Everything Band Podcast

Adrian Gordon is an internationally performed composer and seasoned music educator and currently serves as the director of orchestras at Providence Day Schoolin Charlotte, NC.In addition to teaching, Adrian is the founder of Leap Year Music Publishing, which publishes string music for elementary, middle, and high school ensembles. His compositions appear on the Florida, Texas, Maryland, and Georgia Orchestra Association Music Performance Assessment Lists. His compositions are distributed through J.W. Pepper andhave been performed throughout the world. Learn more atwww.adriangordonmusic.com.

Dr. Sixto F. Montesinos Jr. is assistant professor of music and head of instrumental studies at Saint Mary’s College of California in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is an active Mexican-American conductor, flutist, music educator, and scholar researching new and effective ways to strengthen Mexican-American relations through the study and performance of music. These include overcoming stereotypes as well as Mexican, LGBTQ+, and LatinX representation in the field of music education, repertoire, and performance He is the artistic director of the Saint Mary's College Jazz Band as well as its Chamber Musicians program. He also oversees the instrumental private lessons faculty at The College.

Dr. Montesinos is a regular guest conductor with theAwesöme Orchestra, a Bay-Area organization that amplifies voices of marginalized folk, forms deeper partnerships with communities and organizations as well as creates more equity and representation at every level. The mission of the Awesome Orchestra is also to make awesome orchestral adventures accessible to musicians and the public. He has also been a guest conductor with theYouth Musical Theater Company, most recently for their spring 2022 production of Stephen Sodnheim's Sweeney Todd.

He presented a clinic in December 2021 at the 75th Annual Midwest Clinic entitled "Surpassing La Cucaracha dn the Mexican Hat Dance" and spoke to the importance of diversifying Mexican-themed repertoire for instrumental ensembles and debunking common musical stereotypes,

Dr. Montesinos earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Wind Conducting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey where he studied with Professors William Berz, Kraig Alan Williams, and Darryl J. Bott. His terminal research project focused on the evolution and socio-political influence of wind bands in Mexico from the War of Independence to the Mexican Revolution. During his time at Rutgers, Dr. Montesinos also served as a teaching assistant with the Rutgers University Marching Scarlet Knights participating in performances for President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. During the fall and spring, he worked as a Graduate Assistant Conductor of the Rutgers Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Winds. In 2016, he programmed and conducted with the Rutgers University Concert Band, the United States premiere of two wind pieces by Colombian composer Victoriano Valencia: Chande and Tango from his larger series Ritmos de la Tierra. He also presented and conducted Valencia's music in March of 2018 at the new music reading session during the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) Eastern Division Conference at Yale University.

Before moving to California, Dr. Montesinos served as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Ferrum College in southwest Virginia where he established The Ferrum College Panther Marching Band, Ferrum College Mountain Winds, and Ferrum College Iron Mountain Brass. Enrollment in the band program doubled under his tenure. He also served as music department coordinator and developed the curriculum to create a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree. Dr. Montesinos led an initiative to establish an Appalachian Folk Music Program and started a guest artist recital series designed to bring live music to the Ferrum College community throughout the year.

Before his doctoral studies at Rutgers University, he was a public school high school band director at Jersey Village High School, a high school within the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Northwest Houston. In this capacity, he assisted with the instruction of a 300-member marching band, four concert bands, and conducted the all-school musical. He also taught beginning instrumental classes at the middle school feeder. At Jersey Village, He was the primary conductor of the Symphonic II band. Symphonic II earned division one ratings at the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Concert and Sightreading Contest.

Dr. Montesinos completed a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Texas at Arlington under the tutelage of his long-time mentor and former high school orchestra director, Dr. Clifton Evans. Montesinos also completed additional studies in wind and orchestral conducting at the following programs: The Frederick Fennell Memorial Conducting Masterclass at the Eastman School of Music and the Cincinnati Conservatory, The University of North Texas Conductors Collegium, The Art of Band Conducting at the University of Texas at Austin, The International Conductors Workshop and Competition at Mercer University, and The International Institute for Conductors in Bacau, Romania. Additionally, he worked closely and shared the podium with H. Robert Reynolds as a doctoral conducting student during a week-long residency at Rutgers University.

As a flutist, Dr. Montesinos was a featured soloist at the 70th Annual Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference performing Gabe Mussella’s Cumbia de Xavier with the Ridgeview Middle School Percussion Ensemble. He has also been on the faculty at FlootFire Houston. He completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Instrumental Music Education at the University of Houston Moores School of Music where he performed two graduate-level flute recitals and was principal flute of the University of Houston Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra. Upon graduation from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, he was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to study flute performance at Arizona State University in Tempe where he completed two years of flute studies before attending the University of Houston. In high school, he studied flute at the American Festival for the Arts Summer Music Conservatory with Kirsten “Kiki” Larsen and at the Brevard Music Center in North Ca rolina as a pupil of Thomas Robertello. He was a flute student of Judy Dines, second flutist of the Houston Symphony, for two years and performed with the Houston Symphony twice at Jones Hall. He has played for Carol Wincenc at The Juilliard School and Leone Buyse, Christina Jennings, and Robert Langevin in various masterclasses. He is also a proud alumnus and supporter of the Virtuosi of Houston Youth Chamber Orchestra and the Greater Houston Youth Orchestra. In 2004 he toured China extensively as an orchestral flutist with the Northwest Houston Symphony.

Dr. Montesinos enjoys working outside of the United States and has established strong ties with high school and middle school band directors in Peru. In March of 2017, he gave a week-long seminar to local high school and middle school band directors in Lima, Peru as part of their required professional development. Most recently he was a featured speaker on marching and concert band techniques in January of 2018 at the PERUBANDAS National Congress in Lima, Peru. Additionally, he held interim teaching positions at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania as conductor of the concert band and at Lewisville High School in Lewisville, Texas as director of the orchestra program. He has also served as the Associate Dean of Students at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. His writing has been published by the Instrumentalist Magazine and internationally by the WASBE Journal. Montesinos is a native of the town of Coyoacan in Mexico City where he began his musical career at the early age of four studying piano at the prestigious Yamaha Institute.

Vu Nguyen is the Director of Wind Ensembles and Conducting at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA.

Prior to his appointment at the University of Connecticut, he served as the Director of Bands at the University of Indianapolis, was a conductor of the Wind Ensemble at Washington University in St. Louis, and was a visiting conductor of the Indiana University Concert Band. He began his career teaching in the public schools of San Ramon, CA.

Dr. Nguyen has conducted throughout the western United States and in Japan. He maintains an active schedule as a clinician and has served as guest conductor with the United States Air Force Bands of the Golden West and Mid-America, as well as regional honor bands in northern California, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Ensembles under his direction have been invited to perform at state music educator conferences in California and Indiana, at the Midwest Clinic, and most recently at the 2020 College Band Directors National Association Eastern Division Conference. His research interests focus on contemporary wind band literature, the music of Frank Zappa, and conducting pedagogy. His book chapter on composer Carter Pann was published in the fifth volume ofA Composer’s Insight: Thoughts, Analysis, and Commentary on Contemporary Masterpieces for Wind Band(Meredith Music Publications).

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Dr. Nguyen earned a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from University of the Pacific, a Master of Music in Conducting from the University of Oregon, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting from the University of Washington.

In addition to his academic career, Dr. Nguyen continues to serve as an officer in the Air National Guard (ANG) where he is the commander/conductor of the ANG Band of the West Coast. In this position, he is responsible for all activities of the 40-member squadron, including participation in ceremonies, parades, concerts and other public performances. The Band of the West Coast is one of five ANG Bands in the United States covering an eight-state area of responsibility that includes California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Saxophonist John Wojciechowski is originally from Detroit and has spent the last 18 years performing and teaching in Chicago. In addition to leading his own groups, he has performed or recorded with The Chicago Jazz Orchestra, The Chicago Jazz Ensemble, The Woody Herman Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Clark Terry, Charlie Haden, and Kurt Elling among many others. John was also a third place finalist in the 1996 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. John has appeared on dozens of recordings as a sideman, and has two recordings as a leader: “Lexicon", released in 2009 and “Focus” which was released in the fall of 2015 on Origin records to critical acclaim.

Besides being an active performer, John (a National Board Certified Teacher) is also an educator noted for his versatility, creativity and enthusiasm. He has taught at the public school as well as university levels and has appeared all over the country as a guest artist, clinician and conductor. He is currently on the music faculty at St. Charles North High School in St. Charles, Illinois where he teaches Jazz Bands, Concert Band and Music Theory. His student groups have performed at the IAJE Conference, Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, JEN Conference and the Illinois All-State Music Educator Conference. In addition to his public school teaching, he has also taught at Northern Illinois University and Northwestern University.

Joshua Johnson currently serves as the Associate Director of Bands at Traughber Junior High in Oswego, Illinois. Prior to coming to Oswego, Josh served as Director of Bands at North Kirkwood Middle School and Associate Director of Bands in Kirkwood, Missouri.

Joshua attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he received his Bachelor of Music Education Degree with Honors. During his time at Illinois, he was a member of the Illinois Wind Symphony, the Marching Illini, the University of Illinois Black Chorus, and many other university ensembles. Josh studied Oboe with Professor John Dee & studied conducting and pedagogy with Dr. Stephen Peterson, Dr. Beth Peterson, Dr. Linda Moorhouse & Professor Barry Houser.

Josh has been recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education in 2021 as a finalist for the 2021 Outstanding Early Educator division of Illinois Teacher of the Year. He was also the recipient of the 2021 Outstanding Early Educator Award of Meritorious Service.

Josh spent two years serving as a Conductor (Drum Major) for the two time Drum Corps International World Champion, Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps. He is still very active in the marching band activity. Josh has worked as a designer, instructor, choreographer and judge throughout the states of Missouri and Illinois.

Josh’s professional affiliations include the Illinois Music Education Association and the National Band Association.

Karen Fannin is Professor, Director of Bands, and Interim Director of the School of Music at the University of Nebraska at Omaha where she conducts the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting, instructs courses in music education, and provides leadership for all aspects of the UNO band program.

Previously, Dr. Fannin served as Director of Bands and Department Chair at Hendrix College. While in Arkansas, Dr. Fannin also held the position of Music Director and Conductor of the Little Rock Wind Symphony. A native of Iowa, Dr. Fannin began her teaching career in the Lynnville-Sully Schools as Director of Bands and subsequently served as Director of Bands at Lockport Township High School in suburban Chicago.

Dr. Fannin maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. Recent professional engagements include a residency in Guangdong, China, a conference presentation in Stockholm, Sweden, and guest conducting or adjudicating in Canada, Alaska, Washington, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. An active presenter, Dr. Fannin has shared her research at international, national, regional, and state conferences. Passionate about making interdisciplinary connections that impact a conductor’s work with an ensemble, Dr. Fannin has presented on topics such as pacing in rehearsals and performance, communication in music, parallels between the ensemble and business, and the lineage of Nadia Boulanger through wind repertoire. She is published in theJournal of Band Researchand is a contributing author to theTeaching Music Through Performance in Bandseries published by GIA.

Dr. Fannin earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from the University of Colorado where she studied with Allan McMurray; a Master of Music in Conducting from Northwestern University as a student of Mallory Thompson; and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Northern Iowa, where she was recently honored with a Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Mary Cogswell is the current president of the South Dakota Bandmasters Association, the editor of the Beginning Band Adaptable series, and a long time beginning band teacher. If you teach beginners, this is the episode for you!

Biography Capt. Kenneth C. Collins, a native of Reno, Nevada, entered the Navy in 1989 and attended recruit training in San Diego, California. Upon completion of Musician "A" school, he served as a percussionist in fleet bands in Guam and Newport, Rhode Island. His first assignment upon receiving a commission as a limited duty officer bandmaster in 1998 was as the ceremonial band leader and associate conductor of the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, D.C., and shortly thereafter an assignment as the assistant director of the U.S. Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, Maryland. Collins served as the director of Navy Band Northwest from 2001-2004, director for U.S. Pacific Fleet Band from 2004-2007, director of Navy Band Southeast from 2007-2008, and director of the U.S. Naval Forces Europe Band from 2009-2012. He was selected for assignment to Navy Postgraduate School through the civilian institutions program in 2008, and completed a Master of Music with an emphasis in wind band conducting at the University of Illinois in 2009. Most recently, he completed a tour as director of Fleet Band Activities from 2012-2015. He reported to his current assignment as commanding officer of the U.S. Navy Band in July 2015. In addition to his military assignments, Collins studied drums and percussion with Jonathan Wacker, Dom Moio and Gary Chaffee and conducting with A.G. MacGrannahan, Anthony Maiello, James Keene, Abel Ramirez and David Waltman. He has served as a clinician for bands from all over the United States and in Europe. He served as the assistant conductor of the Rainier Symphony from 2002-2004, the Central Oahu Honor Band conductor/clinician in 2006 and adjunct faculty to Hawaii Pacific University, teaching undergraduate courses in music. Collins holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Nevada, a Master of Business Administration from Hawaii Pacific University and a Master of Music from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His military decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal (2 Awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (3 awards) and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal (3 Awards).

Matthew Maslanka is David Maslanka’s second son and the primary caretaker of David’s music. Born in New York City in1982, he grew up listening to his father composing at the piano. From the age of 10, Matthew started helping out by making photocopies of scores and dubbing cassette tapes for David to send to conductors interested in the music. At 12, Matthew discovered the delights of engraving music with a computer. By 14, he was skilled enough to handle the preparation of his father’s music and proceeded to engrave virtually every work from that point forward. In this way, he built up a deep understanding of the underpinnings of David’s writing and long-term development as a composer. He frequently accompanied his father on trips to work with ensembles and observed his working process closely. Matthew enjoyed a particularly close personal and professional relationship with David.

Matthew is a versatile musician, performing on euphonium and trombone, preparing sheet music forperformance and publication, and publishing his father’s music. He studied euphonium performance as anundergraduate at Michigan State University with Philip Sinder and as a master’s student at Indiana University with DanielPerantoni. He also studied trombone as a doctoral candidate at Indiana University with Carl Lenthe. He has performed on Broadway in the orchestra ofFiddler on the Roofand plays with the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestraand the Chelsea Symphony, among others.

Along with performing, Matthew is an accomplished music engraver and copyist. Equally at home in the commercial andclassical worlds, he has prepared music in diverse genres. Projects have included the Pixar filmThe Incredibles 2,Warner Brothers’Shazam!, the hit video gameDestiny 2by Bungie Inc. and the acclaimed musicalsFar From Heavenby Scott Frankel with orchestrations by Tony Awardwinner Bruce Coughlin,Chessby Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA, andSycamore Treesby Ricky IanGordon. He has also engraved opera, wind ensemble, and chamber music for the New York-based publisher CarlFischer and Internationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski in Hamburg.

In 2012, Matthew founded Maslanka Press to publish his father’s works.Dedicated to producing beautiful, affordable new editions, promoting David’s music, and supporting performers,educators, and enthusiasts, Maslanka Press now publishes more than 70 works worldwide. Following David’s passing in 2017, he started the David Maslanka Foundation with his brother Stephen and sister Kathryn to preserve and promote David’s music and life. As part of that mission, Matthew travels worldwide, coaching performing groups on his father’s music.

Matthew is an avid photographer and lives in New York City with his two dogs, Cassie and Max.

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Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

The Everything Band Podcast team includes the following contributors:

• Host and Creator: Mark Connor
• Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
• Creative Director: Jake Walker

Matthew Maslanka is David Maslanka’s second son and the primary caretaker of David’s music. Born in New York City in1982, he grew up listening to his father composing at the piano. From the age of 10, Matthew started helping out by making photocopies of scores and dubbing cassette tapes for David to send to conductors interested in the music. At 12, Matthew discovered the delights of engraving music with a computer. By 14, he was skilled enough to handle the preparation of his father’s music and proceeded to engrave virtually every work from that point forward. In this way, he built up a deep understanding of the underpinnings of David’s writing and long-term development as a composer. He frequently accompanied his father on trips to work with ensembles and observed his working process closely. Matthew enjoyed a particularly close personal and professional relationship with David.

Matthew is a versatile musician, performing on euphonium and trombone, preparing sheet music forperformance and publication, and publishing his father’s music. He studied euphonium performance as anundergraduate at Michigan State University with Philip Sinder and as a master’s student at Indiana University with DanielPerantoni. He also studied trombone as a doctoral candidate at Indiana University with Carl Lenthe. He has performed on Broadway in the orchestra ofFiddler on the Roofand plays with the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestraand the Chelsea Symphony, among others.

Along with performing, Matthew is an accomplished music engraver and copyist. Equally at home in the commercial andclassical worlds, he has prepared music in diverse genres. Projects have included the Pixar filmThe Incredibles 2,Warner Brothers’Shazam!, the hit video gameDestiny 2by Bungie Inc. and the acclaimed musicalsFar From Heavenby Scott Frankel with orchestrations by Tony Awardwinner Bruce Coughlin,Chessby Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA, andSycamore Treesby Ricky IanGordon. He has also engraved opera, wind ensemble, and chamber music for the New York-based publisher CarlFischer and Internationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski in Hamburg.

In 2012, Matthew founded Maslanka Press to publish his father’s works.Dedicated to producing beautiful, affordable new editions, promoting David’s music, and supporting performers,educators, and enthusiasts, Maslanka Press now publishes more than 70 works worldwide. Following David’s passing in 2017, he started the David Maslanka Foundation with his brother Stephen and sister Kathryn to preserve and promote David’s music and life. As part of that mission, Matthew travels worldwide, coaching performing groups on his father’s music.

Matthew is an avid photographer and lives in New York City with his two dogs, Cassie and Max.

-------

Are you planning to travel with your group sometime soon? If so, please consider my sponsor, Kaleidoscope Adventures, a full service tour company specializing in student group travel. With a former educator as its CEO, Kaleidoscope Adventures is dedicated to changing student lives through travel and they offer high quality service and an attention to detail that comes from more than 25 years of student travel experience. Trust Kaleidoscope’s outstanding staff to focus on your group’s one-of-a-kind adventure, so that you can focus on everything else!

The Everything Band Podcast team includes the following contributors:

• Host and Creator: Mark Connor
• Outreach Manager: Colin Peters
• Creative Director: Jake Walker