After Hours: Conversations for Music Educators
After Hours: Conversations for Music Educators is a music education podcast from Amro Music Stores, Inc. Our After Hours podcast host, Nick Averwater, facilitates engaging conversations each week with band directors, private music teachers, general music educators, orchestra directors, and other music industry professionals just like you. Each podcast guest shares practical advice on things like classroom management in your band program, placing beginners on instruments, band and orchestra recruitment strategies, band boosters, fundraising, and more. The goal of After Hours is to provide a podcast for band directors, orchestra directors, and music educators with strategies for both "on-podium" and “off-podium” skills that can help create a school music program that you can be proud of. If you can't find what you're looking for in our current episodes, we'd love to hear from you! Send us an email with questions or topics you'd like to see addressed in the podcast.
Episodes
This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with author & educator Scott Lang about the fourth version of the State Of Music Education Survey. The survey started in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, and version 5 expected later in 2023.
Version 4 is broken up into six categories. Last week Nick and Scott talked about three of those categories: instructional time, student learning, and enrollment. This week they&apo...
This week Nick Averwater talks with author & educator Scott Lang. We last spoke with Scott in December 2020 about the State of Music Education survey, which started as a result of the pandemic.
The survey is now in its fourth version, with version 5 expected later in 2023, so we thought it was time to check back in to see what has changed in the music education world, post-pandemic.
Our conversation is broken up into ...
This week Nick Averwater hosts a Back-to-School conversation focusing on maximizing the start of the school year.
Our three guests include Lindsey Williams from Paducah Middle School in Paducah, KY, Lauren Duncan from Lafayette Middle School and High School in Oxford, MS, and Evan Burton from Page Middle School in Franklin, TN.
Our conversation was recorded on August 2, 2023.
This week Nick Averwater hosts a Back-to-School webinar focusing on recruitment and retention. Our guests include Kaitlin Roll from Annie Camp Junior High School in Jonesboro, AR, Vanessa Cobb from Montgomery Central High School in Cunningham, TN, and Dr. Mike Yopp from Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, TN.
The conversation was recorded August 1, 2023.
This week, Nick Averwater talks with Cody Price, Orchestra Director at Arlington Middle School in Arlington, TN, a town of around 15,000 people located just northeast of Memphis.
In this episode we'll learn more about Cody's approach to teaching, which is based on the idea of teaching life skills through music. She'll also share some tips for getting string players to properly tune their instruments and develop ...
This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Glen Schneider, an instructor at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, and creator of musicmastery.band, a personalized online teaching resource designed for students for whom private lessons aren't an option.
Glen has over 20 years of experience as a band director, and in the last episode we learned all about musicmastery.band, but this week we're going to l...
This week Nick Averwater talks with Glen Schneider, an instructor at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, and creator of musicmastery.band, a personalized online teaching resource designed for students for whom private lessons aren't an option. Our conversation was recorded in January 2023. It's broken up in to two episodes, and this is part 1.
This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Dr. James Weaver, Director of Performing Arts and Sports for the National Federation of State High School Associations, an organization based in Indianapolis that serves more than 19,000 high schools.
In this episode we'll learn about how the NFHS works to advocate for arts education at the national level, and as a former orchestra director at schools in Minnesota a...
This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. James Weaver, a former band director, and Director of Performing Arts and Sports for the National Federation of State High School Associations, an organization based in Indianapolis that serves more than 19,000 high schools.
In this episode we'll learn about NFHS's leadership role in the International Coalition Performing Arts Aerosol Study at the beginning of the pandemic, and...
This week, Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Dr. Mike Yopp, Director of Bands at Middleton High School in Middleton, TN, a town of just a few hundred people in the southwestern part of the state. The high school serves Middleton and several surrounding communities as part of the Hardeman County School District. In March of 2023, a few weeks after this conversation, it was announced that, in the Fall, Dr. Yopp will be r...
This week, Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Mike Yopp, Director of Bands at Middleton High School in Middleton, TN. Middleton is a town of just a few hundred people in the southwestern part of the state, but the high school serves several surrounding communities as part of the Hardeman County School District. In March of 2023, a few weeks after this conversation, it was announced that Dr. Yopp will be taking on a new role as a profess...
This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Dr. Matthew Arau, Chair of the Music Education Department at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and author of the book, Upbeat! Mindset, Mindfulness and Leadership in Music Education And Beyond, pubished by GIA Publications.
In the last episode we looked at the first part of the book entitled Ignite, and we encourage you to listen to that episode before listenin...
This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Matthew Arau, Chair of the Music Education Department at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and author of the book, Upbeat! Mindset, Mindfulness and Leadership in Music Education And Beyond, pubished by GIA Publications.
Our conversation was recorded January 24, 2023. It's broken up in to two episodes, and this is part 1.
This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Adrian Gordon, Orchestra Director at Providence Day School in Charlotte, NC, and author of the new book, Note To Self: A Music Director's Guide For Transitioning to a New School and Building a Thriving Music Program.
In this episode Adrian talks about the importance of mental wellness and a balanced life for educators, building and maintaining relationships with the...
This week Nick Averwater talks with Adrian Gordon, a longtime music educator and author of the book, Note To Self: A Music Director's Guide For Transitioning to a New School and Building a Thriving Music Program. Adrian is also Orchestra Director at Providence Day School in Charlotte, NC. In this episode he'll tell us about his early experiences that inspired him to become a music educator, why he decided to write the boo...
This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Michael Wells, Principal at Clinton Junior High School in Clinton Arkansas, a town of around 2,600 located 70 miles north of Little Rock.
For many years Michael was a band director in several small school districts, and in this episode we'll get his perspective on how band programs can achieve excellence, no matter the size of the district. Our conversation was reco...
This week Nick Averwater talks with Michael Wells, Principal at Clinton Junior High School in Clinton Arkansas, a town of around 2,600 located 70 miles north of Little Rock.
Michael is a former band director, and in this episode we'll learn more about the similarities and differences between the two jobs, and also how music educators can build and maintain strong relationships with their school's principal. Our conve...
This week, Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Jared Cassedy, K-12 Performing Arts Coordinator for Lexington Public Schools in Lexington, Massachusetts, a town of around 35,000 people located ten miles northwest of Boston.
Jared is the 2015 recipient of the GRAMMY Award in Music Education, and in 2022 he was one of 30 teachers who received the CMA Foundation's Music Teacher of Excellence Award. He is in his 20t...
This week, Nick Averwater talks with Jared Cassedy, K-12 Performing Arts Coordinator for Lexington Public Schools in Lexington, Massachusetts, a town of around 35,000 people located ten miles northwest of Boston.
Jared is in his 20th year as a music educator, and in this episode he talks about how he sees music education as an important component in creating not just good musicians or good students, but good people, and he&apo...
This week Nick Averwater talks with Kristy White, District Fine Arts Coordinator for the Jackson-Madison County School System in West Tennessee. The district serves around 13,000 students in 22 schools.
In this episode, we'll learn more about Kristy's early inspirations that led her to music education, and we'll also get practical tips for establishing policies and procedures at the beginning of the school year t...
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