Almost Everything I've Learned About Teaching Band

When I first started teaching high school, I didn’t know when to play at football games (and when to stop playing). I learned the hard way over the years. Eventually I trained my leaders to be bold at starting and stopping the band. Jazz From The Start - Jazz and improvisation curriculum you can use as soon as students know 5 notes Get the book Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band, a handbook for band directors that includes 75+ lessons, tips and truths. Most can be read in less than 10 minutes. Many can be immediately implemented in your classroom. More tips and lessons will be added (I'm still in the classroom half time and hope to remain there for many more years). You will receive a signed hard copy + an immediate pdf download of the book.   Have a question for the podcast? Need a presenter for professional development? Contact me here:  jamesthedivine@gmail.com or 719-238-4193. List of Speaking Topics.  Ten Tips To Save 5 Hours This Week and Every Week eBook Complete Guide To Self-Publishing Your Book Course 40 Ways To Make Money as a Musician eBook FREE Forgive and Live Workshop Guitar Class Extension Materials  

In this episode I share a Marching Band Drill Rehearsal Technique.I stole this idea from a colleague of mine and used it for many years to teach Marching Band drill to my students. Upon completion of this technique, students have rehearsed a drill set 9 times and will usually be able to perform it at 80% or higher quality. Keep reviewing and cleaning afterwards. Jazz From The Start - Jazz and improvisation curriculum you can use as soon as students know 5 notes Get the book Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band, a handbook for band directors that includes 75+ lessons, tips and truths. Most can be read in less than 10 minutes. Many can be immediately implemented in your classroom. More tips and lessons will be added (I'm still in the classroom half time and hope to remain there for many more years). You will receive a signed hard copy + an immediate pdf download of the book.   Have a question for the podcast? Need a presenter for professional development? Contact me here:  jamesthedivine@gmail.com or 719-238-4193. List of Speaking Topics.  Ten Tips To Save 5 Hours This Week and Every Week eBook Complete Guide To Self-Publishing Your Book Course 40 Ways To Make Money as a Musician eBook FREE Forgive and Live Workshop Guitar Class Extension Materials  

Bonus Episode  - Big Announcement. The book is here. So many have poured into my life. I look forward to helping new band directors learn from my mistakes. The book Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band is finally finished. Order it here. Jazz From The Start - Jazz and improvisation curriculum you can use as soon as students know 5 notes Get the book Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band Have a question for the podcast? Need a presenter for professional development? Contact me here:  jamesthedivine@gmail.com or 719-238-4193. List of Speaking Topics.  Ten Tips To Save 5 Hours This Week and Every Week eBook Complete Guide To Self-Publishing Your Book Course 40 Ways To Make Money as a Musician eBook FREE Forgive and Live Workshop Guitar Class Extension Materials  

Episode 295 - Eating Healthy - How I Lost 40 pounds I was just 40 years old. The doctor said he had never seen triglyceride levels that high. My glucose levels were very high, as was my cholesterol. He wanted to start me on medicine. Could it be the two packages of M&Ms I was eating DAILY. I did not want meds, so I started paying attention to what I ate and lost 40 pounds.  Jazz From The Start - Jazz and improvisation curriculum you can use as soon as students know 5 notes Get the book Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band Have a question for the podcast? Need a presenter for professional development? Contact me here:  jamesthedivine@gmail.com or 719-238-4193. List of Speaking Topics.    Check Out “Why Don’t They Teach That in School curriculum FREE Ten Tips To Save 5 Hours This Week and Every Week eBook Complete Guide To Self-Publishing Your Book Course 40 Ways To Make Money as a Musician eBook FREE Forgive and Live Workshop Guitar Class Extension Materials  

Episode 294 - When Students Misbehave For The Sub When I was in school, I hated it when the whole class was subject to punishment when only a few misbehaved. And to be honest, some subs are terrible or have not received proper training and support. In this episode I share 4 possible things you can do when it happens and 7 prevention tips. Jazz From The Start - Jazz and improvisation curriculum you can use as soon as students know 5 notes Get the book Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band Have a question for the podcast? Need a presenter for professional development? Contact me here:  jamesthedivine@gmail.com or 719-238-4193. List of Speaking Topics.    Check Out “Why Don’t They Teach That in School curriculum FREE Ten Tips To Save 5 Hours This Week and Every Week eBook Complete Guide To Self-Publishing Your Book Course 40 Ways To Make Money as a Musician eBook FREE Forgive and Live Workshop Guitar Class Extension Materials  

Episode 293 - 8 Tips For Dealing With Students Wanting To Switch Instruments There are sometimes legitimate reasons for a student to switch instruments, but often that desire is due to hitting a plateau in their playing. In this episode I share 8 tips for how to handle the dreaded “I want to switch instruments” conversation. Jazz From The Start - Jazz and improvisation curriculum you can use as soon as students know 5 notes Get the book Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band Have a question for the podcast? Need a presenter for professional development? Contact me here:  jamesthedivine@gmail.com or 719-238-4193. List of Speaking Topics.    Check Out “Why Don’t They Teach That in School curriculum FREE Ten Tips To Save 5 Hours This Week and Every Week eBook Complete Guide To Self-Publishing Your Book Course 40 Ways To Make Money as a Musician eBook FREE Forgive and Live Workshop Guitar Class Extension Materials  

Episode 292 - Demanding Great Concert Behavior From The Audience and Your Students Is your audience rude and out of control? You can change that culture. Are your students rambunctious and inattentive when they’re not performing? You can change that. Here are some things that have worked for me. Resources… Jazz From The Start - Jazz and improvisation curriculum you can use as soon as students know 5 notes Get the book Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band Have a question for the podcast? Need a presenter for professional development? Contact me here:  jamesthedivine@gmail.com or 719-238-4193. List of Speaking Topics.    Check Out “Why Don’t They Teach That in School curriculum FREE Ten Tips To Save 5 Hours This Week and Every Week eBook Complete Guide To Self-Publishing Your Book Course 40 Ways To Make Money as a Musician eBook FREE Forgive and Live Workshop Guitar Class Extension Materials  

Episode 291 - What To Say At The Concert In short, keep it short. Much will depend on the culture and climate already at the school. Remember that you can help to change that culture.  Resources… Jazz From The Start - Jazz and improvisation curriculum you can use as soon as students know 5 notes Get the book Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band Have a question for the podcast? Need a presenter for professional development? Contact me here:  jamesthedivine@gmail.com or 719-238-4193. List of Speaking Topics.    Check Out “Why Don’t They Teach That in School curriculum FREE Ten Tips To Save 5 Hours This Week and Every Week eBook Complete Guide To Self-Publishing Your Book Course 40 Ways To Make Money as a Musician eBook FREE Forgive and Live Workshop Guitar Class Extension Materials  

Episode 290 - How Much Time Should You Spend On Fundamentals When I first started teaching, I thought I didn’t have time for fundamentals. Maybe I spent ten minutes of a 45 minute rehearsal on technique, scales, tone, tuning, arpeggios and long tones. Believe it or not, now I spend more than half our rehearsal time on those. I explain to the students that learning scales and other fundamentals makes more difficult and more interesting music attainable for us. They get it! When you explain the why, the implementation becomes easier. Put the responsibility for sounding great on the students. They need to take responsibility. We're so used to taking charge as directors. Use questions to get students to think. Instead of “trumpets were overblowing here” say “What did you notice about the sound at letter A? What could we improve?”   Resources… Jazz From The Start - Jazz and improvisation curriculum you can use as soon as students know 5 notes Get the book Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band Have a question for the podcast? Need a presenter for professional development? Contact me here:  jamesthedivine@gmail.com or 719-238-4193. List of Speaking Topics.    Check Out “Why Don’t They Teach That in School curriculum FREE Ten Tips To Save 5 Hours This Week and Every Week eBook Complete Guide To Self-Publishing Your Book Course 40 Ways To Make Money as a Musician eBook FREE Forgive and Live Workshop Guitar Class Extension Materials  

Episode 289 - Helping Students Play In Tune One of my biggest pet peeves is watching a director individually tune 80 band members on stage using the tuner! It doesn’t help! Maybe it makes that one note in tune, but tuning is a process that can be taught, even to young band students. Here are some tips. Resources… Jazz From The Start - Jazz and improvisation curriculum you can use as soon as students know 5 notes Get the book Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band Have a question for the podcast? Need a presenter for professional development? Contact me here:  jamesthedivine@gmail.com or 719-238-4193. List of Speaking Topics.    Check Out “Why Don’t They Teach That in School curriculum FREE Ten Tips To Save 5 Hours This Week and Every Week eBook Complete Guide To Self-Publishing Your Book Course 40 Ways To Make Money as a Musician eBook FREE Forgive and Live Workshop Guitar Class Extension Materials