Everything Band Podcast Mark J. Connor

It's been quite a run, but all good things must come to an end. A special thank you to all of my listeners, all of my guests, and to my sponsors Celtic Horizons and Kaleidoscope Adventures. All of your support and belief in this show kept me going for so many episodes.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Jake Walker, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes for the final 50 or so episodes to create the website, change the branding, and create the amazing images we see for the final run of the show. He's been invaluable to me and I couldn't have gotten as far as I did without him. Ditto Colin Peters who wasn't with me for as long as Jake, but who helped relieve some of my work load by taking on the scheduling for me for a while. Both of them have my gratitude.
If you ever want to talk about anything and everything band, please feel free to reach out to me at mark.connorprincipia.edu. Replace the with an @ and you're good to go! I plan on retiring from this job, so barring something unfortunate, I should be at that email address for a while.
Thank you all so much for everything. You're the best, and remember to help your students become their best selves through music!

Benjamin Dean Taylor (born 1983), has been described as “elegant and energetic” (Kenneth Thompson) and “powerful and direct with delightful surprises in each work.” (Marilyn Shrude) Having grown up as a performer in jazz, rock, ska, country, and concert bands as well as in choirs and orchestras, Taylor is driven to write music that highlights the strengths of each performing ensemble. His catalog of more than 100 works covers a large range of styles and genres including music written for orchestra, wind band, opera, choir, jazz big band, gamelan, chamber ensembles, and soloists with live electronics. Further, Taylor has written music for multimedia collaborations with dancers, filmmakers, poets, and visual artists.

Taylor has received commissions from ensembles including the Calidore String Quartet, Omaha Symphony, Solaire Saxophone Quartet, New World Youth Symphony, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Civic Wind Symphony. His music has been performed by ensembles around the world including the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Kenari Quartet, L’ensemble Itineraire, Nurnberg Hochschulorchester and has been championed by soloists Keith Kirchoff, Zach Herchen, and Scotty Stepp. As a sought-after composer for wind band, Taylor has been commissioned by over 100 band directors of players at all educational levels.

Don Stinson is a comprehensive music educator with a robust background spanning roles as an author, speaker, and clinician. He holds educational degrees from an array of prestigious institutions including Joliet Junior College, VanderCook College of Music, and Northern Illinois University. Adding to his educational background, Don also holds a Master’s in Education Administration from the University of St. Francis, bringing unparalleled expertise to his educational endeavors. 
Currently, Don is the director of bands at Joliet Central High School in Joliet, Illinois, distinguishing himself as only the fifth individual to hold this honor in the band’s history. Under his guidance, the band has flourished, receiving invitations to esteemed state and national festivals, including a special performance at the seventy-fifth Midwest Clinic in 2021. 
Over the years, Don has accrued numerous awards and recognitions including the Yale University Educator Award, the Chicagoland Outstanding Music Educator Award, and a spot on Yamaha’s 2021 “40 Under 40 Music Educators” list. His unwavering commitment to education has also earned him the Dr. William P. Foster Project Community Development Award and multiple citations of excellence from the National Band Association. 
As a sought-after speaker, Don has been invited to present at high-profile conferences including the National Association for Music Education National Conference and the Illinois Music Education Association Conference. He has recently served as the keynote speaker at both the Omaha Public School Music Teacher In-Service and the Northern Illinois University Urban Education Summit. In 2023, he spoke at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. 

DISCLAIMER
Episodes 209-2011 were recorded in 2023 and have only recently been uploaded to the internet. There are some things that have changed since their recordings, so be aware that you are not listening to the most current events.
Evan VanDoren is a freelance arranger, composer, and educational consultant. As the owner of VanDoren Music, Evan is commissioned each year to create works for concert and marching ensembles. He has arranged and orchestrated award-winning marching shows for numerous high school bands across the country.
Evan is an active clinician, presenting for Drum Corps International, the Music Educators National Convention, the Texas Bandmasters Association, the Texas Music Educators Association, and Music for All. He regularly consults with band programs around the country. Additionally, Evan is an active adjudicator with Bands of America, the University Interscholastic League, and the Texas Music Adjudicators Association.
Evan is the brass arranger for the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps, from Santa Clara, California, as well as the leadership faculty of SASI Leadership, based in central Texas.
Before devoting his life to creating music, Evan was a band director at Cedar Park High School, in Cedar Park, Texas, during which time the band was awarded multiple marching state championships and national recognition. He received a Bachelor in Music Education with Honors from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Currently, he lives in Cedar Park, Texas, with his wife, Katie, and their dog, Cooper.

Adrian Gordon is an internationally performed composer and seasoned music educator and currently serves as the director of orchestras at Providence Day School in 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 and have been performed throughout the world. Learn more at www.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 the Awesöme 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 the Youth 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) Conc