After Hours: Conversations for Music Educators

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Dr. Matthew Arau , Chair of the Music Education Department at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin , and author of the book, Upbeat! Mindset, Mindfulness and Leadership in Music Education And Beyond , pubished by GIA Publications . In the last episode we looked at the first part of the book entitled Ignite , and we encourage you to lis...

This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Matthew Arau , Chair of the Music Education Department at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and author of the book, Upbeat! Mindset, Mindfulness and Leadership in Music Education And Beyond , pubished by GIA Publications.  Our conversation was recorded January 24, 2023. It's broken up in to two episodes, and this is part 1.

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Adrian Gordon , Orchestra Director at Providence Day School in Charlotte, NC, and author of the new book, Note To Self: A Music Director's Guide For Transitioning to a New School and Building a Thriving Music Program . In this episode Adrian talks about the importance of mental wellness and a balanced life for educators, building and ma...

This week Nick Averwater talks with Adrian Gordon , a longtime music educator and author of the book, Note To Self: A Music Director's Guide For Transitioning to a New School and Building a Thriving Music Program . Adrian is also Orchestra Director at Providence Day School in Charlotte, NC. In this episode he'll tell us about his early experiences that inspired him to become a music educ...

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Michael Wells , Principal at Clinton Junior High School in Clinton Arkansas, a town of around 2,600 located 70 miles north of Little Rock.  For many years Michael was a band director in several small school districts, and in this episode we'll get his perspective on how band programs can achieve excellence, no matter the size of the dis...

This week Nick Averwater talks with Michael Wells , Principal at Clinton Junior High School in Clinton Arkansas, a town of around 2,600 located 70 miles north of Little Rock.  Michael is a former band director, and in this episode we'll learn more about the similarities and differences between the two jobs, and also how music educators can build and maintain strong relationships with their sc...

This week, Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Jared Cassedy , K-12 Performing Arts Coordinator for Lexington Public Schools in Lexington, Massachusetts, a town of around 35,000 people located ten miles northwest of Boston. Jared is the 2015 recipient of the GRAMMY Award in Music Education , and in 2022 he was one of 30 teachers who received the CMA Foundation's Music Teacher of Ex...

This week, Nick Averwater talks with Jared Cassedy , K-12 Performing Arts Coordinator for Lexington Public Schools in Lexington, Massachusetts, a town of around 35,000 people located ten miles northwest of Boston.  Jared is in his 20th year as a music educator, and in this episode he talks about how he sees music education as an important component in creating not just good musicians or good stude...

This week Nick Averwater talks with Kristy White, District Fine Arts Coordinator for the Jackson-Madison County School System in West Tennessee. The district serves around 13,000 students in 22 schools. In this episode, we'll learn more about Kristy's early inspirations that led her to music education, and we'll also get practical tips for establishing policies and procedures at the...

This week, Nick Averwater talks with Chris Vitale , Director of Bands at Westfield High School in Westfield, NJ, a town of around 30,000 people located a half hour from New York City. Chris was recently named to the 2022 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of music educators , and in this conversation he talks about the importance of creating a positive environment for students through kindness, acceptance, r...

This week, Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Wes Lowe, Director of Instrumental Arts at The King's Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida. Wes grew up as a student at the school, and joined the faculty in 2019. Wes was recently named to the 2022 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of music educators , and directs bands at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. In this episode, W...

This week Nick Averwater talks with Wes Lowe , Director of Instrumental Arts at The King's Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida. Wes was recently named to the 2022 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of music educators, and in this episode, he talks about what it's like to direct ensembles at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels, and how he has grown the band program at the school in...

This week, Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Cody Newman, Director of Bands at Forney High School in Forney, TX , a town located around 20 miles east of Dallas. Cody was recently named to the 2022 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of music educators.  In this episode we'll learn about two talented musicians in the school's marching band with physical exceptionalities, and how Cody, hi...

This week, Nick Averwater talks with Cody Newman , Director of Bands at Forney High School in Forney, TX , a town of around 15,000 located 20 miles east of Dallas. Cody was recently named to the 2022 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of music educators. In this episode he'll tell us about his early days as a music educator, and we'll also hear about the band program's unique and effective lea...

This week, Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Anastasia Homes, Director of Bands at San Elijo Middle School in San Marcos, CA, a city of 95,000 people 30 miles north of San Diego. Anastasia was recently named to the 2022 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of music educators .  In this episode we'll find out more about the school's various after school musical opportunities for musicians...

This week Nick Averwater talks with Anastasia Homes, Director of Bands at San Elijo Middle School in San Marcos, CA. Anastasia was recently named to the 2022 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of music educators . In this episode we'll learn more about the people and ideas that inspired her to be a music educator, and we'll also find out about the unique mentorship program at San Elijo Middle Schoo...

This week, Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Mikaela Littleton, Director of Bands at Mill Creek Middle School in Nolensville, TN. It's part of the Williamson County School System, which is just south of Nashville.  Mikaela is in her fourth year as a music educator, and in this conversation she shares stories about lessons and mentors during her high school years that made it clea...

In this episode, Nick Averwater talks with Mikaela Littleton, Director of Bands at Mill Creek Middle School in Nolensville, TN. It's part of the Williamson County School System, which is just south of Nashville.  This week we'll learn more about Mikaela's early influences that encouraged her to become a music educator, some of the lessons she has learned as she begins her fourth yea...

In this episode, Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Benjamin Easley, Director of Bands at Nolensville High School in Nolensville, TN. We'll learn more about Benjamin's approach to maintaining high retention rates in the band program at Nolensville, how his approach to teaching has changed as a result of Covid, and more. Our conversation was recorded July 1, 2022. It's br...

In this episode of the After Hours Director Spotlight, Nick Averwater talks with Benjamin Easley, Director of Bands at Nolensville High School in Nolensville, TN, a town of around 16,000 located a half hour south of Nashville.  Benjamin comes from a family of music educators (his father, John Easley, is featured on After Hours episodes from December 31, 2021 and January 7, 2022), so we'll lea...

In this episode we'll be listening to a webinar hosted by Amro Music on August 6, 2022 looking at how Covid has affected the way students learn, and how educators teach. We were joined by Brittany Jerrell from Stewarts Creek Middle School in Smyrna, Tennessee, Kim Webb from Greene County Tech High School in Paragould, Arkansas, and Ben McLemore from Lewisburg Middle School in Hernando, Missis...

In this episode, Nick Averwater talks with Mickey Smith Jr. , the 2020 recipient of the Grammy Music Educator Award . He is originally from Mossville, LA, a small town in the southwest corner of the state, and currently teaches at The Greene School in West Palm Beach, FL. He also travels extensively as a guest educator and motivational speaker. This conversation was recorded June 30, 2022.

In this episode we'll listen to the second half of a panel discussion from Amro Music's Young Directors Bootcamp, which is a chance for band directors who are just starting out to hear from educators who are a few years into their careers. The discussion features Reece Gardner from Arlington Middle School in Arlington, TN , Emma Lang from Trenton Rosenwald Middle School and Peabody High...

In this episode we'll listen to the first half of a panel discussion from Amro Music's Young Director's Bootcamp, which is a chance for band directors who are just starting out to hear from educators who are a few years into their careers. The participants include: Reese Gardner from Arlington Middle School in Arlington, TN Emma Lang from Trenton Rosenwald Middle School and Peabody...

In this episode, Nick Averwater talks with Tyler Swick , a celebrated and award-winning music educator from Robert and Sandy Ellis Elementary School in Las Vegas, whose YouTube channel, Swick's Classroom , has over 14,000 subscribers, and has been visited more than 3.5 million times. We thought Tyler's enthusiasm for music education, and his innovative ideas, would be just right as a new...