Amused

It's that time of year: the end of the year slog towards graduation and for many of us the rehearsal of coronation marches that come with it. How do you combat senioritis in your classroom? What happens when it trickles down to affect your younger students? How do you combat it in yourself? We discuss dealing with the end of the year drain.

Last week we talked about student perspectives on fun, this week we look at improving that perspective.

Student perceptions, expectations and enrollment numbers are coming to a head. What do you do when a kid says point blank: "Band just isn't fun anymore?"

Yes, Fundraising the director's least favorite word. We bring on our friend Meredith a middle school band director, to talk about some alternatives she's found to selling stuff your students' families don't need.

Sus leads the discussion this week on the benefits of and some of the best practices for recording your enesmbles.

Recorded on Easter. In the evening. Which means beer and not coffee. Which means Olin giggles a lot. Enjoy!

Each of us grabbed a book we've read that influenced our teaching, or have been meaning to read and now had an excuse, to recommend to our listeners. Links to the books and more information at amusedcast.org

This episode we talk about vocal modeling in your classroom, regardless of ensemble and its importance

Want to go back to school but don't want to leave your job? Don't know what to do? That's okay, neither does Veronica. This week we discuss what we value in a masters' degree program and the pros and cons of summer residency programs.

This week Olin recounts different philosophies of practice. Sus is away so we naturally nerd out about band.

This week we talk about the importance of and different strategies we use to help students reflect on their performance.

We discuss the discoveries and errors we've made in programming for educational ensembles.

This week we talk about grading for participation in ensembles; the pros, the cons, the necessity and the pitfalls of doing so.

We discuss our perception of the public misconception of talent, what it is, what it isn't and how it affects our students.

We have a guest who teaches choir! No really. It's not a joke.

John's percussion instructor drops by to talk about some strategies and resources for teaching percussion.

Julie's Back!This time the topic she brought with her is about inclusion strategies for students who may otherwise not be able to participate in a music program.

We found a slightly quieter location and sat down with Michael Sweeney to talk about literature selection.

Duane Hill is the director of the Texas Tech University "Goin' Band from Raiderland" as well as director of the Concert Band. He holds a bachelor of secondary music education from Texas Tech University under Keith Bearden and Christopher Anderson and a master of music in conducting from Dr. Sarah McKoin.