Note to Self: A Music Director’s Guide for Transitioning to a New School and Building a Thriving Music Program

by Adrian Gordon

Transition with ease to your new music teaching position with help from a director who’s done it!

Music programs aren’t all the same. Making the transition to a new music teaching position isn’t always as simple as reading sheet music. Changing schools means big career changes, different kids, and entering into an already-established music program with its own entrenched culture.

Smooth your move to a new school for yourself, your music program, and your students with a plan and some intentional actions.

Whether you’re a fresh teacher finding your rhythm or a veteran educator getting ready for the next gig, Note to Self is your guide to navigating the transition to your new music teaching job while preserving your physical, emotional, and mental health. With straightforward advice and ideas, get the expert help you need to prepare your new classroom for learning success, and start building the rock star music program that every student deserves.

You’ll discover
- What to expect during the transition and the first years in your new music director role.
- Essential summer prep with a beginning-of-the-year checklist.
- Ideas for creating community in music class and filling a void in students’ musical journeys.
- How to get people on board with your vision for the music program (and how to work with those who aren’t).
- Self-care for a balanced daily life during new-job stress—despite assessments to grade, parents to email, and lesson plans to develop.

You got the job—now get ready for it! Read Note to Self and step into your new music director position prepared for a better school year.

Paperback

Published November 17, 2022

About the author

Adrian Gordon is an internationally performed composer and seasoned music educator. After 17 years of teaching music in the classroom in South Florida and going through four music director job transitions in two different schools, as well as general music, choir, and two string orchestra positions, Adrian realized there was a gap in his music education training. Even though his undergraduate and graduate programs were musically and pedagogically extensive, he never felt as though they touched on those hard-to-navigate areas of transitioning between jobs.

Adrian currently serves as the director of orchestras at Providence Day School in Charlotte, NC. He believes in the power of music education in a child’s life and understands the necessity of having passionate, confident, and supported music teachers at the helm, promoting great musical experiences for students.

In addition to teaching, Adrian is the founder of Leap Year Music Publishing, which publishes string music for elementary, middle, and high school ensembles. His compositions appear on the Florida, Texas, Maryland, and Georgia Orchestra Association Music Performance Assessment Lists. His compositions are distributed through J.W. Pepper and have been performed throughout the world. He takes pride in creating music that is fun and pedagogically sound at all levels.

Adrian received his BA in music from the University of Miami and his master’s degree in music education at Florida International University. Born and raised in Miami, FL, he currently resides in Charlotte with his wife, Kelly, and their two sons. Learn more at www.adriangordonmusic.com.

Reviews

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adrian Gordon is clearly a master at his craft. He shows the good, the bad and the ugly of transitioning to a new school and developing a new music program- and yet, leaves you filled with hope and excitement over the possibilities. He offers tons of hard earned advice from his own experiences and great tools that are easily implemented in your own classroom. Although he is an orchestra director, I can easily take from his examples, prescriptions and life lessons as a choral director and private voice teacher. It is inspiring and made me remember to keep first things first- my own love and passion for music.

[Clarissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. This book is a very easy read with many great pieces of advice for an incoming music director. I enjoyed how this book was broken up into different issues a teacher may have, how each chapter included a song fitting the title, and how each chapter ended with some questions to ask yourself. Great read!

[Nadia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great suggestions, tools, and resources for newbie teachers, but veteran teachers as well. This book is more tailored to secondary teachers with performing groups, but I was able to take away lots of ideas for me elementary music program. Worth the read, especially if you’re going through your first transition into a new school.

[Cheyenne Baril · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved all of the suggestions, questions and resources throughout each chapter. All of the advice was specific enough to understand but vague enough to fit an individuals situation.