The following is the presentation from Joe Pisano’s TI:ME/JEN clinic on Saturday, January 7th, 2012 held at the Galt House in Lousiville, KY. The presentation was titled Twitter for Bands and Public Relations.
Twitter for Bands and Public Relations
Thanks to Joseph M. Pisano, Ph.D and http://mustech.net for letting us reference his presentation! Follow him @PisanoJM!
Also, follow Alfred at @BandOrch!
Over the past year, I have presented a clinic at state, district, and university conferences discussing my thoughts about the process of creating music for beginning and developing players. It has been invaluable to receive feedback from teachers in discussions about music that engages the young musician, especially those at the beginning stages of musical ability. It is through discussions such as these that I’m able to better meet the needs of the ensembles with varying abilities around the world. As a composer of music for any medium, I truly enjoy my attempts at creating works at this level for orchestra, concert band, and jazz ensemble. Those people who know me personally understand that I often think (and sometimes act) like a child. As a father of two young musicians, I examine what keeps them drawn to music. Additionally, I feel a responsibility to find a musical balance for the ʻteacher/musician/conductorʼ: to provide the best musical experience for the director as well as the students (and the audience!). When setting out to compose (or arrange) a piece for young or beginning players, I strongly consider each of the following points:
The esteemed conductor and educator, Ray Cramer, once made a list that attempts to answer the question, “What comprises music of artistic merit?”Although this list has been quoted many times, I feel it is appropriate to revisit it for this discussion. DOES THE MUSIC POSSESS/CONTAIN:
Well stated, in my opinion. For the record, I keep a copy of this list in my studio to review before I embark on a new project. During my college band director days, I also kept this list at my desk as I reviewed music for performance with my wind ensemble. It continues to serve me well.
Alfred Author
What is the purpose of a warm up in the band (or any) classroom? Students come into our classrooms from a variety of places, both physically and mentally. Maybe they are coming from lunch, or a science lab, or home. The fact is, not every student comes into the music room with the sole focus of creating and communicating through music.
I believe that the first ten (or even twenty) minutes of class are far more important than even the literature. Is that a crazy thought? Maybe it is, but I have always had the belief that if students are prepared properly, physically and mentally, they will absorb the literature more easily and with more meaning.
In preparation for each of our ensemble rehearsals we do much more than a single scale for a warm up, but let’s take a second and analyze one role of using a scale as part of your warm up.
“Here we go, Bb scale, whole notes. Ready? Go!” I admit it; I have been guilty of using this scale warm up method and honestly, is starting with a scale in whole notes a bad thing? No, it isn’t. Is a routine that students can expect when they come into the room a bad thing? Nope. What is so bad about it then? Answer: Performing a scale in whole notes without purpose.
It isn’t that the teacher doesn’t know the purpose, but often we forget to share our secrets with our students. It is called assumed knowledge – we sometimes assume students know the reason for performing each exercise.
Quite often they do not know and will obediently perform as you ask without knowing why it is important. For a student, warming up might simply mean heating up their instrument. Really! Ask them! They will tell you.
The Bb scale will take on a whole new meaning if you share with students that in addition to getting their bodies prepared (by paying attention to their breathing and posture) and their facial muscles prepared (by focusing on proper embouchure), they are also warming up their minds.
We are all well aware of critical thinking and problem solving – going beyond surface learning and understanding. Are students aware that they do this everyday in music? And every time they are making a sound?
When you share the secret with students that when they play long tones in the Bb scale they should be listening to and analyzing the following:
There are many ways to warm up in the band classroom and the Bb scale (or any other, try Concert C for a whole new opportunity to work on critical thinking and problem solving!) is just one of them.
The important thing is to share the why with our students. Too often we take for granted that our students already know the why and in reality it is our responsibility to be sure that they know the purpose of what we ask them to do.
If students understand the reason for the exercise, they will perform it with more meaning and the end result will be far more beneficial to your rehearsal and to their success.
Posted in Concert Band
Tagged alfred music publishing, band, ledger lines, music, music education, music in schools, music warm ups, school band
By Vince Gassi
Creating music is fun. Creating music that others enjoy is even more fun. The Word is a very simple project that students at any level can have fun with today. It doesn’t require any theory and you don’t have to be a composer to introduce them to the wonderful world of creating music.
Assign a descriptive word, such as evolution, time, or plasma, to each student. Be creative. Choose words that are evocative. The clearer the concept, the easier it will be for students to generate ideas. The mission, should your young composers decide to accept it, is to create a one to two minute piece based on their word. The only rule is to have fun being creative. Encourage them to push beyond the limits of their imagination. By thinking beyond the obvious, to imagine options they had not previously considered, they will be taking the first steps to developing a critical skill that will serve them in everything they do.
They can use MIDI software or real instruments. Either way, they will be creating a soundscape. Anyone can quickly learn how to load an instrumental sound in applications such as Cubase or Logic. With a few simple instructions, and a little experimentation, your students will be editing and combining sounds in a jiffy.
It is critical that you thoroughly convince your students that there are no wrong answers. I cannot over-emphasize this enough. Students are often inhibited by the desire to give their teacher the “right” answer. They are afraid of being wrong and may be thinking “I’m not a composer” or “I don’t know what to do”. This fear shuts off pathways in the brain that lead to the generation of creative ideas. Be patient. They’ll need lots of encouragement to not give up. Their first efforts may not seem like much, but you must see them as potential gems, so be effusive in your praise. Assure them that high marks are guaranteed before they start.
Outline the following steps in the creative process: conceptualization (what’s the story or main idea; a written description may help as the concept will evolve as students continue through this process), brainstorming (generation of ideas often through improvisation), experimentation (playing with or modifying your ideas), refining and polishing (repeated listening, clipping and pruning). (By the way, Brainstorm is a great word to use!!)
No computers? No problem! At my middle school, I arranged the percussion instruments in a circle. We didn’t have much, just a bass drum, snare drum, cymbal, and bells. After teaching the proper grip for sticks and mallets, I demonstrated how a group of students could construct a soundscape. Soft hits on the bass drum (two seconds apart) establish an ostinato. A cymbal roll (soft mallets) begins quietly and gradually gets louder. Bells strike Bb and F at regular intervals like a clock chiming. Other instruments, such as rattles, shakers, and tambourines are added gradually. The possibilities are limitless. Stress that composition is essentially organizing sound to create a dramatic effect. Don’t be afraid to add winds, brass, strings, and voices. All groups should include one of each. Sustained clusters,random pitches, spoken words, repeated syllables, whispers, finger snaps, and tongue clicks can all be effective. Remember, this process can last one period or one week. It’s up to you.
Demonstrate how to create a graphic score. Draw a timeline from left to right across the top of the page (landscape) and list the instruments down the left hand side. Sustained notes can be indicated with a horizontal line, shorter notes with X’s at the desired timecode. Let the notation be whatever is needed to clearly indicate the composer’s intent. Each group could even have a conductor.
Use the opportunity to discuss instrument choices and the use of musical elements such as tempo, rhythm, volume, etc. A culminating activity could include performances for other classes. Call it “Two-Dollar Tuesdays” and raise funds for your growing MIDI lab (which will become popular as The Word literally gets out about the cool things happening in your course). My senior students invited the English class from across the hall. The English students welcomed the diversion and completed an evaluation rubric which included comments on the how well the music depicted the word. All comments must be positive. Peers must find something that worked to share with their composer colleagues. Positive feedback definitely builds confidence. One more thing; it never hurts to invite your principal.
As your students feel up to the challenge of engaging in more ambitious projects, you can introduce more theory. Learning theory as needed is much easier than trying to digest books full of it with no concrete end in mind. As you develop other great projects, your students, by repeatedly going through the creative process, will mature and begin to think of themselves as composers.
In the traditional American public school band, chorus, or orchestra program, 90 to 95% of available class time is spent preparing the large ensemble for the next public performance. This in and of itself is a noble pursuit that is a valued experience for the majority of the students involved. In my instrumental music program, however, we spend most of the first marking period building basic independent musicianship skills and addressing basic concepts in tone production, rote technique work, basic music theory, and solo repertoire study. Marking period 1 concludes with a series of in-class clinics focused on performing major scales and excerpts from their solo pieces.
In marking period 2, we begin preparations for the winter concert, which occurs just before winter break. This program is abbreviated – only about an hour’s worth of material, and it features both chamber ensemble and combined class performances. The repertoire performed is technically less demanding. My classes are “leveled” somewhat in middle school, with my more experienced 7th and 8th graders getting their own class period. My other middle school classes contain a wide mix of experience levels from raw beginners to students who have been playing their instrument for four years.
Because there are beginners involved, I have to teach the basics of ensemble performance and rehearsal. I give demonstrations in basic conducting patterns, introduce concepts like balance, blend, and ensemble intonation, and provide students with strategies for playing with rhythmic integrity and finding their place if they get lost during a performance.
I also teach the basics of rehearsing as an ensemble. Efficient, effective use of time is paramount, especially since we have less time to prepare the repertoire in class. Ensemble rehearsing concepts that the student must follow are:
All of these concepts are addressed verbally and reinforced by the teacher experientially. Rehearsing efficiently becomes the standard operating procedure that makes it possible to produce a quality public performance in a shorter amount of class time. As middle school students matriculate up to the high school, they bring with them foundational knowledge basic to intermediate tone production, rote technique, scale and chord theory, ear training concepts, basic melodic compositional skills, and effective, disciplined individual and ensemble practice methods.
Thanks goes to Thomas J. West Music for letting us use his blog!
Thomas J. West is an active music educator, composer, adjudicator, clinician, and award-winning blogger.
http://thomasjwestmusic.com
Alfred Author
I’m going to have the audacity to suggest that you add at least one more performance to your already busy schedule! Hear me out.
Every time your group performs they have the opportunity to become better musicians. There’s something about playing in front of people that cannot be reproduced in rehearsal. And, there is much more than the music; there is the shared experience. It can be the subject of discussion for years: ‘Do you remember the red bow-ties?”; “How about that bus ride?” and so on. The group can buiild a shared history, common stories, more successes, more friendship, and better musicianship.
If you’ve come along this far, you may be thinking, “This idea isn’t that crazy.” In that case, here are just a few suggestions to fuel your imagination. First, check the school calendar for events already planned that are that are close to your performance. For instance: The PTO meets 2 nights before your concert? Then hold an open dress rehearsal an hour earlier and invite them to come in and hear your rehearsal. Have a string quartet offering songs as the PTO enters the building. How about playing in the cafeteria during lunch, where the students get to play for their peers? Or play on the morning announcements. Shopping malls regularly schedule school performing groups, and retirement homes would never turn down a free concert! Have a middle school group perform for the elementary group. Have the high school orchestra play for the middle school.
Well, at this point, I hope your imagination has taken off and you are at least considering the possibilities of getting a couple extra performances in this holiday season. Good luck and have fun teaching and playing music!
I am often asked what the factors of success for instrumental music programs are. There are a variety of things to consider such as starting age, time on task, facilities, equipment, scheduling and many others. One of the most important resources for any instrumental teacher is a well thought out curriculum. A comprehensive curriculum paired with great supporting materials allows educators to teach with efficiency and success.
It was Lewis Carroll that said “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there”. The best instrumental curriculums pair national/state standards and best practices with local situations and traditions. Teachers tend to be more successful when they have input into the curriculum and the strategies for implementation. There are many great resources for music curriculum design such as the Music Educators National Conference and the American String Teachers Association. Professional organizations such as these offer many ideas and resources online and through their member services departments. Local teachers can then use these resources to help them design curriculums that meet the needs of their individual students and communities.
The exit outcomes for each grade level or age must be determined. Knowing what we want our students to be able to do is the first step in creating a great program. The second step is assessment, so we can monitor students’ progress toward those outcomes as well as our own growth as teachers. Assessment is a key component of any curriculum and is what makes it a living, breathing document that will be used and revised.
Another important part of any curriculum is method books. Instrumental teachers have a wide variety of books to choose from. Ideally any materials chosen should be flexible enough to meet the needs of the curriculum. The best materials take into account the teacher’s teaching style and the learning styles of the students, schools, and community. Alfred Music Publishing’s new methods, Sound Innovations for Concert Band and Sound Innovations for String Orchestra allow teachers to create a Directors Choice edition. Teachers are able to make pedagogical decisions as well as select some of the music in the method. The customizable version allows teachers to choose tunes from a wide variety of genres include Christian, Jewish, Latino, African-American, American Folk and Patriotic and many others.
In a recent national poll over 93% of Americans thought that music should be taught to all students and was an important part of the curriculum. If music is to play an important role in the school curriculum then music curricula should be written that allow all of our students to be successful and participate in our instrumental ensembles.
Bob Phillips is well known in the music education community as a successful teacher, composer, teacher-trainer and conductor. He is the Director of String Publications for Alfred Music Publishing and the President-elect of the American String Teachers Association.
Music ensembles in public schools are formed of students with varying degrees of musical ability and accomplishments. The ensemble, whether it be Concert Band, Orchestra, Jazz Band, Marching Band or small groups of like or unlike instruments, as the saying goes, is only as good as the weakest performer. Let’s think about individual performers and methods to improve the performance of each member of the ensemble.
Most schools offer instrumental music lessons in small groups of like instruments. It is possible for students to get “lost” in these groups and need individual attention, especially at the beginning level. You, the teacher, are completely scheduled and this individual attention is impossible in your availability. What do you do next?
Consider a “Buddy” Teacher, an older student playing the same instrument well, who can help the young student with basic musical problems (counting, fingerings, tone production, stickings for percussionists, etc.). Prepare the older student in basic teaching approaches and briefly view the two together during the first “lesson” to insure that the combination will work. This will be effective in two ways – for the older student who will take pride in helping another with his or her “expertise;” and the younger student who will look up to his “buddy teacher.”
On a broad basis, try a solo and ensemble requirement of every student in your program that will help all become better musicians. One teacher I observed had such a program and it was very successful. Each student had to perform in two recitals each school year, on one recital as a soloist and the other as part of an ensemble. The recitals were held in the school auditorium, sometimes in the evening after school hours or held during the regular daytime instrumental lesson classes. The performance materials were compatible to their ability and the older students were instructed to memorize their solo performance. Young students were given songs or exercises from their lesson books and performed them in class as a solo generally standing in front of the class.
Give each student in your program “individual” attention to their “individual” needs. Sounds tough for you? Probably, but it will make your ensembles better.
In a successful performing music curriculum at an American public school, students move successfully from their first experiences in singing, instrument mechanics, tone production, ensemble techniques, and so on and upon graduation have acquired a skill set for performance in the intermediate to lower advanced range. Their exiting proficiency depends on many factors: their aptitude level, the music learning environments K-12, the goals of the secondary music program and so on. It is common for many graduating seniors to reach upper intermediate proficiency in actual music performance, but lower proficiency in areas such as rhythm reading, and advanced basic in areas such as music theory, ear training, improvisation, and composition.
There are many teaching philosophies that come into play here. What is the goal for every student of a K-12 public music program? In so many places, the goal is to produce the highest quality high school performing ensemble possible, thereby enriching the lives of the participants in multiple ways and if nothing else making them intellectually aware of quality music-making as they enter the work force. This is an admirable goal and certainly has its place. It is my belief, however, that all music curricula, regardless of its mode of learning (band, chorus, orchestra, theory, electronic music, etc.) should be providing students with enough training in all aspects of music-making with the goal of nurturing them into adults who can create their own art rather than producing a musical “has-been” that has a dust-collecting instrument case in their attic.
For music performance, students need enough training in sight-reading, theory, scale study, and improvisation to be able to know and understand “the next level” of musicianship – the one that requires complete proficiency in all twelve major and natural minor scales on their primary instrument. It’s the level that allows singers to successfully sight-read vocal music without having to have the part played for them first. It’s the level where students understand the rehearsal process and what it means to move their performance into the mastery stage, where spontaneous sub-conscious recall has been drilled into place.
For non-traditional music students taking electronic music, music theory, or composition classes, they need to develop proficiency on a primary instrument of some kind, whether that instrument is their voice, a guitar, a piano, or the computer itself. To create music, they need a medium that can be transferable, which is either traditional music notation, music sequencing, or both.
The goal is to give them the skills to be life-long participants in music, whether that means performing in community groups, writing and sharing their own music, or at the very least supporting quality music-making that advances our collective culture rather than devalues it. That means giving them the training to get them out of the beginner level into the intermediate level in all aspects of music making, not just music performance.
So, as the title of this article applies, is “breaking through the intermediate ceiling” into advanced levels of performance, improvisation, and composition even a valid pursuit for public school programs? The answer is a qualified “yes.”
The next generation of music teachers, performers, and composers comes from within the ranks of our performing ensembles and electronic music classes. In many states, opportunities for further enrichment in performance music exist in the form of honors ensembles, all-state ensembles, and state adjudications. But where are the opportunities for composition? NAfME sponsors programs for student music composition as well as electronic music, as do some states, but it is a slowly developing field.
Our culture suffers from the delusion that to compose music, you have to be a genius like Mozart, an innovator like Beethoven or Paul McCartney, or a trend-setter like John Williams. It is certainly true that composition requires the composer to have a depth of knowledge in more than just performance, however, which is why the traditional performance-centric public school program doesn’t give students the skills necessary to compose at even the most basic levels.
We as a music education profession have bought into the notion the commercial music is a bunch of fluff and we are “fighting the good fight” to keep our band in the stands on Friday night, our orchestras attempting to play Tchaik 5, and our choral programs singing whatever Eric Whitacre writes next. There are commercial musicians who come from a traditional background, such as Cake and Ben Folds, but until we as a profession begin to embrace the idea that there is more to learning music than having the most professional high school performing ensemble possible, the music industry will continue to be populated by a small pool of “the selected” who do all the creating in the name of profit with little connection to the depth and aesthetic beauty of our cultural musical roots. That, quite simply, is why commercial music is rife with quarter-inch deep content, why 80% of our students can’t relate to our music programs, and we are constantly fighting to maintain our legitimacy and our jobs.
To read more ideas, check out Thomas J. West Music’s blog: The Next Level: Breaking Young Musicians Through The Intermediate Ceiling
Thanks goes to Thomas J. West Music for letting us use his blog!
Thomas J. West is an active music educator, composer, adjudicator, clinician, and award-winning blogger.
http://thomasjwestmusic.com
By Pete BarenBregge
Jazz Editor
It’s time to schedule, plan and begin to program a spring jazz ensemble performance. Where to begin? How many times have you heard another jazz ensemble play a chart you wish you had selected it for your band? Hey, it happens to all of us, that’s how we learn. The selection of music that fits your group is no mystery but the process should be logical and practical. The selection of music can make a significant impact on your program.
Goals: jazz education—to educate in the jazz idiom; select music that appeals to the band; select music that will appeal to the audience; and select music that is playable by your band.
Additional tips:
1) Morale. Avoid selecting music that is simply too difficult for your band to play. It will frustrate the players and you. Plus it will consume a lot of valuable rehearsal time and even potentially damage young embouchures.
2) Programming. Always keep your audience in mind. Try a strong opener followed by something new and creative then something familiar. Offer a nice mix of swing charts, a ballad or two, a Latin, perhaps something funky or something more traditional or historic. Pace the band and avoid too many “power” charts or music that sounds similar back-to-back—imagine yourself in the audience as the critical listener.
3) Choose quality music. How about jazz charts you are familiar with and can count on to fill a programming niche, perhaps a jazz standard? Or new charts that you have selected this year, perhaps an original composition or something a little out of the box. Listen to the publisher demos, they provide you with a very good example of how the chart should sound. As you make your selections, get a feel for the style, phrasing, articulation, rhythmic complexity, brass range and so on. Does the chart fit your band? Select music that will be a valuable addition to your music library—a jazz chart that will sound good five years from now.
4) Work it. Spend time working with the rhythm section before the winds.
5) Listening. It is the most efficient way to learn jazz—use the demo recording to assist in teaching the chart to the band.
Most importantly, educate, enjoy and have fun playing jazz!
