#14: Dr. James Miller - Gustavus Adolphus College, MN

The Band Director's Lounge Podcast

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Dr. James Patrick Miller's Background

Dr. James Patrick Miller is the Douglas Nimmo Professor of the Gustavus Wind Orchestra at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. James oversees the music education program at Gustavus and in addition to directing the wind orchestra, teaches a number of conducting, instrumental techniques, and culture and music courses. Dr.Miller is an active clinician and guest conductor. He has appeared throughout the United States with professional, festival, and public school ensembles, and has engaged with more than 60,000 high school students since 2009 and in 2018 he was honored as the Captain Lewis J. Buckley Guest Conductor with the United States Coast Guard Band. In addition to a number of other experiences, Dr. Miller has been involved in the commissioning of more than 30 works for a wide variety of vocal and instrumental ensembles.

I first met James during my time as an undergrad when he served as an interim professor for Doug Nimmo. Since James officially taking up a professorship at Gustavus, I have been fortunate enough to see him work with my students as a guest conductor, contest clinician, and honor band host. James is fantastic! So I was thankful to be able to get him on the show.

Fair warning at the front - during the recording of this conversation I was coming down with a cold so my voice liked to cut in and out as I was talking. It is basically gone at this point, however that might account for the residual gravelyness of my voice. The good news about you listening to a podcast though is that there is no possible way for you to catch my cold! I am glad that I can keep you safe. Haha, alright let’s jump into the conversation.

Episode Overview

• Background - From St.Olaf and The University of MN, to Ithaca College & UMass
• Why music education? (11:26) (12:05)
• Music At Gustavus (15:14) (15:54)
• Preparing Music Education Undergrads (23:06)
• Getting out of the “Ivory Tower” - Clinics and Honor Bands (32:47)
• Commissioning - Where to start? (39:33)
• Sifting through repertoire (49:32)
• Music Education - It’s a family thing (61:41)
• Burnout and the importance of life off the podium (79:01)
• Favorite and Inspirational Books (92:09)
  • The Composer’s Advocate, Eric Leinsdorf
  • On Becoming a Conductor: Lessons and Meditations on the Art of Conducting, Frank Battisti
  • The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, J.R.R.Tolkien
  • The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems (Bilingual Edition), Pablo Neruda
  • The Complete Poetry, Maya Angelou
  • The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke: Bilingual Edition, Rainer Maria Rilke
• Advice for new director (98:24)
• What makes a great band program? (104:35)

And that was my conversation with Dr.James Miller. Thanks for tuning in!

As was alluded to in our chat, James has a interest and passion for popular art music, aka movie and video game scores, so we will no doubt be connecting again down the road to discuss that!

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If you know of someone that you think would make a great guest on the Band Director’s Lounge, please send me a message on facebook or to my email listed in the shownotes. Thanks for tuning into this episode! I hope to see you back here for our next conversation in The Band Director’s Lounge.

Other Resources

• Dr.James Patrick Miller(Guest)
• Logan Burnside (Show Host)
• #25: Dr. Heidi Johanna Miller - Gustavus Adolphus College, MN
• http://thebanddirectorslounge.com (Podcast Website)
• https://www.facebook.com/TheBandDirectorsLounge/ (FB Website)
• Nominate someone to be interviewed

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• Books mentioned in this episode
  • The Composer’s Advocate, Eric Leinsdorf
  • On Becoming a Conductor: Lessons and Meditations on the Art of Conducting, Frank Battisti
  • The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, J.R.R.Tolkien
  • The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems (Bilingual Edition), Pablo Neruda
  • The Complete Poetry, Maya Angelou
  • The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke: Bilingual Edition, Rainer Maria Rilke
• Books from episodes