“If students know that you want the best personal life experience for them, the music will just follow.” - Jonathan Laflamme Director of Instrumental Music at Central Lakes College, Brainerd, MN Welcome back to The Band Director’s Lounge! Today I am chatting with Jonathan Laflamme from Central Lakes College in Brainerd, MN. Jonathan coordinates the…

“Every student has untapped potential. Talent X Effort = Ability and Achievement” - Andrew Klassen Band Director at Menonite Brethren Collegiate Institute, Winnipeg Canada Welcome back to The Band Director’s Lounge! Today I am chatting with Mr. Andrew Klassen who teaches at Menonite Brethren Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg, Canada. Andrew and I fi…

“Our job is to inspire students to love music as much as we love it.” - Robert Baca Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Studies at The University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Welcome back to The Band Director’s Lounge! Today I am talking with Robert “Bob” Baca. Bob teaches at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire and is an active teacher and perfor…

“You can’t teach excellence without having achieved excellence.” - Scott Guidry, USAF Director (ret.) and Associate Prof. at Bemidji State University Hello and welcome back to The Band Director’s Lounge! This week I am chatting with Scott Guidry, Associate Professor of Instrumental Music and Director of Bands at Bemidji State University. Scott also…

Hello and welcome back to the Band Director’s lounge! This week I am chatting with Beth Horton from Tonara. Tonara is an awesome digital learning platform built specifically with the music educator in mind. This is a really cool and easy to use application to help facilitate large group band classes and small group and individual lessons. If you ar…

Yes, you read the episode title correctly; today we are heading to Prague in the Czech republic! This is the first international interview on the Band Director’s Lounge and it is with a passionate music educator and band director by the name of Lindsey Simondet. Lindsey Simondet Background Lindsey Simondet is a native of Minnesota, USA. She graduat…

Hello and welcome to the Band Director’s Lounge! My interview today takes us to the southern United States. Jonathan Chance is from Birmingham, Alabama. He attended Troy State University and graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education. He has been the Director of Bands at Luverne High School for the past 15 years and has built the …

Hello and welcome! My interview today takes us out of the Midwest to the east coast to the great state of New Jersey. Derek Rohaly Background Derek Rohaly earned his bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the Pennsylvania State University in 2010 where he studied trumpet under Dr. Langston Fitzgerald III and completed a minor in Music Technology…

Dr. Elizabeth Jackson Kirchhoff Background Dr. Elizabeth Jackson Kirchhoff has been active as an instrumental music educator, conductor, and clinician in the United States, Norway, and Canada for over thirty years. She has enjoyed collaborating with music makers from the elementary level to the university level. She completed a B.A. in Music Educat…

Today’s guest is John Pohland who teaches high school band in Waconia, MN. I was really excited when John agreed to chat with me about his program. He has taught in Waconia for 12 years and has built something of a powerhouse in terms of participation, excellence, and overall musical culture. John knows how to connect with kids and get them to play…

Hello and welcome! If you are listening to this episode in real-time, it is now August and the start of a new school year is just around the corner. This upcoming year may not be your first but if you are like most teachers, memories of your first year of teaching might still feel like “it was just yesterday”. I know that I still get many of the sa…

Hello and welcome back to The Band Director's Lounge! If you have been keeping up in real time with episode releases, you will know that there has been a bit of a lag time between the past few episodes due to the wrap up of the end of the school year. However, after listening to today’s guest I think that you will find that the delay has been worth…

Today’s conversation is with Geneva Fitzsimonds who teaches in Edina, MN. Geneva is a master at teaching band but especially to middle school aged kids. Her bands and jazz bands have performed at festivals across the region including the MMEA Middle Level Conference and the MMEA Mid-Winter Clinic.Geneva has served on the MMEA Board of Directors as …

Today’s guest is Erik Hermanson who teaches 6-12 band in Cleveland, MN. Erik has built a program over 25 years that has an incredible amount of administrative, community, parent, and student support. He has approximately 90% of the student population in the band program and also serves as his school’s co-head football coach. Erik is a world class c…

Download Episode! Today’s conversation is with Pete Guenther from Owatonna High School in Owatonna, MN. Pete and I talk about the program at Owatonna high school and how he navigates leading a large program with a small staff. In addition we talk about his interesting connection with Alex Shapiro and electro-acoustic music and talking about band di…

Download Episode! Today I am chatting with Amanda Kaus who teaches 9-12 band at Century High School in Rochester, MN. The Century bands number close to 300 in a high school of around 1300 students - an amazing level of involvement. On top of great numbers, they are also a high performing band program. Kids are fired up about music at Century High S…

Hey everyone, I thought it would be good to take a few minutes to give a quick update on the podcast and some of the things that are coming down the pipeline.This is podcast episode #20. That might not seem like a lot but from the production side of things, it is a small milestone in the podcasting world. If you have listened to every minute of eve…

Download Episode! Today I am talking with two local band director rock-stars, Erin Holmes and Bradley Mariska from Farmington High School in Farmington, MN. As the Director of Bands at Farmington High School, Erin Holmes conducts the Wind Ensemble, Varsity Band, Jazz I, Birdland Jazz, and is the head director of the Farmington Tiger Marching Band.I…

Download Episode! Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 can be found here!) Welcome back to the second part of my conversation with leadership expert Todd Dufault. Today we get into the details about how to select students for leadership roles and how to develop and maintain a leadership team that is effective throughout the school year. At the core of our conversat…

Download Episode! Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 can be found here!) Today’s I am talking with leadership expert Todd Dufault. Todd Dufault is a master motivator who strives to be a difference maker. For 35 years, Todd has worked with Fine Arts students on life skills, servant leadership, cultural development, personal development and how to be the best you c…

Download Episode! Today I welcome back Jim Callahan for a brief conversation about living in the community where you teach & lessons learned from the first few years of teaching. Daily focus and day to day decisions Administrator relationships Music store road reps as a resource Networking and your subsection If you missed the first episode with Ji…

Download Episode! Today’s guest is Miles Mortensen who teaches at Minnetonka High School in Minnetonka, MN. There are many great bands in the twin cities, but I would say that the MHS program is one of the premier band programs. Miles is a master music educator so I was grateful to be able to sit down and record an episode for the Band Director’s L…

Download Episode! Dr. James Patrick Miller's Background Dr. James Patrick Miller is the Douglas Nimmo Professor of the Gustavus Wind Orchestra at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. James oversees the music education program at Gustavus and in addition to directing the wind orchestra, teaches a number of conducting, instrumental techniques,…

Download Episode! Hello and welcome to the Band Director’s Lounge! This week we are going to change gears a little bit and take a break from director interviews and explore a book. Peter Loel Boonshaft is currently on the faculty of Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, where he is Professor of Music, Director of Bands and Director of the Grad…

Download Episode! Caleb Rebarchak is the Director of Bands at Bellefonte Area High School in Bellefonte, PA. He is a listener to the Band Director’s Lounge and we first connected when Caleb reached out about the show. Caleb has 10 years of teaching music and band under his belt, but this year is his first year as a full-time curricular band directo…

Download Episode! Dr.Douglas Orzolek, is a Professor of Music, Director of the Graduate Programs in Music Education, the Associate Director of Bands and the Associate Chair of the Music Department at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Doug teaches a wide variety of courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level, in additio…

Download Episode! For active teachers, the word “retirement” likely stirs up many emotions; hope, joy, anticipation, and a sense of finally arriving at the mythical “one day” that they have dreamed about. But it may also bring about some fear and anxiety about “what do I do now?” My guest today is a recently retired teacher who is reflecting on his…

Download Episode! The conversation today is with my good friend Matthew Potter who teaches middle school band in Chaska, MN. Matt has a lot of great insight for how to lead a band program at the middle school level. In our conversation today we get into the details of how Matt structures his lesson program and co-curricular offerings. In addition M…

Download Episode! Today’s guest is Dan Tewalt who teaches band at Wayzata High School in Wayzata, MN. Dan is a good friend and band colleague. He is a 2008 Phantom Regiment Alum and brings this knowledge and insight into his band classroom. Today Dan and I cover a bunch of topics including how his time in drum corps has influenced his teaching, how…

Download Episode! Today’s guest is Steve Schmitz who teaches high school band and world drumming at St.Louis Park High School, in St.Louis Park, MN. Steve is a class act and top-notch educator who I think you will enjoy listening to and hearing about his program. In addition to discussing the St.Louis Park program our conversation covers creating s…

Download Episode! Mankato State University Michael Thursby - Director of Athletic Bands Today I am chatting with Michael Thursby, director of Athletic Bands and Percussion at the Minnesota State University in Mankato, MN. Mike is my first, of what I hope to be many, collegiate guests. In this episode he shares about the athletic band program at MSU…

Download Episode! Today I am talking with Tony Boldt who teaches at Kasson-Mantorville high school in Kasson, MN, just outside of Rochester. Tony is a passionate teacher working to build his dream program. Today Tony talks with me about program growing pains, splitting ensembles, and shares some of his experiences navigating his district’s recent a…

Download Episode! Today I am talking with Rachel Pletke who teaches LeSueur, MN. Rachel is a battle-hardened veteran teacher who has been part of a program that has waxed and waned over the years. The program today is strong due to Rachel’s perseverance and leadership. In our conversation, Rachel talks about time management and how she creates less…

Download Episode! Today’s show features my interview with Ian McKnight who teaches in Watertown, MN. In our conversation, Ian talks about what its like to have two curricular ensembles at the high school level, describes a cool composition project (my words) that he does with his students, and shares some of his favorite literature, useful apps, an…

Download Episode! Today’s episode features my interview with Jim Callahan who teaches in Arlington, MN at Sibley East High School and Middle School. Jim talks about what it's like to teach in a small district, how he uses student leadership in his ensembles, and how he has changed over his 9 years of teaching. Podcast Overview Music background (1:5…

Download Episode! Welcome to The Band Director’s Lounge! My name is Logan Burnside and I am a band director trying to build a great program by learning from others and sharing my knowledge along the way. This is an introduction to the podcast, the rational behind it, and some thoughts about what makes a great band program. Resources Leaders Eat Las…