Almost Everything I've Learned About Teaching Band

A master's degree is important for the learning one acquires, and it can be obtained much quicker and at a lower cost than one might imagine.

Dr. Steve Ambrose took a band program from 19 students to over 100, then became head of music in a large district. Find out his biggest regret and greatest triumph. Invite Steve to clinic or guest co…

You too can start a band website for your school band. Can you create documents in Word with photos and formatting? Then you have the skills to create a website.

Do you wish you had more tubas and low brass? Do you have an abundance of flutes and no clarinets? In this episode, I share some tips on how you can obtain better instrumentation in your bands.

Remember the car crash dummies? They taught car manufacturers a lot about how to make cars safer. You too can learn a lot by watching the "dummies" in your life.

Musicians have a high emotional IQ. We feel things more deeply. We work hard for success, really hard. And if we're not careful, we can easily burn out doing a great job, and then what good are we? L…

A bake sale can be a great way to raise funds for your band, and it takes very little of your time if you have parents do most of the work.

We all have the same number of hours in a day, but many of those hours get wasted. James shares ten tips that can help you regain 5-10 hours a week of your time so you can do more of what you REALLY …

The Music Ed Podcast will be on summer hiatus. Check back in August for new episodes. Go to the blog at www.themusicedpodcast.com for helpful articles through the summer.

10 tips that will make your school concert even MORE successful.

We often lose great ideas because we don't have a way to capture them. Here are several tips to help you capture your ideas.

Need some tips on what you can do (or not do) during your upcoming break? You get five of them here. Don't worry, they don't involve work (or only slightly).

Directors are always looking for ways to make warm-ups engaging and still learn music skills. Start by calling it "Ensemble Sensitivity Training" instead. Get 30+ ideas in this 12 minute podcast. Als…

James talks about how to help your band sax section sound better. He covers reeds, embouchure, mouthpieces, high/low tones (free worksheet included), recruiting and what to do with beginners.

In this episode, I interview Dr. Mark Montemayor of the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley during a break from the Colorado Music Educator's Conference.

One of my band students was disappointed last year when he was rejected for the talent show as an instrumentalist while singers who sang poorly were accepted. He mentioned his disappointment to the e…

One of the hardest things to do as musicians is setting boundaries, especially around our personal lives and with our time. In this podcast, you will learn strategies to help you be better about sett…

These four things - if left unchecked - can be poison to your career, health and emotions.