Gary Gackstatter is a composer, conductor, and artist with a wealth of teaching experience. He joins me this week to discuss his career and offer his thoughts about teaching and music education.

Topics:

• Gary's background and teaching experience
• Advice for young teachers
• His career as a composer and thoughts about commissioning new works for band
• Creativity and being published
• Gary's forthcoming book The Spark: Notes from the Podium
• Band competitions and what we should be judging
• Thoughts about the current state of band literature

Links:

• Gary Gackstatter's Website
• Gary's YouTube Channel
• St. Louis Community College Meramec Campus
• C. Alan Publications
• Grainger: Lincolnshire Posy
• Holst: First Suite in E-flat

Biography:

Gary Gackstatter is an active artist, composer, conductor, clinician, performer and teacher, teaching at STLCC Meramec as Coordinator of Music and conductor of the Symphonic Band and Meramec Orchestra since 2007. He has served as conductor at Cowley College, Southwestern College and Wichita State University, and has 12 years of public school teaching experience. He holds a BME from Southwestern Oklahoma State and a MMP/Conducting from Wichita State University. His groups have been featured at Missouri Music Educators Association, Kansas Music Educators Association and Kansas Bandmasters Association state conventions, and have won many regional and state awards. Gackstatter has served as a state and regional MENC Composition Chairman.

Gackstatter has been the clinician/conductor for district and state festival bands, orchestras and jazz bands, as well as over 200 high school band and orchestra clinics since 1990. A two-time Kansas Governor's Arts Award recipient (as an individual artist/musician and as conductor of the Winfield Regional Symphony), he is directly responsible for many art events including symphonic debuts, band/orchestra festivals, internationally known guest artists, and projects combining multiple art forms. His published compositions (with C. Alan Publications) are performed internationally and his vision to combine the various arts genres in performances has gained national attention.