LEARN HOW TO BAND
Dr. Selfridge Music is the new home of www.GoBando.com
Our mission is to create and freely share music education resources that teach, inspire, and motivate music learners around the world. All of our resources are FREE for all to access and share. If you would like to help with this mission, we welcome your support!
WHO I AM
I'm a music teacher. I teach high school band and I make video tutorials on YouTube.
I made my first teaching video way back in 2011 to help my elementary band students practice at home between their weekly lessons with me. First, I was amazed to see how my student improved during the week from practicing along with my videos. THEN, I was extra-amazed to see that students in other schools, other towns, even other countries, were watching my videos too! How awesome is that?
Now that my viewers have continued to grow, I am even more inspired than ever to make videos that are helpful and fun to watch!
MY MUSICAL STORY
I started playing the clarinet in 5th grade. I still remember the thrill of opening my clarinet case for the first time, and that magical smell of the cork grease 😁
I enjoyed playing in the band, but probably didn't practice as much as I should have... As a result, I was just kinda OK at playing. But I still liked it.
In high school, my band director encouraged me to try playing tenor sax to fill an open spot in the jazz band. The first time I tried playing it, I was not so thrilled. It seemed way too big, clunky, and kind of smelled weird.
BUT THEN, I experienced my first high school jazz band rehearsal. The sound of those instruments playing together with such rhythmic energy just flipped a switch in me. I was so inspired, I started practicing HOURS each day.
Before long, I was absolutely certain that I wanted to spend my life playing and teaching music. And after 19 years of teaching music, that has been one of the best decisions I've ever made.
Now I am a high school band director. I teach concert band, wind ensemble, marching band, jazz band, music theory, and audio engineering. I have several private saxophone students. I play saxophone, clarinet, and flute professionally with several performing groups and I love to play in the pit orchestras for our high school musicals. Music is a HUGE part of my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Dr. Selfridge's "Official" Bio
Dr. Steve Selfridge is the high school band director and music department coordinator in Garnet Valley School District in Glen Mills, PA. His nineteen years of teaching in Garnet Valley have included elementary band, middle school jazz band, classroom music, and his current position, high school band director. Steve has served as co-director of the Chester County Youth Wind Ensemble and graduate conducting assistant with the Temple University Night Owls Campus Concert Band. In 2016, Steve was awarded the PMEA District 12 Citation of Excellence. Steve currently serves as the Vice President of District 12 of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA), and has presented at professional conferences on the topics of Jazz Improvisation and Blended Learning/Teaching Videos. His YouTube channel "Dr. Selfridge" reaches over 225,000 subscribers and features lessons on a variety of band instruments and music topics.
Jazz is one of Dr. Selfridge's particular areas of expertise, and he has directed numerous jazz ensembles and workshops, including the Kimmel Center Youth Jazz Ensemble, Interboro Jazz Workshop (1997-2003), Delco All-Star High School Big Band, Garnet Valley Middle School Jazz Band, and Garnet Valley High School Jazz Band. In 2013-14, Dr. Selfridge designed lesson plans and hosted a series of family-oriented jazz education concerts at the Kimmel Center as part of the PNC “Grow Up Great” Program. He has been invited as guest teaching artist for local school jazz bands including Chichester Middle School, Springton Lake Middle School, and Penncrest High School, as well as guest judge for local school jazz festivals including Emmaus High School, Swarthmore College, and Rhythms International.
Dr. Selfridge is an active performer in various musical ensembles and venues in the greater Philadelphia area, including performances with the John Grecia Band, the John Hoey Orchestra, and his own Steve Selfridge Jazz Quartet. In 2011, Steve performed at Carnegie Hall, NYC, as a featured soloist on stage with rock legend Steven Van Zandt and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Darlene Love. In 2012, Steve played lead alto sax in a Maynard Ferguson tribute concert held at Chris’ Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia, which featured several great alumni of the Maynard Ferguson Big Band. In his career, Steve has had the honor to share the stage with many music greats in both performance and educational settings, including Clark Terry, Terell Stafford, Jon Faddis, John Swana, Dick Oatts, Denis DiBlasio, George Rabbai, Steve Turre, Tom Lawton, Lucas Brown, Erik Johnson, Dan Monaghan, and Derrick Hodge.
Dr. Selfridge is a proud graduate of Temple University (B.M. in Music Education ‘01, Ph.D. in Music Education ‘18) and Rowan University (M.M. in Jazz Performance ‘08).
Hello!
I'm Dr. Selfridge
