Music Ed Insights

Steve and Alan talk through practical ways to make audition recordings that help your players give the best possible impression. From choosing the right opening excerpt to avoiding music that is too risky, they explain why first impressions matter and why “defense” — tone, pitch, blend, and rhythm — often matters more than flash. This episode is especially useful for directors preparing honor ensemble, festival, conference, or showcase submissions.

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What makes teaching music in a small rural school uniquely challenging—and uniquely rewarding? In this conversation, Michael Genslinger, host of Rural Music Matters, joins Steve and Alan to explore the realities of K–12 generalist teaching, limited local resources, and the revolving door of rural positions. Along the way, they highlight how community, creativity, and a willingness to “do it all” can turn small‑school music programs into powerful, long‑lasting forces in students’ lives.

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Slow, lyrical music can be beautiful, but it also exposes everything: tone, pitch, attacks, releases, balance, breath, bow control, and focus. Alan and Steve discuss when lyrical programming helps students grow, when it creates too much risk, and how to build in moments of sustain and phrasing without going too far. Whether through a full lyrical work or a shorter expressive section inside a faster piece, the goal is to follow our basic rule: Make it Sound Good.

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In part two of this two-part conversation, Dr. Scott Jones returns with Steve Shanley and Alan Feirer to apply the idea of teaching for independence to the most practical – and often most emotional – parts of the job: grading, evaluation, and repertoire selection.

Building on Part 1’s skill buckets and culture work, this episode explores:

Scott also shares how he has wrestled with these questions over his career and how his current grading approach reflects what he most wants students to learn and become as musicians.

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Alan and Steve share ways to make student leadership check-ins more useful, focused, and efficient. Instead of asking vague questions like “What’s going well?” they suggest more specific prompts that help students give feedback teachers can actually use. They also discuss how small groups, clear time limits, and well-placed questions can keep these discussions from turning into gripe sessions.

In part one of this two-part conversation, Dr. Scott Jones joins Alan and Steve to explore what it means to teach for musical independence—not just prepare students for the next concert. Scott shares a practical framework for helping students read, listen, adjust, and make musical decisions on their own, with special attention to rhythmic independence, notation, intonation, style, and embodied musicianship. They also discuss short individual playing, classroom culture, and why celebrating effort is essential if we want students to grow into confident, independent musicians.

Part 2 continues the conversation with grading, evaluation, and repertoire choices through the same lens of independence.

Tariffs affecting equipment? Why on earth is PD so generic? Your cohosts have some thoughts - and dare we say - insights that are current and relevant. 

Veteran band director and wellness advocate Lesley Moffat joins Alan and Steve to talk honestly about loving your job so much it starts to break your body—and what to do before (or after) you hit that wall. She shares her journey from 14 prescriptions, surgeries, and constant pain to a healthier, sustainable version of the same career, including the moment she realized, “I love my job, but it’s killing me.” From there, we dig into practical ways K–12 music teachers can set boundaries without feeling selfish, rethink pep bands, rehearsals, and extra events, and build “first push-up”–sized wellness habits that actually fit real school schedules. Along the way, Lesley offers concrete ideas for communicating limits to students and families, using tools like AI and boosters to offload busywork, and modeling a version of music teaching that’s excellent for kids and survivable for adults.

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Adult learning expert Dr. Julie Ressler joins us to unpack imposter phenomenon—why some of the most competent, caring educators still feel like they’re faking it. Drawing on her research with high-achieving professionals (including school-trained musicians and leaders), Julie explains why she prefers “phenomenon” over “syndrome,” how IP shows up in teachers as overpreparing, perfectionism, and fear of being “found out,” and why it often hits hardest when we step into new roles or high-pressure schools. From there, we explore practical strategies K–12 music teachers can use right away: reframing negative self-talk with a growth mindset, recognizing the difference between healthy stretch and toxic self-doubt, using “evidence files” to counter distorted beliefs, and modeling for students what it looks like to pursue excellence without pretending to be perfect.

Alan and Steve check in halfway through summer and somehow get from community band concerts and arranging music to “dad books,” artificial intelligence, young people wanting less gimmick and more authenticity, and whether we might be seeing a small return to kindness in public life.

Steve has a theory that AI is the new World War II book for middle-aged dads. Alan has been working with hundreds of students and noticing more resilience, more phone-free thinking, and a stronger desire to keep things real. Along the way, they revisit the idea that AI can be useful when it helps us think better—but dangerous when we let it think for us.

It’s a relaxed, groove-based summer conversation about what we’re reading, noticing, hoping, and still trying to figure out.