Central York Clinic

I am excited to begin a two day clinic with the Central York High School and Middle School Bands on March 16th & 17th. It is an honor to be asked by colleagues who do what I do, and I am grateful to Jim Martini for extending me this opportunity. For the first time, I will have the opportunity to […]

Thanks Tuba Exchange!

On a personal musicianship “note”, I am upgrading my personal inventory and have acquired a new tuba. One of the advantages of music clinics and conferences is having multiple instrument companies present with a wide variety of horns to “test drive”. I took some time at the Midwest clinic this past December and did so. After playing on 14 different […]

An open letter about auditions…

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 […]

Off to Clarion!

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 […]

The Long Road of the Dissertation

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 […]