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The Band Director's Lounge Podcast


Welcome to the Band Director’s lounge, a podcast about what makes great instrumental music programs. I am a band director trying to build a great program by learning from others and sharing my knowledge along the way.

Dec 12, 2018

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The conversation today is with my good friend Matthew Potter who teaches middle school band in Chaska, MN. Matt has a lot of great insight for how to lead a band program at the middle school level. In our conversation today we get into the details of how Matt structures his lesson program and co-curricular offerings. In addition Matt talks about what it's like to teach at a middle school in a large school district and the ways he and his colleagues bridge music students together between buildings. There is a lot that we cover so I hope that if any of this interests you, that you will tune in!

Episode Overview

  • Why MS Band? (3:00)
  • Middle School Band and the Chaska ISD (4:10)
  • Middle School Lesson and Band Program (9:00)
  • Teaching, Fixing, and Handling it All (26:25)
  • Multi-school Co-Curriculars (33:50)
  • Unique Offerings in Chaska (38:10)
  • “Friday Fun” (41:00)
  • Favorite MS Band Pieces (44:20)
  • Advice for Young Directors (48:05)
  • What Makes a Great Band Program? (49:30)

That was my conversation with Matt Potter.

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