Leading and Establishing a Culture with Diane Koutsulis

**Reupload. Originally Posted 5/22/20**

Raise your baton, ready your highlighters and pens, and don’t forget to grab that score as Dr. Payne and Eric continue our month long Conducting Bootcamp! Mrs. Diane Koutsulis, former teacher at Green Valley HS and member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association, joins us to talk about leadership from the podium and establishing a strong and positive culture in your class.

Diane Koutsulis is the recently retired Director of Bands and Arts Department Chair at Green Valley High School.  Originally from Chicago, Diane has been teaching in the Clark County School District for the past 35 years.  She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music from Western Illinois University.  After teaching junior high band in Oswego, Illinois, for three years, she went on to complete the Masters of Music Education degree at Louisiana State University, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she studied with Frank Wickes.

During her tenure in Las Vegas, Diane has built fine band programs and music departments at both Las Vegas High School (1982-91) and Green Valley High School (1991-2017).  Her groups have consistently garnered recognition for fine performances and she has served as both guest clinician and conductor at various conferences and honor bands throughout the United States.  Diane was named the 1999 Nevada Teacher of the Year and received the 1999 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award.  A member of the Clark County School District Teacher Hall of Fame, in March of 2003, she was inducted into the Nevada State Education Hall of Fame.  In 2004, the Green Valley High School Symphonic Band performed at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, IL.  In 2005 and 2010, the Symphonic Band performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The  Green Valley HS Marching Band performed in the 2010 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, as well as the 2009 and 1993 Presidential Inaugural Parades.  Diane is a member of the National Band Association (NBA) as well as holding memberships in Nevada Music Educators Association (NMEA), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), and College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA). Diane is honored to be a member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association (ABA).
(bio courtesy of https://www.milkeneducatorawards.org)

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Not Your Forte Podcast is a music education podcast that is geared towards helping Music Education students survive and thrive throughout their undergrad as well as prepare to enter the "real world". Not Your Forte is brought to you by Eric Tinkler, a senior in music education at Kansas State and Dr. Phillip Payne, the Undergraduate Music Education advisor at Kansas State. 

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