Everything Band Podcast

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Episode 63 - Ogechi Ukazu Jun 05, 2018

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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.

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