Episode 36: Mentorship, Music Publishing, and Mastering the Beat with Matt Edwards

In this episode, we sit down with Matt Edwards. Matt is the Mentoring Committee Chair for the NCMEA. He retired in 2025 after a 29-year career as a high school band director — 23 of those years spent teaching the band program at Fuquay-Varina High School in Wake County, NC. He is also in his 13th season conducting the Triangle Youth Brass Band, a nine-time North American Brass Band Championship winner.

We talk through the nuts and bolts of the mentoring program — how pairings work, who qualifies as a mentor or mentee, what a typical mentoring relationship looks like week to week, and how to sign up through the NCMEA website. Matt also shares the story of his own mentor, longtime director John Enloe, and how that relationship shaped both his teaching philosophy and his career.

We also step outside the podium to explore a lesser-known path in music: Matt's role as a copy editor for a music publisher, proofreading and refining scores before they reach conductors and students — a great reminder for young musicians that careers in music extend well beyond performing and teaching.

Finally, Matt walks us through his go-to rehearsal technique for building ensemble pulse and subdivision — a simple, tool-free "numbers game" he's used with all his classes.