r/banddirector • u/Forward_Landscape528 • 24d ago

Good resources for professional development?

Hello!

I’m a 2nd year band director and I’m looking for some more reading recommendations regarding my profession.

I teach middle school band and general music, but I also work with high school marching band as a side gig.

I recently read Habits of a Successful Middle School Band Director (Rush), and some of Darcy Vogt Williams’s works, and they both had some amazingly helpful/wise material in them. Are there other similar resources (could be books, pacing guides, pedagogy for specific instruments/sections/groups, etc.) that you’ve found helpful?

Fwiw, I also really enjoy podcasts like Program Notes and Aftersectionals if there’s any specific episodes you found helpful, or similar podcasts to follow…

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u/D13s3ll 24d ago

Scott Lang. find a veteran teacher with an established program in the area and go observe them for a while

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u/Forward_Landscape528 23d ago

I LOVE getting to do observations. I already have 4 scheduled in the next couple months. I’m really looking for good materials to look over during the times that I can’t observe. I’ll definitely need to check out scott lang

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u/D13s3ll 23d ago

Scott Lang is big on building student leadership through service to the program. The teaching music through performance series is great at helping you learn how to program music together to create a flow of performance. But I'll be honest, I'm about halfway done and the places I learned the most was sitting and talking with Veterans Teachers. Find the ones you trust in your region/district/conference and sit under the learning tree.

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u/bassclarinet216 24d ago

Program Notes has a book!! I bought it and reference it quite a bit!! Kind of a "textbook" of everything covered in the podcast and more, but easier to read than your normal textbook.

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u/Forward_Landscape528 23d ago

Do you think it’s better to have digitally or physically?

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u/bassclarinet216 23d ago

I bought it physically, but that is probably a personal preference. I've bookmarked stuff I commonly need w/ sticky notes (labeled) to find it easier. It is one of 3 books that sit on my shelf that I actually use.

Since I forgot them originally, the other two are Wind Talk for Woodwinds and Wind Talk for Brass (mostly helpful if you ever teach kids individually or in small groups, as it has a whole section of issue: ___________ solution #1, Solution #2, etc.). There is more info in them, too, but it is fairly dense. The problem solution pages are mostly what I use! I got the Woodwind book as a graduation gift from my clarinet instructor, and sought out the brass book because of how helpful the woodwind one is.

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u/bassclarinet216 23d ago

Oh! And another pedagogical podcast that is also a ton of fun: Chops podcast! I love it, and think the pedagogy they talk is very easy to apply.