HOME OF SALUTING AMERICA'S BAND DIRECTORS
The project sponsor
The Michael D. Sewell Memorial Foundation was created in 2017 to carry on the legacy of the late Mike Sewell, longtime band director in the Pickerington, Ohio school system. This Foundation project, named Saluting America's Band Directors (SABD), was conceived as a way to recognize and salute the extraordinary dedication and accomplishments of band directors everywhere—public and private schools at all levels, colleges and universities, the military and community bands. An all-volunteer advisory team of professionals in management, marketing, music education, fundraising and information technology was assembled to plan and execute the initial SABD project: to march in the world-famous Rose Parade.
The Band Directors Marching Band
The concept behind the Saluting America's Band Directors (SABD) project was to create a unique marching band of band directors comprising band directors and music educators from across North America. The band was recruited through advertising, social media, word of mouth and endorsements from well-known leaders in the profession. Renowned band director Jon Waters joined this effort to lead the Band Directors Marching Band.
"America's Band Directors: We teach music. We teach life."
The extraordinary dedication and accomplishments of band directors are well known to their students, to their families, to parents and to school teachers and administrators. These dedicated music educators and leaders work long hours to not only teach and conduct music, but to teach life itself. Student lives in particular are positively changed by a motivational leader who taught, inspired and mentored them. For this reason, we chose the theme for our project to be "America's Band Directors: We teach music. We teach life."
The Band Directors Marching Band, by the numbers
These statistics reflect the BDMB as they appeared in the Rose Parade on January 1, 2022
Total number of directors: 270
Total number of states represented: 47, plus Mexico
Total years of experience: 4,539
Average years music teaching experience: 16.5
Number of directors with more than 30 years experience: 46
Number of directors with less than 10 years experience: 110
Grammy Music Educator of the Year nominees (quarter finalists to finalists): 8
Teacher of the year recipients (local, district, state or national): 76
Number of students taught by our marching band directors (based on 40 new students for every year of teaching): 181,000
Number of directors marching with a relative (married couple, father/son, mother/son, grandfather/grandson etc), or their former director: 24
Director who came the farthest: Kelley Taylor—from Texas and teaches in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Second farthest: Andrew Goldie, who teaches children of military personnel in Germany
