Pirates! at Westminster College

I had a fantastic experience on Friday, October 26th at Westminster College with the Wind Ensemble.  It was an honor to have Pirates! performed by such an outstanding group of young musicians.  It was also very rewarding to hear the seriousness with which they took the privilege of making music.  In their pre-concert meeting in the band room, each of the […]

Bowling for Mozart

I revisited a favorite story of mine from several years ago after talking with a couple of dejected students following chair auditions at Mercer. I had written this story down as part of my portfolio that I presented at Duquesne University. As much of our actual time is building students up, what happens when they get knocked down? And how […]

Not every concert needs to be big!

This is part blog/part advertising so bear with me as I do a little promotion for my students, and offer some ideas to the new community of music educators who are not afraid to talk about ideas and issues that can have tremendous impacts upon our program. Thanks to the support of my administration I was able to institute a […]

Auditions anyone?

It must be that time of year – football seasons are half over (except those of you football teams is boasting a 5-1 record like yours truly) , homecoming dances are playing their last slow dance (here’s hoping it’s Stairway to Heaven), and directors of ensembles everywhere are thinning out paperwork and are finally able to find portions of their […]

At 3:15 p.m., class is just beginning…

Much of my recent non-music writing has been in the area of music advocacy. This article should come as no surprise that I am once again waving the flag, but this time I am looking to get the attention of a different audience. As I look ahead to my doctoral studies at Kent State University, the area of music advocacy […]

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