TBA/SMSE 2024 Recap
I’ve been in San Antonio, Texas this week representing MusicFirst at the 2024 TBA/SMSE Convention, along with my colleagues Dr. Keith Dye and Mike Olander. I have been coming to San Antonio twice a year for MANY years. It’s one of my favorite cities and between the TMEA/TI:ME Conference in February (one of the largest music education shows there is) and this event, we get plenty of quality interactions with current and prospective customers, as well as time to meet with many of our software partners. I was asked to present 3 sessions for the Texas Bandmasters Convention on AI and it’s potential impact on music education for both teachers AND students - a first for me. The session that I presented to teachers on Thursday was one that I have done many times in the past - often as a Keynote Address. It is titled Music Education at the Crossroads: The Impact of AI & Technology. For the students, I was asked by my good friend Frank Troyka to speak with the many students who attended the Student Day portion of the convention on Friday. That talk was titled Can AI Help Make You A Better Musician? Let’s Find Out!. It has been a LONG time since I’ve taught younger students, and I think they really enjoyed learning about the many tools that use AI - including the MusicFirst Classroom, PracticeFirst, Sight Reading Factory and more.
As far as the sights of San Antonio, most of the touristy parts are located near the famed Riverwalk. The Riverwalk has lots of great restaurants and bars and is really picturesque. I decided to walk the ENTIRE walk on Thursday morning - over 6 miles. Great exercise in a beautiful place. Here are some photos that I took along the way.
Perhaps my favorite moment of the convention was being invited to dinner by John Nieto - an amazing music educator in the San Antonio Public Schools who is an icon in the mariachi music education world. He is the co-author of Habits of a Successful Mariachi Músico - published by GIA Music. John invited the entire MusicFirst team over to his house for an amazing BBQ dinner. We were joined by many other music educators and musicians, including Ramon Nino and his wonderful wife Wendy. What a treat!
I’m heading home today but I look forward to returning to San Antonio soon!