The music industry, to many, is a maze—an endless labyrinth of twists and turns, where each decision leads to a different outcome. That complexity alone often scares students and aspiring musicians alike each and every year at DMAE. However, Band Director Gary Hollander has captured the what-ifs and how-comes of the music industry and provided students with first-hand looks into a world that may otherwise be foreign to them through a VIP Speaker Series of guest speakers. 

Every Friday afternoon, Dr. Hollander hosts guests from the heart of the music industry to speak to students about their lives, careers, and experiences. The goal, as Doc himself describes it, is to give students a sneak-peak into what it’s like to be in the music industry, and provide them with possible career options, hidden gems within the hustle and bustle of the hype, that they would not know about before.  

“This series is meant to highlight the importance of networking, and the fact that you don’t have to be a music major to be in music … you can do all these different things without even playing your instrument,” Dr. Hollander said. 

Typically, depending on the guest, these meetings will be hosted over Teams or Zoom – whichever the VIP is more accustomed to. These meetings are held during the band class period and offered to band students explicitly in order to make the experience more intimate and invaluable to students. 

“I look forward to hearing about their background on how much they’ve grown to become amazing artists, composer, producer, engineer, etc.,” junior Aika Harris described. “They show us how much music means to them through the work they’ve done.” 

Dr. Hollander has been recruiting guests for the entirety of this school year to ease the blow of online classes and has had incredible guests such as musician and composer Paul Rudolph of Sesame Street who brought Abby Cadabby for a cameo appearance, film producer and talent manager Fam Udeorji, and voice actor Anthony Mendez. More than willing to provide students with worthwhile opportunities, Doc described staying up into the late hours of the night to reach VIPs.

“The one thing I’ve learned the most is how important networking is. The majority of speakers have emphasized networking and how impactful it was to their career as a whole,” junior Grace Yang noted.  

Much to the relief of students, Dr. Hollander does plan on continuing this series into next school year, if able. He hopes to continue to provide students with insight to the music industry.