Best Instructional Practices Using The Yamaha Harmony Director

Navigate the intricacies of band instruction with this 8-week course led by experienced educator Glen Schneider and guest speakers George Andrikokus, Michael Pote, Alex Kaminsky, and Dr. Thomas Bough. Tailored for band directors, the comprehensive graduate course delves into using the Harmony Director in band rehearsals, progressing from fundamental to advanced concepts. It particularly addresses the keyboard’s role for directors familiar with this technology and provides valuable insights for those considering its future integration into their instructional approach.

Guest Lecturers:

George Andrikokus:

George Andrikokus is the director of bands, and instrumental jazz programs at Hinsdale Middle School. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music in Education from Elmhurst College in 2007, he taught in Addison School District #4 (2007-2013), in Bensenville School District #2 (2013-2016), and was the director of the Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage (2012-2015). Under his leadership, George’s students have had the opportunity to perform at contests and festivals throughout the Midwest such as the Illinois Music Education Conference (IMEC), The Jazz Education Network Conference, The Greater St. Louis UMSL Jazz Festival, and most recently the 77th Annual Midwest Clinic in December of 2023.

In 2013 George received the Quinlan & Fabish Chicagoland Outstanding Music Educator Award and the IGSMA Barbara Buehlman Young Conductor’s Award, most recently he was a recipient of the 2024 Illinois State Board of Education Those Who Excel – Meritorious Service Award. He now serves as the Vice President of the Illinois Grade School Music Association and has his master’s degree in Teacher Leadership from Elmhurst College (’20).

In his professional career, George is an active clinician, adjudicator, saxophonist and guest artist in and around Illinois for various district and state honors ensembles.
George has had the opportunity to not only perform and teach in and around the Midwest, but also in Australia, England, and Malta. George has had the opportunity to perform with jazz greats Bobby Shew, Jim Widner, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Gary Smulyan, and many others. He is a member of the National Band Association, Jazz Education Network, Illinois Music Education Association and the National Association For Music Education. He currently lives in Lombard, IL with his wife Allison, daughter Clara (8) , and son George (4).

Michael Pote:

Michael Pote was named Director of Bands at Carmel High School (Carmel, IN) in 2013 after spending 20 years serving as Associate Director of Bands. The band program at Carmel High School serves nearly 600 students with 7 concert bands, 6 jazz ensembles, marching band, chamber ensembles, private lesson program, percussion ensembles and 3 winter color guards.

Carmel High School’s Wind Symphony 1 performed at the 2005 Midwest Band and Orchestra clinic, the 2020 North Central Division CBDNA Conference, numerous state conference performances and clinics and has been a 4-time participant in the Music For All National Concert Band Festival. Wind Symphony 1 was also named the 1999, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019 Indiana State School Music Association Concert Band Champions.

The marching band at Carmel High School has been a Bands of America National Finalist 24 consecutive years dating back to 1996 and were the ISSMA State Champions in 1990, 2001, 2002, 2012 and 2018. CHS is a 23-time Bands of America Regional Champion and were named the Bands of America Grand National Champions in 2005, 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2018. The Carmel band program recently received the National Band Association Program of Excellence Blue Ribbon Award as well as being a two-time recipient of the prestigious Sudler Shield.

A clinician for the Yamaha Master Educator program, Michael has presented clinics across the country including the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, The Texas Music Educators Association Convention, the Boston Brass Summer Winds Seminar and the Arizona Music Educators Association. Michael is a member of the American Bandmasters Association and in 2019 was awarded Phi Beta Mu Indiana Chapter Band Master of the Year Award. His two rehearsal exercise books, “Process” and “Ensemble” are available through Fannin Music Productions.

Alex Kaminsky:

Alexander Kaminsky was appointed Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music at VanderCook College of Music in 2019 after a highly successful tenure at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. Previous to that, Kaminsky led the band programs at Buchholz High School, Lincoln High School, Auburndale High School, and Cocoa Beach Jr/Sr High School, all of which excelled under his direction.  He holds degrees from the University of Florida and Indiana University, is active as an adjudicator, and is in demand as a guest conductor/clinician across the country.

Throughout his 30-year career as a high school band director, Kaminsky’s ensembles consistently earned Superior ratings at all levels of evaluation. In addition to earning straight Superior ratings at the Florida Bandmasters Association (FBA) State Concert Band Assessment for an unprecedented 21 years (the last 11 years with both his first and second bands), he is the only director in the history of the FBA to have had three concert bands from one school earn straight Superior ratings at State, and he achieved this three times (2009, 2018, and 2019).

Kaminsky’s high school bands performed at the Midwest Clinic (2005, 2009, 2014, and 2018), ABA National Convention (2014), CBDNA/NBA Southern Division Conference (2004 and 2014), FMEA State Conference (2014), Music for All National Concert Band Festival (2002 and 2012), and the National Wind Band Festival at Carnegie Hall (2009 and 2018). In 2018, the Stoneman Douglas Wind Symphony was named a Mark of Excellence National Wind Band Honors winner as one of only ten 6A bands in the nation. His marching bands consistently placed in the Florida Marching Band State Championship Finals, winning several FMBC State Championships (including 4 of his last 6 years as a high school band director), as well as being named a finalist band at BOA regional competitions.

Kaminsky has presented his clinic “How Can I Get My Band to Sound Like That” at various conferences and workshops, and his hands-on rehearsal demonstrations for the annual “How To Fix It” series at the FMEA Professional Development Conference received high acclaim with over 900 attendees in 2019.  He has been awarded the National Band Association’s Citation of Excellence numerous times and has been recognized with several achievement awards for education including Florida’s 2019 FMEA Secondary Music Educator of the Year Award, FBA Oliver Hobbs Award, FBA Andrew J. Crew Award, National Honor Roll’s Outstanding American Teacher, Nobel Educator of Distinction, Teacher of the Year, and is listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.

Kaminsky is a Conn-Selmer Educational Clinician, an elected member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and the American School Band Directors’ Association, and also holds memberships in CBDNA, NBA, and Phi Beta Mu. He has served on many state and national committees, currently serving on the ABA Sousa/Ostwald Award Committee and the ABA School Bands Task Force, and is the NBA National Student Chapters Advisor. Kaminsky is a National Board Certified Teacher and has been featured in several publications including The Instrumentalist, Teaching Music, Halftime Magazine, School Band & Orchestra Magazine’s “50 Directors Who Make A Difference,” Home Magazine’s “12 Exceptional Educators,” and most recently, Inspiring a Love of Music published by GIA Publications.

Dr. Thomas Bough:

Dr. Thomas Bough joined the faculty of Northern Illinois University in the fall of 2005 as the director of Athletic Bands. He also conducts the Wind Symphony and teaches graduate conducting and instrumental arranging. Bough holds M.M. and D.M.A. degrees in tuba performance from Arizona State University, where he was a student of Sam Pilafian and Dan Perantoni. He holds a B.S. degree in music education from Missouri State University, where he was active in both vocal and instrumental music. From 1999-2005, Bough served as the assistant director of Bands and professor of tuba and euphonium at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL. From 1992-1999, he was the band director at Westwood High School in Mesa, AZ. Since 2017, he has served as the founding conductor and music director of the Fox Valley Brass Band in Aurora, IL.

Bough’s diverse performance background includes wind bands, brass bands, orchestras, chamber music, jazz bands, Dixieland, the Walt Disney World All American College Band and the Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps. He is a Yamaha sponsored artist, and performs on the Yamaha 822 CC tuba and Yamaha 822 F tuba. In this capacity, he served as a brass consultant and guest instructor with the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps for six years. He was also an instructor with the Phantom Regiment Alumni Corps in 2016. Bough has contributed nearly twenty articles and hundreds of new music reviews to the Instrumentalist magazine, School Band and Orchestra magazine, and DCI Today, as well as articles to five volumes of the Teaching Music Through Performance series as well as Teaching Music Through Performance in Jazz. In 2019, Bough was invited to partner with the Dansr company as a Denis Wick Ambassador.

Bough is an active conductor, arranger, composer, clinician, and adjudicator for concert band, marching band, and brass band, with dozens of appearances per year to his credit across the United States. His music is published by Alfred Publications, Cimarron Music and GPG Publications. He has served as a frequent masterclass clinician and/or conductor for the Music For All Summer Symposium and the Music For All National Concert Band Festival for over 15 years. He has presented masterclasses at the Eastman School of Music, the Crane School of Music, Arizona State University, the University of Michigan, the University of Toledo, and UNC-Greensboro, among many others. Bough has presented three times at the Midwest Clinic and twice at the U.S. Army Band Tuba-Euphonium Conference, as well as the International Society for Music Education Conference in Beijing, China, four NAFME multi-state regional conventions, the International Horn Society Conference and the International Women’s Brass Conference. In addition, he has presented at Music Educators Association State Conventions in Illinois, Arizona, Texas, Iowa, Tennessee, Alaska, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Colorado, Nebraska, Arkansas, North Carolina, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Washington, Florida and the Texas Bandmasters Association.

In May of 2014, his first compact disc was released, entitled, Concertos for Brass: The Music of Thomas Bough. This disc features three original concerti for solo brass instruments and wind band, as well as a transcription of the Concerto in Eb by Neruda. It is available on the Summit Records label.  Since then, recent commissions have included “Musings on Mahler” for Solo Trumpet and Band, “Legacy of Luther” from Concordia University in Chicago, “Air Mobility Fanfare” from the U.S. Air Force Band at Scott Air Force Base, “Poorest of the Poor: Music for Mother Teresa”, from the University of San Diego, “Fortress of Peace” from the Southwest Community Concert Band, “Leviathan” from Hubble Middle School, and “Burn” for Alto Saxophone and Band, commissioned by Dr. Greg Dewhirst from Texas Wesleyan University.

Learn more about his work on his website.