By Alex Wimmer, Kansas Bandmasters Association President
Greetings from the Kansas Bandmasters Association (KBA)! On behalf of the KBA Board of Directors, we hope that your school year has begun with excitement, connection, and passion for sharing music with your students. Regardless of what part of the cloth we are cut from, music is the fiber connects everyone together. Hopefully we all are leaning on each other as musicians, music educators, and human beings to support one another and celebrate what we are doing in our classrooms, schools, and communities. Thank you for “building better musicians” where your feet are and please know that KBA is here to support you in any way we can!
The KBA motto is “Building Better Bands for Kansas” and over the last few years, we feel that great strides have been made through KBA. Below is an update on some of the ways KBA is “building better bands from within” the state of Kansas!
Welcome the Kansas Women Band Director Association:
KBA is proud and ecstatic to have the Kansas Women Band Director Association (KWBDA) as an affiliate organization (long overdue)!
Taken from their bylaws, “The Kansas Women Band Directors International is comprised of women in the field of music education, and specifically in the area of band instrumental music. It is the desire of the Kansas Women Band Directors International to cooperate with school administrations and officials, state music organizations, national music organizations, and others in striving to provide an enriched educational experience for our students. This includes our participation in NAfME, KMEA, and KBA activities and workshops as an affiliate of the Kansas Bandmasters Association. We are also committed to the empowerment of women through leadership, conducting, presentation, and other activities in music education that are relevant to the profession.”
Special thanks to Jennifer Antonetti for her passion and determination with the creation of the KWBDA We cannot wait to see how KWBDA grows and promotes inclusivity within the state of Kansas for our women band directors! Please visit their website for more information: https://sites.google.com/tps501.org/kwbda/home?authuser=0
KBA 2024 Convention Recap:
The Kansas Bandmasters Association hosted a successful convention July 11-13, 2024, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Wichita Airport, Wichita, KS. Clinician highlights included: Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser (keynote speaker) and 23-sessions all from Kansas music educators (public school and collegiate).
The KBA Convention program may be viewed by using the following link:
Featured performances this year included the Wichita Wind Symphony and the Olathe Civic Band. Other performance highlights included a Jazz Reading Session and a two-hour Conducting Workshop.
This year’s Middle Level Honor Band clinician was Erin Keeton-Howard, a Seattle based educator, conductor, and composer. MI. The Middle Level Band was composed of 92 middle school band students. Congratulations to all the students (and their directors) who participated in this year’s Middle Level Honor Band.
KBA held its annual awards banquet on Friday, July 12th. Honorees included: Abigail Baeten and Madison Hines-Schmoll, Outstanding Young Bandmaster; Will Cooper, Outstanding Bandmaster; and Jim Fuchs, Outstanding Contributor.
Part of this year’s convention was KBA’s 5th annual New Director Bootcamp (for first through third year band directors) on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. Special thanks to Kristi Vetter and Dr. Alex Wimmer for organizing and presenting at the bootcamp. Dr. Shawn Knopp was the keynote speaker. In addition to our principal clinicians, attendees also had the opportunity to visit with 2nd year boot camp participants, veteran educators (Erin Shelton, Daniela Thrasher, Maranda Wilson, Matt Bradford, James Hollingsworth, and Jayme Malsom), Craig Manuteffuel and Dr. Megan Hageman with KSHSAA, and Kansas Music Merchant Association members. Cindy Bragg introduced attendees to the KMEA mentorship program.
The KBA 2025 Convention will be held July 16-19, 2025 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Wichita Airport, Wichita, KS. Information about submitting clinic proposals as well as convention registration will be announced in the coming months, stay tuned!
Other KBA Programs that can Build your Band Program:
KBA hosts a Marching Championship in October and Jazz Championship in March. Information about this year’s events is below, hyperlinked to their respective websites. We hope you consider participating in the future and/or attending as a spectator to appreciate the hard work and dedication of these performing students!
- October 12, 2024 – Small School Marching Championship at Gowans Stadium on the campus of Hutchinson Community College
- October 19, 2024 – Open Class Marching Championship at Francis G. Welch Stadium on the campus of Emporia State University
- March 6, 2025 – Jazz Championships at Wichita State University
KBA is currently working on concert ensemble focused programs and will hopefully have more information to share soon!
We want to engage, connect, and unite as a profession of music educators. Please speak up and share with KBA about what is going well and how we can improve as an organization; we can only help you if you speak up. All feedback is good feedback, and we promise to hear/listen to your voice(s) as well as consider all perspectives to help make KBA better for everyone! If you have any questions about KBA, want to become more involved, and/or need help in any capacity, please do not hesitate to reach out to us! We are all in the same boat, there is no reason for us not to row together. Thank you for everything that you do for your students, schools, and communities; you are changing lives and having an incredible impact the future of the world.
Take care and thank you for “Building Better Bands!”
Alex Wimmer | KBA President | president@kansasbandmasters.com
We invite everyone to follow us as we bring attention to important activities and dates in the Kansas band universe. Join us online at:
Website
Facebook – Kansas Bandmasters Association
https://m.facebook.com/kansasbandmasters/
Facebook – Kansas Women Band Directors Association
https://www.facebook.com/KWBDA
Instagram – @ksbandmasters
(Accessible through the INSTAGRAM app)
Twitter – @ksbandmasters
https://mobile.twitter.com/ksbandmasters
