PALCS Center for Performing and Fine Arts (CPFA) teacher Thomas West was recently asked to write a guest article for the SmartMusic blog, featured on the SmartMusic website. The article is a “how-to” on understanding and impressing judges at marching band competitions.
This is Mr. West’s 9th year teaching at PALCS and in the CPFA program where he teaches Instrumental Music (Winds, Strings), Orchestra, and Digital Music Composition. He has his Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Pennsylvania State University where he marched with the Penn State Blue Band as well as won a world championship as a tuba player with The Cadets drum and bugle corps. He holds teaching certificates in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey where he was a middle school and high school band director in three school districts.
Mr. West remembers playing music as early as 3 years old, starting with singing, then came piano, followed by the clarinet. He is now proficient on 18 different instruments, clarinet being his primary instrument. “Music is at the core of who I am as a person. I continue to teach music to pass on my passion for music and to pass on the life lessons that music creation and performance teaches every student,” says Mr. West. He credits music for providing him with not only his friends and hobbies but also his livelihood and work ethic.
CPFA is the first performing arts program that Mr. West has worked for where he feels valued as not only a teacher but an artist. He loves technology and enjoys incorporating web-based tools into his music classes.
“PALCS has been a great place for me to explore the blended learning model and do things that the standard public school music programs around us struggle to teach, such as music theory and composition, jazz improvisation, and electronic music production.”
In his spare time Mr. West sings with a professional a cappella group known as KeyStone A Cappella as well as serves as a judge for Drum Corps International and Cavalcade of Bands.
Mr. West’s article at SmartMusic can be read here. Congratulations to PALCS teacher Tom West on writing a compelling article and all of his accomplishments!
