Music Education
Richard Riley served as Secretary of Education under Bill Clinton and was a two term Governor of South Carolina. His love of music goes back to his parents and his piano lessons as a boy. While he followed the avenue of public service, his musical passion was always a deep part of his life. As...
Fred Rast is the founder of Fred Rast Mouthpieces and a music lesson instructor for Music Village. The store is located in San Jose, California and is his musical haven with students and employees he enjoys being surrounded by. In addition to his long teaching career, Fred began designing his own...
Barbara Meeks fell in love with music at an early age and played flute all though school and into college where she majored in music education. While working at Buddy Roger’s Music in Ohio, she developed a passion for sheet music. She later worked for Mannerino’s Music for a decade before joining...
Donald Hodges is a music educator who has taken on the research role to map the brain's responses to music. His research has shown that music is not just a nice, but unnecessary element of the human life, but rather something that is necessary and very much a core part of the human experience. As...
Kevin Cottrill is the Director of Bands at Seymour Community Schools and the Band Director at Seymour High School in Seymour, Indiana. He received his education at Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Here, he provides insights into being a new teacher, and how to...
Jason Brown is the Director of Fine Arts for District 219, Niles Township in Cook County, Illinois. A trumpet player, he graduated from the same high school as Miles Davis, and was later fortunate enough to play with Davis. Here, he speaks about his experience of returning to his high school music...
David Eccles is the Director of String Music Education at VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, Illinois. He speaks here about the first steps for any new teacher and how to keep music culturally relevant in the lives of students.
David Cole is the Director of Bands at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, Indiana and is a graduate of Indiana State University. Here, he speaks about having a relationship with the administration and finding support for his music program even during tough economic times.
Greg Snyder has been the Director of Bands at Lakota West High School in West Chester, Ohio for 25 years. He talks here about some challenges that come with leading a music program and how to overcome them.
Cheryl Filipek is the Band Director at Niles North High School. She speaks here about how to connect to students and how to create interest in music to recruit and retain for her program.