2) It’s an exciting time as I embark on the research end of my doctorate work at Kent State. I am focusing on student and director perceptions of honor band festivals. As someone with a vested interest who has been on both sides as a sponsoring director and a guest conductor, I am curious to learn what students and the directors are taking away from these festivals, and if what they are taking away are of benefit to their school band program. Updates will abound along the way, and if you have literature or thoughts you would like to share I would enjoy the opportunity to connect with you.

3) Looking ahead, and speaking of honor bands, I am eagerly preparing for the Bucks County JH Honor Band in March, and the Schuykill County JH Honor Band in April hosted by former assistant and friend Brad Volek. Two new debuts at those festivals with students – it will be an awesome experience, and if not – well we need to revisit the mirror I mentioned earlier.

4) 4 New pieces to date will be available this summer including Dream Chaser and Winds of a New Day (Barnhouse), The Last Stage Coach Heist (FJH), and Yankee Fanfare (Grand Mesa). Honored to have Steve Gage at YSU include Romance for Winds on the March Program with the YSU University Band. Also currently working on a commission for long-time friend and colleague and one of the best directors I know Eric Schrader at Greenville HS (Pa). Hope to begin work on a new contemporary work late in January.

Finally, we are all music educators – some classroom, some directors, some both. Do what’s right in the best interest of our students. Share music that makes connections, expands their appreciation, and authentically engages them. Lead them to understand and appreciate that music is not only a collective collaborative art form, but a unique experience that can transform people and shape our cultures and communities in positive, uplifting ways. How this happens can be very unique to context in which it takes place, and for that reason we have to know our students, school and community well. Our decisions for music instruction must reflect the needs of the community, the expectations of the community, and consistent with our personal philosophy of music education.

Best wishes to all of you in the coming year, and thank you for your friendship, support, and exchange of ideas.

Journey to the Prairie was written in one night – I couldn’t turn off the sounds. As Quincy says transitional tasks can be very helpful to develop material, and my wife couldn’t be happier that evening as I continued mopping, sweeping, and cleaning the house. I finished the piece at 3 a.m. that December morning, printed parts and had the wind ensemble at my school perform the first and only draft. I was excited to see this piece come to life, but discouraged as it was passed over by 3 other publishers. With nothing to lose, I entered it in the 2nd Annual Ticheli Competition.

Now some 5 years later the piece is available. My thanks to Dr. Arnold at Grove City College who provided the recording for the contest (it is also posted on my compositions page). I hope this piece might be useful to your ensemble in the coming months.

Immediately after the concert and the days that followed, I received many notes, read emails, and had a number of conversations with students that were full of positive comments about the entire performance. An interesting conversation took place with a parent who has sent three kids through the band program during my tenure, and she remarked that even without that piece or that audio clip this concert was the best she’s ever heard. She further noted that it is so rewarding to hear the music of the holiday season recreated in new and interesting ways by so many students. The compliment was an honor to be sure, but I am always curious if the students in the ensembles make that connection as well.

The day after the concert during rehearsal, the students in the three ensembles listened to the concert recording and used a rating scale to self-evaluate their ensemble’s performance. Included in that evaluation, I posed an open response question to the ensemble related to how these kinds of performances might better connect music in the school with music in society. Listed, anonymously, here are just a few of the responses:

“I think the audience enjoyed the Christmas Song (arr. by Nowak) the most. The familiarity of the melody appealed to them, and the arrangement we played reflected the characteristics of the song” – 11^th Grader

“The Christmas Song has to be the audience favorite. The song completes the nostalgic experience that is a Christmas concert.” – 12^th Grader

“I think the audience enjoyed the Nutcracker the best because it was instantly recognizable, and our setting of it was true to the original.” – 9^th Grader

“The audience enjoyed the Nutcracker Suite the most. Even though we used different instruments than the original, we strived to be the same stylistically. You could still tell where the plot was during each portion of the song.” – 11^th Grader

“I think our musicianship developed the most in the Nutcracker as we switched between styles in each section, and we tried to stay true to the intent of the original. I think the audience responded so strongly to our arrangement because they recognized the songs and how close to the original we were performing” – 12 the Grader

I grow weary of the argument that traditional school ensembles are not responsive, and that they do not connect with students and their community. I remain of the view that they can connect very well with students and community provided their director recognizes how that bridge can be built and is effective helping students recognize those connections.

A holiday concert provides a traditional ensemble the opportunity to instill within its members a sense of community and shared humanity. This time of year brings out the best in people’s attitudes, dispositions, and sentimentality, and to allow a traditional ensemble like band the chance to tap into that vein of positive traits can be a powerful spring board for its future. The music is familiar enough – the settings of that music allow educators to discuss musical concepts and ideas developed by the writers to create a satisfying musical experience both from the aesthetic and the paraxial.

One could quickly criticize the program I selected for this concert that it contained no significant works befitting the style of the wind band. That being said, my own view of the program was that it provided moments that were in the students’ developmental range, pushed them to acquire and develop new skills, stretched them to be more expressive musicians, and challenged them to consider how music can be altered in various styles. I would add further that I am less convinced that there is one definitive style for the wind band – the wind ensemble and concert band are sometimes at their best when they can present a multitude of styles with efficacy and conviction.

Perhaps those moments that stretched the students raised the aesthetic awareness and expectations for students and parents alike. Perhaps those moments that were in the students’ “wheelhouse” reaffirmed to them the joy of performing creatively in a collective ensemble. Perhaps those moments that generated warm feelings for parents and pride in their sons and daughters in the community. Perhaps those nostalgic moments made the business of society seem years away and once again all was calm, all was bright. Perhaps there were all these things – but make no mistake about it they helped make Christmas time here for our community. It’s only a Christmas stocking bonus that the students became better people and musicians. Merry Christmas all, and I will talk to you next year!

The writing was the easy part. The preparation was the most challenging mental activity that I have ever put myself through (besides trying to understand band fronts…jk, lol, move along). I will say this that pursuing this degree has disciplined my mind and has made me budget my time. If my mother reads this post, she would be the first to tell you – those are two things her second son was not good at growing up.

The following is some advice in preparation for anyone taking on a doctoral degree in any education discipline. If you are reading this, I hope you find it helpful, and I certainly wish you well along your journey.

1) You will not do this without the support of your family, friends, and faith. There will be times when your relationship with all three of them will be strained. Do not break your connection with any of them, because like Rocky’s trainer they will be the only ones in your corner at times saying “C’mon Champ, get back up!”

2) Don’t let your coursework sit abstractly by in the forms of papers, projects and presentations. The encouragement of one person in particular helped me to generate several articles published internationally, and a number of presentations at conferences and workshops. Removing that information from the academic context and putting into the context of your teaching allows for a number of interesting self-discoveries that enrich the process.

3) Critically reflect upon yourself, your teaching area, and how this process may change your perspective in the classroom. Again, the self-reflection process has led me through a number of questions about the very foundations of music education. I see some people writing and tweeting about music education, and I am concerned as they seem to have a pretty limited perspective that is full of absolutes. There are always at least two sides to every story, and I teach music with a much larger perspective in a much larger world with an even wider perspective. I don’t presume that the area which I can make better will fix the whole world, but my self-reflection tells me I can make the areas that I am concerned about better for students with whom I interact, teach, and lead.

4) Stay up on research in your field. It’s not always a very cost effective endeavor – we tend to gouge people to pay for research findings – but if we are going to bridge research to practice, somebody has to take the initiative. It might as well be the practitioner who has the most opportunities to make a difference in education. Related to that, pay attention to veins of research and the names that go with them. In preparation for my comprehensive exams an article in 2001 by Donald Hodges clarified a whole semester of course work for me in Music Psychology. The article connected three more names to related areas in Music Psychology, and each of those names connected to a research area which led me to 2 articles per area and suddenly neurons started firing at incredible rate (at least that’s what I think was happening, I have to go back and read to get you the specifics…).

5) Give yourself a good 6 months to prepare for your qualifying/candidacy exams. Even with a self-made weekly reading list of major topics in all my coursework and reading of related areas to my coursework in the 2nd Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning, I still didn’t feel ready. I had to put a lot of things on the back burner to prepare myself adequately. With two weeks to go, I finally started to experience a “spinning” sensation as if all the information that lived in separate realms began to be dumped into a blender and the soft edges of those topics became blended together.

As I write on a Friday night after a football game, I am sure of several things:
1) My family still loves me and my kids remember my name.
2) I am probably going to reread this Saturday morning and change something (the title: original was called “Reflections on Candidacy Exams).
3) I will never be smarter in my time on this earth. But I always hope I keep a wide perspective, and keep on learning.

Dear Emily,

Despite having not having the greatest high school band experience, during my senior year our choir director (who I was taking a music appreciation course from) shared this advice with me “work at something you love, because you will be working at it for a long time.” I became open to a lot more musically because it was and still is a love – I am 37 years old and still in love with sound. Not so much in love with pizza fundraisers and study hall duty – but sound? Now we are talking. It is something by which I am continually fascinated.

At the end of the day I owe my parents – for instilling in me faith and family that have become the core of my character which in positions of leadership is needed. My college band director – “Doc” Arnold – my second father who showed me how to be a professional. Lou Collela (who passed away last March – the first of all my teachers) who taught me to conduct and to seek out and challenge students with great music. Linda Walker – who during my studies at Kent State has challenged me view a much bigger picture, to consider all points of view, and live with grace every day. My wife – who is so wonderful about listening, reminding me to see other points, and making sure I stay in balance. My own children – who remind me all students are products of heredity and environment. I want the best for my own children, so that means doing the same for others. I don’t mean to disrespect other teachers with whom I studied, I just don’t want this letter to have to be hardbound at a printer!

I am a bit of a moderate in my views on music education. Ultimately the only thing I am philosophically opposed to is experiences that turn students from music. That being said part of the reward is watching personal connections begin to blossom in the lives of music students. I try to remain open in finding ways to connect students from “school/academic music” to music and musical opportunities engrained in our culture and society outside the school. Today was a victory of sorts. I have been pushing chamber music the last two years with my students as an avenue in which they can continue to play beyond graduation. When I spoke to them about a two performance opportunities in February and April, they immediately began rattling off pieces they would like to revisit and prepare. Molding life-long lovers of music is rewarding and at time easy – but we need more life-long performers or “musicers” as Elliot would say.

In my current position, I have the good fortune of working for a Superintendent who used to be an art educator. My former principal was the High School Band director for 15 years prior to my appointment (which made for some interesting discussions…), and one of our guidance councilors is a former Choir Director. We have new administrators this year at the High School/Middle School where I am working – it has been good transition. Much of it was done the past few years in the work the bands did to build bridges through our performances, and reputation. I am guilty of not interacting much with the rest of the staff – I teach lessons over lunch breaks, with family and graduate school commitments I cannot go to social gatherings. It does isolate me to a degree, but when I do interact I work to understand their schedule, academic demands, and identify how their personality might react to certain requests. The parents have been good over the years, but again much of that is part of my responsibility to establish open lines of communication, establish goals and visions for the program in line with my philosophy and their expectations, and to make one deal with parents: The deal is I will teach your child, share music with them, put them in the best possible position for success, and demonstrate a sincere passion for this art.

I have served in various functions with PMEA an officer which has been revealing to me in learning about programs across the state of Pennsylvania. I am headed towards my comprehensive exams at Kent State in October – absolutely mind boggling at times in reviewing everything I have covered. I find myself out of good answers frequently, but I have plenty of good questions. This results in a lot of reading – journals, research, and texts. On the flip side, I do a fair amount of reflection – some formal, others pure streams of consciousness. Finally, composition has been a great and wonderful step for me as a musician. I felt the musician in me withering because I never did anything for it – it was always teach, teach, teach. Composition has made me a better conductor, better educator, and a better person.

The first thing I would tell a young music educator is to listen to and for their “coaches”. I can hear Lou Collela and “Doc” when I am in rehearsal, I can hear Mike Formeck during a lesson. Many of the teachers we all have studied with did not arrive at their position by accident – their experience amongst other things got them there and they have important perspective to consider. Second, find opportunities to teach as often as you can with people who are in a position that a) you aspire to be like, or b) you would like to teach. The act of teaching is an art, and to be better at it, you need to spend time doing it. Third, don’t let classes get in the way of your education – this is sort of an extension of 2 but you must see the bigger picture. Ear training matters. Music History matters. Brass Methods matters. Seeing how all your course work connects into teaching is important. Four – We are all apprentices of observation – we have seen teaching our whole life. Some good, some…not so good. Some of it was the person teaching, some of it was the context, some of it was the materials or medium. As Yoda once said to Luke – “Mind what you have learned, save you it can.” Five – it is a very big world out there. Begin building a network of colleagues and friends. Part of our society does place a premium on “who you know” – good, bad, or indifferent. That does get you so far – but most of my dealings thus far has been “They know somebody, but can they use what they know?” I have had 9 different assistant band directors at Mercer during my career – all of them have started with me as either while in college as an undergraduate or graduate student. It is a small extra-curricular contract, but a big opportunity to teach, lead, and apply what they know. All of them are now music educators, many with their own bands. On Saturday of Labor Day Weekend I was especially proud of David as he directed the University of Hawaii Marching Band on ESPN2 in the Colorado game. Could David use what he knew? Absolutely, which is what catapulted him to the top for the search committee.

Finally, music teaching to me is about living a life-style. You will have a career in music yes, but look at the hours we keep. Look at the inordinate amount of time we spend getting an eleven minute field show in pristine condition. Look at the emotions that stir in us both on the podium and in the conference with the parent. We live a very rewarding life-style. It comes with free t-shirts, occasional pizza parties with adolescents, and long bus rides to obscure performance destinations. It involves rebarring Orff instruments for composition exercises, circle games and dancing, typing names into programs, all the while sucking down so much coffee Juan Valdez agrees to name his next donkey after you. Find a patient spouse who will accept your weird schedule and your quirky faults that are so endearing to your students. Oh – and as a father to 3 daughters and a son – start your 403b early – Have you seen how much it costs to pay for a wedding and college lately? ;^)

Good luck Emily!

Your friend in music and life,

Travis

That should be a fairly easy question for any conductor who has studied scores and understands the pieces that have been at the foundation of the American Wind Ensemble and Concert Band.

Name three composers who wrote music for wind ensembles or concert bands between the years of 1950 and 1980 and will still be played in the year 2020.

Hmm….

I will go with J. Clifton Williams – Dedicatory Overture (1964), Alfred Reed – A Festival Prelude (1962), and W. Francis McBeth (1961) – Chant and Jubilo. Arguably these may not represent their “best” work, but they are ones which 1) I believe are engaging to students, 2) representative of the composer’s stylistic practice, and 3) provided appropriate challenge at the difficulty level for which they are designated. The debate may go on below and it should – so if you have different answers, please include them below.

Moving on, now name three composers who are writing music for wind ensembles or concert bands between 1980 and 2010 who might be enjoying rehearsal and programming time in 2020.

Hmm…getting tougher…

My choices go like this: James Barnes – The Trail of Tears, Mark Camphouse – Movement for Rosa, and Frank Ticheli – Symphony No. 2. Here again – the pieces above may not represent their best or most challenging work. The choices get tougher – there are more of them, they become more diverse in their style and sonic landscape, and these pieces have enjoyed more exposure and attention as technology has improved our ability to connect with the media.

All of that being said, it can be difficult to think in those terms due to the sheer numbers of new pieces for concert band and wind ensemble that are being published today. Critics both inside and outside the profession of music education challenge the sounds that are created, programmatic elements, and point towards the general detachedness of the pieces from anything musical. Some would argue that school music ensembles have become a culture of their own that is unresponsive to students or that the ensembles can be disconnected and insensitive to cultures outside this country. Some choices are made for ensembles on the basis of whether or not the band can perform a piece well enough to get a superior at the next contest, and little thought given to how that literature could be utilized to extend learning beyond the 44 minutes of the rehearsal period.

Though I do not completely disagree with these arguments, I do not believe that the apparent disconnect is at a critical mass. As I consider the communities in which these groups are situated and what they contribute to their local culture I ask this question: Has the traditional school wind ensemble and concert band become something unique and vibrant – a quality of the arts that some scholars have suggested to be celebrated and offered for study? While they embrace, continue, and revere classical traditions and forms, these traditional ensembles continually seek ways to expand existing models and ideas which continually deepen the aesthetic and paraxial experience of the students who engage with it. While I acknowledge that not every piece of music falls into this appraisal, there have been significant, engaging works created for traditional ensembles not only so the artist might say something that has not been said before, but so the performer may be transformed during their interaction.

At some point though, there will be “new classics” to emerge that mean no disrespect to those pieces that are the foundation of American Wind Band and Concert Band literature (see the Teaching Music Series, Composers on Composing for Band, or Rehearsing the Band for some concise lists). As we move past the date of their origins and the times in which they were created, it becomes much easier to identify how significant a piece they might be. It really is no different than those of us who teach a history course on American Popular Music – it’s easy to understand why Elvis, the Beatles, and Little Richard were important to rock and roll, and why we can’t tell yet if U2, Greenday, and Dave Grohl will ever be in that same class. Any director must maintain careful balance of the needs of the students (educational & enjoyment), their communities and schools, and the fact they are heritage bearers of the American Wind Ensemble and Concert Band. These ensembles have been at profession’s core for years, and that was no accident. On one hand the music teaches something, on another it preserves part of our heritage or extends someone else’s culture. On one hand it excites and transforms the mind of the performers, on the other it motivates them to perform at levels not thought possible. We are the educators – educators that must define our own vision of a quality work, research possible pieces that fit that vision, examine how the piece lines up with our goals and objectives for the students, consider how the audience might be engaged by the piece, consider how you can extend learning through the piece beyond the rehearsal hall walls, and make a decision. Picking music for our ensembles is a lot like something I tell my band students about learning music – I didn’t say it would be easy, I said it would be worthwhile.

New classics will emerge – but not without heavy sustained discussion from those in the profession who earnestly care about the future of wind ensembles and concert bands. We cannot rest solely on reviews from magazine’s or websites to provide the final verdict, though to their credit they do invest considerable time to make their best recommendations to directors.  We must further add to this process a comparison against proven, time-tested pieces of similar length, style, or tonality to gauge the overall quality in terms of its craftsmanship, imagination, sensitivity and authenticity (a line of thinking first proposed by Bennett Reimer in 1991 – a guy who I am guessing will still be discussed in 2020). The debate will continue and could prove to be divisive, but I urge all parties involved to make their decisions based upon a clear personal definition of quality that ultimately is in the best interest of the students who they profess to “share the love of music”.

I conclude by sharing my list of “new classics” for band, and urge you to add yours.

James Barnes – The Trail of Tears
Mark Camphouse – Movement for Rosa
Frank Ticheli – Symphony No. 2
Julie Giroux – No Finer Calling
Andrew Boysen Jr. – I Am
Patrick J. Burns – Toccata
Jack Stamp – Ricercare
Samuel Hazo – Ride
Robert Jager – Esprit de Corps
Jan Van Der Roost – Puszta

“How come you never have a losing season?” he asked with a smile.

That is an excellent question, I thought. One of these days I might actually get it all figured out. Eternal optimist and music lover meets bureaucracy of public education – this should be an excellent read in about 15 years. In the meantime, these are 9 tenets around which I have built much of my teaching. They are not fix-all statements that will cure everything in year’s time. Much of this has been 16 years of my own teaching leading me to this point, my interactions with friends and colleagues, and the time I have spent in furthering my professional development as a band director. As you reflect upon the end of your year of teaching, I hope that 2 or 3 of these can provide further thought for you and your own ensembles.

1) Be positive. There is plenty to be down about right now in education. One area that we cannot be down on are the students who walk in our door. If we do not create an atmosphere of positive expectation and collaboration, I believe it will be very rare for them to take the initiative to do so. These are just kids – not professionals. Teach them. Lead them. Be positive.

2) You can love your band, but you don’t have to like them. This advice comes from Shawn Reynolds – and it is pretty accurate. In the teacher’s lounge, the copy room, the office, they are referred to us as “one of your band kids” – even though we know they have a school life in other parts of the building. But band is their family, and we, as directors, are surrogate parents and role-models. We must love them, but when they are doing things that we don’t like, or are detrimental to their success as people and musicians we must let them know about it.

3) It is their band. It isn’t my name on the middle-high school sign. This school and program belongs to them – I happen to facilitate sound decisions. I hope to continue to build a program that the students and the community are proud of. I hope the band program is responsive to the needs of the school and the community, and demonstrates to everyone we encounter how important music education is in the life of a child. I can’t do that if my name is the most important one on the concert program.

4) Listen to each other. The world is a better place when we learn to listen to each other. The ensemble is better when they learn to listen to everything around them. No one in this economy is too poor to pay attention during a rehearsal – especially when the benefit is making the ensemble play with greater awareness of expression and accuracy.

5) Have a band for all seasons. Not every student that enters my program wants to be in marching band. Some really don’t like concert band. Some enjoy small ensemble work more than large ensemble. We have maintained our success in part by providing avenues for performance and expression in ensembles of different types without departing and sacrificing the heritage of the American Wind and Concert Bands for which we are a part. Yes it means never having a non-busy season – but it also means less non-interested students.

6) Great moments are magical, take lots of work, and can happen all the time. Half-time shows. Adjudication/Contest. Festival auditions. Concerts. Sometimes it is hard to keep in perspective that those big moments are small snapshots of our ensembles’ and students’ growth and progress over the course of a year. If the process is good, the product will be. But in the moment when they happen and there is a perfect alignment of choice of music and talent of the group, the moments are magical. They are electrifying, uplifting, and inspiring. Celebrate that moment for what it is, when it is, with who happens to make it possible. The feeling created for the students is unquantifiable and worth every ounce of our focus, energy, and dedication as directors.

7) Put kids in the best possible position for success. Know your kids, know what they can do, and know what they don’t know. Know ways to help them know what they don’t know. Know why they should know it. It is not an art of mezzo-nothing teaching of mezzo-nothing literature. It requires thoughtful planning, evaluation, teaching, and modeling. If we are a family, then we should want what is best for each other, and we have their best interest as musicians and people in the forefront of our preparation.

No pressure, no diamonds. Sometimes at the start of the year our ensembles resemble lumps of coal – a little rough, a little dirty, and at face value not worth much. Given enough time, heat, and pressure (time, inspiration, and teaching) they are transformed into something that most people will agree is better to look at (listen to) and is more valuable. Truly, band directors work with clean coal technology every day. Those performances on our schedule give us a timetable to work towards that may increase or decrease the amount of pressure we apply to our “coal”.

9) Define your own success. Every band I have every year is different. While I say and teach the same principles and concepts each year, the change in personality and talent demands that I talk, instruct, and interact with groups a little different each year. That also means the goals I set every year are slightly different as well. Everything we approach and engage in is a learning experience – we learn about ourselves, we learn what we do well, we learn what we need to improve upon. We don’t chase trophies or plaques. We have standards in place that we hold ourselves accountable to, and we define our own success.

I am very pleased to have received an Editor’s Choice for “Festival and Ballade for Winds”, a piece I wrote for the 2009 Pittsburgh Diocesan Honor Band.  A recording should be up in the coming weeks at Wingert-Jones. Other new works coming this summer include “Moravian Dance” and “A West Highland Fanfare” from FJH, and “Siege of the Dark Castle” from Barnhouse.

1) Live blogging from Dr. Joseph Pisano and his students: SMASH HIT. No wonder this guy was the PMEA District 5 Citation of Excellence and TIME Teacher of the Year. Thank you Andy, Emily, Liz, Brittany, and Ryan – awesome future music educators!!!

2) Raising the EEQ of your performing ensemble: My thanks to Stacy Paparone and Jess Beblo (presiding chair and jag council, respectively) for their pre-session encouragement, and the many close friends and colleagues in attendance. I don’t know that I solved anything by presenting – but I hope I helped those in attendance think differently about their performing ensemble.

3) Steve Hawk’s Jazz Ensemble was an awesome way to start Thursday morning. So proud of former student teacher Garrett Faccone! Great days await that young man at Towson – how fortunate they are to be having him on board as a GA next year!

4) Andy Yozviak’s Wind Ensemble at West Chester is ridiculous – we are talking Midwest Thursday or Friday night concert good. Andy is on my radar of the next great wind band conductors and genuine people of the next few decades.

5) When in doubt, sit down with friends and colleagues you trust. It is incredibly life and career reaffirming both ways – you to them, and them to you. Thank you Andy, Erich, Nino, Doc, Robert, Bob, Varden, Tom, Ron, Chris (owe you dinner buddy!), Tad, Stacy, Jess, Susan, Lee, Bubba, Jim, Eric, Gary, and Joe.

6) Emily Volek’s students need to understand I am not kidding – yes, we know each other, and yes that’s really me in the picture. So proud of both Emily and her husband (former assistant with me) Brad.

Finally, yes the times are dark for all of us. But I refuse to give up – and neither should you. A number of projects and initiatives were started at PMEA 2011 in which I am involved. It will take time, but they are small battles in the good fight – ones I am excited to begin and finish. As per my soundcloud about me section: “Advocate, Composer, Conductor, and Educator on a quest to save music education one note and one student at a time.” That’s just about right, ultimately the only two things I can actually have some sort of control over. It’s such a huge challenge, it’s such a long road, it’s going to be so tough: A reminder to all of us – this won’t be easy, it will be worthwhile.

            The standardized state examinations represent a dangerous failure on many levels. It makes assumptions that all teachers are teaching all the same information in the same manner.  It makes assumptions that all students have equal access to education, and that all students have a similar support structure in their environment that will let them succeed. It assumes that there is one correct answer for a question and that there is only one way in which it can be made manifest.  It further promotes the message that the only valuable knowledge is that which can be written down, creativity and imagination are not of value to education, and that modern education is nothing more than a factory for producing a universal product – a group of students who all know the same thing and nothing outside the realm of what they have been tested. To further illustrate this point Steven Kelly’s text Teaching Music in American Society cites research by Spring (2006) that indicates there is little correlation data between high stakes testing and college or vocational success.  It goes on to indicate that these tests are often discriminatory based on race, gender, home environment, socioeconomic level, and even physical and intellectual abilities.

            My increasing cynical impression and lack of faith in national organizations has been on the increase over the past five years. With each passing day I am reminded how diverse and ever changing our society has become, and sadly, how little our policy makers are able to respond to enact any kind of meaningful change or avert any kind of crisis.  From national organizations that promote the well-being of music education to policy-makers and department of education officials who enact their efforts and policy from afar, we have become stagnated in our own mediocrity chasing after universal standards all so we can have some sort of tangible proof that our education system is the best, our students are better, and essentially we can say “We’re number one.” 

            Consider David Elliot (Professor of Music and Music Education at New York University), and his writings on the current state of music education.  In his view, summative assessment (like a PSSA exam) is not an ethical educational assessment citing its use to identifying failing students and schools (Taylor, 2006, p. 42).  Elliot continues to discuss that the narrowing of the curriculum and standardized testing is rooted in America’s fear of losing in international competition. I would point out that it’s not as bad as it seems, and it certainly isn’t the same everywhere.

            The current situation in Pennsylvania has been brewing for years thanks to a number of short-sighted decisions made by teachers, policy-makers, and the ex-governor.  One does not wake up one day and find themselves $4 billion dollars in debt – but Tom Corbett (much maligned by a number of groups) decided to do something about it.  This movie is going to play out much like a Shakespeare tragedy, with a lot of good people who do right by their students playing the part of…well…I don’t remember. I didn’t go to school during a time when there was serious high stakes testing, and I used Cliff Notes for most Shakespeare in High School. But trust me, everybody dies…usually…I think…but I digress.

            My issue with Governor Corbett is not with the cuts – though drastic, and tough. He is cleaning up a mess that was left for him, and angry or not, he made good on his campaign pledges (well at least one, and this one is painful). It is the cuts with no thought to the value of what is being cut. What if we didn’t have these tests? How could we show to our leaders that our own school is doing well? Could we let strokes of paint on a canvas, the poetry of students, the choreography of an auxiliary unit, the closing of Biebl’s Ave Maria, or Letter F of the Chaconne in First Suite demonstrate how we are being successful with students? Do we live in a society that understands the value of those things? And if you do not, why haven’t you been educating your community that they are by demonstrating it through the products and works of your students?

            The arts have incredible power to change people’s perceptions, to lift and transform them emotionally and ethically (get ready PMEA 2011), and to transform consciousness.  Elliot Eisner, make a number of great points about what education can learn from the arts, and I have summed these thoughts up here (Eisner, 2002).

• ·         Arts teach students that their personal signature is important – interpreting music, describe a sculpture, form of a dance – and that diversity and variability are made central to the experience.
• ·         As students learn in the arts, they realize that decisions may not always be reduced to a rule or simple formula, but depends upon sensitivity, engagement of body and mind to attend to subtle qualities, and attention to relationships among details and how they congregate to affect the perception of the whole. 
• ·         The arts also promote the development of intrinsic satisfaction and that there are experiences in life that must be lived and felt and cannot be articulated or expressed in literal language or discursive language. 
• ·         Two more important aspect the arts teach is the flexible purposing that enables one to capture emerging moments and opportunities, and that savoring the experience one seeks to fully let the enriching powers of the arts speak.

            Music educators today have to produce. Not trophies, 1^st place festival or contest results, or chairs in state ensembles though they are admirable pursuits in the right context with the right frame of mind of all involved. We have to produce meaningful musical experiences for our students. We must put them in the best possible position for success through our instruction, show them the best possible attitude because of our passion, and our heartfelt appreciation for allowing this experience to work on them as people as they work to prepare for the experience. We must produce musicians that can perform, others who create, others who listen and comment, and yet others who advocate. During this “dark time” – as my friend Bob called it a few weeks ago – we must continue to fight the good fight, to advocate for music instruction as an important part of 21^st century learning, and that students need these experiences above all else because music is a human experience.

            Now is our time to plant seeds for the future of music education.  Our planting season might be shortened, there might be less time, we might not have as good equipment. Having grown up the son of a great farmer, truck driver, and my first musical role model – David would tell me we would go to the fields and get our work done. It might be harder. The days might be longer. But people need the crops. Some of us may plant seeds that we will not see bear fruit. You know your fields, you know what your kids need. Water, soil, sunlight. Knowledge and skills, students in class and ensembles, our passion and perseverance. It’s time to go the fields. 

Eisner, E. W. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind. London: Yale University Press.

Kelly, S.N. (2009). Teaching music in American society: A social and cultural understanding of teaching music. New York: Routledge.

Taylor, P. (Ed.). (2006). Assessment in arts education. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Press.

 ”Moravian Dance” (PMEA District 5 Band), “For the Love of a Soldier” (PMEA District3 JH Band), and “Shine!” (YSU University Band) have enjoyed great performances – my thanks to Jack Anderson (University of Pittsburgh) and David M. Blon (YSU Graduate Assistant & Assistant Director at Mercer HS) for their part in bringing this music to life. 

I have cleared two major hurdles at Kent State this semester and now find myself in the “belly of the beast” so to speak as I begin analyzing data from a research study. It is my hope this study will lead me to focus the scope and subject matter of my dissertation. In the back of my mind, preparation for my comprehensive exams next fall has begun.

Teaching Music notified me they will publishing an article in the future dealing with selecting Middle School Band Literature. Attention to my presentation at PMEA All-State in April is picking up as colleagues are asking me for a sneak peek. Looking back where I was just three years ago to now is at times surreal – as Joe Pisano and I frequently discuss “The toughest thing about being successful is that you have to keep on being successful.”

I got to be a proud parent last night as my oldest daughter sang in her very first choral festival. 200 students on stage, great music, and delighted to have my parents, my wife’s parents, and all our children together for a wonderful night of music.

Finally, leaving class on this past Monday night at Kent on my way to conduct a concert at my school, Joe Pisano called. My conducting teacher – Lou Collela – passed away after a tough bout with cancer. I conducted that night with a heavy heart knowing that this was the first one of my mentors that passed away, and I realized that I did not completely like the idea of not being able to pick up the phone and call when I wanted to ask him a conducting question (and to break conducting down to just one thing according to Lou “It’s all about anticipation”). He held me to a high standard every day in class (just ask John Seybert at South Eastern Florida University about the time we were late). The one thing I never knew about him is that we shared the same birthday.

Thank you Lou for making me a better musician, educator and conductor. I will always remember “Great conductors love great music, and they share that love with their students.” God rest your soul Lou, and bless your family in the days ahead.

Be sure to bump on over to Travis J. Weller on myspace to hear the PMEA District 5 Band recording of “Moravian Dance”.  Jack Anderson did a great job with the band, and I am so proud of the students for what they did with the music.  The piece will be available from FJH this summer.