Wright State School of Music participates in international music clinic

From left: Wright State School of Music students at The Midwest Clinic in Chicago: Elijah Gray (trombone), Michaela Copeland (saxophone), Kylie Bayless (trombone), Matt Osborn (trombone), Marissa Gilbert (saxophone), Audrey Henry (flute) and Emma Chriswell (flute).

Shelley Jagow, Ph.D., professor of music and director of bands at Wright State University, and several School of Music students participated in The Midwest Clinic, a conference for college and high school music educators and students.

The Midwest Clinic International Band, Orchestra and Music Conference connects international music directors with the best-published music, new and established teaching techniques, and new products and services for music educators. The clinic includes numerous clinics and exhibits on industry trends and topics in business and music education.

The clinic attracts thousands of participants from around the United States and more than 40 other countries. The 2021 Midwest Clinic was held in December in Chicago.

Jagow and Richard Saucedo, a retired high school band director from Carmel, Indiana, presented a clinic on “Making Cents of Intonation, Building Balance and Taming Tone.” This clinic demonstrated techniques to achieve proper intonation, balance and tone in instrumental ensembles.

Several students from Wright State bands performed in a demonstration group during the clinic in front of an audience of about 600.

“The band received many compliments on their performance,” Jagow said.

They concluded the clinic by performing John Mackey’s “Some treasures are heavy with human tears,” which commemorates those who died in the 2019 Oregon District shooting. The Wright State Wind Symphony also performed the piece during a concert in November.

“It is extremely competitive to have a clinic presentation accepted by The Midwest Clinic,” Jagow said.

Jagow has now been invited to present at the conference three times, but the 2021 clinic was the first time she was able to share the experience with Wright State students.

“I am so very proud of our student musicians to have represented Wright State with such excellence for the first time in the history of The Midwest Clinic,” Jagow said. “It is my goal to continue providing such educational opportunities and international recognition to our students in the School of Music.”

Following the clinic, GIA Music Publications hosted a book signing for Jagow, who has published nine books with the publisher.

Jagow is director of the Wright State Wind Symphony and Concert Band and teaches instrumental conducting courses. She is a Vandoren Artist-Clinician and a music education clinician for Conn-Selmer, GIA and Meredith Music. She regularly presents clinics and performances at music education conferences across the United States and Canada.

She earned music education degrees from the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Missouri and her Ph.D. in music education at the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati.