For July, GPG Music honors trumpeter and music educator Rachael Cowell as Band Director of the Month. Band mom Kate Kirkpatrick nominated our honoree for her enthusiasm and dedication as Reno High Director of Bands in Reno, Nev., teaching young people more than music.
Rachael is my son's band director and she is so invested in her students. She treats them as professionals and expects the very best from them, but is willing to meet them halfway. On top of her regular teaching duties, she constantly works on extra performance projects in the region to ensure they have plenty of opportunities to excel. For example, this spring semester, our local university which usually hosts an in-person jazz festival decided that high school bands would not perform in person.
Ms. Cowell knew that wasn't good enough for our students, so she collaborated with other band directors and created an adjudicated jazz festival which attracted 9 (I believe) participating bands from N. NV and CA. She also helps to coordinate the county-wide honor band, and has one of the largest groups of participating students due to their high mastery of music skills. This year Ms. Cowell and another local high school teacher (from Damonte Ranch HS) set up a "Megaband" performance which combined their audition-only wind ensemble groups to foster collaboration and harmony between the two schools. Ms. Cowell works extremely hard to make sure her students get every opportunity to learn and perform.
Turns out she was once one of GPG’s Aaron Hines’ students and has played in several trumpet sections with CEO and Conductor Steve Martin. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance and a Master of Music degree in Music Education both from the University of Nevada Reno. Cowell has performed with Honor Bands of America and several northern Nevada orchestras. Cowell has taught private lessons, ensembles and courses in Reno from middle school to community college. In her second year of teaching, she received the New Music Educator of the Year award from the Nevada Music Educators Association. Thanks for doing what you do Rachael to #InspireTheNextGeneration!
Think your band director deserves to be nominated? Nominate your band director for a future month!