REFERENCE LETTER for Brendon Bardo

It is my great pleasure to recommend Brendon Bardo to the field of music education. I worked with
Brendon as his Fredonia School of Music college supervisor while he student taught in the Starpoint and
Hamburg School Districts during the Spring 2016 semester. I observed Brendon in woodwind and brass
lessons, and band settings at the elementary and high school levels.
I was first impressed with the patience, respect, and engagement Brendon demonstrated while teaching
fourth grade lessons and band at Starpoint. He is very sensitive to students varying abilities, moods, and
personalities. He immediately wins them over because they know he likes them, cares about them and
enjoys teaching them.
Brendon is an accomplished musician. Through his extensive training on trombone he is committed to the
importance of teaching excellent warm-up routines and fundamentals of tone, music reading and technical
development. In addition, his lessons always begin with a question relating to each students experiences
since the last lesson, often leading to informative and, many times, entertaining short discussions. Brendon
has an understated sense of humor that makes the learning environment richer at all levels.
I am impressed with Brendons commitment to his secondary instruments. He can demonstrate effectively
on all instruments at the elementary level and uses his major, trombone, very effectively at the high school
level. He also had extensive percussion experience in his second placement.
Brendons work on the podium is excellent. He is always well-prepared with score analysis and sequences
his rehearsals effectively. He is confident in front of the high school band, responds quickly to the musical
concerns, and is a pleasure to observe rehearse. His conducting and rehearsal technique are quite advanced
for this stage of his career.
Brendons paperwork has always been prompt and of high quality. His lesson plans are well thought out
and presented efficiently and with smooth transitions. Brendon is curious and interested in selfimprovement. Every week Brendon asked many questions regarding pedagogy, curriculum, program
concerns, etc. His sponsor teachers and their colleagues expressed to me personally how much they
enjoyed working with Brendon and that they would heartily welcome him to their teaching faculty. I
whole-heartedly agree and give Brendon my highest recommendation.

Allan C. Ripley, Adjunct Instructor
Supervisor of Student Teaching
Fredonia School of Music

SUNY Fredonia
Fredonia, NY 14063
ripleya@fredonia.edu

Home Address: 164 Union Street, Hamburg, NY 14075
Home phone: 716.649.8693

Cell:
716.983.1640

May 12, 2016