A Band Director's First Years

A Band Director's First Years is a guide for collegiate level students or new educators in their first jobs. Aimed primarily at Band Directors, this book can potentially help performing arts teachers in school systems nationwide. Graduates of collegiate music education studies are very well prepared to offer instruction to their charges, however, there are many different challenges that new music educators must face. Many of these challenges are non-musical and, often times, new educators struggle to adapt because they do not know what questions to ask or how to move through their days performing tasks other than teaching. For example, making logistical arrangements for performances or what accounting practices may be encountered in a public school system are just two of the many topics covered in this book. A Band Director's First Years is a book that can be read from cover to cover or as a reference guide. In either case, the reader will be able to utilize the information in a practical manner or, at the very least, develop and maintain a functional knowledge of what is taking place around him or her. Even if a school does not employ the same or similar practices described in the book, the reader will be introduced to and develop an awareness of concepts that he or she will eventually encounter. At that point, the new teacher will be able to ask appropriate questions to efficiently perform all required tasks. Program building and philosophical development surrounding musical education are also discussed. Young teachers can use this to expand and further explore their own ideas which will ultimately affect their own programs. This, in turn, will help young teachers implement policies that govern the students in their programs. These are just a sampling of the topics covered in A Band Director's First Years. There are many more discussions throughout the book that are all based on the author's experiences during his first years as a Band Director in two public school systems.