Session Proposals

Mr. Ryan Diefenderfer is in his eleventh year of teaching band and orchestra. Over the course of the past ten years, Mr. Diefenderfer has served as the Director of Bands and Orchestras at Paradise Valley High School, Director of Bands and Orchestras at Greenway Middle School, and Adjunct Brass and Jazz Faculty Member at Paradise Valley Community College where he led the Brass Choir and Jazz Combo. Mr. Diefenderfer is the proud recipient of the 2021 Silver Apple Arizona Teaching Award and Quarterfinalist for the 2024 Grammy Award in Music Education. Most recently, Mr. Diefenderfer joined the faculty at Klein Cain High School in Houston, Texas as Associate Band Director.

Mr. Diefenderfer graduated from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2013, where he studied music education, music composition, trombone, and jazz studies. Mr. Diefenderfer grew up in Mundelein, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, and moved to Bloomington, Indiana in 2009 to pursue his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education at Indiana University. Mr. Diefenderfer completed his student teaching at Carmel High School in Carmel, Indiana. Currently, Mr. Diefenderfer is finishing his Master’s Degree in Music Teaching and Learning from Arizona State University. While at ASU, Mr. Diefenderfer’s focus has been on music curriculum development with a focus on student-centered practices.

One way that we can keep our band, orchestra, and choir students more engaged, motivated, and intrigued is through using student-centered learning practices. This session will explore beginning models for incorporating student-centered ideas in our full ensemble music classrooms, such as: co-created music interpretations, incorporating student feedback in the curriculum, involving students in programming, chamber music, improvising, and more.

• Band - Middle School
• Band - Secondary
• Orchestra - Middle School
• Orchestra - Secondary
• Collegiate