While much of this space is devoted to music education, advocacy, thoughts on instrumental music, and sharing new works that I have completed, I ask for your patience here. Those who know me well know my love of all things Star Wars. But after the closing of the Skywalker saga, I have to get a few things off my mind. […]
I am enjoying a few days in Cleveland, Ohio for the Ohio Music Educators Professional Development Conference. It is wonderful to reconnect with many of the great music educators I got to know in Eastern Ohio while teaching in Western Pennsylvania during the first 22 years of my career. It is equally fulfilling talking with new faces about opportunities within […]
I write tonight to a group of students who will audition for the PMEA District 5 Honor Band tomorrow night. I am proud of them as musicians and people for what they have chosen to do. >>>>><<<<< Dear Andrea, Janalyn, Lindsey, Jordyn, Sami, Abby, Kyle, Kyle, Ryan, Dakota, Andrew, and Chris, I am excited for you. Tomorrow is Honors Band […]
I am looking forward to work with the Clarion-Union-Brookville Honor Band this weekend at Clarion High School. Special thanks to Tim Stevenson, Chris Curry, and Lisa Hummel who extended this invitation- they are fantastic people, educators, and directors. The program includes Pageant (Persichetti), A Festival Prelude (Reed), Harford Rhapsody (Patrick Burns), Noble Men (Fillmore), and A Frontier Fought and A […]
As I near completion of my dissertation and prepare for my defense, it is interesting to reflect back on where I was as an advocate, composer, conductor, and educator just five short years ago. There are certainly days when I feel no smarter than when I started my first doctoral class, and I had I read up on Donald Hodges […]
