This week Nick Averwater talks with David Davis, Music Teacher at Park Spanish Immersion Elementary School in St. Louis Park, MN, a city of around 50,000 people just west of Minneapolis. David was named to the 2023 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of Music Educators.
In this episode we'll learn about the people and experiences that inspired him to become a music educator, and we'll find out about some non-traditional approaches to keep students interested, and increase enrollment and retention in his music ensembles.
Our conversation was recorded in January 2024. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part one.

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Dr. Emily Williams Burch, Professor of Music at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA. Dr. Burch was also named to the 2023 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of Music Educators.
In this episode we'll learn about the work she has done with the American Choral Directors Association to provide advocacy resources to fellow educators.
Our conversation was recorded in November, 2023. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part two.

This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Emily Williams Burch, Professor of Music at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA. Dr. Burch was also named to the 2023 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of Music Educators.
In this episode we'll learn about the book that she co-authored with Alex Gartner called The Business Of Choir, A Choral Leader's Guide For Organizational Growth.
Our conversation was recorded in November, 2023. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part one.

This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Timothy Sexton, Associate Director of Bands for Tarpon Springs Leadership Conservatory For The Arts in Tarpon Springs, Florida, a city of around 25,000 located 25 miles northwest of Tampa. Dr. Sexton has also recently been named to the 2023 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of Music Educators.
In this episode we'll learn about the music educators and performing opportunities that influenced him as a student musician, his individualized approach to teaching students, the benefits of regularly recording the music ensembles, and more.
Our conversation was recorded in November, 2023.

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Johanna Kitchell, Orchestra Director for Riverside Intermediate and Junior High Schools in Fishers, Indiana, a northeastern suburb of Indianapolis with a population of nearly 100,000. Johanna is also a conductor with the Indianapolis Youth Orchestra, and has been named to the 2023 Yamaha 40 Under 40 list of Music Educators.
In the last episode we learned about how being an athlete has influenced her as a music educator, and the way the music and athletics departments work well together in her schools. This week we'll find out how she approaches recruiting, what educators should look for when working with a local music store, and more. We'll also learn about the method book that she has written for intermediate string players.
Our conversation was recorded in October of 2023. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part two.

This week Nick Averwater talks with Johanna Kitchell, Orchestra Director for Riverside Intermediate and Junior High Schools in Fishers, IN, a northeastern suburb of Indianapolis with a population of around 95,000. Johanna is also a conductor with the Indianapolis Youth Orchestra, and has been named to the 2023 Yamaha 40 Under 40 List of Music Educators.
In this episode we'll learn more about her early years as a musician in upstate New York, the way being an athlete has influenced her as a music educator, and the way the music and athletics departments work well together in her schools.
Our conversation was recorded in October, 2023. We've broken it up into two episodes, and this is part one.

Here's more information about Johanna's method book for intermediate string players.

This week Nick Averwater talks with Dr. Matthew Arau, Chair of the Music Education department at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. Dr. Arau was our guest on two episodes in April 2023, but we realized that there was much more to talk about that we couldn't fit into those two episodes, so we've invited him back to share his thoughts about the state of music education after the pandemic, and why kindness, encouragement and support in the classroom is more important than ever.

This week Nick Averwater continues his conversation with Dr. Bruce Faske, Associate Professor of Trombone at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. In the last episode Dr. Faske shared ideas for band directors who are non-trombonists, but are teaching the instrument at the beginning and middle school levels. This week we'll have a similar conversation, but we'll focus on musicians and band directors at the high school level. Dr. Faske will also have some helpful advice for keeping a trombone in good working condition. We've broken up our conversation into two episodes, and this is part two.