Bulletin
Spring 2022 Volume: 63 • Issue: 2
CONTENTS CBDA Board of Directors ........................................................................................ 2 President’s Message................................................................................................. 3 Jeff Detlefsen, CBDA President
CASMEC Reflections................................................................................................. 6 Ali Gilroy Golden, CASMEC Coordinator
All-State Reflections.................................................................................................. 7 Ryan Dirlam, Student Host & Ashley Shine, Ensemble Host
New Board Members................................................................................................ 8 Outgoing Board Members...................................................................................... 10 CBDA Award Winners............................................................................................. 12 President’s List ........................................................................................................ 14 CODA Update........................................................................................................... 15 Chavonta Edington, CODA Representative
CAJ Update............................................................................................................... 16 Paul Herrera, CAJ Representative
NCBA Update........................................................................................................... 18 Christy Latham, NCBA Representative
NCBCDA Update...................................................................................................... 19 Casson Scowcroft, NCBCDA Representative
SCSBOA Update..................................................................................................... 20 Jeanne Christensen, SCSBOA President
From the Past President......................................................................................... 21 Phil Vallejo, Past President
The Fall is Forever Away ... Until it Isn’t............................................................. 22 Lindsey Vento
All-State Auditions.................................................................................................. 25
CALIFORNIA BAND DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Jeff Detlefsen President
Susan Willmering Vice President
Trish Adams Executive Administrator
Patrick Dandrea Secretary (Interim)
Danielle Cavazos All-State Host
Michael Tackett Exhibit Host
Cisco Marquez CMEA Rep
Paul Herrera CAJ Rep
Dan Bryan President Elect
Ryan Dirlam CASMEC Coordinator
Joe Cargill CBDA Logistics Coordinator
Jazareth Valencia NCBA Rep
Ashley Shine Treasurer
Phil Vallejo Past President
Yasmine Brackens Student Host
Katie Gilchrist Ensemble Host
Danielle Collins Director of Marketing
Taylor Smith Director of Communications
Dr. Kaitlin Bove DEIA Rep
Casson Scowcroft NCBCDA Rep
Jeanne Christensen SCSBOA Rep
Coming Soon CODA Rep
CBDA is a nonprofit association consisting of band directors from all levels of music education. CBDA provides the AllState Jr. and High School honor groups for students and a state convention each February for directors. Join or renew CBDA membership here. The CBDA Bulletin is the official publication of the California Band Directors Association, Inc. Published three times a year: Spring, Fall, and Winter. Subscription price is included in the CBDA annual dues. The opinions expressed in the magazine are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent an official position of the Association. CBDA does not necessarily endorse any product or service advertised in this magazine. Access emails at cbda.org 2
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
As I sat listening to the wonderful sounds of our all state ensembles in February, it reminded me how much I missed our time together. CASMEC 2022 was a wonderful celebration of music education in California. I loved the time I had to commiserate with my colleagues, learn about new strategies to minimize the COVID learning loss, and listen to phenomenal performances from bands, jazz bands, orchestras and choirs. I would like to personally thank the other organization presidents for their collaboration and hard work in making it a success. None of this would have been possible without the work of our CASMEC team, namely Ali Gilroy-Golden - CASMEC coordinator, Ryan Dirlam - All State Host, Barbara Shinaver and Willard Larco - CASMEC Logistics. Their countless hours of planning, negotiating, and running of the conference made this conference one for the books. I would like to recognize our outgoing board members and thank them for their time and dedication to the board. Ali Gilroy Golden - CASMEC Coordinator, Christy Latham - NCBDA Rep, Chavonta Edington - CODA/DEIA Rep, and Kristen Pallas - Secretary. Thank you for the time and effort you gave to making CBDA a great organization. CBDA was proud to premiere our first ever Social Justice Consortium. Kevin Day and Katahj Copley provided us with exceptional music that allowed for some powerful performances from both the HS Wind Symphony and JHS Symphonic Bands. The standing ovations for both of these works were well deserved, and I couldn’t be more proud of the work the committee did to expand this idea and see it through to its premiere. I am very excited to welcome Katilin Bove on to the CBDA board to take over the role of CBDA Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Rep (DEIA). In this position Kaitlin will oversee the continuation of the CBDA Social Justice Consortium and will work with the board to make sure we are looking at all of our decisions through the lens of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility.
We are proud to announce our 2023 Social Justice Consortium. Marie Douglass has joined us to write a 3 movement grade 2.5 piece focused on the topic of mental health. The “You Are Enough” consortium is now open for members to join. You can join this movement and have your organization names added to the printed publication which will again include a curriculum on how to speak on such a delicate topic. Join at www.cbda.og for just $150. Physical copies of the music will be available for pick up at CASMEC 2023. This wonderful new piece of music will be premiered by the inaugural CBDA All-State Small Schools Band. This band will be open to all California Band students that attend a school with enrollment under 1200 and meet one of three criteria that can be found on the CBDA website. Dr. Peter Boonshaft is joining us as the conductor for this amazing group and they will join the CBDA HS Wind Symphony and CODA HS Symphony Orchestra on the Saturday night concert to premiere the consortium piece this year. Information on this band can also be found on the CBDA website. As CBDA grows and continues to find ways to better serve the band directors and students of this great state, we are expanding our focus and offerings. I am happy to announce that coming Summer of 2023 CBDA will put on its first CBDA All-State Summer Camp. This camp will take place in Southern California and is open to all high school band students. The dates and location are being finalized and will be announced in the next few months. This camp will provide students with a great opportunity to play with some top notch conductors, have private master classes with experts on their instrument, and get some advice on how to best prepare for that year’s upcoming all-state auditions. We hope to see this camp grow and become an annual tradition for CBDA. With this new growth our board is also growing and changing. Lastly, I would like to welcome our new board members as they join us during this exciting new time. Kaitlin Bove - DEIA Rep, Patrick Dandrea - Secretary (Interim), CBDA Summer Camp Coordinator - Daniel Greenberg, Katie Gilchrist, Ensemble Host, Danielle Cavazos - All -State Host, Yasmine Brackens - Student Host, and Jazareth Valencia NCBA Rep. Thank you all for all you do in and out of your band rooms to better music education in California. The last two years have been a trial for us all, but we are coming out stronger, better, and more united. Please continue to advocate for yourselves, your programs, and your students as we work toward a new normal.
Jeff Detlefsen President, California Band Directors Association Director of Bands, Sierra Pacific HS 3
12th A
California All-State Musi
February 1 Fresno Conve
4
It Was Great To Se
Annual
ic Education Conference
17-20, 2022 ention Center
ee You In Person!!
5
C A S M E C Re f l e c t i o n s Ali Gilroy Golden Outgoing CASMEC Coordinator Associate Director of Instrumental Music and Director of Orchestras, Reagan Educational Center
The CASMEC coalition, including the California Alliance for Jazz (CAJ), California Band Directors Association (CBDA), California Choral Directors Association (CCDA), California Music Educators Association (CMEA), and California Orchestra Directors Association (CODA) hopes the 2022 CASMEC conference provided our educators with the opportunity to celebrate music education in California. This year nearly 1,000 music educators from across our state and country enjoyed our in-person conference again! We hosted 92 sessions covering a range of topics that will help educators continue to navigate through a pandemic and the impacts it has and is still having on our students and communities. Back together again, in person, conference attendees had the pleasure of listening to several outstanding performances featuring some of the best ensembles from across the state. These performances were quite impressive and left concert goers quite delighted and refreshed with their beautiful music. It is so wonderful to see so many programs throughout the state continuing to do incredible things with their students so soon after returning to the classroom. Attendees and students also enjoyed an exciting and entertaining performance featuring Taylor McFarrin at our opening Headliner Concert on Thursday evening. Thank you to CASMEC Logistics Coordinator, Willard Lacro, Assistant CASMEC Logistics Coordinator, Barb Shinaver, CBDA Logistics Coordinator, Joseph Cargill and the other team members from all of our collaborative organizations that worked hard to plan and execute our sessions. Many hours were dedicated before, during and still now after the conference to ensure an inspirational experience for our attendees. Thank you all for your work to provide the highest quality professional learning opportunity for music educators across the state. 6
Thank you also to our CASMEC All-State Coordinator, Ryan Dirlam. Ryan and his team spent countless hours preparing and even created a new (and one year only) hybrid model for our students to ensure their All-State experience was a safe and amazing one. Even after 2 years of online and hybrid learning while making their way through a global pandemic, our students continued to demonstrate exceptional musical ability and talent. Watching our students rehearse and perform together, making live music again was so inspirational and rewarding. The annual All-State Ensembles allow educators to assess, enhance, and adapt their curriculum, not just for this school year, but for years to come. I hope you all had the opportunity to observe some of these incredible music educators in their rehearsals with our students and witness their exceptional performances and moving World Premieres throughout the weekend. Finally, a huge thank you and congratulations to the one and only Trish Adams. This year proved to be another challenging one to navigate with various and ever changing COVID protocols and eventually the seemingly thousands of things impacted and changing thanks to the domino effect. But Trish, as always, remains calm, cool and collected, dedicating thousands of hours to our music educators and young musicians. This conference would not happen without her dedication and professionalism year after year. Thank you, Trish. We look forward to welcoming you and your students back to Fresno in February 2023 for the next California AllState Music Education Conference. As always, thank you for all that you do for our students, schools, and communities across the state. Good luck with your remaining weeks of classes. Have a wonderful and restful summer!
A l l - S t a t e Re f l e c t i o n s Live music has never been more impactful! Last year, as we started to work with the Ensemble Hosts, Student Host and CASMEC Board, there were a lot of uncertainties about our live conference coming back. We knew students would be hungry to perform in person again and so we set out to create the All-State experience as safe as possible in an unsure time. Our team spent more hours than ever before to ensure our students would have flexibility in this first year coming back to a live CASMEC. While we knew that it wouldn’t happen without some bumps in the road, we were challenged with more adversity than normal with some of the housing not fulfilling our agreements. Luckily, thanks to the incredible help of some of our Board Members and CASMEC Staff, we were able to overcome the obstacle within a matter of hours. From the All-State Coordinator perspective, I would like to send a large amount of gratitude to the Ensemble Hosts (Susie Martone & Angelina Fitzhugh - CCDA, Brant Nishida - CODA, Paul Herrera - CAJ, Ashley Shine - CBDA, Galen Lemmon - Percussion Coordinator), we were able to create and facilitate a positive experience for our musicians. I would also like to send special thanks to our Student Host - Yasmine Brackens-Alexander and her team, and our fearless leader, Ali Gilroy-Golden - CASMEC Coordinator, for leading us through this difficult transition. We couldn’t have made this experience happen without your dedication and hard work! From the Ensemble Host side, I would like to thank my Assistant Danielle Cavazos for all of her help and the tireless work of our CBDA Managerial Staff. These rehearsals, and subsequent performances, were able to be successful thanks to the hard work and dedication of our Ensemble Managers and Percussion Managers. Please join me in thanking these music educators for their non-stop work! Katie Gilchrist Chris Pun Maritza Spieller Brad Pulverenti John Gilchrist Marc Dwyer Matthew Fell Jeffrey Marcos Kaitlynn Albers Julie Myer Shota Otaguro Honseng Tu Marco Mellone Joshua Kwan Scott Downs
Thank you all for your support of our All-State musicians in a year where they needed your support the most. As always, it is an honor to serve our students and our organizations.
Ryan Dirlam Student Host Director of Bands, Matilda Torres High School
Ashley Shine Ensemble Host Director of Bands, Weaver Middle School
7
New Board
Members Ashley Shine
Yasmine Brackens
Treasurer Director of Bands, Weaver Middle School
Student Host Instrumental Music Teacher, Peterson Middle School
Ashley Shine has been the Director of Bands at Weaver Middle School in Merced, California since 2014. Ms. Shine is a native of rural Merced County and is a graduate of Hilmar High School. Upon graduation, Ms. Shine earned her Bachelor’s of Music Education from CSU Stanislaus in 2013 and has studied with Dr. Stuart Sims and Saxophonist Kevin Stewart. Ms. Shine plans to continue her education and complete her Master’s Degree in Instrumental Conducting in the years to come. Ms. Shine’s duties include teaching the Weaver Wildcat Marching Band, Color Guard, Percussion Ensemble, as well as conducting Beginning Band, Intermediate Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble and Chamber Music Ensemble. Under her baton, Ms. Shine has guided her students into becoming a grand sweepstakes marching band, as well as increased her department size to 20% of the school population. Her students are frequent performers at solo and ensemble festivals around Central Valley and also participate in multiple honor bands including the MMCMEA Jr. High All-County Honor Band and CASMEC’s All-State Jr High Symphonic and Concert Bands. In addition to teaching her program, Ms. Shine has served as a band manager for CA All-State for several years, was the CBDA Ensemble Host, and now serves as CBDA Treasurer. She is also the President for Merced/ Mariposa CMEA (CA Music Educators Association) and continues to remain involved in her local community by judging during fall marching season and also providing free clinics to her colleagues. Ms. Shine has also been honored to receive multiple awards including the Young Band Director of the Year award from NCBA (Northern CA Band Association).
8
Yasmine Brackens is currently the Director of Percussion Studies for Washington Unified School District in Easton, California where she teaches concert percussion fundamentals to students in grades 5-12. During her time in WUSD, she has completely transformed the percussion program to ensure all students leave the program as well rounded percussionists. Under her direction, the American Union Percussion Ensemble and the Washington Union High School Percussion Ensemble have won numerous accolades, including Unanimous Superior ratings at festivals. Yasmine attended California State University, Fresno and studied percussion under Dr. Matthew Darling. She is an alumni of the National Honorary Band Sorority, Tau Beta Sigma. She returned to Fresno State in the Fall of 2021 to enroll in the Credential Program, and will be completing the program this Spring. After completing the program, Ms. Brackens plans to return to WUSD and continue serving as the Director of Percussion Studies and she hopes to bring elementary music to the district. Ms. Brackens was born and raised in Fresno, Ca where she still resides. In her spare time she enjoys playing and managing percussion for various community and summer bands in the Fresno/Clovis area, spending time with her fiance as well as being a turtle mom to her two aquatic turtles, Nugget and Squirtle.
Katie Gilchrist
Dr. Kaitlin Bove
Ensemble Host Instrumental Music Teacher, Peterson Middle School
DEIA Representative Director of Bands, Diablo Valley College
Katie Gilchrist teaches band and orchestra at Peterson Middle School in Sunnyvale, CA. Before this current position, she taught elementary school music and high school band in the greater San Jose area. Katie graduated from San Jose State University where she studied saxophone and earned her bachelor’s degree in Music Education. She is currently pursuing a masters degree in Music Education from the University of Michigan. Katie is very involved in the marching arts in the San Francisco Bay Area. She currently works on the marching band staff at Monta Vista HS and Lynbrook HS, and also works as a visual staff member for the Vanguard Cadets Drum and Bugle corps. Katie is professionally involved with the California Music Educators Association in addition to the California Band Directors Association. She also serves on the board for CMEA Bay Section as one of the Solo and Ensemble Festival Coordinators.
Danielle Cavazos All-State Host Instrumental Music Teacher, Peterson Middle School Danielle Cavazos has been the Director of Bands at Los Banos High School since 2016 in Los Banos, California. Mrs. Cavazos graduated from Golden Valley High School in Merced, California. Upon graduation, she earned her Bachelor of Music degree in 2015 from California State University, Stanislaus in Turlock, California. She then acquired her teaching credential from the same university in 2016. While at CSU Stanislaus, Mrs. Cavazos studied under Dr. Stuart Sims, Dr. Daniel Afonso, and professional clarinetist Roman Fukshanksky. Mrs. Cavazos plans to continue her education with a master’s degree in instrumental conducting in the coming years. Mrs. Cavazos’ duties at Los Banos High School include instructing and running the Los Banos High School Marching Band and Color Guard, Pep Band, Concert Band, Winter Guard, Winter Percussion, and Jazz Band, as well as teaching guitar and piano classes. Under her baton, Mrs. Cavazos has guided her students into becoming well-rounded musicians and award-winning ensembles. Mrs. Cavazos looks forward to continuing to grow as a music educator.
Starting this fall, Dr. Kaitlin Bove will serve as Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California. She will also begin her tenure as conductor and artistic director of the Diablo Wind Symphony, a youth wind ensemble within the Blue Devils Performing Arts organization. Prior to these appointments, she held the title of Director of Instrumental Music at Pierce College in Puyallup, Washington. She holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Wind Conducting from University of Kentucky where she was a student of Cody Birdwell, a teaching assistant, and premiered her wind transcription of Caroline Shaw’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Partita for 8 Voices in 2019. Dr. Bove is from Lafayette, California and earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Education from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California where she studied with Eric Hammer. Prior to her doctoral work, she taught instrumental music at the secondary level in Payson, Utah. In this setting, she instructed courses in band, orchestra, marching band, jazz ensemble, AP music theory, guitar, folk music, musical theater, and mariachi. Dr. Bove is founder of the And We Were Heard initiative which matches underrepresented composers of wind band literature with volunteer ensembles in order to generate quality recordings of the music of diverse compositional voices. In the vein of this philosophy, Dr. Bove maintains a high commitment to commissioning and performing works by both living and underrepresented composers. She is also co-founder of Girls Who Conduct, a mentorship program that supports gender parity on the conducting podium.
Patrick Dandrea Secretary (Interim) Instrumental Music Teacher, Harvest Park Middle School Mr. Patrick Dandrea is the Director of Instrumental Music at Harvest Park Middle School in Pleasanton, CA where he directs the concert bands, string orchestras, and jazz band. Mr. Dandrea is a Massachusetts native who moved to the Bay Area in 2015 after living and teaching in the Boston area. 2022-23 will be Mr. Dandrea’s 14th year as a music educator. Prior to coming to HPMS, he was the Assistant Band 9
Director at Amador Valley High School from 2016-2021, where he co-directed the Marching Dons, concert bands, Jazz B and taught AP Music Theory. During his time in Massachusetts, Mr. Dandrea taught middle school and high school music in the Weston Public Schools. Mr. Dandrea served as Band Representative on the CMEA Bay Section Board from 2020-2022. He served on the MMEA Eastern District board as the Senior Festival Coordinator in addition to the MMEA state board as the High School Representative. He also oversaw the five orchestra ensembles and overall program of the Rivers Youth Orchestra as orchestra manager. Mr. Dandrea received his bachelor’s degree in music education with an emphasis on saxophone performance at the College of Fine Arts at Boston University. While finishing his degree, he was awarded the inaugural Promising Future Music Educator award by MMEA. He completed his master’s degree in music education at The Boston Conservatory, studying conducting and music education.
Outgoing
Board Members
Kristen Pallas Secretary
Ali Gilroy Golden CASMEC Coordinator
Jazareth Valencia NCBA Representative Band Director, Lincoln High School Jazareth Valencia is currently in her first year as one of the band directors at Lincoln High School, where she co-teaches the concert band and marching band while leading the symphonic band. Jazareth is also the band director at John R. Williams and Lincoln Elementary. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in music and teaching credential from California State University, Stanislaus. Studying clarinet under Joshua Jensen, Jazareth performed with the Stanislaus State Wind Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra. She was also a member of the NAfME collegiate chapter. Prior to joining the staff at Lincoln High School, Jazareth began her career in education at her alma mater Central Valley High School as a music and visual instructor for three seasons. In 2017, she began her tenure with the James C. Enochs High School Marching Band. As a music instructor within the program, she helped lead the marching band to their first top 12 finish in WBA finals. During her first winter season, Jazareth became a co-founder of the James C. Enochs Winter Winds Ensemble, she led the group through their first successful season. Jazareth is currently a member of the Northern California Band Association, California Band Directors Association, and the National Association for Music Education.
10
Chavonta Edington CODA Rep/DEIA Rep
Christy Latham NCBA Rep
Thank you for many years of service!!
Award Winners Nick Estrada
Don Schmeer Friend of Music Award
The CBDA Don Schmeer Friend of Music Award is an annual recognition bestowed on an individual or organization who has demonstrated a history of promoting band music education in California. Recipients of this award have gone above and beyond a common calling to serve the fine art of music in the name of increasing, supporting, and spreading the love and joy of music to students in scholastic areas. Past recipients include music education advocates, industry professionals, university educators, music lobbyists, and others. This year’s award winner is no stranger to CASMEC and CBDA. That said, for many of you, you’ve likely never known his work to be so important because he does all his volunteering behind the scenes. In the last 6-7 years, his work was done before the conference and then after the conference. Prior to that, he could be found back stage of the Saroyan, or running back and forth from rehearsal rooms to Saroyan. If you were lucky enough to be a part of his crew, he would make sure you had plenty of Red Wave tacos! Nick Estrada is the recipient of 2022 CBDA Don Schmeer Friend of Music Award. Nick has been providing pianos for CASMEC for our last 6 years of conferences held in Fresno. As you can imagine, this is no small task, especially when having to lug a grand piano up the stairs of valdez to the Wine Room. Prior to helping CASMEC with pianos, Nick Estrada served as the Stage Crew leader for many years. Many of the systems that served CASMEC for years, were systems he developed, in order to best serve the All State students. His group of stage crew volunteers always enjoyed his leadership, attitude, joy, and once again, his love for Red Wave Tacos! Nick Estrada, or El Guapo (a story for another time), has volunteered countless hours, always with a smile, and we are indebted to his selfless acts.
12
Mike Gangemi
Distinguished Service Award
The description of the CBDA distinguished service award starts by saying the recipient has given selfless service to California Band Director. This year our honoree epitomizes just that. He has given countless hours, days, and years to this organization helping in every aspect of the conference. There was never a point that Mike Gangemi questioned jumping in to help, but always asked what more he could do to help others. His unwavering commitment to CBDA, and more importantly the All-State students, was second to none. Another criteria for this award is that the recipient must participate in giving continual effort in mentoring other music educators in the state. Although he would never admit it, Mike Gangemi was one of the greatest educators our state has seen. He may have not had the official title of teacher for much of his career, but he was teaching students and colleagues far before he earned that degree. I’m sure many of us have a list of jazz charts he compiled and recommended for various programs on a variety of levels. If you had a question about it, you knew who to ask. And his response always came with a smile, and a compliment about how great you were doing. Mike not only gave his time to the organization, but he would often anonymously donate toward student’s all-state costs when they had a financial need or struggled to pay. Never for the attention, in fact most didn’t know he had done this. But his heart of gold, and ever-giving spirit would never rest, even if it meant he went without for a few weeks, just to give this student, who he didn’t know, the opportunity to perform with an all-state ensemble. That is why it is with no question, that the 2022 CBDA Distinguished Service award goes to our dear friend and colleague, who we miss dearly. Over the last few months the amount of work Mike did “behind the scenes” continues to surprise us.
Cheryl Yee Glass
Dave Goedecke Lifetime Achievement Award
The following is the speech given by Chavonta Edington at the CBDA/CMEA Awards Gala to present this award. The Dave Goedecke Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to a CBDA member who has exhibited a lifetime of achievement in music education at the state and national level. As an aspiring music teacher looking for mentorship, I found very few women who were leading high school band and orchestra programs in my community. I remember clearly the first time I saw her conducting a concert during the summer band camp at UoP and knew from that moment that I needed to be connected to her. I am pleased to present this year’s David Goedecke Lifetime Achievement Award to Cheryl Yee Glass. Celebrating her 40th year at San Ramon Valley High School, Cheryl serves as mentor to all who pass through the San Ramon Valley as an educator or student teacher. She is on
the Board of Directors at Cazadero Music Camp and has been an integral part of the Diablo Theater Company and Diablo Light Opera. She also supervises student teachers at Cal State East Bay and founded the non-competitive jazz festival at San Ramon Valley High School. Cheryl leads by example, working her way through leadership and service roles in music education and has served as Past Bay Section and State President for the California Music Educators Association, receiving the Bay Section Outstanding Music Educator Award in 2012. Cheryl’s mentorship is not limited to her guiding discussions on what to wear to a job interview, how to hold your own during conversations in a room full of men or how to navigate the music world as a person of color. Her mentorship is not limited to the free double bass lessons she gives to the middle school and high school students in our district (and she gave them virtually via ZOOM during distance learning) or filling in for the elementary band teacher who needed a long term substitute teacher. In fact, I would describe Cheryl Yee Glass as a person with no limits. She is here tonight even though her marching band is participating in the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade tomorrow morning. Cheryl has stepped back from much of her music teaching responsibilities so our music staff created a wild story to get her to Fresno tonight given her performance schedule. When I asked her earlier this week how she was able to make it all happen, her response was, “Honey, I haven’t given up!”. Tonight, I stand here to publicly say, “Thank you, Cheryl Yee Glass, for not giving up”!
Social Justice Consortium CBDA was proud to premiere our first two social justice consortium pieces at CASMEC in February. The powerful messages portrayed through the work of these amazing composers was beautifully performed by our California All State high school and junior high school students. These pieces are now available for purchase at Murphy Music Press Be on the lookout for information about our next social justice consortium for this upcoming year. 13
President’s List 4, 5, and 6 Year Members
4-Year Members
5-Year Members
Bryson Chen, Fremont High School, Trumpet Nithin Chilakapati, Canyon Crest Academy, Piccolo Nathan Duggal, Canyon Crest Academy, Bb Clarinet Ayaka Fujita, Homestead High School, Alto Saxophone Julian Gray, El camino, Tuba Grace Iimura, Homestead High School, Euphonium Ajay Josyula, Homestead High School, Trumpet Jonathan Kang, Northwood High School, Oboe Edward Kim, Diamond Bar High School, Tenor Saxophone ian kim, Diamond Bar High School, Bb Clarinet Minseo Kim, California High School, Flute Zoe King, Oakland Technical HS, Bb Clarinet Eleanor Koo, Lynbrook High School, Bb Clarinet David Kwon, Diamond Bar High School, Oboe Elizabeth Lau, University Preparatory Academy, Bb Clarinet Alexander Lee, Irvington High School, Percussion Daniel Lee, Troy High School, Bb Clarinet Dyne Lee, Saratoga High School, Bb Clarinet Matthew Lee, Henry M Gunn High School, Bb Clarinet Royce Lee, Henry M. Gunn Highschool, Trumpet Stephen Lin, San Luis Obispo High School, Bb Clarinet Grace Liu, American High School, Percussion Keagan Low, Lincoln High School, Trumpet Nathan Mun, Westview High, Bb Clarinet Tho Nguyen, Amador Valley HS, Bb Clarinet Jessica O’Brien, West Ranch High School, Piccolo Alison Okuno, Saratoga High, Trumpet Christopher Okuno, Saratoga High, Euphonium Tammy Pao, Diamond Bar High School, Piccolo Margaret Pecht, Ventura High School, Bassoon Zachary Piesner, Calabasas High School, Bassoon Zhaowei Qu, Cupertino High School, Tuba Cooper Randeen, Santiago High School, Trombone Nicholas Raney, Oak Park High School, French Horn Kenneth Rhee, Northwood High School, Bb Clarinet Leo Sui, Orange County School of the Arts, Trombone Eric Tandean, Amador Valley High School, Alto Saxophone Adam vanLeeuwen, Ventura High School, Trombone Hannah Webb, Oaks Christian School, Bb Clarinet Bethany Wells, Redwood High School, French Horn Julian Wilsen, Santa Monica High School, French Horn Rachel Yang, Diamond Bar High School, Bb Clarinet
Aadya Abhyankar, West Ranch High School, Flute Virginia Anderson, Homestead High School, Trumpet Sophia Brown, Clovis High School, French Horn Bryan Chiu, Diamond Bar High School, French Horn Ryan Dai, Irvington High School, Bb Clarinet Dylan Davidoff, Mira Costa High School, Bb Clarinet Owen Farkas, Thousand Oaks High School, Tuba Harry Guan, Homestead High School, Trombone Jacqueline Guo, BASIS Indep. Silicon Valley, Percussion Sean He, Palo Alto High School, Bb Clarinet Bowen Hu, Saint Francis High School, Percussion Sophie Lin, Homestead High School, Percussion Thomas McMullin, Rocklin High School, Euphonium Mason Miazga, Diamond Bar High School, Tuba Austin Miranda, Upland High School, Trumpet Erin Miyahara, Diamond Bar High School, Euphonium Diego Ortiz, Patterson High School, Bb Clarinet Allison Park, Homestead High School, Bb Clarinet David Rich, Mountain View High School, Trumpet Alexander Waters, Clovis North Educational Center, Bassoon
14
6-Year Members Beneditto Caroccio, Bakersfield Christian High School, Flute Aaron Chang, Diamond Bar High School, Bb Clarinet Auvin Hajian, Orange County School of the Arts, Trombone Aidan Keefe, La Jolla High, Bb Clarinet Irene Lin, Homestead High School, Percussion Sarah Park, Palos Verdes High School, Bassoon Yiran Zeng, Los Altos High School, French Horn
CODA Update Greetings from The California Orchestra Directors Association. CODA had a wonderful year with the December Honor Orchestras and the All-State Ensemble experience. Given the challenges of performance protocols during COVID, the leadership of CODA created a dual performance experience for students at the Northern and Southern ends of the state during the December Honor Orchestras. This year also marked the emergence of an additional Junior High All-State Orchestra, expanding the All-State experience for more students in California. As I look back on my term on the CBDA board I cannot thank Jeff Detlefsen and the entire CBDA Board for their courage to bring the inaugural Social Justice Consortium to life. Being a part of this monumental effort where our organization looked a problem square in the face and fulfilled a public declaration to do something about it will forever symbolize the power of possibility when a group of people stands firm for a just cause. I encourage you to join CODA and stay up-to-date on all of the innovative ways orchestral music is taking shape in California, across the country and around the world. Familiarize yourself with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives as we deliver experiences where our students receive respect and representation that is inclusive of race, religion, socio-economic status, sexuality, and gender identity. When I took the position as the CODA Representative on the CBDA Board, I had no idea that my two-year term would lead to three years, national social justice uprisings and a global pandemic. As I say farewell to my time on the board, I want to acknowledge that it has been an honor to work with music educators who sacrificed so much of their time, energy and resources to make sure that the students in California had every opportunity to continue their music education during those challenging times.
Chavonta Edington Outgoing CODA Representative
I wish you all the best as you close out your school year!
15
C AJ Up d a t e
Paul Herrera CAJ Representative Director of Bands, Gregori High School
16
The California Alliance for Jazz has unfurled our new website with content that is exclusive to our membership. We hope that you will check it out! Mark your calendars for the creation of a new jazz educators conference in June of 2023 taking place at University of the Pacific in Stockton. More information is coming in the months ahead. The All-State Audition music is being posted soon. It is my hope that you will encourage many of your students to try out this upcoming year. Our greatest needs are always in trombone and rhythm section players. Auditions will be accepted from September 1st through December 1st. CAJ is looking for session proposals from our members on best jazz pedagogy practices. Please consider sending in a proposal that will inspire your colleagues statewide. These proposals will be accepted soon and must be received by August 1st, 2022. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2023!
17
NC BA Up d a t e Northern California Band Association continues to fulfill its mission by providing quality adjudication that supports education.
Christy Latham
Outgoing Northern California Band Association Representative
18
NCBA was established in 1990 by music directors to provide an organization that could judge diverse marching band competitions that were previously run by independent organizations. The organization has grown to include honor bands, winter guard and percussion, solo drum majors and large ensemble festivals. NCBA provides a slate of judges for competitions, that are routinely trained to improve and sustain their skills, competitions in Northern/Central California and Northern Nevada with the goal to provide consistency in adjudication at each competition. These competitions include field competitions, parade reviews, concert band, jazz band, winter guard, percussion, and solo drum major competitions. Every January NCBA hosts a High School and Junior High school honor band. 2023 will be the third year of our honor Jazz Band. These are hosted and performed at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton in the Atherton Auditorium. 2022 Honor Band Conductors are: High School Honor Band -Dr. John Zarco - University of Texas at San Antonio, Junior High School Honor Band - Louise Jacob , Armijo HS, Stockton, Jazz Band Director -Aaron Lington, San Jose State University. We provided three ratings festivals for concert and jazz bands. Each festival offers a full day of concert and jazz bands. The locations are: Pittsburgh HS, Pittsburgh, CA, Inderkum HS, Sacramento, Ca, Del Mar HS, Campbell, CA NCBA offers Winter Percussion and Guard competitions. 15 Winter events in Guard, Percussion and Solo Drum Majors. The organization has adopted a WGI model and has a multi year plan to transition to this system. All Winter judges have completed the training programs.
NCBCDA Update News from the Northstate!! If you are new to the CBDA organization, an introduction is in order. The NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BAND AND CHOIR DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION, is an organization of music teachers in the area of the state north of highways 80 and 50 in Norcal. Our main mission is to provide world class music experiences in the form of honor ensembles for the high school music students of our members. Rotating between CSUs Sonoma, Chico and Humboldt, we host an annual honor event, featuring Honor Concert Band, Honor Concert Choir, Honor Jazz Ensemble and Honor Jazz Choir, all conducted by the top educators from all over the country. NorCal is looking forward to bouncing back after two years of on-site events. We are very fortunate to be hosting some premieres of compositions for all of our ensembles in the next few years as we celebrate major milestones in the form of 60 years of our concert band and 30 years of Honor Concert choir. Further details to come, but one the we do know…. NorCal honor band and choir weekend WILL be back in full force in 2023. In addition to getting back to business as usual, we are grateful to finally be expanding beyond our single weekend and into clinics for both students and teachers alike happening in the fall semester. We are looking forward to working with our host universities and other organizations to utilize professional instrumental clinicians to work with our students, and also helping our teaching members to address areas of interest at fall clinics. Again, more information and specifics to follow.
Casson Scowcroft Northern California Band and Choir Directors Association Representative Director of Bands, Pleasant Valley High School
NCBCDA is proud and grateful to be working alongside CBDA to help build back our music programs. Health and good luck to all!
19
S C S B OA Up d a t e Jeanne Christensen President, Southern California Band and Orchestra Directors Association Director of Bands, Mira Mesa High School
G
reetings from SCSBOA in Southern CA. I hope this bulletin finds you doing well. No one can quite understand what this year has been like for each of us. It has been a year full of ups and downs and through it all, we have juggled masks and then no masks, outside of the classroom teaching, and thankfully back inside once again. Through it all, we have all persevered. Now it’s time to focus on the close of this school year and take a much-needed summer break. This spring, SCSBOA saw the return of band and orchestra festivals in most regions. Groups were not limited to a list of repertoire or number of selections to be performed. Instead, we allowed directors to make the best choices for their own programs. Isn’t that the way it should be done? We all know our groups better than anyone else. We will continue to discuss festivals for many months to come to make sure students and educators feel they are getting the best educational experience possible. We have continued our wonderful tradition of the AllSouthern Honor Groups in April. The first weekend of April kicked off with the elementary virtual honor groups along with the middle school virtual honor groups. On the same weekend, we celebrated three Middle School in person Honor Groups at Woodbridge HS and the High School Honor Groups at Santa Monica HS the following weekend. April 24th ended the series of honor concerts with the Jazz all-stars and ambassadors. It was so nice to see and hear kids come back together once again! We had a total of 9 honor groups in person and 4 virtual groups. I’d like to thank the four VPs of Education - Ray Llewelyn, Yeon Choi, Amy Villanova, and Dennis Crystal, along with the managers who helped make each experience special for our students. Our guest conductors all did a fantastic job! Thank you to Curt Richardson, Ami Garvin, Eric Mabrey, Dr. Rickey Badua, Dr. 20
Vu Nguyen, Sayra Siverson, Dan Robbins, Dr. J.B. Dyas, and Wayne Bergeron. The hard-working SCSBOA Board of Directors is planning and getting ready for the fall marching season, next year’s honor groups, and our annual SCSBOA conference which will be held in Orange County next January. You are all invited to attend this fantastic professional development weekend. The dates are January 20 – 22, 2023 at the Hyatt Regency Orange County. Look for more details and the conference registration this summer on the SCSBOA website (www.scsboa.org). I am grateful to the SCSBOA Board of Directors for all of their time, planning, and energy they give to the association to make sure music education and music educators are supported. It is essential we keep supporting one another, so that we can support our students. SCSBOA is thankful and a proud partner with CBDA and the other associations across our state. Together we are all stronger as professionals when we work together.
Take care and enjoy your final set of weeks of this school!
From the Past
President
As Past President, I am tasked with finding content for our Spring and Fall Publications that can provide tools for our band director community. As this is a busy time of year, mostly in regards to planning for the upcoming year, I thought it would be great to hear from a world class designer in the pageantry world, Lindsey Vento. I asked Lindsey to discuss this busy time of year and give us guidance about the steps we should take to create a top notch marching band product for our students. Lindsey Vento is in her 21st year in the pageantry arts where she has served as an instructor, program designer, adjudicator and choreographer. She has worked with, and designed for, bands and color guards across the country as the visual designer and artistic coordinator for Vento Music and Visual Designs, where she and her husband work side by side. She has led and coordinated the designs for numerous teams resulting in consistent BOA and WGI regional and national finalists appearances. Lindsey is the former Artistic Director and Program Coordinator and The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps and formerly served on the visual team at Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps. Lindsey is also a broadcaster for Drum Corps International for the Big, Loud, and Live theatre event, as well as the Championships weekend broadcasts, where she serves as the design commentator. She is the artistic director and coordinator at Blue Springs HS (MO), North Hardin HS (KY), Vista Ridge HS (TX), just to name a few. Lindsey is also an active adjudicator with various state marching band circuits and Bands Of America. She has her Bachelor’s of Music Education degree, emphasis in vocal music, was an active dance instructor and adjudicator, and has also performed professionally with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City before she decided to focus all of her efforts into the pageantry arts. She is the proud mom of three boys, who all share in the band world family passion.
Phil Vallejo Past President Doctoral Student, Arizona State University
21
The Fall Is Forever Away… Until, It Isn’t by Lindsey Vento
How often do we, as pageantry nerds, (let’s face it, we all are, and proudly) feel as if “we have time”?
“We just finished the fall, I just need a mental break for a few weeks”
now” reactions. Do you see the cycle? Let’s see if we can find some tools and ways to keep the fall marching band train on the tracks without you wanting to lay on them, shall we? It’s possible. I promise.
Things I experience most as a designer: 1.
“It’s winter percussion/guard/winds season…I can’t think about the fall season right now.”
Chasing down answers and responses..we call this “radio silence” 2. The assumption that “the designers will handle it” 3. Months of sporadic communication and then the panic email of “I need music/drill/choreo ASAP!!”
“Once the spring concert is done I will be able to dive in more”
Let’s talk about how to find a better flow to the process and connection to your designers, with still keeping your sanity. WITHOUT THESE THINGS, IT JUST WON’T WORK. OR…I should say, it won’t work as well as it should.
As a designer in this fast paced, overlapping seasons, cross fading activity that allows us minimal breathing time, I hear the above lines more times than I even I can keep track of. As much as I understand the need to compartmentalize the seasons of band and all the things, it’s these lines and “reasons” that create stress, tension, and that panic come mid-September ... spiraling into the need for “mental break for a few weeks” or “I can’t think about the fall season right 22
The Radio Silence Effect – The Biggie!!! The Radio Silence Effect is NOT usually intentional. Designers do not believe that band directors are “ghosting them”. However, intentional or not, it causes delays, unanswered questions, and a disconnect between the hired team and the in-house team that is hard to salvage once we hit the summer months.
wIn the months of January/February, I like to have concepts solidified and music source material in the works. This is with shared google drives or Dropbox folders, where the full team, designers and band directors, are active in uploading any music noodle that may stick to the wall. THIS DOES NOT MEAN I NEED A SHOW TITLE. It means we have a DIRECTION, an avenue…we know what we want to say and an understanding of the vibe and atmosphere we want to create. DON’T GET HELD UP BY SHOW TITLE. So many times I see band staffs not be able to exactly pin point every detail of the program in January and they either abandon ship for that conceptual direction or they lose valuable time trying to micro something that needs to stay macro for a bit. Your designer should be sending you copious emails during this time…AND YOU, AS THE DIRECTOR, NEED TO REPLY AND ANSWER IN A TIMELY MANNER FOR ALL TO SUCCEED • • • •
•
What is the budget for XYZ? (If we don’t know what we have to work with, it could result in a LOT of wasted time and effort) Who are the “must feature” soloists or ensembles that we should showcase? (If you’ve got ‘em, flaunt ‘em) Do you have a visual training plan in place to ensure this vision we have can work? What companies are you committed to working with for costuming/props/silks, etc.? Or do you not have a preference? (This helps designers begin to work deadlines and know company requirements for production) Do you have your percussion designer, sound designer, color guard choreographer and winds choreographer set or would you like me to solidify
all of those individuals? (Knowing the full team and knowing who is managing each of these pieces helps avoid hold ups in the process!!) These are all questions that MUST be answered before I, as a designer, can feel confident moving forward with any plans. Don’t sit on these emails/texts/correspondence attempts. Make them a priority.
“The Designers Will Handle It” Assumption This never should be the assumption. While you, as the director, have total faith in who you’ve hired, and we APPRECIATE THAT, never ever assume that “we got it.” I can’t tell you the number of times that a director didn’t pay an invoice for a custom band top (usually the designer and the band director are copied on the email, but if its invoice or money related, designers can’t handle that part!), didn’t follow through with the band parents on building that prop, or didn’t handle, or pay, for the music copyrights. These are things that will drastically hold up all production, and in turn student success, and these are things that should fall ADMINISTRATIVELY in your lap…
not the designers. You may have a designer who wants to handle all of these things, but that should be confirmed in an email or verbal conversation far ahead of time.
IS NOT MY EMERGENCY” is resonating in my ears as I type this. Designers will ALWAYS work overtime to fix, mend, edit, adjust the bush that is burning on fire. That is part of the gig, and we know that when we sign on, HOWEVER, if you can stay on top of emails, phone calls, prop parents, invoices, approvals, need by dates… THE ASAP APPROACH WILL RARELY BE NEEDED. What you must remember, is that even though we make such a massive effort to make everyone feel like a priority (because they are!!!), we have other clients, and other timelines, and other projects to also manage. Staying on top of things, and communicating timelines and dates early on will help everything run so much smoother! THE STUDENTS BENEFIT MOST FROM THIS AND THAT IS OUR NUMBER 1 PRIORITY AS THE ADULTS IN THE ROOM! This activity can be overwhelming. Being a band director IS OVERWHELMING. Period. Coffee bar for all, am I right?? The teamwork, collaboration, and relationship between designer and band director is EV.ER.Y.THING. Absolutely key. As designers we WANT this relationship and we want to talk with you OFTEN. That cannot start “after WGI” or “after the spring concert”….build that relationship and open communication EARLY so that “later” isn’t too late.
HAPPY BANDING…. and check your email!!!! About the Author
The “ASAP” Black Hole Let’s face it, sometimes we just need things YESTERDAY. RIGHT NOW. LAST WEEK. FAST. This marching activity moves fast and the weeks move even faster. We get it. This “need it right now” happens at times if it’s an edit or we lost our soloist because of XYZ, etc. BUT…. The “ASAP” mindset, and request, usually is thrust upon us as designers because of ***SEE ABOVE PARAGRAPH***. The missed communication of deadlines, timelines. The oversight of an invoice being paid. The delay in getting us drill numbers. All of these things happen at times, and we surely do not expect band directors to be mistake free. You are human. HOWEVER, that good ‘ole phrase of “YOUR LACK OF PREPARATION 24
Lindsey Vento is proud to serve the pageantry arts in various capacities, where she has served as an instructor, program designer, adjudicator, choreographer, and educational consultant. She has led and coordinated the designs for numerous teams resulting in consistent BOA and WGI regional and national finalists appearances. Lindsey has served as the Artistic Director and Program Coordinator and The Academy Drum and Bugle Corps and as a visual team staff member at Carolina Crown Drum and Bugle Corps. She proudly serves as the Design Commentator for Drum Corps International for the Big, Loud, and Live AMC theatre events, as well as the Championships quarterfinals and finals broadcasts. She is the artistic director and program coordinator at Blue Springs HS (MO), L.D.Bell HS (TX), Vista Ridge HS (TX), Westlake HS (UT), just to name a few. Lindsey is an active adjudicator with various state marching band circuits and Bands of America, and on the Educational and Clinician Team with Conn-Selmer, Inc. She has her Bachelors of Music Education degree, emphasis in vocal music, was an active dance instructor and adjudicator, and performed professionally with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City before she decided to focus all of her efforts into the pageantry arts. She is the proud mom of three boys, who all share in the family passion of the pageantry arts.
All-State Auditions California currently offers the opportunity to audition and participate in 16 All-State ensembles. Collaboratively, CBDA, CODA, and CAJ offer a junior high (Grades 7-8) All-State Honor String Orchestra, two junior high (Grades 7-8) All-State Honor Bands, a junior high (Grades 7-8) All-State Jazz Band, 4 high school (Grades 9-12) All-State Honor Bands, a high school (Grades 9-12) All-State Jazz Band, a high school (grades 9-12) All-State Honor String Orchestra, and a high school (Grades 9-12) All-State Honor Full Orchestra. CAJ also offers a high school (Grades 9-12) All-State Jazz Choir. CCDA offers four All-State Choirs. All of these ensembles will rehearse and perform at the California All-State Music Education Conference in February, 2022.
Audition information is posted here: https://cbda.org/all-state-ensembles/auditions/
2023 Scales and Audition Etudes are posted here: Audition Excerpts Scales 25
EVEN TEACHERS NEED TEACHERS As an educator, one of the most impactful ways to improve is by educating yourself. That’s why the Yamaha Educator Suite (YES) helps music teachers access professional development opportunities, music teacher resources, program health support, advocacy assistance and more. YES brings you a network of like-minded teachers, experts and professionals, who want to help you achieve your goals. Let us help you raise the bar. Go to Yamaha.io/educatorsCASMEC2
