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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 recorded in February, 2025.

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 With Autism Teaching Music to Students with Differences and Disabilities: A Practical Resource Winding It Back: Teaching to Individual Differences In Music Classroom and Ensemble Settings

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 town, Paragould High School, also has a tradition of winning state marching band championships.  Our conversation was recorded back in December 2024. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part two.

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 for them. Our conversation was recorded in December 2024. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part one. Here's part one of our interview with Kim in May 2021 Here's part two of our interview with Kim in May 2021

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, and this is part one.

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 School in Germantown, TN, and David Burkhalter from Heber Springs Middle School in Heber Springs, AR. Our conversation was recorded June 30, 2025. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part two.

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 Nashville, Spencer Nesvick from Houston Middle School in Germantown, TN, a city of 41,000 just east of Memphis, and David Burkhalter from Heber Springs Middle School in Heber Springs, AR, a town of 7,000 located 50 miles north of Little Rock. Our conversation was recorded June 30, 2025. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part one.

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 continues his conversation about the time between the first day of school, and the day students get their instruments. Our guests include Lauren Duncan from Center Hill High School in Olive Branch, MS, Matt Pickering from Lewisburg Middle School in Hernando, MS, and Joel Roberts from South Marshall Middle School in Benton, KY. Our conversation was recorded June 26, 2025. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part two. Here's a link to the interview we did with Rebecca Lowry in August, 2020. On that page there are links to additional information about Rebecca's work

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 rental meeting. This week Nick Averwater talks with Lauren Duncan from Center Hill High School in Olive Branch, MS, Matt Pickering from Lewisburg Middle School in Hernando, MS, and Joel Roberts from South Marshall Middle School in Benton, KY. Our conversation was recorded June 26, 2025. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part one.

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 two episodes, and this is part one.

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 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 School in Jonesboro, which is the fifth largest city in the Arkansas, with a population of just over 80,000, and is also located in the northeastern part of the state. In this episode we'll find out how these educators successfully work with school administration, fellow teachers, and especially counselors, to make sure deadlines are met and schedules are set. They'll also tell us how they communicate with parents and students directly, to let them know more about the band program. Our conversation was recorded January 3, 2025. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part two.