I spent last week at the Midwest Clinic (an annual Band and Orchestra conference) in Chicago. I’ve been to this clinic several times over the years, both as a performer (we played with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Cliff Colnot about 10 years ago) and as a music education student. This year marked my first time as an actual orchestra director, and I really enjoyed checking out the concerts, clinics, and exhibits.

What I enjoy most about these kinds of events (such as the International Society of Bassists Convention), however, is the opportunity to connect with colleagues from other areas of the country. Though I’m new as an orchestra director, I seemed to run into dozens and dozens of people I’ve met through my university work, gigs, and blogging.

I had the chance to grab a quick breakfast with Joe Pisano, a music technology professor at Grove City College who runs mustech.net, a site dedicated to new happenings in the field of music technology, and Andy Zweibel, a music education student at the University of Miami who also has an excellent blog dedicated primarily to music.

It’s always great to meet in person people that I know well from the blogosphere. If you haven’t checked out mustech.net before–please do so. It’s an amazingly comprehensive site, laid out magazine-style in a very appealing fashion. Highly recommended reading–I’ve been checking out Joe’s posts ever since I began blogging five years ago.

You can find Joe and Andy (and me as well) on Twitter if you’re that type of person. 🙂

• Joe Pisano on Twitter
• Andy Zweibel on Twitter
• bass blog man on Twitter