Effective advocacy isn’t about defending your passion, but rather about building trust with administrators by aligning your educational processes and artistic outcomes with the priorities and goals that drive their decision-making. In this session, band directors will learn how to audit their program through an administrative lens, identifying where their work already intersects with school goals and where new connections can be made without sacrificing artistic integrity. You can have both a program that achieves meaningful musical outcomes and speaks the language of leadership, bridging the noble work of music education with the practical priorities that earn lasting institutional support.
Col. Don Schofield
- Biographical Information
Colonel Don Schofield serves as the Commander and Conductor of The United States Air Force Band in Washington DC, where he leads a team of 184 Air Force musicians in more than 1,600 performances annually, reaching hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide each year through live and broadcast performances. His previous commands include the United States Air Forces in Europe Band in Germany, the United States Air Force Academy Band at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado, the Band of the Air Force Reserve at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, and the Band of Mid-America at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. In 2007, Colonel Schofield led the United States Air Force Central Command Band, where he planned and led overseas performances for United States and coalition forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Africa, Kyrgyzstan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain in direct support of combat operations IRAQI FREEDOM and ENDURING FREEDOM. Colonel Schofield is also a faculty member at the University of Texas at El Paso, teaching courses in graduate conducting and wind band history and literature. He received his Bachelors Degree from the University of Georgia, his Masters Degree from Louisiana State University, and his Doctoral degree from Boston University. Prior to receiving his Air Force commission at Officer Training School, Colonel Schofield was the Director of Bands at Effingham County High School in Georgia. Colonel Schofield has conducted military bands, professional orchestras, and school honor bands throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark Estonia, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Sweden, and Ukraine. He has served as a featured conductor at 19 international, national, and regional state music conferences and commissioned 52 composers to write new works for wind band, orchestra, choir, and chamberensembles. Ensembles under his command have performed internationally with artists such as Joshua Bell, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Chubby Checker, Jullian Bliss, Frank Tichelli, Gavin DeGraw, Andy Grammer, the War and Treaty, Dianne Shuur, Kid Rock, Little Big Town, Josh Turner, Lee Ann Womack, Chris Daughtry, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and Wynonna Judd. Colonel Schofield has been recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences as a two-time Emmy Award Top Four Finalist for his musical leadership during internationally broadcast productions at the Grand Ole Opry. Colonel Schofield serves as the Vice President of the National Band Association and the Chair of the Howard Citation for the John Philip Sousa Foundation.