Piano Tech Radio Hour

I was honored to spend some time today as a guest on the Podcast, "Piano Tech Radio Hour."  We had a great conversation about NCSSM, STEM Education and the Arts, Computational Thinking, and other topics. Thanks to all at Piano Tech Masterclass for the invitation. I hope you enjoy this!

What has been happening lately?

Hi folks. I'm sitting down to write this as we approach fall break and winter concerts at NCSSM in the fall of 2024. I was glancing at my back posts this morning and realized it's been a little while since I have updated my blog. The fact is, it's been a busy several months and my writing is taking a little bit of a back seat. With that said, it's not for lack of activities or ideas. There has been a ton going on!

Many of you know that a few years ago I took on a new role as Chair of Fine Arts at the North Carolina School of Science and Math. Shortly after I began in that role, we opened our new campus in Morganton, NC.  If you'd like to know more about the beginning of that campus, you can find some of my earlier posts. Since that time, we have welcomed three classes of students to Morganton (2024, 2025, 2026), hired an amazing Arts faculty, established our NCSSM Morganton Arts program and course offerings, and have really begun to get things going on many levels there. My work at NCSSM Durham continues at both the administrative and teaching levels. The orchestra continues to be the highlight of my teaching at NCSSM. We are currently preparing for a performance of selections from Handel’s Messiah in conjuction with our school’s Chorale in December. I recently took six of my top string students to the North Carolina All State Honors Orchestra in Winston-Salem. I am looking forward to featuring my sister, Julianne Laird, coloratura, to perform with our Orchestra in March 2025.

Some other highlights of the past year include conducting the Colorado All State Philharmonic Orchestra in February 2024 and the Pennsylvania All State Orchestra in April 2025. Both of these guests conducting appearances were true highlights for me and the students and teachers, as usual, were amazing to work with. I also had the opportunity to present at the Ohio State String Teachers Workshop in the summer of 2024. I gave presentations on computational thinking and the string classroom as well as the Habit Loop and applications to rehearsals. this too, was a wonderful event and I was honored to be part of it. I spoke at the 2024 ASTA conference in Louisville on Career Fulfillment and the 2024 ASTA Summer Virtual Strings Workshop on Tuning for String Ensembles.  I will be speaking at the PMEA Conference in the Poconos in the spring of 2025 and conducting a regional event in Hawaii and the West Virginia All State Orchestra in 2026. I am also looking forward to serving on the faculty of the University of Michigan Summer Teachers Workshop in June 2025.

On the family front, we have a bunch going on. Two of my sons are getting married in 2025 and my youngest son will graduate from UNC this spring. Exciting stuff! My wife’s Kindermusik business is thriving and she is busier than ever.

My professional thought-life revolves around arts education in a STEM environment, facilitating faculty success and professional advancement, community engagement, and representing NCSSM with distinction. 

I continue to find great joy and excitement in my work with D’Addario, CodaBow, and NS Design.  These three great companies have had such a profound impact on my life and career.  I have been working lately on some new material for D’Addario which I hope will roll out in the spring of 2025, at just about the time of the ASTA conference.

So, that is a brief update.  Please continue to return for my musicings as they appear!