For music educators - By music educators

National/State Coordination of Guest artists for Middle School Band Programs!

Directors,
This blog will probably end up as a forum, however let's start by discussing the basic notion of bringing in a guest artist to perform (not conduct or clinic, that's different and it's already in the forums) with your middle school band. In the past, guest artists with middle school bands could be cost prohibitive because of transportation, now through this forum we should be able to coordinate a bit.
Let's say I wanted to have a guest artist who lived in Georgia, come perform with my band in Florida. Great, if we as directors post our intended clinicians, other programs can "get on board" if they are looking. We can all share the transportation costs and everyone gets a guest artist for the price they are asking.
This type of logistical outfitting and coordination really needs to be discussed so that students everywhere can benefit. Please post your ideas here in this blog, include dates, States and times so that other programs can build off of your initial efforts. If you know artists that work well with this age level of musician, please invite them to join msbanddirector.com, create a page that shows their commitment to this age learner and members can check them out by exploring their page. Perhaps it will end up being organized through the individual artists pages. Either way, we all win big.

RW

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Comment by Russ Weaver on May 20, 2010 at 7:08am: We are featuring Orlando guitarist, Mr. Tommy Calton this year for our Pops concert for jazz band. Tommy has played with so many top names and has so many stories and works so well with young people. It's a slam dunk! Let's rock.

Comment by Russ Weaver on May 15, 2010 at 2:58pm: Who did you bring in this year?

Comment by Julian Wilson on May 14, 2010 at 9:00pm: I think this a great idea. We have begun to have a series of guest artists perform with my students and my students have learned a lot from the experience.

Comment by Russ Weaver on November 24, 2008 at 10:49am: This blog will also work for service National service providers like theonemanband.us who specializes in visiting schools and allowing programs to trade in their old unusable instruments for used or new instruments right there on the spot. He also offers on site repairs for programs who need this service.