NC Music Educator Conference Edition 2022

e-imagining, redefining, and rebuilding our culture. The culture
of any group deeply affects its members and impacts its success.
The culture pervades all aspects of the program. It determines how
people interact with one another, how problems are solved, and
how everyone works toward goals. In music ensembles, cultures are
particularly important. Negative energy, low standards, apathy, and
drama severely limit potential and success, as well as enjoyment.
Directors must be very intentional and persistent to cultivate a
positive atmosphere and culture – something that has never been
more important than now. Over the years, I’ve learned building
a great culture begins with a few fundamentals and principles
that attendees can implement immediately to restore a sense of
community and create a culture of excellence.
Dr. David Montgomery
Dr. David Montgomery is associate
professor of instrumental music education at
Baylor University where he teaches courses
in band music education and observes
student teachers. Prior to Baylor, he was
associate director of bands and director
of the Bronco Marching Band at Western
Michigan University for 14 years, and taught
high school band in North Carolina. He is
published in The Instrumentalist, The National Band Association
Journal, Texas Bandmasters Review, The Southwestern Musician,
and The Journal of Band Research and has given numerous
presentations at music conferences across the south and midwest,
including College Band Directors National Association and the
Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. Additionally, he served as
state chairperson of the Michigan chapter of the National Band
Association. He is the founder and director of Serviam Leadership
Academy, a high school marching band leadership camp.
middle and high school bands as well as serving as director of the
Duke University Wind Symphony.
Success in the First Few Years –
a Conversation
This session will focus on how beginning and young teachers
can define and experience success in their band programs.
Attendees will have opportunities to write down goals and work
them from the goal backward to the teaching and then the
planning stages. Ideas will be shared for defining success and
how to achieve it through building a band program and from the
daily teaching strategies and skills needed to have bands playing
at a high caliber. Question and answer format will be used in the
session via technology. This session will be a great chance for
young teachers to develop a repertoire of teaching skills to try out
in the classroom and to develop specific goals tailored for their
band rooms.
Katie Ebert
Katie Ebert is the director of bands at
Cuthbertson Middle School in Waxhaw,
having served in this capacity since the
school’s opening in 2009. The Cuthbertson
Middle School concert bands have
consistently earned superior ratings at
local, district and regional music festivals.
Under her baton, the middle school
program has grown to a current enrollment
of approximately 220 music students. Ebert also serves as the
assistant director of bands at Cuthbertson High School. She holds a
Bachelor of Music Education and a Bachelor of Music Performance
from Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Ga., and a
Master of Music Education from Western Carolina University.
has presented trumpet and brass clinics at Mars Hill University,
Charleston Southern University, The University of Kentucky, and
UNC Greensboro. He is also the inventor and US patent holder for
Voca, the flat folding trumpet mute.
Help! How Can I Organize my Band Program?
In this session you’ll learn strategies, tips, and tricks for
organizing your school band program in one digital swag bag.
Every participant will leave with information they can take
back to their program and potentially with administrative tasks,
recruitment, advocacy, finances and much more!
James Daugherty
James G. Daugherty, a native of Ashe
County, currently serves as the arts
education and digital learning specialist for
Davidson County Schools and is the director
of Cannon Music Camp at Appalachian
State University. Prior to these appointments
in 2015, he served for twenty-one years
as band director and instructor of music
theory at Central Davidson High School
in Lexington, assisting daily with the band instruction at Central
Davidson Middle School. In 2022, he completed his thirty-second
summer on the faculty/staff of Cannon Music Camp, previously
having served as the dean of men for twenty years. He holds a
bachelor’s and master’s in music education from Appalachian State
University with additional certification in education leadership/
school administration from High Point University. Daugherty
currently serves as Southern Division president of NAfME,
representing eleven state music education associations within the
Division.
Eight to Nine – Crossing the Threshold to High
School Band!
Eight to Nine provides strategies and resources for band
directors in approaching students, parents and administrators
about staying in band from middle school to high school and its
importance for their education and lives. Clinicians Mark Norman,
Tim Heath and Philip Riggs will present multiple strategies in how
to inspire students to continue their band involvement; inform
parents how high school band has many benefits for their child and
their family; and gives concrete evidence to school counselors and
administrators to why advising a student to stay in band can be
valuable to the student’s academic career and social development.
This session will present data demonstrating the state of retention
from middle to high school band students in N.C. and address
solutions in keeping our students making music through all grades!
Mark A. Norman,
Phillip Riggs, &
Dr. Tim Heath
Mark A. Norman
is the music director
of the Piedmont
Wind Symphony and
has enjoyed a career
spanning over thirty-five
Mark A. Norman, Phillip Riggs
Contour Through Chorales: a Tangible Guide
to Shaping Phrases and Ensemble Training for
High School Band
features lab band Millbrook High School Wind Ensemble
After virtual learning during the pandemic, our ensembles
have lacked ensemble experience and training. This session will
demonstrate use of chorales as a tangible method to teach and
reinforce ensemble performance, as well as a means to create
musical contour within your ensembles. Chorales are essential
tools to heighten students’ awareness of tone, pitch, balance,
volume control, and envelope of sound. Chorales are excellent tools
to teach our ensembles how to create phrasal contour through
variation in volume and tempo, and responding to the conductor’s
musical interpretation.
Tom Jenner
Tom Jenner is a recently retired North
Carolina school band director. Most of his
career was spent at Millbrook and William
G. Enloe High Schools in Wake County. At
those schools he directed the concert band,
symphonic band, wind ensemble, jazz band,
and marching band. He began teaching
in 1986 and is a National Board Certified
Teacher with extensive experience working with
Playing to Win: Game Theory and Beginner
Band
This session is designed to help band directors by offering a
broad introduction to game theory, and how to use those ideas
as a lens to create better engagement for beginner musicians.
Game theory is a developing area of study used to analyze how
individuals interact with systems. This field has yielded remarkable
results in the development of the internet, and related technologies.
These ideas are now being used to improve instruction in many
areas of education. In this session, the presenters will apply game
theory concepts to the beginner method book and first year.
Andrew Washburn, Ben Jones, R. Cole Hairstoin &
Kevin Clary
Andrew Washburn is the director of
bands at Kings Mountain High School, in
Kings Mountain, N.C. Under his direction,
the KMHS Blazer Band was one four bands
from across the country to participate in the
2018 President’s Cup, an annual invitational
concert band competition sponsored by the
US Army Band (Pershing’s Own).
Washburn was recently honored to be
accepted as a member of ASBDA. He is a regular clinician,
composer, and arranger for bands throughout the Carolinas. He
Audition Dates for 2022–23
December 3, 2022
January 28, 2023
February 11, 2023
February 25, 2023*
April 8, 2023 (virtual)
*priority deadline for scholarship/assistantship consideration
Degree Programs
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Music
Music Minor
Master of Music
Doctor of Musical Arts
Doctor of Philosophy
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate
Post-Masters Certificate
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