I write today to say thanks to Edwin P. Arnold. “Doc” will retire from Grove City College at the end of this school year after 38 years of service. There are many great educators who were mentored before me by Dr. Arnold, and there were many after me at Grove City College. We all owe him gratitude for providing us with opportunities to find out just what we could become. We all have a different story of what he did for us, and it...

I am pleased to officially announce several new works currently in production that will be available this summer for concert band & wind ensemble. You can listen to these works on a variety of platforms including SoundCloud, Facebook, and my composition page here. Sonic Ascent is a beginning band work that uses only the first 6 notes of a B-flat concert scale. It is an energetic concert opener for young musicians that will be available from...

I am pleased to announce that my new work for young band “Dancing Under the Stars” will be released this summer by Bandworks Publications. This works is intended for a Junior High or Middle School Concert Band. I have always admired people with the courage to “dance like no one is watching”, and this piece is somewhat analogous to that idea both musically and metaphorically. I don’t consider this work to be a real...

Amid now 186 pages and just shy of 45,000 words I take a minute to revisit one of my favorite hashtags on Twitter - #grindneverstops  – and apply that to a lifestyle in music education. Notice the difference – I said lifestyle, not a job. The one thing I have tried to impress upon assistant directors with whom I have worked and student teachers that I have mentored is that our vocation is a lifestyle. We keep odd hours. We go back into...

Last night, I had the good fortune of hosting 47 alumni of the Band Program at Mercer during our Homecoming Football Game. It was a great evening of music, friends, laughter, and memories that added to the festivities of the entire Mercer school community. One of my current students got to conduct his dad on a song, two of the current band front advisers performed alongside their friends from the past and current students, and new connections...

Dream Chaser is a spirited concert opener for high school band that captures the energy and emotion of those who choose to follow their dreams in any walk of life. The buoyant melodies of the opening measures later give way to a powerful and expressive section with brief solo opportunities for flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, and baritone. The piece concludes with both main themes returning in an exciting, flourishing,...

My thanks to Edward Petersen and the Washington Winds for sharing a behind the scenes look at the Barnhouse Recording sessions for 2012. The group is performing “Winds of a New Day”, a concert opener at the grade 1.5 level for the Rising Band Series at Barnhouse. A full recording and score image can be found at the Barnhouse website. This works very well for a younger group, and I am proud to have it included in the Barnhouse...

Dr. Joesph Pisano and I had a great chat a few weeks ago about expanding technologies that are becoming more “user friendly”. One such item that has wonderful possibilities for the performing arts are QR Codes. I was pleasantly surprised earlier today when I visited Mustech.net that Dr. Pisano had just published a great article on QR Codes for music educators. I had bounced the idea about a list of compositions with QR Codes. My goal...

I am pleased to announce that “Never a Losing Season” was included in the NBA 2012 Spring Journal. There are a number of great articles in the issue, and my article can be found on page 19. It is an honor to be able to share these insights with colleagues across a larger circle, and I am hopeful that some of those insights can be put to good use with students and directors over the course of the next year.  I hope that it is helpful...

Thanks to a number of Web 2.0 integrations, I have started a Facebook page for The Wind Band Music of Travis J. Weller. It’s nice to be able to use a successful social media platform to assist with this aspect of being an advocate, composer, conductor, and educator. I plan on continue using the site here for musings about music education, new compositions, advocacy, leadership, and life in music. Facebook provides a way to get this and...