Wind Symphony at Creekside has performed at numerous venues, including the Midwest Clinic. Wendy is also the creator and owner of the music education website “On and Off the Podium."

Topics:

Wendy’s background as a musician and her influences as a teacher.
Some of the structures and procedures that Wendy uses in her classroom to achieve success and the importance of being yourself.
Tips for recruitment and retention and a conversation about assessment and using “Band Karate.”
The organization of the Creekside Middle School band program.

Links:

Biography:

Wendy Higdon is the Director of Bands and Performing Arts Department Chair at Creekside Middle School in Carmel, Indiana. Under her direction, the Creekside Wind Symphony was honored to perform at The Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in 2013. The Creekside Wind Symphony has also been a featured performing ensemble at the Indiana Music Education Association Conference as well as serving as a rehearsal clinic band at the Midwest Clinic and at the Indiana Music Education Association Conference.

Ms. Higdon has served as an adjudicator, clinician, guest conductor and guest speaker around the country. In 2013, she received the “Fifty Directors Who Make a Difference” Award from School Band and Orchestra Magazine. Her articles have appeared in The Instrumentalist magazine, as well as being published by NAfME, D'Addario Education Collective, Music for All, and SmartMusic, among others. She regularly speaks about important topics in music education at state and regional conferences, and has recently presented sessions at several national conferences including The Midwest Clinic, the National Association of School Music Dealers Conference, and the Australian National Band and Orchestra, where she was a keynote presenter.

Ms. Higdon earned her degree in music education from Ball State University Honors College, graduating summa cum laude. She also holds two Masters degrees from Butler University, one in clarinet performance and the second in education administration. She is a member of Phi Beta Mu International, Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, the National Association for Music Education, the Indiana Music Education Association and the Indiana Bandmasters Association.

Episode 122- Thomas Fraschillo Aug 05, 2019

Thomas Fraschillo was the longtime director of bands at the University of Southern Mississippi and is a past president of the American Bandmasters Association.

Topics:

Tom’s background growing in a small town in Northern Mississippi and the story of how he got a late start as a young musician.
Some of the people who influenced his career and the wisdom he learned from those educators.
The band programs at Meridien High School and the University of Southern Mississippi.
Regionalism in school band programs and traditions around the country and the success of the major universities in the Southeast.
Tom’s work with wind bands in Italy and the interviews in the ADA archives at the University of Maryland.

Links:

Biography:

Thomas V. Fraschillo, DMA, has served as a catalyst and mentor for members of the teaching profession. His high standards of performance have had a sustained influence on ensembles at every level, and his performances serve as models in both the professional or academic arena. Through his recordings, The Music of Luigi Zaninelli and The University of Southern Mississippi Wind Ensemble LIVE IN ITALY (recorded in Italy), and his publishing, conducting, and lecturing in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia, he is considered an international musician/scholar. His publications, translations from the original Italian of Alessandro Vessella’s Studi di strumentazione (Instrumentation Studies), and La Tecnica dell’orchestra contemporanea (The Technique of Contemporary Orchestration) by Alfredo Casella and Vittorio Mortari, both published by BMG Ricordi, Milan, have put his name in libraries of the entire English speaking world. As a writer/scholar Dr. Fraschillo is a contributing editor to the American Grove Dictionary, 2nd Edition and serves as a frequent conductor and lecturer in Italy. His most recent appearances in Italy have been with La Banda dell’esercito/The Italian Army Band in Rome. One of his most significant engagements with them signaled a very important milestone for the Italian Army in that Dr. Fraschillo was the first American-born conductor to have been invited to appear in a public performance by what is considered Italy’s most prestigious military concert band. The concert with Dr. Fraschillo conducting was the opening concert of the International Festival in Spoleto, “The Festival of Two Worlds, Festival dei due mondi.” His appearance was enormously significant for conductors of bands in that the opening performance featured such international artists as Gian Carlo Menotti, the renowned composer, the Orchestra and Giuseppe Verdi Chorus of Milan, and the Italian actress, Claudia Cardinale. Finally, in Italy Dr. Fraschillo often serves as a member of the judging panel for many international festivals, most notably the Concorso Internazionale di Composizione “R. Marenco” di Novi Ligure, and the Concorso Internazionale di Composizione Originale per Banda di Corciano.

Aside from Dr. Fraschillo’s work in Europe, he is often engaged throughout the continents of Asia, and Australia. The Melbourne, Australia, Summer Youth Music Program has invited Dr. Fraschillo to be their guest conductor for their summer session for five years. In addition the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors Association has invited him to lecture and to adjudicate at their large ensemble festivals. Dr. Fraschillo’s other work in the Pacific Rim includes having served as clinician and guest conductor of the Central Armed Forces Band in Singapore and as conductor of the Singapore All-College Band sponsored by the Wind Band Association of Singapore. In 2009 and 2010 Dr. Fraschillo served as Artistic Director for the weeklong Winter Band Festival at Disney, Hong Kong.

Dr. Fraschillo has recently been recognized by election to the National Band Association’s Hall of Fame of Distinguished Conductors, a distinct honor that recognizes his lengthy career as a public school, university, and professional conductor.

Dr. Fraschillo devoted a significant amount of his career to the education of young people in Mississippi. For example his ten-year tenure at Meridian High School was highlighted by a performance at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious music event for wind and string educators. The invitation was only the second to have been given to a band from Mississippi. Dr. Fraschillo’s Meridian students obtained successes not before reached, for he taught and helped place the first African-American students in the Mississippi All-State Band. Not only were they among the first minority members, but they were also the first African-Americans to attain the very highest positions in the group.

Dr. Fraschillo has attained a significant level in the realm of international leadership in that he serves as a past president of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association, past president of the world’s largest organization for band directors, the National Band Association, and President of the CBDNA Southern Division.

Episode 121 - Thomas Leslie Jul 22, 2019

Thomas Leslie has been the Director of Bands at the University of Nevada Las Vegas since 1985. He has enjoyed tremendous success as a band director at each stop of his career and is a past president of the American Bandmasters Association.

Topics:

Tom’s background growing up in Iowa and the story of his high school music teacher Charles Kreeb through his musical education at the University of Iowa.
Stories from his teaching career and a funny anecdote about being interviewed for his current position at UNLV.
Some thoughts about leadership and how we can foster this skill in our students.
The program at UNLV, commissioning composers, and the benefit of being located in Las Vegas.

Links:

Biography:

As Director of the Division of Wind Band Studies and Professor of Conducting, Thomas Leslie has earned recognition for high quality performances of the UNLV Bands receiving critical acclaim from members of the international music world including composers, conductors and several Grammy Award winning artists. Recognized for a fresh, interpretative style, Thomas Leslie and the UNLV Wind Orchestra continue to excel in their commitment to commission new works, many by the world’s finest young composers. Professor Leslie has also conducted and recorded twenty critically acclaimed compact disc recordings with the UNLV Wind Orchestra. An adjudicator and conductor, Professor Leslie has been invited to conduct in eleven counties across three continents. Under his direction, the UNLV Wind Orchestra has been invited to perform for the College Band Directors National Association, the Music Educators National Conference, the American Bandmasters Association, and numerous state music educator conferences. Internationally, the UNLV Wind Orchestra was the featured ensemble at the Hokkaido Band Association Clinic in Japan and the La Croix Valmer International Music Festival in France. The UNLV College of Fine Arts awarded Professor Leslie the CFA Teacher of the Year Award in 2006. Inducted as a member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association in 1997, he was elected as the 75th President of the of this organization, and currently serves on Past President’s Ad Hoc Committee. He continues to be a long-standing member of the College Band Directors National Association and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the John Philip Sousa Foundation.

Episode 120 - Olin Hannum Jul 15, 2019

Olin Hannum is the Director of Athletic Bands at Oregon State University and one of the hosts of the AMusEd: A Music Educator’s Podcast. He joins the show to talk about the program at Oregon State and share his thoughts about developing student leaders.

Topics:

Olin’s background growing up in Northern California as a horn player.
What his job at Oregon State looks like and the challenges he faces in that position including a discussion of OSU’s football fortunes, the types of athletic events the band program supports, and a geography lesson.
Some of the ways that the Oregon State Bands use Google Sheets to to stay organized and to automate the mundane tasks required to organize such a large organization.
A discussion student leadership and motivation.
Olin’s own compositions, the importance of original arrangements for college bands, and a brief discussion of copyright and licensing and why things have changed in recent years.

Links:

Biography:

Olin Hannum, director of athletics bands at Oregon State University, joined the program during its marquee 125th anniversary year as only the seventh director in the history of the OSU Marching Band. In this capacity he oversees and directs all aspects of the OSU athletics bands program including the OSUMB, Basketball Band, the Rhythm and Beavs Travel Band, and other campus athletics-related musical groups.

Prior to joining the faculty at OSU, Hannum was director of athletics bands at the University of California, Davis. During his time there the California Aggie Marching Band increased in membership to a record 322 participants. Under his direction the ensemble was featured at its first National Football League games and developed a state-wide performance presence. In addition to leading the CAMB he founded and directed the University Campus Band, a symphonic style concert ensemble.

Hannum is a sought-after arranger for marching ensemble. His arrangements have been performed by competitive and non-competitive groups at the middle school, high school, and collegiate level in California and throughout the west coast. In addition to writing for marching ensembles, Hannum is an active composer for wind ensembles, brass ensembles and chamber music for solo instruments and piano.

Prior to his appointment at UC Davis he was a graduate teaching assistant with the Oregon State University athletic and symphonic band programs, completing the master of arts in teaching at OSU in 2011. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in horn performance from UC Davis. Performance credits include notable appearances with the Golden State Wind Orchestra, the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Wind Ensemble.

Episode 119 - Alex Kaminsky Jul 08, 2019

Alex Kaminsky is the newly appointed Director of Bands at VanderCook College of Music. He has had tremendous success at every stop of his teaching career, including most recently at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Topics:

Alex’s early experiences in music including Melvin Baker, his exceptional high school band director and the lessons that he learned from him.
Alex's early career and some of the experiences that led him to later success as a band director.
Some thoughts about building excellence in your band program.
How the school shooting at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School affected his band and the role that music played in helping students move on from that tragedy.

Links:

Biography:

Alexander Kaminsky was appointed Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music at VanderCook College of Music in 2019 after a highly successful tenure at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. He holds degrees from the University of Florida and Indiana University, is active as an adjudicator, and is in demand as a guest conductor/clinician across the country. Throughout his 30-year career as a high school band director, Kaminsky’s ensembles consistently earned Superior ratings at all levels of evaluation. In addition to earning Superior ratings at the FBA State Concert Band Assessment for an unprecedented 23 consecutive years (the last 13 of those years being with both his first and second bands), he is the only director in the history of the Florida Bandmasters Association to have had three concert bands from one school earn straight Superior ratings at State, and he achieved this three times (2009, 2018 and 2019).

Kaminsky’s bands have performed at the Midwest Clinic (2005, 2009, 2014, and 2018), ABA Convention (2014), CBDNA/NBA Southern Division Conference (2004 and 2014), FMEA State Convention (2014), National Concert Band Festival (2002 and 2012), and the National Wind Band Festival at Carnegie Hall (2009 and 2018). In 2018, the Stoneman Douglas Wind Symphony was named a National Wind Band Honors winner as one of only ten 6A bands in the nation. His marching bands consistently placed in the Florida Marching Band State Championship Finals, winning consecutive FMBC State Championships (2013 and 2014, 2017 and 2018) as well as being named a finalist band at BOA regional competitions.

Kaminsky has presented his clinic “How Can I Get My Band to Sound Like That” at various conferences and workshops, and his annual “How To Fix It” series at the FMEA Convention has been received to high acclaim, with over 900 attendees in 2019. He is a ten-time recipient of the National Band Association’s Citation of Excellence and has been recognized with numerous achievement awards for education including Florida’s 2019 FMEA Secondary Music Educator of the Year Award, FBA Oliver Hobbs Award, FBA Andrew J. Crew Award, National Honor Roll’s Outstanding American Teacher, Nobel Educator of Distinction, Teacher of the Year, and is listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. Kaminsky is a Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician and is an elected member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and the American School Band Directors’ Association. He has served on numerous state and national committees, and currently serves on the ABA Sousa/Ostwald Award Committee and the ABA School Bands Task Force. He has been featured in several periodicals including The Instrumentalist, Teaching Music, School Band & Orchestra Magazine’s “50 Directors Who Make A Difference” and Home Magazine’s “12 Exceptional Educators.”

Episode 118 - Chip De Stefano Jul 01, 2019

Chip De Stefano is an arranger, composer, and the longtime band director at McCracken Middle School in Skokie, Illinois. Under his direction, the bands at McCracken have won numerous awards and have twice been invited to perform at the Midwest Clinic.

Topics:

Chip’s background and important early experiences in music.
The decision to become a music teacher and the support that he receives from his administration and support at McCracken Middle School.
Thoughts about creating excellence and some programs that Chip uses as models for his program.
The band program at McCracken Middle School.
Chip’s experiences at Northwestern.
The value of commissions and some of the composers with whom Chip and his students have worked.

Links:

Biography:

Chip De Stefano received both his Bachelor of Music in Trombone Performance and Master of Music Education Degrees from Northwestern University. While at Northwestern, he studied conducting with John P. Paynter, Steve Peterson, and Don Owens, trombone with Frank Crisafulli and Art Linsner, and music education with Bennett Reimer, Donald Casey, Jim Kjelland, and Peter Webster. Mr. De Stefano was director of the Northwestern University Basketball Band (1994-1996) and the University Jazz Lab Band (1995-1996). In addition to these responsibilities, he assisted with all the office of band’s performing organizations and had conducting appearances with the wind ensemble, symphonic band, trombone ensemble, and marching band.

Mr. De Stefano is currently in his 23rd year as Director of Bands at McCracken Middle School in Skokie, Illinois. Under his direction, the McCracken Middle School Symphonic Band has received first division ratings at all district and state organization contests of the Illinois Grade School Music Association (IGSMA) and has made multiple appearances at the Illinois Music Education Association (ILMEA) All-State Conference, University of Illinois Superstate Concert Band Festival (selected as Honor Band eight times), and NAfME North Central Division Conference. In 2006 and 2013 the Symphonic Band received an invitation to present at concert at the Midwest Clinic: An International Band and Orchestra Conference. In the Spring of 2007, the John Philip Sousa Foundation awarded the McCracken Symphonic Band the prestigious Sudler Silver Cup. Most recently, McCracken Middle School was awarded the National Band Association’s Programs of Excellence “Blue Ribbon” National Award.

Since 2010, Mr. De Stefano has also served as Director of the Wind Ensemble at the University of Chicago, where he prepares the primarily non-music major ensemble for three performances each year.

As a published arranger and composer, Mr. De Stefano has received commissions from the marching bands of Northwestern University, Samford University, the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, the University of Idaho and dozens of high schools from across the United States. His works have been performed on ABC’s 1996 Rose Bowl Halftime Show, Live! with Regis and Kathy Lee, and WBBM News Radio 780. Mr. De Stefano’s works are available from FJH Music, LudwigMasters Publications, Grand Mesa Music, Kagarice Brass Editions and DeStefanoMusic.com.

Mr. De Stefano’s professional affiliations include the National Association for Music Education, the Illinois Music Education Association, the National Band Association (Board of Directors, Middle School Representative 2010-2016, 2018-2020, At-Large Representative 2016-2018), the Illinois Grade School Music Association and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

Mr. De Stefano is active nationally as a clinician, guest conductor, and adjudicator. He’s conducted honor bands in Singapore, Florida, Georgia, Indiana (scheduled), Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin, and throughout Illinois. In addition, he has presented conference sessions at the Midwest Clinic (2008), ILMEA All-State Conference (2003, 2005, 2008, 2016), New England Band Directors Institute (2016), Iowa Bandmasters Conference (2010), Nebraska Music Educators Association State Conference (2011), Arkansas Tech University Band Director Workshop (2013), Illinois State University Band Director Workshop (2012) and DuPage County Music Clinic (2009, 2014). Mr. De Stefano is a recipient of twenty National Band Association Citations of Excellence. He was awarded the Chicagoland Outstanding Music Educator Award in 2001, the IGSMA Barbara Buehlmann Young Conductor Award in 2004, the IGSMA Cloyd Meyers Memorial Award in 2011, and the Skokie Award for Artistic Excellence in 2016.

Episode 117 - Dale Trumbore Jun 24, 2019

Dale Trumbore is a successful composer and the author of the recently released book Staying Composed: Overcoming Anxiety and Self-Doubt Within a Creative Life. She joins the show to talk about her career, her music, and to talk about issues related to anxiety for musicians.

Topics:

Dale’s background and her journey to becoming a full time composer, including some lessons learned from an influential teacher.
Dale’s career as a composer including her choral music, how she finds text to set, and the value she sees for students who are part of commissions.
A long discussion about anxiety and strategies for coping with it in a creative career.
Some actionable tips for working through creative blocks.

Links:

Biography:

Dale Trumbore is a Los Angeles-based composer and writer whose music has been praised by The New York Times for its "soaring melodies and beguiling harmonies." Trumbore's compositions have been performed widely in the U.S. and internationally by ensembles including the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), Los Angeles Master Chorale, Los Angeles Children's Chorus, Modesto Symphony, Neave Trio, Pacific Chorale, Pasadena Symphony, The Singers – Minnesota Choral Artists, and VocalEssence.

Trumbore is Composer in Residence for Choral Chameleon and was previously Composer in Residence for Nova Vocal Ensemble. She has been an Artist in Residence at Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, Copland House, Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, and Willapa Bay AiR.

How to Go On, Choral Arts Initiative's album of Trumbore's choral works, debuted at #6 on Billboard's Traditional Classical Chart. Choral Arts Northwest, The Esoterics, Helix Collective, New York Virtuoso Singers, and soprano Gillian Hollis have also commercially recorded works by Trumbore. Her published choral works are available through Boosey & Hawkes and G. Schirmer.

As a composer who works frequently with words, Trumbore is passionate about setting to music poems, prose and found text by living writers. She has written extensively about working through creative blocks and establishing a career in music in essays for 21CM, Cantate Magazine, the Center for New Music, and NewMusicBox, and she is the author of Staying Composed: Overcoming Anxiety and Self-Doubt Within a Creative Life.

Trumbore holds a dual degree in Music Composition and English from the University of Maryland and a Master of Music degree in Composition from the University of Southern California. A New Jersey native, Trumbore lives in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of L.A. with her fiancé and their two cats.

Episode 116 - Lori Schwartz Reichl Jun 17, 2019

Lori Schwartz Reichl has parlayed her experience as a successful band director in Pennsylvania and Maryland into a remarkable portfolio career that includes being an author, clinician, adjudicator, conductor, and speaker.

Topics:

Lori’s background growing up in an extremely musical family and the experience of having her father as her high school band director.
Thoughts about how to build your community, including specific tips for working with teaching colleagues, staff, and administrators.
Tips for classroom management, thoughts about how we define success in our careers as musicians, and the work Lori does with the Regional Repertory Wind Ensemble.
Lori’s work writing for In Tune Monthly Magazine and Teaching Music Magazine.

Links:

Biography:

Lori Schwartz Reichl (b. 1978) is a champion of mentorship and motivation in music education. Lori actively serves as an adjudicator, clinician, conductor, private instructor, speaker, and writer. Lori is the author of the “Tools for Educators” series entitled “Key Changes: Refreshing Your Music Program” published monthly in the teacher's edition of In Tune Monthly Magazine where she provides resources to enhance the music classroom and rehearsal space. Her articles are also featured each month as part of the National Association for Music Education’s (NAfME) Music in a Minuet Blog. In addition, her publications have appeared in the Maryland Music Educator Journal (MMEA) and The Woman Conductor Journal for Women Band Directors International (WBDI). Lori also serves as a journalist for Teaching Music Magazine. In Maryland, Lori serves as the artistic and executive director of the Regional Repertory Wind Ensemble, coordinator of Howard County's Secondary Solo & Ensemble Festival, conductor of Howard County's Middle School Honor Band, and the Maryland state chair for Women Band Directors International (WBDI).

Lori began her career in 2001 as band director of Daniel Boone Area Middle School in Berks County, PA, where she received the Superintendent's Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 2006 she moved to Maryland and began her work with Title I Schools. As band director of Oakland Mills Middle School, Lori was a finalist for the Howard County Teacher of the Year and Parents for School Music Educator of the Year Awards. Under her baton, the Oakland Mills Bands received consecutive superior ratings at county, state, and regional adjudications, an Honorary Resolution from the Howard County Council, and performed as the featured middle school band at the 2014 Maryland Music Educators Conference. From 2014 to 2015 Lori served as band director for Thomas Viaduct Middle School, Howard County’s newest secondary school, where she was asked to create the music program. In its opening year, the band received superior ratings at county and regional festivals and was invited to perform at the state band festival.

Lori has served as a high school band director for American Music Abroad from 2006 to 2010, creator and conductor of the Howard County Middle School Honor Band from 2009 to 2015, conductor of the Howard County Middle School Gifted and Talented Band in 2016 and 2017, and supervisor of music education interns for Towson University in 2017 and 2018. As an avid presenter at conferences, professional development sessions, and universities, she serves as a resource for building community, developing effective classroom management techniques and rehearsal routines, and motivating diverse learners. Lori enjoys serving as a consultant for school music programs and is currently working on several collaborative projects in music education.

Lori received her Bachelor of Science in Music Education from West Chester University and Master of Music Education from Lebanon Valley College. She received her Administrator I Certification through McDaniel College. Lori is a saxophone player who resides near Baltimore, Maryland with her husband, daughter, and son.

Episode 115 - Arris Golden Jun 10, 2019

Arris Golden is the assistant director of bands and associate director of the Spartan Marching Band at Michigan State University.

Topics:

Arris’ background and thoughts about having the same band director for 6 years.
How during her 18 years teaching middle school, Arris was able to bring meaningful experiences to her students through commissions and collaborations.
Building a network of colleagues and surrounding ourselves with mentors and peers who can help us grow and improve as teachers.
The transition from teaching middle school to earning her doctorate and teaching at Michigan State University.

Links:

Biography:

Beginning July 2018, Arris Golden is the assistant director of bands and associate director of the Spartan Marching Band at Michigan State University.

Before joining the faculty at Michigan State University, Golden was a member of the conducting faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and served as the assistant director of University Bands. In this position, she was the music director of the 265-member Marching Tar Heels, director of the Women’s Basketball Pep Band, conductor of the Symphony Band, and guest conductor with the Wind Ensemble. She also taught courses in music education.

Prior to her appointment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Golden was director of athletic bands at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina (2008-2009). While at Campbell, she oversaw the entire athletic band program, including the inaugural year of the “Sounds of the Sandhills” Football Pep Band and the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Pep Bands.

In addition, Golden served eight years as the director of bands at Gravelly Hill Middle School in Efland, North Carolina. During her tenure, Golden conducted an internationally recognized middle school concert band that participated in featured performances at the North Carolina Music Educators Association annual conference, in Winston Salem, North Carolina (2010) and at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, in Chicago, Illinois (2012). The bands at Gravelly Hill also worked with numerous clinicians, including the premier of four commissioned works for band: “Kitsune: The Fox Spirits,” by Brian Balmages (2009), “The Machine Awakes” for young band and electronics by Steven Bryant (2012), “Freight Train,” by Pierre LaPlante (2013), and “The Cave Your Fear” by Michael Markowski (2014).

Golden holds degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She recently completed the doctor of musical arts in wind conducting from Michigan State University as a 2014 recipient of a Michigan State University Distinguished Fellowship.

Episode 114 - John Denis Jun 03, 2019

John Denis is an Assistant Professor of Music Education at Texas State University. He has 8 years of teaching experience as a high school and middle school band director in Texas and is the host of the Program Notes: The Beginning Band Director Podcast.

Topics:

John’s background growing up West of Fort Worth and thoughts about why he became a teacher.
Some advice for young teachers who might be discouraged or burnt out in their first years of teaching.
The music education program at Texas State University.
Best practices for classroom management and a serious in-depth discussion of teaching beginning band.
Finding a music teaching job in Texas.

Links:

John Denis
Program Notes: The Beginning Band Director Podcast
For Clarinets Only by Marilyn Mattei
Intelligent Music Teaching by Robert A. Duke
Bocal Majority Method Books
Teaching Rhythm Logically by Darcy Vogt Williams
Grainger: Molly on the Shore

Biography:

John Denis, Assistant Professor of Music at Texas State University, has 8 years of Texas band directing experience working with middle school and high school students. He recently completed a PhD degree at the University of North Texas and is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, the Texas Music Adjudicator's Association, NAfME, Pi Kappa Lambda, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Dr. Denis has been active as a clinician in North Texas and Oregon. He has also presented at the TMEA Convention, California All-State Music Education Conference, Maryland Music Educators February Conference, the NAfME Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference, ISME World Conference, and NAfME Teacher In-service Conference.

Episode 113 - Arnald Gabriel May 27, 2019

Colonel Arnald Gabriel is among the most distinguished members of our profession, having been the commander and conductor of the United States Air Force band from 1964-1985.

Topics:

Colonel Gabriel’s early musical experiences and the story of Burton Stanley, the high school band director who pushed him to college after his return from serving in the Second World War.
The story of re-joining the service during the Korean War, this time as a conductor in the Air Force
Some of the remarkable events that helped shape his career and his accomplishments at the conductor of the Air Force Band.
Colonel Gabriel’s most important bit of wisdom for band directors.
Anecdotes from his career, including the story of Claude T. Smith’s Festival Variations and playing for Pope John Paul II in Rome.

Links:

Biography:

Col. Arnald D. Gabriel retired from the United States Air Force in 1985 following a distinguished 36 year military career, at which time he was awarded his third Legion of Merit for his service to the United States Air Force and to music education throughout the country.

He served as Commander/Conductor of the internationally renowned U.S. Air Force Band, Symphony Orchestra, and Singing Sergeants from 1964 to 1985. In 1990, he was named the first Conductor Emeritus of the USAF Band at a special concert held at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. Col. Gabriel served on the faculty of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia,from 1985 to 1995, as Conductor of the GMU Symphony Orchestra and as Chairman, Department of Music for eight of those years. In recognition of his ten years service to the university, he was named Professor Emeritus of Music.

A combat machine gunner with the United States Army’s famed 29th Infantry Division in Europe during WW II, Gabriel received two awards of the Bronze Star Medal and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

Following his separation from the Army in 1946, Gabriel enrolled in Ithaca College, where he earned both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Music Education. In 1989, his alma mater conferred upon him an Honorary Doctor of Music degree and in 1997, he was further honored with its Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2012, the Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic presented Col. Gabriel its first ever Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2015, he was elected Honorary Life Member of the American Bandmasters Association. In March 2017, he was named Honorary Life President of the American Bandmasters Association.

He is also listed in the International Who ‘s Who in Music, 7th edition. Col. Gabriel’s professional honors include the very first Citation of Excellence awarded by the National Band Association, the Mid-West National Band and Orchestra Clinic’s Gold Medal of Honor and its Distinguished Service to Music Award, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia’s New Millennium Lifetime Achievement Award and its rarely presented National Citation for “significant contributions to music in America”, Kappa Kappa Psi’s Distinguished Service to Music Award, Phi Beta Mu’s Outstanding Contribution to Bands Award, and the St. Cecilia Award from the University of Notre Dame.

Col. Gabriel was inducted into the National Band Association Hall of Fame of Distinguished Band Conductors, becoming the youngest person ever to have received this honor, and was an inaugural inductee to the Distinguished Alumni Wall of Fame of Cortland High School in Cortland, New York. He is also a Past President of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association. In 2008, the US Air Force Band dedicated the Arnald D. Gabriel Hall in his honor, and Bands of America inducted Col Gabriel into its Hall of Fame. Col. Gabriel has performed in all 50 of the United States and in 50 countries around the world.

In addition to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, among the hundreds of major orchestras and bands he has conducted are the Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Memphis, Florida, Glendale (California), Green Bay (Wisconsin), York and Williamsport (Pennsylvania), Fairfax (Virginia), Puerto Rico, and Tatui Sao Paulo (Brazil), symphony orchestras, the Carabiniere Band and the Air Force Band (Italy), the Band of the Royal Netherlands Marines, the Royal Hellenic Band (Greece), the Staff Music Corps (Bonn, Germany), the National Band of the Canadian Forces (Ottawa), The Dallas Wind Symphony, the Gamagori Band and the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra (Japan).

Col. Gabriel was named Music Director Emeritus of the McLean (VA) Orchestra for his outstanding leadership from 1986 to 2002. Col. Gabriel continues to appear as clinician at major state, regional, and university music festivals and guest conducts outstanding school, college, municipal, and military bands as well as orchestras around the world.

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This episode was edited on July 16, 2019 to correct inaccuracies in the original interview. For more information please see http://colgabriel.com/about.html.

Episode 112 - Tim Lautzenheiser May 20, 2019

Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser is among the most important advocates and leaders in the music education community. He is a co-author of the Essential Elements series and the Vice President of Education for Conn-Selmer, Inc. and he joined the show for a broad discussion about teaching and music education.

Topics:

Dr. Tim’s background and wisdom and a treasure trove of useful quotes, including:
- “Successful people don’t know how to not be successful.”
- “The only way to fail is to give up”
- “Persistence alone is omnipotent”
- “If it comes between being right and being kind, choose kind”
- “If you want to get people to follow you, put the emphasis on them”
- “You can take any situation and make something positive out of it, or you can just let it sit and rot there in front of you”
- “We all have 24 hours in a day, what do we do with it?”
- “Every problem comes back to the human ego”
- “Our toughest students make us the best teachers”
- “Motivation comes after, not before”
- “People only hear and understand what’s relevant to their perceived survival”
- “Truth is relative”
- “If all of us agree on everything, some of us are unnecessary”
- “Are you now here, or are you nowhere?”

Links:

Biography:

Tim Lautzenheiser began his teaching career at Northern Michigan University. He then moved to the University of Missouri, and from there to New Mexico State University. During that time, Tim developed highly acclaimed groups in both instrumental and vocal music.

Following his tenure in the college band directing world, he spent three years with McCormick’s Enterprises working as Executive Director of Bands of America. In 1981, Tim created Attitude Concepts for Today, Inc., an organization designed to manage the many requests for teacher inservice workshops, student leadership seminars, and convention speaking engagements focusing on the area of effective leadership training. After thirty-plus years of clinic presentations, some three million students have experienced one of his popular sessions.

Tim presently serves as Vice President of Education for Conn-Selmer, Inc. He is a nationally recognized voice touting the importance of arts education for every child.

His books, produced by G.I.A. Publications, Inc., continue to be bestsellers in the educational community. He is also co-author of popular band method, Essential Elements, as well as the Senior Educational Consultant for Hal Leonard, Inc. Tim is also the Senior Educational Advisor for Music for All, and NAMM (The National Association of Music Merchants).

He holds degrees from Ball State University and the University of Alabama; in 1995 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the VanderCook College of Music. He continues to teach as an adjunct faculty member at: Ball State University, Indiana-Purdue/Ft. Wayne University, and Butler University. In addition, he is a member of the Midwest Clinic Board of Directors and the Western International Band Clinic/American Band College Board of Directors. He is presently the Chair of the National Association for Music Education Music Honor Society (Tri-M).

Episode 111 - Charlie McGhee May 13, 2019

Charles McGhee is the band director at Double Peak School in the San Marcos Unified School District, just North of San Diego. This is Charlie’s final year as a band director and he joins the show to share some of the wisdom he's learned in 30 years of teaching.

Topics:

Charlie’s background as a percussionist and his choice to go to college in his 20’s to earn his teaching credential.
A long discussion about some of the skills required to be a successful middle school music educator including topics such as discipline and motivational tools.
Charlie’s current gig at Double Peak and the interesting way that his students are introduced to instrumental music.
To offer saxophone or not in beginning band day one?
This is Charlie’s retirement year and we talk about his feelings as he approaches the end of his time as a full time music teacher.

Links:

Biography:

Charlie McGhee is in his 30th year as a Middle School music teacher. He began his career in Escondido Union School District and for the last 25 years he has been teaching in the San Marcos Unified School District. During his tenure as a music teacher, Charlie has had the privilege of starting music programs in 5 different North County schools; Rincon Middle, L.R. Green, Woodland Park Middle, San Elijo Middle and Double Peak K-8 School.

Charlie’s current assignment is Double Peak K-8 School where he was able to design an intensive music program for all the students Kinder thru 8th grade, which involves music classes twice a week for the younger grades. Then, in the upper grades everyone gets class instruction on recorders, violin, Clarinet, and finally on trumpet before starting their career in Beginning Band.

Although Charlie teaches Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Band, his passion has always been for Jazz band, which he also started at each of his school assignments. In fact, ten years ago, while he was at San Elijo Middle School, he started his own Jazz Festival where, after the students perform and are graded with comments by professionals, the judges and the teachers get up on stage and perform for the students! There is nothing more exciting than for these students to see their director’s play jazz.

Charlie’s philosophy of Music Education stems from the conviction that students need to feel connected to school. Music Education addresses the needs of many students who have not found a connection in their other classes. Therefore, the cornerstone of his philosophy is to first, involve the students in music, then, support and encourage them through “the difficult things like, the rigor of playing an instrument”, and finally instill in them a passion for a lifetime.

Charlie’s Bands consistently score superior ratings at festivals as he holds the highest expectations for his students. During his career, Charlie has been awarded “Teacher of the Year” at four different schools and once was the District Teacher of the Year” for San Marcos Unified. Over the years, he has been sought after as an Honor Band Director and he has presented several Jazz clinics for both CMEA and SCSBOA conferences. Most recently, Charlie was awarded the “Educator of the year” award by the San Diego Youth Symphony at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido. Charlie incorporates a Parent Band Booster organization to assist him in making the musical experience more exciting and special for the students. Charlie’s students regularly attend festivals and clinics at Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm. He always has his eye out for new places for his students to perform! Performances always make the experience of playing music fresh and exciting! Charlie has played professionally his entire life on drums and percussion. Among the many bands that Charlie regularly plays with is the Ira Liss Big Band Jazz Machine from San Diego. He has recorded 5 CDs with this organization. Charlie is from San Diego and lives with his wife Jane in Encinitas. When Charlie is not at school or playing music you can find him jogging on the beach or with a fishing pole in his hand.

Episode 110- Jacquie Dawson May 06, 2019

Jacquie Dawson is the Director of Bands at the University of Manitoba. Prior to this position she was a highly successful band director at several schools in the Winnipeg area.

Topics:

Jacquie's early musical education including a discussion of an early move from flute to clarinet and the music teacher who helped her find the right instrument.
Jacquie's difficult first year as a music teacher and the lessons that we can take from her experience.
Her teaching career, building a culture and community around her band programs, and her move the University of Manitoba.
Teaching artistry to even the youngest students.

Links:

Biography:

Noted for her unique ability to create an inspiring ensemble experience and sculpt an impressive wind band sound, Jacquie Dawson has had a marked impact on the wind band community in Manitoba for two decades. She is in demand as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator across Canada. Jacquie has been published in the Canadian Music Educator Journal and the Canadian Winds Journal, and has presented at numerous conferences across Canada including the Canadian Music Educators’ Association National Conference. Her research interests are in community music, the relationship between music education and the cultivation of community, as well as inclusion in instrumental music education.

Episode 109 - Omar Thomas Apr 29, 2019

Composer Omar Thomas is one of the brightest new talents in the band community, using his jazz background to write powerful works with a social conscience.

Topics:

Omar’s background in his high school music program and a young trombonist and why he doesn’t remember his high school cafeteria.
Some tips for teaching jazz and some advice for teaching the language of swing.
The story about how Omar was commissioned to write his first large scale work for wind ensemble (“Of our New Day Begun”) to honor the victims of the shooting a the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
“When does an opportunity present itself when you’re ready? The answer is never.”
Omar’s position at the Peabody Conservatory and the lessons that musicians can take from dancers.

Links:

Biography:

Described as "elegant, beautiful, sophisticated, intense, and crystal clear in emotional intent," the music of Omar Thomas continues to move listeners everywhere it is performed. Born to Guyanese parents in Brooklyn, New York in 1984, Omar moved to Boston in 2006 to pursue a Master of Music in Jazz Composition at the New England Conservatory of Music. He is the protégé of lauded composers and educators Ken Schaphorst and Frank Carlberg, and has studied under multiple Grammy-winning composer and bandleader Maria Schneider.

Hailed by Herbie Hancock as showing "great promise as a new voice in the further development of jazz in the future," educator, arranger, and award-winning composer Omar Thomas has created music extensively in the contemporary jazz ensemble idiom. It was while completing his Master of Music Degree that he was appointed the position of Assistant Professor of Harmony at Berklee College of Music at the surprisingly young age of 23. He was awarded the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award in 2008, and invited by the ASCAP Association to perform his music in their highly exclusive JaZzCap Showcase, held in New York City. In 2012, Omar was named the Boston Music Award's "Jazz Artist of the Year." He is currently on faculty in the Music Theory department at The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Omar's music has been performed in concert halls the world over. He has been commissioned to create works in both jazz and classical styles. His work has been performed by such diverse groups as the Eastman New Jazz Ensemble, the San Francisco and Boston Gay Mens' Choruses, and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, in addition to a number of the country's top collegiate music ensembles. Omar has had a number of celebrated singers perform over his arrangements, including Stephanie Mills, Yolanda Adams, Nona Hendryx, BeBe Winans, Kenny Lattimore, Marsha Ambrosius, Sheila E., Raul Midon, Leela James, Dionne Warwick, and Chaka Khan. His work is featured on Dianne Reeves's Grammy Award-winning album, "Beautiful Life."

Omar's first album, "I AM," debuted at #1 on iTunes Jazz Charts and peaked at #13 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Albums Chart. His second release, " We Will Know: An LGBT Civil Rigths Piece in Four Movements," has been hailed by Grammy Award-wining drummer, composer, and producer Terri Lyne Carrington as being a "thought provoking, multi-layered masterpiece" which has "put him in the esteemed category of great artists." "We Will Know" was awarded two OUTMusic Awards, including "Album of the Year." For this work, Omar was named the 2014 Lavender Rhino Award recipient by The History Project, acknowledging his work as an up-and-coming activist in the Boston LGBTQ community. Says Terri Lyne: "Omar Thomas will prove to be one of the more important composer/arrangers of his time."

Episode 108 - Cathi Leibinger Apr 22, 2019

Cathi Leibinger is the band director at Ransom Everglades Middle School, the current president of the Florida Bandmasters Association, and knows just about everyone in the band world!

Topics:

Cathi’s early musical experiences, her educational background, and early experiences as a horn player and music educator.
The organization of the program at Ransom Everglades Middle School and some discussion of the specific pedagogical decisions Cathi has made with her students.
The Band Director's Facebook group.
Cathi’s long association with the American Band College and why she seems to know everyone.
Cathi shares an anecdote about Sam Pilafian and then talks a bit about her impostor syndrome and how she deals with it.

Links:

Biography:

Cathi Leibinger is currently in her 30th year of teaching middle school in Miami Florida. she is the current president of the Florida Bandmasters Association and has been a staff member at the American Band College since 1999. With degrees from Millikin University and Southern Oregon University, Cathi is the founder and executive director of the Music Mentor Network.

Episode 107 - Onsby Rose Apr 15, 2019

Composer and conductor Onsby Rose has had a remarkably diverse career as a performer, teacher, and railroad conductor and was recently appointed Director of Instrumental Activities/Associate Professor of Music at Dordt College.

Topics:

An overview of Onsby’s remarkably diverse career including a discussion about being a Marine Corps musician and his move to the classroom after a career working with professionals.
How Onsby started to compose, his relationship with David Maslanka, and his recent success as a composer.
His thoughts about what’s most important to teach aspiring music educators.

Links:

Biography:

Onsby C. Rose hails from Royal Oak, Mi but grew up primarily in Abingdon, Va. Upon graduation from Abingdon High School in 1993, Mr. Rose attended the University of South Carolina as a music education major. After three years of studies, Onsby auditioned and was accepted a trombone instrumentalist for the US Marine Corps Fleet Band system. He then attended recruit training in Parris Island, SC, and Marine Combat training in Camp Lejeune, NC. Private First Class Rose was then transferred to the Armed Forces School of Music where he completed the six-month course of study in only two months. Upon his graduation from the School of Music then Lance Corporal Rose was assigned to the Marine Corps Logistics Base Band in Albany, GA as a trombonist. While there he also served as a music librarian and drill writer/instructor, writing and teaching Drum Corps style fields shows to the band for use at military tattoos. In Oct. of 1999, then Corporal Rose auditioned and was accepted for Duty with one of the two premier musical units in the USMC, The United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps “The Commandant’s Own,” and was transferred to historic Marine Barracks 8th and I Streets SE, Washington D.C. While there Sergeant Rose served as a baritone bugler and assistant instrument repairman as well as deploying to Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait as musical support. Upon his re-enlistment, Sergeant Rose was transferred back into the Fleet Marine Corps bands as a trombonist with Marine Corps Band New Orleans, in New Orleans, LA. During his four years in the Crescent City, Onsby served as trombone and low brass section head, travel operations chief, brass quintet Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge, Small Ensemble Leader, Fiscal Chief, platoon sergeant, assistant drum major and assistant conductor. He toured internationally with the Brass quintet and visited 42 states and Europe in the course of his duties. In 2004 upon his promotion to Staff Sergeant he was accepted for the Marine Staff Non-Commissioned Officers Degree Completion Program where he attended East Tennessee State University and finished his Bachelor of Music degree and also studied conducting with Roxanne Haskill. After graduation Staff Sergeant Rose was transferred to the Armed Forces School of Music in Norfolk, VA where he served on staff as brass ensemble rehearsal conductor and registrar for the school of music. In 2007 Mr. Rose was Honorably discharged from the USMC after 11 years of faithful service. He then pursued activities outside the music field while he freelanced as a trombone player in Indiana, Virginia, and Tennessee.

In 2012, following the death of his wife Julia, Onsby returned to a full time music position and was hired as the Director of Bands at Hampton High School and Elementary in Carter County, TN. Mr. Rose served as the Director of Bands in Hampton for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years. During his time there his bands consistently received superior ratings in both marching and concert performances in addition the enrollment in the overall band program increasing 10 fold. Following his time in Tennessee, Onsby was a Graduate Conducting Associate with the Bands of Appalachian State University where he conducted the wind ensembles, team taught music education classes, and helped administrate and teach the athletic bands under the guidance of the Director and Associate Director of Bands. Following his time in the high countrym Onsby was blessed to be accepted as a Graduate Conducting Associate for The Ohio State University. Currently a second year Doctoral Conducting Associate at The Ohio State University, Onsby studies conducting with Dr. Russel Mikkelson. After completion of his DMA, he hopes to become a Director or Associate Director of Bands at a college or university. He is also currently the music director and conductor of The Brass Band of Appalachia from Bristol, Virginia. The group consists of numerous professional brass players from the region coming together to form a British style brass band. Mr. Rose is honored to have been asked to become the first music director and conductor of this new group as well as a co-founder along with his friends Mr. Will Shell, and Dr. Art Haecker.

In his spare time when not being a husband, father and graduate student, Onsby enjoys music composition for winds. His recent composition for wind band entitled Heroes from the Sea is set to have the world premiere by "The President's Own" United States Marine Band, on August 30th, 2017 during their concert on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building. The work is approximately at the 4.5 grade level and can be purchased on this website or by emailing Onsby directly at onsby.rose@gmail.com.

Onsby is a member of the Tennessee Secondary Schools Band Director Association (TSSBDA), East Tennessee State Band and Orchestra Directors Association (ETSBOA), North Carolina Music Educators Association (NCMEA), National Band Association (NBA), National Association for Music Education (NAFME), College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia National Music Fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi Band Service Fraternity, and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. He has held positions as a trombonist with the Johnson City Symphony, Kingsport Symphony, Elkhart Symphony, Band of America’s Few Marine Musician Alumni Band, State Line Wind Symphony, Elkhart Municipal Band, Truth in Jazz Big Band, and the various active duty Fleet Marine Corps Bands with which he served. His is the recipient of the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (2nd Award), National Defense Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Navy Unit Citation Award, Marine Corps Meritorious Unit Award, and numerous other awards and citations from his military career.

Onsby currently lives in Blacklick, Ohio with his wife Jessica and their five boys, Aidan, Timothy, Caleb, Elijah, and Colin.

Episode 106 - Brian Balmages Apr 08, 2019

Composer and conductor Brian Balmages is the Director of Instrumental Publications for The FJH Music Company and a passionate advocate for music education.

Topics:

Brian’s background growing up as the son of a band director and the influence his father had on his early musical career.
Brian’s move from performer to composer and conductor and his approach to writing music for young band and orchestra.
The role of the conductor in an ensemble and the importance of programming music that inspires you and your students.
What it looks like to commission a work from Brian and his role at FJH Publications.

Links:

Biography:

Brian Balmages (b. 1975) is an award-winning composer, conductor, producer, and performer. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music from James Madison University and a master’s degree from the University of Miami in Florida. His compositions have been performed worldwide at the state, national and international level. His active schedule of commissions and premieres has incorporated groups ranging from elementary schools to professional ensembles, including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Miami Symphony Orchestra, University of Miami Wind Ensemble, Boston Brass, and the Dominion Brass Ensemble. In 2012, Mr. Balmages received the prestigious Albert Austin Harding Award from the American School Band Directors Association. He is also a 2010 winner of the Harvey G. Phillips Award for Compositional Excellence, presented by the International Tuba-Euphonium Association.

As a conductor, Mr. Balmages enjoys engagements with numerous all-state and regional honor bands and orchestras along with university and professional groups. Notable guest conducting appearances have included the Midwest Clinic, Western International Band Clinic, National Association for Music Educators, American School Band Directors Association, CBDNA, the Kennedy Center, and Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. He has also served as an adjunct professor of instrumental conducting and Acting Symphonic Band Director at Towson University in Maryland.

Currently, Mr. Balmages is the Director of Instrumental Publications for The FJH Music Company Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He resides in Baltimore with his wife Lisa and their two sons.

Episode 105 - Philip Obado Apr 01, 2019

Philip Obado is the Director of Bands at Allen ISD in Allen, Texas where he oversees a high school and middle school band program with over 1,800 musicians.

Topics:

The story of how Phil went from dreaming about a career as a concert trombonist to earning a doctorate in conducting and eventually landing as the director of bands for one of the largest high school music programs in the country.
The decision to leave his position as the Assistant Director of Bands at Baylor University to return to high school teaching.
The structure of the program at Allen and how Phil and his assistant directors are able to manage what is very likely the largest marching band in the world by developing a culture of leadership.
A very general conversation about student discipline, having them buy into a program, and teaching by putting the students first.
The extremely hierarchical band boosters at Allen High School and how they support the program.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Philip A. Obado is currently the Director of Bands at Allen I.S.D. in Allen, Texas. His responsibilities include serving as director of bands at Allen High School where he oversees the Allen Eagle Escadrille as well as conducts the AHS Wind Ensemble, Concert Band White (Fall), Concert Band II (Spring), and Jazz Band II. In addition to Dr. Obado’s teaching duties, he helps maintain a comprehensive and vertically aligned band curriculum (grades 6-12) with the help of the directors at Allen High School, Lowery Freshman Campus, Curtis Middle School, Ereckson Middle School, and Ford Middle School. Dr. Obado was previously Assistant Director of Bands at the Baylor University School of Music. His responsibilities included serving as Associate Director of the Golden Wave Band, director of the Courtside Players, director of the Concert Band, and teaching courses in conducting. Prior to this appointment at Baylor, Dr. Obado was Associate Director of Bands at Illinois State University where he was the director of the Big Red Marching Machine, conducted the Symphonic Winds and Symphonic Band, and taught courses in conducting and marching band techniques. He has also enjoyed twelve years teaching in the Florida public schools most notably as the Director of Bands at East River High School (Orlando), University High School (Orlando), and South Fork High School (Stuart).

Originally from Florida, Dr. Obado received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in wind conducting from Michigan State University, a Master of Music Education degree from Florida State University, and a Bachelor of Music in Education and Performance from Ithaca College. His primary conducting teachers include Kevin Sedatole, John T. Madden, Stephen Peterson, and James Croft. Dr. Obado’s professional affiliations include the College Band Directors National Association, National Band Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, and is an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Tau Beta Sigma.

Episode 104 - Elisa Janson Jones Mar 25, 2019

Elisa Janson Jones is a band teacher, community band conductor, blogger, podcaster, public speaker, the founder of the online Music Education Summit.

Topics:

Elisa’s origin story as the daughter of a prominent band director in Utah including her early music education and influences.
The story of how Elisa used her experience, her network, and her personal skills to successfully open up a new middle school despite it being her first year of teaching.
How getting an MBA while raising her children ultimately led her back into music education and the skills that she learned from that degree that transfer to the music classroom, including thoughts about fundraising.
Tips for successfully finding grants for your program.
The online Music Education Summit that is coming up this summer and a code (EVERYTHINGBAND20) to save 20% off of the registration fee.

Links:

Biography:

Elisa Janson Jones specializes in helping music educators build, grow, and manage thriving school music programs. With an MBA alongside her degree in music, she is also a coach and consultant to small businesses and nonprofits around the country, and serves as the conductor of her local community band. She has been teaching music for nearly 20 years and currently holds the prestigious position of elementary music teacher at a private K-8 Catholic School in Grand Junction, Colorado. Elisa is an in-demand conference presenter, founder of the International Music Education Summit, producer of the 'Music Ed Mentor Podcast', and the author of "The Music Educator’s Guide to Thrive", the "Band Booster Manual", and co-author of "Best Practices for Music Educators".

Episode 103 - Jennifer Jolley Mar 18, 2019

Composer Jennifer Jolley is on the faculty at Texas Tech University and Interlochen and is a member of ADJ*ective New Music and the Blue Dot Collective. In this episode she discusses her career, including how she got into writing for band.

Topics:

Jennifer’s background and her current gig as a composition professor at Texas Tech University.
Combining electronic music with band and how composers can best help teachers bring these types of works to life.
How Jennifer got involved in writing music for band and the story of “And The Eyes of the World are Upon You” commissioned by Jerry Junkin and Kappa Kappa Psi.
The Fail Blog.
Jennifer’s thoughts about self-publishing and distributors and why that’s important for composers.
The story of how Jennifer has recognized that her anxiety was in getting in the way of her happiness and the story of her decision to seek help.

Links:

Biography:

Composer Jennifer Jolley’s diverse catalog includes choral, orchestral, wind ensemble, chamber, and electronic works. She has been commissioned by ensembles and institutions across the United States, including the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, University of Texas at Austin, Bowling Green State University, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, The Canales Project, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, among others. She is Assistant Professor of Composition at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, is the co-founder of North American New Opera Workshop, and has written articles for the e-zine NewMusicBox.

In recent years, Jennifer has been increasingly drawn toward subjects that are political and even provocative. Her 2015 collaboration with librettist Kendall A, Prisoner of Conscience, sets to music statements made by the Russian punk-rock band Pussy Riot as they stood trial in Moscow for “hooliganism” and “religious hatred.” Quince Ensemble has performed the piece widely and has released a recording on their album Motherland with New Focus Recordings. Jennifer’s 2017 piece The Eyes of the World Are Upon You, commissioned by the University of Texas at Austin Wind Ensemble, reflects on the first-ever campus shooting in America, which took place at UT-Austin in 1966.

Jennifer’s blog—on which she has catalogued more than 100 rejection letters from competitions, festivals, and prizes—is widely read and admired by professional musicians. She is particularly passionate about this project as a composition teacher, and enjoys removing the taboo around “failure” for her students. In addition to her professorship at Texas Tech, she is a member of the composition faculty at Interlochen Arts Camp.

Jennifer deeply values the relationship that is created between composers and the communities with whom they collaborate. She has been composer-in-residence at Brevard College, University of Toledo, and the Vermont Symphony, and was in-residence at the Central Michigan University School of Music and the Alba Music Festival in Italy in 2018. She will be the Composer-in-Residence of the Women Composers Festival of Hartford in 2019.

Jennifer Jolley took 2nd Place for the 2017–18 American Prize in Composition (Band/Wind Ensemble Division) and was a finalist for the the Symphony Number One Call for Scores. She holds degrees from the University of Southern California and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where her principal teachers included Stephen Hartke, Frank Ticheli, Michael Fiday, Joel Hoffman, and Douglas Knehans.

Episode 102 - Rachel Maxwell Mar 11, 2019

Rachel Maxwell has enjoyed tremendous success as the Director of Bands at Traughber Junior High School in Oswego, Illinois where she teaches over 400 students in three bands.

Topics:

The organization of the program at Traughber Middle School and how the growth of the town has changed her program during her tenure.
Dividing bands strictly by grade levels and the goal to help every kid be successful regardless of their ability level and challenges.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
How teaching college music theory and aural skills relates to teaching band.
Rachel’s background growing up in Rockford, Illinois and how the size of her horn case almost ended her musical career before it got started.
The Traughber Band Literature Commision Project and how a conversation at the Chicago Hilton with John Mackey led to his work “The Sheltering Sky” and has continued with pieces from Donald Grantham, Scott McAllister, Dana Wilson, Julie Giroux, Randall Standridge, and David Biedenbender.
#BandFamous

Links:

Biography:

Rachel J. Maxwell attended Illinois State University and graduated in 1993 (Summa Cum Laude) with a Bachelor`s Degree in Music Education. She received a Master of Music Education degree from the University of Illinois in 1997. In 2003 she completed a Master of Educational Leadership degree from Aurora University. Mrs. Maxwell has also completed additional coursework in team-building, leadership and working with diverse students. Mrs. Maxwell has taught band in the West Aurora School District (1993-95) and in the Oswego School District (1995-present).

Mrs. Maxwell currently serves as the Director of Bands at Traughber Junior High School and as the Junior High Band Coordinator for the district. She has taught music education courses at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago and North Central College in Naperville, IL and has been invited to be a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator at a number of music camps and festivals including the Music for All National Summer Symposium, the NC All-State Middle School Band, ISYM at the Univ. of Illinois, Il State Univ. Junior High Camp and several IMEA District Level Festivals.

She is also a part of the team from Oswego who commissioned and premiered Sheltering Sky (2012) by John Mackey , Sol ye Sombra (2014) by Donald Grantham, Atmosphere (2016) by Scott McAllister and Our Cast Aways (2018) Julie Giroux. She is also involved in several consortium commissions: Shubuduba (2017) by Dana Wilson and N-BEAM (2017) https://mobleyj.wixsite.com/nbeam, Frogs (2018) by Randall Standridge.

Under her direction the bands at Traughber JHS have received national acclaim and have performed at The Midwest Clinic (two clinic presentations and rehearsal lab group), the Illinois Music Educators Association All State Conference (three formal concerts and four clinic presentations), the University of Illinois Super-state Festival and at the ASBDA National Convention.

Rachel Maxwell is a member of the The National Association of Music Education, Illinois Music Educators Association, American School Band Directors Association, National Band Association, Phi Beta Mu, National Council of Supervisors of Music Education, and a number of honor societies. She is the recipient of the Who`s Who Among American Teachers Award, Who`s Who Among Emerging Leaders Award, Who`s Who In American Education Award, Who`s Who Among American Women Award, ASBDA/UMI Outstanding Young Band Director Award-Junior High Division for the North Central Region of the United States, Chicago-land Outstanding Music Educator, National Band Association Citation of Excellence, and the National Recipient of the Jim Ott (Drum Corps International) Scholarship. She also serves on the advisory team for the dynamic professional learning Facebook site Band Directors Group; A World-Wide Professional Learning Community and is the author of thebandroomspage.com.

Episode 101 - Bruce Pearson Mar 04, 2019

Bruce Pearson is the teacher, composer, and author behind the Best in Class, Standard of Excellence, and Tradition of Excellence (with Ryan Nowlin) method books.

Topics:

Bruce talks about his method books starting with Best In Class, Standard of Excellence, and Tradition of Excellence and then offers advice about choosing method books.
Bruce’s background growing up playing both clarinet and hockey, and the similarities between music and athletics.
Bruce’s early career, a flirtation with medical school, and how a move to teaching beginners at the elementary school level sharpened his teaching skills and changed the trajectory of his career.
How to foster a culture of excellence in your program.
Bruce talks about teaching from sound to sight, how to properly teach a whole note, and talks about the questions most asked about his method books.

Links:

Biography:

Bruce Pearson is a world-renowned music educator, author, composer, and clinician. He is the author of the Standard of Excellence Comprehensive Band Method which has been regarded as the most important contribution to the band music field in the last three decades and for his first contribution, Best In Class. His new contribution, co-authored with Ryan Nowlin, the Tradition of Excellence Comprehensive Band Method, is a performance-centered curriculum that seamlessly blends time-tested and innovative pedagogy with cutting-edge technology. He also co-authored, with Dean Sorenson of the Standard of Excellence Jazz Ensemble Method and the Standard of Excellence Advanced Jazz Ensemble Method.

In addition to his method books, Dr. Pearson is well-known as a composer of many widely performed compositions for concert band and jazz ensemble. He has led clinics in all fifty of the United States and has been guest conductor and clinician, by invitation, of countries throughout the Pacific Rim, the Orient, Europe, and the Canadian provinces.

Bruce Pearson has taught at the elementary, junior high, high school, and college levels for over thirty years. Twice nominated for the prestigious Excellence in Education Award, he was recognized as “most outstanding in the field of music” for the state of Minnesota. In December, 1998, Dr. Pearson, “in recognition of his outstanding contribution to music education,” was awarded the prestigious Midwest International Clinic Band and Orchestra Conference Medal of Honor. In 2001, he was awarded St. Cloud State University’s Distinguished Service To Music Award “in appreciation for lifelong contribution to music and music education”. In 2007, Dr. Pearson received St. Cloud State University’s “Distinguished Alumni Award.” That same year he was recognized as the first Patron for the Maryborough Conference in Queensland, Australia. The American School Band Directors Association conferred on Dr. Pearson the 2014 Edwin Franko Goldman Award “as a symbol of high esteem and respect, and as a measure of appreciation and gratitude for outstanding personal contributions to the school band movement.” Additionally, Dr. Pearson has been recognized as a University of Northern Colorado “2017 Honored Alumni”.

Dr. Pearson continues to serve as a guest lecturer, clinician, and conductor in addition to his work as a composer, arranger, and author. He and his wife Dee have been married for over fifty years, have three children and nine grandchildren.

Episode 100 - John Mackey Feb 25, 2019

Episode 100! John Mackey joins me for a conversation about his hugely successful career, from Commodore 64 through his remarkable "Places We Can No Longer Go" that was recently premiered at CBDNA 2019!

Topics:

The story of how John went from writing primarily chamber and orchestral music to becoming one of the most celebrated composers of music for wind ensemble and band.
John’s background growing up and learning music and how to compose not in a traditional band, choir, or orchestra but instead on his computer through thousands of hours entering music via a joystick and reverse engineering what he was transcribing.
The value of self publishing and the story of John’s growth from printing and shipping everything himself to having two employees to handle his current workload.
The impact of writing dance music and how it’s influenced his compositional style and then an extended discussion of impostor syndrome, including John’s feelings about his most recent work Places We Can No Longer Go written about his mother’s battle with dementia and premiered at CBDNA just this past weekend.

Links:

Biography:

John Mackey has written for orchestras (Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York Youth Symphony), theater (Dallas Theater Center), and extensively for dance (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Parsons Dance Company, New York City Ballet), but the majority of his work for the past decade has been for wind ensembles (the fancy name for concert bands), and his band catalog now receives annual performances numbering in the thousands. Recent commissions include works for the BBC Singers, the Dallas Wind Symphony, military, high school, middle school, and university bands across America and Japan, and concertos for Joseph Alessi (principal trombone, New York Philharmonic) and Christopher Martin (principal trumpet, New York Philharmonic). In 2014, he became the youngest composer ever inducted into the American Bandmasters Association. In 2018, he received the Wladimir & Rhoda Lakond Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with his spouse, A.E. Jaques, who titles all of his pieces (and also teaches at MIT).

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Episode 99 - Anthony Barfield Feb 18, 2019

Anthony Barfield is a composer and music producer in New York City. In this episode Anthony discusses his early career as a trombonist, his “Heritage Concerto” for euphonium and band, and also a bit about his current career as a producer for commercial and urban music.

Topics:

Anthony’s background growing up on his family farm in Mississippi and how the work ethic developed as a child has helped him achieve success as a musician.
How Anthony’s success in high school helped to give him an identity outside, the impact of his middle school and high school band directors on his musical growth, and how the television show “Family Matters” may have helped him develop perfect pitch.
The story of how Anthony kept leveraging his success into opportunity, including how being brave and persistent led him to studying trombone with Joe Alessi at Juilliard, and how that relationship led to his career as a composer.
Anthony’s music for band and the story of the Heritage Concerto and his current work in commercial music.

Links:

Biography:

Anthony Barfield is a Composer and Producer based in New York City. Known for his lyrical writing style, his compositions have been performed throughout the U.S. and Europe. Anthony has received commissions from groups such as The University of Kentucky Wind Ensemble and Joseph Alessi of the New York Philharmonic. He made his Carnegie Hall debut at the 2012 New York Wind Band Festival where his work "Here We Rest" was performed. In demand as a composer in residence, Mr. Barfield has had performances at College Bandmasters National Association and has worked with groups such as The United States Army Band "Pershing's Own." Anthony released his first composition album in the fall of 2013 titled "Chapter II" with The University of Alabama Wind Ensemble. Anthony studied composition with C.P. First, Avner Dorman, Thomas Cabaniss, and Nils Vigeland.

Episode 98 - Jason Nam Feb 11, 2019

Jason Nam is the Associate Director of Bands at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. In this episode Everything Band went "on the road" to Bloomington and had a chance to chat with Jason in the IU band offices.

Topics:

The importance of doing your best in every stop and how opportunity can come from those around seeing you value and not wanting to let you get away.
Thoughts about building relationships and connections and how awareness of these relationships can help guide your interactions with fellow professionals as well as your band parents.
Advice for creating a multi-year plan for your band program, including a conversation about band music and the perception that music for education is of lesser value than more advanced works.
Jason’s background growing up in Southern California, attending the University of Redlands, his subsequent teaching and his move to the University of Indiana where he is an Assistant Professor of Music and Associate Director of Bands in the Jacobs School of Music.
Collaboration and commissions in the band community and particularly at Indiana University.

Links:

Jason Nam Indiana University University of Redlands SCSBOA Indiana University Summer Music Clinic Dahl: Sinfonietta

Biography:

Jason H. Nam is assistant professor of music and associate director of bands at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he directs the Concert Band and teaches undergraduate courses in instrumental conducting and administration of school bands.

Nam earned a Doctor of Music in Wind Conducting degree from the Jacobs School, where he studied with Stephen W. Pratt. He also earned an M.M. in Conducting and a B.M. in Music Education from the University of Redlands, where he studied with Eddie R. Smith. Prior to his graduate degree work, he served as a lecturer in the Department of Music at California State University San Bernardino and as director of bands at La Colina Junior High School and San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, California. More recently, he has served as a faculty member, ensemble conductor, and assistant director of the Indiana University Summer Music Clinic. In addition, Nam currently serves as resident music director of the Southern Indiana Wind Ensemble.

Nam keeps a very busy schedule as a conductor, adjudicator, and clinician across the United States and North America. As a trumpet player, he has freelanced and performed with numerous orchestras, chamber ensembles, and jazz ensembles in the southern and central coast regions of California, including with the Redlands Symphony Orchestra. As a conductor, he was honored to be named a national finalist for The American Prize in Conducting (Band/Wind Ensemble division) in 2017.

He has been published in the Journal of the National Band Association and the American Bandmasters Association’s Journal of Band Research. His research interests include the music of William Bolcom, the wind chamber music of Igor Stravinsky, the historical development of the wind band repertoire in the twentieth century, as well as effective rehearsal methodologies for conductors. He completed a new band transcription of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom’s Inventing Flight: A Suite for Orchestra of Thumbnail Portraits. The transcription was completed with the permission of Bolcom and his publisher, Edward B. Marks Music Company. In March 2016, the band version of Inventing Flight was officially published by E. B. Marks Music Company and made available as a rental to bands worldwide.

Nam holds professional memberships in the College Band Directors National Association, National Band Association, Conductor's Guild, Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association, Indiana Music Education Association, and Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society, and is a proud member of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity of America.

He currently lives in Bloomington, Ind., with his wife, Melissa and son, Davis.

Episode 97 - T. André Feagin Feb 04, 2019

T. André Feagin is the assistant director of bands at Colorado State University. He joins the show to talk about his career and his involvement in DCI, and to share his thoughts about how conductors are advocates for the composer.

Topics:

T. André’s early musical training through high school and college and some excellent advice for directors and teachers considering a decision to return to graduate work full time.
T. André’s experience growing up with DCI from the age of 17 and his continued involvement in the activity.
How to know when it is time to change jobs or career direction and how to know when you’re in a good job or position.
“In the end, the only thing that matters is the music you make and the people you make it with.”
Thoughts about the commissioning process and the importance of being a composer’s advocate.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. T. André Feagin is the assistant director of bands and assistant professor of music at Colorado State University. At CSU his job duties include serving as conductor of the Symphonic Band, director of the CSU Marching Band, Presidential Pep Band, and Basketball Pep Band. In addition, he teaches courses in undergraduate conducting and marching band techniques. Prior to this appointment, he served as director of bands at Coastal Carolina University (SC) and associate director of bands at the University of Texas at El Paso. Dr. Feagin has appeared with numerous All-state and regional honor bands throughout the United States, Canada, and Southeast Asia. Previous engagements include serving as conductor of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) All-National Concert Band, conductor of the Massachusetts All-State Band, the New Mexico All-State Concert Band, and the New England Intercollegiate Band. He has presented clinics on conducting, leadership, and the marching arts at the Arizona Music Educators Association State Convention, The Savannah State University Conducting Workshop (GA), The Universiti Teknologi MARA in Selangor, Malaysia, the South Carolina Music Educators Association State Convention, the Georgia State University Leadership Institute, the New England Band Directors Institute (NH), and the NAfME National Conference. Dr. Feagin’s research and scholarly activities include serving as a contributing author in multiple volumes of the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. In addition, he has been featured in the Instrumentalist, Teaching Music, and Billboard magazines. His doctoral research studies Spanish wind composer Bernardo Adam Ferrero and his wind composition Homenaje a Joaquín Sorolla. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including a proclamation of “Professor T. André Feagin Day” from the Mayor and City Council of El Paso, Texas.

Episode 96 - Matt Conaway Jan 28, 2019

Composer and arranger Matt Conaway is the associate director of the Purdue "All American" marching band with his original music and arrangements published by C.L. Barnhouse and Hal Leonard.

Topics:

Matt’s position at Purdue University.
Matt’s musical background including his grandmother who played honky tonk piano.
Ways that we can support the careers of aspiring young composers and conductors that find their way into our classrooms.
Matt’s education and his teaching position in West Lafayette, Indiana and his move to Purdue University.
Matt’s composing including the story of how he got started and his work with C.L. Barnhouse and Hal Leonard.
Commissions and some thoughts on the new trend of crowdsourcing consortium commissions.

Links:

Biography:

Matthew R. Conaway was appointed to the Purdue faculty in August 2012 as an Assistant Professor, and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure in July 2018. He serves as an associate director of the famed “All-American” Marching Band, directs the “Boiler Brass” Men’s Basketball Pep Band, and conducts the Purdue Symphonic Band and Varsity Band. He also serves as the department’s technology coordinator, and coordinates the Volunteer Management Team. He is responsible for coordinating marching band travel, and has organized trips around the Big Ten, as well as a significant performance experience in Medellín, Colombia in 2015. He has mentored many student organizations, previously serving as sponsor for the Beta Sigma chapter of Tau Beta Sigma, the Gamma Pi chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi, the Band & Orchestra Technology Office, and the Purdue Musical LGBTQ+ Society. Conaway also serves the university as a member of the Purdue University Senate, and serves on both the Student Affairs Committee and the Advisory Committee on Equity.

Prior to his appointment to Purdue’s faculty, Conaway served for ten years as the Director of Bands for the West Lafayette Community School Corporation, during which time the program received many state and national accolades for musical excellence. He brought back the Marching “Red Devil” Band, basketball pep band, jazz band, and symphony orchestra to the music department, and raised band program enrollment by over 200 students in grades 5-12. During his tenure, West Lafayette became regarded as one of the great small-school music programs in Indiana, with two state concert finals appearances and dozens of superior festival ratings. Under Conaway’s leadership, the NAMM Foundation recognized the West Lafayette Community School Corporation as one of the “Best Communities for Music Education in America” in 2006, 2010, 2011, and 2012.

Conaway is an award-winning, internationally-known composer for concert bands, with over fifty original works currently in publication. His compositions range from very beginning through very advanced, based on his experience working with all levels of performers in grade 5-12, collegiate, and professional ensembles. He has received commissions from many schools and honor bands in the last five years. Conaway was honored to experience his Carnegie Hall debut in March 2016 with a world premiere performance by the Purdue Wind Ensemble.

He is also an accomplished arranger, and has written for athletic bands at Indiana University, Purdue University, and many high schools and colleges throughout the country. Millions of people have heard Conaway’s arrangements at multiple festivals, bowl games, basketball tournaments, and other major sporting events since 1999. His compositions and arrangements are available globally through the C.L. Barnhouse Company and the Hal Leonard Corporation.

After graduating from Woodhaven (MI) High School in 1997, Conaway attended Indiana University – Bloomington, where he studied arranging with David Woodley. He received his Bachelor of Music Education with Distinction in 2001, and earned a Masters of Music degree from the American Band College of Sam Houston State University in 2010. He is a member of NAfME, CBDNA, NBA, Indiana Music Educators Association, Indiana Bandmasters Association, and ASCAP. He is an honorary member of Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi, and was recently inducted into the Gamma chapter of Phi Beta Mu. He is in demand as a clinician and adjudicator at concert and marching band festivals and competitions throughout the United States.

Episode 95 - Viet Cuong Jan 21, 2019

Acclaimed young composer Viet Cuong joins the show to share his thoughts about band music, his work as a composer, and how growing up in the Lassiter band helped him fit in and find his place in the world.

Topics:

 Viet’s background and how he got his start as a musician, percussionist, and composer.
How band and music helped Viet “find his place” in the world and the importance of band as a place where kids who are struggling to feel accepted have a place where they can fit in and grow.
Growing up in the legendary Lassiter Band Program under the baton of Alfred Watkins.
Thought about what band directors can do to support young musicians who are writing music or want to become composers.
Thoughts about academic music, new music for band, and some insights into building design at Princeton.
The Blue Dot Collective

Links:

Biography:

Called “alluring” and “wildly inventive” by The New York Times, the “ingenious” and “knockout” (Times Union) music of Viet Cuong (b. 1990) has been performed on six continents by musicians and ensembles such as Sō Percussion, Eighth Blackbird, Alarm Will Sound, Sandbox Percussion, the PRISM Quartet, JACK Quartet, Gregory Oakes, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, and Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, among many others. Viet’s music has been featured in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Aspen Music Festival, New Music Gathering, Boston GuitarFest, International Double Reed Society Conference, US Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, and on American Public Radio’s Performance Today. He also enjoys composing for the wind ensemble medium, and his works for winds have amassed over one hundred performances by conservatory and university ensembles worldwide, including at Midwest, WASBE, and CBDNA conferences.

Viet holds the Curtis Institute of Music’s Daniel W. Dietrich II Composition Fellowship as an Artist Diploma student of David Ludwig and Jennifer Higdon. Viet received his MFA from Princeton University as a Naumburg and Roger Sessions Fellow, and he is currently finishing his PhD there. At Princeton he studied with Steve Mackey, Donnacha Dennehy, Dan Trueman, Dmitri Tymoczko, Paul Lansky, and Louis Andriessen. Viet holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Pulitzer Prize-winner Kevin Puts and Oscar Bettison. While at Peabody, he received the Peabody Alumni Award (the Valedictorian honor) and the Gustav Klemm Award for excellence in composition. Viet has been a fellow at the Mizzou International Composers Festival, Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab, Cabrillo Festival’s Young Composer Workshop, Copland House’s CULTIVATE emerging composers workshop, and was also a scholarship student at the Aspen, Bowdoin, and Lake Champlain music festivals. Additionally, he has received artist residencies from Yaddo, Copland House, Ucross Foundation, and Atlantic Center for the Arts (under Melinda Wagner, 2012 and Christopher Theofanidis, 2014).

Viet is a recipient of the Barlow Endowment Commission, Copland House Residency Award, ASCAP Morton Gould Composers Award, Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Composers Award, Theodore Presser Foundation Music Award, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra Call for Scores, Cortona Prize, New York Youth Symphony First Music Commission, Boston GuitarFest Composition Competition, and Walter Beeler Memorial Prize, among others. In addition, he received honorable mentions in the Harvey Gaul Composition Competition and two consecutive ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prizes. Scholarships include the Evergreen House Foundation scholarship at Peabody, a 2010 Susan and Ford Schumann Merit Scholarship from the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the 2011 Bachrach Memorial Gift from the Bowdoin International Music Festival.

Episode 94 - Robert Sheldon Jan 14, 2019

Robert Sheldon has had a remarkable career as a composer, conductor, and music educator and is the Director of Concert Band Publications at Alfred Music.

Topics:

Robert’s incredible music background as the “Forrest Gump” of band music that included vaudevillian parents, studies at the University of Miami with Clifton Williams, Alfred Reed, and Frederick Fennell, and playing in the very first Disney World Band directed by Meredith Willson!
Robert’s teaching career in Florida including stops at the University of Florida and Florida State University and his eventual move to Bloomington/Normal, Illinois.
Robert’s role as the band editor at Alfred Publishing, commercial publishing vs. self-publishing, and the Sound Innovations series.
What it looks like to commission a new band work from Robert Sheldon. (Hint: You need to plan it out several years in advance.)

Links:

Biography:

Robert Sheldon (b. Feb 3, 1954) has taught instrumental music in the Florida and Illinois public schools, and has served on the faculty at Florida State University where he taught conducting and instrumental music education classes, and directed the university bands. As Director of Concert Band Publications for Alfred Music, he maintains an active composition and conducting schedule, and regularly accepts commissions for new works. Sheldon received the Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Miami and the Master of Fine Arts in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Florida.

An internationally recognized clinician, Sheldon has conducted numerous Regional and All-State Honor Bands throughout the United States and abroad. His teaching career included 28 years in the Florida and Illinois public schools as well as at the University of Florida, Florida State University, Illinois Central College and Bradley University. He also held positions as conductor of the Alachua County Youth Orchestra in Gainesville, Florida and the Prairie Wind Ensemble in East Peoria, Illinois. He maintains membership in several organizations that promote music and music education. He is lead author for the SOUND INNOVATIONS FOR BAND method books, and is a co-author for the MEASURES OF SUCCESS Volume 1 method book and the SOUND INNOVATIONS FOR STRINGS method books.

The American School Band Directors Association has honored him with the Volkwein Award for composition and the Stanbury Award for teaching, and the International Assembly of Phi Beta Mu honored him with the International Outstanding Bandmaster Award. He has also been a twenty-eight-time recipient of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publisher’s Standard Award for his compositions in the concert band and orchestral repertoire. His compositions have been recorded and released on compact discs including, Images: The Music of Robert Sheldon, and Infinite Horizons: The Music of Robert Sheldon, as well as numerous other recordings. Mr. Sheldon has been the topic of articles published in The Instrumentalist, Teaching Music and School Band and Orchestra Magazine, and is one of eleven American wind band composers featured in Volume I of Composers on Composing Music for Band.

Episode 93 - Kaitlin Bove Jan 08, 2019

A former middle and high school band director in Utah, Kaitlin Bove is currently a doctoral student in conducting at the University of Kentucky and one of the founders of the And We Were Heard recording project.

Topics:

Kaitlin's background growing up in Northern California and as a student at the University of the Pacific.
The importance of giving kids an understanding and ability to play their instrument by themselves and some tips for helping students to learn ways to to do this.
Kaitlin's experience teaching middle school and high school in Utah, and her move to the University of Kentucky to pursue her doctorate.
Her transcription for concert band of Caroline Shaw's Pulitzer Prize winning "Partita for 8 Voices".
The origin story of And We Were Heard and how the project will help create diversity by creating a database of recordings of concert band literature by underrepresented composers.

Links:

Biography:

Kaitlin Bove is a second year doctoral student at the University of Kentucky where she is completing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Wind Conducting. She is a conducting student of Cody Birdwell and a teaching assistant with the concert bands, athletic bands, and undergraduate conducting program. She is looking forward to premiering her wind transcription of Caroline Shaw’s Partita for 8 Voices as part of her lecture conducting recital in March, 2019 with the University of Kentucky Wind Symphony and University of Kentucky Choristers. Kaitlin anticipates matriculating in August 2019. Ms. Bove is from Lafayette, California and earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Education from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California where she studied with Eric Hammer. She served as Director of the Pacific Pep Band from 2007-08 and held the position of Graduate Assistant of Bands during her master’s coursework. In addition, Kaitlin served as the Interim Director of the University Concert Band in Spring 2012. For over a decade, Ms. Bove instructed musicians in the Laney Summer Music Program at Laney College in Oakland, California where she worked with the band, orchestra, jazz, and choral tracks. From 2011-2016, Kaitlin directed the band and orchestra sessions of the program. Kaitlin has served as Director of Bands at Payson High School and Director of Bands and Orchestras at Mt. Nebo Junior High School in Payson, Utah. In this setting, she has instructed courses in band, orchestra, marching band, jazz ensemble, AP music theory, guitar, folk music, musical theater, and mariachi. In 2015, the Payson High School Marching Band earned Region 1A 1st in State with the field show, “TRASH!”, featuring Kaitlin’s original music, drill, and concept design. Ms. Bove is a member of the National Band Association, College Band Directors National Association, and Women Band Director International. She served as editorial assistant for the NBA’s most recent Selective Music List (2018) and recently published an Instrumentalist article based on an interview with conductor Jerry Junkin and composer John Mackey. Kaitlin is a spearheading member of the And We Were Heard initiative which matches underrepresented composers of wind band literature with volunteer ensembles in order to generate quality recordings of the music of diverse compositional voices. Information about this program can be found at andwewereheard.org Kaitlin’s professional interests include working with diverse student and community populations, cross-curricular collaborative experiences, and relevancy and shifting priorities in the 21st century music classroom. In her free time, Kaitlin enjoys cooking, hiking, podcast bingeing, and spending time with her two Pugs.

Episode 92 - Randall Standridge Dec 31, 2018

Works by composer Randall Standridge are consistently among the highest selling and most widely performed music each year. In this episode, he offers insight into his music and career as a composer.

Topics:

A brief overview of Randall’s career from college student at Arkansas State through the success of his works Afterburn and Adrenaline Engines.
Randall’s family influences and high school teachers who fostered his creativity, his first (and only) teaching job, and the story of his transition to becoming a full time composer.
Thoughts about composition and Grand Mesa Marching.
The story of how Percy Grainger and a guiro led to the creation of the huge Grade 1 consortium for his work Frogs.

Links:

Biography:

Randall Standridge (b.1976) received his Bachelor's of Music Education from Arkansas State University. During this time, he studied composition with Dr. Tom O'Connor, before returning to Arkansas State University to earn his Master's in Music Composition, studying with Dr. Tom O'Connor and Dr. Tim Crist. In 2001, he began his tenure as Director of Bands at Harrisburg High School in Harrisburg, Arkansas. He left this post in 2013 to pursue a career as a full-time composer and marching band editor for Grand Mesa Music Publishers.

Mr. Standridge is currently published by Grand Mesa Music, Alfred Music, FJH Music, Wingert-Jones Music, Band Works Publications, Twin Towers Music, and Northeastern Music Publications. Mr. Standridge's music is performed internationally. He has had numerous works selected to the J.W. Pepper's editor's choice. His composition Snake Charmer,published by Grand Mesa Music, was included in Teaching Music through Performance in Band Vol. 8, and his work Gently Blows the Summer Wind is included in Teaching Music Through Performance in Middle School Band. His works Steel, Gadget, Snake Charmer, The Rowan Tree, Still Still Still, That Old Hound Dog Rag, Danse Bohémien, Aggressivo, When the Spring Rain Begins to Fall, Danse Carnivale, Ruckus, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Angelic Celebrations, Extremis, Darklands Legends, DarkHeart, Companion of My Voice, Kinetic Dances, Brave Spirit, Frogs, Under the Cherry Blossoms, Dark Ride, Four: On a Remix of Beethoven, Imaginarium, and In the Court of the King have been performed at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. His work Art(isms) was premiered by the Arkansas State University Wind Ensemble at the 2010 CBDNA conference in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Mr. Standridge is also a contributing composer for Alfred Music's Sound Innovations: Ensemble Development series.

In addition to his career as a composer, Mr. Standridge is active as a clinician. He is also in demand as a drill designer, music arranger, and colorguard designer for the marching arts, as well as a freelance artist/photographer and writer. He lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas with his family.

Episode 91 - Courtney Snyder Dec 17, 2018

Courtney Snyder is the Associate Director of Bands at the University of Michigan, the president-elect of the Women Band Directors International, and a panelist for the brand new ...And We Were Heard project.

Topics:

Courtney’s background and the stories of some of the teachers who influenced her career.
The story of “And We Were Heard”, a new project designed to record and promote the music of composers from underrepresented communities.
The value and importance of programming music by a diverse group of composers.
Challenges faced by women conductors and Courtney’s advice for young women who are interested in a career as a composer or a conductor.
Building connections and being aware of our surroundings so that we can find and offer the help that we and others need.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Courtney Snyder is associate director of bands and assistant professor of conducting at the University of Michigan, where she directs the Concert Band, teaches conducting, and directs the Michigan Youth Wind Band – a group of select, auditioned high school students from area high schools. Under her direction, the Concert Band was invited to perform at the College Band Directors Association North-Central Division Conference. Previously, Snyder served as the Assistant Director of Bands and Director of Athletic Bands at the University of Nebraska – Omaha where she directed the “Maverick” Marching Band, was conductor of the Concert Band and associate conductor of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and taught courses in conducting, music education, and brass methods. While in Omaha, Snyder served as Music Director for the Nebraska Wind Symphony, which, also under her direction, was invited to perform at the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association Annual Conference. Prior to directing college ensembles, Snyder taught high school and middle school band and orchestra in the Michigan public schools.

2018 MuTeD Network Midwest Clinic Preview Dec 15, 2018

Mark is joined by Sean Smith from the Source Material Podcast and Olin Hannum from the AMusEd Podcast as we have a conversation about our expectations for the 2018 Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. In the episode we discuss a few sessions we're interested in, take some time to talk about creativity in the large ensemble, and offer some advice for first time attendees.

The Music Teacher Development Podcast Network is a network of podcasts with the common goal of providing support for music education in the form of audio on demand programming designed by, and for music educators. In addition to Everything Band, Source Material, and AMusEd, the fourth podcast in our network is the Anacrusic Podcast hosted by Anne Mileski.

Special thanks to VanderCook College of Music for sponsoring this episode. With a world-class faculty, a location just minutes from downtown Chicago, and an intensive summers-only masters program, it's no wonder VanderCook College of Music has graduates teaching music in all 50 states, 21 countries, and 6 continents. Make next summer your most inspiring summer yet by pursuing a Masters in Music Education at VanderCook College of Music. And for the next generation of music educators, VanderCook offers an exceptional, comprehensive 4-year Bachelor of Music Education program. VanderCook Admissions information is available at www.vandercook.edu.

Episode 90 - John Bogenschutz Dec 10, 2018

John Bogenschutz, the creator of the band and music themed Tone Deaf Comics tells the story of why he switched from band director and composer to comic strip creator and offers thoughts about our community from a very different perspective.

Topics:

John’s early musical background and his experience as a band director and composer.
How being a stand-up comedian is similar to being a band director.
The story of the founding of Tone Deaf Comics and the development of the strip’s style.
How John comes up with ideas and anecdotes about some of the notable composers and conductors who have appeared in the strip.

Links:

Biography:

Tone Deaf Comics was created, and is ran, by John Bogenschutz. John received a Bachelors of Music Education degree from Northern Kentucky University. He was also a band director for a couple of years, a music arranger for about ten years and now cartoonist. He also has 3 published compositions to his credit (Hymn for the Altruistic, Red Rocks Fanfare, and Contambiance Fanfare). John currently lives in Union, KY with his beautiful wife and three sons.

-------- Special thanks to VanderCook College of Music for sponsoring this episode. With a world-class faculty, a location just minutes from downtown Chicago, and an intensive summers-only masters program, it's no wonder VanderCook College of Music has graduates teaching music in all 50 states, 21 countries, and 6 continents. Make next summer your most inspiring summer yet by pursuing a Masters in Music Education at VanderCook College of Music. And for the next generation of music educators, VanderCook offers an exceptional, comprehensive 4-year Bachelor of Music Education program. VanderCook Admissions information is available at www.vandercook.edu.

Episode 89 - Brian Silvey Dec 03, 2018

The Director of Bands at the University of Missouri, Brian Silvey joins the show to talk about his background, music teacher education, and the importance of conducting gestures.

Topics:

Brian’s background as a young trombonist from rural Kentucky, the lessons he learned from his band director, and his path to becoming the director of bands at the University of Missouri.
Music teacher education and the challenges faced by young teachers and the resources to help young teachers succeed.
Thoughts about differentiated teaching in band, particularly keeping the students who are pushing ahead of their classmates occupied and engaged while not discouraging others.
Brian’s research into expressive conducting and some interesting findings about the importance of what conductors do on the podium.
The types of classroom routines that are most effective for classroom management and good rehearsals.

Links:

Biography:

Brian A. Silvey is Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Missouri. At MU, he teaches undergraduate and graduate music education courses, conducts the Wind Ensemble, and provides oversight to the entire band program. Dr. Silvey has presented music education research and teacher preparation clinics at state, national, and international venues. Recent presentations have included the International Society for Music Education conference in Baku, Azerbaijan (2018), the Music Research and Teacher Education National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia (2018), the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Illinois (2017), and the College Band Directors National Association conference in Kansas City, Missouri (2017). He is published in the Journal of Research in Music Education, International Journal of Research in Music Education, Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, Research Studies in Music Education, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, Journal of Music Teacher Education, Journal of Band Research, and the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. He serves currently as Associate Editor/Editor-Elect of Update: Applications of Research in Music Education and as Editor of the Missouri Journal of Research in Music Education. In addition, he also serves on the editorial board of the College Band Directors National Association Research Journal.

His research interests include conducting expressivity and effectiveness, instrumental conducting pedagogy, and preservice teacher preparation. Dr. Silvey is the past recipient of the MU Writing Intensive Teaching Excellence Award, the School of Music Faculty Excellence Award, and the Gold Chalk Award for Teaching Excellence. He is an experienced events adjudicator, guest conductor, and guest clinician, having worked with bands across the United States.

Episode 88 - Charles Menghini Nov 26, 2018

President Emeritus of VanderCook College of Music, Charlie Menghini enjoyed a long career as a music educator in the Kansas City area before joining the faculty at VanderCook. In this episode he shares wisdom and anecdotes from a remarkable career.

Topics:

Charlie’s background growing up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and how an influential 7th grade band teacher nurtured and inspired a young cornet player.
How a speech by John Paynter at Bands of America and a subsequent meeting with his former high school band director helped a young Charlie understand the value of the high school music teacher.
After following Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser to the University of Missouri, the story of how Charlie got his first high school teaching job at Winnetonka High School outside of Kansas City.
Your first big mistake is not an indicator of your future success and other anecdotes from Charlie’s first job.
Practical tips and thoughts about getting better as a band director, as well as thoughts about building connections and creating relationships.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Charles T. Menghini is President Emeritus of VanderCook College of Music. Dr. Menghini served as President and Director of Bands from August of 2004 through May of 2017, and prior to that time served as Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Director of Bands. He began his teaching at VanderCook College in 1994 and in addition to being Director of Bands he taught instrumental conducting, organization and administration, curriculum and supervision, brass methods and rehearsal techniques classes.

Dr. Menghini brought 18 years of successful high school band experience in Missouri and Kansas with his appointment to VanderCook. Bands under his direction received consistent Division I ratings in regional, state and national music festivals, performed at various state music educator conventions and performed in the Tournament of Roses Parade, Orange Bowl Parade, Bands of America International Festival and the XV Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, Canada.

Originally from Iron Mountain, MI, Dr. Menghini attended Northern Michigan University and the University of Missouri-Columbia where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in music education. He also holds a master's degree in educational administration and a Doctorate of Arts in wind conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. Dr. Menghini recognizes Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser, Gary Green and Gary Hill as being the most influential teachers in his growth and development.

Dr. Menghini is co-author of the Essential Elements Band Method, published by the Hal Leonard Corporation. He also writes for numerous professional journals and magazines including InTune Monthly, School Band and Orchestra and The Instrumentalist, where he serves as a member of the Board of Advisors.

Dr. Menghini8 frequently serves as a clinician and adjudicator throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and has actively worked with over 350 school and community ensembles from 20 states as well as Canada, Japan, Southeast Asia and Australia. He has conducted all-state ensembles in Wisconsin, North Dakota, Georgia, South Carolina, Nebraska, New York, Virginia and Minnesota, and has presented numerous clinics at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago and various state and regional music education in-services throughout the world.

Dr. Menghini is a Lowell Mason Fellow and a member of the American Bandmasters Association, College Band Directors National Association, the National Band Association, National Association for Music Education and Phi Beta Mu. He was inducted into the Alpha Psi Chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda National Honor Society for Music – the highest honor a conservatory faculty can bestow on a student in recognition of outstanding musicianship and scholarly achievement, and is an honorary member of the Xi Kappa (VanderCook) Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

Dr. Menghini is an educational consultant for the Hal Leonard Corporation and the Conn-Selmer musical instrument company. In addition, Dr. Menghini is an educational member of the Music Achievement Council of the NAMM Foundation. An active performer, he played lead trumpet in the Kansas City Chiefs Professional Football Band and serves as the official trumpeter of the City Club of Chicago.

-------- Special thanks to VanderCook College of Music for sponsoring this episode. With a world-class faculty, a location just minutes from downtown Chicago, and an intensive summers-only masters program, it's no wonder VanderCook College of Music has graduates teaching music in all 50 states, 21 countries, and 6 continents. Make next summer your most inspiring summer yet by pursuing a Masters in Music Education at VanderCook College of Music. And for the next generation of music educators, VanderCook offers an exceptional, comprehensive 4-year Bachelor of Music Education program. VanderCook Admissions information is available at www.vandercook.edu.

Episode 87 - Gail Buckman Nov 19, 2018

Sister Gail Buckman has been teaching in the St. Louis are since 1968, and I recently had a chance to visit Sister Gail in her band room at St. Gabriel the Archangel School. Here is my conversation with this truly remarkable music educator.

Topics:

Sister Gail’s early career and influences.
The importance of always trying to learn from others and the value of mentors.
“No one rises to low expectations”
A brief conversation about fundraising.
A discussion of classroom management and tips for regaining control if it’s been lost.
Why music is the one of the few things that parents can’t help their students with and why that, and the need for practice is so valuable for kids.
Why having students name their instruments can be a valuable teaching strategy.

Links:

Biography:

Sister Gail Buckman is in her 50th year of teaching and has taught music in the St. Louis/St. Charles area for the past 47 years. For the past 23 years she has, and is currently teaching instrumental music at St. Gabriel the Archangel School in St. Louis. She teaches students in grades four through eight in Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, and Jazz Bands. Sister Gail is a member of St. Louis District 8 of MMEA, and currently serves as Secretary for that District. Sister Gail is active in many facets of Music education: she is Assistant Director with the St. Charles Municipal Band; she is a staff member at the Viking Band Camp in Hillsboro, MO; she is a staff member with Missouri Ambassadors of Music European Tours; and has served as adjudicator/clinician around Missouri and Illinois. Sister Gail received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Notre Dame College in St. Louis, and a Master Degree in Music Education from the University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri. She holds affiliations in National Association of Music Educators, Catholic Educators Association, National Catholic Band Association, Missouri Music Educators’ Association, Missouri Bandmasters Association (MBA), and is a member of Phi Beta Mu. Sister Gail belongs to the religious community of the School Sisters of Notre Dame.

Episode 86 - Rob Romeyn Nov 12, 2018

Composer and arranger Rob Romeyn joins me this week to talk about his career, the lessons he learned from great mentors as a young arranger, and his current work with C.L. Barnhouse.

Topics:

Rob’s background growing up in Florida and his exposure to some of the great names in the music education and marching arts communities during his early career in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The story of a band arranging class taught by Bob Cotter that exposed Rob to band music and arranging while still in high school.
How conducting a community band led to Rob’s transition to writing for concert band and his introduction to Andy Glover at C.L. Barnhouse.
Rob’s current compositional process, the value of writing holiday music, and how he formulates a plan for each piece that he writes.

Links:

Biography:

Rob Romeyn’s (b. 1961) music career has been multi-faceted and diverse. He has served as a performer, conductor, educator and as a composer and arranger. As a band director, he has directed bands from the elementary level to adult community groups. His first composition for band was published at age 19. His ability to write effective and educationally sound music for bands and string orchestras of all levels can be attributed to his vast teaching experiences.

Many elementary, middle school, high school, university, community bands and string orchestras worldwide have performed his arrangements and compositions. He has been commissioned to write for marching band, concert band, string orchestra and jazz ensemble. His concert band and orchestra music is on many state required music lists. Many of his works are featured as “Editor’s Choice” selections at all levels by major music distributors. His music has seen extensive airplay worldwide. Many of his arrangements have been featured on national television, including portions of the Peach Bowl halftime shows for 2000-2001, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Mr. Romeyn is a member of the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers. Much of his music has been recorded, and is available on CD and download through Walking Frog Records and other music outlets. He is in demand as a guest conductor for honor bands, and regularly accepts new commissions. His conducting and rehearsal style has been described as inspiring and energetic.

Mr. Romeyn received a M.M. Ed. Degree from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He served as staff arranger for the University of Louisiana at Monroe “Sound of Today” band from 1983-1986. His graduate assistant duties at ULM in addition to arranging included conducting the university concert band and the basketball pep band. Mr. Romeyn also served as staff arranger at James Madison University. He was the director of the St. Petersburg Community Band in St. Petersburg, Florida from 1994-2013.

-------- Special thanks to VanderCook College of Music for sponsoring this episode. With a world-class faculty, a location just minutes from downtown Chicago, and an intensive summers-only masters program, it's no wonder VanderCook College of Music has graduates teaching music in all 50 states, 21 countries, and 6 continents. Make next summer your most inspiring summer yet by pursuing a Masters in Music Education at VanderCook College of Music. And for the next generation of music educators, VanderCook offers an exceptional, comprehensive 4-year Bachelor of Music Education program. VanderCook Admissions information is available at www.vandercook.edu.

Episode 85 - Ron Sikes Nov 05, 2018

Ron Sikes has been a band director in Jefferson County Missouri for 19 years and a MMEA Past Jazz Vice President. In many ways, Ron embodies the growth mindset and in this episode he discusses his relentless pursuit of personal growth in all that he does.

Topics:

Ron’s background growing up and the winding road that he took to becoming a music teacher and music professional.
Thoughts about jazz education, tips for teaching improvisation, and how those experiences led to Ron composing music for his own band and eventually those around him.
The importance of taking private lessons on instruments that you don’t know well and advice for bartering your knowledge in exchange for those of another musician.
Working with other composers, especially Gary Gackstatter (Episode 12) and the value that these collaborations bring to his students and the audience.

Links:

Biography:

Ron Sikes began teaching in the Jefferson R-VII School District (Festus, Missouri) in 2000. His responsibilities include 5th Grade Band, 6th Grade Band, 7th/8th Grade Band, 7th/8th Grade Jazz Band, High School Jazz/Salsa Band, and High School Band. In 2011, The Jefferson High School Concert Band was selected to perform at the Missouri Music Educators Association Convention. In 2013, he started conducting the Jefferson College Concert Band director. In addition to his many teaching responsibilities, Sikes maintains a busy schedule as a clinician, composer, percussionist, drum set artist, frottoirist, and jazz vibraphonist.

As a composer, Sikes has written music for concert bands, jazz bands, and professional bands. His compositions have been performed all over the country. In 2009, Ron authored and self-published the beginning band method book, “Keys to Success.”

As a performer, Ron performs with the Funky Butt Brass Band (drum set), Gumbohead (congas, timbales, frottoir), and Southside Creole Playboys (cajon/frottoir). Other playing credits include: Boudin Bros., Musica SLESA, Rhythm Section Road Show, Big Chief, All Roostered Up, Shane Maue, The Trophy Mules, Paul Winter, Eugene Friesen, Darol Anger, Barbara Higbie, Tommy Halloran, Stratus, Mama's Pride, Pat Liston, Danny Liston, Snarky Gargoyles, Thunder Biscuit Orchestra, Big Mike Aguirre and the Blu City All-Stars, Preston Hubbard, & Rockin' Jake. He has performed all over the country and recorded over 20 CD’s with various artists from all genres.

Mr. Sikes earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1999 from University of MO-St. Louis. In 2008, he completed his Masters in Educational Administration from Missouri Baptist University. Ron has been influenced by some of the finest educators, including Mark Trautwein, Brad Madson, Dr. Claude Baker, Dr. William Richardson, Marvin Sparks, Jeff Hamilton, Sally Herman, Dennis Reis & Ray Hunt.

Sikes’ professional affiliations include the MBA, Phi Beta Mu, NAfME, MOJAE, MMEA, and MSTA, and remains active as performer, teacher, and clinician throughout the area. Ron Sikes loves his titanium snare made by Dynamicx Drums and is endorsed by Lewi Custom Cajons and Vic Firth Sticks & Mallets.

Episode 84 - Steve Graves Oct 29, 2018

Steve Graves has been a middle school band director in Orange County, California for over 30 years. In this episode he shares his advice about teaching middle school including some really great advice for young band teachers.

Topics:

Steve’s background and his career as a successful middle school band director.
Great teaching is not about teaching people to play instruments but rather to teach young musicians to be great people.
Classroom management and thoughts about how to create a set of expectations that help students to stay on task.
Steve and I get into the weeds about teaching beginners and he shares some wonderful advice about teaching time and articulation.
The value of commissions for both students and composers.

Links:

Biography:

Currently in his 32nd year of teaching junior high band, Steve is the band direct and VAPA chairperson at Lexington Junior High School in Cypress, CA. An active adjudicator for marching bands, concert festivals, and indoor drumline, Steve is also a frequent clinician and guest conductor. While unpublished, Steve has been writing and arranging for bands and percussion ensembles since 1980, and his method books, "Great Beginnings - Warm Ups for Second-Year Bands" and "Notes, Drills, and Tunes - a beginning band method" are in use by schools across the country. Steve stays active as a regular performer in wind ensembles, big bands, and rock/R&B groups, and is a graduate of California State University Long Beach, and earned his masters degree from the American Band College.

--------

Special thanks to VanderCook College of Music for sponsoring this episode. With a world-class faculty, a location just minutes from downtown Chicago, and an intensive summers-only masters program, it's no wonder VanderCook College of Music has graduates teaching music in all 50 states, 21 countries, and 6 continents. Make next summer your most inspiring summer yet by pursuing a Masters in Music Education at VanderCook College of Music. And for the next generation of music educators, VanderCook offers an exceptional, comprehensive 4-year Bachelor of Music Education program. VanderCook Admissions information is available at www.vandercook.edu.

Episode 83 - Jodie Blackshaw Oct 22, 2018

Self-described as "an Australian composer with a penchant for colour and creativity in the wind band genre," Jodie Blackshaw shares the story of her career, her music, and her thoughts about teaching band.

Topics:

The conversation begins with a discussion of Jodie’s current project, a 25 minute work for band and how she’s incorporated ideas from chamber works for winds to show off the colors of the ensemble.
Jodie’s background growing up in Yenda, a small town in New South Wales, Australia with an electric organ in her house and a few wonderfully inspiring teachers.
The band tradition in Australia and how instrumental music is taught without the school band and orchestra tradition that defines instrumental music in the United States.
The experience that inspired Jodie to a career as a professional musician and her thoughts about what we can do to help nurture girls and young women as composers.
Jodie’s work Belah Sun Woman and her interesting thoughts about the type of music that kids like to play.

Links:

Biography:

Jodie Blackshaw grew up in the Riverina, NSW and after completing high school, studied a Bachelor of Music in Composition with Professor Larry Sitsky at the Australian National University, School of Music. Since then, she has worked teaching music to students of all ages and conducting a variety of ensembles in several different settings, from remote country centers to the inner city.

The influence of Orff-Schulwerk methodology is a significant influence of Jodie’s teaching practice and composition. In December 2012, Jodie presented the clinic ‘Get off the Podium’ alongside Dr. Mark Fonder of Ithaca College and conductor Professor Craig Kirchhoff at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. This clinic, advocating her unique compositional style and inclusive teaching approach to ensemble, offered directors opportunities to explore musical elements other than melody and harmony. Jodie is passionate about inspiring teachers and musicians to be active in the music making process.

Jodie resides in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia with her husband David and daughter Matilda and works full-time as a composer and appears as a guest clinician and adjudicator for band festivals throughout Australia. Jodie is fanatical about producing quality, meaningful works for band. She desires that her music not just be “another piece, but an educational and spiritual journey for both the players and the director.”

Episode 82 - Michael Nickens Oct 15, 2018

Dr. Michael Nickens, aka "Doc Nix" is the Director of Athletic Bands at George Mason University. He joins the show to discuss the incredible variety of bands at GMU and share his thoughts about inclusiveness and building community.

Topics:

The Green Machine Bands and Ensembles
The birth of the “Doc Nix” and how the persona and wardrobe have become a part of making the Green Machine pep band a signature part of the George Mason basketball games.
How a student violist who wanted to become part of the group led to a diverse ensemble that includes the standard band instrumentation but also features vocalists, rappers, string players, and more.
The importance of building and being present as part of a community both to build a program and also to rely on the community in times of need.
Michael’s musical background growing up in Northern Virginia as a tuba player, high school drum major, student conductor, and even a composer and how his varied experiences have led him to his current success

Links:

Biography:

Serving as Director of Campus Life Ensembles and Collaborative Arts, and as an Associate Professor of Music, Dr. Michael W. Nickens (a.k.a. Doc Nix) is most recognized as the leader of the “Green Machine”, which in 2015 was named the #1 pep band in college basketball by the NCAA and commended by the Senate and House of Delegates of the Commonwealth of Virginia. In addition, Dr. Nickens launched Mason’s fife and drum corps and WGI world-champion drumline, and oversees Mason’s winterguard. This collection of performing units, known as the “Green Machine Ensembles”, are internationally known for their thrilling, high-energy performances at Mason ceremonies and basketball games, professional sports games and events (Capitals, Nationals, Wizards, and Redskins), community events (Celebrate Fairfax, and the Nike Womens’ Half Marathon), and marching competitions, as well as their popular internet videos that have over 100 million views collectively. Dr. Nickens was named the 2016 Faculty Member of the Year by the George Mason University Alumni Association. He served as a Faculty Representative to the Board of Visitors, Chair of the Faculty of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Chair of the CVPA Diversity Committee, and as a member of the School of Music’s Graduate Committee. Having joined the faculty of Mason’s School of Music in fall 2006, he has taught courses in sight-singing/ear training, popular music in America, improvisatory music, brass methods, applied tuba, composition, chamber music, and jazz improvisation, as well as collaborations with Mason’s School of Dance. In addition, he was a co-founder and co-conductor of the Colonial Athletic Association’s “Breakfast with the Bands” intercollegiate pep band showcase. During summers, he has taught tuba and euphonium, conducting, jazz performance, composition, improvisation, chamber music, large ensemble performance, and theory at the Performing Arts Institute at Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Pennsylvania, the Music, Art, and Theatre (MAT) Camp in Evanston, Wyoming, and the Northern Arizona University Music Camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, and at Mason’s Potomac Arts Academy. He has also coached a professional marching ensemble, “Mix It Up”, at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia. Dr. Nickens was born in Washington DC and grew up in the Fairfax County Public Schools in Alexandria, Virginia. He completed his academic degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, Yale University, and the University of Michigan. --------

Special thanks to VanderCook College of Music for sponsoring this episode. With a world-class faculty, a location just minutes from downtown Chicago, and an intensive summers-only masters program, it's no wonder VanderCook College of Music has graduates teaching music in all 50 states, 21 countries, and 6 continents. Make next summer your most inspiring summer yet by pursuing a Masters in Music Education at VanderCook College of Music. And for the next generation of music educators, VanderCook offers an exceptional, comprehensive 4-year Bachelor of Music Education program. VanderCook Admissions information is available at www.vandercook.edu.

Episode 81 - Myra Rhoden Oct 08, 2018

Myra Rhoden is the director of bands at Fayette County High School in Georgia and founder of the Athena Music and Leadership Camp. Myra is the recipient of numerous teaching awards, including being named the 2018 NAfME Band Director of the Year.

Topics

Myra’s story of growing up in Tuskegee, Alabama in a family that valued the arts, and how her high school band director created an environment that encouraged the students to do things outside of the school.
The inspiration behind Myra’s decision to become a music teacher rather than a math teacher and the lesson she took from her first job teaching beginners in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
“Don’t make excuses, figure out what you can do with what you have” and other advice for young teachers.
Winning the NAfME 2018 “Band Director of the Year” and what she feels might be most responsible to her success at Fayette County High School.
The genesis of the Athena Music and Leadership Camp and what it means for the students who go to the camp.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Myra Rhoden serves at the Director of Bands and Fine Arts Department Chairperson at Fayette County High School in Fayetteville, Georgia. Located approximately twenty miles south of downtown of Atlanta, the Fayette County High School Band program has performed at national and international venues and consists of a competitive marching band and winter guard, three concert bands, a jazz band, and several chamber ensembles. Recent invitational performances include the Georgia Music Educators Association (GMEA) In-Service Conference, the Kennesaw State University Concert Band Festival, and honor band festivals at the University of Alabama, the University of South Carolina, and the University of Georgia. Her marching bands have been finalists at Bands of America Regional and Super-Regional Championships and have won numerous Grand Championships at area competitions.

Dr. Rhoden has been awarded the National Band Association’s Citation of Excellence on four occasions, has been named STAR Teacher at FCHS, was named Teacher of the Year on two occasions, was selected for membership in the Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity, and was presented the 1995 Sallie Mae First Class Teacher Award, a national award given to one teacher in each state for an outstanding first year of teaching. She recently presented a clinic at the 2017 GMEA In-Service Conference and was named the National Band Director of the Year by the National Association for Music Education for the 2017-2018 school year. She is the founder of the Athena Music and Leadership Camp, a summer band and orchestra camp for middle and high school-aged girls that was created to promote musical excellence while emphasizing self-esteem and leadership skills, and the New Notes Band Camps, summer day camp programs for middle school musicians in the metropolitan Atlanta area.

Before joining the faculty at Fayette County, Dr. Rhoden taught at the middle and high school levels in Alabama. A native of Tuskegee, Alabama, she received the Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees in Music Education from the University of Alabama and the Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Rhoden serves as a GMEA All-State Band Organizer and has served as the GMEA District VI Band Chairperson. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Southeastern United States (SEUS) Honor Band Clinic at Troy University, served on the Board of Directors for the Alabama Bandmasters Association, and is honored to be a clinician and adjudicator throughout the southeast. She resides in Fayetteville with her husband, Errol Jr., and son, Errol III.

Episode 80 - Rossano Galante Oct 01, 2018

Composer Rossano Galante joins the show to discuss his career as a band composer and Hollywood orchestrator.

Topics:

Rossano’s early years growing up in Buffalo, New York, the story of how he used to organize his own reading bands for his music, and how he became an orchestrator for Hollywood movies.
A discussion of composing including using pencil and paper versus the computer, the compositional process, and advice for young composers.
Self-publishing, social media platforms, commissions, and the importance of being patient.

Links:

Biography:

Born in Buffalo, New York, Rossano Galante received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Trumpet performance from SUNY Buffalo in 1992. That same year he was one of nineteen people from around the world to be accepted to the University of Southern California’s Film Scoring Program. He studied with the late Jerry Goldsmith, who won an Academy Award for his film score for The Omen. In 1999, Mr. Galante moved to California to pursue a career in composition and film orchestration. Since then he has worked with two-time Oscar nominated composer Marco Beltrami, Christophe Beck, Brian Tyler, Christopher Lennertz and Wolfram de Marco. Mr. Galante has 32 published compositions between G. Schirmer, Alfred, Hafabra, Rundel Music and Dehaske/Curnow.

--------- This episode is sponsored, in part, by VanderCook College of Music. With a world-class faculty, a location just minutes from downtown Chicago, and an intensive summers-only masters program, it's no wonder VanderCook College of Music has graduates teaching music in all 50 states, 21 countries, and 6 continents. Make next summer your most inspiring summer yet by pursuing a Masters in Music Education at VanderCook College of Music. And for the next generation of music educators, VanderCook offers an exceptional, comprehensive 4-year Bachelor of Music Education program. VanderCook Admissions information is available at www.vandercook.edu.

Episode 79 - Eric Combs Sep 24, 2018

Eric Combs is a middle school band director in Olney, Illinois and is dedicated to helping his peers through his Sound Beginnings website and Thoughts from a Beginning Band Director Facebook page.

Topics:

Eric’s background and how he overcame his early self-doubts to become a very successful middle school director in Only, Illinois.
Eric’s impulse to share his strategies and successes as a teacher with others and his work to help other band directors find success.
A few tips and best practices for first and second year band directors including being willing to take the time to visit other successful programs in your area.
The system of differentiated instruction that Eric uses and a discussion of classroom management.

Links:

Biography:

Eric Combs earned both his bachelors and his masters in music education from Eastern Illinois University. He has been a 6-8 grade beginning band director for 14 years in rural Illinois, and has worked in his current job in Olney, Illinois for the past 11 years. Mr. Combs' bands regularly receive perfect first superior ratings at contest. Under his direction, the band program has been named three years in a row a "Support Music Merit Award" winning school through the NAMM Foundation's "Best Communities for Music Education" program. Mr. Combs' and the RCMS band program was recently recognized in a regular session the United States Congress. Mr. Combs spends his free time providing free materials geared towards educators who are new to the field of beginner band directing, including his "Thoughts From a Beginning Band Director" Facebook blog, and his "Sound Beginnings Beginner Band Series" website.

Episode 78 - Cait Nishimura Sep 17, 2018

Cait Nishimura is the winner of the 2017 Canadian Band Association Composition Competition and a rising star as a composer for band.

Topics:

Cait’s background growing up in Canada, playing the bass clarinet, going to an arts high school, and deciding to become a composer.
Commissions and how and why Cait made the transition from aspiring teacher to full time, self-published composer.
Being a young, non-white, Canadian composer and how that has helped Cait along the way, but how writing good music that connects with audiences is ultimately the most important factor in her long-term success.
The sense of belonging and acceptance that she got from being in band.

Links:

Biography:

Cait Nishimura (b. 1991) is a Canadian composer and music educator based in Toronto, Ontario. Described as having a "refreshing buoyancy", her music uses minimalist patterns, simple yet lush harmonies, and themes that linger in listeners' minds, drawing inspiration from the beauty of the natural world. Nishimura strives to present contemporary concert music that is accessible and approachable by musicians of all levels. Her work for wind band, Chasing Sunlight, was selected as the winner of the 2017 Canadian Band Association Composition Competition, and has since been added to the Music Fest Canada national syllabus. Nishimura holds undergraduate degrees in music and education from the University of Toronto. Her work is regularly programmed and commissioned by ensembles across North America, where she is in demand as a visiting composer and educator.

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This episode is sponsored, in part, by VanderCook College of Music. With a world-class faculty, a location just minutes from downtown Chicago, and an intensive summers-only masters program, it's no wonder VanderCook College of Music has graduates teaching music in all 50 states, 21 countries, and 6 continents. Make next summer your most inspiring summer yet by pursuing a Masters in Music Education at VanderCook College of Music. And for the next generation of music educators, VanderCook offers an exceptional, comprehensive 4-year Bachelor of Music Education program. VanderCook Admissions information is available at www.vandercook.edu.

Episode 77 - Matthew Provino Sep 10, 2018

Matthew Provino is an accomplished middle school band director in Southern California and the co-author of a two volume free beginning band method that he makes available as a free download.

Topics:

Matthew’s background growing up in Southern California and some of the influences on his career.
The story of how Matthew and Phillip Herrera wrote their own (free!) method book and then wrote a second book that’s three times as long.
The challenges of writing a beginning method book, the methodology, and the what’s still left to finish.
Matthew’s experience with the American Band College and what he learned while he was there.
Music education conferences and professional development opportunities in California, especially the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Conference.

Links:

Matthew Provino (with links to method books)
Justin Dickson
The American Band College
Southern California School Band and Orchestra Conference
Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral

Biography:

Matthew Provino has been the band director at Sierra Vista MS in Hacienda La Puente USD for 12 years. He has organized and developed most of the district band events including the honor bands for elementary, middle school, and middle school jazz; the district’s solo and ensemble festival aimed towards the beginning band students; Middle school Masterclass Night; and our district’s Mall Caroling Concert which takes place at the local Puente Hills Mall (aka Twin/Lone Pine Mall from aback to the Future). He is a product of Kennedy HS in La Palma of the Anaheim Union HS District in Southern California. I have a BA in Music from Cal State University, Fullerton, and a MM from the American Band College. Before his current position, Matthew started the band program at St. Paul’s Lutheran School in Orange, California and was also the manager of the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra and for 4 years.

Episode 76 - Anne McGinty Sep 03, 2018

As the composer of more than 250 works for band and co-founder of Queenwood Publications, Anne McGinty has enjoyed a remarkable career. In this episode she shares highlights and stories from her extraordinary musical life, and offers advice for young composers and teachers.

Topics:

Anne's early years as a young musician, including her stint as a flutist for the Tuscon Symphony in her early 20's.
How she got into writing for band music and the story of Queenwood Publications.
The story of her commission by the United States Army Band "Pershing's Own"
Advice for young composer and thoughts about commissions.

Links:

Biography:

Anne McGinty is known throughout the world as the most prolific woman composer in the field of concert band literature, having written more than 225 pieces, with more than 50 of those commissioned by bands across the United States. Thousands of people have played her music and discovered the joy and beauty of playing music that is both educational (helping instrumentalists learn basic musical skills) and also musical, engaging their imagination and encouraging them to stay in the instrumental music program. In addition to concert band, she has written for solo flute with band, solo clarinet with band, brass band, string orchestra, solo flute, flute with piano accompaniment, and music for flute duet, trio, quartet and choir. All of her compositions and arrangements have been published. Her publishers include Queenwood Publications (now Queenwood/Kjos), C. L. Barnhouse Co., Boosey & Hawkes, Hal Leonard Corporation, Kendor Music, Kjos Publications and Southern Music Company.

After a successful career spanning 30+ years as both a composer and publisher of educational music, Anne is now writing chamber music for brass and woodwinds, all published by McGinty Music. An expert in writing for wind instruments, Anne is also composing for diverse instrumental combinations to showcase their varied timbral possibilities in modern, tonal music.

She began her higher education at The Ohio State University, where Donald McGinnis was her mentor, band director and flute teacher. She left OSU to pursue a career in flute performance, and played principal flute with the Tucson (Arizona) Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Pops Orchestra, and in the TSO Woodwind Quintet, which toured Arizona under the auspices of a government grant. When she returned to college, she received her Bachelor of Music, summa cum laude, and Master of Music from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she concentrated on flute performance, music theory and composition. She studied flute and chamber music with Bernard Goldberg and composition with Joseph Willcox Jenkins.

Ms McGinty is a life member of the National Flute Association and served on its Board of Directors. She taught flute at several colleges in the Mid-West, taught flute and chamber music to underprivileged children, and was leader of a Royal American Regiment Fife and Drum Corps. She performed professionally in orchestras, chamber groups and as a flute clinician for a major manufacturer. She also was the editor of a flute column for a music magazine and co-founder of the NFA Newsletter, now known as “The Flutists Quarterly.” Although no longer performing as a flutist, she remains well known as a flute choir specialist and was the first person to convince two major educational music publishers to publish a series for flute choir. As the flute editor at Hansen Publications in Miami Beach, Florida, she arranged and produced the first such flute choir series.

She is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and has received annual composition award since 1986. She received the Golden Rose Award from the Women Band Directors National Association and the Outstanding Service to Music Award from Tau Beta Sigma, a national honorary band sorority.

Episode 75 - Jack Stamp Aug 27, 2018

Conductor and Composer Jack Stamp shares his story, including his early musical education and the people and experiences that contributed to his remarkable career.

Topics:

“Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”: Jack’s education and eclectic musical background including the story about how and why he taught himself to play the piano from popular music lead sheets.
How an experience playing the Persichetti Symphony for Band in high school taught Jack to listen beyond his own part as a percussionist and hear what everyone else in the band was doing.
Jack’s first teaching job, how that experience taught him about teaching and dealing with students, and what he misses about teaching at the high school level.
The story of the Gavorkna Fanfare and how the “Gavorkna Factor” changed Jack’s career.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Jack Stamp is currently adjunct Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls where he teaches conducting. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Stamp served as Director of Band Studies at Indiana University of Pennsylvania for 25 years. In addition, he served as chairperson of the music department for six years. He holds a DMA degree in Wind Conducting from Michigan State University where he studied with Eugene Corporon.

Prior to his retirement from IUP, he served as chairman of the Division of Fine Arts at Campbell University in North Carolina. He also taught for several years in the public schools of North Carolina. In addition to these posts, Dr. Stamp served as conductor of the Duke University Wind Symphony (1988-89) and was musical director of the Triangle British Brass Band, leading them to a national brass band championship in 1989.

Dr. Stamp's primary composition teachers have been Robert Washburn and Fisher Tull, though he was strongly influenced by his music theory teachers at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and East Carolina. Other studies include work with noted American composers David Diamond, Joan Tower and Richard Danielpour.

He is active as a guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and composer throughout North America and Great Britain. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by leading military and university bands across the United States. He has won the praise of American composers David Diamond, Norman Dello Joio, Ron Nelson, Michael Torke, Samuel Adler, Robert Ward, Robert Washburn, Fisher Tull, Nancy Galbraith and Bruce Yurko for performances of their works. He is also a contributing author to the "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band" series released by GIA Publications.

In 1996, he received the Orpheus Award from the Zeta Tau Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha for service to music and was named a "Distinguished Alumnus" of Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In 1999, he received the "Citation of Excellence" from the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association. In 2000, he was inducted into the prestigious American Bandmasters Association. He was awarded the title of "University Professor" for the 2008-2009 academic year at IUP. This is the highest award the university gives to a professor.

Episode 74 - Andrew Glover Aug 20, 2018

Andrew Glover is the Executive Vice President in charge of music production, staff arranger, and one half of the band editorial board at the C.L. Barnhouse Company. He joins the show for a conversation that touches on the history of circus bands in America, the story of C.L. Barnhouse, and what he looks for when deciding what to publish.

Topics:

Andy's background growing up in St. Louis through his time as a music education student at Central Missouri University.
Windjammers Unlimited and the history and influence of the circus band on American band music.
The story of C.L. Barnhouse and how he founded the publishing company that bears his name.
A discussion of the criteria used by Barnhouse to determine what music might be published by the company and some strong advice for young composers.

Links:

Biography:

Andrew Glover’s diverse career in music has included successful tenures as educator, composer/arranger, performer, conductor, clinician, and publisher. He joined the staff of the C. L. Barnhouse Company in 1998, and as Executive Vice President is in charge of music production, serves as staff composer-arranger and editor, and manages the business as Chief Operating Officer. A native of the St. Louis area, he was educated in the public schools of Webster Groves, where he was a student of Walter Lathen, Tony Carosello, and Ed Carson. He received a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Central Methodist University, where he studied with Keith House, Ron Anson, and Ronald Shroyer, and did graduate work at Southeast Missouri State University.

As a sophomore in high school, Glover first band arrangement was performed by the school’s wind ensemble, and thus began a multi-decade career in composition and arranging. His band works number over 200, many published by Barnhouse, and have been performed, recorded, and broadcast by bands worldwide.

In college, Glover won a position in the Detroit Concert Band, conducted by Leonard B. Smith, and performed for four seasons on euphonium. He participated in numerous recording sessions with the DCB, including ten phonograph records of “Gems of the Concert Band” and a documentary film soundtrack. For many years he also performed as a soloist and guest artist.

Glover taught briefly in the public schools of Webster Groves, and served for seven years as Director of Bands at Rosary High School in St. Louis. As a guest conductor, clinician, soloist, and speaker he has appeared in over 35 states. He also worked in the private sector for over a decade in association management.

An enthusiast of, and advocate for classic concert band music and history, Glover is not only involved in new music production at Barnhouse, but also oversees the company’s 130+ year archive of publications and historical memorabilia, and is frequently involved in band history research projects. He is a member of ASCAP; Association of Concert Bands, where he serves on the advisory council; and is Vice President of Windjammers Unlimited. In May 2013 he received the Distinguished Alumni award from Central Methodist University.

Episode 73 - Lynne Jackson Aug 14, 2018

Lynne Jackson has been a music teacher for over 40 years and shares some of her thoughts about music and band, and offers some tips for teachers heading back to school for the new year.

Topics:

Lynne's background growing up in Michigan, deciding to be a band director in the 8th grade, early mentors, and playing in William D. Revelli's band at the University of Michigan.
Lynne's journey from Michigan to Texas via VanderCook University and the Midwest Clinic.
Lynne's advice for teachers as they head back to school this year and the most common concern she gets from music education students before they head into the classroom.
Best practices for starting beginners.

Links:

Biography:

Lynne Jackson has taught forty-three years and currently teaches wind method and graduate music education classes at Southern Methodist University. Jackson also serves as a wind pedagogy specialist for the Berkner area in the Richardson Independent School District, Richardson, Texas. Jackson grew up in Michigan and attended the University of Michigan, where she studied with Clifford Lillya and Elizabeth Green and performed for four years under the baton of William D. Revelli. She received her master’s degree in music education from Vandercook College of Music. In July 2010, Jackson was awarded the “Meritorious Achievement Award” by the Texas Bandmasters Association.

Episode 72 - Nicole Piunno Aug 06, 2018

Composer Nicole Piunno joins me to tell her remarkable story of resiliency, to describe her career as a composer and trumpet player, and to share her thoughts about music and the band community.

Topics:

Nicole's background and the remarkable string of events that forced her to reinvent herself several times in her musical career.
The injury to her trumpet embouchure that required surgery and how that injury and a comment from a colleague launched her career as a composer.
Meeting David Gillingham and how he invited her to study with him at Central Michigan University.
Thoughts about being a self-published composer and advice for young composers.

Links:

Biography:

Nicole Piunno (b. 1985) is a composer who views music as a vehicle for seeing and experiencing the realities of life. Her music often reflects the paradoxes in life and how these seemingly opposites are connected as they often weave together. Her harmonic language and use of counterpoint mirrors the complexity of our world by acknowledging lightness and darkness, past and present, beauty and brokenness, confinement and freedom, chaos and order, spiritual and physical, life and death.

Nicole holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition and a Master of Music degree in theory pedagogy at Michigan State University. Her composition teachers were Ricardo Lorenz and Charles Ruggiero. She earned a Master of Music degree in composition at Central Michigan University, studying with David Gillingham. She has also worked with Jason Bahr, David Ludwig, and Tony Zilincik. Nicole earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Ohio Wesleyan University, where her emphasis was on trumpet. She has performed with the Central Ohio Symphony Orchestra and appeared as a soloist with the Ohio Wesleyan University Chamber Orchestra. Her music has recently been performed by the Principal Brass Quintet of the New York Philharmonic, Athena Brass Band, University of Akron Faculty Brass Quintet, and the Michigan State University Symphony Band. Her music has also been performed at the Orvieto Musica TrumpetFest in Orvieto, Italy, the OWU/NOW Festival of New Music, the Women in Music-Columbus concert, the SCI Student National Conference, and multiple International Trumpet Guild Conferences.

Episode 71 - Chris Gleason Jul 30, 2018

An instrumental music educator at Patrick March Middle School in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Chris Gleason was the 2017 Wisconsin Middle School Teacher of the Year, a finalist for the 2017 National Teacher of the Year and a semifinalist for the 2017 GRAMMY Music Educator Award. He joins the show to talk about his career, his commissioning program, and share some teaching wisdom.

Topics:

Growing up as the son of a band director, the lessons that he learned from his parents, and the story of applying for, and being selected as Wisconsin's "Teacher of the Year."
The story of his high school band experience and the importance of the literature that we select as our curriculum.
Anecdotes from some of the composers who Chris has commissioned.
The value of commissioning new works and tips for educators to find funding.
Chris' philosophy of "lighting fires" and his thoughts about what makes a good teacher including tips for young teachers and getting "beyond the notes."

Links:

Biography:

Chris Gleason is an instrumental music educator at Patrick Marsh Middle School in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. He is the 2017 Wisconsin Middle School Teacher of the Year, a finalist for the 2017 National Teacher of the Year and a semifinalist for the 2017 GRAMMY Music Educator Award. Chris earned his BME at UW-Eau Claire in 1997 and his Masters Degree from UW-LaCrosse in 2002. He has taught band in the East Troy School District and the LaCrosse School District. Mr. Gleason's bands have performed at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin State Capitol Rotunda, the "New Wisconsin Promise Conference", and the 2006 and 2009 Wisconsin State Music Conferences. The Patrick Marsh Middle School Band has commissioned composers such as Samuel R. Hazo (Blue and Green Music -2009), Brian Balmages (Sun Cycles – 2012), Michael Sweeney (Particles - 2013), Erik Morales (One Giant Leap - 2014), John Mackey (Lightning Field – 2015), Alex Shapiro (Rock Music- 2016), Brian Balmages (Twittering Machine – 2017), Andrew Boysen Jr (TBA – 2018). In 1992 Mr. Gleason was selected as the Wisconsin Governor’s Scholar to Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. Mr. Gleason has performed professionally at Disneyland, Valleyfair, and the Mall of America. He has been guest conductor of numerous camps and festivals including the Tarleton Invitational Band Festival (Texas), National Band Association –Wisconsin Chapter Junior High All-State Band, Tri-State Honors Band, UW-Milwaukee Honors Band, UW-Whitewater Band Camp and numerous regional honor bands across Wisconsin and Illinois. He is the past-chair of the Wisconsin Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (CMP) Committee and the Wisconsin State Middle Level Honors Band. Currently, he is chair of the Wisconsin State Middle Level Honors Project. He has taught CMP Workshops at VanderCook College of Music, the Los Angeles Unified School District in California, The NAfME National In-Service Conference, numerous school districts in the Midwest, and recently in Hong Kong. He has presented clinics at the Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin State Music Conventions. Mr. Gleason is the recent recipient of the Melvin F. Pontious Sparks in Music Education Award (2016), Michael G. George Distinguished Service Award (2016) and the Vi Miller Award for Excellence (2013) by Dane Arts and had a feature interview in the March 2015 Instrumentalist Magazine. Mr. Gleason is the founder and organizer of the Band Festival at the Kalahari in Wisconsin Dells that has to date inspired more than 23,500 young musicians. Mr. Gleason is a member of NBA, WMEA, and NAfME.

Episode 70 - Mark Scatterday Jul 23, 2018

Just the fourth person to hold the position as conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Mark Scatterday joins the show to discuss that ensemble and his career, and to share advice about conducting and teaching.

Topics:

Mark's early years growing up as a musician and his path to becoming a music educator and conductor.
The importance of being prepared and how, as a high school band director in Ohio, a chance meeting with Donald Hunsberger changed his life and his career.
A lengthy discussion of the program at Eastman including the challenge of programming up to 85 pieces of music every year.
Practical tips for score study.

Links:

Biography:

Mark Davis Scatterday is professor of conducting and chair of the Conducting and Ensembles Department at the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music. As only the fourth conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Scatterday joined a prestigious line of conductors – Donald Hunsberger, Clyde Roller, and Frederick Fennell – in the past 65 years of the famed ensemble. Since his appointment, he has led the EWE on tour to Japan, Taiwan, and China and conducted the EWE in highly acclaimed performances at Carnegie Hall, Canadian National Musicfest, and the Midwest Clinic. He has recorded five new CDs with the EWE, Eastman Virtuosi, and Eastman Music Nova and led the Eastman Harmonie on a highly acclaimed tour of Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

Having received a doctor of musical arts in conducting at the Eastman School of Music, Scatterday has directed wind ensembles and orchestras throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Previous to his appointment at Eastman, he was professor and chair of the Department of Music at Cornell University. Scatterday maintains an active guest conducting schedule as well as researching and writing articles involving score analysis, performance practices, and conducting.

Scatterday has conducted the premiere recording of Roberto Sierra’s Cancionero Sefardi with members of the Milwaukee Symphony (2001), Judith Weir’s Consolations of Scholarship with Ensemble X (2005), Danzante with James Thompson and the EWE (2006), Barcelonazo with Musica Nova (nominated for a 2008 Latin Grammy), and Manhattan Music with the EWE and the Canadian Brass (2008, nominated for a 2009 JUNO). In 2012, he recorded with the EWE and the Eastman Virtuosi featuring Stravinsky’s music and celebrating the EWE’s 60th year (2013, AVIE, London) and most recently released a new live recording of Roberto Sierra’s music with the EWE (Summit, 2017).

Episode 69 - Vince Gassi Jul 16, 2018

An accomplished composer, teacher, and trumpet player, Vince Gassi has taught music for 25 years and has published over 100 works. He joins the show to share some of the wisdom that he's gained over a distinguished career.

Topics:

Vince's early years and how a late start led to a terrific career as an educator and composer.
Tips for young teachers including the importance of being passionate and caring and how that can help convince the school community that what you do as a music teacher is as important as any other activity.
Stories and anecdotes from Vince's career as a composer including some stories of the earliest music that he wrote.
Vince packing up his bags to go study trumpet with Claude Gordon and how that trip and his concurrent attendance at the Dick Grove School of Music changed the trajectory of his career.

Links:

Biography:

An Alfred Publishing author since 2006, Vince Gassi is a much sought-after composer, conductor, and clinician. With over 100 published titles to his credit, Vince's creative and energetic style has made him a favourite with young musicians. His works, both challenging and musically rewarding, appear on many international concert and contest lists. Vince received his Bachelor of Music from the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada and later studied composing and arranging at the Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles, California. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at York University in Toronto, Canada. For twenty-five years Vince has taught Instrumental Music at the elementary and secondary school levels. He is in frequent demand as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician throughout the United States and Canada. His 'Cool Ideas' and 'Digital Workflows for Music Directors' workshops focus on ways to engage students and teachers in the creative process. Vince continues to receive many commissions and his works have been recorded and performed throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. His pieces are frequently performed at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago, Illinois. Vince currently lives in the Greater Toronto Area.

Episode 68 - Larry Gookin Jul 04, 2018

The band director at Central Washington University for 34 years, Larry Gookin joins the show to talk about his career and what he thinks are some of the key traits and practices that have made him a successful music educator.

Topics:

Larry's background, his early career, and the path to becoming the band director at Central Washington University.
Literature selection, a guest appearance by Larry's dog, a polemic from me, and an anecdote about Václav Nelhýbel.
The importance of having a mentor and why asking for help is the most important thing you can do as a band director.
A brief primer on score study and preparing to teach a new piece of music.

Links:

Biography:

Larry Gookin is Distinguished Professor and Emeritus Professor of Music at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, WA. He served for 34 years as Director of Bands before retiring from CWU in 2015. Prior to teaching at Central, Professor Gookin taught band for ten years in Montana and Oregon public schools.

During his tenure at Central, the CWU Wind Ensemble performed by invitation at major conferences and conventions, including the College Band Directors National Association Conferences in Boulder and Seattle, the Music Educators National Conference in Minneapolis, the Western International Band Clinics in Seattle, the Western/Northwestern CBDNA Division Conferences in Reno, the Northwest Division NAFME conferences, and numerous WMEA State Conferences.

Larry Gookin has received numerous honors and awards. He has served as president of the Northwestern Division of the CBDNA, as well as Divisional Chairman for the National Band Association, and Vice President of the Washington Music Educators Association. He is a member of the American Bandmasters Association and the WMEA Hall of Fame, and he is a past recipient of the NBA “Citation of Excellent Award,” the First Chair of America “Mac” Award, the ASBDA “Standbury Award,” the WIAA/WMEA teacher of the year award, and the University of Oregon’s School of Music Distinguished Alumnus Award. Gookin was also named CWU Distinguished Professor of Teaching, and while at Central, he served as Associate Chair and Coordinator of Graduate Studies. He is former principal trombone of the Eugene and Yakima Symphony Orchestras, and is Emeritus Artistic Director and Conductor of the Seattle Wind Symphony.

Professor Gookin received the M.M. in Music Education from the University of Oregon School of Music in 1977 and the B.M in Music Education and Trombone Performance from the University of Montana in 1971.

Professor Gookin has appeared as clinician, adjudicator, and conductor in the United States, Canada, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. He is a Yamaha Performing Artist and remains active as a conductor and music educator. Gookin resides in Ellensburg, Washington with his wife Karen, who is Emeritus Professor of English at CWU and recently retired on piccolo and flute from the Yakima Symphony Orchestra.

Episode 67 - Francis Franqui Jul 02, 2018

Happy Independence Day to all of my American listeners! For this week's episode I am joined by SSG Francis Franqui, a former band director and now a bugle musician with the United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps to talk about a variety of topics including the history and significance of the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, his experience during the audition process, and some discussion of historical instruments and marching styles.

Topics:

SSG Franqui's background growing up in Florida as a young trumpet player including his time in Steve Davis' high school band.
His experience in DCI, performing in Blast!, and as a band director and how it prepared him for his current role as a bugle musician in the Old Guard.
The mission of the United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps and the history of fife and drum music in the United States Army.
Why the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps wears red and why the drum major is the only member of the United States military authorized to salute with his left hand.
Insights into the rehearsals, instruments, and marching techniques specific to the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps.

Links:

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Everything Band is sponsored by Celtic Horizon Arts, the leading tour operator for the arts in the UK and Ireland. Celtic Horizon Arts host bands, orchestras, and choirs from around the world and are now taking enquiries for their 2020 band festival in Limerick, Ireland with Johan de Meij featuring clinics, masterclasses and cultural exchanges. Bands and individual musicians are all welcome to participate and can find out more by contacting Keith Kelly at keith@celtichorizontours.com or find out more on Facebook at @CelticHorizonArts

Episode 66 - Steven Bryant Jun 25, 2018

Composer Steven Bryant's music for winds has quickly become part of the standard repertoire. As the son of a music educator, he is a strong supporter of music education and he joins me from the mountains of Austria to talk about his early influences, his music, and his career to this point.

Topics:

Steven’s background as the son of a high school band director and how that influenced his path to becoming a composer.
The story of BCM International and Steve’s early success with Chester Leaps In and the stories of Dusk and Ecstatic Waters.
The value of being self-published and the nuts and bolts about a career as a successful composer.
Writing music for band and electronics.

Links:

Biography:

Steven Bryant’s music is chiseled in its structure and intent, fusing lyricism, dissonance, silence, technology, and humor into lean, skillfully-crafted works that enthrall listeners and performers alike. His seminal work Ecstatic Waters, for wind ensemble and electronics, has become one of the most performed works of its kind in the world, receiving over 250 performances in its first five seasons. Recently, the orchestral version was premiered by the Minnesota Orchestra to unanimous, rapturous acclaim. The son of a professional trumpeter and music educator, he strongly values music education, and his creative output includes a number of works for young and developing musicians.

John Corigliano states Bryant’s “compositional virtuosity is evident in every bar” of his 34’ Concerto for Wind Ensemble. Bryant’s first orchestral work, Loose Id for Orchestra, hailed by composer Samuel Adler as “orchestrated like a virtuoso,” was premiered by The Juilliard Symphony and is featured on a CD release by the Bowling Green Philharmonia on Albany Records. Alchemy in Silent Spaces, commissioned by James DePreist and The Juilliard School, was premiered by the Juilliard Orchestra in May 2006. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW series featured his brass quintet, Loose Id, conducted by Cliff Colnot, on its 2012-13 concert series.

Notable upcoming projects include an orchestral work for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (April, 2018), an evening-length dramatic work for the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, a choral work for the BBC Singers (July, 2017), a work for FivE for Euphonium Quartet and wind ensemble (2019), and a large work to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the University of Illinois Bands. Recent works include a Concerto for Alto Saxophone for Joseph Lulloff and the Michigan State University Wind Symphony (winner of the 2014 American Bandmasters Sousa Ostwald Award), and a Concerto for Trombone for Joseph Alessi and the Dallas Wind Symphony. Other commissions have come from the Gaudete Brass Quintet (Chicago), cellist Caroline Stinson (Lark Quartet), pianist Pamela Mia Paul, the Amherst Saxophone Quartet (funded by the American Composers Jerome Composers Commissioning Program), the University of Texas – Austin Wind Ensemble, the US Air Force Band of Mid-America, the Japanese Wind Ensemble Conductors Conference, and the Calgary Stampede Band, as well as many others.

Steven studied composition with John Corigliano at The Juilliard School, Cindy McTee at the University of North Texas, and Francis McBeth at Ouachita University, trained for one summer in the mid-1980s as a break-dancer (i.e. was forced into lessons by his mother), was the 1987 radio-controlled car racing Arkansas state champion, has a Bacon Number of 1, and has played saxophone with Branford Marsalis on Sleigh Ride. He resides in Durham, NC with his wife, conductor Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant (Duke University).

Episode 65 - Larry Clark Jun 18, 2018

After 18 years as the band editor at Carl Fischer, Larry Clark recently founded Excelcia Music Publishing. A prolific composer and teacher, he shares his thoughts about the music industry, music education, and composing for band.

Topics:

Larry’s background growing up in Florida and how he got his musical start and his path to becoming a composer.
Advice for teachers who want to learn to arrange or compose for their groups and thoughts about choosing music and what to look for in quality music.
The importance of mentorship.
Traditional publishing versus self-publishing and the value of both.
The value of marches and how they help students learn solid band foundations such as balance, blend, and intonation plus a host of easy harmonic and formal concepts.

Links:

Biography:

Music by Larry Clark (b. 1963) is some of the most popular and most performed by concert bands and string orchestras of all ability levels. Larry is equally adept at writing music for beginners as he is for high school and college ensembles. His music is tuneful, contains a fresh harmonic perspective, is well scored and stretches the musicianship of the performers. He prides himself on producing music that is not only intriguing to performers and audiences alike but that contains a playability that comes from a keen understanding of the technical difficulties inherent in all instruments. His pieces have been performed internationally and appear on numerous contest/festival performance required music lists. He is an ASCAP award-winning composer, has over 300 publications in print and is in demand to write commissions for bands and orchestras across the country. Besides his abilities as a composer Larry is now the founder and President of Excelcia Music Publishing. His new company will focus on educational music for band, choral and orchestra and related methods and books. Prior to Larry starting his own publishing company he served for over eighteen years as Vice President, Editor-in-Chief for Carl Fischer Music, and before that an Instrumental Music Editor for Warner Bros. Publications. Larry travels the world presenting clinic/workshops and guest conducting appearances. His background as a former middle school and university band director at Syracuse University, combined with his composing and editing, have placed Larry at the forefront of music for school ensembles. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Music Education from Florida State University and Masters Degrees in Conducting and Composition from James Madison University in Virginia. For more information about the music of Larry Clark, visit his website www.larryclarkmusic.com

Episode 64 - Leah Bandman Jun 13, 2018

Congratulations on making it to the end of another school year! The end of the year episode features Leah Bandman, a young teacher in Northern Virginia who just finished up her first year and agreed to talk about her experiences so far.

Topics:

Leah’s background growing up in Northern Virginia and going to school at Ohio State and the nature of her current teaching position.
Unexpected challenges that Leah faced as a first year teacher.
A look into the daily life of a first year music teacher including questions about unexpected challenges, materials, schedules, and classroom management.
The importance of continuing to perform and play in ensembles as a teacher.

Links:

Biography:

Leah Bandman is a native of Springfield, Virginia. She attended Ohio State University where she received her Bachelors of Music Education degree in the spring of 2017. During her time at OSU, Leah was involved heavily in the flute studio and Sigma Alpha Iota, both of which she held leadership roles in and helped carry out major events on campus. These events included the Central Ohio Flute Association annual convention, OSU Flute Workshop, OSU High School Honor Band, and OSU Middle School Honor Band. For several years while at Ohio State University, Leah volunteered at the Ohio State School for the Blind giving private lessons and assisting with the only blind marching band in the world. At the end of her music education program, Leah student taught with Aaron Given in the Olentangy Local School District. Leah is currently a first year elementary school band director in Fairfax County Public Schools. Sharing time between three elementary schools, she is responsible for two of the programs, ranging from 70 to 110 students. She helps run elementary area honor bands, assists the middle school and high school programs by giving sectionals, and continues her playing while performing in local symphony orchestras and community bands.

Episode 63 - Ogechi Ukazu Jun 05, 2018

Texas band director Ogechi Ukazu is a rising star in the music education community and the new Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Mary Hardin Baylor College. Listen to this episode and you'll understand why she's heading for great things!

Topics:

Ogechi’s background growing up, studying, and teaching in Texas and the exciting plans for her future.
How a few great teachers who took a chance on Ogechi made all of the difference in her life and career.
How she went from successful middle school director to an assistant band director at Cypress Ridge High School now to a Visiting Assistant Professor at Mary Hardin Baylor College.
Ogechi offers her opinions about race in the music education community, what’s important as a teacher in a minority-majority school, and thoughts about how we can encourage young people from at-risk populations to become composers.

Links:

Biography:

Associate Director of Bands Ogechi Ukazu is new to Cy-Ridge High School Band Program this year. Prior to her current appointment, she served as Director of Bands at Clear Creek High School (Clear Creek ISD) in League City, TX. Ms. Ukazu conducted the Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, and was responsible for the administration of the band program.

Just before Clear Creek, Ms. Ukazu graduated from Sam Houston State University where she received a Master of Music in Conducting. While at SHSU, Ms. Ukazu served as principal trombone in the Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, and lead trombone in the Jazz Ensemble.

Ms. Ukazu taught middle school for four years in Spring ISD before attending SHSU—her final two years as the Director of Bands at Claughton. In 2011, the Claughton Middle School Symphonic Band performed at the prestigious Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.

Ms. Ukazu received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from the University of Houston where she was principal trombone in the Wind Ensemble, split lead trombone in the Jazz Orchestra, and Trombone Section leader for the Spirit of Houston Marching Band.

Ms. Ukazu is currently part of the Brass Staff for The Guardians, an open class Drum Corps out of Houston, TX. Her professional affiliations include, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, Sigma Alpha Iota – International Music Fraternity for Women, and Tau Beta Sigma – National Honorary Band Service Sorority.

Episode 62 - Sara Corry May 28, 2018

Happy Memorial Day! For this most important and solemn of holidays I am joined by Sara Corry, the staff arranger for the U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own."

Topics:

Sara's background and how her parents took her to the doctor as a child because she heard music in her head!
The variety of ensembles and opportunities that she writes for as an arranger for the "Pershing's Own."
Thoughts about what we can do as educators to help encourage young women to become composers.

Links:

Biography:

Sara Corry is currently a member of the U.S. Army where she serves as a Staff Arranger for the U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own." For the last six years she has been a Teaching Fellow at Interlochen Arts Camp, providing instruction on electronic music and theory. As a composer, Corry has had notable performances by the JACK Quartet, Harvard's Videri String Quartet, Dallas Symphony Chamber Players, Meadows Symphony Orchestra (Dallas), Interlochen Ensemble and the Musica Nova Ensemble (UMKC). She has received commissions from the Playground Ensemble, Dallas Museum of Art - Nasher Sculpture Center, and University of Colorado. She has been a featured composer at the Aquilla Summer Music Festival, ISCM Miami, and the UNC Open Space Festival. Her Composition "Aftersong" is included on the "Electronic Masters Vol. 5" CD released in 2016 by ABLAZE Records.

Coming from both a scientific and musical background, she was the recipient of a Catalyst grant to fund her ideas linking music and physics and won the O'Neal-Taniguchi prize for Arts Entrepreneurship for the development of a computer program that reads brainwaves and aids in musical performance.

In addition to composing and arranging, Corry is an active harpist. As a musician, she has performed in Carnegie Hall, Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Meyerson Symphony Center, Meng Concert Hall, as well as venues in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France.

She earned a Master's degree in Music Composition from the University of Texas at Austin and is currently finishing her D.M.A in Music Composition and Technology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her principle teachers include Dan Kellogg, John Drumheller, Donald Grantham, Dan Welcher, Yevgeniy Sharlat, and Rob Frank.

Episode 61 - John Benham May 21, 2018

Music educator John Benham joins the show to discuss his book Music Advocacy: Moving from Survival to Vision and his concept of "reverse economics" that has helped save school music in over 400 districts throughout North America.

Topics:

John's background as a brass player and vocalist and a bit about his early career as a music educator.
The story of how John developed his theory of reverse economics and how it's simple concept works and resonates with administrators and school boards.
Why music teachers must stick together and why it is essential that they rally their parents to save their programs.
How to know if your program might be in trouble and what to expect if John were called in to work with your district.

Links:

Biography:

With over 40 years experience as a music educator, Dr. John Benham first became involved in saving school music programs in 1981. Since then he has worked with over 400 school districts, taking his message to nearly every state and province in North America.

In addition to his years as an educator, he has extensive experience in both business and educational administration that includes 6 years as a public school board member. He has a unique ability to analyze each situation and develop collaborative solutions in a language that communicates with the educator and the community as well as the school board and administration. His theory of “reverse economics” demonstrates the financial viability of a strong music program. He is author of the book Music Advocacy: Moving from Survival to Vision, GIA Publications, 2016.

To date, the methods he uses to equip and mobilize community music coalitions are responsible for preventing or restoring over $74 million in reductions to music programs. The result has been the saving of over 2,000 teaching positions that provide instruction to over 500,000 students.

Episode 60 - Travis J. Weller May 14, 2018

Episode 60 features composer and educator Travis J. Weller, who is completing his first year as a music education professor at Messiah College after a long career as a high school educator in Western Pennsylvania.

Topics:

Travis' background as a composer and educator including how he got his start in music and as a composer and his transition to higher education.
Travis' low brass heroes, including previous podcast guest Andrew Hitz.
Why Tuba players are like baseball catchers.
Important advice about being prepared as a teacher by thinking about the end and walking it backwards.
The story of "L'il Travis"

Links:

Biography:

Travis J. Weller is the Director of Music Education and The Symphonic Winds at Messiah College. Prior to his appointment at Messiah, he served as Director of Bands at Mercer Middle-Senior High School (PA) and taught as adjunct faculty at Kent State. A published composer of band music, he is in frequent demands for commissions, clinics, and honor bands. He has authored a number of articles on instrumental music education appearing in journals like The Instrumentalist, Teaching Music, and the PMEA Journal.

Episode 59 - David Hedgecoth May 07, 2018

It's job season! In this timely episode, David Hedgecoth, an assistant professor of music education at the Ohio State University joins me for a discussion of his career and offers his tips and advice for those seeking secondary music teaching jobs.

Topics:

David's path to becoming a college professor of music education and some things he learned along the way.
What it was like to be the drum major for the Florida State University Marching Chiefs.
Practical tips and advice for job seekers, including advice for those who might not be at a large school with every resource available to them.
Working with composers and the value of performing new music and looking beyond the state lists.
His research into music and the arts in the charter schools.

Links:

Biography:

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, David Hedgecoth earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Education from Florida State University in Tallassee in 1999 and 2003 respectively. Dr. Hedgecoth taught in the Seminole County Public School System for nine years, supervising programs of up to 350 students. He has served as a guest conductor/clinician for honor bands and leadership clinics in Florida, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Virginia. After completing his in PhD in Music Education at The Ohio State University in 2012, Hedgecoth joined the music education faculty of the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR. His responsibilities included directing the Symphonic Band, wind repertoire, supervising student teaching and field experience in addition to serving as liaison to the College of Education. As a faculty member at Ohio State, Hedgecoth’s duties include brass and woodwind methods courses, instrumental music education for choral majors, teaching instrumental music for high school students, and supervising field experience for instrumental music education music majors. A former Teacher of the Year and National Board Certified Teacher, Hedgecoth’s research interests include the numerous factors that impact classroom music educators: political influences in education, charter schools as well as public school and charter school curriculum.

Episode 58 - Chandler Wilson Apr 30, 2018

Conductor and composer Chandler Wilson is currently finishing up his doctorate in music education at Florida State University. A successful band director at several Florida High Schools, he speaks about the importance of networking and the pursuit of excellence.

Topics:

Chandler’s background growing up in South Florida and his early experiences making music with his family and in school.
Studying with some of the great band directors and band programs at Florida A & M University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Florida State University.
Thoughts about living up to the standard of excellence of FAMU and how to foster that motivation in your own programs.
The importance the Historically Black College in the music education community and beyond.
Chandler’s work as a composer, how he got his start, and his first published work.

Links:

Biography:

Chandler L. Wilson is a native of Miami, FL. He attended Florida A&M University (FAMU) where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Music Education. While a student at FAMU, he served as the University Band President and section leader of the saxophones. During his time at FAMU, he was selected as the student arranger and conductor. Mr. Wilson earned a Master of Arts in Wind Band Conducting from Indiana University of Pennsylvania where he studied with Dr. Jack Stamp. Many compositions of Mr. Wilson have been premiered and performed on the concert band stage with All-County/District Honor Bands and All-State Bands. He has also had selections performed at the Music for All National Festival and the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. Mr. Wilson is currently attending Florida State University where he is working towards his Ph.D in Music Education with an emphasis in conducting.

Episode 57 - Kevin Day Apr 23, 2018

Kevin Day is currently a student at Texas Christian University where he studies tuba, composes, and plays jazz piano. His recent works for band have been generating a great deal of buzz and he joins me to talk about his music and the beginning of what looks to be an exciting career.

Topics:

Being a part of John Mackey’s booth at the Midwest Clinic and the story of how his piece Rocket Ship! came to be a part of Julie Giroux’s honor band rotation.
Growing up with two musical parents, singing in choir, and playing drums and piano as a child.
Being published and distributed by Murphy Music and the process for having Kevin write a work for your band.
Kevin’s process for writing a new piece of music, some thoughts about how he has grown as a composer, and some tips for people who might want to start writing themselves.

Links:

Biography:

Kevin Day (b. 1996) is an American composer, conductor, and multi-instrumentalist from Arlington, Texas. Currently in his senior year at Texas Christian University, he will be graduating in December 2018 with a BM in Euphonium Performance and wishes to pursue his masters in music composition. Day has written over 100 compositions for solos, concert band, orchestra, chamber, film, and choral groups. His works have been premiered and heard across the United States, and he currently receives commissions in his emerging compositional career. Kevin Day is a winner of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra Young Composers Competition, the Tribeca New Music Young Composer Competition, the Dallas Winds Fanfare Contest, a finalist for the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and a finalist of the Novus New Music Call for Scores Contest. He has also had pieces premiered and showcased at W.I.B.C, the NAfME All-Northwest Conference, TMEA, and the Midwest Clinic, and is the recipient of the 2016 W. Francis McBeth Student Musicianship Award from Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity. In addition to classical music, Day has composed music for two short films, A Partial Heart (2015) and The Broken Man (2017), which were premiered at the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth. He has worked with renowned composers Julie Giroux, John Mackey, and Dr. Frank Ticheli, is a member of BMI and Kappa Kappa Psi, and is currently the composer-in-residence and Assistant Conductor of the Next Gen Chamber Players in Mansfield, Texas, for their 2017-2018 season. He studies under Dr. Neil Anderson-Himmelspach for composition and Mr. Richard Murrow for Euphonium.

Everything Band is sponsored by Celtic Horizon Arts, the leading tour operator for the arts in the UK and Ireland. Celtic Horizon Arts host bands, orchestras, and choirs from around the world and are now taking enquiries for their 2020 band festival in Limerick, Ireland. Find out more by contacting Keith Kelly at keith@celtichorizontours.com or find out more on Facebook at @CelticHorizonArts

Episode 56 - Frank Ticheli Apr 16, 2018

Composer Frank Ticheli joins me to talk about his career, offer some advice, and remind all of us that music should be fun and our goal should be joy!

My sincere apologies for the connection problems in the second half of the interview.

Topics:

Frank’s early experiences and an anecdote about how he started on the trumpet and not the clarinet.
Being a student in Texas and the lessons about music that he learned from his high school band directors and the story of a nudge towards becoming a composer from a teacher that recognized something special in him.
The story of how Frank got involved in writing music for band and the stigmatization of band music in the broader concert music community.

Links:

Biography:

Frank Ticheli's music has been described as being "optimistic and thoughtful" (Los Angeles Times), "lean and muscular" (New York Times), "brilliantly effective" (Miami Herald) and "powerful, deeply felt crafted with impressive flair and an ear for striking instrumental colors" (South Florida Sun-Sentinel). Ticheli (b. 1958) joined the faculty of the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music in 1991, where he is Professor of Composition. From 1991 to 1998, Ticheli was Composer in Residence of the Pacific Symphony.

Frank Ticheli's orchestral works have received considerable recognition in the U.S. and Europe. Orchestral performances have come from the Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Dallas Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, the radio orchestras of Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Saarbruecken, and Austria, and the orchestras of Austin, Bridgeport, Charlotte, Colorado, Haddonfield, Harrisburg, Hong Kong, Jacksonville, Lansing, Long Island, Louisville, Lubbock, Memphis, Nashville, Omaha, Phoenix, Portland, Richmond, San Antonio, San Jose, Wichita Falls, and others.

Ticheli is well known for his works for concert band, many of which have become standards in the repertoire. In addition to composing, he has appeared as guest conductor of his music at Carnegie Hall, at many American universities and music festivals, and in cities throughout the world, including Schladming (Austria), Beijing and Shanghai, London and Manchester, Singapore, Rome, Sydney, and numerous cities in Japan.

Frank Ticheli is the recipient of a 2012 "Arts and Letters Award" from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, his third award from that prestigious organization. His Symphony No. 2 was named winner of the 2006 NBA/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest. Other awards include the Walter Beeler Memorial Prize and First Prize awards in the Texas Sesquicentennial Orchestral Composition Competition, Britten-on-the-Bay Choral Composition Contest, and Virginia CBDNA Symposium for New Band Music.

Ticheli was awarded national honorary membership to Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, "bestowed to individuals who have significantly contributed to the cause of music in America," and the A. Austin Harding Award by the American School Band Directors Association, "given to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the school band movement in America." At USC, he has received the Virginia Ramo Award for excellence in teaching, and the Dean's Award for Professional Achievement.

Frank Ticheli received his doctoral and masters degrees in composition from The University of Michigan. His works are published by Manhattan Beach, Southern, Hinshaw, and Encore Music, and are recorded on the labels of Albany, Chandos, Clarion, Equilibrium, Klavier, Koch International, Mark, Naxos, and Reference.

Episode 55 - Emily Threinen Apr 09, 2018

The director of bands at the University of Minnesota, Emily Threinen joins me to discuss her career and share her thoughts about music and teaching.

Topics:

Emily’s background and the teacher, Tim Smith, who she credits with inspiring her career.
Leading students to success without fear or intimidation.
A discussion about gender in the band world including the importance of diversity in leadership positions.
A discussion about concert programming and finding a balance between new music while performing standard repertoire and transcriptions.

Links:

Biography:

Emily Threinen currently serves as Director of Bands at the University of Minnesota School of Music in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. In this position, she conducts the acclaimed Wind Ensemble, guides the graduate wind band conducting program, instructs undergraduate advanced conducting, and provides administrative leadership for all aspects of the University of Minnesota Bands. Prior to her appointment at Minnesota, Threinen served as Director of Bands and Artistic Director of Winds and Brass at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Before her work in Philadelphia, Threinen served as Director of Bands at Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia; Director of the Duke University Wind Symphony in Durham, North Carolina; Director of the Concordia University Wind Ensemble in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Conductor of the Dodworth Saxhorn Band in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Director of Bands and Instrumental Music at Harding High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, receiving the Outstanding Teacher Award.

Threinen consistently works with composers, arrangers, and performing artists of varied disciplines. Residencies and projects with composers and new compositions are integral to her creative work. Threinen is published in multiple volumes of the GIA Teaching Music Through Performance in Band book series where she has been recognized as a strong scholarly contributor. She is an active guest conductor, clinician, conference presenter, and performer.

Threinen currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Conductors Guild and was elected to the American Bandmasters Association in March, 2016. She is an active member of these organizations: World Association for Symphonic Band and Ensembles (WASBE), College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA), National Band Association (NBA), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), Pi Kappa Lambda, and Kappa Kappa Psi as an honorary member. Threinen is a Yamaha Master Educator.

Episode 54 - Michael Markowski Apr 02, 2018

Composer Michael Markowski joins the show to offer a thoughtful conversation about his very unique career as a musician and composer.

Topics:

Michael’s background including the revelation that despite having a career as a composer able to support himself he does not possess a degree in music!
Michael’s early experiences with Manhattan Beach Publications and the move to self-publishing.
Traditional pre-printed scores vs. PDF downloads.
Some advice for commissioning a new work including one thing to avoid when approaching a composer.

Links:

Biography:

MICHAEL MARKOWSKI (b. 1986) is fully qualified to watch movies and cartoons. In 2010, he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 'Film Practices' from Arizona State University. While Markowski never studied music in college, he did study privately with his mentors, Jon Gomez and Dr. Karl Schindler, and has continued his education by participating in a number of extracurricular programs, such as The Art of Orchestration with Steven Scott Smalley (2008), the National Band Association's Young Composer and Conductor Mentorship Project (2008), and the NYU/ASCAP Foundation's Film Scoring Workshop (2014) where he was named one of ASCAP's Film & TV "Composers to Watch." Mark Snow, composer of The X-Files and one of the workshop's guest mentors, says Michael's music was "extremely sophisticated" and "complimented the mood and emotion of the scene with unusual maturity and sensitivity." Most recently, Markowski was invited to join the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop (2015) as a composer/lyricist. He is a member of ASCAP and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Episode 53 - Alex Shapiro Mar 26, 2018

Episode 53 - Alex Shapiro

Composer Alex Shapiro kicks off year two of the podcast with a terrific conversation about her career and her remarkable perspectives about composing and music.

Topics:

How growing up in New York City with two very supportive parents helped Alex to a career in music.
The importance of “showing up” and how it leads to amazing connections and opportunities.
Her remarkable story about her transition from writing commercial music for media to becoming a concert composer and then how she got involved in writing for band.
Her creative process and the story of how a glass of Scotch and the frustration of a late night led to the creation of her work Paper Cut.

Links:

Biography:

Composer Alex Shapiro aligns note after note with the hope that at least a few of them will actually sound good next to each other. Her persistence at this activity, as well as non-fiction music writing, arts advocacy, public speaking, wildlife photography, and the shameless instigation of insufferable puns on Facebook, has led to a happy life. Drawing from a broad musical palette that giddily ignores genre, Alex's acoustic and electroacoustic works are published by Activist Music LLC, performed and broadcast daily, and can be found on nearly thirty commercial releases from record labels around the world.

Episode 52 - Jenny Neff Mar 19, 2018

Jenny Neff conducts three concert bands at Bala Cynwyd Middle School, is on the NAfME Council for Band Education, and is currently the Interim Director of the Master of Music and Summer Music Studies programs at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Topics:

Jenny’s early background as a horn player and the importance of the early support and experiences that she had that led to her career as a music teacher.
Jenny’s program at Bala Cynwyd Middle School and the value of having all of the music teachers working together.
The transition period known as middle school or as Jenny says “they come in being babysat and they leave as babysitters.”
The genesis of her Midwest Clinic Presentation with Scott Watson (Episode 2) and the value of using Skype to have composers work with her band.
The Master of Music and Summer Music Studies programs at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Links:

Biography:

Jenny L. Neff, Ed.D. is in her 25th year of public school teaching, with experience teaching music at various levels K-12 in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. She conducts three concert bands at Bala Cynwyd Middle School in the Lower Merion School District in Pennsylvania. She was recently hired by the University of the Arts in Philadelphia as Interim Director of the Master of Music and Summer Music Studies programs. She serves as the Eastern Division Representative for NAfME’s Council for Band and previously served in roles of advocacy and professional development for PMEA districts. She is part of the PMEA mentor teacher program and serves as a trainer for their online Model Curriculum Framework tool. In December 2017, Dr. Neff co-presented at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, and has also presented sessions for music educators in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Delaware on a variety of topics, including: music standards, curriculum, advocacy, instructional strategies, engaging students, embracing change, and teacher evaluation. Dr. Neff’s doctoral research study was published in the peer-reviewed Pennsylvania Educational Leadership Journal. She has written articles for the PMEA State Journal, and blog posts for NAfME, Zeswitz Music, and J.W. Pepper. She conducted the Concert Band at New England Music Camp for four summers, and has been a guest conductor and clinician in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Previously, she toured Europe for five summers with high school musicians as Symphonic Band Director and String Ensemble Director for American Music Abroad. Dr. Neff received her Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Immaculata University. She received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Music Education from Michigan State University where she studied horn with Douglas Campbell and Neill Saunders, and played under the batons of Eugene Corporon, Kenneth Bloomquist, and Leon Gregorian in MSU's top bands and orchestra.

Episode 51 - David Vickerman Mar 13, 2018

Conductor David Vickerman of San Jose State University joins me to talk about his career and share his wisdom. Notably, this includes an extended discussion about our responsibility as leaders to help promote diversity.

Topics:

David’s job at San Jose State and his background growing up in Northern California through his first job at the College of New Jersey and his return back home to the Bay Area of California.
Choosing music and some thoughts about finding quality literature regardless of aesthetic tastes.
The importance of actively trying to make changes in our system and helping to promote diversity in the band community.
The music program at San Jose State University.
Trying to be better at asking and answering the "Why? as conductors and teachers, and using comprehensive musicianship through performance.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. David Vickerman, 2015 winner of The American Prize in Conducting, is the new Director of Bands at San José State University. In addition to conducting the wind ensemble and symphonic band, he teaches undergraduate and graduate instrumental conducting. Prior to his appointment at San José State University, he was the Director of Bands at The College of New Jersey where he established the Wind Ensemble as a regional model for performance excellence through invitations to the College Band Directors National Association and National Association for Music Education Eastern Division Conferences. Before joining The College of New Jersey, he held the position of Director of Bands on the Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus where he conducted the Wind Ensemble and directed the Pep Band. In addition to his duties at SJSU, he has served as the Associate Conductor of Great Noise Ensemble, in Washington D.C. and he is a highly sought-after guest conductor having conducted numerous honor bands over the past five years.

A fervent advocate for contemporary music, Dr. Vickerman has commissioned works by eminent composers and conducted numerous world premieres with The College of New Jersey Wind Ensemble and Great Noise Ensemble. He has also arranged several pieces for winds including Ára Batur by the Icelandic rock band, Sigur Rós, Observer in the Magellanic Cloud by Mason Bates and Craigslistlieder by Gabriel Kahane. In the fall of 2013, Dr. Vickerman conducted the premiere of the “Sgt. Pepper Project” with Great Noise Ensemble. This concert consisted of thirteen premieres, each based off of a track from the famous Beatles album. For a concert event entitled “Digital Embrace” at the Peabody Institute, he conducted a concert of wind band music that focused on the use of integrated live electronics. His primary conducting instructors include Dr. Edward C. Harris (Professor Emeritus from San José State University), Dr. Stuart Sims, Robert Ponto and Harlan Parker.

Dr. Vickerman regularly presents at regional, national and international conferences on topics ranging from teaching social justice issues in band, to the development of a computer-based conducting analysis system to assist beginning conducting students. His co-authored paper with Dr. Andrea Salgian, “Computer-Based Tutoring for Conducting Students,” was presented at the International Computer Music Conference in Utrecht, Netherlands in September 2016. He also accepted an invitation to present “Improve Band Performance with Socially-Conscious Repertoire” along with Dr. Colleen Sears, at the National Association for Music Education Eastern Division Conference in 2017. Along with Dr. Sears, Dr. Vickerman is a founder of the Institute for Social Justice in the Arts and Humanities at TCNJ, which presents concerts, workshops and cross-departmental projects for the community.

Dr. Vickerman graduated from the Peabody Institute with a DMA in Wind Conducting in 2014 and a Master’s Degree in Wind Conducting from the University of Oregon in 2010. Prior to his work at the University of Oregon, he taught high school in California for 6 years after receiving a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education and teaching credential from California State University Stanislaus in 2002.

Episode 50 - Rodney Dorsey Mar 05, 2018

I made it to 50! Joining me is Rodney Dorsey, the current head of bands at the University of Oregon and who was just announced as a new professor of music in bands at Indiana University beginning in Fall 2018.

Topics:

Rodney’s background growing up in Florida including having Robert Sheldon as his band director.
Key lessons learned from his teachers including James Croft, John Paynter, and Mallory Thompson.
The band program at the University of Oregon and Rodney’s new gig at Indiana University.
Increasing diversity in the band world and the need to commission and perform more music by under-represented composers.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Rodney Dorsey comes to SOMD from a position as the associate director of bands at the University of Michigan where he conducted the Concert Band, taught undergraduate conducting, and conducted the Michigan Youth Band. Dorsey will be taking on the director of bands, conducting, and conductor of the UO Wind Ensemble starting Fall of 2013.

Prior to this appointment at UM, Dorsey served on the faculties of DePaul and Northwestern Universities. Dorsey studied conducting with Dr. James Croft, Mr. John P. Paynter, and Dr. Mallory Thompson. He was a clarinet student of Mr. Fred Ormand and Dr. Frank Kowalsky. He gained extensive experience teaching in the public schools of Florida and Georgia. Ensembles under Dorsey's direction have performed at several state and national events including the Bands of America National Concert Band Festival. He is active as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator in the United States. Recent presentations include sessions at the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association Intercollegiate Band (guest conductor), Georgia Music Educators District Band Festival (adjudicator), and Kentucky Music Educators Association State In-Service Conference (presenter). Dorsey holds a number of professional memberships that include the College Band Directors National Association, Music Educators National Conference, Illinois Music Educators Association, Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. Dorsey is also a member of the Midwest Clinic Board of Directors.

Episode 49 - Charles Maguire Feb 26, 2018

The founder and conductor of the Desert Winds in Las Vegas, Chuck Maguire shares his thoughtful and insightful opinions on music education and the importance of composers and their music.

Topics:

Chuck’s origin story and his early career and particularly his time at Troy University and a life-changing moment with Robert W. Smith.
The story of building community at Goshen High School and tips for young directors starting out at small rural high schools.
The importance of meeting the needs of the stakeholders in an ensemble or school and the example of the Desert Winds.
Commissioning new music, the importance of composers, and some wonderful anecdotes about two works written for the Desert Winds and their 2016 Midwest Clinic performance.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Charles A. Maguire is the founding Artistic Director of “The Best of Las Vegas Performing Arts Group”, The Desert Winds, who had the distinguished honor of performing for the 70th conference of The Midwest Clinic in 2016. In addition to his artistic duties, Dr. Maguire serves as an educational consultant for band directors within the Clark County School District, the largest school music program in the United States. Dr. Maguire holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Troy University, a Master of Music degree in Wind Conducting from The University of Alabama and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Dr. Maguire has been lauded by his colleagues for fostering music programs within diverse and economically challenged school populations. Listed in “Who’s Who Among American Teachers” five consecutive years, Maguire has earned distinction as band programs under his leadership have achieved top honors throughout the United States. In 2000 Maguire founded the “Pride of Pleasure Island” which grew from 19 students to over 300 students in 3 years. Dr. Maguire is an active performer having held lead roles in musical theater productions and most recently performing within the flute section of the distinguished UNLV Wind Orchestra.

Dr. Maguire is an active guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician throughout the United States and Canada. His past and present professional affiliations include The National Band Association, College Band Directors National Association, Alabama Bandmasters Association, National Education Association, Alabama Education Association, Music Educators National Conference, Southern Nevada Band Directors Association and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Professional Music Fraternity.

TMEA Bonus Episode: Jack Wilds, Haley Woodrow, & Keith Kelly Feb 22, 2018

For this special bonus episode I recorded three interviews in the exhibit hall at the 2018 Texas Music Educators Association Convention. The guests are composer Jack Wilds, composer Haley Woodrow, and Keith Kelly, the founder of the Irish Symphonic Wind Orchestra.

Links:

Biographies:

Jack Wilds' music has been performed at state educators’ conferences across the country and in international venues including the Midwest Clinic, the International Trombone Festival, and the Slider Asia Clinic in Hong Kong. His works for concert band have been selected to the J.W. Pepper Editor’s Choice List and the Bandworld Top 100. In addition to his career as a composer Mr. Wilds is an active clinician and music educator. He lives in Kyle, Texas with his family.

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Haley Woodrow loves to partner with performers in crafting musical experiences that offer listeners an active role. Her music reflects a broad range of influences and genres, and combines styles as a primary objective. Haley’s compositions have received awards from the National Band Association (for And it Begins), the Texas Music Educators Association (for And it Begins and March for Jazz), the MACRO Composition Competition (for Place of the Pike: Then and Now) and the Noteflight Big Band Composition Contest (for Something Entirely Different). Alfred, Hal Leonard, Barnhouse and MurphyMusicPress offer published versions of several of her compositions and she also actively self-publishes through her company, Woodrow Music. As an educator, Haley currently is an Adjunct Instructor for both Tarrant County College and Weatherford College. Haley served as the staff Orchestra Director and Arranger for Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, completing approximately 500 arrangements and establishing a home production studio in 2012. Haley began her musical journey as a trumpet player, and has performed professionally and taught many students privately for well over a decade. Haley graduated with a Bachelor’s of Music in jazz studies from the University of Texas at Arlington, and earned her Master’s of Music in composition from Texas Christian University. She currently lives in Bedford, Texas with her husband Jonathan Woodrow and is an avid CrossFitter and contributing member of Gateway Church of Southlake.

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Having studied clarinet and saxophone in Dublin’s Artane School of Music, Keith Kelly joined the Irish Defence Forces Band in 2004. Here he served as principal clarinetist of the Band of the Western Command for over 10 years and featured as a clarinet and saxophone soloist on many occasions. During this time, Keith was actively involved within Irish community banding. As a conductor and administrator, Keith assisted in the founding of successful Irish concert bands such as the Clara Town Band and Midlands Wind Ensemble, both of which would go on to win national awards at the IABCB and South of Ireland Band Championships. In 2014, Keith and a team of other passionate music educators and performers founded the Irish Symphonic Wind Orchestra, an ensemble of almost 100 performers from throughout Ireland. This ensemble was formed to promote the highest quality of wind band repertoire, and after only 3 years has worked with international icons such as Johan de Meij, Philip Sparke and Mark Heron. In 2017 Keith was privileged to be part of this ensemble as it represented Irish community banding on the world stage at WASBE in Utrecht, Netherlands. Keith now works in the performing arts department of Celtic Horizon Tours, working with an experienced and dedicated team in bringing performing arts groups from around the globe to visit Ireland and experience its unique musical heritage

Episode 48 - Max McKee Feb 19, 2018

Max McKee is the founder of the Western International Band Clinic (WIBC) and the American Band College (ABC). In this episode, the longtime educator tells the story of how and why he founded WIBC and explains how the curriculum he developed at Southern Oregon University eventually became the American Band College.

Topics:

Max’s musical background and his early experience at the Gunnison music camp that set his course and has served as the inspiration for much of what he does.
The story of the Western International Band Clinic (WIBC) including the story of the it’s founding, it’s format, and what a director should expect if they go.
How Max’s belief in experiential learning for his music education students at the Southern Oregon University led to the American Band College.
The American Band College program.

Links:

Biography:

Editor of Bandworld Magazine and co-founder of Western International Band Clinic, he is Professor Emeritus of Music at Southern Oregon Univ. where he served as Director of Bands from 1967 to 1994. He is now Executive Director of The American Band College masters degree program in which over 200 candidates from over 47 states and 8 foreign countries are enrolled.

Max also continues as a WIBC Board member, has served on the Oregon Arts Commission and in 2014 was elected Chairman of the Board of the John Philip Sousa Foundation. He received the NBA Citation of Excellence and is a two-time recipient of the Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Certificate of Merit. In 1999 he was inducted into the Northwest Bandmasters Assoc. and received the Sousa Foundation’s highest award, The Medal of Honor.

He is an elected member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association, hosted its 1988 national convention in Ashland and served on its Board of Directors from 2000-2002. Max was also presented the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic's Music Industry Award, the WBDI World of Music Award and the A.A. Harding Award by the ASBDA.

Episode 47 - Daniel Montoya Jr. Feb 12, 2018

Texas composer Daniel Montoya Jr. joins me on the eve of TMEA 2018 to discuss his career as a composer and share his opinions on a variety of topics, including writing for marching bands and why sometimes it is better to not talk too much!

Topics:

Daniel’s background, growing up in the Texas band tradition, and the story of his humorous biography.
The inspiration behind Daniel’s early efforts as a composer and how relationships he built over time led to early success as a published composer of percussion music and eventually to his current career as a composer of music for marching band and concert band.
The process of commissioning a piece of music and Daniel’s advice for how to deal with your percussion section.
In what is the greatest soliloquy in the history of this podcast, Daniel dishes on competition and band and keeping everything in its proper perspective.

Links:

Biography:

Daniel Montoya, Jr. is a native of Austin, a 90’s music aficionado (followed closely by the jams of the 80’s), and denies his “hipster-ness” whenever possible. He also, occasionally, writes music (since being musically moved by his first viewing of the James Cameron film Titanic and wanting to write the music to the sequel, Titanic 2: Jack of Spades: Jack Dawson’s Revenge: This Time It’s Personal). His oeuvre spans several genres, including original pieces and arrangements for wind band, percussion ensemble, and the marching arts. His works, which resound with bristling energy and color, have won numerous awards from national organizations. His education includes a master’s degree in wind conducting from Texas State University where he studied with Dr. Caroline Beatty, a master’s degree in music composition from Central Michigan University where he studied with David R. Gillingham, and a baccalaureate degree in music composition from Texas State University (he fully expects to be called Grand Master Montoya, or “Montstro“). He has also studied and participated in masterclasses with such composers as Kevin Beavers, William Bolcom, Michael Ippolito, Cindy McTee, Kevin Puts, Russell Riepe, and Roberto Sierra.

While not tending to Mont Shoemore, his outlandish and somewhat offensive collection of sneakers, Montoya has been known to make public appearances at performances of his music, which have included concerts at Avery Fisher Hall, the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Percussive Arts Society International Conference, the Texas Music Educators Association Conference, the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, and the Texas Bandmasters Association Conference, among others. When in attendance at these events, he can usually be identified by denim, sneakers, and his satchel (man purse or, “murse” for the layman).

Although the closest he’s been to being a man in uniform was as a member of “The Pride of the Hill Country” and possibly some ill-advised Halloween costumes, he served as the arranger for the U.S. Army All-American Marching Band in 2012 & 2013. His involvement with marching bands engages him throughout the nation. Among the organizations that have used his compositions and arrangements on the field are champions and finalists at various state- and national-level competitions, and major Division I intercollegiate bands. Montoya is the Program Coordinator & Brass Composer/Arranger for The Guardians Drum & Bugle Corps from Houston, TX and has arranged for The Colts Drum & Bugle Corps from Dubuque, IA and Revolution Drum & Bugle Corps from San Antonio, TX. His innovative approach to field arrangement involves imbuing new vitality and dramatic elements into his charts without sacrificing the integrity of the source material, creating a new and vibrant musical object rather than a mere transcription of the original.

When not submerged in his mild-mannered Clark-Kent-esque composition day job, Montoya enjoys engaging in the indigenous Austinite culture and trying to slowly conquer the universe of social media. He is frequently mistaken for Andy Garcia on Congress Avenue. His sidekicks on this mission are his better half, known to the Twittersphere simply as “The Girl,” their daughter, known to the world as “The Heir,” and a slightly overweight puggle named Mahler who runs the household and sleeps in the big bed. He has coined the term “portmonto” as a portmanteau of his name with the word “portmanteau” to refer to his love of making up senselessly long words (partially inspired by his love of mash-ups) and he was a fan of using hashtags on Facebook way before it was cool. Montoya’s music is published by C-Alan Publications, Row-Loff Productions, Tapspace Publications, and his publishing company, Underwater Theme Productions/Montoya Music. Montoya is an Artist/Educator for Innovative Percussion, Inc. and is a member of ASCAP and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

Episode 46 - Jim Stephenson Feb 05, 2018

While at the Florida Music Educator's Conference in early January I had a chance to sit down with composer Jim Stephenson and talk about his career, his thoughts about composing, and winning the 2017 Revelli Prize.

Topics:

Jim’s background as a trumpet player with the Naples Philharmonic and the decision he and his wife made to quit playing professionally and take the leap to become a professional composer.
The opportunity to write for both band and orchestra and the connections that have helped Jim find success in both communities.
Commissioning a work from Jim and how the personality of the performer and the needs of ensemble influence the final result.
Jim’s advice for young composers and the early success that went mostly unnoticed but had a profound influence on his career.
The story of Symphony No. 2 “Voices” that was written for and premiered the United States Marine Band and which won the National Band Association’s 2017 William D. Revelli Award.

Links:

Biography:

Leading American orchestras, instrumentalists and wind ensembles around the world have performed the music of Chicago-based composer James M. Stephenson, both to critical acclaim and the delight of audiences.. Stephenson came late to his full-time composing career, having performed 17 seasons as a trumpeter in the Naples Philharmonic in Florida. As such, the composer is largely self-taught, making his voice truly individual and his life’s work all the more remarkable. Recent and upcoming premieres include the St. Louis and Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and Cabrillo Festival, as well as the US “President’s Own” Marine Band. Over 150 orchestras and bands play his music annually.

In his own words: "Since becoming a full-time composer in 2007, I have been fortunate to have had a steady stream of commissions and projects, keeping me always on task and, luckily, in demand. Stemming from my days as a professional trumpeter in the Naples (FL) Philharmonic, I have endeavored to be a “performer’s composer” – always remaining sensitive to the needs of those who are on stage making the music happen. Chicago Symphony clarinetist John Yeh has playfully called me “The Concerto King”, and I am happy to admit that my catalog does include a concerto, and sonata, for nearly every symphonic instrument, with more being added every year. A notable characteristic I try to infuse in my music is rhythmic momentum, as well as colorful scoring and orchestration, whether for instruments of the same timbre, or in mixed chamber settings. For me, this is the playground, and I absolutely love this part of the process. I will always cherish and hold in high esteem the musical giants of the past, in addition to adding my own modern sensitivities, so as to try to give my music a blend of familiarity and new discovery all at once. With this, I hope to lead audiences and performers on a journey of both anticipation and reward."

Episode 44 - Peter Meechan Jan 22, 2018

Composer Peter Meechan joins the show for a wonderfully thoughtful discussion that includes conversations about his career, music in England, the merits of self-publishing, composition, and the bar at the Royal Northern College of Music.

Topics:

Pete’s background growing up outside of Birmingham as the son of two folk musicians who surrounded him with music.
A discussion of the band system in England including opportunities for young musicians and the Black Dyke Brass Band.
How the bar at the Royal Northern College of Music led to the relationships and opportunities that helped Pete launch his career.
The value of being self-published as a composer and the importance of retaining your copyright.

Links:

Biography:

The music of Canadian-based British composer Peter Meechan is performed throughout the world. His music has been commissioned, recorded, broadcast and performed by some of the world’s leading wind orchestras, brass bands, conductors and soloists, including: “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Bramwell Tovey, Black Dyke Brass Band, Dunshan Symphonic Wind Orchestra, The Band of the Coldstream Guards, RNCM Wind Orchestra, Steven Mead, Jens Lindemann, Ryan Anthony, Les Neish, Linda Merrick, the BBC Concert Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Rex Richardson, Jacques Mauger and many more. Meechan’s music is featured on over 100 commercial recordings and has been featured at festivals and clinics globally, including the Midwest Clinic, the International Trumpet Guild, the International Tuba and Euphonium Association, BASBWE conferences, and in 2014 his work “The Legend of King Arthur” was used as the set test piece at the British National Brass Band Championships, held in the Royal Albert Hall, London. Peter was the first ever “Young Composer in Association” with the prestigious Black Dyke Brass band, where he went on to serve as their “Composer in Residence”, a position he also held between 2012 – 2015 with The Band of the Coldstream Guards. He holds an undergraduate degree from the Royal Northern College of Music, a Master of Arts degree and a PhD (composition), both from the University of Salford where his principal tutor was Professor Peter Graham. Peter Meechan’s music is principally published by his own publishing house, Meechan Music.

Episode 45 - Sean Smith Jan 15, 2018

Sean Smith is the Assistant Director of Athletic Bands at the University of Illinois and a recent graduate of that program. Sean recounts his experiences at his first job, describes the transition from high school teacher to graduate student, and shares his opinion about the larger issues facing music education.

Topics:

Sean’s experience as a young band director learning the ropes in Conneaut, Ohio, including both his best decision and his worst decision in his first year on the job.
The decision to leave his position as a high school band director and return to school to pursue a master and doctorate.
The history and importance of the University of Illinois band program and its influence on the college band tradition.
The University of Illinois Band Podcast.

Links:

Biography:

A native of Illinois, Sean Smith is the Assistant Director of Athletic Bands at the University of Illinois.

Sean completed a year of coursework at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York prior to coming to the University of Illinois to continue his Master's degree with Dr. Stephen Peterson, which he finished in 2017. He has six years of public school teaching experience as Director of Bands in the Conneaut Area City Schools in Conneaut, Ohio. While in Conneaut, Sean taught bands from fifth grade through high school, directed the Conneaut High School Marching Band, and developed the music technology, guitar, and piano courses offered by the high school.

Before teaching, Sean studied at Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music in Berea, Ohio, where he received a Bachelor of Music Education. Sean received much conducting experience at Baldwin Wallace as Conducting Apprentice for the Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Wind Ensemble and student conductor for the Brass Choir and the Contemporary Ensemble. Sean’s professional experiences include serving as Music Director of the Euclid Civic Orchestra and working as a National Director for Bugles Across America.

In August of 2015, The Instrumentalist Magazine published an article Sean authored titled “The Ideal Marching Schedule.” He had previously presented on the topic at the Ohio Music Education State Conference and at the Whalen Symposium at Ithaca College.

Episode 43 - Walter Cummings Jan 15, 2018

Episode 43 features composer and publisher Walter Cummings. Walter and his wife Janet co-founded Grand Mesa Music Publishers in the early 1990's and have not only survived as a business in a competitive industry, but have had 25 years of nearly continuous growth. Walter shares his story and some of his thoughts about what has made his business so successful.

Topics:

Walter’s background growing up in Mississippi and his journey from band director to composer to publisher including a surprising link to an earlier podcast guest.
Walter’s willingness to take risks and how that has been a large part of the success of Grand Mesa Music.
How the saying “You must be present to win” led to the growth of Grand Mesa Music and led to a meeting with Randall Standridge at the Arkansas Bandmasters Meeting
Advice for composers who might want to find a publisher, including some tips for keeping a fresh cache of ideas available for new works.

Links:

Biography:

Walter Cummings (b. 1953) has taught band for 14 years at the college, high school, and middle school levels in Mississippi, New Hampshire, and Colorado, and is owner of Grand Mesa Music.

Episode 42 - Johan De Meij Jan 08, 2018

It was my pleasure to speak with Dutch composer Johan De Meij about his career, hear his thoughts about writing music, and of course chat about his landmark "Lord of the Rings" Symphony.

Topics:

Johan’s background as a brass player and his transition from performer to arranger to composer including the huge initial success that he had with the Lord of the Rings Symphony.
A bit about the tradition of wind band music in the Netherlands and Johan’s experiences and thoughts with music competitions.
The importance of knowing what you’re good at and doing it well and some great advice for young composers.
A surprising discussion of the Elvish language and the copyright issues surrounding the use of Tolkien's work.

Links:

Biography:

Dutch composer and conductor Johan de Meij (Voorburg, 1953) received his musical training at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague, where he studied trombone and conducting. His award-winning oeuvre of original compositions, symphonic transcriptions and film score arrangements has garnered him international acclaim and have become permanent fixtures in the repertoire of renowned ensembles throughout the world. His Symphony No. 1 The Lord of the Rings was awarded the prestigious Sudler Composition Prize and has been recorded by myriad ensembles including The London Symphony Orchestra, The North Netherlands Orchestra, The Nagoya Philharmonic and The Amsterdam Wind Orchestra. His Symphony No. 2 The Big Apple, Symphony No. 3 Planet Earth, Symphony No. 4 Sinfonie der Lieder as well as his solo concertos, T-Bone Concerto (trombone), UFO Concerto (euphonium) and Casanova (cello) have been enthusiastically received at many of the world’s finest venues. Before devoting his time exclusively to composing and conducting, Johan de Meij enjoyed a successful professional career as a trombone and euphonium player, performing with major orchestras and ensembles in The Netherlands. He is in high demand as a guest conductor and lecturer, frequently invited to speak about and perform his own works. He currently maintains posts with both the New York Wind Symphony and the Kyushu Wind Orchestra in Fukuoka, Japan as their principal guest conductor. He was also appointed regular guest conductor of the Simón Bolívar Youth Wind Orchestra in Caracas, Venezuela – part of the celebrated Venezuelan educational system El Sistema. He is founder and CEO of his own publishing company Amstel Music, established in 1989. When not traveling, Johan divides his time between his Hudson Valley home and Manhattan apartment with his wife and muse Dyan, cats Lenny & Tosca and dog Lucy

Episode 41 - Tyler S. Grant Jan 01, 2018

Composer Tyler S. Grant has enjoyed a meteoric rise to success and is one of the most exciting and interesting young composers for band today. In this interview Tyler tells his story and provides insight into his background and career.

Topics:

Tyler’s musical background and the story of how he ended up writing music at a very early age and his early relationship with Brian Balmages at FJH Publications.
His early experiences working as a conductor with students that are very close to his age and the growth he’s seen as a music education student at the University of Alabama.
The thought process behind Tyler’s decision to have his young band works commercially published while self-publishing his works for more advanced ensembles.
His experience with honor bands, his compositional process, and his thoughts about commissioning and consortiums.

Links:

Biography:

Tyler S. Grant (b. June 23, 1995) has written numerous award-winning works for concert bands, marching bands and chamber groups; many of which have been performed around the world and by musicians of all levels. His works for wind band have been found on Editor’s Choice lists from various international music distributors in addition to being performed by many region and state-wide honor bands. His work Panoramic Fanfare was named a winner in the 2014 “Call for Fanfares” Competition hosted by the Dallas Wind Symphony. The fanfare has since been performed by collegiate and professional ensembles in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom. Since 2010, he has regularly accepted commissions for new works and produced new publications for bands and chamber groups each year. While he has never formally studied composition, he credits his mentors Brian Balmages and Randall Coleman as being pivotal to his success as a composer and a conductor. Notable performance venues of his work include The Midwest Clinic, Carnegie Hall, Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas), The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and numerous state-wide, national, and international music conventions. Upcoming commissions and appearances include performances by: The Georgia Wind Symphony, Redstone Brass, Kennesaw State University Wind Ensemble, University of Alabama Concert Bands, Ohio State University Concert Bands, United States Naval Academy's Midshipmen Drum & Bugle Corps, trombonist Jon Whitaker, and many other middle-school and high-school ensembles in the United States and Canada.

In addition to his writing, Tyler enjoys conducting and clinic engagements with ensembles throughout the United States. His rehearsal style has been described as “engaging and energetic, sprinkled with humor and the occasional life lesson”. Tyler was recently a contributing author in Alfred Music Publishing Company’s Sound Innovations: Ensemble Development series and has contributed interviews to numerous podcasts and articles including School Band & Orchestra Magazine and The Instrumentalist.

Currently, Tyler is pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Music at the University of Alabama while maintaining his active composing and conducting schedule. His more than 20 published works are available through The FJH Music Company, Inc. and Tyler S. Grant Music Works.

Episode 40 - John Southall Dec 18, 2017

Current Past President of the Florida Music Educator's Association and 2017 Midwest Clinic Medal of Honor winner John Southall joins me for an inspiring conversation about music education.

Topics:

Why a good music education program should inspire the potential teacher to continue to learn and grow throughout their career.
Creating a sustainable and passionate appreciation for music and the arts in as diverse a community as possible.
The Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic Medal of Honor and Alfred Watkins.
Why healthy competition can help build community and teach life lessons as long as we remember that students and their well-being must be more important than the success of the performing ensemble.
Put the same amount of energy that you put into being a good teacher into our personal lives.
Be like a magnet and bring everyone into your orbit!

Links:

Biography:

John K. Southall, PhD, currently serves as the Coordinator of Music Education and Director of Bands at Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Florida. He also serves as Music Director of the Port St. Lucie Community Band. He has been an active music education advocate, conductor, clinician, adjudicator and presenter across the United States for over 30 years.

Dr. Southall received the PhD and the MME from Florida State University and the BME from Florida A&M University. He has served as a Courtesy Associate Professor of Music Education/Therapy at the Florida State University. He has served on the faculties of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Nova Southeastern University (FL) and Broward College (FL). Dr. Southall has served as the Community Endowed Teaching Chair in Fine Arts at Indian River State College. He has served as the music curriculum specialist, K-12, for the Broward County school district in Florida. He has also served as the Director of Bands at Western High School, Piper High School and Ely High School in Broward County, Florida.

Dr. Southall currently serves as the Immediate Past President of the Florida Music Education Association and is also the Conference Chairman for the FMEA annual Professional Development Conference. He has served as Chairman of the Board for the Center for Fine Arts Education (FL) and as Chairman of the FMEA Finance committee. He has served as the Events Coordinator for the FMEA conference. He is also an editorial board member for the Florida Music Director magazine. Dr. Southall has served as the Chairman of the Affective Response Special Research Interest Group (NAfME). He has served as an editorial board member for the Research Perspectives in Music Education journal (FL). He has also published in national and state journals.

Dr. Southall has served as president of the Broward Music Educators Association and as Chairman of the Broward County Band Directors Association (FL). He has served on the executive board of the Broward County Cultural Affairs Division. He is the sponsor and coordinator of the Indian River State College Treasure Coast Four County Honors Band Festival. He has served as the coordinator and presenter for the Florida Bandmasters Association’s Adjudicator Renewal Seminar. He has served as a District Chairman for the Florida Bandmasters Association. He has served as coordinator of the Broward Music Educators Region Band Festival. He has served on the Florida Bandmasters Association’s Ethics committee. He has served on the FBA adjudication committee. He has served on the FBA All-State Selections committee. He has also served as an FMEA conference Session Coordinator. Dr. Southall was a participant in Vision 2020: The Housewright Symposium on the Future of Music Education. He has served as the conductor and director of the Florida State University Summer Music Camps Honors Chamber Winds program. He has served as the Associate Director of the FSU Summer Music Camps. He has also served on numerous K-20 committees and curriculum writing teams in Florida. He has conducted band clinics in secondary schools across Florida. He has served as the assistant conductor of the Youth Symphony of Florida (Ft. Lauderdale) and is the coordinator of the IRSC Summer Middle School Band Camp.

John and Kelly Southall live in Port St Lucie, Florida, with daughters Kimberly and Kathryn, son-in-law Jacob and grandchildren Neala Rose and Oliver.

Dr. Southall is a member of FMEA, NAfME, FBA, FCMEA, Phi Beta Mu, Phi Mu Alpha, Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. He was selected as the Florida College Music Educator of the Year by FMEA. He has also been selected as the Broward County Arts Teacher of the Year (FL) and the Western High School Teacher of the Year (FL).

Episode 39 - Matt Koperniak Dec 11, 2017

Matt Koperniak of Riverwatch Middle School in Georgia joins the show to talk about his school's upcoming performance at the 2017 Midwest Clinic. He also shares his thoughts about music education and tips for other teachers in this very informative episode.

Topics:

The story of Riverwatch being accepted to the Midwest Clinic from the application process to breaking the news to the kids and selecting music.
The pieces that were commissioned for the Midwest Clinic, the value of having commissioned works for the students, and the process of learning new a new work.
Small things that create a sense of community and the importance of each individual to the greater good.
The importance of professional development and thoughts for convincing administrators of the value of conferences and conventions.

Links:

Biography:

Matt Koperniak is Director of Bands at Riverwatch Middle School in Suwanee, Georgia. Under his direction since 2008, the Riverwatch Band Program has grown from 130 students to a current membership of 650+ students in grades 6-8. The Riverwatch Symphonic Band is a 2017 performing organization at The Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. Recent performances by the Riverwatch Symphonic Band include the National Band Association/CBDNA Southern Division Conference, Music for All National Concert Festival, GMEA In-Service Conference, University of Alabama Honor Band, Southeastern United States Band Clinic, and University of Georgia Midfest. In 2015, the Riverwatch Symphonic Band was featured on “Strike up the Band” on National Public Radio, WABE 90.1. In 2016, the Riverwatch Band Program was the National Blue Ribbon Middle School Program of Excellence recipient from the National Band Association. Dr. Koperniak is the State Band Chair for the Georgia Music Educators Association. He serves Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia as National Executive Committeeman-at-Large and Chair of the Commission on Standards, and received the national Volunteer of the Year award in 2013. He has presented music education research at the NAfME national research conference, University of Illinois, and Gettysburg College. Dr. Koperniak was the 2012 Teacher of the Year for Riverwatch Middle School, and he was elected to membership in Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity in 2014. He is a 2017 recipient of the UGA Alumni Association’s 40 under 40 award. Dr. Koperniak received degrees in Music Education from the University of Georgia and Boston University. While at UGA, he served as Drum Major and Band Captain of the Redcoat Marching Band. Prior to his arrival at Riverwatch, previous teaching positions include Jefferson High School and Norcross High School, as well as serving as Music Director of the Classic City Community Band in Athens, GA.

Episode 38 - Mary Land Dec 04, 2017

Mary Land joins me to share 29 years of experience as a middle school band director. Also discussed is her role on the Midwest Board of Directors, finding balance as a band director, and her recent transition to college professor.

Topics:

The program at Young Harris College and how Mary made the transition from a 29 year career as a middle school band director to a college band director.
“You can not teach to empty chairs.” Mary’s thoughts about building a program and attracting students to participate in the band.
How to choose good music and creating packets to help students learn the skills necessary to play a piece effectively.
Practical advice about competitions, score preparation, cues, and dealing with the percussion section.
Keeping balance in your life as a band director and being a lifelong learner.

Links:

Biography:

Mary Land is Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at Young Harris College in Young Harris, Georgia. Mary received the Educational Doctorate in Music Education from the University of Georgia. Dr. Land, a native of North Augusta, South Carolina, received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Georgia and her Master of Music Education degree from Vandercook College of Music in Chicago, Illinois. She has served the Georgia Music Educators Association in various state and local offices. Dr. Land is currently the immediate past president of the Georgia Music Educators Association and the CNAfME state chair. She continues to make numerous appearances as adjudicator, conductor, and clinician throughout the United States. Her professional affiliations include: GMEA, NAfME, IAJE, CBDNA, and Delta Kappa Gamma Society International Professional Teacher Association. Dr. Land serves on the Board of Directors for the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic and is a member of the Zeta Chapter of Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity. Dr. Land is a member of the National Band Association and has served as a national representative on the NBA executive board of directors. Mary Land is also on the faculty of the prestigious Interlochen Arts Camp as the conductor of the Intermediate Division Wind Symphony and conductor of the Interlochen Faculty Brass Ensemble.

Many professional awards and recognitions have been awarded Dr. Land during her career. She has recently been presented with The Distinguished Alumni Award from the Vandercook College of Music. Dr. Land has been featured in many issues of the Instrumentalist magazine discussing her teaching techniques and her band program in the public schools and her band program at Young Harris College. She has been presented the National Band Association Citation of Excellence on twelve separate occasions and has been presented the Women Band Directors International Scroll of Excellence five times. Dr. Land was awarded the GMEA Music Educator of the Year Award for 2002 and was presented with the John Philip Sousa Foundation Legion of Honor Award at the 2002 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic for her contributions to music education. Mary Land was selected by the national publication School Band and Orchestra in their December 2003 issue as one of “50 Directors Who make a Difference”. Mary Land’s band program was the recipient of the Georgia Senate Resolution 212 commending the success of the Pickens County School Band Program. Mary Land and the Pickens County Middle School Band were the 2003 recipient of the Magna Cum Laude Award, a prestigious International Award for Middle School Bands.

Dr. Land is published in the journals for the National Band Association, the Instrumentalist, Teaching Music (NAfME), School Band and Orchestra Magazine, and the GIA series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. Commissioning projects include works by Sam Hazo, Bill Locklear, Barry Kopetz, and Christopher Tucker.

Bands under Mary Land’s direction have received invitations to perform at many music conferences and clinics on multiple years, including the Georgia Music Educators Association Conference, the Southern Division MENC Convention, the CBDNA/NBA Southern Division Conference, the University of Southern Mississippi Conductors’ Conference, and the University of Georgia Band Festival.

Episode 37 - Kenny Hansen Nov 27, 2017

Kenny Hansen of Blue Springs South High School joins me to discuss his award winning program, the importance of expecting excellence, the value of marches, and the story behind his band's exceptional YouTube channel.

Topics:

Kenny’s background and the program at Blue Springs South High School.
Blue Springs South’s recent run to to the BOA finals in Indianapolis and the value of the marching program to the rest of the band program at the school.
The value of marches and why they are so important to a successful band program.
Having visitors to the band room and allowing people to help you become a better teacher and your band a better band.
The exceptional website and YouTube channel of the Blue Springs South Band and tips and thoughts for a successful social media presence.
Learning to be prepared for every possible situation as a way to reduce stress and have positive reactions during those moments when students make a mistake.

Links:

Biography:

Ken is very blessed to be teaching at Blue Springs South since 2012. Ken is an active guest conductor and clinician throughout Missouri. Bands under the direction of Ken Hansen have performed in great concert and marching venues across the country in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis, Indianapolis and many other cities. Ken was named Missouri’s “Most Influential Band Director” by the School Band and Orchestra Magazine in 2014. Ken has been blessed to teach in four different districts and two states in his career. He has taught band from grades 6-12 for the largest part of his career.

At Blue Springs South, Ken Hansen teaches the Jaguar Pride Marching Band, Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Freshman Percussion, assists Music Appreciation and assists at Delta Woods Middle School and Moreland Ridge Middle Schools.

Ken graduated from Central Methodist College in 1997 with a Bachelors of Music Education. In 1998, he graduated from the University of Missouri - Columbia with a Masters in Music Education.

Episode 36 - Milt Allen Nov 20, 2017

Former director of bands at Eastern Illinois University and current CEO and founder of the non-profit Music Guerrilla, Milt Allen joins me to speak about his own career and his views of music education and the band world.

Topics:

The problem of elitism in music and the need to eliminate placing value judgments on different genres of music.
A discussion of the value of self-publishing versus commercial publishing for composers.
Milt’s background growing up in Salina, Kansas and the lessons that he learned as a young musician including the importance of having a mentor.
Why being vulnerable is unavoidable for all musicians.
Quality is attracted to quality and raising the level and expectations of the music making as they key to building a program.
"Unless you have the heart of a child and the soul of a musician you should never be in front of students." Suggestions for improving music teacher training in music education programs.
Why conducting is the most important rehearsal tool that every band director has and why you need to be the best that you can be.

Link:

Music Guerrilla

Biography:

Dr. Milt Allen has worked with hundreds of schools and thousands of students, directors and community members during his career. He is often credited as being one of the most creative, innovative, inspiring and non-traditional music educators today. Conductor, clinician, speaker, author and tireless advocate on behalf of music education, his passion for reaching more musicians at a grass-roots level drove him to leave a 26-year career in education, including 17 years in the public school, to step outside the traditional rehearsal room to create The Music Guerrilla, allowing him – and eventually others – to harness the power of music through whatever avenues available. In so doing, “Doc” is also able to create a means to reach out to programs in need, as well as partnering with music programs in third-world countries, most recently in Rwanda, Zambia and Haiti. Milt brings a rare perspective to his roles as MG President and Executive Director. His cross-genre music interests effectively combine with previous teaching positions in rural/suburban, large/small and public/parochial environments to create a truly unique ability to connect to those he serves. His experiences range from teaching beginning band in a boiler room to premiering new works at the university level, to working with young African musicians learning to play an instrument. Yet always, from Glasgow, Scotland to Zambia, Africa, and at regional, state, national and international conferences, Milt’s humor, passion and experience combine to illuminate the possibilities of both music and the live art of performance. Milt’s articles and insights have appeared in music, parenting and educational magazines as well as various newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angels Times and the Chicago Tribune. He is also the author of Music, Artistry, and Education: A Journey Towards Musical Growth and Enlightenment, published by Meredith Music Publications/Hal Leonard. Dr. Allen’s online venture: “Milt’s Music Minute,” continues to gain in popularity, providing quick information and helpful hints for both music directors and parents. Ensembles under Doc’s direction have received numerous awards at local, state and national levels including recognition by the United States Congress for Musical Excellence. He is a two-time high school Teacher of the Year, a Kansas Teacher of the Year Semi-Finalist, and is listed in various Who’s Who publications. Other honors and distinctions include 5 awards from the Ohio State University School of Music recognizing his teaching and service and selection as a Conducting Fellow for the Eastman Wind Ensemble’s 40th Anniversary. In 2008, Dr. Allen became the first civilian in the history of the United States Air Force to tour as a featured conductor (USAF Heritage of America Band) and received an Eastern Illinois University Achievement and Contribution Award.

Episode 35 - Joe Parisi Nov 13, 2017

Joe Parisi is a professor of music education at UMKC and the director of the Fountain City Brass Band. He joins me to talk about music education, brass band, and how music gives us a sense of belonging.

Topics:

Joe’s background and current position as a music professor at the University of Missouri Kansas City.
Teaching students to love music through band and the importance of creating lifelong learning through music.
The exceptional faculty, including Elliot Del Borgo and Tony Maiello at SUNY Potsdam during Joe’s undergraduate study there and the lessons that he learned from those great musicians.
Increasing the number of great moments so that students want to come back and work harder.
The program at UMKC including commissioning and premiering over 50 new works and stories of commissioning composers.
The Fountain City Brass and brass banding and using competition as a way to build community.

Links:

Biography:

Joseph Parisi is a professor at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance where he conducts the Conservatory Wind Ensemble and serves as a music education and conducting faculty member. During the 2017–18 academic year, he is serving UMKC as Director of the Interdisciplinary PhD Program. Recognized as one of the most well-rounded faculty members at UMKC, Parisi has amassed an impressive career as a conductor, performing artist, pedagogue, and scholar. He has made professional appearances both nationally and abroad conducting music festivals, adjudicating ensembles, presenting clinics, research, lectures and workshops throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, United Kingdom, and China.

As Parisi embarks on his 16th year at UMKC, he continues to collaborate with many outstanding artists and composers, commission new works, and perform throughout the world. Recognized as one of America’s outstanding brass conductors, Parisi is the principal conductor of Summit Brass at the Rafael Méndez Brass Institute (http://www.mendezbrassinstitute.com/) and Fountain City Brass Band (http://fcbb.net/). Both groups have a rich and distinguished history of outstanding brass playing, and under Parisi’s leadership, Fountain City Brass Band leads the United States as one of the world’s top brass bands. Parisi has been recognized numerous times with the Brass Band Conductor of the Year Award, and received the winning conductor award at the Scottish Open Championship. Fountain City will return to the U.K. in 2017 to perform at Brass in Concert in Gateshead and the Scottish Open Brass Band Championship in Perth. Fountain City Brass Band’s latest recording, Celtic Impressions, has received wide-spread praise for its ensemble precision, excitement, and musicality.

Episode 34 - Joshua Gailey Nov 06, 2017

Joshua Gailey is a PhD candidate in musicology at Yale University and his dissertation focuses on the factors that influenced the development of the school band movement during the Progressive Era. The fact that this episode falls on the birthday of John Philip Sousa is a happy coincidence!

Topics:

The institutionalization and standardization of the concert band in the early years of the 20th Century as part of the larger social reform movements of the era.
The “Golden Age” of the wind band during the 19th Century and how it performed European music, particularly the high art that hadn’t come to America yet.
The founding of NAfME and the early goals of music education during the Progressive Era.
Early marching bands and the role of marching in the early development of school bands and the development of standardization through early band competitions sponsored by the MSNC.
The role of instrument manufactures in the development of the school band and the reality behind the myth of Harold Hill.
The historical background of gender bias band music.

Links:

Biography:

Joshua Gailey is a PhD candidate in Music History at Yale University, where he is writing a dissertation that examines how the public school wind band was used as a tool for enacting progressive-era social reforms in the United States and charts the emergence of the American school band industry in the first decades of the twentieth century. Joshua hails from Port Angeles, WA, and he graduated from the University of Washington with bachelor’s degrees in Music History, Trumpet Performance, and Italian Studies. While at the UW, Joshua performed with the UW Wind Ensemble, the UW Symphony Orchestra, and the Seattle Chamber Brass Quintet, as well as with numerous other local orchestras. His teachers at the UW included David Gordon, Justin Emerich, and Allen Vizzutti.

Episode 33 - Joe Allison Oct 30, 2017

Joe Allison joins me to talk about the marching arts, surrounding yourself with great people, and being open to learning from others.

Topics:

The Marching Roundtable Podcast and the importance and role of the marching arts in a comprehensive high school music program.
Joe's incredibly diverse and unique background and how that has made him a better musician and teacher.
The Marching Roundtable Judge's Academy.
The importance of persistence and hard work to being a good teacher.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Joseph H. Allison is currently Professor of Music at Eastern Kentucky University, serving as an Arts Curriculum Designer and Director of the Marching Arts Research Team. He previously served as Director of Bands and the Graduate Conducting Division for 13 years. Additionally, Dr. Allison is a Managing Partner of the Marching Roundtable Web Platform, and an Educational Clinician for Conn-‐Selmer, Inc.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education (French Horn) from East Tennessee State University, a Master’s Degree (Percussion) and the Doctorate in Musical Arts in Conducting from the University of South Carolina. Dr. Allison is the former Director of Bands at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Associate Director of Bands at East Tennessee State University, and Director of Bands at Sumter (SC) High School, Greenwood (SC) High School and Richmond County (NC) Senior High School. He serves as an adjudicator, clinician and consultant for concert, marching and jazz events throughout North America, Europe, and Japan.

Dr. Allison has held professional affiliations with the Kentucky Music Educators Association (Board of Control), East Tennessee School Band and Orchestra Association, South Carolina Band Directors Association, College Band Directors National Association, Music Educators National Conference, National Band Association (Board of Directors), American School Band Directors Association, International Association of Jazz Educators, Percussive Arts Society (Advisory Board), The Conductor’s Guild, Drum Corps International Judges Guild (Executive Board), Bands of America (Advisory Board), Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Fraternity, Phi Beta Mu Honor Fraternity and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

During his 19 years of public school teaching, ensembles under Dr. Allison’s direction received consistent superior ratings in adjudicated events and performed regularly at significant regional and national events. During his tenure as Director, the Sumter Bands became the first internationally to be honored by the John Philip Sousa Foundation as laureates of both the Sudler Flag of Honor for concert excellence and the Sudler Shield for marching achievement. The Symphonic Band, Jazz Ensembles, Percussion Ensembles and Chamber Orchestra were all regularly featured in major regional and national settings. As an adjudicator, in addition to extensive concert band and jazz ensemble activity, Allison has judged the major competitions of the music pageantry world: the Drum Corps International World Championships, and the Bands of America Grand National Championships, Winter Guard International, Drum Corps Japan, and the World Music Contests in Holland. He is the Founding Director and curriculum designer of the Kentucky Marching Band Adjudicators Association, and is a consultant for several other state associations.

Dr. Allison’s personal honors include the National Band Association’s “Citation of Excellence” and the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s “Sudler Order of Merit,” as well as achievement citations from both the International Association of Jazz Educators and the Percussive Arts Society. He has been listed in Who’s Who of American Educators, Outstanding Young Men of America, and was honored i in multiple resolutions of the South Carolina State Legislature. Allison has received letters of commendation from Presidents Bush and Clinton and is a laureate of both the Order of the Palmetto from the state of South Carolina, and Kentucky Colonel from the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Episode 32 - Mark Norman Oct 23, 2017

Mark Norman is the director of bands at the North Carolina School of the Arts, a professional tuba player, and owner of the Charlotte Music School and he brings his wonderfully varied experiences to the podcast in a conversation that takes some unexpectedly informative turns.

Topics:

Mark’s background, Karel Husa’s Music for Prague 1968, and the Selmer Musical Aptitude Test.
Creating experiences for his ensembles and a story about David Maslanka.
Mark’s time in the Navy Band and his journey to becoming a college band director.
Putting yourself in a position to be successful by being prepared and the kind of person that others want to work with.
How playing or working with great musicians helps you to understand what a great sound is and why that helps you to demand it of your students.
Starting a new ensemble or small business and the Charlotte Music School.
Having a mission statement for each ensemble, knowing some basic business skills, and always making sure the books add up.
Building trust and never taking anything personally on the podium.

Links:

Biography:

Mark A. Norman has enjoyed a career spanning thirty years as a conductor and tuba artist. He is currently the Director of Wind Ensembles and the Tuba/Euphonium faculty artist at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Norman has served on the conducting faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Michigan, Washburn University, Towson University and UNC at Greensboro. As a conductor, ensembles under Norman’s direction have performed at the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) conference, regional College Band Director National Association (CBDNA) and the state music educators’ conferences in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Kansas. He is a frequent guest conductor and clinician throughout the United States and has received critical acclaim for his performances and recordings in the U.S. and England. He is the previous Conductor/Music Director for several professional and community organizations including the American Wind Orchestra, Riverside Wind Symphony and Greensboro Concert Band. Norman is a past tuba performer with the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, DC, Fountain City Brass Band, Washington Brass, Tubas in the Sun Quartet, and the Georgetown, Mt. Vernon and McLean Orchestras. As a tuba soloist and clinician, Norman has performed and presented at national and regional conferences such as the U.S. Army Band Tuba and Euphonium Conference, six international and regional International Tuba and Euphonium Association (ITEA) conferences. Norman holds a D.M.A and M.M. in Instrumental Conducting and a B.M in Tuba Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His primary teachers are John Locke and Kevin Geraldi in conducting and David Lewis on tuba. Norman is the co-owner with his wife, Amanda, of the Charlotte Music School providing private and ensemble music instruction to over 250 students.

Episode 31 - Emily Moss Oct 16, 2017

Emily Moss, music education professor and chair of the Department of music at California State University, Los Angeles talks about training young music teachers and not allowing our ego to get in the way of our growth.

Topics:

Emily’s background, her current position, and her early years growing up in a small town north of Seattle, Washington where she played last saxophone and bassoon.
How an experience playing David Maslanka’s Symphony No. 4 changed Emily’s view of the wind ensemble.
The influence of Tim Salzman and the importance of singing and modeling for your students.
The nature of the program at CSU Los Angeles and the emphasis on urban music education.
Emily’s tips for young music teachers, dealing with fear of criticism, and thoughts for picking and programming music.
Making mistakes is part of our growth and progress as music educators and why reflecting upon our failings helps us grow as people and musicians.

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Emily A. Moss is the Director of Bands and Director of Instrumental Music Education for the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance at California State University, Los Angeles. Her duties include direction of the Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band, teaching undergraduate and graduate conducting, and instruction in instrumental music education methods.

Originally from Seattle, WA, Dr. Moss earned her Bachelors’ degrees in music and music education at the University of Washington, studying conducting with Timothy Salzman and bassoon performance with Arthur Grossman. She taught middle school band and private bassoon lessons in Chandler, AZ and Seattle, WA for six years where her bands received honors and awards from regional and state festivals. While serving as a teaching assistant with the University bands at the University of Northern Colorado, she earned her Master’s degree in Wind Conducting and the Doctor of Arts in Music Education and Bassoon Performance, studying with Kenneth Singleton, Richard Mayne and Charles Hansen.

As a conductor and clinician, Dr. Moss has been invited to guest conduct at middle schools, high schools and universities in multiple states across the country and regularly gives band clinics throughout Southern California. She is also an accomplished bassoonist, actively performing during her degree programs in Washington and Colorado, with the Conservatory Orchestra and other ensembles at Brooklyn College, and for student and faculty recitals at Cal State LA.

Episode 30 - Aaron Given Oct 09, 2017

Middle school band director Aaron Given joins me for a conversation about his background, his career, and his belief that his passion for music influences everything that he does as a teacher.

Topics:

Aaron’s background and his current position as a middle school band director near Columbus, Ohio.
Lessons learned from Ken Singleton at the University of Northern Colorado.
Why it is so important to care about your students and the value of bringing that to the classroom.
The use of electronics in band music.
What Aaron’s program looks like and the value of doing a November concert rather than one in December.
The problems with the push towards vocational training and why we must resist that and re-embrace the liberal arts model.

Links:

Biography:

Aaron Given is a band director with the Olentangy Local School District, near Columbus, Ohio. He also serves as Associate Director and Director of Educational Outreach for the Horns of Ohio. Previously, Aaron was a founding member of the Capital City Chamber Players, where he served as Associate Conductor.

A passionate advocate for new music in the classroom, Aaron works with professional composers to create high quality repertoire for young players and engage students in the compositional process. Notable collaborators include Scott McAllister, Michael Rene Torres and the Columbus Ohio Discovery Ensemble.

As a hornist, Aaron has performed with the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra, the Westerville Symphony and the Dublin (Ireland) International Symphonic Festival, and the Interlochen Arts Camp Faculty Brass Ensemble. His teachers include Grammy-winning hornist Marian Hesse and Bruce Henniss.

As a clinician, Aaron has presented sessions for the Ohio Music Educators Association, the National Association for Music Education, and the Capital University Complete Band Director Workshop. Aaron earned his bachelor’s degree in Music Education at the University of Northern Colorado and his master’s degree in Wind Conducting at The Ohio State University.

Episode 29 - Amy Cherry Oct 02, 2017

In this episode I am joined by trumpeter Amy Cherry. Amy is currently the secretary of the International Women's Brass Conference (IWBC) and joins me to talk about that organization, tell her story, and offer some advice from her own career as a performer and teacher.

Topics:

Amy’s background and early years as a musician including being steered towards playing the flute even though she wanted to play the trumpet and how growing up in Fairfax County Virginia gave her great musical experiences.
We get in a weeds with a bit of conversation about the trumpet, including some teaching tips and thoughts about the potential impact of regional dialects when learning to articulate.
The International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC), its history and mission, and the current programs offered by the organization.
The Penny Turner competition for young female brass students.

Links:

Biography:

Amy K. Cherry holds a B.M. in Trumpet Performance from the University of Illinois and an M.M. and D.M.A. in Trumpet Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She recently relocated from North Carolina where she served as Assistant Professor of Music at Western Carolina University. She has previously held the position of Instructor of Trumpet at Morehead State University, Wright State University and East Tennessee State University. Amy served as Associate Principal Trumpet of the Hofer Symphoniker in Hof, Germany for a six-week appointment.

During her years in North Carolina she was Principal Trumpet with the Asheville Lyric Opera, Assistant Principal Trumpet with the Spartanburg Philharmonic, and Third Trumpet with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. She has served as principal trumpet of the Kingsport Symphony and Johnson City Symphony Orchestras in Tennessee and performed with groups such as the Cincinnati Opera, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dayton Opera, the Lexington Philharmonic, the Winston-Salem Symphony, the Flat Rock Playhouse, Mannheim Steamroller, the Monarch Brass Ensemble, the Athena Brass Band, and the Summit Brass Ensemble.

Amy is an active chamber musician interested in reaching new audiences and expanding the repertoire for brass instruments. To achieve those goals she founded the Balaton Chamber Brass in 2010 with her husband, trombonist Dan Cherry.

Episode 28 - Chris Bernotas Sep 25, 2017

Chris Bernotas is passionate about teaching! He is infectiously energetic as he talks about his career and shares wisdom gained as a high school band director, a composers, and a co-author of three books in the Sound Innovations series.

Topics:

The Sound Innovations books, Chris’ background, and the lessons he learned from his high school band director that he still applies in his classroom.
Insights into Chris’ compositional process, how he got his first piece published, and learning how to deal with rejection.
The importance of always trying to get better and thoughts about how to avoid burnout.
Tips for other band directors who might want to start composing.

Links:

Biography:

Composer, conductor, clinician and educator Chris M. Bernotas brings an energetic and enthusiastic approach to the world of music education. An active composer and arranger of concert band music, Mr. Bernotas is published with Alfred Music Publishing, Daehn Publications, Wingert-Jones Publishing, Northeastern Music Publications, Carl Fischer Music, TRN Music Publishing, and Bandworks Publications. His music has been performed at the Midwest Clinic and has appeared on J.W. Pepper's Editor's Choice list and numerous state lists. Mr. Bernotas is co-author of three books in Alfred's Sound Innovations series, Sound Innovations: Ensemble Development for Young, Intermediate and Advanced Concert Band, along with Peter Boonshaft.

Episode 27 - Jerry Junkin Sep 18, 2017

I am thrilled to welcome conductor Jerry Junkin to the show for a conversation about his career, how every commission provides a new opportunity, and the importance of cultivating good relationships.

Topics:

Jerry’s background as the son of a high school band director and being prepared to take advantage of serendipitous opportunities that helped to shape his early career.
Collaborating with other musicians and how to ask a composer to work with your group.
The most important bit of advice that Jerry looks to pass along to all of his conducting students at the University of Texas.
Criteria for selecting literature for his concerts and advice for sifting through the large number of pieces that are released each year.

Links:

Biography:

In his 25th season as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Dallas Winds, Jerry Junkin is recognized as one of the world’s most highly regarded wind conductors. He has served as Music Director and Conductor of the Hong Kong Wind Philharmonia since 2003, additionally, 2017-18 marks his 30th year on the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Vincent R. and Jane D. DiNino Chair for the Director of Bands. There, he also holds the title of University Distinguished Teaching Professor. Previously, he served on the faculties of both the University of Michigan and the University of South Florida. In addition to his responsibilities as Professor of Music and Conductor of the Texas Wind Ensemble, he serves as Head of the Division of Conducting and Ensembles and teaches courses in conducting and wind band literature. He is a recipient of multiple teaching awards, and students of Mr. Junkin hold major positions throughout the world. Since 2007, he has been the Principal Guest Conductor of the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music Wind Symphony in Tokyo. Performances under the direction of Mr. Junkin have won the praise of such notable musicians as John Corigliano, David Del Tredici, Gunther Schuller, Karel Husa, William Kraft, Jacob Druckman and Michael Colgrass, among many others. Mr. Junkin has released over 30 compact disc recordings for the Reference, Klavier and Naxos labels. The New York Times named his recent release on the Reference Recordings label, Bells for Stokowski, one of the best classical CD’s of the year. His performance of Circus Maximus with The University of Texas Wind Ensemble was recently released on the world’s first Blu Ray audio disc in 5.1 surround sound by Naxos and was nominated for a GRAMMY. During the summer of 2014 he led The University of Texas Wind Ensemble on a four week tour around the world. Jerry Junkin is an enthusiastic advocate of public school music education, having conducted All-State bands and festivals in forty-eight states and on five continents. He spends his summers in residence at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, as well as appearing at major music festivals throughout the world. Mr. Junkin has served as President of the Big XII Band Director's Association and is a member of the Board of Directors of The John Philip Sousa Foundation, is Past-President of the American Bandmasters Association, and is Past President of the College Band Directors National Association. Regularly making guest appearances with ensembles such as the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra and the Taipei Symphonic Winds, the 2017-18 season finds him conducting throughout the United States in addition to multiple appearances in Japan, China, and Europe. In 2005 he was presented the Grainger Medallion by the International Percy Grainger Society in recognition of his championing of Grainger’s works, and he has received numerous career awards from Kappa Kappa Psi, Phi Beta Mu, and the Midwest Clinic, among others. Mr. Junkin is a Yamaha Master Educator.

Episode 26 - Giovanni Santos Sep 11, 2017

Giovanni Santos joins me to discuss social media, being selfless, and his willingness to take risks.

Topics:

Giovanni’s background including his time in college and his teaching stops including starting a band program in a new high school with some special challenges.
The music program at La Sierra University and tips for building a program.
The importance of being true to yourself. Do things the way that you think that they should be done.
The value of having guest composers, conductors, and other teachers into your band room and giving your students an experience that they will remember.
Special things take time to build. Have patience and persistence and good things will happen.
Building relationships by being a nice person, not letting people down, and listening to your heart.
Not having regrets and making your dreams happen any way that you can.

Links:

Biography:

Giovanni Santos serves as assistant professor and Director of Wind and Percussion Studies at La Sierra University, where he directs the University Wind Ensemble, Big Band, and teaches courses in instrumental music education, popular music, and conducting.. For 7 years, Professor Santos had the privilege of leading the band department at Loma Linda Academy, where he led their Wind Symphony in performances across the United States and Europe. Santos has led successful performances in such venues and festivals as the Notre Dame Cathedral of Chartres (France), Fete de la Musique in Paris, San Giovanni Valdarno Classical Music Festival (Italy), Teatro Titano (Republic of San Marino), the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, ForFest International New Music Festival (Czech Republic), MaskFest International New Music Festival (Republic of San Marino), San Ignazio di Loyola Basilica (Rome). Santos will lead the La Sierra University Wind Ensemble in performance at Carnegie Hall this coming March, 2018. Professor Santos also enjoys frequent engagements as a guest conductor/clinician for festivals across the US, Mexico, and Europe.

Prof. Santos has proudly implemented a yearly wind band conducting workshop at La Sierra University, and has worked alongside Prof. H. Robert Reynolds and Dr. Thomas Lee, helping some of the brightest young music educators in the U.S. Santos welcomes Prof. Allan McMurry to this year’s workshop.

As a composer, Prof. Santos has premiered his works across the United States and Europe. In January, the United States Naval Academy Band Brass Ensemble will premiere his composition in the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. In classes, lessons, and workshops, his conducting mentors have included, Barbara Favorito, Donald Thurber, H. Robert Reynolds, Sharon Lavery, Mallory Thompson, Tim Robblee, Frank Battisti, Mark Davis Scatterday, and Brad Lubman. Santos had the privilege of studying trumpet with Dr. Richard Hofmann, Boyde Hood, and Donald Green.

Santos is a graduate of La Sierra University (B. Mus). He earned his MM in Music Education from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, where he was also a scholarship trumpet student. He continues an active performance schedule as a freelance musician (trumpet), and has been published by the International Trumpet Guild Journal.

Professor Santos is inspired by his family. His wife Tanya, is an elementary teacher in Perris, CA. Tanya and Giovanni are proud parents of Gianna and David.

Episode 25 - Andrew Ardizzoia Sep 04, 2017

Composer and conductor Andrew Ardizzoia is the new director of instrumental studies at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He joins me to tell his story and share his thoughts about music and teaching.

Topics:

Andrew's background, education, and an influential early horn teacher.
Studying conducting with Eric Hammer at the University of Pacific and then moving on to study composition at Arizona State and the Hartt School.
Andrew’s new gig at Muhlenberg and his plans for the instrumental program.
Concert programming, especially for his first concert in a new job.
Making the performing ensemble accessible and welcoming.
The importance of being open to paths different than what you expect and the potential importance of a “gap year”

Links:

Biography:

Assistant professor of music, director of composition and instrumental studies at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA. Active as a composer in a wide variety of genres, including band, orchestral, chamber, percussion, and vocal music. Degrees in composition from the Hartt School (D.M.A.), Arizona State University (M.M.), and the University of the Pacific (B.M.)

Episode 24 - Andy Pease Aug 28, 2017

An interview with conductor Andy Pease of Hartwick college and author of the Wind Band Literature blog and Wind Band Symphony Archive.

Topics:

Andy's background through his time at Columbia University as well as lessons learned while studying with Gary Hill at Arizona State.
His current position at Hartwick College, commissioning composers, and the value of "putting a face" to the music.
Learning to take risks and to let go of inhibitions as a conductor and finding balance in your programming.

Links:

Biography:

Andrew D. Pease serves as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Instrumental Music at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY, where he directs the Wind Ensemble and Brass Ensemble and teaches conducting, orchestration, and brass methods.

In the early part of his career, he helped to put the wind band back on the map in New York City. While music director of the Columbia University Wind Ensemble from 2002-2013, he began a student guest conductor program with Columbia’s Teachers College and helped to start the Columbia Festival of Winds. Concurrently, he conducted the community band Columbia Summer Winds, which inaugurated its Outdoor Composition Contest under his watch.

He completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in wind conducting at Arizona State University, where his teachers included Gary Hill, Wayne Bailey, and William Reber. While there, he conducted large ensembles and various chamber groups, including the professional Sun Valley Chamber Winds, which he founded in 2015. His work with these groups earned him the 2016-2017 American Prize in Wind Band Conducting at the collegiate level. His other past teaching positions include South Mountain Community College (Phoenix, AZ), Ironwood High School (Glendale, AZ), and Lakewood Elementary School (Congers, NY). He has degrees from Dartmouth College, Teachers College at Columbia University, and Hofstra University. His past conducting teachers include Max Culpepper, Melinda O’Neal, Dino Anagnost, and Peter Boonshaft, as well as clinics with other leading figures in the conducting world.

Dr. Pease runs two websites dedicated to the music of the wind band. Wind Band Literature has grown immensely from its beginnings as Andy Pease's Wind Band Blog and has been used as a resource for bands around the world. The Wind Band Symphony Archive is a living, dynamic record of all known symphonies written for wind band.

Episode 23 - Tiffany Hitz Aug 21, 2017

Back to school! This past July I had the chance to watch Tiffany Hitz in action at the UNC-Greensboro summer band camps and she is an exceptionally energetic and passionate teacher. At that moment I knew I had to have her on the podcast to talk about teaching, band music, and what composers need to to better!

Topics:

The Fairfax County School system, Tiffany's early musical experiences, and the importance of knowing the difference between and English and French horn
Finding your team, having a growth mindset, and being open to criticism and judgement
Study guides, how to choose music and Tiffany's thoughts about composers

Links:

Biography:

Tiffany Hitz teaches band at Rachel Carson Middle School in Fairfax County, VA. She received her Bachelor of Music in Music Education degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and her Master of Music in Music Education from Boston University. Mrs. Hitz has been teaching in Fairfax County since 2001, and recently completed a tenure as Secondary Fine and Performing Arts Coach for their Teacher Induction Program, Great Beginnings: The Next Generation. A member of the Virginia Music Educators Association, Mrs. Hitz was identified by the organization as an Emerging Leader and is currently on the state’s New Music Grading Committee and Conference Registration Staff. She is also a member of Women Band Directors International and has been published in and served as the Elementary Editor of their official journal, Woman Conductor. This December, Mrs. Hitz was recognized by the School Band and Orchestra Magazine as one of the “Fifty Directors Who Make a Difference”. In 2013, she became a National Board Certified Teacher, was selected for induction into the American School Band Director’s Association, and was nominated for the Grammy Music Educator Award. Mrs. Hitz currently serves as the Virginia State Chair of the National Band Association, and holds membership in the National Association for Music Education, International Horn Society, Sigma Alpha Iota: Women’s Professional Music Fraternity, and Fairfax County Band Directors Association, formerly serving as the group’s Co-President. Also in demand as a guest clinician and adjudicator throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, Mrs. Hitz spends her summers making music at UNCG’s Summer Music Camp and the University of Maine’s Summer Youth Music.

Episode 22 - Michael O'Connor Aug 14, 2017

Michael O'Connor joins me for a fascinating discussion of 19th Century band music in the United States.

Topics:

Mike's musical background as a euphonium player
The development of te American band in the early 1800's and the types of instruments used during the 19th Century
Claudio Grafullo, Thomas Coates, Patrick Gilmore and the impact of the American Civil War on band music in America
The Golden Age of band music in the 1870's-1890's

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Michael O'Connor is a native of central New York but now makes his home in Jupiter, Florida. He is an Associate Professor of Music History at Palm Beach Atlantic University, but in his first career, he was the euphonium player for the Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers Circus Band. After a short taste of public-school band directing, he turned to musicology, finishing a PhD at Florida State University. He combined his interest in historical music with a love of performing by founding two period-instrument bands. His Civil-War-era band is The Coates Brass Band, and his post-war band is Newberry's Victorian Cornet Band. Both groups have CDs released on the MSR Classics label. He also performs modern British brass band music as baritonist in the Orchid City Brass Band.

Intro Music: "Cottage by the Sea Quickstep" by Thomas Coates after a tune by John Rogers Thomas (1850's). Outro Music: "Wilking Quickstep" by Thomas Coates (1880's)

Recordings courtesy of Michael O'Connor and the Newberry Victorian Cornet Band

Episode 21 - Christopher Stark Aug 10, 2017

Composer Chris Stark joins me to reflect upon the legacy of David Maslanka. Chris studied with David for a year and shares some of his memories before discussing his own exciting career.

Topics:

David Maslanka as a teacher, composer, and man and the lessons that Chris learned while his student
Chris' background in Montana and his thoughts about writing for wind ensemble
Writing the music for the upcoming movie Novitiate and advice for young composers

Links:

Biography:

A 2017 Guggenheim Fellow, Christopher Stark (b. 1980, St. Ignatius, MT) is a fast-rising and dynamic young composer equally at ease in the diverse mediums of contemporary classical, electronic, and film. The New York Times has called his music, "fetching and colorful," and he has received prestigious awards from the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University, Chamber Music America, and ASCAP. In 2012, he was a resident composer at Civitella Ranieri, a fifteenth-century castle in Umbria, Italy, and in June of 2016 he was in-residence at Aaron Copland's former home in the Hudson Valley. Recent highlights have included performances at the 2016 Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and at the Whitney Museum of American Art as part of the 2016 NY Philharmonic Biennial. Stark currently resides in St. Louis where he is Assistant Professor of Music Composition at Washington University in St. Louis.

Closing music: "Augenblick" by Christopher Stark. Recording by Jerry Junkin and the University of Texas Wind Ensemble.

Episode 20 - Gerard Schwarz Aug 07, 2017

Iconic American conductor Gerard Schwarz offers his insights about music and conducting gained from an illustrious career at the pinnacle of the classical music world.

Topics:

Maestro Schwarz' musical beginnings, the American Brass Quintet, and the New York Philharmonic
Four steps to success: Talent, Hard Work, Say Yes, Stay Positive
Tips for conductors including thoughts about becoming more artistic, even with young ensembles and score preparation
The importance of listening to learn styles and listening to your own old performances to gain insight on the music
The All Star Orchestra and the Khan Academy
Keep analyzing yourself and the perception of your career to keep improving.
The conducting institute at the Eastern Music Festival
Jerry's Experiences with conducting wind band, particularly the Marine Band
Schwarz' new book Behind the Baton: An American Icon Talks Music
The relevance of music in modern society and the importance of music in education

Links:

Biography:

Internationally recognized for his moving performances, innovative programming and extensive catalog of recordings, American conductor Gerard Schwarz serves as Music Director of The All-Star Orchestra an ensemble of top musicians from America’s leading orchestras featured in twelve television programs that have aired throughout the United States on public television, worldwide by internet streaming and is the basis for their Khan Academy education platform that has already reached over 4 million students. As in baseball, Schwarz created an “all-star” team of top musical athletes to encourage a greater understanding and enjoyment of classical music. All programs are now released by Naxos on DVD and are awarded four Emmy Awards and ASCAP Award. Schwarz also serves as Music Director of the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina and Conductor Laureate of the Seattle Symphony. His considerable discography of over 350 showcases his collaborations with some of the world’s greatest orchestras including Philadelphia Orchestra, London Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony, Orchestre National de France, Tokyo Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, New York Chamber Symphony and Seattle Symphony among others. Schwarz began his professional career as co-principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic and has held leadership positions with Mostly Mozart Festival, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and New York Chamber Symphony. As a guest conductor of both opera and symphony, he has worked with many of the world’s finest orchestras and opera companies. Schwarz, a renowned interpreter of 19th century German, Austrian and Russian repertoire, in addition to his noted work with contemporary American composers, completed his final season as music director of the Seattle Symphony in 2011 after an acclaimed 26 years a period of dramatic artistic growth for the ensemble. In his nearly five decades as a respected classical musician and conductor, Schwarz has received hundreds of honors and accolades including Emmy Awards, GRAMMY nominations, ASCAP Awards and the Ditson Conductor’s Award. He was the first American named Conductor of the Year by Musical America and has received numerous honorary doctorates. The City of Seattle and named the street alongside the Benaroya Hall “Gerard Schwarz Place.

Episode 19 - Andrew Boysen Jr. Jul 31, 2017

Composer and conductor Andrew Boysen Jr. joins me to discuss his career and offer his thoughts on music education.

Topics:

Andrew's background, early experiences as a teacher, and the transition when taking over a program
Andrew's early start as a composer and the use of notation software to compose vs. pencil and paper
The band program at the University of New Hampshire
Thoughts and advice for young teachers and challenges facing music and music education

Links:

Biography:

Andrew Boysen, Jr. is presently a professor in the music department at the University of New Hampshire, where he conducts the wind symphony and teaches conducting and composition. Under his leadership, the UNH wind symphony has released six recordings and been invited to perform at regional conventions of the College Band Directors National Association and National Association for Music Education. Previously, Boysen taught at Indiana State University and Cary-Grove (IL) High School, and was the music director and conductor of the Deerfield Community Concert Band. He remains active as a guest conductor and clinician, appearing with high school, university and festival ensembles across the United States, Great Britain, and Australia.

Episode 18 - Andrew Hitz Jul 24, 2017

Formerly of the Boston Brass, Andrew Hitz is currently a freelance musician, clinician, podcaster, and speaker. In this episode he joins me for a discussion about tuba and offers his perspective on band, teaching, and the future of music education.

Topics:

Andrew's background and his new book series The Band Director's Guides
Starting beginners on tuba and tips on posture and breathing.
Having a characteristic sound for your instrument
Thoughts about how music education needs to fight for survival and relevance
Managing time and exploring creative opportunities early in a career

Links:

Biography:

Andrew Hitz is an internationally renowned soloist, clinician and speaker having appeared in over 40 states and 30 countries including Japan, Brazil, Russia and Singapore. In 2014 he ended a 14 year tenure as the tuba player for Boston Brass. Andrew has also appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Alarm Will Sound and the Marine Band of Mexico. As an Educational Ambassador for Jupiter Band Instruments, Andrew has appeared all over the world as both a teacher and performer. He has presented at over 20 state music educator conferences and taught master classes at some of the finest music schools in the world including Juilliard, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore. Andrew currently hosts two podcasts. "The Brass Junkies" is a podcast interviewing the best brass players in the world. "The Entrepreneurial Musician" features interviews with some of the most successful people in the music business. Andrew is also the author of "A Band Director's Guide To Everything Tuba: A Collection of Interviews with the Experts" which features interviews with Sam Pilafian, Pat Sheridan, Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser and others. The second volume, "A Band Director's Guide to Everything Trombone: A Collection of Interviews with the Experts", features interviews with Joe Alessi, Harry Watters, Ralph Sauer and others. Andrew is proud to serve on the Board of Directors for the Mockingbird Foundation, a non-profit organization which has awarded over $1 million in grants to help bring music education to underserved populations. Andrew lives in the Washington, DC area with his son Nicholas, his dog Izabella, and his wife Tiffany, who he thinks is the best band director in the country. He has also seen the band Phish 184 times. No, really.

Episode 17 - Patrick Vandehey Jul 17, 2017

A legend in the state of Oregon, Patrick Vandehey joins me to discuss believing in music education with passion.

Topics:

Pat's background, including his time as a rock and roll musician and an anecdote about a very bad school administrator
The importance of a strong performance background and how experience as a player was his most valuable asset for his success.
His high school programs and then his time at George Fox University and his move to Portland State.
Thoughts about the future of music education
The marching arts and competition in music education

Links:

Biography:

Patrick Vandehey is an Associate Professor of Music at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. Prior to the PSU position he taught 14 years at George Fox University, a small private liberal arts college in Newberg, Oregon and 23 years teaching in area public high schools. Mr. Vandehey received his Bachelors of Art and Bachelors of Music from the University of Washington, and a Masters of Teaching Music at Portland State University. Mr. Vandehey is a Past-President of the Oregon Band Directors Association and serves as chairman of the Adjudication Training Board of OBDA. He served for two years as the Band Liaison to the Oregon Schools Activity Association. He has served twice on the Oregon Music Education Association’s Board as Band Chair and served on the OMEA Executive board as President in 2005-2006. In 1993 Mr. Vandehey was the State, Regional and National recipient of the ASBDA- Stanbury Award for Outstanding Young Band Director. In 2000 he was inducted into the Band World Legion of Honor by the John Philip Sousa Foundation. Also in 2000 he was named one of Oregon’s top ten Music Educators by the Oregon Music Educators Association in the Teaching Music Magazine. In 2002 Mr. Vandehey received the Citation of Excellence from the National Band Association. He is a founding member of the Oregon Chapter of Phi Beta Mu, and in 2006 was inducted into the Northwest Bandmaster’s Association. Mr. Vandehey was named the Oregon’s Outstanding Music Educator in 2010 by the Oregon Music Educators Association. Mr. Vandehey is married to Kristin, his wife of 40 years and they have two daughters, both of whom are educators.

Episode 16 - Carol Brittin Chambers Jul 10, 2017

Texas composer Carol Brittin Chambers talks about writing marching band shows and the twists and turns of her fascinating musical career.

Topics:

Carol's background as a trumpet player and pianist
Teaching good fundamentals and skills and teaching in Texas
Moving from being a full time band director to a full time composer
Writing marching shows
Carol's concert band music and her creative process

Links:

Biography:

Carol Brittin Chambers is currently on the music faculty at Texas Lutheran University. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, where she is the owner and composer of Aspenwood Music. She also maintains an active performance schedule, including appearances with the Mid-Texas and San Antonio Symphonies.

Chambers is commissioned each year to compose and arrange works for concert band, marching band, and various other ensembles. She has arranged and orchestrated marching shows for numerous high school bands across the country, as well as The Crossmen Drum Corps. Her concert works are published under Carl Fischer, RBC, and Aspenwood Music. Before coming to TLU, Chambers taught middle school and high school band for many years in the North East Independent School District, San Antonio, TX. She also taught private lessons in NEISD. Chambers received a Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Music Education from Texas Tech University. She studied under Vincent Cichowicz, John Paynter, Arnold Jacobs, James Sudduth, and Will Streider.

Episode 15 - Michael Colburn Jul 03, 2017

My special guest for my first Fourth of July episode is Michael Colburn, former director of the United States Marine Corps Band ("The President's Own") and current band director at Butler University. Mike joins me to discuss his time in the Marines, his current position at Butler, and the importance of being ready for any opportunity that might come your way.

Topics:

Mike's background as a euphonium player and son of a high school band director
Performance vs music education degrees and the need for musicians to be entrepreneurial
A deep discussion into the Marine Band including auditions, requirements, it's mission, and a few anecdotes from Mike's time as director
Mike's transition to becoming a conductor and the lessons he's brought to Butler University from his time in the Marines.
Working with composers and his thoughts about the future of music education.
His favorite work and performing Stars and Stripes Forever thousands of times.

Links:

Biography:

Michael Colburn joined the faculty of Butler University as Director of Bands in August, 2014. In addition to conducting the Butler University Wind Ensemble, he offers instruction in conducting, euphonium, and the history and literature of the wind band. Before coming to Butler, Colburn served for 27 years in “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, where he held a variety of positions including Principal Euphonium (1991-1996), Assistant Director (1996-2004), and Director (2004-2014). As Director, Colburn was music advisor to White House and regularly conducted the Marine Band and Chamber Orchestra at the Executive Mansion and at Presidential Inaugurations. He was promoted to Colonel by President George W. Bush in a private Oval Office ceremony in 2007, and in 2014 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by Gen James Amos, Commandant of the Marine Corps, and the Medal of Honor by the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic Board of Directors.

Colburn is an active guest conductor and clinician. He regularly conducts bands at numerous state and regional festivals and has guest conducted several professional and university bands and wind ensembles. Committed to the creation of new music for winds, Colburn serves as the Co-Chair of the Sousa-Ostwald Award, a prize sponsored by the American Bandmasters Association in order to promote new works for wind band/ensemble. He has served as an adjudicator for the Sudler Award, the Barlow Endowment, Music for All, and the Col. George S. Howard award for excellence in military bands. Colburn is a member of Washington D.C.’s prestigious Gridiron and Alfalfa Clubs, the American Bandmasters Association, and a board member of the John Philip Sousa Foundation

Recording of Stars and Stripes Forever by John Phillip Sousa (http://www.marineband.usmc.mil/) [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Common

Episode 14 - Blair Smith Jun 26, 2017

Retired band director Blair Smith joins the podcast to discuss building relationships and finding balance.

Topics:

Blair's background
Commissioning composers, Sean O'Loughlin's pants, and the David Holsinger bedroom
Networking and advice about how to properly use your state conference to build relationships
Advice for young band directors
Digital Performance Gear
Parallels between golf and music

Links:

Biography:

Blair Smith recently retired after 30 years of service to the North Carolina public education system. His final 25 years was at Central Cabarrus HS and Jay M. Robinson HS. Blair is from Mechanicsville, VA. He began his 30-year teaching career at Chaloner MS in Roanoke Rapids. He moved to Central Cabarrus in 1991.

Mr. Smith’s concert bands have performed under numerous national educators. His bands have received Superior ratings at all grade levels as well as commissioning and premiering several compositions. His Wind Ensemble performed at the NC Music Educator’s Conference in 1997. More than 20 of his former students have continued to become music educators.

His marching bands have received Superior and 1st place ratings. As a prominent BOA participant, his bands were consistent finalists. His 1991 Central Cabarrus Band was the last NC band to make finals at BOA Grand Nationals.

He is a member of ASBDA, PAS and NBA. Mr. Smith is past-president for the NC Chapter of the National Band Association, He is the past chairman of the SC District Bandmasters Assoc. Mr. Smith received the Award of Excellence from the NC Bandmasters Association in 2007. He is an active clinician, adjudicator and guest conductor.

Blair currently work for Digital Performance Gear which specializes in designing uniforms and equipment for the pageantry arts. Mr. Smith is married to Linda Smith and they have two sons Aaron and Drew. Mr. Smith is a solid 23 handicap golfer, but he is getting better.

Episode 13 - Patrick Burns Jun 19, 2017

Patrick Burns from Bandworks Publications joins me in a great conversation about his career, Bandworks publications, and he offers numerous insights for composers and teachers.

Topics:

Pat's background and music education
Finishing an music education degree and not getting a doctorate in composition
Pat's compositional inspiration... the alto clarinet.
The Bloomfield Youth Band and the founding of Bandworks Publications
What Pat looks for when selecting music for publication
Advice for young composers

Links:

Biography:

PATRICK J. BURNS (b. 1969) has served as Adjunct Professor of Music at Montclair State University in New Jersey since 1994, where he teaches courses in music theory, orchestration, and composition, and has also taught instrumental music in the Caldwell-West Caldwell Public Schools since 1998. As a clarinetist, Mr. Burns has performed with many professional ensembles in the New York metro area including the Metropolitan Opera Summer Ballet Orchestra, the pit orchestra for the Broadway revival production of Camelot starring Robert Goulet, and with the New Jersey Chamber Music Society in broadcasts for National Public Radio and New Jersey Network Television. In September 2011, Mr. Burns began his tenure as Director of the Symphony of Winds and Percussion at New Jersey City University. More recently, he has signed on with Ackk Studios as orchestrator/composer/conductor for the company’s video game projects being produced for the Nintendo and Sony Corporations.

In 1986, at the age of seventeen, Mr. Burns founded the Bloomfield Youth Band, a community wind ensemble of some 55 secondary school and collegiate musicians which he continues to direct today. The Youth Band has been recognized for its outstanding artistic achievements and service to the community by the United States Congress, the New Jersey Legislature and the Mayor and Town Council of Bloomfield. His compositions for symphonic band are performed by bands of every level throughout the country. The United States Army Band, “Pershing’s Own”, has performed his music in Washington, D.C. and at Carnegie Hall. His music has also been performed by conservatory and military bands in Sweden, Russia, Japan and China. Mr. Burns is former director of the Montclair State University Youth Orchestra and the Imperial Brass. He has been featured as guest conductor and clinician with public school, community, university, region and all-state bands in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Ohio and has recorded albums and concertized with world-renowned brass artists Philip Smith, Warren Vaché, Roger Webster and Chris Jaudes.

Patrick Burns’ music for symphonic band is published by G. Schirmer, Daehn Publications, Grand Mesa Music Publishers, FJH Music, Wingert-Jones Music, and TRN Music Publisher. His music has appeared on Bandworld magazine’s Top 100 list of band compositions five times. The Instrumentalist and School Music News have printed numerous favorable reviews of Mr. Burns’ band music and The Classical New Jersey Society Journal has praised his chamber music. His music for symphonic band has been performed at The Midwest Clinic in Chicago and has been recorded for the educational series Distinguished Music for the Developing Band. He has received commissions from many organizations including the Goldman Band/Harvey Phillips Foundation, Ohio Northern University, the Bel Air (Maryland) Community Band, the SoundTree Corporation and Westlake Village High School Wind Ensemble (California) for the band’s performance at Carnegie Hall.

From 2003-2010, Mr. Burns served as president of the Bloomfield Federation of Music and in March 2010, he founded his own publishing company, Bandworks Publications.

Episode 12 - Gary Gackstatter Jun 12, 2017

Gary Gackstatter is a composer, conductor, and artist with a wealth of teaching experience. He joins me this week to discuss his career and offer his thoughts about teaching and music education.

Topics:

Gary's background and teaching experience
Advice for young teachers
His career as a composer and thoughts about commissioning new works for band
Creativity and being published
Gary's forthcoming book The Spark: Notes from the Podium
Band competitions and what we should be judging
Thoughts about the current state of band literature

Links:

Biography:

Gary Gackstatter is an active artist, composer, conductor, clinician, performer and teacher, teaching at STLCC Meramec as Coordinator of Music and conductor of the Symphonic Band and Meramec Orchestra since 2007. He has served as conductor at Cowley College, Southwestern College and Wichita State University, and has 12 years of public school teaching experience. He holds a BME from Southwestern Oklahoma State and a MMP/Conducting from Wichita State University. His groups have been featured at Missouri Music Educators Association, Kansas Music Educators Association and Kansas Bandmasters Association state conventions, and have won many regional and state awards. Gackstatter has served as a state and regional MENC Composition Chairman.

Gackstatter has been the clinician/conductor for district and state festival bands, orchestras and jazz bands, as well as over 200 high school band and orchestra clinics since 1990. A two-time Kansas Governor's Arts Award recipient (as an individual artist/musician and as conductor of the Winfield Regional Symphony), he is directly responsible for many art events including symphonic debuts, band/orchestra festivals, internationally known guest artists, and projects combining multiple art forms. His published compositions (with C. Alan Publications) are performed internationally and his vision to combine the various arts genres in performances has gained national attention.

Episode 11 - Jeff Girard Jun 05, 2017

Jeff Girard, the band specialist at Midwest Sheet Music joins me to offer some thoughts about conducting, band music, and copyright law from the perspective of a music retailer.

Topics:

Jeff's background as a conductor and band specialist at Midwest Sheet Music
Band Together
The challenges and compromises of conducting a community band
Interactions with composers and the music publishing industry from a retail perspective
What qualities make Jeff recommended a band piece
Lessons learned from Jeff's surprising background as a professional wrestler

Links:

Biography:

Jeff Girard is a wind band conducting specialist at Midwest Sheet Music in St. Louis who has been working with wind band literature for 20 years now. He’s particularly adept at tracking down hard to find, obscure and foreign wind band titles, as well as finding the hidden gems amongst all the hundreds of new wind band works published each year. He also directs a local community band, BandTogether, during the year.

Episode 10 - Cynthia Johnston Turner May 29, 2017

Cynthia Johnston Turner from the University of Georgia shares her thoughts about the importance of finding your authentic self on the podium, gender issues in the band world, and ideas for programming music.

Topics:

Cynthia's background and the sense of belonging that band provides for young people
Impostor syndrome and being your authentic self
The band program at the University of Georgia
Gender in the band world
Working with composers
Programming "new" music
Technology in the band rehearsal
Programming transcriptions

Links:

Biography:

Cynthia Johnston Turner is Director of Bands, Professor of Music, Area Chair of Conducting, and Artistic Director of Rote Hund Muzik at the Hodgson School of Music, University of Georgia. Turner conducts the Hodgson Wind Ensemble, leads the MM and DMA programs in conducting, and oversees the entire band program including the 430-member Redcoat Marching Band.

Before her appointment at the Hodgson School at the University of Georgia, Cynthia was Director of Wind Ensembles at Cornell University. Earlier in her career Cynthia was a high school music educator, taught middle school beginning instrumental music in Toronto and choral music in Switzerland.

Episode 9 - John W. Parks IV May 22, 2017

Florida State University percussion professor John W. Parks IV is really passionate about the importance of teaching and learning the "right way" and this becomes a recurring theme throughout this remarkable conversation.

Topics:

John's musical background
Trophy hunting in music education and putting the students first
The type of students John brings to FSU and how he disarms "problem" students
Use the local college to find a percussion teacher to come into your band room.
Qualities necessary to becoming a successful teacher and having a plan!
Teach skills, not pieces
Percussion resources for teachers
2000 Eastman Wind Ensemble Japan tour
Garnet House Productions
Why college football coaches need to stop cursing so much!

Links:

Biography:

John W. Parks IV, Professor of Percussion at The Florida State University, holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, and Furman University and has studied with Patricia Dash of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, John Beck of the Rochester Philharmonic, Michael Burritt, Paul Wertico (formerly of the Pat Metheny Group), and John Beckford. He is artist/clinician for Malletech, Avedis Zildjian Cymbals, Black Swamp Percussion, and Remo. Parks made his Carnegie Hall solo recital debut in Weill Recital Hall in May of 2007, and has performed with diverse performing organizations ranging from the Eastman Wind Ensemble on their 2000 tour of Japan and Taiwan and the Schlossfestspiele Orchestra of Heidelberg, Germany to the Kansas City, Alabama, Key West, Jacksonville, and Tallahassee Symphony Orchestras as well as the Florida Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, and Eastern Music Festival Faculty Orchestra. Dr. Parks also leads the FSU Percussion Ensemble, winners of the 2007 and 2011 Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competitions and the subject of four critically-acclaimed recordings (Volume One, Volume Two: Not Far From Here, Volume Three: Ten Windows, and Volume Four: Unknown Kind), and has appeared as performer/clinician at the 2011 Basilica Festival in Belgium, 2009 Thailand Brass and Percussion Conference in Bangkok, three Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinics, twelve Percussive Arts Society International Conventions, NACWPI, National Public Radio, and state MENC conventions. In 2006 he won a university-wide teaching award at FSU, and in 2013 was inducted into the Engineering Wing of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences as a voting member of the Grammy Awards.

Episode 8 - Jay Coles May 15, 2017

Just 23 years old, the enormously talented Jay Coles has already published several works for band through Carl Fischer, C.L. Barnhouse, and C. Alan Publications and is the author of a new novel inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement titled Tyler Jones was Here and scheduled to be released in 2018 by Little Brown, Children's.

Topics:

Jay's musical background and his young career
Using social media to create opportunity
Jay's first big break with the Kirankai High School Wind Ensemble in Wakayamashi, Japan
Diversity in the wind literature and thoughts about how to lift up the marginalized in the band community
Finding publishers as a composer
His forthcoming young adult novel and the differences between music publishing and book publishing
His process for writing a piece of music

Links:

Biography: Jay Coles (b. 1995) is a composer, conductor, and clinician residing in the wonderful and beautiful state of Indiana. He attends Ball State University, where he studies Music, Education and English, though he currently holds an A.S. Degree in Liberal Arts. Jay has come to be known as an emerging and distinguished young composer and is rapidly making his debut on many programs across the globe. Jay’s first composition for wind ensemble, a self-published grade 5 piece entitled “Orchesis: Legends of Thailand,” was premiered in Wakayama-Shi, Japan. The piece was performed by the Kinrinkai Junior and Senior High School Wind Ensemble under the direction of Mr. Masago Hirokazu. Jay’s performance background is very eclectic. He’s performed in numerous jazz ensembles, wind ensembles and pep bands, and currently, Jay plays bassoon and euphonium professionally. He is also the lead pianist and residential composer for his church, where he has arranged and composed many works for small choirs and chamber orchestras. He maintains a tight and busy schedule of composing and arranging, performing, and traveling. Additionally, Jay has composed numerous works for wind band for just about every level. Jay’s music is published by Carl Fischer Music and Birch Island Co. as well as works that are self-published which can be found on his website. Jay accredits composers and mentors Brian Balmages, Larry Clark, Ryan Main, and Michael Markowski for their guidance and many lessons that continue to shape his music—all those lessons that motivate him to thrive as a composer.

Episode 7 - Mark Stickney May 08, 2017

Mark Stickney, the conductor at Plymouth State University and of the Seacoast Wind Ensemble joins me for a wide ranging conversation that includes the value of being a lifelong learner, the band grading system, and the New England Band Director's institute.

Topics:

Plymouth State University, the Seacoast Wind Ensemble, and the Newport Music Festival
Teaching a band a new piece of music
Fear in the ensemble and how to help students overcome their fear
Conducting honor bands
The value of being a lifelong learner
Working with composers
The band grading system
Competition in music
The New England Band Director's Institute
Self published composers and finding new music
The importance of relationships

Links:

Biography:

Dr. Mark A Stickney is the Director of Bands at Plymouth State University, where he directs the Symphonic Band, and teaches courses in conducting, applied low brass and music education. In addition he serves as coordinator of the Graduate Instrumental Music Education Program, the All New England Band Festival and the New England Band Directors Institute. He has also held conducting and brass teaching positions at the Community College of Rhode Island, Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Salve Regina University, and Southern Utah University. He has conducted festival bands and orchestras all over the United States. In 2016, he was appointed as the Artistic Director of the Seacoast Wind Ensemble in Kittery, ME. Dr. Stickney received his DMA in Wind Conducting from Rutgers University, his MA in Tuba Performance from Montclair State University, and his BA from Gettysburg College. Dr. Stickney frequently writes on matters of music education, conducting, and nature on his blog: stickneymusic.wordpress.com.

Episode 6 - Demondrae Thurman May 01, 2017

Renowned euphonium soloist and Samford University conductor Demondrae Thurman shares his story and offers a wealth of knowledge and advice on a variety of topics. Of special note is his advice about starting kids on the euphonium, tips for conductors on score preparation and rehearsal techniques, and the story of his collaboration with composer Anthony Barfield and the remarkable Heritage Concerto.

Topics:

Demondrae's early history and musical education
The Sotto Voce Tuba Quartet
Starting kids on euphonium/baritone
Characteristic sound
The Samford University Wind Ensemble
Score preparation and study
Rehearsal techniques
The Heritage Concerto by composer Anthony Barfield
Advice for young musicians
The Brass Band of Battle Creek

Links:

Biography: Demondrae Thurman is considered one of the stars of the formidable generation of brass soloists. His euphonium playing has been described as “awe inspiring”, and he is touted as “an amazing musician”. Demondrae has a firm international reputation as a euphonium soloist having performed in Europe, Asia and throughout North America. Many of America's premiere colleges and universities have hosted him as a performer and teacher and he continues to be in high demand. Currently, Demondrae is Associate Professor of Music at Samford University where he teaches low brass, conducts the Wind Ensemble, and serves as Director of Graduate Studies. In addition to his duties at Samford University, Demondrae is also on the faculty of the Miraphone Academy, Southeastern Tuba Euphonium Workshop and the National Music Festival Euphonium Workshop.

Episode 5 - Garrett Hope Apr 24, 2017

Garrett Hope has done over 130 interviews with composers and music professionals for his own podcast The Portfolio Composer. Garrett brings a wealth of knowledge and insight about the business of music and shares his thoughts as a relative newcomer to the band world.

Episode 4 - Karen Birch Blundell Apr 17, 2017

I am joined by my good friend and outstanding oboist Karen Birch Blundell. Karen provides a wealth of information about the oboe including some practical advice about reeds and oboe tips for composers.

Topics:

Karen's early choice to play oboe
Starting kids on the oboe right away
Finding and making reeds
The importance of good equipment
Learning how to practice
Taking relaxed breaths
Tips for composers
Building rests into oboe music
High school band!
The New Sousa Band

Links:

Biography: Karen Birch Blundell lives in New York City and is a member of both the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic (English horn) and the Eastern Festival Orchestra (English horn/Associate Principal Oboe). She also performs regularly with the Allentown Symphony and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Hartford Symphony, C4- the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, the Harrisburg Symphony, and the American Symphony Orchestra.

Episode 3 - Matt Salvaggio Apr 10, 2017

I welcome conductor Matthew Salvaggio to the show for a conversation about his experiences as an oboist and conductor of the wind ensemble at Hiram College. Highlights include excellent advice for studying scores and working with composers.

Topics:

Matt's background as an oboist
The importance of personal connections
Having opportunities as a young musician
The wind ensemble at Hiram College and value of having community members in the small college band
Staying in touch with your instrument
Teaching a new piece and the importance of score study!
Talking with and commissioning composers
Programming new music
The importance of taking your time and having diverse musical experiences

Links:

Biography:

Matthew Salvaggio is director of bands at Hiram College, where his duties include conducting the wind ensemble, jazz band, teaching introductory music theory, freshman writing and coaching chamber ensembles. In addition to his duties at Hiram, he also serves as the Musical and Artistic Director of the University Heights Symphonic Band, and is the music librarian and staff arranger for the Cleveland Pops Orchestra. In October 2016, he made his debut as Music Director of Orchestra 19, a 19th century historical performance practice orchestra based in Cleveland, of which he is also a co-founder.

Episode 2 - Scott Watson Apr 03, 2017

Composer Scott Watson is my guest on this episode. Scott has over 60 published works, mostly through by Alfred Music. In this diverse episode we discuss Scott's impressive career including his musical background, his compositional process, acquiring commissions and using consortiums, guest conducting, technology in the classroom, project based learning, graded band music, learning one instrument very well, and finding inspiration in writing music for young players.

Links:

Biography:

Scott Watson, born 1962 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania has composed for concert, radio, and theater and received recognition for his work from ASCAP, the American Composers Forum, the American Music Center, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and others.

Watson's music for band is published primarily by Alfred Publications, for whom he an exclusive composer. Other music for concert band is published by Wingert-Jones Publications, TRN, C. L. Barnhouse, Hal Leonard, Concert Works Unlimited (a division of Shawnee Press, now distributed by Hal Leonard), and Jon Ross Music. His string/orchestra music is published by Alfred Publications and Wingert-Jones Publications Publications, and his chamber music is published by Trillenium Music Company. You can hear excerpts of Watson's compositions by clicking on the Music links above.

About Watson's music, The Instrumentalist says "outstanding...with beautiful melodies and interesting harmonies" (Mark Hosler, 2004), Percussive Notes says "written with supreme craft" (Cort McClaren, 1993), the Allentown Morning Call says "Watson exhibited a great deal of skill in managing the resources of the orchestra...a very well-crafted piece...he will very likely become a force to be reckoned with" (Philip A. Metzger, 2000), and PMEA News says "Watson skillfully transforms his zest for life into his own brand of unique musical exuberance. His scoring for winds, brass, and percussion is excellent" (Kenneth Laudermilch, 1998). His music for band has several times been performed at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic (Chicago) and named to several Bandworld Top 100 and Japan Band Clinic Yamaha Recommends 100 Pieces for Band listings. Recent projects include Youth/Student Concert performances of his Aesop's Fables by the Allentown Band, with dance choreographed by Repertory Dance Theater, as well as commissions by the MusicAlliance Honor Band Camp (Cleveland, OH, made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts), Lehigh County (Pennsylvania) Bandmasters Association, Massachusetts Instrumental & Choral Conductors Association (Spring 2007, concert band and chorus); International Horn Society Meir Rimon Fund (Spring 2006, solo horn and concert band); an American Composers Forum Continental Harmony project commission, Magic Valley, (2004, concert band); Figurations (for winds and percussion), commissioned by the West Chester University Wind Ensemble, Kenneth Laudermilch, Director; Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra, for the Temple University Symphony Orchestra, Luis Biava conductor and Terell Stafford, trumpet soloist; and Hymn and Declaration, commissioned by the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, Donald Spieth, Director. Watson has been pleased and honored to serve as guest conductor or adjudicator at various band festivals.

Watson received his MM and DMA in Composition from Temple University, where his composition teachers include Maurice Wright and Matthew Greenbaum. Watson teaches instrumental and elective music in the Parkland School District (Allentown, PA), and serves as adjunct professor teaching music education/music technology courses for University of the Arts, Cairn University, and Central Connecticut State University and Applied Composition for University of Valley Forge. During the 2001-02 academic year, he served as Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Technology at Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music (Philadelphia, PA). Additionally, his book, Using Technology to Unlock Musical Creativity, which focuses on project-based, creative music learning facilitated by technology, is published by Oxford University Press.

Episode 1 - John Pasternak Mar 27, 2017

Cleveland composer and conductor John Pasternak joins the podcast as my inaugural guest. In this episode we discuss John's early influences in music and then launch on a discussion of composing for band, publishing, and the importance of humility.

Links:

Biography:

John M. Pasternak has been an active musician since 2003 while he founded and directed several community groups. In Fall of 2005, John attended Kent State University (KSU) where he pursued a Bachelor of Music Education degree. While a student, John served as President of the Kent State Ohio Collegiate Music Education Association (OCMEA) Chapter, was Staff Arranger for the Kent State Marching Golden Flashes and wrote scores for two Kent State Independent Films. He also worked composed and conducted works for the KSU Ensembles. In 2008, John was elected as a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). After graduating from Kent State University, John began his teaching career in January 2013 and has taught Band, Choir and General Music to students of all ages. John also has been a guest clinician at the Middle School, High School and College level for both his concert work and teaching experience. He is also currently an active member of the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA). While teaching full time, John is also a composer with works published by RWS Music Company, Carl Fischer Music, Bandworks Publications, Grand Mesa Music Publishers and Excelcia Music Publishing. His “Intrepid Fanfare” was selected to be on the Bandworld Magazine Top 100 list in 2017. In addition to his concert works, John recently composed music for the Coaster Studios documentary “Save My Park.” John is also writing his first book “Teaching Composition in the Classroom: A Guide for New Composers.”

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