As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts. This year, I’m going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I’m taking you along for the journey as well. Last time we saw how the Garfield Cadets transformed the … Read more
As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts. This year, I’m going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I’m taking you along for the journey as well. So far, we’ve seen the first 11 years of DCI. In … Read more
As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts. This year, I’m going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I’m taking you along for the journey as well. Yesterday, we saw some classic footage from the first five years … Read more
As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts. This year, I’m going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I’m taking you along for the journey as well. Today, we’ll look at the first five DCI finals. Since … Read more
As the school year winds down, band directors invariably begin turning their minds towards the upcoming marching season. This year, I have a 7th grade percussionist who knows a ton of trivia about Drum Corps International. His father used to march and has taught across the country, so he comes to middle school with a … Read more
The world of band directing has changed over the past few years as a result of the increasing pace of technological development. Back then Contest preparation when I first started teaching way back in August of 2002 went something like this: I began by digging through the CDs that I picked up each year at … Read more
I saw this cartoon posted on The Yellow Board yesterday and thought some of my musician-type readers wouldappreciate it. The cartoon is by John Bogenschutz (www.johnmusic.com). Over the Christmas Break, a few of the band directors from around the area got together and played some quartets around town. I’m the only one who has played … Read more
On the day that the iPhone 3G was released, I rushed out to the local AT&T Store to pick up my very own. I was excited, so I rushed home and wrote 10 Awesome iPhone Apps (Band Director Style) and listed all of the cool things that I was going to download and use in … Read more
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how my friend Junior had posted on his blog calling for people to write about what kind of a legacy we wanted to leave. I have been thinking a whole lot over the past few months about my progression as a teacher, and this seemed like the … Read more
“Welcome to education.” “Deal with it!” “Didn’t they teach you in college that you need to be flexible?” ‘What do you want me to do about it?” “Wow, I wish I had it that good my first year!” So you graduated and then spent all summer looking for a job. You got your job, get … Read more