Eric Burgeson

I have been teaching saxophone, jazz band, concert band, and wind ensemble since 2006.  When I graduated from college, I began teaching choir and band at Benjamin Rush Middle School and band at Rush County High School  It kept me busy as I was working with a 70+ high school group that was a marching band, a wind ensemble, and a basketball band.  They performed 1-3 times a week for a lot of the semester and the students loved it.  At the middle school I was personally responsible for 4 choirs and and a 7th and 8th grade band. For four years, I made sure that I prepared the singers and instrumentalists for the high school band and the high school choir.  At the same time, I was teaching at the University of Indianapolis as an adjunct professor of saxophone, teaching private lessons to students that main saxophone professor's schedule couldn't handle.  I was also working with a private studio space, called Sonata Studios, teaching more saxophone lessons.  In 2011, I had to stop commuting from Rushville to Indianapolis, both because the drive was eating many hours a week and because I wanted to concentrate on starting a family.

At Rushville, I decided that a high school jazz band was necessary, as there was actually a fairly long tradition of one in the community, but it hadn't been a performing group since the late 1980's. I began having after-school rehearsals once a week and was able to convince the high school director to allow me to have short (30 min) rehearsal during the school day as well.  Response from the students and community was good, and soon I was able to start an after school-middle school jazz band that met on Mondays.  Once I was feeding musicians from my ms jazz band to the high school, I was able to transition first to twice weekly hs rehearsals and then in 2012 I convinced the administration to create a high school jazz ensemble class.  We began competing in ISSMA jazz contests and having performing clinicians visit to help us improve.  

In 2017, after 11 years at Rushville, I found a job back in Indianapolis that involved teaching only jazz band and piano classes.  I immediately interviewed and was lucky enough to be gifted with a new position at Herron High School and have been teaching there since then.  

Although I spend most of my time teaching ensembles large and small, I have also found the time to compose my own music for concert band, pep band, and jazz.  I've never published the pieces, but I use them frequently with my bands and combos to help with my teaching goals.  I frequently compose exercises for my students that focus precisely on their individual needs.