Wind Band Teaching Workshop

Building a Community of Trust, Collaboration and Innovation.

The 2024 Wind Band Teaching Workshop will take place January 26-27, 2024.

A conductor raises her baton and stretches out her arms as a wind band looks on.

The Desautels Faculty of Music Wind Band Teaching Workshop is designed for band directors of all levels and offers a conducting participant stream and observer stream. Participants in both streams attend all plenary sessions, conducting sessions, and discussions. The schedule will run 9:00am – 5:00pm on Friday and Saturday.

The workshop will explore philosophical and practical issues of teaching, rehearsing, and conducting. Sessions will address pedagogy, rehearsal techniques, gesture, interpretation, score study, and developing ensemble culture and community. 

This workshop is held in the Desautels Faculty of Music’s beautiful facilities on the University of Manitoba Fort Garry campus.

Schedule and Repertoire List

2024 Schedule

Friday, January 26, 2024

  • 8:30am – Registration Check-in: Lobby Taché 2 Arts Complex, Room T2-145
  • 9:00am – Keynote: Remember when….? Band in a Changing World 
  • 9:30am – Plenary Session 1: Scott Jones - Guiding Our Students to Rhythmic Independence
  • 10:45am - Podium Session 2: Conductors on Chamber Excerpts
  • 12:00pm - Lunch (not provided)
  • 1:30pm – Plenary Session 2: Catherine Robbins - Body Mapping for Conductors
  • 2:30pm – Podium Session 2: With UM Wind Ensemble for conducting participants/non-conducting participants observe


Saturday, January 27, 2024

  • 8:30am - Refreshments: Lobby Taché 2 Arts Complex, Room T2-145
  • 9:00am - Plenary Session 3: Scott Jones – Fostering Student Leadership and Followership in Large Ensemble Rehearsals by Stepping Aside
  • 10:45am – Plenary Session 4: Jacquie Dawson – Developing Skills for Expressive Gesture
  • 12:00pm - Lunch (not provided)
  • 1:30pm - Plenary Session 5: Jacquie Dawson – Repertoire Selection and Programming: Checking Boxes or Shifting the Paradigm?
  • 2:30pm - Podium Time 3: With UM Wind Ensemble
  •  3:40pm - 10 min Break
  • 5:00pm - Closing Remarks: Jacquie Dawson and Scott Jones
     

2024 Repertoire List

Ancient Flower, Nishimura
Northern Lights, Neufeld
Three Ayres from Gloucester, Stuart
The Grace in Being, Giroux
Infinity, Copley 
Lincolnshire Posy (Mvts. 1, 2, 4, 6), Percy Grainger

Registration

Space for the conducting stream is limited to 12 participants, and registrations will be processed in the order they are submitted.

All Conducting stream fees must be paid no later than Friday, December 15, 2023, and Observing stream by Monday, January 15, 2024, or you will not be considered registered for this event.

  • Conducting Participant: $225.00
  • Conducting Participant (Student): $125.00
  • Observing Participant: $175.00
  • Observing Participant (Student): $75.00

Workshop schedule details for the 2024 Wind Band Workshop will be available November 10, 2023. 

2024 Clinicians

Headshot of director of bands Jacquie Dawson

Jacquie Dawson, Facilitator and Clinician

Dr. Jacqueline Dawson is in demand as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator across Canada and the United States, appearing at numerous festivals and conferences coast to coast. Engagements have included the Minnesota All-State Concert Band, Musicfest Canada, the Alberta Band Asociation Wind Symphony, The Maritime Youth Wind Ensemble, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra New Music Festival, the International Music Camp, and numerous provincial, regional and divisional honour bands in Canada and the United States. She was awarded the 2003 University of Manitoba School of Music Excellence in Music Education Award, the 2013 University of Manitoba Teacher Recognition Award and the 2015 Manitoba Band Association Award of Distinction.

Dr. Dawson is currently an Associate Professor and the Director of Bands at the University of Manitoba Desautels Faculty of Music where she conducts the Concert Band and Wind Ensemble, teaches courses in music education and oversees the graduate wind conducting program. The University of Manitoba Wind Ensemble has been featured at festivals such as the Cantando Festival in Edmonton and Sunpeaks, the Canadian Rocky Mountain Music Festival, has performed in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra New Music Festival and has participated in numerous consortium commissions and world premiere performances. Prior to her appointment at the University of Manitoba, she taught in the public school system for twenty years and served as a sessional instructor at the University of Manitoba. Jacquie served on the board of directors of the Manitoba Band Association from 1999 – 2005 and remains active with numerous MBA projects and is the treasurer of the Canadian Band Association. She was the Artistic Director of The Winnipeg Wind Ensemble from 2009-2020. Jacquie is the one of the founders of the Winnipeg Youth Wind Ensemble and is the founder of the newly formed Winnipeg Chamber Winds Collective. She recently served as ‘Artist in Residence’ with the Royal Canadian Air Force Band. Jacquie continues to spend as much time as possible with young students and band programs and is a strong advocate for music education.

Dr. Dawson has been published in the Canadian Music Educator Journal and the Canadian Winds Journal and has presented at conferences internationally, including the Canadian Music Educators’ Association National Conference, the Kansas Music Educators Conference and the International Society for the Research and Promotion of Wind Music Conference. She is an active proponent in the promotion of new wind band works and has led or participated in numerous commissions and premieres of works by Gary Kulesha, Kenley Kristofferson, David Scott, Viet Cuong, Steven Danyew, and Peter Meechan. Jacquie received undergraduate degrees in music and music education from Memorial University of Newfoundland and holds a masters degree in conducting from the University of Manitoba where she studied with Dr. Dale Lonis and Earl Stafford. She completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the University of Kansas under the tutelage of Dr. Paul Popiel.

Ohio State University associate director of bands Scott Jones sits for a portrait in front of trees.

Scott Jones, Guest Clinician, The Ohio State University

Scott A. Jones is professor of music, associate director of Bands, and director of the Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Center for Integrated Arts and Enterprise at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. His primary teaching responsibilities include conducting the Symphonic Band and leading the undergraduate conducting curriculum.

A deeply collaborative musician and educator, interdisciplinary partnerships frequent Jones’ teaching and creative work. Collaborative partners with ensembles under his direction have included visual artists, composers, folk artists, the literary arts, digital media, dancers, and choral ensembles among others.

An ardent supporter of living composers, Jones has commissioned more than 40 new compositions for wind band and chamber winds. A firm believer in creating opportunities for students to interact with great artists of our time, the musicians under Jones’ leadership have also collaborated with Libby Larsen, Frederick Fennell, Eiji Oue, Aaron Jay Kernis, Frank Battisti, Seiji Ozawa, Augusta Read Thomas, Eddie Daniels, The Empire Brass Quintet, The American Brass Quintet, the Imani Winds, and a host of other distinguished musical figures.

Jones was honored with an Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching at Ohio State in 2015 and was recipient of the Ohio State School of Music Distinguished Teaching Award in both 2014 and 2020. His guest conducting engagements regularly include All-State Bands and Honor Bands, as well as international engagements throughout Asia.

Headshot of choral studies professor Catherine Robbins

Catherine Robbins, Guest Clinician, University of Manitoba

Catherine Robbins is a dynamic music educator known especially for her work in vocal techniques and choral pedagogy for choirs of all ages. Dr. Robbins is currently Associate Professor of Choral Studies and Music Education at the University of Manitoba Desautels Faculty of Music. She teaches courses in conducting, choral methods, vocal pedagogy for choirs, choral literature and programming, and directs the University of Manitoba Concert Choir. She has twice been honoured with U of M Merit Awards in the areas of teaching and service. She has recently finished her tenure as Past President of the Manitoba Choral Association and continues to serve as IDEA Committee Chair.

Dr. Robbins' primary research centres on applications of anatomical awareness and somatic approaches to conducting and singing, as well as the emerging field of fascia research. Further interests include collaborative self-study and life history methodologies as pedagogical tools in choral music education. Her creative works projects have focused on respectful, responsible, and reciprocal commissioning and publishing of choral music with Indigenous collaborators, as well as working with Indigenous languages. She has presented at provincial, national, and international symposiums in the areas of music education and choral techniques. Catherine specializes in pedagogy for developing voices, as well as vocal and conductor health, and enjoys bringing the choral music of living composers and song writers to new audiences.