Dylan is joined in the Band Room with Dr. Wendy Zander McCallum, faculty member and Instrumental Music Specialist, at Brandon University. They discuss everything from her path to where she is, influential teachers, her full circle path back to BU, gender and the importance of keeping true to who you are as a conductor. This September we feature composer, Chris Byman and his piece Rocket Summer, performed by the University of Manitoba Concert Band, conducted by Chris Byman.

 

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About Wendy

Dr. Wendy McCallum is a faculty member in the Brandon University School of Music where she conducts the Symphonic Band and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music education and conducting.

 

Committed to excellence in music education, McCallum taught band and general elementary music before pursuing graduate studies.  In addition to designing professional development sessions for music educators, she has presented at provincial music education conferences, College Band Directors National Association regional conference, and the International Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.  Her work as a solo and ensemble adjudicator and clinician for concert and jazz ensembles has taken her across Canada and the United States.  She serves as guest conductor of university, community, and military ensembles, as conductor at the International and Rushmore Music Camps, and as facilitator of conducting symposia.  She has conducted junior high and high school regional, provincial, and state honor bands and was the conductor of the 2018 National Youth Band of Canada.

 

McCallum has worked to create professional opportunities for students and music educators in the areas of performance and music education.  In August McCallum hosts Avenues:  Exploring Band and Jazz Methods, an annual summer professional development workshop at Brandon University.  She is Faculty Advisor for the Brandon University Student Music Educators Association (BUSMEA), the organization that hosts the annual Da Capo professional development conference.  The Brandon University Symphonic Band, with McCallum as conductor, performed as the featured ensemble at the 2009 Atlantic Band Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia and the 2013 Con Brio Music Festival in Whistler, British Columbia.  McCallum was awarded Brandon University Alumni Association’s Excellence in Teaching Award as well as the Manitoba Band Association’s Award of Distinction.  She is a Teaching Affiliate with Brandon University’s Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology.

 

McCallum holds the Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Education degrees from Brandon University and completed a Master of Music in Instrumental Conducting at the University of North Dakota with Gordon Brock and James Popejoy.  She received her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas where she served as a Doctoral Conducting Associate and Teaching Fellow in the Wind Studies Department with Eugene Migliaro Corporon.  She completed her cognate studies in Music Education with Deborah Rohwer and Darhyl Ramsey.

 

McCallum worked as Lead Writer of the Manitoba Grade 9-12 Music Curriculum Framework, has published in Canadian Winds, and is a regular contributor to the publication and recording series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band and Teaching Music Through Performance in Beginning Band.  She is former President of the Manitoba Band Association and Past-President of the Canadian Band Association.