Southern Border Section Update

Dr. Bruce Mansfield, Director of Bands Point Loma Nazarene University bmansfie@pointloma.edu

Things are great at the bottom of the state!

This issue, CMEA-SBS is happy to welcome guest author and new member of Southern Border, Bruce Mansfield, to make an introduction! - Dr. Jeff Malecki, Southern Border Section President

I am looking forward to joining the California Music Educator community in my new position as Director of Bands at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. I have been blessed to have had the opportunity for the last twenty-one years to serve as a conductor and musician in the U.S. Navy. While in the Navy, I have been stationed in bands around the world, including: Navy Band Southwest in San Diego, CA; Navy Band Northwest in Silverdale, WA; U.S. Navy Band in Washington, D.C.; U.S. Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, MD; and Commander Naval Forces Europe/ Allied Forces Band in Naples, Italy. In addition to my military career, I have always made it a priority to be actively engaged in the community as a music educator serving as the director of bands at Anne Arundel Community College from 2011-2014, conductor of the Poulsbo Community Orchestra from 2014-2018, and trombone professor at Phoenix College from 2018-2021, as well as a guest conductor and clinician for a variety of events.

Music is at the core of my family’s daily life. My wife, Lisa, is a middle school band and orchestra teacher in Chula Vista, CA and both of my children are active in their school music programs. As a Navy wife, she has reinvented herself with each new duty station. Her incredible flexibility as a music educator is a daily inspiration. She has taught students in grades K-8 in general music, choir, band, and orchestra throughout the U.S. and Italy for the last twenty years. Watching her adapt to teaching via Zoom and then transitioning back to the classroom made me realize that we are in a completely new world. The students in our classrooms are not only learning music, but basic social skills. The 12 to 18 months that many students spent in isolation and virtual school, often with limited supervision at home, has made our role as music educators even more important than before. As music teachers, our classrooms provide a location of in-person social networking with a unifying idea and goal of making music. We are the front line guiding an entire generation of students to develop interpersonal skills that many of them lost during the excessive screen time. During the summer break, I hope all of you have the opportunity to recharge your batteries and reflect on how important you are to each student you interact with every day. Your classrooms are the highlight of your students’ day. We all love music and it will be the beacon that guides us through these uncharted waters together. It is my goal to engage our statewide music education community as quickly as possible and to be an active part of developing initiatives to help rebuild our programs as we continue through the challenges of the Covid pandemic. Please reach out to assist me in developing a network. We are in this together, and we are stronger for it.

On June 15, 2022, the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) welcomed the new 2022–2024 National President, Scott R. Sheehan, as he begins his term.