Tuesday was awesome! I was able to take all 3 of the concert bands at Mercer to the PMEA Instrumental Adjudication festival at Westminster College. I am very pleased with the groups and their performance. Pennsylvania’s adjudication circuit allows directors to choose music from the state list (which NEEDS serious revamping PMEA!!! Not that I dwell on the problems within […]
Today marked the second day without a student teacher for the first time since Mid-January. Over the past eight weeks, I had the pleasure of working with Nick Samson (from YSU), and in a couple of weeks Krista Schmidt (from GCC) will join me. I enjoy the opportunity to have student teachers come in to the program, and watch them […]
I need to keep evolving. That means staying current, and that means staying up with what these youngsters are listening to. So it requires some time on my part and sometimes painfully enduring the contrived chord progressions and hollow lyrics of any number of artists that students feel compelled to ask me to listen to. So I decided I would […]
The pieces have been saved from our band rooms, but there are plenty of you out there who didn’t realize MY BAND ROOM IS ON FIRE! There is still time to make a save, as the fire is still burning. Join in on the conversation and save a piece of music (just no more than seven). As you can tell […]
Now in my thirteenth year of teaching, I have officially hosted 12 high school band shows, 4 all county band festivals, 10 jazz festivals, and by the end of this week will have hosted my second PMEA District 5 Band Festival. I made a decision long ago that one area in which I would make an effort to improve the […]
