After Hours: Conversations for Music Educators – Details, episodes & analysis

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Faith Serna, Assistant Band Director and Color Guard Coordinator at Highland High School in Highland, Arkansas. The Highland School District serves several small towns in north central Arkansas, and Faith grew up in the district.

In the last episode, Faith talked about starting, or improving, color guard in a marching band, but in this second part of the conversation we'll switch directions and learn more about her first job in music education as band director in a very small school district in McCrory, Arkansas, a town of 1,500 people, located 70 miles northeast of Little Rock. We'll hear about the challenges she faced early on as the high school band director, and how she was able to more than triple the size of the program in the three years that she was there.

Our conversation was recorded in the Fall of 2024. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part two.

This week Nick Averwater talks with Faith Serna, Assistant Band Director and Color Guard Coordinator at Highland High School in Highland, AR. The Highland School District serves several small towns in north central Arkansas. Faith grew up in the district, and studied with two band directors who are now her colleagues, Hope and Greg Bruner.

In this episode Faith will tell us more about getting students interested in color guard, the equipment needed, and more.

Our conversation was recorded in the Fall of 2024. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part one.

Here are some documents and videos from Faith that will help you if you're interested in starting a color guard for your band.

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Gillian Desmarais, who teaches Music Production and Engineering at Harmony Learning Center in Maplewood, MN. Gillian is the founder of Sound Tech Ed, a website that provides resources for music programs that allow students to learn and grow with music technology. She has also been named to the 2024 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of music educators, and was named 2024 Teacher Of The Year by TI:ME.
In this episode Gillian will tell us more about Harmony Learning Center, the students she teaches there, and the ways in which she customizes the curriculum so that they can excel academically, and musically. She'll also tell us about how she continues to evolve and improve as a music educator.
Our conversation was recorded August 12, 2024. We've broken it up into three episodes, and this is part three.

In this episode, Nick Averwater talks with Elva Kaye Lance, The Director of Bands at Mississippi State University in Starkville. This is Ms. Lance's 30th year at Mississippi State, and her 19th year as Director of Bands. Under her leadership, the bands have expanded to include four concert bands, a jazz band, two basketball pep bands, and a marching band. In this episode Elva Kaye talks about her early years as a band director, the educators and family members who influenced and encouraged her, and the importance of starting the new school year on the right foot. Our conversation is broken up in to two episodes, and this is part one.

In this episode of the After Hours Director Spotlight, Nick Averwater talks with Grant Harbison at the Arkansas Bandmasters Association Convention in Little Rock. Grant is the Director of Bands for Jonesboro, Arkansas Public Schools. 
In this conversation, Grant talks about how his band program is moving forward as the pandemic affects a second marching band season, the importance of gratitude and positivity, and how therapy has helped him to become a more effective band director.
This conversation was recorded July 29, 2021.

On August 7th, 2021, Amro Music hosted its first-ever Young Directors Bootcamp. It was a chance for new educators to get practical advice from a panel of four highly successful band directors. Amro Music's Nick Averwater hosted the event, and our panel included:
Joseph Quinnelly from Hernando Middle School and High School in Hernando MS, 
Kaitlyn Roll from Annie Camp Junior High in Jonesboro, AR, 
Jocelyn Hembruch from Desoto Central Middle School and High School in Southaven, MS, 
Ben Hembruch from Horn Lake Middle School in Horn Lake, MS. 
On our last episode of After Hours, we heard the first half of the bootcamp, and in this episode we'll hear the second half. In addition to a live audience, we also had band directors joining us via Zoom, and we'll pick up the conversation with a question from one of our remote viewers. 

On August 7th, 2021, Amro Music hosted its first-ever Young Director's Bootcamp. It was a chance for new educators to get practical advice from a panel of four highly successful band directors in the Mid-South region. The goal for the Young Director's Bootcamp was to help everyone feel more confident and equipped for the first week of school, and beyond. The topics we discussed included:

• What should you cover during the first week of band class?
• What should you avoid doing during the first week of school?
• What do you do with returning band students after a year of virtual band?
• How do you select repertoire for your concert band?
• How do you know which instrument to place a beginning band student on?
• and much more...

Our panel included:

• Joe Quinnelly - Hernando Middle School and Hernando High School in Hernando, MS
• Kaitlin Roll - Annie Camp Junior High in Jonesboro, AR
• Jocelyn Hembruch -Desoto Central Middle School and Desoto Central High School in Southaven, MS
• Ben Hembruch - Horn Lake Middle School in Horn Lake, MS

In this episode we kick off Season 3 of the After Hours podcast as Nick Averwater and his three guests talk about The Art of the First Week. Joining Nick will be Lindsey Mears from Smyrna Middle School in Smyrna, TN, Brittany Jerrell from Stewarts Creek Middle School, which is also in Smyrna, and Jennifer Church from Greenbrier High School in Greenbrier, Arkansas.

Nick Averwater checks in with Sheryl Laukat from Cannonball Musical Instruments at Summer NAMM in Nashville. Cannonball is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and we'll learn a bit about the company's history, and find out about some of the techniques they use that make their instruments unique.

Nick Averwater checks in with Lisa Steele-MacDonald, Director of Vertical Marketing for Yamaha. Lisa will have the latest information about Esser Funds, and what is still available to music programs, and she'll also share some other resources available to band directors from Yamaha. You can find out more about Yamaha's offerings to band directors at www.yamahaeducatorsuite.com.