During the past month, I not only spent time with the usual collection of musicians and educators during rehearsals and other activities, I also participated in the Colorado Bandmasters Association Convention. This was a great event with hundreds of terrific music teachers and expert presenters. I presented a new music reading session of compositions in Grade 3-5 provided by SBO+ advertisers Alfred and Excelcia. Both publishers generously gave the full sets of score and parts to attending teachers.
What struck me about this past month was the transition that’s occurring with teachers. While it was still July, most band camps were about to start. All the teachers were deep into planning the new year, and many were about to start half days in preparation for “back to school.” In other words, it was still technically summer, but the mindset was definitely shifting from “vacation” to “time to get ready!” mode.
In this issue, we present three articles in our UpClose section to further inspire your mental preparation for the next school year.
“I love change!,” said no one ever. However, one of the many things I learned in my long career was organizations (and people) are either changing or they are decaying. Ideally, an atmosphere of constructive, constant, and gradual change is in place. In other words, change that is evolutionary rather than revolutionary is normally less frightening.
During the last few years, School Band and Orchestra Magazine made the big decision to become SBO+ and include all parts of the music education community. The enthusiastic participation and contributions from choral, music theater, jazz, modern band, and general music teachers have frankly reenergized us. Then, we made the transition from a print magazine to an all-digital format. We’ve retained our magazine look online but augmented it with a steady stream of informative items appearing daily on our website.
What many of you have not yet seen is our behind-the-scenes evolution from a magazine to a powerful engine for music education research and provider of services to empower music teachers, especially those in under-resourced schools. Lots more to come!