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Send us Fan Mail As our friend Mike Lunney is fond of saying, "I teach fundamental skills because there are no advanced skills, just advanced situations requiring strong fundamentals." In this episode, Mike discusses the fundamentals for marching, whether it's posture, step offs, or a box drill. The proper fundamentals are the key to looking like an advanced marching ensemble!

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Mike Lunney breaks down the eight core or fundamental principles for marching techniques and movement. These are borrowed from the book "Beyond the Basics" by Nick Benson, Adam Oswald, and Dylan Thomson. Mike introduced these principles early in the marching series, but this week he gives a deeper definition and provides some practical application exampl...

Send us Fan Mail Borrowing from the book, "Beyond the Basics," by Nick Benson, Adam Oswald, and Dylan Thompson, as well as sharing experiences from 39 years as a performer, educator, and clinician, Mike Lunney offers great insight for taking your ensemble past basic marching. Practical and applicable thoughts, tips, and ideas that will help you teach your group to be advanced level think...

Send us Fan Mail Here we are, looking at a new marching season ahead through fresh eyes! The canvas is blank and opportunity awaits. Mike Lunney has set up a series of episodes to help you set your program up to take advantage of the opportunities that are waiting for you. We discuss things like setting the standard and encouraging the students to make the conscious decisions up front to be succes...

Send us Fan Mail Learning, Knowing, Understanding, Communicating, and Mastering. The five boxes your marching ensemble goes through on their way to becoming the most successful version of themselves. Listen this episode as Mike Lunney explains how our ensembles move from box to box, hopefully landing in the box of Mastery, that experience of communicating and sharing the vision with the audience (...

Send us Fan Mail In Max Ehrmann's "Desiderata," he encourages each of us to, "Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth." In this episode, Mike Lunney offers insight from his personal experience for aging well, whether it is professionally or personally. Aging happens to all of us, it is actually a privilege! Embrace the process, wel...

Send us Fan Mail Good friends Brian Hecimovich and Stephen Cox join Mike Lunney for a friendly debate on the pros and cons of competition in music education. Both of our friends are passionate, successful music educators. But they view competition differently. Enjoy this debate/discussion and consider the extrinsic vs. intrinsic, the motivation of competition goals, and the fact that we all agree,...

Send us Fan Mail Talking with guest Tim Edins about his retirement and subsequent rehire. Great visit with lots of insight from both Tim and Miike Lunney. Is retirement the best option right now? What if I decide to teach again, what does that do to my retirement? Are there penalties? Is it easy to navigate? Some things to think about!

Send us Fan Mail Whether you are leaving for greener pastures, or you're leaving because it's just time to leave, there IS a right way to leave a job. Consider the next person in line, consider the program as a whole, consider your students. "Burn it to the ground!" might seem like it will make you feel better, but will it? And if you're leaving for what you consider a bet...

Send us Fan Mail So you got the interview! When was the last time you had an interview? Mike Lunney walks us through the process of researching for an interview, rehearsing for an interview (yes, rehearsing!), and then communicating before, during, and after the interview. 

Send us Fan Mail If you find yourself looking for a new position, or considering it, Mike Lunney talks us through the waves and gives some great insight into a good decision-making process. And Mike reminds us to take our fingers off the panic button, it's going to work out!

Send us Fan Mail Are we on track for marching season? Yes, it’s still spring, but if we aren’t actively preparing for next fall, we’re probably already behind! Mike Lunney offers some great tips and anecdotes from his 30+ years of experience to help get you locked in and on the right track for a successful summer and fall with your marching ensemble!

Send us Fan Mail Concert and Sight Reading Evaluations are wrapping up for another spring. The time of reactions and reflection is upon us. If the ratings weren’t what you hoped for, what do we do with that? Are we defensive and looking for someone or some circumstance to blame? Mike Lunney offers a different perspective in this episode. What can we learn? How can we improve? If we’re honest, did...

Send us Fan Mail In Part 1, Mike Lunney gave us tips for a great process to help create the leadership team. In Part 2, Mike gives great ideas for actually making them a team! This includes teaching communication skills and using them to create vision and goals for your group.

Send us Fan Mail What is your goal for student leadership? What positions will you have on your leadership team? What responsibilities will the positions hold? If your goal is to have an effective and cohesive team of students helping create positive culture and driving the group toward a collective goal, you need a process. It doesn’t just happen. You need a process… welcome to Student Leadership...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Anthony King is rebuilding the Wayland Baptist University instrumental program. Mike Lunney and Derrick visit with Dr. King on how it is going, challenges he has faced, and his mindset on recruiting musicians from his experience as a collegiate professor and his time teaching in public schools. An entertaining conversation that has more than a few laughs!

Send us Fan Mail Mike Lunney and Derrick enjoy a conversation with the TBA Executive Director-Designate, Phillip Clements, as he highlights the upcoming 2026 Convention and shares vision for the organization moving forward!

Send us Fan Mail A great discussion with Mike Lunney about how we define success. Is it really the trapezoidal statue? Is it what you think your peers think about you? Let’s talk about it.

Send us Fan Mail Can you feel it? The indecision paralysis trying to decide what to fix, do you have time to fix it, can it be fixed? Everybody breathe. In. Out. Again... Mike Lunney has some great thoughts on helping you rehearse in the heat of the final few weeks. Priorities and some tips from 30+ years of successful educating. We're gonna get there!

Send us Fan Mail Nick Saban is widely recognized as an elite football coach. It is interesting that he considers creating character and awesome people more important than X's and O's. In this episode, Mike Lunney shares insights from Saban's book  "How Good Do You Want To Be?: A Champion's Tips on How to Lead and Succeed at Work and in Life" as they relate to being a...

Send us Fan Mail In the fall of 2021, Joseph "JJ" Firenza was on the band staff for Andrews High School in Texas when the unimaginable happened. The tragic crash of the band buses on the way to a football game made local and national news. Out of this event, Mr. Firenza created several checklists and guidelines and went through much training for preparing if an event were to ever occur a...

Send us Fan Mail In the fall of 2021, Joseph "JJ" Firenza was on the band staff for Andrews High School in Texas when the unimaginable happened. The tragic crash of the band buses on the way to a football game made local and national news. Out of this event, Mr. Firenza created several checklists and guidelines and went through much training for preparing if an event were to ever occur a...

Send us Fan Mail In the fall of 2021, Joseph "JJ" Firenza was on the band staff for Andrews High School in Texas when the unimaginable happened. The tragic crash of the band buses on the way to a football game made local and national news. Out of this event, Mr. Firenza created several checklists and guidelines and went through much training for preparing if an event were to ever occur a...

Send us Fan Mail Some musings as we move into our spring season of concert and sight reading. It has been an observation through the years, that some folks wait until the week or two before adjudication dates to start asking some questions. And, most of those questions could or should have been asked and discussed MUCH earlier! Fortunately, Mike is here! This episode is a checklist of problem area...

Send us Fan Mail Jay Lester joins Mike and Derrick again to help you and your program squeeze all the juice from a visiting clinician. What if we told you there are small things that will reap big dividends in having a clinician in your rehearsal hall. And nothing is complicated or even very much effort. You need other ears to hear what's happening, here is how you can help them help you!