Episode 178 - Scott Rush

10/05/20 • 70 min

Scott Rush is the Director of Fine and Performing Arts in Dorchester School District Two in South Carolina and is the former Director of Bands at Wando High School. He is the lead author of the "Habits" series published by GIA and is an active conductor, adjudicator and clinician.

Topics:

Scott’s background and early teaching career.
Studying with Frank Battisti at the New England Conservatory.
How to build a band culture, and the program at Wando High School while Scott was the director.
The Habits series

Links:

Biography:

Scott Rush is the Director of Fine and Performing Arts in Dorchester School District Two in South Carolina and is the former Director of Bands at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, SC. He is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and the University of South Carolina. He currently serves as conductor of the Charleston Wind Symphony, a semi-professional ensemble in Charleston, South Carolina.

Under his direction, the Wando Symphonic Band performed at the 2007 Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic and were recipients of the 2007 Sudler Flag of Honor administered by the John Philip Sousa Foundation. His marching bands were two-time BOA Grand National finalist and won the South Carolina State 5A marching band championships nine consecutive years.

Mr. Rush is active as a conductor, clinician and adjudicator throughout the United States and Canada. He is lead writer for the Habits series and has authored or co-authored ten highly touted books: Habits of A Successful Band Director, Habits of A Successful Musician, Habits of a Successful Middle School Musician, The Evolution of A Successful Band Director, Habits of A Successful Middle School Band Director, Habits of A Successful String Musician, Habits of a Successful Middle Level String Musician, Quality of Life Habits of A Successful Band Director, Habits of a Successful Choir Director, and Habits of a Significant Band Director for GIA Publications. Mr. Rush has served as President of the South Carolina Band Directors Association and is a former member of the Board of Directors for the National Band Association. In 2010, Mr. Rush was elected into the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and in 2011 was awarded the Bandworld “Legion of Honor.” In 2015, he was elected into the South Carolina Band Directors Association Hall of Fame and in 2016 was awarded the Edwin Franko Goldman Award by the ASBDA for contributions to music education.

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Topics:

Scott’s background and early teaching career.
Studying with Frank Battisti at the New England Conservatory.
How to build a band culture, and the program at Wando High School while Scott was the director.
The Habits series

Links:

Biography:

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Previous Episode

Episode 177 - Nicholas Williams

Nicholas Williams is an Associate Professor of Music, Music Director and Conductor of the Wind Symphony and Concert Band at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. He joins the show to talk about growing up and starting his career in Texas and his recent move to Australia.

Topics:

Nick’s origin story growing up in Texas, the role of the church in his early musical development, and why his Mom wouldn’t let him play the clarinet.
Going to the University of North Texas as an undergraduate and Nick’s first teaching job.
Teaching only 9th and 10th graders at Clark High School in Plano, Texas.
The story of how Nick ended up in Australia and his early observations about the differences between his experience there versus his experiences in Texas.

Links:

Biography:

Dr Nicholas Enrico Williams is an Associate Professor of Music, Music Director and Conductor of the Wind Symphony and Concert Band at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in Melbourne, Australia. Before moving to Melbourne, for sixteen years Dr Williams was the Assistant Director of Wind Studies, Conductor of the Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, and the Director of Athletic Bands at the University of North Texas.

For a decade, he was the Conductor of the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony. In addition, he is a frequent guest conductor for the Dallas Winds (formerly Dallas Wind Symphony).

As an advocate of chamber music, Dr Williams was the founder and conductor of the East Plano Brass and was the principal guest conductor for the Harmoniemusik chamber ensemble. In the wind band world, he has been a guest conductor with the United States Air Force Band; Dallas Wind Symphony; Lone Star Wind Orchestra; at the annual Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Illinois; the College Band Directors National Association regional conference; the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention; and the Texas Music Educators Association Annual Clinic in San Antonio, Texas.

Dr Williams is active in the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe, and Southeast Asia as a conductor, clinician, adjudicator, consultant, and arranger; his arrangements and transcriptions for wind band, percussion ensembles, drum corps, and school pagentry ensembles are performed by outstanding organizations throughout the world.

Dr Williams is a sought-after recording session producer, associate producer, and editor, having been involved with numerous CDs and DVDs on the Klavier, Mark Records, GIA labels, as well as UNT projects. In addition to his work in the recording arts, he has written several conductor study guides that are published in the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. He is a primary consultant of Women of Influence in Contemporary Music and is an honorary member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity. His professional affiliations include the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, College Band Directors National Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Phi Beta Mu, an international bandmasters fraternity.

Next Episode

Episode 179 - Susan L. Smith

Susan L. Smith has taught general, choral, and instrumental music at the elementary through collegiate level in Florida, Virginia and Alabama and has served as an author, clinician, conductor, and adjudicator across the United States

Topics:

Susan’s early career and education, including the lessons she learned from her mother, who was a high school band director in Virginia.
The importance of teaching the students who are in front of you, especially now when everything is so uncertain from the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Servant leadership and putting others before yourself as a teacher.
Setting goals, exercise challenges, and the importance of staying healthy so that you can be there for others.
Susan’s work at Troy University with the music education program and the importance of moving past just checking the boxes and focusing on excellence.
The importance of connecting with kids and finding ways to bring more kids under your influence by offering technology or guitar classes.
Marketing your program.

Links:

Biography:

Susan L. Smith, B.M.Ed, M.A.Ed., has taught general, choral, and instrumental music at the elementary through collegiate level in Florida, Virginia and Alabama and has served as an author, clinician, conductor, and adjudicator across the United States. She is currently Director of Bands at the Saint James School in Montgomery AL. Mrs. Smith is responsible for teaching the Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced Bands as well as Guitar, Jazz Band, and Music Technology. The Saint James Band consistently receives Superior ratings in Concert, Jazz and Marching band events including the Alabama Music Performance Assessment, Smokey Mountain Music Festival and Bands of America Super Regionals and Grand National Championships. She is currently the President of the Alabama Music Educators Association.

She was a Coordinating Author for Warner Bros. Publications’ Expressions Music Curriculum, a vision for a vertical, conceptual approach to teaching music. She consulted on the Elementary Music Curriculum Music Expressions and served as an author for Band Expressions, a secondary component of the curriculum. Smith has presented clinics at many state conventions including AMEA, TMEA, FMEA, IMEA, VMEA, GMEA and National and Regional NAfME conferences. She is on the Middle School Clinician team for the Music for All Summer Symposium, presenting clinics each summer to directors and pre-service college students. In addition, Mrs. Smith serves as an educational consultant for Music for All. She is responsible for the Chamber Music portion of the Music for All National Concert Band Festival.