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Perspective

  • How Fairview High School raises over $5k annually

    Mike Lawson | August 29, 2019

    The email from the local high school band booster parent in my small town outside of Nashville, Tennessee, Fairview High School, read:

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  • The Great Gig in the Sky

    Mike Lawson | August 2, 2019

    Wow, summer is wrapping up! Some of you are back in school now, the rest of you are on your way back.

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  • Making Music Is For All

    Mike Lawson | July 5, 2019

    It’s an exciting couple of months for the students involved in United Sound’s new drum corps program.

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  • Another Way Tech is Important to Instrumental Students

    Mike Lawson | June 6, 2019

    It’s an Uber/InstaCart world we live in now. People can self-employ through apps for just about anything you can think of these days. It is no different for musicians.

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  • Sometimes, there are no words…

    Mike Lawson | May 8, 2019

    This month, my editorial is this sparse set of photos of a trumpet made of the shell casings of the kind of bullets used in an AK47, as fired in the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

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  • Still Working to Reach the Other 80%

    Mike Lawson | April 9, 2019

    It is a percentage that is often used, and almost a cliché now. The actual number isn’t that germane, it could give or take a few points, but the big picture is instrumental music programs don’t reach the vast majority of students for a multitude of reasons.

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  • Great Time to Teach Music

    Mike Lawson | March 1, 2019

    I’m fresh off two amazing “MEA” conferences where, as executive director of TI:ME (ti-me.org), I oversee the production of professional development training sessions that teach music educators to integrate technology into the music classroom.

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  • Life After Directing…

    Mike Lawson | February 8, 2019

    We all got into music careers because we love music. I got into the world of music how-to book publishing, non-profit music education management, and music education journalism because I am a musician first.

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  • A Look Ahead for 2019

    Mike Lawson | January 9, 2019

    Welcome back to work! It’s a new year, a fresh start, but of course, only the midpoint for the school year.

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  • 2019 – Let’s hope it’s a good one (without any fear)

    Mike Lawson | December 4, 2018

    From hurricane season in my hometown of Panama City, Florida, to wildfires all across my former home state of California, Q4 of 2018 ended with a lot of destruction and scary events resulting in unprecedented devastation.

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  • Take My Money, Please

    Mike Lawson | November 4, 2018

    As editor of both Choral Director and School Band and Orchestra, I’m a pretty easy mark for kids coming around and knocking on my door for a fundraiser for their programs.

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  • And when you get it, you got something…

    Mike Lawson | October 1, 2018

    Yeah man, did I get it! First time I heard the music of Stax/Volt Records’ southern-fried soul as a kid I was knocked out, inspired, and wanted to play music more than ever.

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