It has been a while...

Hi friends!
It has been a long time since my last post.  What a busy year at NCSSM.  Between family obligations, my work at NCSSM, gigs, and conducting appearances, I have been just swamped.  Now that it is summertime, I am hoping to begin posting with some regularity again.

This year, I have been working on my National Board Re-Certification.  For those of you in North Carolina, you know that this is very important for teachers as it has strong impact on salary. Now that that process is complete, I just wait for the results.

This has been a great process for me and in coming weeks I will probably write about it a bit.  As part of the re-certification process, teachers must reflect on the last 10 years and write about 4 professional growth experiences that have shaped their teaching in profound ways.  I have really enjoyed this time of reflection and realize that these experiences were really impactful on my teaching.

We also had a great year in the NCSSM Orchestra.  We performed Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony, Rutter's Suite for String Orchestra, 7 concerto movements in our Annual Concerto Concert, and a number of other works.

The NCSSM Fine Arts Series featured art exhibits by Joe Liles and Jeannette Broussert, concerts by Stephen Lynerd, the US Army Field Band and Chorus,  and all NCSSM performing ensembles.  Our Promethean Players put on 3 wonderful mainstage productions.  Our Dance Ensemble put on two magnificent programs as well.  In all, it was a great year.

I was honored to conduct the Indiana and Colorado All-State Orchestras this year.  Both groups were wonderful and put on terrific concerts.  I also had the pleasure of conducting the Durham Public Schools All District Middle School Orchestra with my son, Joe, performing with the group.  I also had the honor of presenting some of my ideas to the Arizona ASTA chapter in the fall and at the National ASTA Conference in Providence in the winter.

I am heading to Interlochen in just a few weeks to conduct the Intermediate Concert Orchestra again this summer and am really looking forward to the 6 weeks in Michigan.  Before leaving, I will be at the Lamar Stringfield String Camp for a week at Meredith College in Raleigh.

In the midst of this, I have continued to perform with Willie Painter, mostly at the Blue Note Grill, and with Adam Sampieri and Phillip Riggs at Meelo's Restaurant in Durham. (We will be there tonight at 6:30!)

So, it has been a busy year.  Look for lots of new content in the coming days and weeks as I reflect on topics from the year and new ones as they come up through the summer.

Peace.
Scott