#mark calima

Mark Calima worked as a music educator and band director in Texas for almost fifteen years. He launched his career after he graduated cum laude with his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. He began as the Assistant Director of Bands at Bammel Middle School and, through excellent performance; he worked his way up to Director of Bands at Westfield High School.

Mark Calima is a passionate band director with nearly fifteen years of experience working in music education. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, with which he graduated cum laude. He’s also the Founder and former Director of the Houston Area Summer Wind Ensemble. As a non-profit organization, Houston Area Summer Wind Ensemble served as a summer camp for Houston area high school music students.

Mark Calima understands the value of good talent. An experienced, award-winning band director for much of his career, Calima knows the difference the right person in the right place can make, not only in the process of creating a stronger, more cohesive unit, but in developing and producing the superior-level of results needed to stand out from the competition.

A music educator and director for over a decade, Mark Calima knows what it takes to locate and attract just the right talent to a group; those individuals that help to solidify team unity while elevating the team’s overall performance. Appealing to the best talent requires:

Creating a Team They Want to Join

Leaders who cultivate an atmosphere with demonstrated support and appreciation of talent and effort tend to have better odds of appealing to and securing the right people.

Bringing Out the Best of the Best

Those who place the most apt, talented and dedicated people in positions that maximizes their potential demonstrates the value they place on high-performance.

Flexibility

Mark Calima is proud of what he has accomplished throughout his career, particularly as the Director of multiple marching bands throughout the state of Texas. He once served as the Director of Bands if the Cedar Ridge High School Band (2010-2015), and as the Director of Bands (2014-15), and Associate Director (2005-2010), of the Westfield High School Band.

Experienced high school band director and music teacher Mark Calima has devoted much of his life, and his career, to musical instruction; sharing his love of musical creation and development with aspiring young musicians for nearly 15 years. Now a consultant/clinician for band programs across Texas and the US, Calima continues to provide the leadership and guidance young people and music programs need to realize their full potential.

As a longtime music educator, Mark Calima understands the importance and value music education has in academia, for musicians and non-musicians alike. Music education:

--forces the brain to work harder. Research has shown that those students involved in some form of music training tend to use more of their brain than those who aren’t.

--assists in language development. Young children who receive music education tend to experience considerable benefit in terms of language development; breakthroughs that may serve them well throughout the rest of their lives.

--facilitates learning in other areas. Studies have shown music education to be a facilitator of learning in other subjects as well, enhancing those skills of use in other fields of study.

Mark Calima has won multiple awards throughout his music career, including the 2012 “Teacher of the Year” Award.

Mark Calima is a veteran music teacher who spent fourteen years in middle and high schools in Texas. He has been awarded the “Who’s Who Among America’s High School Teachers,” and been named a campus Teacher of the Year, in addition to being a longtime Band Director who led different bands to prestigious national competitions.

But he knows that music teachers have to start somewhere. He graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Houston in 2004, and that same year landed a position as Assistant Director of Bands at Bammel Middle School.

The first day at any new job can be daunting, and for music teachers it’s no different. Based on his experience, the most important instrument that a music teacher has is his or her voice. When addressing a classroom full of students, it’s important for project your voice so that everyone can hear you. Pace yourself, too, by not talking too fast or too loud.

The equipment available to any music teacher is going to depend on how much the school can allocate toward a music program. A music teacher is going to require musical instruments, of course, but it doesn’t stop with those. Any modern classroom, from math to music, is going to need computers with high speed Internet connections. Music teachers will require good music software to run on their machines, along with CDs, books, and other audio and video equipment.

For new music teachers, it’s a great idea to find another music teacher with experience, and who is willing to act as a mentor. What you can learn from those more experienced is invaluable: they can provide everything from advice on managing a class of rowdy kids, to sharing lesson plans. An experienced colleague is the ideal mentor, but this can be supplemented by participating in online forums like MusicTeachers Helper.

Mark Calima is a veteran high school band director, whose bands have been recognized on national and international stages. In 2012, he was named a campus Teacher of the Year at Cedar Ridge High School in Round Rock, Texas, and was the founder and director of the Houston Area Summer Wind Ensemble.Read more about Mark Calima music Journey. 

Related:  Mark Calima: The Value of Music Education