prairie winds band director symposium

Prairie Winds Band Director Symposium

February 3, 2024
Lied Center of Kansas

The University of Kansas Division of Music Education and Music Therapy and the University of Kansas Bands invite current and future band directors to participate in the first annual Prairie Winds Band Director Symposium. Sessions include a conducting clinic with KU faculty, an improvisation clinic by the Westerlies, and sessions with Dr. Emily Rossin, Prof. Sharon Toulouse, and Mike Meyer of Meyer Music and Band of Angels. Credit and non-credit options are available for all participants. The day concludes with a performance in the Lied Center by the KU Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble I, Crossroads Wind Symphony and a clinic with the Westerlies!

Registration Open

Registration Info

All participants must enroll. There are three options for enrollment.

Current Band Director, Non-Credit Option:

  • Cost: $35.00
  • Includes: Breakfast and coffee, clinics with faculty and visiting presenters, and a pass to the evening concert of the KU Wind Ensemble, Crossroads Wind Symphony, and Prairie Winds High School Honor Band. Participants who enroll as non-credit seeking may come and go as they please throughout the Symposium and are not required to participate as a conductor in the Conducting Clinic.

Current Band Director, Credit-Seeking Option:

 

  • Cost: Approximately $437 tuition + &125 campus fee for one hour of graduate credit to be used toward a graduate degree in music education at KU and/or renewal of professional teaching licensure
  • Includes: Breakfast and coffee, clinics with faculty and visiting presenters, and a pass to the evening concert of the KU Wind Ensemble, Crossroads Wind Symphony, and Prairie Winds High School Honor Band. 
  • Requirements: Participation in the Conducting Session as a conductor, attendance at all sessions on February 3rd, brief written reflection project due May 10, 2024.

Future Band Directors

  • Cost: Free
  • Includes: Breakfast and coffee, clinics with faculty and visiting presenters, and a pass to the evening concert of the KU Wind Ensemble, Crossroads Wind Symphony, and Prairie Winds High School Honor Band. 
  • Requirements: Must be enrolled in undergraduate music education coursework. For planning purposes, future band directors must enroll to participate. 

Conducting Session

The Conducting Clinic includes a rotation of conductors with a lab concert band. All conductors should prepare one of three excerpts of Overture for Winds by Charles Carter. Conductors will receive a clinic on the podium from KU faculty. All credit-seeking band directors are required to participate in the Conducting Session. Non-credit seeking band directors are encouraged to opt-in, and wll be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. We ask that all participating current and future band directors bring instruments and perform in the lab ensemble this conducting session. 

Conductors can choose from one of three excerpts of Overture for Winds:

  • Excerpt 1: Beginning - C (Introductory 2/4 section)
  • Excerpt 2: C-E (Andante 4/4 section)
  • Excerpt 3: E-end (Closing 2/4 section)

Enrollment in the conducting session closes one week prior to the Symposium (Saturday, January 27, 2024). The conducting rotation will be emailed to participants following the session enrollment deadline. 

Schedule

  • 8:30am - 9:00am Welcome and Light Breakfast
  • 9:00am - 9:50am Maximizing Athletic Bands with Ensembles of All Ages with Sharon Toulouse 
  • 10:00am - 10:50am Working with your Music Merchants & Thinking Like an Entrepreneur with Mike Meyer
  • 11:00am - 12:30pm Session 3: Conducting and Score Study of "Overture for Winds" by Charles Carter with Matt Smith
  • 12:30pm - 2:30pm Lunch
  • 2:30pm - 3:20pm Improvisation for Everyone with The Westerlies
  • 3:30pm - 4:20pm Developing Student Leaders through Ensemble Psychology with Emily Rossin 
  • 4:30pm - 5:30pm (optional) Observe full ensemble rehearsal of Prairie Winds Honor Band
  • 7:30pm Concert
  • After-Concert Gathering: 23rd Street Brewery​

Faculty