After Hours: Conversations for Music Educators

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Faith Serna, Assistant Band Director and Color Guard Coordinator at Highland High School in Highland, Arkansas. The Highland School District serves several small towns in north central Arkansas, and Faith grew up in the district.

In the last episode, Faith talked about starting, or improving, color guard in a marching band, but in this second part of the conversation we'll switch directions and learn more about her first job in music education as band director in a very small school district in McCrory, Arkansas, a town of 1,500 people, located 70...

This week Nick Averwater talks with Faith Serna, Assistant Band Director and Color Guard Coordinator at Highland High School in Highland, AR. The Highland School District serves several small towns in north central Arkansas. Faith grew up in the district, and studied with two band directors who are now her colleagues, Hope and Greg Bruner.

In this episode Faith will tell us more about getting students interested in color guard, the equipment needed, and more.

Our conversation was recorded in the Fall of 2024. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part one.<...

This week we wrap up our six-part series looking at recruiting students for your band program as Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Brent Hopper, Nathan Anderson, and Brandan Bakkala. Brent is Middle School Band Director at Lakeland Preparatory School in Lakeland, TN, which is a town of around 14,000 located just northeast of Memphis. Nathan is a band director at Greene County Tech in Paragould, a city of 30,000 in northeast Arkansas. Brandan is Band Director at Valley View High School in Jonesboro, which is the fifth largest city in the Arkansas, with a population of just over 80,000, and is...

This week we continue with episode five of our six-part series looking at recruiting students for your band program as Nick Averwater talks with Brent Hopper, Nathan Anderson, and Brandan Bakkala. Brent is Middle School Band Director at Lakeland Preparatory School in Lakeland, TN, which is a town of around 14,000 located just northeast of Memphis. Nathan is a band director at Greene County Tech in Paragould, a city of 30,000 in northeast Arkansas. Brandan is Band Director at Valley View High School in Jonesboro, which is the fifth largest city in the Arkansas, with a population of just over 80,000, and...

This week we continue with episode four of our six-part series looking at recruiting students for your band program as Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Joe Quinnelly, Reggie Coleman, and Daniel Ritch. Joe Quinnelly is Director of Bands at Hernando Middle School, which is part of the largest school district in Mississippi, and is located just south of Memphis. Reggie Coleman is Band Director at Rocky Fork Middle School in Smyrna, TN, which is a town of 53,000 located a half hour southeast of Nashville. Daniel Ritch is Head Band Director at Hardin County Middle School in Savannah, TN...

This week we continue with episode three of our six-part series looking at recruiting students for your band program as Nick Averwater talks with Joe Quinnelly, Reggie Coleman, and Daniel Ritch. Joe Quinnelly is Director of Bands at Hernando Middle School, which is part of the largest school district in Mississippi, and is located just south of Memphis, Reggie Coleman is Band Director at Rocky Fork Middle School in Smyrna, TN, which is a town of 53,000 located a half hour southeast of Nashville, and Daniel Ritch is Head Band Director at Hardin County Middle School in Savannah, TN, which i...

This week we continue our series taking a closer look at recruiting students for your band program, and we'll hear the second part of a conversation Nick Averwater had with Brittany Jerrell and Emma Lang. Brittany is Co-Director of Bands at Stewarts Creek Middle School in Smyrna, TN, a city of just over 50,000, 20 miles southeast of Nashville. Emma teaches at Trenton-Rosenwald Middle School in Trenton, TN, which is a town of 4,200 in West Tennessee, 75 miles northeast of Memphis.

In this episode we'll be learning more about how these educators communicate with the parents of students to let...

This week we're kicking off a series taking a closer look at recruiting students for your band program, a topic that seems to come up in nearly every episode of the podcast, and one that you have asked us to address even further. In the next six episodes we'll be learning a lot from eight educators in three different conversations.
So, in this episode and the next one, Nick Averwater will be talking with Brittany Jerrell and Emma Lang. Brittany is Co-Director of Bands at Stewarts Creek Middle School in Smyrna, TN, a city of just over 50,000, 15 miles...

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Michael Parsons, Director of Instrumental and Popular Music at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, TN. Michael is also Director of Sound Fuzion, a pop vocal ensemble at the University of Memphis.
In this episode we'll learn more about how Michael uses pop music ensembles like Soundscape, which is a group of 16 instrumentalists and vocalists, to recruit students for Briarcrest's many music ensembles. We'll also get his perspective on what it's like to teach music at a private school vs. a public school.
Our conversation was recorded in August of 2024...

This week Nick Averwater talks with Michael Parsons, Director of Instrumental and Popular Music at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis, TN. Michael is also Director of Sound Fuzion, a pop vocal ensemble at the University of Memphis.
In this episode we'll learn about how Michael has incorporated pop music groups and commercial music studies into the music department at Briarcrest, but in a way that enhances the traditional music ensembles.
Our conversation was recorded August, 2024. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part one.

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Gillian Desmarais, who teaches Music Production and Engineering at Harmony Learning Center in Maplewood, MN. Gillian is the founder of Sound Tech Ed, a website that provides resources for music programs that allow students to learn and grow with music technology. She has also been named to the 2024 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of music educators, and was named 2024 Teacher Of The Year by TI:ME.
In this episode Gillian will tell us more about Harmony Learning Center, the students she teaches there, and the ways in which she customizes the curriculum...

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Gillian Desmarais, who teaches Music Production and Engineering at Harmony Learning Center in Maplewood, MN. Gillian is the founder of Sound Tech Ed, a website that provides resources for music programs that allow students to learn and grow with music technology. She has also been named to the 2024 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of music educators, and was named 2024 Teacher Of The Year by TI:ME.
In this episode Gillian will share some ideas for music educators who want to introduce music technology into their classroom, or expand upon what they are...

This week we continue our look at using technology in music education, as Nick Averwater talks with Gillian Desmarais, who teaches Music Production and Engineering at Harmony Learning Center in Maplewood, MN.
Gillian is the founder of Sound Tech Ed, a website that provides resources for music programs that allow students to learn and grow with music technology. She has also been named to the 2024 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of music educators, and was named 2024 Teacher Of The Year by TI:ME.
In this episode we'll be learning about Gillian's early interest in music technology, and how that...

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Theresa Hoover, a music educator, clinician, author, and podcast host.
In the last episode, we learned about how technology, particularly AI, can benefit music educators with things like writing lesson plans and recruitment. This week Theresa will talk about other AI resources that are useful to music educators. We'll also find out more about the concepts behind her book, Empowering Ensembles with Technology, which can be downloaded at the website for F-Flat Books.
Our conversation was recorded August 5, 2024. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part...

This week Nick Averwater talks with Theresa Hoover, a music educator, clinician, author, and podcast host.
In this episode, we'll be learning about how technology, particularly AI, can benefit music educators with things like writing lesson plans, recruitment, and more. Theresa is the author of the book, Empowering Ensembles with Technology, which can be downloaded at the website for F-Flat Books.
Our conversation was recorded August 5, 2024. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part one.
Here's Theresa's website
Here's Theresa's "Pass The Baton" podcast

This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Matthew Arau, Chair of the Music Education department at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin and author of the book, Upbeat! Mindset, Mindfulness and Leadership in Music Education And Beyond, published by GIA Publications. Dr. Arau is also the founder of Upbeat Global.

As the 2024-2025 school year gets underway, Dr. Arau will share his ideas for starting the year off right, including ways of defining success, setting realistic goals for yourself and your students, and more.

We've been away for a few weeks while we finished up a two-year renovation project here at Amro Music. We're thrilled with the results, and excited to serve our education partners more effectively than ever. We've posted a video on our YouTube channel that shows some of the improvements that we've made to the store, our repair shop, and our Director Services department, but there's nothing like seeing it all in person, so if you're ever in Memphis, we hope you'll take some time to stop by. We would love to see you.

This week we have...

This week Nick Averwater talks with David Davis, Music Teacher at Park Spanish Immersion Elementary School in St. Louis Park, MN, a city of around 50,000 people just west of Minneapolis. David was named to the 2023 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of Music Educators.
In this episode we'll learn about the people and experiences that inspired him to become a music educator, and we'll find out about some non-traditional approaches to keep students interested, and increase enrollment and retention in his music ensembles. 
Our conversation was recorded in January 2024. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part o...

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Dr. Emily Williams Burch, Professor of Music at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA. Dr. Burch was also named to the 2023 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of Music Educators.
In this episode we'll learn about the work she has done with the American Choral Directors Association to provide advocacy resources to fellow educators. 
Our conversation was recorded in November, 2023. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part two. 

This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Emily Williams Burch, Professor of Music at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA. Dr. Burch was also named to the 2023 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of Music Educators.
In this episode we'll learn about  the book that she co-authored with Alex Gartner called The Business Of Choir, A Choral Leader's Guide For Organizational Growth.
Our conversation was recorded in November, 2023. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part one. 

This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Timothy Sexton, Associate Director of Bands for Tarpon Springs Leadership Conservatory For The Arts in Tarpon Springs, Florida, a city of around 25,000 located 25 miles northwest of Tampa. Dr. Sexton has also recently been named to the 2023 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of Music Educators. 
In this episode we'll learn about the music educators and performing opportunities that influenced him as a student musician, his individualized approach to teaching students, the benefits of regularly recording the music ensembles, and more.
Our conversation was recorded in November, 2023. 

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Johanna Kitchell, Orchestra Director for Riverside Intermediate and Junior High Schools in Fishers, Indiana, a northeastern suburb of Indianapolis with a population of nearly 100,000. Johanna is also a conductor with the Indianapolis Youth Orchestra, and has been named to the 2023 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of Music Educators.
In the last episode we learned about how being an athlete has influenced her as a music educator, and the way the music and athletics departments work well together in her schools. This week we'll find out how she approaches recruiting, what educators should...

This week Nick Averwater talks with Johanna Kitchell, Orchestra Director for Riverside Intermediate and Junior High Schools in Fishers, IN, a northeastern suburb of Indianapolis with a population of around 95,000. Johanna is also a conductor with the Indianapolis Youth Orchestra, and has been named to the 2023 Yamaha 40 Under 40 List of Music Educators.
In this episode we'll learn more about her early years as a musician in upstate New York, the way being an athlete has influenced her as a music educator, and the way the music and athletics departments work well together in her schools.
Our conversation...

This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Matthew Arau, Chair of the Music Education department at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. Dr. Arau was our guest on two episodes in April 2023, but we realized that there was much more to talk about that we couldn't fit into those two episodes, so we've invited him back to share his thoughts about the state of music education after the pandemic, and why kindness, encouragement and support in the classroom is more important than ever.

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Dr. Bruce Faske, Associate Professor of Trombone at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. In the last episode Dr. Faske shared ideas for band directors who are non-trombonists, but are teaching the instrument at the beginning and middle school levels. This week we'll have a similar conversation, but we'll focus on musicians and band directors at the high school level. Dr. Faske will also have some helpful advice for keeping a trombone in good working condition. We've broken up our conversation into two episodes, and this is part two.

This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Bruce Faske, Associate Professor of Trombone at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. He has taught at the University since 2014, and in this episode we'll learn more about the path that brought him to Northeast Arkansas, and he'll also share some helpful tips for band directors at the middle school level who have little or no experience playing the trombone. We've broken up our conversation into two episodes, and this is part one.

This week Nick Averwater talks with Franklin Willis, Community Impact Director for the Country Music Association Foundation. He has been with the foundation since August of 2022 after 13 years as a music educator.
In this episode we'll learn more about his early influences as an educator, the foundation's Music Teachers of Excellence Program, and some of the ways a music program can have a positive effect on a community. Our conversation was recorded in September, 2023.

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with author & educator Scott Lang about the fourth version of the State Of Music Education Survey. The survey started in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, and version 5 expected later in 2023. 
Version 4 is broken up into six categories. Last week Nick and Scott talked about three of those categories: instructional time, student learning, and enrollment. This week they'll be talking about budget, administrative support, and state of mind.
Our conversation is broken up in to two episodes, and this is part 2.

This week Nick Averwater talks with author & educator Scott Lang. We last spoke with Scott in December 2020 about the State of Music Education survey, which started as a result of the pandemic. 
The survey is now in its fourth version, with version 5 expected later in 2023, so we thought it was time to check back in to see what has changed in the music education world, post-pandemic.
Our conversation is broken up into two episodes, and this is part 1.

This week Nick Averwater hosts a Back-to-School conversation focusing on maximizing the start of the school year.
Our three guests include Lindsey Williams from Paducah Middle School in Paducah, KY, Lauren Duncan from Lafayette Middle School and High School in Oxford, MS, and Evan Burton from Page Middle School in Franklin, TN.
Our conversation was recorded on August 2, 2023.

This week Nick Averwater hosts a Back-to-School webinar focusing on recruitment and retention. Our guests include Kaitlin Roll from Annie Camp Junior High School in Jonesboro, AR, Vanessa Cobb from Montgomery Central High School in Cunningham, TN, and Dr. Mike Yopp from Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, TN. 
The conversation was recorded August 1, 2023.

This week, Nick Averwater talks with Cody Price, Orchestra Director at Arlington Middle School in Arlington, TN, a town of around 15,000 people located just northeast of Memphis. 
In this episode we'll learn more about Cody's approach to teaching, which is based on the idea of teaching life skills through music. She'll also share some tips for getting string players to properly tune their instruments and develop proper posture so they can play at the highest level possible.
Our conversation was recorded in February 2023.

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Glen Schneider, an instructor at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, and creator of musicmastery.band, a personalized online teaching resource designed for students for whom private lessons aren't an option. 
Glen has over 20 years of experience as a band director, and in the last episode we learned all about musicmastery.band, but this week we're going to learn much more about his personal philosophies and techniques for promoting individual musicianship in an ensemble setting. He'll also tell us more about some of the ways Vandercook College supports the music e...

This week Nick Averwater talks with Glen Schneider, an instructor at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, and creator of musicmastery.band, a personalized online teaching resource designed for students for whom private lessons aren't an option. Our conversation was recorded in January 2023. It's broken up in to two episodes, and this is part 1.

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Dr. James Weaver, Director of Performing Arts and Sports for the National Federation of State High School Associations, an organization based in Indianapolis that serves more than 19,000 high schools. 
In this episode we'll learn about how the NFHS works to advocate for arts education at the national level, and as a former orchestra director at schools in Minnesota and South Dakota, James will share some ideas for advocacy and recruitment at the local level. 
Our conversation was recorded in May, 2023. It's broken up in to two episodes, and this is...

This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. James Weaver, a former band director, and Director of Performing Arts and Sports for the National Federation of State High School Associations, an organization based in Indianapolis that serves more than 19,000 high schools. 
In this episode we'll learn about NFHS's leadership role in the International Coalition Performing Arts Aerosol Study at the beginning of the pandemic, and find out more about other resources that the organization makes available to music educators. Our conversation was recorded in May of 2023. It's broken up into two episodes, and this is part 1.

This week, Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Dr. Mike Yopp, Director of Bands at Middleton High School in Middleton, TN, a town of just a few hundred people in the southwestern part of the state. The high school serves Middleton and several surrounding communities as part of the Hardeman County School District. In March of 2023, a few weeks after this conversation, it was announced that, in the Fall, Dr. Yopp will be relocating to Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, TN where he will be a professor, and Director of the newly-formed jazz band.

In this episode we'll...

This week, Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Mike Yopp, Director of Bands at Middleton High School in Middleton, TN. Middleton is a town of just a few hundred people in the southwestern part of the state, but the high school serves several surrounding communities as part of the Hardeman County School District. In March of 2023, a few weeks after this conversation, it was announced that Dr. Yopp will be taking on a new role as a professor and Director of the jazz band at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, TN.

In this episode he'll tell us about the...

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Dr. Matthew Arau, Chair of the Music Education Department at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and author of the book, Upbeat! Mindset, Mindfulness and Leadership in Music Education And Beyond, pubished by GIA Publications.
In the last episode we looked at the first part of the book entitled Ignite, and we encourage you to listen to that episode before listening to this one. This week we'll learn more about the rest of the book. This conversation was recorded January 24, 2023.

This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Matthew Arau, Chair of the Music Education Department at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and author of the book, Upbeat! Mindset, Mindfulness and Leadership in Music Education And Beyond, pubished by GIA Publications. 
Our conversation was recorded January 24, 2023. It's broken up in to two episodes, and this is part 1.