Where did all this music come from? My role as a composer has become an integral component of my philosophy and my daily walk as a music educator. Since my time as an undergraduate student I have always held an interest in arranging and composition for instrumental ensembles, but after taking my first teaching position I found my duties did […]
Quick: Name three composers of wind band literature whose music was written before 1950 that will still be revered in the year 2020? 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 […]
My thanks to Tad Greig and the Westminster College Wind Ensemble for their recording of “Rising Winds from the Valley”. The piece written for the Seneca Valley Freshmen Concert Band debuts tonight under the direction of good friends and colleagues Varden Armstrong and Bob Matchett. The piece is now available from Bandworks, alongside great music from Patrick J. Burns and […]
It was a great day yesterday at Marion Center with the PMEA District 3 Junior High Honor Band. I was able to share some good music with a great bunch of students and directors – including “Supsended Animation” (Patrick Burns), “Marching Song” (Holst), and the world debut of “For the Love a Soldier”. The 6th Grade Honor Band was under […]
A busy week – in the stretch of a busy month of thinking… On Tuesday, I will be taking students to audition for our District Honor Band at Westminster College. It is always an anxiety filled time for them, and easy to lose site of the fact auditions are the test of our growth, not our worth (see I believe […]
