Getting the chance to share where being a part of band can lead is always a great moment for a teacher. When teaching the younger students we are more focused on teaching fundamentals and the music itself, every now and then we get the opportunity to show them more. For instance how does this wonderful music we play get created?
I had one of those moments today. Concert Band composer William Owens was generous enough to do a phone interview with my 6th grade band students this morning. He talked to them about what inspires his writing, his favorite piece he's written (always the one he's working on-love that answer), how he structures and names his pieces and more. It was a great opportunity to learn the behind the scenes work that goes into creating the music they play.
I highly encourage my fellow band directors to reach out to the composition world to have them connect with your students. In the past Timothy Loest was also generous with his time and I hope to make this a tradition with my second year students to interview a composer of a piece we are working on.
Also, in this day and age of Danielson Framework evaluation and Common Core, this kind of project is student driven and very much appreciated by administrators!
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