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In this episode of Beyond Artless, we sit down with Isaac McMahon, band director at Brookings High School in South Dakota—a musician, educator, and all-around interesting human whose journey to the podium includes farms, baseball no-hitters, homemade hot sauce, and at least one extremely loud tractor tire incident.

Now in his seventh year of teaching, Isaac leads a thriving program that includes concert band, competitive marching band, pep band, jazz ensembles, music theory, and music exploration. His passion for students and teaching has earned him multiple district “BEST” awards for leadership, as well as the 2025 Dennis Hegg Outstanding Young Band Director Award for the state of South Dakota. His program was also selected to perform at the 2026 South Dakota Bandmasters Conference—a testament to the culture of excellence he’s built with his students.

But Isaac’s story is about far more than accolades. Growing up on a farm in South Dakota (where he once accidentally popped an 8-foot tractor tire… loudly), he developed the work ethic and humor that now define his classroom. From dressing up as Beethoven for a fourth-grade biography fair to throwing a high school baseball no-hitter—and briefly attempting a golf career that ended after exactly one away meet—Isaac’s path to music education has been anything but boring.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Isaac’s journey from South Dakota farm kid to award-winning band director
• How Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (CMP) shapes his teaching philosophy
• The joy and responsibility of mentoring future educators as a cooperating teacher
• Lessons learned from teaching in both Breckenridge, Minnesota and Brookings, South Dakota
• Why continuing to perform (he’s a semi-professional bassoonist and saxophonist) keeps him connected to the art
• The realities—and occasional chaos—of running a modern band program

And along the way you’ll discover that Isaac is also a self-proclaimed coffee snob who roasts his own beans, a home hot-sauce creator with a fridge shelf dedicated to spice, a former homecoming king, and a proud dad of two daughters who somehow balances family life with marching band rehearsals and jazz charts.

This conversation is funny, thoughtful, and full of the kind of real-life stories that remind us why music educators are some of the most creative and resilient people around.

 Tune in for laughter, teaching wisdom, and possibly a new appreciation for both bassoons and properly roasted coffee—beyond artless.

Credits

Groovin' Hard- Don Menza/arr. Peter Blair

Heritage Music Press

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