Thomas J. West Music

My blog started out back in 2008 as a series of practice tips and featured articles about the neurology of musical practice. The basic observation is that many elementary band and orchestra directors tell...

About a month ago, I shared with you the story of an innovative new music composition project that brings together a composer, a community orchestra, and a drum circle program that benefits at-risk youth. Composer Ben Goldberg is teaming up with the ...

Throughout my career as an instrumental music teacher in American public schools, I have had the opportunity to start a lot of students on a new instrument. My approach to starting beginners is typical: I begin with mouthpiece and embouchure formation, basic playing position, and so on. Where I diverge from tradition is in my approach to teaching basic playing technique, which I wil...

The 2013 season will be my fifth year judging for the Cavalcade of Bands Association. I have judged nearly every music and visual caption for them at some point, but in the past three years, they have employed me almost exclusively as a Music Ensemble judge up in the press box. As a music ensemble judge, my job is to evaluate, rank, and r...

It's May and I find myself out of energy and looking forward to summer break. During my morning commute, which involves a 40-minute bus ride and a mile walk, I was commiserating with other teachers via Twitter on how difficult this part of the school year is - a month left to go with all of its culminating activities, and quite simply no energy left to implement them. My own wife and chil...

Image: Thomas J. West [CC BY-NC-ND]

Historically, I understand the reasons why the treble clef instruments of the wind band transpose. It doesn't change the fact that having transposing instruments is a ridiculously inefficient and troublesome convention that makes abo...

The majority of my teaching career has been directing band and strings programs with 50 performers or les...