Ideas To Build Strong Connections Between Music Programs And Communities

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 look for when working with a local music store, and more. We'll also learn about the method book that she has written for intermediate string players.
Our conversation was recorded in October of 2023. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part two.

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 was recorded in October, 2023. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part one.

Here's more information about Johanna's method book for intermediate string players.

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.