United States Army Field Band

07/08/16 • 58 min

Marketing Music Education with Kathleen Heuer

On this episode of the Marketing Music Education podcast, I speak with Colonel Jim R. Keene, Master Sergeant Jason Stephens, and Staff Sergeant Heidi Ackerman of The United States Army Field Band. We discuss the group’s mission, where they fit in among the Army’s many other music ensembles, handling stress and burnout, and much more. In particular, we talk about their use of social media (especially live streaming) to achieve their goals, and how YOU can use it to achieve your music program’s goals!

Colonel Jim R. Keene

Colonel Jim R. Keene became the Commander of The United States Army Field Band in January 2015. Prior to this assignment, he served as Commander of the United States Military Academy Band at West Point, New York; Commandant of the Army School of Music at Norfolk, Virginia; and at The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” in Washington, DC, the U.S. Army Europe Band and Chorus in Heidelberg, Germany, and the Army Ground Forces Band in Atlanta, Georgia.

COL Keene has led numerous performances for international military and civilian leaders, dignitaries, and heads of state. During his time as Commander of the United States Military Academy Band at West Point, he led performances for the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, co-directed the music for A&E’s and the National Park Service’s “A New Birth of Freedom” special for the 150th commemoration of the Battle of Gettysburg, and a one-hour music special holiday production by the West Point Band aired on Fox News, “A West Point Holiday.” COL Keene led The U.S. Army Chorus in performances at the interments of former Presidents Ronald Reagan in Simi Valley, California, and Gerald R. Ford in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has performed for seven U.S. presidents, at the 1996 Summer Olympic and Para-Olympic Games in Atlanta, the dedication of the National WWII Memorial, the one-year anniversary of 9/11 at the Pentagon, the “Kennedy Center Honors,” and the Military District of Washington’s production, “Spirit of America.” He has worked with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and Chorus and the National Symphony Orchestra, and has conducted the Dallas Wind Symphony, the Boston Pops Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic.

Prior to joining the Army, COL Keene served as Assistant Conductor of the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Symphony, Orchestra Conductor at the SMU International Conservatory Summer Festival in Taos, New Mexico, and Music Director of the Albuquerque Civic Light Opera. He holds a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University and a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from the University of New Mexico. He is a violinist, fiddler, pianist, accompanist, and songwriter, and is a native of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Master Sergeant Jason Stephens

Master Sergeant Jason Stephens earned a Master of Arts degree from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of South Florida. He served in the 392nd Army Band. MSG Stephens has worked as a middle school band director, tuba player for Walt Disney World, and adjunct professor of Tuba at Troy State University. He currently serves as the Educational Activities Coordinator for The U.S. Army Field Band.

Staff Sergeant Heidi Ackerman

Staff Sergeant Heidi Ackerman received a Master of Music degree from Arizona State University and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. She debuted with the Phoenix Symphony in 2011 singing Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” and enjoyed three seasons as a professional chorister with Arizona Opera. Before joining The U.S. Army Field Band, SSG Ackerman sang with the Cantos de Taos at the Taos Opera Institute, conducted church and community choirs, taught junior high music, and sang professionally throughout the greater Phoenix area.

Links & resources mentioned in this episode with the United States Army Field Band

armyfieldband.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tusafb

http://www.youtube.com/USArmyFieldBand

http://www.facebook.com/FieldBand

http://www.facebook.com/jazzambassadors

http://www.facebook.com/armyrockband

http://twitter.com/fieldband

http://twitte...

Colonel Jim R. Keene

Master Sergeant Jason Stephens

Staff Sergeant Heidi Ackerman

Links & resources mentioned in this episode with the United States Army Field Band

armyfieldband.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tusafb

http://www.youtube.com/USArmyFieldBand

http://www.facebook.com/FieldBand

http://www.facebook.com/jazzambassadors

http://www.facebook.com/armyrockband

http://twitter.com/fieldband

http://twitte...

Previous Episode

NAfME President Glenn Nierman

Glenn Nierman is the current president of the National Association for Music Education. A blog post was published alleging that NAfME CEO Michael Butera made controversial comments about race and diversity at a recent event hosted by the National Endowment for the Arts. That’s when Dr. Nierman found himself near the eye of a public relations firestorm.

Halftime Magazine has a great recap of the timeline of events here.

Dr. Nierman was kind enough to join me Friday afternoon to talk about the week’s turn of events, and what comes next for NAfME. Here’s what we discussed.

Questions for NAfME president Glenn Nierman

How are board members selected?

How can NAfME’s current policies be adjusted to encourage increased diversity?

What was the selection process for the new CEO? Why was interim leadership not appointed?

What kind of experience does new CEO Michael Blakeslee have with diversity?

Where do the issues with diversity in music education begin? Are we not recruiting diverse students into music ed to begin with?

What would you tell people about what happened this week and what comes next?

How can music educators nationwide help increase diversity?

Ready to discuss?

So were we. Check out this Blab roundtable featuring Matthew Stultz of Together We Can, Olin Hannum of the AMusEd podcast, Bruce Faske of the Get Some Grit podcast, and via chat, Scott Lang of Scott Lang Leadership.

About NAfME President Glenn Nierman

Glenn E. Nierman, NAfME President for 2014-2016, is currently a member of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music faculty. He teaches graduate classes in research and curriculum development, as well as a non-major popular music guitar class. His public school teaching experience includes work with middle school general music and choir, as well as high school band and orchestra. Glenn, a Past President of NAfME’s North Central Division and a Past President of the Nebraska Music Educators Association (NMEA), also served his state as the Chairperson of College/University Affairs and Chairperson of the Coalition for Music Education, the advocacy arm of NMEA. In these positions, he organized the state’s first Music Mentor Program for beginning music educators and helped to draft legislation debated before the Nebraska Legislature’s Education Committee to promote the need for standards in the arts.

Dr. Nierman has authored many journal articles, made numerous presentations at NAFME Conferences, and given addresses at World Congresses of the International Society of Music Education (ISME) around the world. He has authored chapters in NAFME’s Benchmarks in Action and Spotlight on Assessment publications. Honors and awards include recognition for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching and receipt of the Steinhart Distinguished Endowed Professorship in Music Education. He holds a B.M. in Music Education from Washburn University (Kansas), and M.M. and D.M.E. degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Read Glenn Nierman’s resume.

Thanks to fellow podcaster Jason Heath for the recent ...

Next Episode

Mac Smith of the Scouts Honor documentary

Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood

In this episode, Kathleen’s guest is Mac Smith, the founder of Gigantic Cranium, an independent film production outfit. Along with Tom Tollefsen, Garrick Gonzalez, John “JT” Torrijos and the other members of the team, they produced the documentary film about the Madison Scouts drum and bugle corps—Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood.

Mac’s family frequently brought him to movies and it was in 1977, when he watched Star Wars, that he decided that he wanted to make movies when he grew up. He experimented with video cameras and editing throughout his childhood. At 17, he attended the Summer Production Workshop at USC Film School. He studied film and also auditioned for the Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps and marched for one year. He was the Music Director at the University of Iowa College radio station, KRUI, when he decided to start his career in sound editing for movies. He has worked on post production sound for over 75 films and was nominated for 10 Golden Reel Awards. Mac is grateful to his team, especially Tom Tollefsen, Director, Co-Producer for the success of their Scouts Honor movie.

Mac talks about his life in the Bay Area with his wife Ashley, his son Admiral, and daughter Maven.
Mac Smith’s experience in connecting with some people in Drum Corps Activity specifically Madison Scouts which starred in the movie Scouts Honor
Mac’s purpose for making the movie
Gigantic Cranium projects
His efforts at marketing their work via the social media
What Mac had learned in being independent in social media-based crowdfunding
Mac’s advice for new music and independent film producers
Criteria for selection of members of the Drum Corps
Other details about his work

Movie website: www.scoutshonormovie.com

Gigantic Cranium website: http://www.giganticcranium.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MadisonScoutsMovie/

http://kathleenheuer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/MME-promo-mac-smith-sound.mp4

About Mac Smith

Mac Smith (documentary filmmaker and sound designer) was born into a family of tuba players in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents and older siblings exposed him to films that were a bit mature for his age, and a wide variety of musical styles. Films that stand out from his early childhood are “Murder By Death”, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, and “The Blues Brothers”. It was on that fateful day when his parents took him to see “Star Wars” in the theater in 1977 that changed it all. After that viewing, Mac knew that he wanted to make movies when he grew up. Mac experimented with video cameras, and picture editing throughout his childhood. He went off to Los Angeles at age 17 to take the Summer Production Workshop at USC Film School, and then made his home in Iowa City at the University of Iowa. Mac marched in the sousaphone section of the Hawkeye Marching Band, and studied film at Iowa. During his time in Iowa City, Mac decided to audition for the Madison Scouts drum & bugle corps in Madison, Wisconsin. He marched as a contra player for only one year due to age eligibility in 1995.

The lightbulb really went off for Mac when he got his hands on early digital audio editing software while he was the Music Director at the University of Iowa college radio station, KRUI. This is where sound and picture came together in his mind. The decision was made to start his career in sound editing for movies. Within a year of moving to Northern California, he found his way into the movie industry. Mac has worked on post production sound for over 75 films (“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “The Birth of a Nation,” “Toy Story 3,” “Tron Legacy,” “Rango”) and has been nominated for 10 Golden Reel awards (Motion Picture Sound Editing).

In 2011, Mac and Tom Tollefsen started developing the concept of a documentary film that focuses on the drum corps activity that they wanted to direct and produce. The film, “Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood” screened at four film festivals from 2014 to 2015 and took home 3 awards. Through the “Theatrical on Demand” company Gathr, “Scouts Honor” screened in nearly 30 theaters around the USA in 2015 and 2016. In June, the film was released on DVD and Bluray and now it’s coming out on iTunes on November 8th.

Mac enjo...