Almost Everything I've Learned About Teaching Band

Director language is so full of fun similes and colorful language. The most fun ones are those that spill out in the spur of the moment. These are my favorite top ten uttered by me and others.

It's hard to eat properly as a band director. If you're not careful you will find yourself eating a lot of fast, unhealthy food. I once weighed thirty pounds more than I do right now. In this episode…

I have burned out TWICE! The second time wasn't nearly as severe. Both times I had to make changes in my life because I want to last in this field a long time. In many ways, our field is very dysfunc…

Disclaimer: View movies yourself before showing them to your students. Check your school or district's policy on showing movies. In my opinion, movies are best reserved for bus trips or special viewi…

In this episode, I share 7 tips for how you can get your students to be a GREAT audience. In tip #1 - my story - I share a tip that has been extremely successful for over a decade for me.

We know that band is fun, but our students don't always know that. We know that fun is achieved by aiming for and reaching excellence, but our students don't always know that. How can we make band …

We all wish that each and every one of our students practiced two hours a day every day, but is this possible or even realistic? It depends. In my 21 years of teaching I've tried it all. Surprisingl…

Believe it or not, in my early days of teaching I did not know how to use this time properly. I actually ran out of things to do! Now I know better. This is a repost from an episode several years a…

We all develop those ideas - those hacks - that make our jobs much easier. In this episode I share 12 of them - most that I have used myself and a few I'm going to try soon. See the pictures of some …

The students get bored. I get bored. But we need to review the exercises we've worked on. Here are some tips to make the review a little more interesting.

This is THE question I hate the most as a teacher. I'm very strict with it and my policy is "No/Never." I also want to answer like my 5th grade teacher did..."Yes you can, but you may not." Oh how I …

When tragedy strikes the band room, either through accident, natural causes or suicide, how do you handle the grief? Is it ok to cry in front of students? What about counseling? A few years ago we ha…

Do you ever feel like you are teaching a STADIUM full of students? There are tips to manage them a little better. Join me as I share 11 tips that I and others have used to make teaching a large group…

Don't you hate when parents are late picking up their kids? You are ready to leave and go home yourself, maybe to your own family, but you are stuck waiting. Be careful not to react in anger because …

What should you do when students are dating each other? Ignore it (not completely)? Freak out (no)? Try these band director tested tips and remember that I married my high school sweetheart who happe…