Posts targeted at music teachers — classroom management, rehearsal routines, teacher account workflow, method-book selection, and webinars.
The series finale. Late April 2021. Terry Little — the very first EE Band Talk guest — returns to close the loop on a school year that started with empty band rooms and ended with fifth graders performing in May. Plus Steve Smith on EEi’s millionth student recording and a one-click deep link from Google Classroom.
Read More →Late February 2021. Charlie, Tim, and Paul honor Sammy Nestico and Chick Corea, talk pandemic-era band culture, and bring in Will Skelton — principal at Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas, former Downing Middle School band director, and the man Steve Smith credits for teaching him how to teach.
Read More →First episode of 2021. Paul's fifth inaugural commission, a Jim Stevenson Fanfare for Democracy, the live-recording grade tool coming to EEi, single sign-on with Google Classroom — and the show's institutional memory: Herman Knoll on the original Purple Book, the late-90s rewrite, and the Hal Leonard founders who started as band directors.
Read More →The first orchestra-focused EE Band Talk. David Eccles — Orchestra Program Director at The Lovett School in Atlanta and former Director of String Music Education at VanderCook — on essential elements for non-string-major teachers, the top-of-page-18 practice sequence, and the new EEi video submission feature now in open beta.
Read More →Early November 2020. Charlie, Tim, and Paul talk motivation and music selection — serious literature vs the music kids actually want to play — then Mike Sweeney, Hal Leonard’s Director of Band Publications, walks through the Favorites collections and the brand-new Flex Band grade 1.5 level built for socially-distanced ensembles.
Read More →Mid-October 2020 episode. Charlie, Tim, and Paul name the new buzzword — fatigue — then dig into social-emotional learning, the edutainment trap, Steve Smith’s tutorial library, and a long visit with Nick Averwater of Amro Music in Memphis, a family-run dealer nearing its 100th anniversary.
Read More →Charlie, Tim and Paul welcome Glenn Schneider — Metea Valley HS band director, Wheaton College, VanderCook MECA online instructor — to talk feedback loops in a Zoom band room, goal-setting, why music is the favorite class of the day, and the assignment that energized his week.
Read More →Charlie, Tim and Paul sit down with Clint Williams and Dr. Andrew Smouse of Rancho High School in Las Vegas — 47 kids eight years ago, 350 today, and Midwest Clinic last year. Plus Steve Smith on EEi recording tools, calibration, rubrics, interactive PDFs and the EEi Facebook community.
Read More →Episode 8 ties teacher gratitude, Rubank fundamentals, an EEi dashboard tour, and First Performance National Day of Celebration into a single September 2020 hour. Doug Lady of the Music Achievement Council joins to walk through the parent-invite toolkit and a virtual edition conducted by Charlie himself.
Read More →Episode 7 is the new-teacher episode. Steve Smith walks through what to do the first time you log into EEi, with three buckets of advice — acclimate, use the resources, keep the first recording stupid-simple. Nicole Beyer of Creekside Middle School in Zeeland, Michigan, joins as a brand-new EEi user.
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