All-Eastern Conference: I Made It!

Yesterday morning we had the high school musical previews for the middle school students. I conducted the pit band. They sound great and Jonathan Brenner was a great help coming in this week to take over conducting as I venture to the All-Eastern Music Educators Conference.

I went into my car after the preview and started driving down Route 95. I was near the Danvers exit at which point my back right tire suddenly began to wobble. I immediately pulled over to check and see if my tire was flat. It was not! I decided to keep driving. The car kept swirving to the right side of the highway and I was losing control of the vehicle. I went off the next exit and made it to an Enterprise car rental dealer. I ended up renting a 2008 Kia Spectra. I was so thankful as my presentation at the MENC convention was only two from that time in Providence, RI.

I am here now and am thankful that my car did not fully collapse on the highway!

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New Schedule=Big Growth!

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Arrived in Australia!

We arrived this morning in Brisbane at around 6:00am. At LAX, Dr. Alex Ruthmann and I met up with Dr. Matthew Thibeault from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. The flight from LAX to Brisbane was about 13 hours. Luckily no one was sitting in the seat next to me so it ended up being quite comfortable. This morning we walked around Brisbane and checked out some local shops. I purchased a mini didgeridoo. A few minutes later we actually passed by a real person playing a legit didgeridoo on the side of the road. We had a very relaxed yet intense lunch session at an amazing steak restaurant. We talked about private, charter, and public schools along with their music curriculums in the US, UK, Sweden, and Australia. I will talk more about the teachers and professors who were at the lunch later on. I can already tell that this symposium is going to be a terrific opportunity for all involved! Tomorrow we begin getting to work!

Band Room: A New Design

Just in case we ever get a new or renovated high school (I might be dreaming), I wanted to be prepared for helping input the best design possible for a new band and chorus room. I ended up attending a clinic by the Wenger group. Wenger is the company that made the acoustic shells on our high school auditorium stage along with the two "soundproof" practice rooms that were installed back in the 1960's. The company is now the standard company used in the United States for music room design. I learned many things at this clinic. Firstly, I learned that most bands and choruses have their own rehearsal rooms, practice rooms, and offices. We spent a long time focusing on where sound goes after it leaves the instrument. Our music room has a ceiling that needs to be at least four feet higher. Additionally all the equipment in the room cuts down on reverberation. It is suggested that any closets or storage areas in a band room have open grilled doors so that air and sound c

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