How To Facilitate Your Staff…And Students With Professor Michael Salzman

Today on the show I got to sit down with my college euphonium teacher, Professor Michael Salzman. As a recently retired music coordinator of the Syosset School District, Professor Salzman was responsible for overseeing and coordinating the work of other music teachers. He shed some light on how to facilitate your staff as an administrator in order to support and nurture vs. correct and reprimand. We also discussed the nuances of transitioning from just a colleague… to someone’s boss.

We then spoke about some of the challenges he’s faced working with college music education and performance majors. Salzman values the importance of being a great performer because whether it’s on stage as a tuba player or in front of a classroom with students, “you’ll be performing everyday”! This can be tricky because often times there is so much turmoil in college students life such as homesickness, depression or anxiety.

Professor Salzman went on to talk about the influence of his past teachers and credits them with shaping his own career and teaching style. He made some great analogies! So much so that I had to ask him if making great analogies was something he picked up from his past teachers.

Michael Salzman has served on the music faculty of Hofstra University since 1993. At Hofstra he teaches tuba and euphonium, directs the Brass Ensemble and Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble, and teaches in the Music Education Program. For 33 years he has taught music at every grade level from Pre-K through college and has recently retired as the Coordinator of Performing Arts for Syosset Schools.

Passionate about the benefits of music education in the lives of children, Salzman has been active in professional associations throughout his career. He is a Past President of NYSSMA, the New York State School Music Association, having served as President of this association of more than 5000 members in 2018-2019. The theme of his presidency was “Making the Magic of Music Education Accessible to All” and during his term he advocated throughout the state of New York for the right of every child to have access to a high quality Music Education.

Salzman earned Music Performance degrees at Indiana University and the Mannes College of Music.  His principal teachers were Harvey Phillips, Sam Pilafian, Warren Deck and Bill Barber.  He is well known and regarded in the New York City area as a tuba player. He is a former Principal Tuba player of the Long Island Philharmonic and a founding member of the Cosmopolitan Brass Quintet.  He is the Regional Coordinator of the TubaChristmas concerts held every year at Rockefeller Center. His first solo album, Salztuba was released in 2020 to critical acclaim.  For more information, visit www.salztuba.com.