Grow Where You Are Planted: Cultivating Success in a Small School.
Clinic Synopsis:
Small school bands face many challenges. Often, directors are in early in their careers. They may be looking for “greener pastures.” This clinic will give them tools that will help the program be successful. Attendees may submit questions electronically. Panelists come from across the country They have found the rewards of teaching in a small school. They have learned to “Grow Where They Are Planted.”
Rebecca Warren
- Biographical Information
Rebecca Warren was a Director for 40 years. She serves as a teacher, clinician, performer and mentor. Becky earned the Bachelor and Master Degrees from the University of North Alabama. She taught at Lynn School, West Point School, Ft. Payne H.S. and Mandan M.S.
Mrs. Warren’s bands consistently earned Superior ratings. The bands performed in the London New Year’s and the Fiesta Bowl Parades. The band were featured for the AMEA Conference.
She served the Alabama Bandmasters Association in various roles including President-elect. As President of AMEA she founded FAME: the Future Alabama Music Educators program to recruit students to become music educators. She served on the NDMEA Board, too.
Mrs. Warren conducted across the Southeast and ND for various county, district, and University Honor Bands. She has conducted all-state bands in Alabama and SD.
Memberships include AMEA, NDMEA, the Alabama Bandmasters, NBA, as well as PBM Chapters in Alabama and President, North Dakota.
Becky has served as clinician, adjudicator, professional development speaker, and guest conductor in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, North Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota. She has presented 3 clinics at Midwest. She is published in The Instrumentalist and is a Contributing Editor. She was awarded the Citation of Excellence by the NBA and Teacher of the Year in Ft. Payne. She received the 2021 NDMEA Distinguished Service Award and the 2025 NDBDA Distinguished Service Award.
Becky lives on the prairie with her husband John, also a band director, and their golden retriever, Bama.
Trudy Fraase-Wolf - Biographical Information
Trudy Fraase Wolf has been a K-12 music instructor for Zeeland School since 1993, the school librarian since 1997, and in administrator since 2013. She taught band and choir for the 1992-93 school year. Mrs. Fraase Wolf added teaching 7-12 choir and band for the Ashley School over ITV in the 2024-2025 school year.
Mrs. Fraase Wolf completed a M.asters Degree in education leadership and administration from Northern State University in 2010, a Masters Degree in music education from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 1996 and a Masters Degree in oboe performance in 1992. She earned a B. S. in education from Dickinson State University in 1990. She has a minor in library science from Valley City State University.
Trudy Fraase Wolf has published in The Double Reed Journal, The Chorister, and the North Dakota Music Educator’s Journal and has presented at the NDMEA and at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. Mrs. Fraase Wolf has served as a clinician for the NSU Band Clinic and as a judge for the Dickinson 5-8 music festival and the Federated Music Clubs piano festivals. She plays oboe in the Missouri River Community Band, the West River Winds, and the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony.
Mrs. Fraase Wolf is a member of ND MEA (and has served as the general music rep for ND east region for ten years), ACDA (serving as The Chorister editor, women’s choir R&S choir, and site chairman Surround the State in Song in Dickinson), NBA, International Double Reed Society, Mu Phi Epsilon, Phi Beta Mu, NDCEL, NDASA and Lions.
John R. Carlisle - Biographical Information
Dr. Carlisle is the Principal of Hannan JSHS in West Virginia & owner of Carlisle Educational Services. His has 37 years' experience as a teacher, principal and educational consultant. His bands consistently received superiors and won a Sudler Shield. He directed WGI regional finalist guards/drum lines and international finalist. He was a consultant with the 2023 Open Class DCI Champion, Spartans. Carlisle Educational Services has worked with bands throughout the country. He has adjudicated in 42 states and the BOA National Championships. Dr. Carlisle is a founding member of Tri-State Circuit for Pageantry Arts and was the Education Coordinator for Carolina Indoor Association. He also was judge coordinator for Nebraska State Bandmasters.
Dr. Carlisle has adjudicated for BOA, DCI, and WGI. He adjudicated Drum Corp Europe’s Championships and drum corps at Music Arts Festival, in Kyoto, Japan. At Hannan, his former program is the pride of the community, starting with 4 members and now comprising 36% of the school. The Band has been selected to represent West Virginia at the 2025 Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Hawaii.
Dr. Carlisle has won numerous honors and awards, including the 1996 Greene County Ohio, Teacher of the Year; 2024 Hannan Teacher of the Year; and a 2025 national semifinalist for Grammy’s Music Educator. He has presented at music educator conventions in: Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, New Jersey, South Dakota and West Virginia.
Karen Gregg - Biographical Information
Karen Gregg has served as the Director of Bands at Lyons Middle Senior High School for the past 24 years. Her responsibilities include directing the five bands (two middle school concert bands, Middle School Jazz Band, High School Concert Band, High School Jazz Band) in addition to teaching The History of Rock and Roll and Beginning Guitar. Since her appointment at Lyons Middle Senior High School, the band program has experienced 400% growth and now includes nearly 50% of the school population.
Lyons ensembles under her direction have performed at the Colorado MEA convention 3 times: The High School Concert Band in 2010, the High School Jazz Band in 2016, and the 7th/8th Grade Middle School Band in 2023. She has co-presented a session on how to re-score existing music for small bands with her mentor Kirk Vogel at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, CMEA, OMEA (Ohio) and TMEA (Texas).
In addition to her teaching responsibilities in Lyons, Karen has served on the Colorado All-State Band Steering Committee, the CHSAA Music Advisory Board, and is currently the President of the Colorado Bandmasters Association. She is also a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Beta Mu.
While not busy with her job at Lyons, Karen Gregg is married to Shawn (an elementary school physical education teacher) and a mother to two awesome children (Quin, 20 and Carter, 15). The family loves to be outside together, whether it be swimming, hiking, traveling, riding bikes, paddleboarding, snowshoeing, gardening or relaxing on the patio.
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