Faculty

Brandon Lesando

Director (email)

Mr. Lesando is the Director of Bands at Blue Valley Southwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas after previously serving as the assistant. Starting his music education career in North Florida, ensembles under his direction excelled in local and state performance arenas with thriving membership growth. While at SW, Lesando has presented clinics on brass pedagogy and ensemble sound concepts while his ensembles have performed on national and regional stages and commissioned new works for the wind band genre. Lesando is a graduate of the University of North Florida where he studied horn and euphonium and earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree, Cum Laude. He is currently pursuing his Master of Music Education degree from the University of Colorado – Boulder and was named ECKMEA Outstanding Young Music Educator of the Year in 2018.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Lesando enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 2004. His assignments included serving as a submarine nuclear weapons technician onboard the USS Rhode Island (SSBN 740 GOLD) and as a Navy Formal Schools instructor for incoming students and fleet sailors at the Trident Training Facility in Kings Bay, GA. In 2011, Lesando was Honorably Discharged from active duty as a Missile Technician, 1st Class (Submarines) with awards for achievement, volunteer service, and good conduct.

Daniel Kirk Director (email)

Dr. Daniel Kirk is excited to serve as Director of Bands at Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, KS. He manages all aspects of the wind band program alongside colleague Kenneth Tysick; this includes three concert ensembles, Big Dawg Jazz Bands, Music Theory, Pep Bands, and Northwest’s Howlin’ Husky Marching Band.

From 2017-2020, Dr. Kirk served as the Director of Instrumental Activities at Reinhardt University in Atlanta. At Reinhardt, he conducted the Wind Ensemble, taught courses in Conducting and Music Education, as well as oversaw all ensembles, teaching, curriculum, and operational aspects of the instrumental program. He has served as a guest conductor for numerous high school honor band clinics and festivals across the country. Before pursuing full-time study at graduate schools, Dr. Kirk was the Director of Bands at Blue Valley West High School. The Blue Valley West Symphonic Wind Ensemble was awarded Highest Kansas State Level Honors by the National Foundation for Music Education in 2012; this ensemble was also selected to appear in honored performance at the 2013 Kansas State Music Educators' Convention. Kirk was nationally awarded the George N. Parks Leadership in Music Education Award by National Association for Music Education (NAfME) in 2012.

Dr. Kirk holds degrees from Missouri Western State University (Music Education and Piano Performance, 2007), Northwestern University (Wind Conducting, 2015), and Michigan State University (Wind Conducting, 2017). He credits his teachers and mentors Avian Bear, David Bennett, Jane Wheat, Mallory Thompson, and Kevin Sedatole. His professional affiliations include CBDNA, NAfME, NBA, GMEA, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

Ms. Laura Bock - Administrative Librarian (email)

Ms. Bock is the Assistant Director of Bands at Blue Valley Southwest High School and also teaches at Aubry Bend Middle School. She currently plays flute and piccolo Crossroads Wind Symphony and Midwest Winds and teaches a growing private flute studio.

As a young musician, Bock grew up in central Maryland where she was an active member of the band and orchestra programs at Westminster High School. She completed a double concentration in Music Education and Flute Performance at James Madison University, graduating Summa Cum Laude, With Distinction in Music, and as an Honors Scholar. In the summer of 2011, Ms. Bock toured the country with The Glassmen as a baritone player in the DCI circuit. The following fall, she accepted a position at Walker Upper Elementary School in Charlottesville City Schools where she was fortunate to teach 5th and 6th grade beginning band students alongside Mr. Robert Dunnenberger. While at Walker, she also played second flute and piccolo with the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra, won second prize in the Mid-Atlantic Flute Fair's 2013 Piccolo Young Artist Competition, and served as the District XIII representative to the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association. From 2015 to 2017, Bock completed her master's degree in Music and Human Learning at the University of Texas at Austin and presented her culminating research project in poster sessions with Dr. Judith Jellison at both the TMEA and NAfME Research conferences. Bock is a National Board Certified teacher in Early Adolescent through Young Adulthood Music.

Mr. Brandon Lesando - Director (email)

Mr. Lesando is the Director of Bands at Blue Valley Southwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas after previously serving as the assistant. Starting his music education career in North Florida, ensembles under his direction excelled in local and state performance arenas with thriving membership growth. While at SW, Lesando has presented clinics on brass pedagogy and ensemble sound concepts while his ensembles have performed on national and regional stages and commissioned new works for the wind band genre. Lesando is a graduate of the University of North Florida where he studied horn and euphonium and earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree, Cum Laude. He is currently pursuing his Master of Music Education degree from the University of Colorado – Boulder and was named ECKMEA Outstanding Young Music Educator of the Year in 2018.

Originally from Pennsylvania, Lesando enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 2004. His assignments included serving as a submarine nuclear weapons technician onboard the USS Rhode Island (SSBN 740 GOLD) and as a Navy Formal Schools instructor for incoming students and fleet sailors at the Trident Training Facility in Kings Bay, GA. In 2011, Lesando was Honorably Discharged from active duty as a Missile Technician, 1st Class (Submarines) with awards for achievement, volunteer service, and good conduct.