News

GPG Music's Spencer Hanibal-Smith and Kyle Zive attended the 75th Annual Midwest Conference Dec 15-17, where we debuted our new look and feel. Thanks to Holly Spence Fisher from Spence Creative who designed every element and the folks at Reno Type who made it all come to life. One parent stopped at the booth, just staring. We kinda feel the same. We enjoyed connecting with past and present clients, vendors and educators. We know composers Walt Lovell and Shaun Salem loved sharing their tips and their music. Welcome to the new members of the GPG Music family.

If we didn't get to see you at Midwest, look for us at TMEA in February 2022.

We are heading to the 75th Annual Midwest Clinic next week. Look for Spencer Hannibal-Smith, Director of Business Operations, and Kyle Zive, Customer Service Specialists, who are both musicians and music educators in addition to being invaluable at GPG Music. If you are attending, check out our specials at the event.

1. If you’re already in the GPG family, refer a friend, which gets both you and the referee $100 off your next field show purchase. Talk with one of our reps, who will send the referee the detailed information. You don’t have to be at Midwest Clinic to get this deal, we offer the Refer a Friend on our website for non-attendees too!
   For the rest of the Midwest deals, read on
2. BOGO — Buy one concert band piece ($50) at the booth and get your second concert band piece FREE.
3. Enter a drawing for a chance to win a $50 gift card for a concert band piece. Drawing will be held in the last half hour of the conference. The winner will be sent a gift card digitally. Any of these activities qualify:
1. Visit our booth and show one of our reps a GPG Music receipt for the fall/spring 2020 or 2021 semester. 
2. Sign up for our e-newsletter GPG Music Notes, if you haven’t already. 
3. Write a review of GPG Music on Facebook and share the link with us.
4. Each day — 15th, 16th and 17th — we’ll post two trivia questions (morning and afternoon) on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. The first person to drop by the booth in the morning and the first person to drop by in the afternoon each day who answers correctly will be entered into the drawing.  
4. Consult with GPG Composers Walt Lovell (Friday & Saturday 10-11 a.m.) or Shaun Salem (Friday only, 9-10 a.m.).

A couple of our composers are joining us at Midwest Clinic, Dec 15-17.  You can swing by the booth and see when Walt Lovell will be able to either:

1. Talk to you about one of your pieces (10 min)
2. Talk about his composition process (10 min)
3. Receive a review and feedback of one your compositions (10 min)

Walt Lovell is a long-time Musician, Educator, Consultant, Composer, Arranger and Adjudicator.  He retired after 46 years of successful teaching at all levels and currently serves as a consultant and adjunct professor in the Fine Arts Department at Great Basin College in Elko, Nevada.  Walt was Director of Bands at Elko High School, Elko, Nevada for 36 years. Before moving to Elko he taught for 10 years in Arizona---Kingman High School, Phoenix Union High School, Carl Hayden High School and Mohave High School. His performance resume includes multiple performances nationwide including the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Hollywood Christmas Parade, the 6ABC/Boscov’s Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parade, The Washington D.C. National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade, Presidential Inaugural Parade and performances for five Presidents. Walt received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Nevada Music Educators Association upon his retirement and induction into the Elko High School Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the John Philip Sousa Foundation Legion of Honor in December of 2007. Mr. Lovell was named the Nevada Music Educator of the year in 1999.

Thanks Walt for always contributing back to #InspireTheNextGeneration

Fanfare — Band Director of the Month

Diane Machado-Wyant is GPG Music’s December Band Director of the Month. Diane is a stalwart educator with 32 years experience teaching both public and private schools across all levels of K-12 instruction.  Diane is presently the Conductor of Wind Bands and Percussion at Bellarmine College Preparatory where she has taught for the past 23 years.  She is the former director of bands at Branham High School where she founded and led the award winning  Royal Alliance Marching Band and Colorguard for 11 years. She is also the founding conductor of the San Jose Symphony Concert Winds. In addition to her many years as an educator, she also served as a brass and music judge for Drum Corps International from 1993 to 2013.  

Through her private teaching studio she’s educated well over a thousand young oboists in the Bay Area and as a performer has held the English Horn Chair for the Santa Cruz Symphony since 1990. We appreciate how she embraced Our Virtual Ensemble and the value of digital education for students’ growth; we wanted to recognize her commitment to her students. Diane - thanks for all you do to #InspireTheNextGeneration!