Mar 30, 2020

Mickey Smith Jr. is as inspirational a music educator as you will ever meet. He is a middle school band director in Louisiana and the most recent recipient of the Grammy Music Educator Award.

Topics:

• Growing up in a “forgotten town” in Louisiana and how he started out practicing his saxophone outside in the...

Mar 23, 2020

Anthony Mazzaferro was the band director at Fullerton College for 29 years. He joins the show to talk about his current career and his current gig at the Orange County School of the Arts.

Topics:

• Anthony’s background and the story of how he ended up with a Navy surplus tuba and a career was born.
• Studying conducting...

Mar 16, 2020

David Biedenbender is an Assistant Professor of Composition at Michigan State and a member of the Blue Dot Collective. He joins the show to talk about his music and share his thoughts about composing for band.

Topics:

• David’s background growing up in Michigan and learning music by watching his mother play organ, and...

Mar 10, 2020

Damien Crutcher is the founder of Crescendo Detroit and the conductor of the Farmington Community Band, Civic Concert Band, and the Detroit Community Concert Band. He joins the show to share the stories of the remarkable people in his life and the decisions to help make his home city of Detroit an even better better...