As I read posts from friends and colleagues in the band world over the past month, I am concerned. We have hit the time of year where contest and festival are approaching or coming in, course scheduling is forcing key students to face difficult decisions as master schedules are released, budgets are due and funding is not allocated where it […]
Thank you to those of you who reached out personally thanking me for Part I in this post – I was pleasantly surprised with comments, encouragement and (nice) demands for Part II. I take great unabashed joy to write about this part of the music ensemble. As I mentioned last week, there are core components here that are influenced by […]
Summer has afforded me the opportunity to think some thoughts without feeling overwhelmed. My thoughts on bands continue to be at the forefront of my mind. My vision for the future of music education in public and private schools includes a strong presence of the school band playing an integral part in building musicians, shaping attitudes towards the fine arts, […]
I suppose that every now and then it is a good idea to have a first-time experience all over again. I didn’t really plan on having my first year teaching all over again in year number 23 of my career in music education, but it happened. There are still things that I don’t know that I don’t know, and it […]
As a music educator of over twenty years and a parent of school age children, I don’t always attend a live concert where I don’t have a vested interest. If I am not thinking about how my own students might do, I am a proud father hanging on each note my own children perform. One might think someone in my […]
