she's one cool cat!

erika hails from the rio grande valley. after graduating from baylor, she found her way back home. while erika is well-versed in all the aspects of band, jazz is her forte. erika has taken her student group to midwest, tmea, jen, and music for all events, opening a world of opportunities to her students. we talked with erika about her musical upbringing, her phantom regiment experience, her positions with uil and tmea, and baylor beating a&m on her birthday.

sponsored by:

• ⁠⁠shawn murphy⁠⁠⁠ with fanpledge
• ⁠⁠the band blueprint⁠⁠⁠⁠ (use promo code bandyap5 when you purchase)
• ⁠⁠troubadour consultants⁠⁠⁠⁠

check out our uil pml playlists on ⁠⁠⁠youtube⁠⁠⁠ (all 5 grades available!)

• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 1s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 2s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 3s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 4s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 5s ⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠⁠mixtape⁠⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠⁠march madness⁠⁠⁠ playlist

get help with your resume, or featured on our socials to assist in your job hunt, fill out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠talent connect form⁠⁠

she is here to lay down the law!

first of all, amanda is hilarious. second, she knows what she is talking about. amanda has traversed the world of band: from being a native of the rio grande valley, to cutting her teeth on teaching in central texas, to touring the country with multiple drum corps. she's been through sunshine, and through torrential rain, but she does it all for her students. amanda gave us the lowdown on where to eat in san antonio, how she is frequently mistaken for a euphonium player, what it is like to take over as a head director in a program rooted in tradition, and her upcoming tmea spotlight.

sponsored by:

• shawn murphy⁠⁠⁠ with fanpledge
• ⁠⁠the band blueprint⁠⁠⁠⁠ (use promo code bandyap5 when you purchase)
• ⁠⁠troubadour consultants⁠⁠⁠⁠

check out our uil pml playlists on ⁠⁠⁠youtube⁠⁠⁠ (all 5 grades available!)

• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 1s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 2s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 3s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 4s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 5s ⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠⁠mixtape⁠⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠⁠march madness⁠⁠⁠ playlist

get help with your resume, or featured on our socials to assist in your job hunt, fill out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠talent connect form⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠mixtape⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠march madness⁠⁠ playlist

get help with your resume, or featured on our socials to assist in your job hunt, fill out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠talent connect form⁠⁠

you'll bend and snap your way through this one!

dr. stephanie deluca has experienced band across the country, but texas will always be home. a native of corsicana, she's familiar with life behind the pine curtain. so, it was a natural transition for her when she recently took on the title of interim director of athletic bands at east texas a&m university. stephanie served previously as the assistant director of athletic bands at the university of utah, which made the transition to her current role etamu even more prophetic. stephanie received her doctorate from florida state university, and studied conducting and music education at baylor university. but, don't be fooled. she also taught public school in texas, winning a silver medal at the uil state marching contest with the clifton high school band. not only is stephanie a bad ass band director, but she also is a superstar mom- she has 2.5 year old twins! we sat down with stephanie to yap about her musical family, the difference between public school band in texas vs. utah vs. florida, what advice she would give to college students and young teachers, and balancing band with family.

sponsored by:

• ⁠⁠shawn murphy⁠⁠⁠ with fanpledge
• ⁠⁠the band blueprint⁠⁠⁠⁠ (use promo code bandyap5 when you purchase)
• ⁠⁠troubadour consultants⁠⁠⁠⁠

check out our uil pml playlists on ⁠⁠⁠youtube⁠⁠⁠ (all 5 grades available!)

• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 1s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 2s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 3s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 4s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 5s ⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠⁠mixtape⁠⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠⁠march madness⁠⁠⁠ playlist

get help with your resume, or featured on our socials to assist in your job hunt, fill out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠talent connect form⁠⁠

shaka just won a gold medal in military marching band. so fresh!
he's done it all. from east texas to the valley, small schools and big, shaka has seen every side of band life. growing up as a tuba player in east texas, music played a huge role in shaping who he is.

since becoming a band director, shaka has taught both military and corps style on the marching field, stood in front of honor band finalist ensembles, and handled everything in between. we sat down with shaka to hear his take on what makes military band so challenging to teach, the mentors and educators who’ve inspired him, the difference between a pay day and a baby ruth, and his favorite style of band uniforms.

sponsored by:

• ⁠⁠shawn murphy⁠⁠⁠ with fanpledge
• ⁠⁠the band blueprint⁠⁠⁠⁠ (use promo code bandyap5 when you purchase)
• ⁠⁠troubadour consultants⁠⁠⁠⁠

check out our uil pml playlists on ⁠⁠youtube⁠⁠ (all 5 grades available!)

• ⁠uil pml grade 1s⁠
• ⁠uil pml grade 2s⁠
• ⁠uil pml grade 3s⁠
• ⁠uil pml grade 4s⁠
• ⁠uil pml grade 5s ⁠

is it stream of consciousness? mostly.

after a long bandtober, we are so back. we recap marching season, discuss metrics for success, talk about programming, shout out all of our state marching band contest homies, and talk through some of our favorite and least favorite band literature.

sponsored by:

• ⁠shawn murphy⁠⁠ with fanpledge
• ⁠the band blueprint⁠⁠⁠ (use promo code bandyap5 when you purchase)
• ⁠troubadour consultants⁠⁠⁠

check out our uil pml playlists on ⁠youtube⁠ (all 5 grades available!)

• uil pml grade 1s
• uil pml grade 2s
• uil pml grade 3s
• uil pml grade 4s
• uil pml grade 5s

listen to our ⁠⁠mixtape⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠march madness⁠⁠ playlist

get help with your resume, or featured on our socials to assist in your job hunt, fill out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠talent connect form⁠⁠

welcome to band yap bandtober essentials, where we look back on some of our favorite episodes to help fuel your jam-packed competition schedule. whether you’re on the road to contests or just needing a quick dose of inspiration to keep you going, these hand-picked episodes are here to keep you company all october long.

enjoy this essential episode with brian sours, originally released on february 11, 2025

he's the wrestler of band. and a legend in his own right.

we yapped with brian about his background, his career, and how it has culminated into this unbelievable year: finalist at state marching contest, featured small school band at the midwest clinic, AND the tmea 2a honor band. aside from that, we discussed 90s wrestling, chicago pizza, and took his dairy queen order (he's a heath man).

sponsored by:

• ⁠⁠shawn murphy⁠⁠⁠ with fanpledge
• ⁠⁠the band blueprint⁠⁠⁠⁠ (use promo code bandyap5 when you purchase)
• ⁠⁠troubadour consultants⁠⁠⁠⁠

check out our uil pml playlists on ⁠⁠youtube⁠⁠ (all 5 grades available!)

• ⁠uil pml grade 1s⁠
• ⁠uil pml grade 2s⁠
• ⁠uil pml grade 3s⁠
• ⁠uil pml grade 4s⁠
• ⁠uil pml grade 5s ⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠⁠mixtape⁠⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠⁠march madness⁠⁠⁠ playlist

get help with your resume, or featured on our socials to assist in your job hunt, fill out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠talent connect form⁠⁠

welcome to band yap bandtober essentials, where we look back on some of our favorite episodes to help fuel your jam-packed competition schedule. whether you’re on the road to contests or just needing a quick dose of inspiration to keep you going, these hand-picked episodes are here to keep you company all october long.

enjoy this essential episode with josh gall, originally released on july 24, 2025.

"we will do what is hard. we will achieve what is great." jed bartlet said it, and josh gall lives it.

josh gall is a co-founder of ultimate drill book. if you want to talk about visionary, he's not only in the conversation- he is the conversation. josh has grinded for many years, selling sub sandwiches, hand printing and assembling dot books at kinkos, writing countless drills, and submerging his product in fish tanks, all with the goal of making band director's jobs easier. this has culminated in the creation of an app that many band director's consider a lifeline in this day and age, as well as other innovations such as beam and stridetv. we yapped with josh about drum corps, the early days of ultimate drill book, his time with the university of texas bands, oboe math, and his love of restaurants and entertaining.

sponsored by:

• ⁠⁠shawn murphy⁠⁠⁠ with fanpledge
• ⁠⁠the band blueprint⁠⁠⁠⁠ (use promo code bandyap5 when you purchase)
• ⁠⁠troubadour consultants⁠⁠⁠⁠

check out our uil pml playlists on ⁠⁠youtube⁠⁠ (all 5 grades available!)

• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 1s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 2s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 3s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 4s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 5s ⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠⁠mixtape⁠⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠⁠march madness⁠⁠⁠ playlist

get help with your resume, or featured on our socials to assist in your job hunt, fill out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠talent connect form⁠⁠

welcome to band yap bandtober essentials, where we look back on some of our favorite episodes to help fuel your jam-packed competition schedule. whether you’re on the road to contests or just needing a quick dose of inspiration to keep you going, these hand-picked episodes are here to keep you company all october long.

enjoy this essential episode with mike howard, originally released on june 13, 2025. since that time, mike has taken on a new role as deputy director for tmea.

band directors: assemble

mike howard has collected all of the infinity stones. he's won honor band, state marching contest, and grand nats. more importantly than any of those accomplishments, he has committed himself to the betterment of band education across the state of texas. to do so, he currently serves as vice president and band division chair for the texas music educators association (tmea). we talked with him about his band experiences, his love of seinfeld, the texas water safari, superior chicken establishments, and what it was like to have his dad as his band director.

sponsored by:

• ⁠shawn murphy⁠⁠ with fanpledge
• ⁠the band blueprint⁠⁠⁠ (use promo code bandyap5 when you purchase)
• ⁠troubadour consultants⁠⁠⁠
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check out our uil pml playlists on ⁠youtube⁠ (all 5 grades available!)

• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 1s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 2s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 3s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 4s⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠uil pml grade 5s ⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠mixtape⁠⁠

listen to our ⁠⁠march madness⁠⁠ playlist

get help with your resume, or featured on our socials to assist in your job hunt, fill out our ⁠⁠⁠⁠talent connect form⁠⁠