Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood In this episode, Kathleen’s guest is Mac Smith, the founder of Gigantic Cranium, an independent film production outfit. Along with Tom Tollefsen, Garrick Gonzalez, John “JT” Torrijos and the other members of the team, they produced the documentary film about the Madison Scouts drum and bugle corps—Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching […]

On this episode of the Marketing Music Education podcast, I speak with Colonel Jim R. Keene, Master Sergeant Jason Stephens, and Staff Sergeant Heidi Ackerman of The United States Army Field Band. We discuss the group’s mission, where they fit in among the Army’s many other music ensembles, handling stress and burnout, and much more. In particular, we […]

Glenn Nierman is the current president of the National Association for Music Education. A blog post was published alleging that NAfME CEO Michael Butera made controversial comments about race and diversity at a recent event hosted by the National Endowment for the Arts. That’s when Dr. Nierman found himself near the eye of a public relations […]

There has been a stunning turn of events in the world of music education this week, and they concern diversity. The National Association for Music Education has replaced their CEO after allegations of possibly racist statements made at a NEA event. Join me tomorrow, May 13, 2016 at 5:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time as I […]

Read the full article about Jeff Grogan I wrote for the Music for All Orchestra America Newsletter here. Learn more about the Orchestra America National Festival here, and how students can apply to work with Jeff Grogan as a member of the 2017 Honor Orchestra of America here. Don’t forget: subscribe here on Google Play, here on iTunes, or here […]

I first found Dr. John Gallagher and NYSSMA on Twitter a couple of years ago. They linked to something called a “Swiss cheese” press release. I clicked the link and found not only a treasure trove of templates for public relations—all tailored specifically for music education programs—but tumbled down a deep rabbit hole of online […]

In this episode, I speak with Greg Scapillato and Keith Ozsvath. They’re the coordinators of the brand new MFA middle school track at the 2016 Music For All Summer Symposium. We’ll talk about how Keith and Greg met and where their careers have taken them. We discuss the challenges they face as middle school band […]

In this episode of the Marketing Music Education podcast, I continue my talk with Richard Crain of the Midwest Clinic. We discuss why marching band is so big in Texas and why it’s so important for band directors to continue to hone their craft, plus the biggest lessons he’s learned over the course of his […]

In this episode of the Marketing Music Education podcast, I talk with Richard Crain of the Midwest Clinic. He gives us an overview of the event, including who should attend and what to expect. We discuss the importance of professional development for music educators, especially as it relates to burnout and teacher turnover. We discuss […]

This episode of the Marketing Music Education podcast is the second half of my conversation with Eric Martin of Music for All. Listen to part 1 here. In the second installment, we discuss Music for All’s ticket pricing, and how Eric and his team strive to deliver a “‘Disney-like’ experience on a Mickey Mouse budget.” We cover how local […]

In this episode of the Marketing Music Education podcast, I sat down with Eric Martin of Music for All. He’s one of my favorite people to talk to, and we covered a lot: enough for two episodes! Listen to the second episode here. In this first installment, we talk about his experience as an African-American band […]

In this episode, I share what I learned from the recent Marketing Music Education listener survey. Plus I talk about the accident at the Foothills Invitational Marching Band Competition on October 3, 2015, at North Iredell High School near Charlotte, NC. Links and Resources from this episode South Iredell band returns to the field following tragedy Driver cited […]

This week I continue my conversation with Donna Schwartz of Music Teachers’ Resource Guide. We talk about her two masters degrees and whether she’d do it all again, why she believes music education in our schools is so vulnerable, and her two biggest goals. About Donna Schwartz Donna’s musical career can be best described as the “comeback […]

Donna Schwartz of Music Teachers’ Resource Guide joined me for a great, passionate conversation about the importance of music education. In this episode, we cover: How Donna got into music education Why she got out of music education, and how her side trip helped her Why Donna left New York for California Why this music educator will never […]

Joe Beard of The Marching Podcast joins me on this show, the second in a two-part series. His podcast (which you should go download!) focuses on the marching arts within the world of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. In this episode, we talk about some of the things you learn in marching band that have nothing […]

Joe Beard of The Marching Podcast joins me on this show, the first in a two-part series. His podcast focuses on the marching arts within the world of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. HBCU bands have their own distinctive show style, and Joe gives us a great primer on where to start with HBCU bands. […]

This episode explores the importance of wellness for music educators. A continuation of my earlier conversation with him, it seems Gary Doherty still has a few things to left to teach to former student Bruce Faske—and to the rest of us! If you’re interested in joining us on our journey, or even just following along, […]

GRAMMY Quarterfinalists Tony Mazzocchi Caleb Chapman Baltimore Baltimore Symphony Orchestra OrchKids Marching Illini Sousaphones run 5K   Coming up on the podcast Donna Schwartz of Music Teachers’ Resource Guide Joe Beard of The Marching Podcast Follow up episode with Gary Doherty, author of Ignition Point: Striking the Match   Upcoming Events 2015 Music Parent Booster Seminar at the Conn-Selmer Institute Music for All Summer Symposium MFA Parent Booster Institute ALL MY CONTENT:...

About Laura Blake Laura Blake has been around the marching arts and Indianapolis area school bands since she was 6.  A trumpet player (and cable in percussion), she still plays each week in a community band and occasionally for local community theatre. Between 1998 and 2005, Laura worked with over 10 different Indiana school band programs, joining Music for All […]

About Tony Mazzocchi, author of The Music Parents Guide A GRAMMY® nominated music educator, Anthony Mazzocchi has performed as a trombonist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, San Diego Symphony, San Diego Opera, Riverside Symphony, Key West Symphony, in various Broadway shows and numerous recordings and movie soundtracks. Tony has served as faculty or […]

  Bless your heart. The Texas Classroom Teachers’ Association TRIED to help celebrate Music In Our Schools month (MIOSM). It just didn’t quite work. Here is the story of the MIOSM Sax Fail of 2015.   The post Whoever was tasked with sourcing that image for MIOSM was clearly never a band kid. Nor was the […]

In this episode of Marketing Music Education, I speak with Tim Hinton. He is one of the hosts of the Marching Roundtable podcast, which I’ve listened to and enjoyed for years. Hi background as an educator is readily apparent, as he schools me about the benefits of hiring an arranger, the pitfalls of burnout, and […]

Gary Doherty is spearheading a conversation that is long overdue, particularly in the field of music education. We were introduced at Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic by mutual friend Cam Stasa (who gets an associate producer credit for this episode). After just a few moments with him, I knew that Gary Doherty could speak with […]

If you want to learn something quickly, practice that thing S-L-O-W-L-Y. Because your brain is like a fresh snowdrift. Obviously. Listen to find out why musicians should practice slowly. Here’s the Lifehacker article that inspired this podcast, and the piece by Dick Hensold that inspired the article. From Daniel Coyle’s Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for […]