We're posting this on Monday, July 14, 2025. It's the third in a series of six episodes designed to help you get ready for the new school year. We'll have new episodes in this back to school series this Thursday, July 17th, as well as next Monday and Thursday, July 21st and 24th. 

This week we're discussing placing beginner students with the right instrument as Nick Averwater talks with Sloane Feeley from Woodland Middle School in Brentwood, TN, a city of 45,000 located just south of Nashville, Spencer Nesvick from Houston Middle School in Germantown, TN, a city of 41,000 just east of Memphis, and David Burkhalter from Heber Springs Middle School in Heber Springs, AR, a town of 7,000 located 50 miles north of Little Rock.

Our conversation was recorded June 30, 2025. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part one.