beyond ArtLess

Send us Fan Mail Our guest this week is the GOAT and he also has goats. Matt Tiller, instrumental music educator at Bloomer, joins us to talk about his goats named Johnnie and Otis. Ok, we cover more than just goats but you will be impressed by the amount of time we explore this topic. We eventually move on to talk about his journey that led him to Bloomer and what it is like teaching in a small,...

Send us Fan Mail Is it possible to do this show with just one host? The answer is yes. Did it help to produce a better show. The answer is no. Why? For most of the episode it was just Chris. To be honest, our guest this week didn’t even need a host. He brought with him energy, wit, wisdom, and passion. Scott Lang is an entrepreneur, author, educator, and speaker. We discussed teacher burnout, glut...

Send us Fan Mail This week’s guest is our dear friend Dr. John Stewart, Director of Bands at UW-Eau Claire. It is only fitting that the person missing from this discussion is his colleague, Phil Ostrander. The result? One of our best episodes brimming with rich, deep, meaningful conversation.  Learn about John’s approach to repertoire, the archival project he is working on, Frank Ticheli coming to...

Send us Fan Mail Finally. The episode that everyone has been waiting for. Poor young adult Christmas Tree decisions, narrating tuba duets with rutabaga filled sousaphones, green jello, mouth clapping and more. There are no preludes or postludes, just pure music teaching mastery and comedic genius. When you are a middle schooler at heart, it’s not really teaching, it’s just spending time with peopl...

Send us Fan Mail One of the world's brilliant young composers, Viet Cuong stops in for a few minutes to chat. We cover some ground beginning with one of his first band compositions, Sound and Smoke and concluding with his new work for young band called Inland Oceans . We talk composition style, “wet” orchestration, texture, and supper clubs. That’s right….supper clubs. Viet shares his experie...

Send us Fan Mail How to account for continued lack of sophistication from Peter, Chris and Phil? Of course, our guests Ashley and Kyle Siegrist attempt to outnumber and certainly outsmart the hosts. Considering Chris occasional disappearance from parts of the show, season two is really moving in positive directions. Chris works hard to work a “stinger” into the conversation, Peter turns a six seco...

Send us Fan Mail Hold onto your baton, folks, because we're back with a splash of sophistication (the guest of course) and a whole lot of crazy in our second season opener! We've wrangled none other than the extraordinary music educator Dr. Scott Jones from The Ohio State University to join our oblivious hosts Chris, Phil, and Peter. Never fear, Chris still cannot figure out how to use t...

Send us Fan Mail Talk about how to wrap up a season; this week, Lt. Col. Jason Fettig, 28th Director of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band drops in for a chat. What did we discuss? Growing up in a "fish bowl" in New Hampshire, I early teachers and mentors, auditioning for the Marine Band on a whim, the American Wind Symphony with Bob Boudreau, and the "barge band,"...

Send us Fan Mail Peter and Chris try to make do without Phil for a portion of the podcast in our penultimate show of this first season. Thankfully we have the excellent Dr. Shanti Simon as a guest. We discussed her unique path, including positions with the United States Air Force Band and the United States Air Force Academy Band, which ultimately led her to be the Director of Bands at the Universi...

Send us Fan Mail It is summer so we decided to provide you with the longest Beyond ArtLess podcast to date! What better way to fill your precious time during than the summer than 70 minutes of Beyond ArtLess! Well...the good news is that most of it is spent with the magnificent Dr. Arris Golden,  Michigan State University Assistant Professor of Music, Assistant Director of Bands, and Associate Dir...

Send us Fan Mail Phil, Peter, and Chris reflect on the UWEC Centennial Band Celebration for a few minutes prior to Peter introducing his surprise guests, and it doesn't get much better than this! Prof. Craig Kirchhoff and Dr. Elizabeth Jackson Kirchhoff join us this week to talk about retirement, sailing, horses, mentors, teaching and life. You will not want to miss the "back row story&q...

Send us Fan Mail Short and sweet episode! Actually, the only thing sweet is our guest, UWEC music education major and expert button pusher, Aleah Vincent. Enjoy a quick glimpse into this year's festival. Many thanks to the volunteers, staff, clinicians, teachers, and nearly 4,000 students who attended! Registration for the 2024 BTN Festival takes place this Thursday, June 1st at 8:00 PM (CDT)...

Send us Fan Mail Who else do you have as a guest on Mother's Day but your mothers? And in this case, all three of our mothers! We first talk about fruit and then stories about Sweet Jimmy as an introverted child. Sweet Mama Habs also talks about driving, moving the hassock, mailboxes, dogs, and an experience with a train trestle bridge. Phil's momma, Carrie, talks about him only wanting...

Send us Fan Mail On this week's show we have Phil's close friend, best man at his wedding, and amazing music educator Jeremy Kondrat. When we were not roasting Phil (and I'd say 90% of the podcast IS the roasting) we talk about Eastman, music education in Texas, Cudahy, teaching creativity, mentoring young teachers, "Developing Musicianship Through Improvisation" by Chris...

Send us Fan Mail Remember how Phil kept this podcast a secret from his spouse Allison? Heck, he even secretly recorded an episode from a hot closet in his home. Peter works his magic and convinces Allison to join us as the surprise guest, and was it ever a surprise! After the shock wears off, we talk about the multifaceted role Allison has as a professional musician, string players' disdain f...

Send us Fan Mail Peter's back! However, that doesn't mean the quality of the show is any better. What does help is that Dr. Nat Dickey from Concordia College shares some time with us to talk about his background as an educator, musician, department chair, and low brass specialist. We chat about his start and journey in music, two of Phil's craziest performances, Harvard, the group &...

Send us Fan Mail Is it possible to do a show without Peter? The answer is "yes." In fact, not only is it possible it shaved off at least 10 minutes of pointless rambling.  Today's guest is the amazing Dr. Emily Threinen who is an Associate Professor of Music and serves as Director of Bands at the University of Minnesota School of Music in the Twin Cities. We talk about the influence...

Send us Fan Mail What does the intersection of math and music education look like? Meet Dr. Josh Hertel, Associate Professor of Math and Statistics at UW-LaCrosse. Josh is not only a great musician and mathematician but also responsible for two musicals and the creation of a board game convention! Our conversation covers stinger mutes, double stand racks, silos, trombone ensemble trip to Ithaca to...

Send us Fan Mail Talk about wearing many hats! Our guest today is the one and only, Patrick Sheridan. Many know him as a virtuoso tuba performer, former member of the President's Own United States Marine Band, and co-author of The Breathing Gym . Yet, in this episode we learn about the scope and variety of things the Patrick is involved in. We also take time to hear about his start as a music...

Send us Fan Mail It is universal. This week's guest is loved by all who are fortunate enough to know him. Dr. Jerry Young is a world-renown educator, mentor, musician, and human. His wit and humor more than made up for the lack of those two things by the hosts. We chatted about failed retirements, new projects, tuba quartets, The Ravenna Ohio Saga, his start in music, two key tips to help you...

Send us Fan Mail This episode puts on full display how one educator team works seamlessly together for the benefit of learners while another team struggles to be in the same room. Music educators, Bradley Mariska and Erin Holmes, are the highly successful and brilliant team from Farmington High School joining us this week. We talk about failed introductions, shoes, pep band voice, Hamilton the cla...

Send us Fan Mail We are now equal to the Star Wars Saga! (Well only in the number of episodes....) This week we welcome Schmitt Music's 2023 Educator of the Year, Eric Songer! Eric shares with us stories about a fire diving con man, coaching kindergarten and 1st graders in bowling, teaching modern band, "Rocket" magazine, limited memory capacity, joining Chicago , the School of Rock...

Send us Fan Mail In this week's episode Allison finds out that Phil is making this podcast, some of Peter's students stop by to communicate their appreciation for his teaching, and a young composer named Paco Van Bernsteinsky (aka- Brian Balmages) hopes to finally launch his career. Our conversations will encompass Beethoven's daily routine, moving to Alfred, Kyiv 2022, Brian's...

Send us Fan Mail In this week's episode we reflect on Peter’s recent tour with the Concordia Band and Elliot Ostrander’s (Phil and Allison’s Son) review of one of the performances prior to introducing our esteemed guest, composer, music educator and amazing human, Andrew Boysen Jr. We talk about his start as a composer, his composition style and process, Myron Welch,  Nick Orovich, and Timoth...

Send us Fan Mail Talk about the ultimate mashup! Talented composer and musician, Jocelyn Hagen, known for her amazing mashups (and much more) joins the ArtLess fellas for an intriguing discussion about Jocelyn's soon to premiere and SOLD OUT opera, The Song Poet.  Described as "The first Hmong story adapted for the operatic stage, St. Paul writer Kao Kalia Yang’s memoir The Song Poet com...