Episode 3.5 - The Band Room Pod (Dylan Maddix & Cait Nishimura)
March begins with podcast crossover extravaganza #2! We are so excited to welcome Dylan Maddix and Cait Nishimura, hosts of The Band Room Pod to talk with us. They each bring amazing insight from the eyes of a performer, educator, composer, and podcast host into this episode.
We talk with Dylan and Cait all about how The Band Room Pod began and expanded to include two incredible hosts, the variety of guests they bring on their show, and we all talk (and agree heavily!) on the importance of DEI work in music education. Tune in to hear their thoughts of the future of music ed and some of the exciting projects they both have coming up!.
And if you recognize Cait’s name, yes - she was a guest early on in our first season of the podcast!
To learn more about Dylan, Cait, the Band Room Pod, and all the resources they recommended, check out the links below!
Cait’s first episode on the DtS podcast
Association of Canadian Women Composers
“Music Education and Social Emotional Learning” by Scott Edgar
Full Transcript
Carrie Blosser 0:00
Welcome to the third season of Diversify the Stand. Together, we speak with a wide range of musicians who talk about topics that are important to them. I'm Carrie Blosser.
Ashley Killam 0:08
And I'm Ashley Killam. We're so excited to dive into talks with a whole bunch of guests this season. If you like following along and are a fan of our podcast, please leave us a five star rating and review. In another podcast crossover, we talk with DTS podcast alum, Katie Nishimura, and Dylan Maddix. Current hosts of the bandroom pod. Well, thank you so much. For both of you being on our podcast today. We're so excited to talk with you both.
Cait Nishimura 0:32
Thanks for having us.
Dylan Maddix 0:33
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Carrie Blosser 0:34
We'd like to start off just hearing a little bit about each of you kind of your musical journey and what you both currently do,
Cait Nishimura 0:41
Sure. Yeah. So my name is Cait Nishimura, I've been on this podcast before. So people who are listening may have heard me talk about myself a little bit already. So I, I will keep this concise today. But I am a composer of primarily instrumental music. I enjoy writing for Concert Band, wind band, whatever you prefer to call it. But throughout the pandemic I've really enjoyed writing music for smaller groups of musicians. So lots of chamber music and duets and things like that, I've come to enjoy that a lot. My background is in music education. So I have a degree in music education, as well as an education degree itself. And I taught instrumental music for a few years out of university, before transitioning to a full time career as a composer. So now I make a living writing music for other people, which is a true dream come true, really, it's a joy to do what I love. But education is still a big component of what I do as well. I work with school groups, virtually and someday again in person, and give insight about my pieces, the music that they're playing, and talk about entrepreneurship within the arts and the intersection of music and environmentalism, and all sorts of other interesting things. So I'm very passionate about the education side of what I do, in addition to the creative side of being a composer and a musician. And in 2021, I added podcast host to the list of things that I do, thanks to my dear friend, Dylan, inviting me to be co hosts on the bandroom podcast. And we'll get into that a little bit more. But yeah, that's That's me in a nutshell. And I live in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. I'm very close to nature now after living in a big city, living in Toronto for over a decade. So this was a really, really good move for me. And I'm happy to be here creating out of a really beautiful place.
Dylan Maddix 1:35
I guess. I guess I'll go next. My name is Dylan Maddix. I'm originally from Canada's smallest province, Prince Edward Island, where I spent my whole childhood up into my adult life and went and did a music degree, just a general bachelor of music degree at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, as a trumpet player. And, yeah, and then I, as probably most people think you know you want to do with your life, but then not really. So around that time I began developing an interest in conducting. My high school band teacher is was Mark Ramsey, who's now Dr. Mark Ramsey, who is a choral head of Choral Studies at Western University in London, Ontario now, so he was my, my first, like, the first person to give me an opportunity to do anything. So I always really had an interest in conducting, but I didn't realize it. And then in university, I had an opportunity to work with Gillian MacKay at the University of Toronto. And I was like, this is what I want to do. I want to be a wind ensemble conductor just like her and I went up to her asked if I could do my Masters with her the following year, because I was her assistant that summer. And she said no. So she said don't even apply. Didn't even get that far. So she said, come to the University of Toronto and do your masters in trumpet because the trumpet is not done with you yet and you should become the best musician you can be before you try to tell others how they should do that. So I ended up doing that freelancing for probably four years in my masters and then outside of my masters as well. Playing for anything and everything. Be it casino shows with, you know, the lead singer of Supertramp or Sarah McLaughlin, worked on Netflix shows all bunch of different kinds of random freelance things, as well as some connecting and then was adjudicating during that time and kind of teaching on a freelance basis. And then a job came up at Cambrian College for a head of winds and brass, kind of teach everything that you blow into so I ended up applying and getting it! So I ended up moving up to Sudbury, Ontario from Toronto, and taught at Cambrian College for three years as a professor of music, as welI as teaching at Laurentian University, their kind of introductory to conducting course. And then things kind of took a turn in that in that community when it came to those institutions. And it was also time for me to kind of further my education. And so I ended up applying to Arizona State to pursue my doctorate in wind band conducting with Jason Caslor, as well as study trumpet with Joe Burgstaller. So it's kind of a really great place for me to explore both of my passions. And then I also host the podcast with the wonderful Cait Nishimura, which is fantastic. But yeah, kind of a nutshell that's, that's what I do.
Carrie Blosser 5:39
Awesome. Thank you both so much for introducing yourself and letting our listeners get to know you a little bit more. You perfectly segued us into the question that we're gonna ask you next was, you started the bandroom podcast and we'd love to know how that kind of started for you, Dylan, and then how it's kind of grown. And Cait has added in over the last year and kind of, you know, where where this is headed for you both?
Dylan Maddix 6:01
Yeah, well, I don't know about for for y'all, but for me, whenever I started the podcast, I never really imagined what it what it is and what it could be. So whenever it first started, it was during that freelance time in my life in 2017. As young freelancers especially know, the summers are usually very rough when it comes to finding work, so I had a lot of free time one summer. And I said, you know, you know what, I love talking. I love talking about music. So I might as well see if I can't do some kind of podcast thing. I was also really interested in getting into radio. And I had a couple of contacts with CBC, which is our what's the what's the, the last C for Cait? Canadian?
Cait Nishimura 6:44
I think it's Canadian Broadcasting Company, isn't it?
Dylan Maddix 6:47
Yeah. So it's like our national our national media. And Tom Allen, who I had been a great fan of growing up, ended up becoming a friend because my wife's a harpist, his wife's a harpist, and we were in similar circles. But I remember talking to him about the idea, like how did you get into radio? He's like, well, this is how I did it, but I don't recommend it anymore. You should maybe consider starting a podcast and this other guy, David Jaeger told me the same thing. So I ended up doing that. And the podcast initially just started by me playing band music that I really liked, and wanted other people to hear. And I kind of shared, I just shared stories about it. Maybe it's a brief history, like, not in a boring way, hopefully. And then that was kind of it. And then at one point that season, I ended up having Dr. Gillian MacKay on because she's, you know, she was my mentor, and the only person that would say, yes, so she came on. And, and then I, it was like on a little Zoom, little Zoom recorders in her office, and it sounds horrendous. But I had a great time talking to her. And then I ended up switching to an interview format, mostly because it's a big mess of copyright to try to play that much music on a podcast. So I really didn't want to do it anymore. So I ended up switching to an interview format, which was handy because I was adjudicating and had a lot of contacts that I could kind of talk to and it was all in person then. It was no - we didn't do any of the Skype stuff, any of the Zoom stuff. So I was like one a month because I'd be adjudicating once a month, then I would go somewhere in someone's hotel room, we would record the episode, or maybe it's their, their house or whatever it is. So that's how that happened. And then when the pandemic hit, I ended up amplifying it because I wanted to provide more of a resource for people that are, you know, trying to keep happy and sane throughout the pandemic. And if I can give them a little bit of that, that's great. So I ended up doing it every week, during the pandemic, and that that had held strong for a very long time. And just really wanting people to hear these stories, wanting to kind of be okay and hear about the messiness of being human, even from people who are really great at their job. There's a reason they're great at their job, and there was a path to get there. One evening, as I went off to sleep, I had a dream. I know, this is it's going somewhere. And this dream I was hosting the podcast with with someone. And it was it was just so good. It was you know, there was no ums, there was no ahs. We were finishing each other sentences, complementing each other beautifully. And I ended up kind of telling this person about about the dream and like, Oh, that's very funny, haha. Yeah, and then, but we didn't really do anything about it. And then at a certain point, I was getting kind of bored with talking to myself in the intros and I ended up approaching that person who was Cait. And I said, Hey, you know, wouldn't this be a cool thing and then put it into social media too, just to see who they might like say and everyone there was like countless Cait's in my comments. So we talked about it again and officially, and then we're like, let's just try it. So we ended up trying it and it was great. It was - it was literally a dream come true. So since then, Cait has been part of the bandroom podcast. And it's just been, it's been really great to have not only someone who's very well established in the field, but I think more importantly, one of my closest friends who you know, I can talk to for hours about literally nothing. And have them part of this is just has been fantastic. And also the feedback from everyone else has been really fantastic as well. So that's how Cait ended up getting involved.
Cait Nishimura 10:32
Yeah, and I'm so happy that it worked out. I remember you telling me Dylan about, about the dream, you know, and it planted a seed. Yeah, cuz like, I also have been interested in like, when I was young, I thought maybe one day, I'll have a radio show. And I'll just play all my favorite songs for people, you know, and I have thought about hosting a podcast, but especially, you know, at this point, or at the point where I joined BRP, I would not have had the mental capacity to start anything by myself. And so the idea of hosting a podcast, just kind of like it floated around, and I would push it away, because I knew I wouldn't have the time to invest into making something really meaningful and successful. But the idea of joining something that was already established, like Dylan said, you know, we already have such a great rapport with each other, we have really similar values in what we would want to present to our audience. And so I think it was just a really natural fit for me to join, I had been a guest on the bandroom podcast twice, actually, before becoming a co host. So I was familiar with the ins and outs of you know, what the mandate was, and how it felt to be in conversation in the band room and that kind of thing. So it was really a natural fit. I think one of the things that, that we're really focused on now that it's the two of us, is the diversity aspect of things. And I know I'm sure we'll get into that more in this conversation. But it's become, I think, increasingly important to us, that our guests reflect our community and the people who are listening to the podcast. And so I mean, I think Dylan would say, this is true that since I've come on the podcast, I'm able to connect us with more people that are in my network in my circles that maybe wouldn't have been as approachable for Dylan on his own - or just, they didn't already know each other, and so being a composer and a conductor team is just really fantastic. Because the cross section of people that the two of us are connected to, is just so vast, so I think we've really been able to showcase a wider variety of career paths because of doing this together. And just having two unique perspectives that are, you know, overlapping in a lot of ways, but still kind of in different streams, different realms, and a lot of ways as well. I like to think that that just creates, you know, a varied and interesting thing for people to listen to and learn from and education is, as I mentioned, you know, always really important to me, and Dylan is an educator as well, so although we are catering, our podcast, I think towards music educators, band directors, it's also towards music students, you know, college and university students that are preparing to go into the field, being able to listen to people that they are inspired by, I think that's a really great resource for them. Community musicians, you know, even just parents of musicians and people who are wanting to learn more about the field in general, I think there's something in it for everybody. And that's something that personally anyway, I'm very proud of that I think anybody listening to any of the episodes is going to be able to relate to at least something that they hear. So I think we've got a good thing going.
Carrie Blosser 14:01
Yeah, you've got like a great balance between like, with both of you having the education background, and then the composer background and conducting background and performing. There's like a little bit of everything that goes into it to create really unique perspectives. I know you mentioned like the diversity in guests you have and that you're bringing guests from different just backgrounds and career paths. Can you talk a little bit about some of the type of guests you have on, maybe some of the people you've brought on the past couple of seasons, and why it's important to bring in a whole wide range.
Dylan Maddix 14:35
So often in our field, the music field that is, there's so much kind of, I don't want to say - no, I'll say - worship of the kind of the great people in our world. And I think it's very important for us in the band room to realize that those great people are everywhere. So they might be conductors, they might be composers, they might be junior high band teachers, they might be the private clarinet instructor in your community. So I think for us, it's important to kind of bring people that we believe in, people that have something to say that we hope will improve the knowledge, the inspiration of our listeners. So I don't think it's so important to us that we're getting the who's who in the world, although our guests are really great, I think it's more important for us to actually show what is possible in our work and in their lives. So, so we've gone about that. So there's, there's lots of conductors, but we've also kind of a lot of performers, we've started a sectional series and, and then Cait and I also have a vast list of people that that we want to ask as well. And you know, and they're not all kind of well known superstars. But definitely, like I said, people that we really want to have their voices heard more.
Cait Nishimura 16:01
Yeah, I think also, with diversity in mind, we're not only looking at diversity in terms of, you know, ethnic backgrounds, and gender diversity and things like that. We're also looking at, you know, different ages and different kind of career stages. So, we don't want to just showcase people who have been doing this for decades, and are already, you know, kind of well established experts in the field. Obviously, we really respect people in that position, and we want to learn from them, but I think it's important that we also are showing people who are earlier in their careers or who have made a career shift, you know, they started out doing one thing, and then now they're doing something kind of adjacent or related a little bit, or maybe not even related at all. And I think it's just really important that we showcase to the people who are listening, that you can take any kind of path to get to where you are, to get to where you want to be. And just kind of showing different examples of that. So it's not just everybody who has formal training in one thing, and then started doing that thing and has never stopped doing that thing. You know, we love to talk to people about their musical journeys, because it's just so much fun to hear about how somebody started playing the organ, and then they ended up learning the bass, and then now they're a military conductor. And now that you know, it's just, it's so interesting to get all of those kinds of stories and show people that there isn't just one way to do this. So yeah, we're looking at, you know, diverse selections of the humans, you know, in terms of age, and gender, and all of those things. But also, yeah, we try to change it up between composers, conductors, community musicians, public school educators, military, musicians, performers, you know, anybody that we can get that has a different perspective, from what we've been able to share so far. We're doing our best to just be as open minded as possible in who we invite to chat with us. And we ask for feedback from the community as well, and we've had lots of recommendations and requests, you know, to have certain people on and we try to listen to that as much as possible as well. But people can go on our website and check out all of the past guests. There are a lot of really, really amazing people, people that Dylan and I are both kind of starstruck to be speaking with. But then we end up realizing that they're just regular, weird human beings like us. And I think that's just one of the most rewarding aspects of it for people is to kind of humanize all of these people that we tend to idolize to bring it back down to earth and go, okay, we're all still just figuring this out together.
Carrie Blosser 18:48
I love that. I think it's important to see the varied ways to a successful career. Because I think sometimes when you're only interviewing people who are 50 years into the essentially the same job, for me, I always kind of felt like I was on that edge of burnout when I was trying to get to that point, but you can't get, you know, to the end of your career at the beginning of your career. So I think that's such a great way to engage a lot of different educators. And then also for their students, they know other career paths for their students too, which is really cool.
Dylan Maddix 19:18
It was so different then, like, oh, I went here, and I finished my masters and I got offered the job as Director of Bands. I like what, oh, no way. There's no way. But so there's lots of things that you know, in, like I said, in certain circumstances have changed. But yeah,
Carrie Blosser 19:35
So keeping in the kind of music education realm of things I know, both of you are pretty passionate about, you know, diversity and equity and inclusion in the music of the composers and for students, as we're all educators in in our chat today, which is which is fantastic too. But I'd love to talk a little bit about you know, why you're passionate about this personally, and maybe where you see the future of music education going in terms of how we're going to be more inclusive with programming and directing and all of the different things that we see in music education.
Dylan Maddix 20:07
Well, I think for me, it started early and I didn't know it started early. And there's lots of things that I think back about how my music education started, that I kind of took for granted for a very long time, and kind of thought was normal for everyone. So one of which was, you know, my high school band director, was in our very small community in Prince Edward Island that time to be a gay man, not really a welcome thing, and it certainly wasn't. Mark Ramsey was that for me, and as like a closeted bisexual student, that was kind of someone to look up to, to see. So my first kind of thing about this is that representation matters. And going into my undergrad, my, my main brass professor was a lesbian. And I didn't really think anything of that. And then, you know, Julian MacKay was is my main mentor, having a female mentor, there's nothing I ever questioned. But to think about how that kind of influences me, as I kind of try to teach the next, my, my students, and how, if, if they are some member of a minority or not, how are they going to go about the world? How are they going to teach their students? How are they going to go talk to people, those kinds of things. So I think, for me, that's kind of where it started. And in a big part of why I love doing the podcast, because it it for me, I like almost in a bad way, sometimes love really destroying stigma, to the point where I might make the room a little bit awkward. But so the podcast allows allows that. But for me now, I think where where I can kind of have the most influence is, is you know, being a white male who has has this immense amount of privilege. I have an opportunity to use it in a way that can can help rather than hinder. So certainly the podcast serves, in that sense. Programming, I think, is probably one of the biggest things we can do to help and doing that. I'm not just saying this, because I'm reading it now. But this book that we've been talking on the podcast, for a very long time, The Horizon Leans Forward, is just opening my eyes even further, but not being afraid to kind of make mistakes whenever you're going through this. Even last week, Cait and I had a discussion where, you know, we had been part of a revamp of the national band syllabus in Canada, and I talked to her very openly like, sometimes I wonder if we made the right decisions about like, progress that we made. I think that you need to be okay with that, that you should be questioning. And it's not an easy thing. It's not that this whole diversity thing is not easy, because at least for uncertain sides, you're giving up power, and the need to make space and those kinds of things. So I certainly think programming as one place that everyone can do it - doesn't matter if you're university educators, doesn't matter if you're junior high educators, we can all be making decisions. And there's so many resources out there to do that now. But yeah, I think those kinds of things, for sure, are stuff that that I'm trying to do.
Cait Nishimura 23:22
Yeah, I think also I'll speak about Dylan and just say that I think he's a fantastic ally in that he is willing to ask the right questions, even if, you know, the answers are uncomfortable. I mean, between the two of us, we have so many conversations about is it okay to, you know, spotlight this? Or should we be asking people like this to come on the podcast more? Or are we doing enough to showcase different kinds of people? And yeah, about repertoire, programming and things like that. We bounce ideas off of each other all the time. And I think one of the first steps that people can take that are wanting to kind of do some of this DEI work is just starting to have conversations with people that are in your circles. You know, ask other if you're a band director, you can ask other band directors, what pieces have you really enjoyed, that I may not have heard of already, and kind of exchange ideas or for college musicians that are choosing their recital rep, you know, rather than just relying on what the teachers are presenting to them based on what they did on their recitals however many years ago, you know, seek out living composers who are writing interesting music who are alive and able to have a conversation with you about what their intentions were behind the piece. There are just so many ways that people can get started in doing this work. Even you know, right from like the early stages of being in a musical career, all the way to very well established, you know, veterans in the in the music industry - it's never too late to try new things. It's never too late to change your mind about your stance on something. So that's my my two cents on that. But I'll speak a little bit about the composer perspective on diversity stuff. So as a person with a name like mine, I think it's such a powerful statement simply to have my name printed on the top corner of people's music that's on their music stand right? When I was a music student in elementary school, middle school, high school, even up to university, it was rare, if ever at all that I saw a composer's name on my music that looked anything like mine. And when I started to learn more about composers, more about music, and I, I looked things up, and I, you know, read in books and on the internet, when that started to become an easier thing to do. You know, I kind of saw that, oh, all these composers are men and all most of them are white men, and a lot of them are not alive anymore. And what message does that show to young music students about being a composer? When all of the role models, all of the, you know, really well known pieces of music that we're playing are by people who are no longer even able to, you know, engage in a conversation or you can't look them up or anything, so I just think that for me now, to be in a position of perhaps being a role model to future generations of musicians, just by having my name on a piece of paper, you know, I think that's just such a big deal. And I think in terms of space, Dylan said something about creating space, you know, and we talk a lot about inviting new voices into the space or a seat at the table, all these various ways of talking about diversifying our circles and the kind of work that we're doing. I think that for those of us from historically underrepresented demographics, simply taking up space is an act of defiance. We are taking back power that was taken away generations ago. We are, you know, really, I think if we're making people uncomfortable, that is progress, because in order for anything to change, the oppressor has to be a little bit uncomfortable first. And not that everybody in this field in this community is an oppressor but, a lot of people are benefiting from all of the harmful behaviors of people from the past. And so it's up to us now to reverse some of that, and to take ownership of what the future looks like for ourselves and for all of the students and musicians and teachers that are to come next. So there's just so much work to be done. And it's really overwhelming sometimes to think about it and to talk about it. I know that music teachers especially are you know, they're real superheroes, and they don't have a lot of extra time to be researching what they should be doing what they shouldn't be doing anymore. It is really difficult to make the time to do new things. So I think that's where, you know, resources come into play, there are so many resources, including, you know, your podcast that we're on right now. And all of the other, you know, wonderful organizations that the four of us kind of align ourselves with, there are so many wonderful people in the scene now that are doing everything they can to make this diversity journey easier on other people, whether that's paving the way for underrepresented composers, or just kind of creating a database or a resource for teachers to be able to access more diverse music, people that are putting pressure on organizations like the Midwest Clinic, and like Dylan was saying, you know, changing the National Concert Band syllabus, people are putting pressure on these organizations to do things differently than how things have been done in the past. So as much as it is overwhelming, and we have a long way to go, I feel optimistic about the future. I think that we are making strides and progress is progress.
Carrie Blosser 29:09
Incredible. And I know I can speak for both Carrie and I that we agree with every single point there when you were talking about like the the generational, just like the harm on those that are marginalized, yes, as an individual, you may be benefiting from, you know, the systems in power that have been established for years and years and years. But you don't have to continue to build up that harm. And even the individual there's so much you can do even the smallest of steps and the smallest of changes to start breaking that down and just make that part of the culture and then it's less of like this buzzword and big deal and more of just how your program or your lessons and your practice is established.
Cait Nishimura 29:51
Yeah, exactly. I mean, when you you look at you know, a group of students, you look at an audience, you look at a an Honor Band ensemble, and look at how many different kinds of people are represented in these groups. You know, I think the literature should reflect that, the leadership should reflect that, the kinds of amazing conductors that are invited to present at these conferences should reflect that, you know. It just really when you think about it like that, it makes sense. It's not it shouldn't be that radical of a thing for the leadership in our field to reflect the people that comprise the community. Right? I think I think it's just common sense. So
Dylan Maddix 30:29
I think for for to going along with what Cait saying, and also Alex Shapiro's chapter in this Horizon Leans Forward book, think there's a there's a moment where, and we've all heard it where, oh, I was, you know, the adjudication panel was a bit of a sausage fest. But we couldn't find anyone. We couldn't find any females who could, who could do it. Like, Oh, okay. And that this is like, this is true. This has happened on panels that I've been in and, and brought up to who's hired me. Like, oh, we couldn't find anyone. Or, probably Cait's favorite - and definitely my favorite thing that people say is when we're talking about repertoire, the the diversity versus excellence in repertoire argument, which is not an argument, because by saying that, you're saying that diverse repertoire isn't excellent. So that that whole thing doesn't really work. But certainly these, those, those kinds of things, really bother me.
Carrie Blosser 31:26
For both of you, do you have any exciting projects you're working on?
Cait Nishimura 31:30
I suppose I'll start. I am working my way through several commissioned pieces right now, and I'm incredibly fortunate and grateful to be in the position of having to turn down commissioned work. It's really just - I never would have thought, even a few years ago, that I would be in this place right now where so many people are wanting to collaborate in such a variety of ways. I'm really, really happy about it, and honored to be doing this work with the community. But I'm a little bit burnt out. So I am excitedly and enthusiastically finishing up all of the ongoing commission's that I've said yes to. It's really, really important to me, to maintain the collaborative aspect of creative work. So whenever I write a piece, I try to be in communication with the person or the group that I'm writing for, and really get a sense of what they're looking for and who they are, and what's important to them and really be part of the process of bringing the piece to life. Even once it exists, you know, following up with the ensemble or with the individual. So that takes a lot of time and energy for me to maintain all of that. It's not just a transactional thing where someone pays me to create something, and then I hand it off, and then that's it. Some people choose to operate that way, but I think the majority of living composers right now don't prefer to do it that way. Most of us prefer to, you know, have a collaborative experience. And so because of that, I've realized that I need to set aside more time for me to really be invested in these projects. So I am working on several concert band pieces in the next couple of months. And I'm really excited about that because I've, I've been looking back at my my catalogue and realizing, wow, I've written a lot of music over these years. And I feel really good about being able to make a meaningful contribution to this repertoire. Concert Band is just my favorite realm to work in. And it's where I got started as a composer, so it's a real privilege to be able to contribute so much work to the rep. But, following that, following all of these commissions that I'm finishing up, I am going to be taking a sabbatical. And I'm really excited about it. And I suppose this podcast will be the first time I'm sharing this publicly. So whoever listens to this as among the first to hear about this. I will be sharing it in all the places and telling people about it. But I'm really, really looking forward to setting aside some time for myself to grow as a person, to read as many books as I can possibly take in, to learn as much as I can, you know, not just about music and composer-y things, but all of the other aspects of who I am as well. I'm really interested in forest bathing, and I know this is seemingly unrelated, but forest bathing is a mindfulness practice that is rooted in being outdoors in the forest, and I'm planning to do the training to become a certified forest therapy guide. And these things don't seem like they're related to, you know, big exciting composer projects, but I think just as Gillian MacKay told Dylan not to do his masters in conducting but to become the best musician he could be before being a conductor, I think it's important as a creator, as a composer, to be the best, healthiest happiest version of myself as a human that I can be in order to create really meaningful work that people can relate to and resonate with and engage with. So that is my exciting project is to just work on my my life a little bit, and then come back when I feel like I'm able to be really, really present and, and make another contribution in the next chapter of my life. So those are some of the things on the go for me, but between the two of us, Dylan and me, you know, we have so much to look forward to in terms of the bandroom podcast as well, we have a long list of guests that we would like to invite to talk to this year in 2022. I think we are just continually so inspired by everybody that we have the opportunity to talk to, and I'm not going to be taking a break from that that's something that I think is a really important aspect of my life now, just in that especially with the pandemic, you know, we're all kind of disconnected and we don't have the opportunity to work together in person as much as we all used to. So I think it's been a real, you know, source of joy and source of inspiration to just connect even virtually with all of these really inspiring people. So I'm looking forward to all of all that that has in store as well.
Dylan Maddix 36:21
Actually, before I say my projects, I just want to say how grateful we should all be for having Cait in our lives. And I don't mean that in a because I'm on a podcast kind of way. I mean that and like as someone who I think all of us have grown up in this way, and in some sense with the helmet on and and this helmet, it forces us to be workaholics or we're told we're supposed to be. And then someone comes along and kind of lifts that visor for you. And that person for me, it's been Cait. Like, oh, you're right, I should take care of myself. Oh, you're right. I don't need to do that - of course. So I'm just I just want to say how, how grateful I am to have you in my life, Cait, to remind me. And be a good person and healthy human things. That being said, I don't really have many projects nowadays, because well, the doctoral project is certainly one. Which is kind of the only thing I'll be talking about, I suppose, because it involves the podcast in some way. I don't know how but it will. And that will be decided by the summer. So I'm told. So we'll figure that out. But I guess for me right now, it's just yeah, the podcast. Most recently, Cait just read this last night, but I just wrote an article on building community and educating through podcasting, which will be coming out in the Canadian Winds Journal Spring issue. So I just finished that, but just ideas for teachers and kind of community band leaders to how they can use podcasting to improve accessibility, and improve kind of just some time saving things that they can do. And it's not something I ever thought I would write about. Nor is it something I think I'll write about again. But it's that that's been kind of on on my project table for a while. And it's finally finished. Going through its first round of editors, and I'll go through the journal editors next. And then other than that, the podcast because we have, as Cait said, the immense amount of people that we want to talk to, but also just kind of developing more resources, kind of with the with the podcast we have. We've partnered with colorful music and Jodie Blackshaw to create this colorful music repertoire list. So we have kind of a list of all of our guest composers, and with recommended beginner/intermediate/advanced pieces as well as a link to their interview. So you you kind of have access to that resource. And that will continue to be increased, assuming we interview more composers. So that that's the thing and then you know, Cait and I are on a weekly basis are bouncing back crazy and wacky ideas of things that we might want to do. So we've talked about a long time for doing a kind of a composer conductor workshop in the summers. Cait leading the composer one, myself leading the conducting one and kind of welcoming back past guests to be part of that in some kind of panel form. Maybe it's looking at videos, maybe it's listening to pieces, but that's certainly a thing that will hopefully be explored again. And just kind of stuff like that added resources to our growing platform.
Carrie Blosser 39:33
Awesome, super.
So our last question that we ask everyone is: What's on your music stand this week and how are you diversifying your stand - whether that's like physical music stand or like metaphorical-like stand.
Cait Nishimura 39:49
Well, I to be honest, I have not been practicing or performing very much at all these days as I'm very composition focused at the moment, but I'll just share a piece that I listened to recently that was was brand new to me. So we talked about And We Were Heard and their wonderful recordings that they produce. So one of the new ones that they released recently was a piece called Edge of the Sacred Rainforest by Brittany J. Green. And I actually had never heard of this composer and I'd never heard of this piece. So that's why resources like this are so great, because even as a composer myself, there are people that should be colleagues of mine that I don't know yet. So this was a piece that I hadn't heard before. And now a new composer that I'm excited to check out, you know, the rest of her music and turns out we were born in the same year. And I mean, any other composer that's writing about a forest is like, pretty exciting to me, so I really enjoyed listening to the piece. And I'm looking forward to exploring more of her work. But yeah, that's just one thing that that I have enjoyed recently. And I think in terms of just more general like, how, how am I diversifying my stand is I'm trying to stay as open minded as possible when it comes to the music that I listen to. I find it really difficult to listen to band music when I'm writing band music, but I try to listen to different kinds of things, not music that I already know, so that I'm not too influenced by things that are familiar to me. So I think that really helps me to diversify my kind of metaphorical music stand, even if it's not actual music on the stand, just things that I'm listening to and becoming more and more aware of. So just keeping an open mind and trying to stay connected with the new folks in the community.
Dylan Maddix 41:38
For me, I guess I'll start as a trumpet player. First is it's actually been on my stand for a very long time, because I'm a bit out of shape and getting back into shape - I hope Joe Burgstaller doesn't listen to this - but is actually Cait's piece, Golden Hour, which I was very honored that she had dedicated the trumpet version to me. So and since she has done that it's applied immense amounts of pressure on me to put a recording out. So that's, that's on my stand to get that done this semester, as a trumpet player. As a conductor, it's been very strange. And I've talked to Katie about a lot about this, but going from kind of Professor to hey, you're a student again, and you have no power in choice to what you're going to conduct relatively speaking. But I do have a little bit a little bit. So I'm very lucky at at ASU, they give you lots of conducting podium time, but especially with the third band, which is our Maroon and Gold Band, kind of our campus band, as well as we have some music majors in there as well. So I have some programming say there. So I'll be doing Kevin Day's Rocketship coming up, which is very exciting. And he'll be he'll be on campus as well in February, as well as two movements from his new Concerto for Wind Ensemble. So that's kind of what I'm that's on my stand so far.
Carrie Blosser 42:57
Awesome. Well, you both are so wonderful. And it has been an honor and a blast. And I I mean, I'm so excited to hang out with you again, Cait. And to meet you, Dylan. Yeah, this was wonderful.
Cait Nishimura 43:09
Thank you so much for having us.
Dylan Maddix 43:11
Yeah, likewise, thanks so much.
Carrie Blosser 43:13
Thank you for listening to Diversify the Stand. To support us and our projects, visit our website at Diversify the Stand dot org.
Ashley Killam 43:20
And a huge shout out to Eris DeJarnett, who wrote the intro and outro music. The piece that we've been playing is Bored Games for Two Trumpets and Fixed Media. Links to their website are in the podcast description.
Carrie Blosser 43:30
And as always, we ask our guests, 'What's on your stand?'