On both a professional and personal level, the cornerstone of great teaching and leadership is connection. Nowhere is that truer than in the world of music, where connections create the most meaningful experiences amongst performers and between the ensemble and the audience.

Inspired by real-life letters from students, parents, and administrators, author Mary Land shares the stories, strategies, and ideas that have helped her form essential connections throughout her forty years in the classroom.

While touching on the core tenets of music pedagogy, classroom management, goal setting, trust, mentorship, and relevancy, Dr. Land also gives teachers ways to build good character traits in their students and organizations. At the end of each chapter, Connections in Action provide reproducible online teaching resources with inspirational activities and connection strategies.

From the pen of a teacher who has taught every level of instrumental music, The Value of Music Connections offers insight and inspiration direct from the trenches, resulting in a volume filled with inventiveness and guidance for all music teachers.

Dr. Mary Land is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Instrumental Music Education at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She conducts the University Concert Band and teaches courses in instrumental music education. Before moving to higher education, Dr. Land spent twenty-nine years developing an outstanding public-school band program in Pickens County, Georgia, and bands under her direction have received invitations to perform at many music conferences and clinics. Dr. Land is an active adjudicator, conductor, and clinician throughout the United States.