Isaac McMahon

In this episode of Beyond Artless, we sit down with Isaac McMahon, band director at Brookings High School in South Dakota—a musician, educator, and all-around interesting human whose journey to the podium includes farms, baseball no-hitters, homemade hot sauce, and at least one extremely loud tractor tire incident.

Now in his seventh year of teaching, Isaac leads a thriving program that includes concert band, competitive marching band, pep band, jazz ensembles, music theory, and music exploration. His passion for students and teaching has earned him multiple district “BEST” awards for leadership, as well as the 2025 Dennis Hegg Outstanding Young Band Director Award for the state of South Dakota. His program was also selected to perform at the 2026 South Dakota Bandmasters Conference—a testament to the culture of excellence he’s built with his students.

But Isaac’s story is about far more than accolades. Growing up on a farm in South Dakota (where he once accidentally popped an 8-foot tractor tire… loudly), he developed the work ethic and humor that now define his classroom. From dressing up as Beethoven for a fourth-grade biography fair to throwing a high school baseball no-hitter—and briefly attempting a golf career that ended after exactly one away meet—Isaac’s path to music education has been anything but boring.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Isaac’s journey from South Dakota farm kid to award-winning band director
• How Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (CMP) shapes his teaching philosophy
• The joy and responsibility of mentoring future educators as a cooperating teacher
• Lessons learned from teaching in both Breckenridge, Minnesota and Brookings, South Dakota
• Why continuing to perform (he’s a semi-professional bassoonist and saxophonist) keeps him connected to the art
• The realities—and occasional chaos—of running a modern band program

And along the way you’ll discover that Isaac is also a self-proclaimed coffee snob who roasts his own beans, a home hot-sauce creator with a fridge shelf dedicated to spice, a former homecoming king, and a proud dad of two daughters who somehow balances family life with marching band rehearsals and jazz charts.

This conversation is funny, thoughtful, and full of the kind of real-life stories that remind us why music educators are some of the most creative and resilient people around.

 Tune in for laughter, teaching wisdom, and possibly a new appreciation for both bassoons and properly roasted coffee—beyond artless.

Credits

Groovin' Hard- Don Menza/arr. Peter Blair

Heritage Music Press

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Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:08

Hey computer, welcome back. Say, what is this? That's jazz, and specifically Groovin' Hard by Don Menza. In fact, one of my students once said when we were rehearsing that piece, Mr. Gleason, I kind of feel like we're hardly grooving. Yeah. Anyway, hey, for the first time in our history, we are offering Jazz Ensemble as part of our upcoming festival in 2027. So if you teach middle school jazz, we'd love to have you on May 10th at the Chula Vista. You can sign up for a spot now on our website, btnmusicfestival.com, and on to our show. Um okay, technology. Are we fine now? Check. I mean, I don't know if we're fine. We don't look fine. We don't sound fine. Yeah. Well there's a lot writing on this, so I just want to make sure that Yeah. There's a lot writing on this. There's a lot. My echo cancellation is this can't be changed. Okay. Well uh hope it's working well. Okay. Yeah. Don't think it'll matter. Boys, I got to hear the uh Concordia band three times in the last eight days. They sound great. Good. Better, maybe? Even better, you would say? In some ways. Embarrassingly so. But I'm coming back no matter what. Doesn't matter. Freaking me back if you like it or not.

SPEAKER_03 1:52

That's what I told him.

SPEAKER_06 1:53

I said, You look, I'm leaving. I know you may not like it, but when it's better, I'm still coming back. I don't care. Yeah, well, they did the Hammersmith. They did a full Julie Giroux Symphony number five and a bunch of other stuff too. So that was good. So who's got him right now? Professor Malcolm Burke. He's a word winner. You don't have yourself muted, which is fine, but we can hear you eating.

SPEAKER_05 2:13

That was a quick mute. That was a quick mute.

SPEAKER_06 2:16

I bet that apple tastes good though. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:20

That's good. You're one to complain. Just constantly clinking everything you have. Yeah, listen to you. What's going on, Peter?

SPEAKER_06 2:33

Phil and I got time together. We did. Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_05 2:35

Nice, nice visit.

SPEAKER_06 2:37

We went to Petrushka with the Minnesota Orchestra and watched his lovely bride slay the violin on stage. It was amazing. Sounded so good. And she's calm. I mean, she's just like, yeah, you know, she looks not only calm, she looks a little perturbed at everybody for not sounding as good as she does. Yeah. I mean, it's true though. They sounded great. Oh man. Who was conducting? Yeah. Uh that's Osmald.

SPEAKER_05 3:01

Really? And uh Aaron Keefe was the violin soloist on uh Prokofia's second violin concerto. Really, really fine. Well, that's wonderful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 3:11

Yeah, it was good. That was good. A little time with the film man, and then went to uh Sun Prairie and heard Adrian Sims' uh new work that uh Beyond the Notes helped commission called Stardone. Very cool piece. Shout out Sun Prairie, they did great. They're eighth grade bands combined. Congratulations. That's awesome. Yeah. Hey, and commuter, if you would like to sign up for the Commission Possible, you get to work with Adrian Sims. So 2027, hop on. Boom, all the cool kids are doing it. They are doing different uh twists this year. Uh the kids are instead of submitting ideas, they're gonna submit 2D artwork, and Adrian will select some of the artwork. Oh, that's kind of cool. I do think that's super cool.

SPEAKER_05 3:51

Yeah. Chris, I've never seen it, I've never seen any of your 2D artwork. Do you have any there to show us? Uh yeah, Grogu is back there.

SPEAKER_06 3:58

And oh my god, and uh I would consider my pet rock as 2D artwork. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:04

Uh hey, how about that hockey? Huh? I yes. Uh you know, it'll be now almost six weeks later. But uh the gold medal hockey game. Was it one of the best hockey games you're ever gonna watch? Big deal. Big deal.

SPEAKER_06 4:17

The uh goalie was not a sieve. Indeed not. Forty, 41. 41 shots on goal. Yeah, I'd give all the gold medals to that person. Yeah, it's very, very good. Hellebook. Oh, I think this is his name. Bless you. Um, hey, speaking of that, I had, I gotta tell you this quick story. I had a friend who went to uh a dealership locally here because they were gonna pick out a new car. And check this out. They got into this car, expensive SUV, right? And they turned on the sound system and nothing happened. So the my friend gets a little pissed and he goes back into the salesperson. It's like, this is like a$50,000 car. I would expect the sound system to work. And the the salesperson said, No, no, no, you don't understand. AI now runs the sound system. You just have to hop in and you just tell it what you want to hear, you know? So he's like, country music, and then Willie Nelson starts playing, right? And then he said, uh, rock and roll. And Bon Jovi started playing, right? So later in the day, he's taking the car and he bought it and he's driving on I-94, and some guy cuts him off, right? And he says, morons. And then the sound system played Beyond Artless. That's what they've come in.

SPEAKER_05 5:31

He's been practicing that one. He didn't. He did all day. I'm looking forward to your first stand-up set. I have a feeling it's just gonna be fabulous.

SPEAKER_06 5:40

I can't wait to be there and just like get my phone out and just watch it crash and just like look around at the audience.

SPEAKER_05 5:47

Uh his repertoire is limited to dad jokes and tuba jokes. I thought it was a good one. It was good.

SPEAKER_06 5:58

I'll mute myself now. I did that on the last concert or on the last recording. It was good. What do they call that in hockey? Penalty box. Yeah, I'll just put myself in the penalty box. You guys go on without me. Start that clock. Big any uh big sabbatical pines this week or not? This is a regular week. No. Lesson. I kind of gotta get caught up on a bunch of stuff that's just floating around and actually got to do a bunch of work. You know, and then other stuff. It's nothing like actually working, but I just gotta get a bunch of stuff done that I haven't done side whatever's. Claire's car needs an oil change, stuff like that. I don't know. Riveting life in the tundra um on sabbatical. That's a full day. That's a full day. What happens now? Um okay, so here we go. We got a guest today, and I want to give as much time as I can to them because you're gonna love it. In fact, I think you both know. AI wasn't good either. A couple minutes out of that anyway. That was boring. Easily. You're joking.

unknown 6:58

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 6:59

Okay, here we go. I got a bunch of good stuff on this one. Um none of this will help you, but uh, this person grew up on a farm and while driving a tractor once popped the eight-foot tractor tire. It was very, very, very loud, if you can imagine. Oh, yeah. They also dressed up as Beethoven in fourth grade for their biography day. A biography fair. They were a pitcher, now I want to ask about this, they were a pitcher in high school for the baseball team, and they threw at least one no-hitter. How do you not know exactly how many no-hitters you threw? This I don't know. Um but to counter that, they also joined the golf team for just one year, and they were so bad that after the first meet, they were not allowed to travel with the team to away meets. That's nice. That's like my golfing. I love that. Yep. They're a self-proclaimed coffee snob. They've even learned to roast their own beans.

unknown 7:54

Oh.

SPEAKER_06 7:55

They have a whole fridge shelf devoted to hot sauces, many of which they've made themselves. They won their school-wide basketball shooting contest at Homecoming, and they were the homecoming king in high school. They were popular and cool, unlike the other people on this podcast. This person is in the seventh year of teaching. They banned competitive marching band, pet band, jazz ensembles, the music theory, and music exploration. They serve as a cooperating teacher for student teachers. They love the opportunity to encourage and influence future music educators already. They are a bassoonist and saxophonist at a semi-professional level. They have a huge proponent of CMP. A huge proponent of CMP, have used CMP in the classroom. And I cannot wait to share with you uh this last concert they just did. What does that stand for? Sorry. Critics must prevail. Um they have received two, this is good. They've received two best awards in their district for um exemplary leadership as a teacher. Now they've been there only five years and they've won this twice. One of them was for the CMP work they did with their musicians. The other one was from Saving the Marching Band from an armed human at the U.S. Bang Stadium. Seriously. There's another story there. They are also the in in real news, they are the 2025 Dennis Haig, outstanding young band director recipient for the state of South Dakota. They're the 2026, the 2026 band was selected to play at the state bandmasters conference. They're a husband, proud father of two beautiful girls. They're from South Dakota. They went to Concordia College. They have a master's from James Madison University in wind conducting. They've been a teacher in the little town of Breconridge, Minnesota, and now in Brookings, South Dakota. This is the one and only Isaac McMahon. Well, Isaac McMahon. Oh, Isaac. Do you do it? Either of you remember Isaac now that you get to see him. I remember Isaac. What do you remember about Isaac? He didn't like you. Here we go. Oh he doesn't like me. He loves me. He pulled me aside and he said, Hey, just so you know, I tried to avoid Peter at all costs. You could do better.

SPEAKER_04 10:01

Well, that's the that's like the best latest story with Chris is uh well, not latest, because we saw I to the Midwest last year. But well, I was on my band trip with Brookings. Do you remember that at the Chicago Symphony? Oh, you might know. Yeah, but are you Chris Gleason? And you're like, Yeah, yeah, why? Yeah, yeah. I'm like, oh I'm Isaac McMahon. I reached I I I communicated with you several times because during my masters, I had asked about C CMP stuff for my my final project. And then um, but that the thing that got you to like, okay, this guy's okay was I'm Peter's student. Oh, and then we instantly took a picture flipping him off. So and sent it to him.

SPEAKER_06 10:38

That's right. I know I remember that. True love. That was fun. That was good. Wow. So I get you go. I just want to follow up. How do you not know how many one or no hitters you've thrown? Was it that minus trying?

SPEAKER_04 10:51

Well, small town, I was like kind of the ace pitcher, and I did a lot of closers. Like I ended the lot of games the last couple innings when we were in a tight jam, but I didn't do as much like full game pitching. I so yeah, I just genuinely don't remember. And I was asking like some family members, like, ah, what's what are some good tidbits? And my dad's like, Well, I remember you chose to play bassoon one day over going to a baseball tournament. So he's like, not many people do that. There you go. That's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_06 11:16

Especially the mill hitter pitcher. Okay, and uh, do you want to share anything about saving your marching band from an armed human with a knife at the U.S. Bank Stadium?

SPEAKER_04 11:25

Yeah. It's I mean, it's not a funny story at all, but it kind of is afterwards, you know, when looking back on it, I we love not so lovingly. We refer to him as Mr. Stabby, me and my assistant director, because I mean it's it's it was so intense and emotional in the moment. So at Youth and Music, they have like the outdoor warm-up area just outside of US Bank Stadium. And it's awesome because you get to like look at it. It's my first year, A, with a competitive marching band, and B at a competition this level. I had competitive marching band in high school, but not in a place like that. And so I was just like freaking out myself because I've never been in the Viking Stadium and uh just yeah, having a group of a hundred students like relying on me in this. And I was just stressed being in Minneapolis, I'm a farm kid's like the bus drive on the way to get so anyway. We're we're doing the thing, we're doing the warm-up, it's going fine. And then my percussion tech comes up to me and says, Hey, there's a dude in a sweatshirt, like talking to kids. I'm like, What do you mean? And I look over and he looks like a normal dude, and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go to ask him to leave. So I walk over, ask him to leave. He just starts cussing up a storm and is like, You're on, I I think it was something to do with you're on our land. You could tell he was inebriated. Um, it was like 10 a.m. So that was cool. But uh yeah, he just would every time I said, Can you move away from students? He got closer to the students, and so eventually my assistant director at the time and and me just kind of uh shepherded him away. And he's my my assistant director's like a big burly dude, like 6'1, probably 300 pounds of muscle, and just like it's like you gotta do we have a problem. And the guy gets up in our faces and is like just ripping into us, and he opens his jacket and there's a six-inch blade attached to his belt loop. Yeah, that was a good one. He didn't pull it on us, but he put his hand on it, and uh, we called the police, we called the head of the competition. And the thing I actually don't remember all the details of how it like de-escalated, but finally someone from the Farmington high school band offered him 20 bucks to go get a beer, and he did. I appreciate it. That's all it took.

SPEAKER_06 13:28

I know who's lots of ways to de-escalate, but Brad made a good choice right there. I don't know if it was John or one of the one of the staff.

SPEAKER_04 13:36

Aaron.

SPEAKER_06 13:37

It's both of them, probably.

SPEAKER_04 13:39

You should ask them about that and see if they remember, because I man, that was that was a test.

SPEAKER_06 13:43

We don't want them on the show. Um, so that's fascinating. Well, good for you. I mean, to be observant and to, you know, and it but it just goes to show that you know, teachers there's so much responsibility and wow, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 13:58

Yeah, I think Todd Default, who does a bunch, if you don't know, there's a bunch of leadership and stuff in the area, he was like greeting the bands as they came in and he's like, Hey Isaac, how's your first? He had I just had him in for leadership training earlier that year. And I just like I finally had a minute to like breathe, and I just gave him a hug and like cried. Yeah, it was a lot. And then we performed and it was good. There you go. Wow, love it. So Isaac.

SPEAKER_06 14:19

Let's talk about the golf.

SPEAKER_04 14:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 14:22

Let's not.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

All right, that's good enough.

SPEAKER_04 14:26

I was spitballing with some ideas of Peter yesterday, and he saw that and his eyes lit up. I'm like, okay, here we go. I just wanted to golf. I lived in the country, and my I knew people that did, and my mom wouldn't let me play football because both of her older brothers like got their knees messed up playing football. Um, so I never played football in high school and I wanted a thing, and my one of my good friends had like juvenile arthritis and wasn't able to play football, so we we played golf together, or at least I kind of watched him play golf and tagged along.

SPEAKER_06 14:53

Yeah, I mean you're an amazing pitcher, so that's exciting, but not good enough. So you had to try out for the golf team, which proved you should have stayed in baseball. Yep. Yep. So Isaac, uh, you got started, farm kid, uh out just outside of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, yeah? Yep. And uh why did you want to become a music teacher? What what spurred that in you?

SPEAKER_04 15:16

Yeah. I had a musical family, so like my two older sisters are playing piano and I wanted to learn piano. Um my parents sang at church uh like a couple times a month, and um I was just always around, I guess. And then like a lot of musicians, I think. But I got to sixth grade and was like, please, can I quit piano? And so I did and now regret it so much. And then I got to eighth grade and said, please can I quit band? Uh just wasn't having a great middle school experience and tried to my strength.

SPEAKER_03 15:44

Don't you?

SPEAKER_04 15:45

You do, you regret that as well. Um my mom said, No, you gotta try one more year. You can try freshman year, and if you don't like it, then you can quit. And I was sold. Danny, I had just gotten to West Central, which is the high school I was at, and um if there's one thing that he was amazing at when I got into ninth grade, it was making band fun. So I mean a ton I mean the program grew, it still is much bigger than when he inherited it, and uh I became a drum major and got to it kind of it kind of lit up for me when well, two things, I guess. Ninth grade, I didn't really realize at the time that there's a senior drum major who Peter knows, Sam Borboom, um, who just kind of, yeah, was everything that I wanted to be. He's an awesome leader and amazing clarinetist, like first chair clarinet all four years of high school, I think, and at the Allstate Band. And um not only did I want to be like in the drum major, I went to Concordia because that's where he went. Um and then yeah, I got to be a drum major myself and and small school. Danny gave me like way more responsibility in front of the group than I probably should have had as a high school student, but I loved it, and I thought at the time at least the kids did too. It was fun, it was just really fun, and and so I kept going back and helping him out when I got to college and led to Concordia music major, played bassoon and saxophone. Um, half of it was because Sam went there and they did a great music program, and the other half was Russ Peterson, who did both Saxone and Bassoon. There's just not a lot of people that that do that. So yeah. I almost became a performance major. I'm very glad I didn't, but uh thought about it for a while in undergrad and then taught after finishing up at Concordia, taught for two years at Brecken Ridge, Minnesota. Um, five to twelve band everything, starting them and and sending them off after. And uh really cool situation to walk into, not for the students because there's a revolving door of directors, but cool for a director to be able to come in and like make a really positive impact really fast. Um yeah, and there was kind of a it felt like I was hitting a ceiling and wanted more musically and wasn't kind of read the room and realized, well, actually, there's a theme to my life, and that Peter likes to blow it up. Because there's a phone call, I think, in like mid-November. He's like, Yeah, you should go to grad school. And I'm like, uh what? You should go to grad school. Well, when are applications due? In like a week. It's fine. And yeah, got all my stuff ready. He let me conduct the Concordia band for my uh conducting videos from for my master's degree auditions, and uh yeah, ended up at James Madison University with Steve Bolstead, who has also been on the show. That was fun to hear his episode. Um Steve. And man, that was awesome. I like remember fighting the sorry, I'm gonna go, I'm kind of just talking a lot, but uh I remember fighting the I wanted to not do the marching band stipend as far as graduate assistantship, but uh I'm really glad that I did because there was such a community there. Scott Rickers and Amy Birdsong were two awesome uh educators I got to work with, and my my uh GA partners, Allison Satter White and Reese Multsby, were like amazing and still are really good friends that I keep in touch with. It's just an awesome experience. And I remember going in February from Minnesota, where it was literally polar vortex, negative 40 degree wind chills, to 65 degrees in February and sunny. And I was like, yep, I want to go here. Uh so that was an awesome experience. And then at the end of my second year of my master's, we uh found out what we were expecting and were like, oh uh my wife moved out my second year to to Virginia, Tiana. Um she was finished her master's at University of Arkansas uh the year before and came out to Virginia the second year. Is also a music educator, but taught one year of fifth grade classroom, fourth or fifth grade classroom just general teaching during COVID online, which was wild. But uh we found out we were expecting, we're like, oh, we need to go home, we need to get jobs. And then it was like just crazy because we got back in June, marching band started like a week later. I was living in my aunt and uncle's basement for a few for like a month. Uh as marching band got going, we found a house, and then we had a baby right after marching band season, and now we're in year five of uh life at Brookings, and our house is still not completely moved into, but it's all good.

SPEAKER_06 19:56

Now we're here. That's all that works. And it never slows down, it just keeps going. And then you eventually look like Phil. Look deep into his eyes. Don't do that. Don't do that.

SPEAKER_05 20:08

Uh what were the big changes between uh life in the Midwest and life uh on the East Coast?

SPEAKER_04 20:15

Oh so Harrisonburg, where James Madison is, is like it's like a mix. There's like some southern folks there or people that think of it. It's funny because they're not from geographically that far away, but they you got like the mountain people from from yeah, rural, mountainous West Virginia and Virginia. You got some southern folks that come from the below and then sorry, below, uh, and then some folks that are like city like Washington, DC. And so it's just like this weird, I don't know, conglomeration of people. And I the bigger thing for me was just like, oh, it's not flat. And like we're at the top floor of our apartment and get to see this awesome sunset, uh, the Blue Ridge Mountains every night. And people people didn't feel that different, except the first time I got on the mic uh in front of the 500-person marching band. Scott let me do my thing, introduce myself, blah blah blah. And then afterwards he just gets on the mic and says, Man, I never realized how Midwest you sounded until just now. So yeah, I don't know. The accents, maybe, is the biggest.

SPEAKER_06 21:12

Oh yeah. Beautiful, awesome. Give me uh what so what's the CMP plan? What was the thing that led to the notoriety?

SPEAKER_04 21:22

So uh it was right before my first year of teaching, Peter, blowing up my life. Here we go, part two. Uh he was like, hey, you should come. Not really. I mean, this was a smaller thing, but it was right before, I don't know, when did that when did that conference happen? It was like right before the school year started.

SPEAKER_06 21:36

Yeah, Chris was over when we were doing the CMP light thing and uh MBDA summer teaching symposium.

SPEAKER_04 21:42

Yeah. And I just I I don't remember actually the dates, but I just remember going into my first job and like trying to prep for it a lot. And I'm like, I don't have time for this thing. And then I went because I had some good friends going too. Sam was going and another classmate from Concordia. And so we hung out together, and that was kind of the reason. But then, Chris, you were there and And uh oh my gosh, Craig Kirchhoff. Yeah, gave just awesome presentations. Um I mean his thing about his his sessions on conducting were awesome, and I got to be paired with with Sam and we got to be goofballs in front of all these other band directors who I didn't know yet. And yeah, I just remember there's just sorry, and this died. There's a bowling ball exercise. Oh my gosh, it was ridiculous, but it was awesome. Uh and then you presented about CMP, and I just remember thinking, oh my gosh, like, yes, this is this is what I wanna like I want to be able to influence kids in this in the way that you did. And uh your story about salvation is created, which I'm sure you've probably said in the podcast about at some point. That's what got the spark lit, I guess. And then I incorporated it a little bit when I went into um Breckenridge, but the first couple years of teaching, I mean, you you all know, or like drink it from a fire hose. And uh I did some here and there though, like in that I actually I thought about stuff like that a lot, even if I didn't make it like gift wrapped and presentable. Like a big project.

SPEAKER_06 23:01

We weren't doing a big project necessarily, but asking some mysterious questions beyond the music.

SPEAKER_04 23:06

Like I was always I spent I was single at the time when I was teaching there, and and uh my brain wouldn't shut off when I was trying to go to sleep. So I liked, okay, how can I get them excited about this piece? Um and then I went to grad school and uh it was awesome because I w from the beginning, Steve was trying to get us to think about okay, what are your final projects gonna be? Because it's gonna take a while to come up with a good one. Um, and then it's gonna take a lot of time to get the research going. And thankfully did, but then COVID happened and like blew everything up with the first year of grad school for me. And that is actually the only reason that he gave in and allowed me to do my project, which was basically like how do you incorporate CMP more into the collegiate uh realm? And so I got to work with the second band at at JMU and we did um uh some yeah, CMP style projects. I I talked about it because it's a lot of music ed majors in that ensemble. Um, and I talked about just the concepts behind it over Zoom, and then when we finally got to rehearse, we did uh the Lo Presti elogy for a Young American. And oh my gosh, it was awesome. Like we talked about the inspiration of the piece. I let the students have ownership over phrasing. I let them do like little breakout sessions. Okay, you get to like determine how this part's gonna be shaped, you get to do this, you get to that. There wasn't enough rehearsal time to like do that as well as I wanted to. I remember that was probably Dr. Bolsted's like biggest, well, his biggest hang up was this isn't it's not a performance topic, Isaac, that's an ed topic. And I have thoughts still about that. I understand where he was coming from, but I still have thoughts about the system that that exists in. But uh he finally was like, Yeah, we can do that because half of this session is gonna be over Zoom anyway. And so that was really cool. That would like uh cemented, I guess, the the passion for it. And you've been using it a lot.

SPEAKER_06 24:52

You've been using it a lot the last five years in Brookings, yes?

SPEAKER_04 24:55

Yeah. I mean, not a ton the first couple years, because again, new new place, new new job, lots going on. But uh my first year I did Salvation is created and totally ripped you off. And it was awesome. The kids ate it up. And then yeah, this last concert is probably this is probably the first year that I feel like I've been doing it regularly and doing it pretty well. Like I at least have one, at least one piece every concert having some sort of extra message besides the performance. Um in in November, late November, we did a concert, and each uh of the three bands, I have a ninth grade band, uh, an intermediate concert band and a top symphonic band. The ninth grade band did Chasing Sunlight, and they were trying to figure out ways to by Kate and Ishimura, and they were trying to find ways to bring joy to other people's lives. And they documented it, took some photos, and we made a slideshow, and it was really great. Uh the middle band did rippling, did rippling watercolors, and we asked, okay, how can we, it's all about the ripples that you create and and finding creativity and imagination in in life and having a whole spectrum of colors at your disposal. How do we how do we bring that ripple outward from our band? Like we we treat each other really well here. How do we impact the community? And so they decided to um raise money at the concert for uh an organization called Sleep in Heavenly Peace that builds beds for people that don't have them. Um and we donated, I think it was like six hundred and fifty dollars-ish that that we raised at that concert. And then uh, yes, most recently, as Peter's alluding, I'm talking too much, in other words, uh, is is uh we just got done performing at our state conference, um, a program called Heart on Fire. It was named after Heart on Fire by Viet Quang. And uh every piece that we did on that program had, well, it was an overarching theme of what are you passionate about, what sets your heart on fire, um, and then how can you use that to positively impact someone around you or something around you. And so each kid was assigned to come up with an idea. And so I had five different kids read their ideas and tell them, uh tell the audience as we performed what they were passionate about, how it tied into the piece, and uh what they were doing to positively impact the community. And it was really it was cool for me as a teacher just to like be amazed at the good humans I get to work with every day.

SPEAKER_06 27:07

But it wasn't just that they spoke. This was at the state conference, and Isaac never spoke until the end to give thank yous. And his stud I was bawling backstage most of the concert because of how impacted they were by at being asked what they're passionate about and how this community and this band and these pieces drew them to their family, to the community, to even that band program, being intentional about helping younger students of the band program have the same experience they had. Um, one of them was working at the animal shelter in town, volunteering to animals were important. And then I could just feel every band director in that audience like shit. I'm not doing anything like this right now, right? But but also like then those kids would sit down and I'm like, oh, that was you, because I didn't see who walked up there, I was backstage, and I'm like, oh that wow, that was really powerful. And to hear those kids talk about what music meant to them and how they were changed to this project, I was like, oh my God, Isaac's the best.

SPEAKER_05 28:09

I mean, this is a wonderful project, and I'm enjoying hearing about it. But we're getting off topic from really what we're here to do tonight, which is to make fun of Peter. So what uh what story would you like to start with? We have to we have time for at least three to five, maybe six. Three, six, six.

SPEAKER_04 28:24

Oh man.

SPEAKER_05 28:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:25

Yeah. I think my favorite, my favorite story from undergrad, I wonder if he remembers this, is it was like baccalaureate or or something. I don't remember, some performance that we were doing, and the national anthem was to be played at some point, and we were just all waiting to get started, and they were doing the long introduction of of the ceremony or whatever, and I think it was a national anthem. No, it was a school see, he's gonna he's gonna tell the story.

SPEAKER_06 28:51

But it was a school song, it was like graduation.

SPEAKER_04 28:53

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 28:54

Because I was faced the wrong way.

SPEAKER_04 28:55

Yeah, so he was just waiting for the last cue, and he goes, we're all like ready, and we're all there's a photo of it too, and we're all just ready, like taking the breath together. And there's a photo of the before where we're like focused, taking the breath, and then the after when he goes up and the speaking starts, and he just like melts down and he doesn't, no one no one played. It was amazing because we all breathed and we're ready to play.

SPEAKER_06 29:16

Literally, uh what it what goes up must come down. And we took this breath and we were gonna play the most amazing chord. And the president behind my back says, Before we go, so instead of my arms coming down, my whole body went down, so my arms were still above my head. Not one person played.

SPEAKER_04 29:32

It was the every time I conduct the national anthem, though, that's what I think of because that's what at our our basketball games is was like now conducting the national anthem, the BHS band, blah, blah, blah. Just a reminder of all the like the ways you're supposed to do the yeah, the patriotic uh respectful thing. Yeah. And I'm like, I always just give an extra beat or two afterwards, just to make sure.

SPEAKER_06 29:53

And Isaac, do you know where Peter learned that actually? He learned it from personal experience.

SPEAKER_03 29:58

It really played there and it really comes from.

SPEAKER_06 30:04

But didn't play there either. See? No, you're still sleeping. Very mine. Very mindy.

SPEAKER_05 30:10

And now, a message from our sponsors. Concert night. You've studied your scores, you've thoughtfully chosen your baton and outfit. The value of the instruments on stage is nearly priceless. You represent the composer, the musicians, and your institution. Behind you in the audience are your peers, proud family members, community, and even potential donors.

SPEAKER_06 30:29

My question is this Are you standing on a squeaky, mass-produced podium that was bought long before you arrived? I know I've stood on that podium. A conductor's foundation should match their artistry. Well, I can tell you I'm not on that podium because I have two of these silent stage podiums, which are gracefully designed to complement the instruments, but extract from the knees. They're built with American oak, elegant brass railings, sound dampening rubber-backed carpet and velvet red, and steps on both sides, which fold in easily for a smaller footprint when needed. Each podium is delivered in a street rolling case with a podium backstage pumps, dust, or even like we take these long ensemble tours. Commuter, elevate your presence with silent stage podiums. Stay with me, Silent Stage Podiums. Find out more at Silent Stagepodiums.com. Now back to our show. Here's another one. Okay, that was a good term.

SPEAKER_04 31:25

Yeah, I'm like, I'm trying to think if there's another one. I think otherwise it's just like general awkwardness. He'd walk through, like we had the band couches and the choir couches, and he'd be like, he'd come in and are you practicing? Hey, go go practice. And then he would like try to have a conversation with someone, and they'd be, I'm well, now I get it. As a teacher, the students are just like, sometimes they don't respond to just mouth breathing, and you're like, what? And I'm awkward. And he walks away. That happens several times. That's right.

SPEAKER_06 31:49

There's something really funny. I mean, everything's funny, but nothing. It's all like the normal, yeah, just dull. Awkward day-to-day life. Peter Haberman.

SPEAKER_05 31:58

Um what projects do you have upcoming? Uh, you know, now that you've finished up uh, you know, rather large project. Um, what what do you have coming up um that you're excited about?

SPEAKER_04 32:07

Oh it's uh I mean it's super, yeah, not busy time of year at all. No. Uh Pep band this week, concert later this week, and then I don't know. I guess the big thing is large group contests, we're getting ready for in a month. Um and it's been fun. This this conference has really pushed my my top band to like play at a different level than they have, and um getting to play some more technique heavy stuff that uh is definitely pushing them and made me nervous getting ready for the concert. But uh they're like hungry for more, which has been really fun. I gave them a couple options to to get ready for contests and they chose the harder one. We wanted to do Shepherd's Hay, and it's gonna be a little bit of a stretch in some ways for them. But uh I don't know. Yeah, I'm trying to think of planning next year things mostly is it's getting through the rest of this year, planning next year as teaching goes, and hopefully taking a vacation in in June when I had don't have any marching band.

SPEAKER_05 32:56

So I could tell from you speaking that you share uh uh several traits in common with Peter and that you really enjoy engaging with students. And I guess my question that arises from that is that what do you do when you find your students really aren't engaging with you? What are your tactics for when you you you gotta somehow get them back in your classroom in a meaningful way?

SPEAKER_04 33:16

Yeah. Well, I mean, you can go back to the this is outside the classroom because it stems there too. Like I'll walk down the hallways and I'm like making eye contact with everybody and trying to say hi to them and and they'll just the freshman year, no response. Hey so-and-so, how's it going? No response. And then I'm like, and so I just respond further. Like, oh, it's good, Mr. McMahon. How are you? I'm doing well too. Thanks for asking. Oh my gosh. I'm glad and then That's awkward. And then you're welcome that you Yep, yep. And then I say I'm awkward and walk away. Yeah. Uh that's not that's not awkward.

SPEAKER_05 33:48

Shows you care. Shows you care.

SPEAKER_04 33:51

Um but I guess like, yeah, outside of classes, it's uh it's talking to them in the hallway even when they don't want to at 7 30 in the morning. It's asking them questions about their their lives and their activities and and what they're involved in. But in the classroom, like sometimes it's as easy as I've learned this kind of the hard way that especially Monday morning, my first hour band, it's 8.15, and I'm pretty strict about like we start on time, and if you're not there ready to play, there's there's consequences and and like it's just an expectation. And they've gotten pretty good at that. Man, sometimes like two weeks ago, even my my first hour band, it took like five or ten minutes to make good sounds. And I'm like, we don't usually take 10 minutes to make good sounds. What's up? Uh we just gotta have a long yeah, okay. Let's just take a minute and ask a question of the day. And like, would you rather uh would you rather question, go find someone that's across the room to talk to? And like my kids love that. They just eat that up and they're so community focused that if I just give them a couple minutes to talk, the next 30 minutes are so much more productive.

SPEAKER_05 34:50

Instead of yelling at them to reset, you give them the opportunity to reset on their own. It's just uh that's it's a simple thing, but it's really effective. Um thanks for sharing it with us and our two listeners. Otherwise, yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 35:02

Just finding different ways to mix up the fundamental schedule so it's it's different every day. Um, or maybe not every day. It has to be somewhat continuous. Finding ways, sitting them in a different spot, moving the percussionist to the front of the room, asking people to give feedback when they're uh listening to certain sections, trying to accomplish something.

SPEAKER_06 35:20

I moved the percussionist in the hall, and that really kind of mixes it up. Isaac, um, what's a work that you are preparing for or you're gonna program yet this year that you're pretty excited about?

SPEAKER_04 35:32

See, I'm I'm like it's busy enough. I'll I'll just say it this way. I'm busy enough that I don't always plan as far in advance as I would like. Uh but the I don't I I was really after this, I'm still kind of reeling from the bandmasters concert because it was only like a week ago. And uh we're going right into contest. And I guess I'm excited about the music that we're currently working on that's not ready yet. But um like Shepherd's Hey, I've been wanting to, I bought that piece like four years ago and haven't had a band to play it yet. And so I'm really pumped to actually be able to play uh that piece that I played in college and and work with them on it. My second band is playing music that I told some kids this the other day. I'm like, that second band is playing music that well we couldn't have played in the top band three, four years ago. Doing Lightning Field, which is really fun, uh Caravana After Party, Omar Thomas. Um, and then Andy Boys and All the Pretty Little Horses is like a really beautiful choral study. Oh my gosh. And it's so it's so like accessible, except for the horns, it's pretty high, but uh it's so accessible and it's just gorgeous. So it's challenging uh programming for that group too because there's 12 percussionists in there and keeping them all busy. So it's been like finding big pieces like that, but still musical and variety uh having variety, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:46

So Isaac, one of my favorite things about you is you'll hear a good idea even if it's new to you, right? And you'll be like, I get that, and you store it like the CMP as an example, and then you uh you you go at it, right? And uh Danny's a great teacher and mentor for you, but like these weren't things that you did when you were in high school, but you do them a lot, like the CMP. Would you also talk about uh the level assessments of what you've done to teach your kids to a standard? And now I mean Brookings isn't that big of a town. How how big is your school? Your high school? How many uh the high school's got about a thousand students in the house? Okay, it's not bad.

SPEAKER_04 37:27

Yeah, it's like 20, 20 between 20 and 24,000 in in Brookings itself.

SPEAKER_06 37:32

Okay. So for South Dakota Sanchez, that's a pretty big school, but you know, in Minnesota or Virginia or something, you know, that's a relatively average school size. So um, but tell me about uh where did you hear about level assessments or what that is? I know we've talked about that with some others. So it's pretty much teaching to a standard, right? And uh how you've incorporated that and how has that changed your program? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:52

So um I started to do this a little bit at Breckenridge, even we used some of the level assessment uh materials from Parker Bixby. Um when we were on band tour in college, we went got to go out to Seattle area and stopped at Mercer Island. And um, I don't know if I actually engaged with that material at that point or if it was just a classmate, Linnea Ekoff. She was like getting, she was going into her first year of teaching, I think after that, and like was having all these conversations with him uh to get some of that material. And I remember just like talking about that because I was only a sophomore at the time. I wasn't thinking too hard about my first years of teaching. But uh yeah, I remember seeing it, and then I asked her for it, or or you, one of the two, and and got it just totally ripped it off uh from them. And then I realized that Brookings um it wasn't gonna work for my kids because or at least the version that he had wasn't gonna work for my kids because there's no uh the the middle school feeder just needs some them some help. There's like 225 kids in that program, one director, no lessons. Uh he gets to see yeah, kids every day, but it's in groups of 30 to 70 kids and no individual contact. And the contact time they get in fifth grade is a hot mess because it's like half of what other groups are getting in the state. Um so they're getting lessons for one year, but not enough time, and then they're not prepared in middle school properly. So they get to my uh ninth grade class, and even in Breckenridge, there's a ninth grade. Like every time I program a ninth grade piece, I have to ask my middle school director, has this been done in seventh or eighth grade? So anyway, I had to really water it down. Like my first level, I do eight levels uh throughout their high school career, one per semester is the goal. Few kids actually make it all the way through level eight, but um, it gives them a goal to set out to. And the first level is nothing out of the f other than the first half of Essential Elements. I mean, it's so, so basic. The second, the second level is still mostly in the first book of Essential Elements, and then we uh get into some more meaty stuff. I mean, basically I have in there something that is tone quality, something that incorporates phrasing, something that incorporates uh dancy rhythms and syncopations and articulations, and then some sort of uh excerpt that kind of combines them.

SPEAKER_06 40:06

How often do you have them play these standards for you one at a time?

SPEAKER_04 40:09

Um I collect videos. I wish I got to do it in person, but uh I collect videos and do it once a semester. And actually, um being in a college town, there's enough music ed majors at SDSU in town here, South Dakota State, that uh I get enough of them funded through my music boosters um to come teach lessons to just darn near every kid in my band program in the spring semester once a week. Um so I have them I have them evaluate that in the spring. So I do it once a year, but they do it twice a semester.

SPEAKER_06 40:38

This is my point. This is not a secret. That's the way you get students to play better is that they need they need instruction. You know what I mean? And like you have to do whatever you have to do. Write this down, Peter. There is no trick to this. You have to find time with students. Private lessons help get more help in your program. Yeah, I love that you reached out. Had that happened before you got there with the music edit? No, I'm not sure. See, that's just smart though. That's brilliant. Find the resources, go find the retired person, whatever you gotta do.

SPEAKER_04 41:12

You know what I mean? Like get a robot, something. Well, in the first year, the first year I was still getting in the works with my music, my band boosters. And I mean, we have a we have a pretty large budget for the school size that we are, but um at that time not as much. And we got a grant through the first bacon trust in in the in town, and they gave us three grand to start this this project. And I mean, the goal was we need to get lessons back in the middle school, and that was my plug with administrators and stuff. Five years later, we're still working on it, but uh that was it was huge. And I took some data from the students that were involved after. I love this is my favorite data point from it was how much did you improve? And there's like everyone except for about two people said that they improved at least somewhat. There's two people that didn't, and they didn't take lessons, but even those two people, when I asked how much do you feel your friends improved? Oh yeah, they improved a bunch. Like they got better, I didn't get better, but they got better. It was awesome. So even the people that didn't improve noticed that the band improved.

SPEAKER_06 42:05

So and so I just want to go back to this idea of so these whatever playing tests aren't on the music, they're just on fundamentals and getting them to different levels. So do you have have auditions anymore, or do the kids just know they have to meet a certain level to be in a certain group?

SPEAKER_04 42:19

No. And when I when I got to Brookings, there weren't auditions. It was a 9-10 band, and there's two bands, there's 9-10 band and 11-12 band. Um by my third year, we needed to split into three bands. Um, and we made marching band extracurriculars so I wasn't stuck with 130 kids in a classroom until January by myself. And the speaking of hallways, the color guard, that's who was in the hallway for me, doing study hall and supervised. That was awesome. What could go wrong? Not awesome.

SPEAKER_06 42:44

What could go wrong?

SPEAKER_04 42:45

So, yeah, they that that's how uh we assign ensembles now. And I'm very clear up front with ninth graders and concert band. Because I the first couple years I did it, I don't know how I could have made it clearer for the students, but why didn't I make Symphonic band? Why didn't I make the top band? Well, how far are you on levels? Well, but I do this as no, it's it's how far are you on level assessments? Because all those kids in the in that section, they're all on this level and you're here. So it's just like very black and white. I mean, even I guess when it becomes closer and and we're at the same level, then it's a conversation of okay, how punctual are you? How much do you practice outside of class? How much do you do these extra things like all state auditions or honor bands? Because all of that will help you improve. And I see that. So it it actually has made that easier, even though it's way more time. Well, it's not really more time than listening to auditions, not really. And they get better feedback, and it's a continuous cycle, not a one-off audition that they never do again. Wise behind your ears.

SPEAKER_06 43:42

Wisdom.

SPEAKER_04 43:42

Well, yeah, I mean, thank you, but it's it's stealing and and make I it was a significant amount of work to make it fit my program.

SPEAKER_06 43:50

Isaac, everybody steals. And you're just smart enough to actually steal it and then do it, where others steal it, put it in a folder, and then don't do it because.

SPEAKER_05 44:00

And I'm not I'm not sure it's stealing because I sense that you're crediting the people that gave you the information. So it's not stealing. It's um it's a tribute uh in in every possible way. I mean the stuff you've stolen from Peter, he is delighted that any one of the concepts that he shared with you, you're able to use it for somebody listened.

SPEAKER_06 44:18

Somebody listened once. Yes.

unknown 44:21

That's true.

SPEAKER_05 44:22

Um so it it is a total testament um to your mentors that you're uh uh th those those uh tactics work for you. I mean, that's what we pray for uh as college educators, uh Peter and I, anyway, is that one of the comments that we um the gazillion comments that we made gets through and and actually helps someone.

SPEAKER_06 44:41

So Red Isaac, let's turn it on to you. Something funny has happened to you as a teacher. He knows where this is going.

SPEAKER_04 44:49

So it actually stems, it's funnier, it's funnier if I start in college. Uh I think it was my senior year of college. I got to play uh a little bit soon with the faculty Woodwin Quintet that was coming on tour with us. Um, because I can't remember why Russ couldn't make that that gig, but uh I got to go play for with the for the young elementary students with the faculty Woodwin Quintet, and that was super fun because I got to be Russ Peterson and even rip off like the the same, like the the Amazing Grace or something on Saxphone. It was awesome. Uh and then meanwhile, the Concordia band side-by-side experience is happening with the high school students, and and I was late to that, but we knew it was planned out. So I'm like running, I'm trying to catch up and get I want to get to that experience because that's like my favorite part of tour. And all of our stuff, luggage, and instruments are in the auditorium. And so I'm grabbing my instrument out, my sax one, and I'm heading on stage, and there's no time. I was late, so I like jump on stage rather than take the stairs. Mid-jump, I just feel and hear a big old rip. And uh I Peter is mid-conducting the band, and he he knows something is off because I just stopped my tracks, and he looks, he's like listening to me while conducting, and I'm just like, I just stripped my pants. It's like, what? I just stripped my pants like a lot. So he's standing there, and he literally just he just walks sideways. He's just like, he just goes offstage. It was awesome. I don't know if my wife has heard this story. She's gonna love hearing this later. But uh luckily our luggage was in the auditorium, and so I just like walked backwards, so no one saw anything, walked backwards to my my suitcase, grabbed a new pair of pants, changed, and then at dinner that night, uh, all the jokes, all the jokes. Pants rip number one. So fast forward to my first or second year teaching, I want to say it's my first. My band room at the elementary school was right across from the gym, which I love because pitcher in high school, dodgeball. I go to those sixth graders and just like walk in there, and they feared me. It was awesome. They're like, oh, McMahon's coming. And I run and I grab a dodgeball, and I just I could probably throw 80, probably about 80 miles an hour when I was in high school, and I just rip into them. I only felt bad if I hit him in the head, but it didn't happen, didn't happen that often. Anyway, one day they're roller skating, and I'm like, yeah, sure, I'll roller skate. I'm terrible, but I'll try. Like the winter Olympics, Ron and Tana's like, my wife's like, let's go skating. I'm like, no, you don't want that, and I don't want that. But anyway, so I'm terribly skating, and another student, one of my students, is like skating towards me, and we both know that the other one doesn't know how to stop. And it's just it's inevitable. And it's like slow motion, and it's just we like kind of grab onto each other for safety, and we both fall. And I don't know if the skate like hit my pants, but ripped number two. But I don't think I noticed instantly. I got back to my room, and then I was like getting ready for my next period, which was like minutes away, and I'm like, oh great, I ran my pants again, and not small, not small. So I make it through it. It was probably like seventh grade band. And if they noticed, oh, they would have let me know. It was definitely my first year because they just yeah. And so I had a clipboard, and I just walked around with my hands behind my back with a clipboard the whole period. And luckily, I lived two blocks away, so after that was my lunch, I walked home, changed pants, and was back at it. No one was any the wiser.

SPEAKER_06 48:12

There you go. Until now.

SPEAKER_04 48:13

I did have to tell that student that I collided with afterwards, and she thought it was way slow.

SPEAKER_06 48:17

So things come in threes, though. There's gonna be another one. So uh it probably is coming still, hopefully not. Sweet. That's great. Oh man, good stuff. I love that. Makes me feel I'm doing well. It happens to other people too.

SPEAKER_04 48:32

Hey, hey, at least I haven't fallen off stages. Nope. It's true. That's only me. There we go. That's true. Um, so at Bandmasters, it was a pretty, pretty narrow distance between the the chairs and the stage, so I had to like escort him just to make sure that it was missing. It's true. Anything you want to ask us? Well, I do I do just want to say how great it was to have you at that at that performance. I know I'm supposed to make fun of you, but it was actually awesome. Originally, I want I want them to hear it because I originally asked him, I don't know, six months ago or so. It was like right before school started, I think, is when I when I called you and asked if you would be willing to to come conduct. His answer was like, Well, I have to check and he stopped. Yes, yes, I'll be there. And then he later I found out that he had to rearrange uh a flight from Toronto, this band uh conference that he was at to come down early, which was not that big a deal. But then even later I found out that he canceled on some maybe some other maybe I shouldn't say that on the podcast, but uh canceled on some other groups to to be at my concert instead of theirs.

SPEAKER_05 49:36

And I mean for him to get out of the for him to get out of those polka band gigs, not a big deal. It's okay. Typically doesn't show up anyway. I mean, he half the time he forgets his later husband.

SPEAKER_06 49:47

So, you know, it was a beautiful event. I was honored to be asked, and I was so proud to be there just to listen to those kids play. I mean, that group well, I've been down to hear your band every year, you've been there almost, and that just that program's doing great. Um so uh you're uh how many cups of coffee a day for you? We're doing our wait, speed round. Wow. That was that was a fabulous transition. Wow. Is this our first podcast? Fine interview technique. Okay. Um how many cups of that great coffee that you roast your own beans a day?

SPEAKER_04 50:23

Oh, that's right. Uh I do one cut one large cup in the morning and a thermos in the afternoon.

SPEAKER_06 50:28

Like a same, I like thermos. This size thermos, like like No, I guess 16 ounce.

SPEAKER_04 50:32

Nothing, nothing crazy, crazy.

SPEAKER_06 50:34

So two.

SPEAKER_04 50:34

But I have to I have to have afternoon coffee. It's non-negotiable.

SPEAKER_06 50:38

Favorite mode of coffee? Um drip French pourover, for sure.

SPEAKER_05 50:45

I'm interrupting. Uh most unusual use of the hot sauce that you have. Most unusual use.

SPEAKER_04 50:50

Well, something like I don't know if it's unusual. It's pretty well known, but like my favorite, I the reason I have so many is because twice now I've ordered the season lineup from hot ones, and they do 10. If you haven't watched them, uh you you got it because it's pretty awesome. But it's not, it was kind of I mean, I don't want to sound too tough, but it was kind of disappointing. It wasn't as hot as I thought.

unknown 51:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 51:09

Conan O'Brien's the best one. Oh, yeah. Yeah, my favorite thing to put your hot sauce on that's not normal, like not like eggs or something. When you put hot sauce on ice cream, you ever combine them? Hot sauce and coffee?

SPEAKER_04 51:20

I kind of, I mean, I don't I don't put it in everything. I've kind of like gone back and up and down with it. It's like a screamer. Honestly, the weirdest thing is when I just eat it like just out of off a spoon, you know? Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 51:34

Texting or talking. Yeah. I hate texting. Hard to believe. Um, last piece you listened to that wasn't for class.

SPEAKER_04 51:42

What was it?

SPEAKER_06 51:43

It should be easier to remember.

SPEAKER_04 51:45

That's actually something I was gonna bring up for for younger teachers, is like one of the things that helps me rather people talk about like staying in contact with other people and and asking questions and mentors and all that. But like for me, it's just like make time to go listen to great music, even if it's on YouTube with your headphones. Just go listen to a great ensemble. Uh Wine Dark Sea, I think, is what I actually listened to for fun last. Nice.

SPEAKER_06 52:07

Um favorite venue you've played either your bassoon or saxphone in.

SPEAKER_04 52:12

Uh I can't remember the name of it, but that castle in Spain we got to play. Alequas. That was amazing.

SPEAKER_06 52:18

Um Shostakovich or Mahler.

SPEAKER_04 52:20

I should know more about both, but I'm gonna say Shostakovich. I wish I knew more by both. There it is.

SPEAKER_06 52:25

They're gonna be on the show next week.

SPEAKER_05 52:26

So Frank, Frank, Frank Shostakovich and uh Frank Louis third cousin.

SPEAKER_06 52:32

Louis Louis Mahler. Louis Mahler repairs cars. Whoa. Isaac, thanks for joining us. It's great to have you on. We'll we'll slow down the tape because you talk so fast so that it'll feel like you're more normal, normal speed. I'm just kidding, it was awesome. Well, and we'll speed up when Peter talks. Uh, Isaac, you are an exceptional young educator, and uh, you know, wow, it's fun to to bump into you in Chicago and anywhere else. Thanks for all you do. Keep up the great work. Nice to meet you.

SPEAKER_04 53:01

Thank you. It's fun to be here.

SPEAKER_06 53:03

Great stuff. Next time we'll have to do that.

SPEAKER_05 53:05

People say that at first and then they change their minds. Yeah, then they think about it. And then it's mostly regret.

SPEAKER_06 53:11

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_05 53:12

Peter, that was a delightful visit with a really nice person. And you know, obviously he uh survived studying with you and he did uh has ignored everything you told him and is doing really well. Yeah, he listens to you guys, not me, right? That's true.

SPEAKER_06 53:28

He's smart, took notice to other people. It's good. Yeah. I do love that though when he hears a good idea, he's like, I should do that. And like Chris, then he's dumb enough to actually go do it, and it turns out it works out really well for the kids, and then they play better and they love it more, and they get it, and he's un that kid's unstoppable. He's unstoppable.

SPEAKER_05 53:52

And therein lies the reason that he has program growth. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 53:56

And he walks around the school and asks him about you know, Bill's relationships about things that aren't just in music and keeps the tasering and yelling to a minimum. Yep. Yeah, it's great. It's great. Good for him. Yep, that's awesome. Um you know, they can hear that stuff from us with the boozler and stuff, but when he should have done the band boozler, we should have him back to do the band boozler.

unknown 54:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 54:16

I don't know. That's a good idea. Yeah. Well, you know what we're doing? What are we doing? We're doing another amazing educator, and that's Paul Kyle. That's right. The answer to last week's Band Buzzler. Prepare yourselves.

SPEAKER_00 54:38

Well, good day, maiden. Welcome back to the Band Buzzler. Great to have you along. Did you crack the mystery from our last episode? If you followed the clues, you'd have had to head a fair way south, about 8,000 miles, give or take, all the way to Australia and into the studio of composer Jodie Blackshaw. That's where she penned the absolutely gorgeous three-movement suite for grade two band Salone Moroseau. Now, Salone Morrisot is a set of three miniatures inspired by the work of the brilliant but far too overlooked French Impressionist artist Bertie Morrisau. She was hugely admired in her day and exhibited it alongside the likes of Manet, Monet, Degas, and Possaro in the very first Impressionist exhibition, what they called the salons back in 1874. Not bad company that.

SPEAKER_06 56:05

A little Irish a little just Paul. I did not say that word, so that just came out like Paul. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 56:11

Oh, that was his word. Five five discernible.

SPEAKER_06 56:14

Good to know where your strengths lie and just kind of stay there. Yeah, yeah. That wasn't great. A strength, but it was beautiful. You know what I mean? But I did not know that piece by Jody. Yeah. Good piece. Is it a good is a good piece? Great call. Well, they're all good pieces when it comes to Jody. Yeah. You know what else is a good piece? That was a bad transition. Uh Eric Songer. Here we go. Rapin with Songer. Yeah. All right. Here we go.

SPEAKER_02 56:44

Rap, rapping with Songer. Hey guys, it's time again for Rappin' with Songer. Eric Songer here from Chaska Middle School West in Chaska, Minnesota. And before I start, we have a special shout out.

SPEAKER_07 56:57

Shout out to Dr. Ostrander from the Eau Claire Honor Band. Thanks for directing our band. We had so much fun.

SPEAKER_02 57:02

That's awesome. Yeah, I have Fiona and Audrey here who were in the UW Eau Claire Honor Band recently and the middle school festival. And uh it was a great time. Thanks for doing that, girls. And they have lots of great stories about you, Dr. Ostrander. So I've I've enjoyed listening to those. So it's the end of our semester. We just had the end of our semester. And so we were thinking about like what were our favorite and best classes that we had in school when we were in middle school and high school. So I'm gonna go down the road. I have four wonderful students here today that are gonna share what their favorite non-music class is, because of course music is their favorite class. But I'm gonna start with Audrey Audrey, what was your favorite? What's your favorite class in school outside of music?

SPEAKER_03 57:41

Uh my favorite class would be Spanish and I play the clarinet.

SPEAKER_02 57:44

Awesome. Do you play clarinet in Spanish? Okay.

SPEAKER_03 57:48

That is not one of my builds.

SPEAKER_02 57:49

Okay, all right. We'll work on that. Uh then I have Fiona here. Fiona, what's your favorite non-music subject?

SPEAKER_07 57:54

My favorite non-music subject is also Spanish, and I play the flute. I don't play the flute in Spanish, though.

SPEAKER_02 57:59

Okay, okay, cool, cool. We should we should learn some Spanish pieces in band. That would be really cool, actually. Yeah, that'd be awesome. Then I have Emily here. Emily, what's your favorite non-music subject?

SPEAKER_07 58:08

My non-favorite music subject um is bio, biology. And I'm also a clarinetist.

SPEAKER_02 58:16

Wow, we have lots of clarinet players here. Yeah. And biology. That's awesome. Very cool, Emily. And what about we have Hannah here too? Hannah, what's your favorite non-music subject?

SPEAKER_09 58:24

My favorite non-music subject. I have two. Uh Spanish and biology, and I play percussion.

SPEAKER_02 58:30

Awesome. Very, very cool. Sweet. So our question, I'm gonna let Hannah ask it. I I guess you guys probably know where we're going with this, but Hannah, ask them the question of the day for them.

SPEAKER_08 58:39

Our question of the day for you guys is what was your guys' favorite non-music subject in school?

SPEAKER_02 58:44

Oh, I can't wait to hear. I wonder if it was Spanish or biology for any of you guys, too. Girls, thank you so much for joining us. Say bye.

SPEAKER_05 58:50

Bye.

SPEAKER_06 58:53

Wonderful, wonderful.

SPEAKER_05 58:54

Christopher, how about you?

SPEAKER_06 58:56

Easy. Favorite. Lunch. Easy. Oh, come on. Didn't you go to the player? That's I mean. Come on. Real class. Real class. What was it? Real class. Uh chemistry. Loved chemistry. Really? Yeah, stoichiotomistry. Loved it. Yep. It was great. Enjoyed it. Philip. Had great teachers, though. It really helps to have good teachers. Phil. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_05 59:15

I had a really good pre-calc teacher. That's why you were a math major. Yeah, this I I I I'll share the story because I I remember this in particular in that, you know, pre-calc, it can get pretty like laborious at times. Just a lot of numbers. People could tune out. And it was like uh it was exactly this time of year. And he looked out and he saw we were fading. And uh and he said, All right, time out. We're gonna stop. I want you to talk. You're all watching the Winter Olympics, right? And we're all like, yeah. He's like, All right, look, take the next three minutes and I talk about uh Doubles Luge. Because he just we had all watched Doubles Louge, and we thought that was just you know absolutely both terrifying and amazing and uh awkward. And so it was I I'll never forget that moment. I was like, oh, okay, talk about doubles luge. I don't any anything else you want to know? No, no, that's thank you.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:08

Thank you. That's living it's living, Peter. Um all of them, all of them. I was such a geeky kid in school. Uh, math and science were big. All the maths and sciences were big. But I had a great uh poly psy and history teacher, loved him. Um yeah, I just loved all that geeky stuff. I'm so not fun. Great. I was on the math team and knowledgeable really speech team.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:37

Yeah, just geeky.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:40

Well, uh was that the only team, pretty much? Did tennis. Beyond Artless is sponsored by Beyond the Notes Music Festival. Our mission is to create and provide profound learning and social experiences through music that go beyond the notes. Visit BTN Musicfestival.com to learn more.