Below are some articles and sound files pertaining to the importance of band in the public school and community and more importantly what they can do for young people.  There are sound bites of Mr. David Willson, Director of Bands at Mississippi University speaking to the audience here at Ridgway at one of the concerts he guest conducted as well as articles about the benefits of band.

Most of the .pdf files are newsletters but have articles that I have found particularly inspiring and have used to guide how I approach dealing with students and how our band program in Ridgway should be.

Hopefully parents, you will find some of this useful.  It will help you understand what I try to accomplish as I work with your students and the articles on mentoring are going to be very applicable to what many of you do as you work with church groups, little leagues and any of the myriad of activities you all do that help our community grow.