I was so fortunate to have Dr. Rodney Dorsey (Director of Bands at Indiana University) on the show this weekend. His credentials (which speak for themselves!) paired with charisma and positivity make him one of the most highly respected music educators in the country. Please enjoy! Time stamps are below.

Intro/Background

What did I learn from teaching High School? 40:00

Work/Life Balance- 54:45

How to achieve stunning sonority- 1:00:45

Composers/Programming-1:14:00

Critical Questions-1:24:45

Shawn Barat (Buchholz HS, Gainesville, FL) and I sat down and had a really wonderful conversation for almost 2 hours! Here are some timestamps in case you'd like to jump around to various topics. Thank you for listening!

0:00-6:30 Introduction

6:30-32:00 Shawn's Career Path

32:00-50:00 What Did He Learn from Each School?

50:00-1:05 Teacher Burnout/Climbing the Ladder

1:05-1:10 "Meet them where they are!" 

1:10-1:18 Ensemble Sound Concept/Intonation

1:18-1:26 Marching Band/COVID Woes

1:26-1:33 Work/Life Balance

1:33  Critical Questions 

A great mentor of mine, Dr. Matt McCutchen, Director of Bands at the University of South Florida, talks about a litany of great topics: "Everything I need to know I learned from teaching middle school band", how to program in a fair, balanced way, work/life balance, and much more! We had a blast recording this. 

The phenomenal educator, Ian Schwindt, and I sat down to talk about middle school retention, online learning, MPA music selection, work/life balance and much more!

Dan Taylor was a middle school band director for 9 years in Florida, and he talks about so many wonderful things! How to start beginners, teaching rhythm, intonation, ways to foster a positive band culture in any setting, and much more! Enjoy!

The first episode of Real Band Talk was so much fun to make! Amanda and I talk about what it's like to be married to another band director, flute pedagogy, changing jobs, first year teacher advice, and much more!

Here's a quick teaser leading up to the first episode with Amanda Griffis! 

Check out www.realbandtalk.com for more info.