This week Nick Averwater talks with Jacob Abbott, Performing Arts Director at Dresden High School in Dresden, TN, which is a town of around 3,000 people in Northwest Tennessee, and is just over 100 miles from both Memphis and Nashville. Jacob has been named to the 2025 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of music educators, and in this conversation he'll tell us about restarting the school's band program after 20 years, with the support of the school district and the community. Our conversation was recor...
This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Alice Hammel, a music educator who has dedicated her 40-year career to making music programs more supportive, productive, and enjoyable for students with differences and disabilities. Dr. Hammel has written four books about this subject, and we have links to them below. Our conversation was recorded in February 2025. Dr. Hammel's books include: Teaching Music to Students with Differences and Disabilities: A Label-Free Approach Teaching Music To Students...
This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Kim Webb, High School Band Director at Greene County Tech in Paragould, Arkansas. Paragould is a city of around 30,000 people located 65 miles northwest of Memphis. In 2024 The Greene County Tech marching band won the state championship in Class 5A. In the last episode, Kim told us about building and maintaining a culture of success in the band program. This time, we learn more about what it's like when the other high school in to...
This week Nick Averwater talks with Kim Webb, High School Band Director at Greene County Tech in Paragould, Arkansas. Paragould is a city of around 30,000 people located 65 miles northwest of Memphis. In 2024 The Greene County Tech marching band won the state championship in Class 5A. In this episode we'll learn about the ways that the band program has grown under Kim's leadership, and how the motto, "Belong, Believe, Become" inspires the students, and promotes a positive environment f...
In this episode Nick Averwater continues his conversation with John Easley, Middle Tennessee Educational Representative for Amro Music, and Andrew Demolat, Band Director at Rockvale Middle School, which is part of the Rutherford County School District, located southeast of Nashville. They're discussing the importance of having a successful instrument rental meeting Our conversation was recorded July 8, 2025. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part two.
This week we're talking about how to make the most of the instrument rental meeting as Nick Averwater talks with John Easley, Middle Tennessee Educational Representative for Amro Music, and Andrew Demolat, Band Director at Rockvale Middle School, which is part of the Rutherford County School District. It's the fourth largest district in Tennessee with over 52,000 students, and is located southeast of Nashville. Our conversation was recorded July 8, 2025. We've broken it up into two episodes, ...
We're posting this on Thursday, July 17, 2025, and it's the fourth in a series of six episodes designed to help you get ready for the new school year. We'll also have new episodes in this back to school series next Monday and Thursday, July 21st and 24th. This week we're discussing placing beginner band students with the right instrument as Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Sloane Feeley from Woodland Middle School in Brentwood, TN, Spencer Nesvick from Houston Middle Schoo...
We're posting this on Monday, July 14, 2025. It's the third in a series of six episodes designed to help you get ready for the new school year. We'll have new episodes in this back to school series this Thursday, July 17th, as well as next Monday and Thursday, July 21st and 24th. This week we're discussing placing beginner students with the right instrument as Nick Averwater talks with Sloane Feeley from Woodland Middle School in Brentwood, TN, a city of 45,000 located just south of Nas...
We're posting this on Thursday, July 10, 2025, and it's the second of six episodes designed to help you get ready for the new school year. We'll have new episodes Monday and Thursday for the next two weeks, so we hope you'll keep an eye out for those conversations on July 14th, 17th, 21st, and 24th. On the 14th and 17th we'll be discussing instrument placement, and the following week we'll look at everything you need to know to have a successful rental meeting. Today, Nick Averwater con...
This week we kick off a series of six episodes designed to get you ready for the upcoming school year. We're posting this episode on Monday, July 7, 2025, and we'll have new episodes this Thursday, July 10th, as well as on Monday and Thursday for the next two weeks, so that will be July 14th, 17th, 21st, and 24th. The episodes that post on the 14th and 17th will be all about instrument placement, and the following week we'll look at everything you need to know to have a successful...
This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Dr. John Zastoupil, Director of Bands at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. In this episode we'll learn more about the responsibilities of the job away from the podium. He'll also tell us what he does to try to achieve a healthy work-life balance in a demanding job such as this. Our conversation was recorded in December 2024. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part two.
This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. John Zastoupil, Director of Bands at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. In this episode we'll learn about the musical path that brought Dr. Zastoupil to UT three years ago, and some of the exciting ways the program is continuing to grow. He'll also share his thoughts on how high school band directors can prepare students who want to be a part of a college band program. Our conversation was recorded in December 2024. We've broken it up into ...
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 ed...
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 ...
This week we wrap up our six-part series looking at recruiting students for your band program as Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Brent Hopper, Nathan Anderson, and Brandan Bakkala. Brent is Middle School Band Director at Lakeland Preparatory School in Lakeland, TN, which is a town of around 14,000 located just northeast of Memphis. Nathan is a band director at Greene County Tech in Paragould, a city of 30,000 in northeast Arkansas. Brandan is Band Director at Valley View High S...
This week we continue with episode five of our six-part series looking at recruiting students for your band program as Nick Averwater talks with Brent Hopper, Nathan Anderson, and Brandan Bakkala. Brent is Middle School Band Director at Lakeland Preparatory School in Lakeland, TN, which is a town of around 14,000 located just northeast of Memphis. Nathan is a band director at Greene County Tech in Paragould, a city of 30,000 in northeast Arkansas. Brandan is Band Director at Valley View High ...
This week we continue with episode four of our six-part series looking at recruiting students for your band program as Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Joe Quinnelly, Reggie Coleman, and Daniel Ritch. Joe Quinnelly is Director of Bands at Hernando Middle School, which is part of the largest school district in Mississippi, and is located just south of Memphis. Reggie Coleman is Band Director at Rocky Fork Middle School in Smyrna, TN, which is a town of 53,000 located a half hour ...
This week we continue with episode three of our six-part series looking at recruiting students for your band program as Nick Averwater talks with Joe Quinnelly, Reggie Coleman, and Daniel Ritch. Joe Quinnelly is Director of Bands at Hernando Middle School, which is part of the largest school district in Mississippi, and is located just south of Memphis, Reggie Coleman is Band Director at Rocky Fork Middle School in Smyrna, TN, which is a town of 53,000 located a half hour southeast of Nashvil...
This week we continue our series taking a closer look at recruiting students for your band program, and we'll hear the second part of a conversation Nick Averwater had with Brittany Jerrell and Emma Lang. Brittany is Co-Director of Bands at Stewarts Creek Middle School in Smyrna, TN, a city of just over 50,000, 20 miles southeast of Nashville. Emma teaches at Trenton-Rosenwald Middle School in Trenton, TN, which is a town of 4,200 in West Tennessee, 75 miles northeast of Memphis. In this epis...
This week we're kicking off a series taking a closer look at recruiting students for your band program, a topic that seems to come up in nearly every episode of the podcast, and one that you have asked us to address even further. In the next six episodes we'll be learning a lot from eight educators in three different conversations. So, in this episode and the next one, Nick Averwater will be talking with Brittany Jerrell and Emma Lang. Brittany is Co-Director of Bands at Stewarts Creek Middle...