A Day with Brian Balmages and Jeff King

As part of the 2025 Victorian Instrumental Music Teachers Conference there were two international superstars of the music education field brought to Australia.

Brian Balmages is one of the most popular modern composers for concert bands but also an incredible educator and conductor. His first talk was titled ‘If you PLAY something, SAY something’ and explored the stages of musicianship and ability to communicate through music.

Key takeaways
– Musical terms are more effective when linked to a corresponding emotion or ‘action’ term that are understood by the ensemble and translated into musical sound
– Technique is important to master but must serve the musicianship. Having the technique is what enables you to bring the emotions to the music such as excitement, joy and grief
– The point of score study for a conductor is to stop them from looking down. Understand what you a trying to communicate.

Jeff King is the co-author of ‘Foundations for Superior Performance’, member of the Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame and former President of the Texas Bandmasters Association Board. With over 40 years of teaching experience he had a wealth of knowledge, particularly with warming up your ensemble, assessing student progress and avoiding burnout in the teaching profession.

Key takeaways
– Having better playing students help mentor is the ultimate goal for motivating through responsibility and recognition. The connection here is very strong amongst peers.
– Assess instrumentalists using an objective sheet for each term. Have a SMART goal stipulated for each week which could be technical, repertoire-based or instrument skill based. Some examples include using SmartMusic to record bars 1 to 16 at 140bpm, demonstrate your ability to tune your instrument correctly, submit your band folder in the correct organisational manner.
– Conduct from the podium but teach from every part of the room. Setup your band with an access aisle to the back row.

You can check out more from these amazing educators here

The Midwest Clinic – Do You Hear What I Hear?…