In 1916 the big news in music education was that the Oakland California Board of Education had appropriated $10,000 ($213,000 in 2011) for the purchase of band and orchestra instruments for use by public school students. Later we heard that the superintendent lost his job and that the board members failed to be re-elected because of this extravagant act.
   Glenn H. Woods, then Director of Music in the Oakland Schools, sold the Board of Education on the value of instrumental music instruction and – in particular – on the public relations value of a school band playing for football games. Apparently it was too early in the 20th century for this type of public relations to be appreciated by the voting public.
   This event and a performance by the high school orchestra of Lincoln, Nebraska in 1917 – for the Music Supervisors National Conference – laid the foundation for my entrance into the music education field. Charles Miller, Supervisor of Music at Lincoln, was promoted to Director of Music in the schools of Rochester, New York as the result of his instrumental demonstration at the Lincoln convention.
   Mr. Miller felt he needed help on the teaching of the instruments, and I was finally selected for the job with the title of Supervisor of Instrumental Music, the first such title in America. I had played violin, viola, clarinet and saxophone professionally and had studied all the other band and orchestra instruments in the hope that just such an opportunity as the Rochester opening would occur.
   I had, however, overlooked the matter of an academic education, having completed one and a half years of high school in Kansas before dropping out to concentrate on my music. In those days it was practically impossible to do both!
   On examination by President Rush Rhees of Rochester University, I was pronounced sufficiently educated to receive a life certificate to teach music in New York state. But three years later I had to pass examinations in all four years of high school subjects as the price of obtaining a certificate to teach music in Indiana, where I was Supervisor of Music in the Richmond schools, Conductor of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, and Instructor of public school music methods at Earlham College. Indiana would not accept the New York certificate.
   In Indiana all school employees had to hold teaching certificates except superintendents and janitors. I was elected assistant superintendent the first year to get around the requirement, but the law was quickly changed because of this, and I was forced to get the certificate.
   Rochester had two high school orchestras when I went there in 1918. There had been talk of $10,000 worth of band and orchestra instruments, but the Oakland affair killed any such possibility. I, therefore, wrote a letter to George Eastman asking for $15,000 for 300 instruments with a promise that, if this money was made available so we could get the instruments by March, I would guarantee a 100-piece band for the Memorial Day Parade. (The 1919 Memorial Day celebration was probably the greatest in our history because World War I had just ended the previous winter.)
   Mr. Miller, my superior, signed the letter and mailed it. A few days later the request was granted, and I had my chance of a lifetime. Came the day of the parade, and we had a band of 150 players on the march, with uniforms furnished by a local clothing manufacturer. Mr. Eastman invited the band to an oyster supper at his home that evening.
   Soon after the Memorial Day parade, Mr. Eastman engaged Will Earhart to make a survey of Rochester industries and schools for the purpose of ascertaining in what ways music might contribute to richer living and happiness of the people. The result of that survey was the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Eastman School of Music, both heavily endowed by Mr. Eastman.
   I believe that Cleveland was the first school system to provide certain instruments as standard equipment for each new school building, the first city to recognize the educational value of instrumental music in our school curriculum. Before that time it was customary to provide equipment for sewing classes, home economics, manual training, and all types of athletic classes. Music was still a frill in most school systems as late as 1927, but the school band and orchestra movement was gaining momentum every year.

Joseph E. Maddy (1891-1966) was a pioneer in music education in the United States. One of his notable achievements was founding the National Music Camp in 1928 which today is the Interlochen Center for the Arts.

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Cleaning Instruments
   Woodwind players can swab their instruments out after each use, but brass players can only drain the moisture through the water keys. Because this is not as thorough as swabbing, brass instruments should receive regular baths. I teach fifth grade brass players how to disassemble, clean, and lubricate their instruments. They should do this every month, but once or twice a year is enough to avoid most problems. I supply valve oil and slide grease in the band room to help them keep the moving parts working. The golden brown wheel bearing grease from auto parts stores can be used to grease tuning slides.
   Along with regular baths, brass instruments should be sent for a chemical cleaning once a year to remove calcium and other build up from the brass tubing. A chemical clean involves disassembling the instrument and pulling stuck slides as necessary, removing grease from the body and parts, cleaning the pieces in a mild acid bath, and rinsing it all with water. Before reassembling the instrument, the technician will replace the water key corks, stem felts, and cap felts, remove major bell dents, grease the slides, oil the valves, re-round the mouthpiece shank, polish the mouthpiece, and play-test the instrument. Without regular cleaning, slides begin to stick and red rot develops.

   If pulling on a stuck slide with bare hands does not work, try wrapping a handkerchief around it and pulling. If this does not remove the slide, stop there and send it to a repair tech. Improper tools will damage the instrument. In the worst cases, the stuck slide can be unsoldered, pulled, and resoldered. This problem can be easily avoided if students apply new slide grease every week or two.
Red rot, or dezincification, seems to be less common on newer brass instruments, but occurs as pink spots on a brass mouthpipe or main tuning slide. This indicates that zinc has leaked out of the brass, leaving little spots of pink copper. These spots are thin and weak and can develop into small pin holes. The only solution to red rot is to replace the old mouthpipe or slide. I pass around a red-rotted trumpet mouthpipe to beginning brass players before I demonstrate how to clean instruments, hoping that this encourages students to do so regularly.

Broken Joints
   The solder joints that break most often on brass instruments are on the brace that connects the mouthpipe to the bell. If a solder joint breaks before a marching performance or concert, there are a few ways to fix it temporarily. Fastening the joint together with rotary valve string, Velcro, a strapping belt, or a rag should hold it for the length of a performance. Duct tape and athletic tape leave a sticky residue that is difficult to clean off, and super glue is more difficult to remove. Rubber bands contain sulfur that will eat away at silver plating. The instrument should be sent to a repair shop as soon as possible because the stress caused by the broken brace can twist the instrument, leading to alignment problems and damaging other braces.

Dents
   A dent in a valve casing or trombone slide should only be repaired by a professional because forcing a stuck valve up will result in additional damage. Someone once brought a baritone for repair that had a valve stuck down. When I unscrewed the bottom cap, I found a screwdriver-shaped hole in the bottom of the piston from a failed attempt to loosen the valve. Instead of paying to repair a stuck valve, that director had to buy a new piston.
   Dents in the small tubing including the mouthpipe and tuning slides affect the sound more than bell dents. In repair school, the rule of thumb is if a dent is more than 1⁄3 the diameter of the tube, it should be repaired. These small tubing dents are generally harder to reach and are thus more expensive. Dents in the bell are mostly cosmetic but are relatively easy to reach and inexpensive to repair.

Brass Mouthpieces
   Dents in the mouthpiece shank can cause air leaks because the mouthpiece no longer fits in the receiver correctly. The repair is usually simple and inexpensive. Dings in the mouthpiece rim or cup can cut the lips or expose  leaded brass, causing irritation or infection. Mouthpieces with damaged plating should be replaced.
   Students or parents should never try to pull stuck mouthpieces with common household tools. The mouthpipe and soldered braces are not even strong enough to take the full force that could be applied with an adult’s bare hands. Pulling a stuck mouthpiece the right way is cheap, but it can cost well over $200 to replace a twisted mouthpipe, three broken braces, and a mouthpiece damaged by pliers. Directors should get a mouthpiece puller to keep at school and offer to pull students’ mouthpieces for free.

Woodwind Keys
   Broken or binding woodwind keys are difficult to repair without training, but a technician can silver-solder a broken key easily. Many cheap instruments found online are difficult to repair because the keys are made out of low-quality pot metal. This metal melts at the same temperature as the silver solder, so when a technician heats the key to apply the solder, the pot metal turns to liquid. I tell parents that if they want to save money it is better to buy a good-quality used instrument than a low-quality new one. Used instruments may not look as nice, but they will last much longer.

Brass Alloys
   Brass is an alloy made by thoroughly dissolving the base metals copper and zinc into each other. The alloy has a lower melting point and is stronger than either base metal.
   The most common alloy used in brass instruments, yellow brass, uses 70% copper and 30% zinc. It can be used for most instrument parts and is sometimes called cartridge brass.
   Less commonly used is red brass, also called rose brass or gold brass, which is 80% copper and 20% zinc. It is mostly used in bells and mouthpipes.
   Leaded brass is used in mouthpieces and other machined parts. It contains 2-5% lead to make it easier to machine, so it has to be plated with silver or another precious metal to prevent the lead from irritating the skin or lips.
   Nickel silver, sometimes called German silver or nickel brass, is used in slide tubing. Composed of copper, zinc, and nickel, this alloy is silver-gray in color.
   Leaded nickel silver is used to make woodwind keys, flute bodies, and brass parts such as valve caps, finger buttons, finger hooks, and piston valves. It is either lacquered or plated with nickel or silver to prevent tarnishing.
   Monel is an alloy of nickel, and copper with small amounts of iron and aluminum that is sometimes chosen for trumpet valves because it is hard, corrosion-resistant, and strong enough to be machined to precise tolerances. Monel valves have a dull finish and brass ports, but many student instruments use nickel silver plated with nickel, which has a uniform shiny silver finish. Many professionals prefer monel, but nickel-plated valves are easier to keep clean and therefore better for most students.
   Bearing bronze, an alloy of copper, tin, zinc, and lead, is used for making horn and trombone rotors and bearing plates. Occasionally, instrument bells are made of solid copper (coprion) or sterling silver.
   Brass instruments are assembled by soldering or brazing. Soft solder is used where low strength is acceptable. Soft solder is usually made of 60% lead and 40% tin and flows at about 400°F. A flux of zinc chloride or glycerin and muriatic acid helps the solder stay in the correct place until it has hardened.
   Brazing is used to connect bell parts on brass instruments. Made of 50% copper and 50% zinc, it is much stronger than solder and melts at around 1500°F.
   Silver solder is used for piston casings, pistons, small braces, and woodwind keys where strength and a silver color are required. It is basically a brazing material with 10-45% silver added. Its melting point fanger from 1100°F to 1400°F.
   Welding is distinct from soldering and brazing because it involves actually melting the workpieces and adding a filler to form a pool of molten material that bonds the parts. This is done at temperatures of 3000°F and higher. Plasma welding is used on some brass bells.                 
   Students should be diligent about swabbing and cleaning their instruments. Be sure students know to inform you if anything on the instrument breaks. Parents should be strongly discouraged from attempting instrument repair on their own; this is best left to the director or professional repairmen.                     

Do you have an instrument repair horror story? Email us at editor@theinstrumentalist.com.

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   Over many years of playing and teaching clarinet, I have come across a few helpful techniques and tricks.

Technique
   To form the embouchure, tuck a small amount of the center or tip of the upper lip under itself on the mouthpiece, but not under the teeth. The upper lip should produce a clean line where it sits on the mouthpiece.
   Whistle Bb4 to identify the best tongue position for slurs within the staff.
   Learn to change from the clarion register to altissimo smoothly. A good way to practice is by playing a high note to find the altissimo embouchure. Then without moving anything, play a passage that begins in the middle register and shifts to the altissimo register.
   A good way to find the correct pressure on the reed is to play on the mouthpiece and reed while using a tuner. The correct amount of pressure should produce a concert C that is a bit sharp. If it produces a concert B, the embouchure is too loose, the reed is too soft, or too little breath is used to support the tone. These are the same problems that make high notes difficult to play and cause pitches to be flat. If the mouthpiece and reed produce a C# or D, then too much pressure is used and the instrument will sound sharp.
   Move only the first half inch of the tip of the tongue to articulate. The tongue should form the shape used to produce the French vowel sound eu. This gives the tongue a solid form, as if it had a spine. To tongue on the reed with varying degrees of pressure, change between the syllables tee, dee, and lee.
   Clarinetists should practice tonguing using just the mouthpiece and barrel with a tuner. If the pitch goes more than five cents flat during articulations, the jaw is probably moving with the tongue.
   Pitches tend to go sharp at a soft volume; watch the intonation during diminuendos. Soft passages require the same air pressure as loud passages, although the volume of air is smaller for soft playing. A crescendo requires increasing air pressure instead of loosening the embouchure. Think of blowing from the abdominal muscles through to the bell and slightly beyond.
   Instead of sliding or rocking the left thumb off the thumb hole, it should move out and away from the hole as the other fingers do. Practice this exercise and focus on the thumb movement.

   When playing softly from C5 to Bb5, lift the middle finger of the left hand for the Bb5 to create the fingering of Thumb-Register-1-3, (Right hand) 1-2-3-C key in the pinky.
   To trill from G5 to A5, finger the G and trill the side Bb/Eb key in the right hand for the A.
   Students should practice playing legato while standing, which tends to open the airway. Sitting leads to poor posture and tension, especially during long practice sessions. Poor posture, especially in the lower back, collapses the rib cage and lungs onto the abdominal muscles and impedes the smooth airstream required to play legato.
   For smooth legato playing, the fingers should cover the tone holes squarely and without a popping sound. When a note change entails moving two or more fingers, squeeze the fingers before lifting them. If an interval involves lifting many fingers, such as from C5 to C6, push the right thumb up a bit toward the embouchure to set the mouthpiece or the second note will pop out with an accent. The right hand should maintain an arch shape at all times.

Musicianship
   Always exaggerate dynamics because what players hear while holding the horn may not be what the audience hears several yards away. As beginning band directors often say, play to the back of the room so the people farthest away can hear without straining.
   Staccato notes should normally be short and light but students often accent these too heavily. The tone should sound the same for staccato passages as for slow ones. Too often players only think about making the notes short and forget the importance of a good sound.
   When playing dotted eighth-sixteenth notes, hold the dotted eighth for full value. A common mistake is to play it as an eighth note followed by a sixteenth rest before the sixteenth note.
   Dotted eighth-sixteenth note figures adjacent to eighth note triplets should be exaggerated to a double dotted eighth-thirty second to clearly distinguish it from the triplets. Otherwise the dotted eighth-sixteenth notes may become lazy and sound like quarter note-eighth note triplets.
   Accent upbeat figures slightly to bring out the syncopation.
   Avoid accenting grace notes that come before the beat and notes on the downbeat unless an accent is written. However, sometimes emphasizing the bottom note of a fast arpeggio makes it easier to spring through the run.
   The second note in a pair of repeated notes should be slightly louder than the first.
   Avoid pulsing the air on downbeats during long notes and creating breath accents.
   When playing a rising half-step at a cadence, accent the leading tone slightly. Also avoid key noise at the ends of phrases.
   Play phrases to sound as though they are moving toward a high point or conclusion. I refer to this as kinetic phrasing. Long notes within a phrase should have some subtle combination of crescendo and diminuendo or vibrato to maintain the energy. An exception is that it can be effective to sit on a long note at the high point of a phrase to show that the peak has been reached.
   Players should be confident enough with their technique that it does not interfere with making music. Technical skill is no substitute for good musicianship; even phrases that entail advanced technique should be playedexpressively.        

The post Tips for Clarinetists appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

James Croft: I have the band stand up when I step up on the podium. It’s impossible to continue playing (and silence is automatic) and a physical indication that the rehearsal is about to begin. It has been an effective technique when and wherever I’ve used it, and I’ve been doing it with school groups for 35 or more years.

Ross Kellan: It is important for teachers to set standards right off the bat. Explain on the first day what you expect from them and what they can expect from you. Stress the importance of starting and stopping together. You can avoid many potential discipline problems by keeping rehearsals moving at a quick pace. Avoid long-winded explanations. When a student intentionally disrupts a rehearsal, you should respond immediately. A stern look in the student’s direction may convey the message, but sometimes stopping to tell the student of your disapproval is in order.

Arnald Gabriel: In your first year of teaching do not drive a more expensive car than your school principal drives.

Frank Battisti: When I was a young teacher, I wanted to resign every other day because of frustration. Beginning teachers want to make things happen, but they’re not old enough to realize that this takes time. Establishing who you are, what your style is, and communicating with parents, administration, teachers, and students takes time, and there is frustration involved.

Robert Sheldon: At the beginning of the school year I try not to take myself too seriously. It’s easy to get caught up in a contest or a football game and forget that the reason I became a director was to teach students how to perform high-quality literature.

Stewart Ross: Get off the podium often and walk around the band; it gives a different perspective, and you can hear individuals and sections. Check the group’s ability to keep time while forcing them to concentrate harder without a beat up front. When necessary clap or hit a woodblock to sustain a consistent tempo.

James Warrick: Never put your car keys on the same key ring as your school keys. If you do, you will be walking home the day your tuba player borrows your keys to look for his music in the auditorium and forgets to return them to you.

Shirley Mullins: Never schedule a high school concert during prom or homecoming week, and never ask your principal for anything on Friday afternoon.

James Lambert: Relax and don’t try to teach everything you know in one year.

Mark Grauer: There are two things I wish I had done better as a younger teacher. The first is to keep my cool and never overreact to inappropriate behavior. I still wince when I think about how my temper flared if students did not behave to my expectations. I could have avoided most of my problems with better prevention and better communication with parents. The other thing I wish I had learned sooner was how to be a better listener to students. There were many times in my first years of teaching when I could have been more help to my students if I had only stopped and listened.

Robert Laber: The most important variable in controlling rehearsals is the attitude and focus of the teacher. My first teaching job was in a volatile city high school; an attitude of this-is-business-not-personal worked for me, particularly with students who were inclined to be difficult.
   It is important for a director to come to each rehearsal with a focus, a driving sense of what should be accomplished musically that day. Get the rehearsal started immediately with the same routine each day. Keep the rehearsal moving and do not become bogged down with one section or individual. Don’t waste time talking at the onset, and keep students playing as much as possible. This limits the opportunities for students to be disruptive, and they will respond to your momentum and seriousness of purpose. Your chance to ease up and get to know students is when they come in for lessons or to work on parts.

Alfred Reed: And now there abideth Rhythm, Melody, Harmony, and Timbre, but the greatest and most important of these is Rhythm. Without Rhythm, nothing can be done; with it everything else becomes possible.

Victor Bordo: Many years ago I taught a seventh grade band with 120 students in the ensemble. A very competent student teacher was assigned to me and she had very liberal ideas about teaching and wanted to be a friend to each student. In those days student teachers were required to keep a diary of their daily student teaching activities. Although she had only observed me teaching twice, she concluded in her log, which I was required to read each week, that I was a dictator who stifled the seventh graders’ creativity.
We discussed this issue on numerous occasions, but I could not change her outlook. I determined that the best course of action in this instance was to administer some shock therapy. This was a talented young lady, who in my view and that of her university advisor, was going down the wrong path in music education. I offered her the opportunity to conduct the band for three full periods to demonstrate her ideas about teaching; the only stipulation was that if she got into trouble, she was on her own. She readily accepted, and the first period went pretty well because the seventh graders did not know what was going on – but it didn’t take them long to find out.
   Ten minutes into the next rehearsal, a cornet player reached over and knocked his mute off the music stand; everybody stopped and looked at me. I didn’t move a muscle, and the game was on. They did everything they could for the next 40 minutes to driver her nuts. Playing wrong notes, exchanging instruments, talking out of turn, and blasting their horns. She pleaded with them, but to no avail. She finally left the room in tears, and I restored order to the class. We sat down after rehearsal, and I began by saying “You have to demand the respect of your student before you can teach them anything. They don’t need a 21-year-old friend; they need a 21-year-old teacher.” She admitted her ideas didn’t work too well.

Bruce Moss: Always teach to the best students, and bring the others up through this motivation.

Kerry Hart: To improve quality, try to have every student play by themselves in front of their peers at least once or twice a week. If your students know that they may be expected to play that rough spot by themselves at any given moment during rehearsal, they’ll practice harder and more consistently.

Robert Klotman: Your best friend in the building is the custodian. Stay on his good side.

James Ployhar: Try maintaining discipline with the eyes rather than the mouth. A silent stare of disapproval in the direction of a troublemaker can do wonders in quieting the rehearsal room.

John Thomson: Learn as much as you can about the secondary instruments. Few undergraduate music education curriculums have the time to teach the comprehensive understanding that you will need to be an effective teacher.

Stuart Ling: The tone and pace of rehearsals should reflect how much rehearsal time you have. If there are rehearsals five days a week, the pace will be very different from a situation in which there are only two rehearsals a week. Directors facing block scheduling may have limited rehearsal time and should select music that isn’t too complicated. It is a mistake to give a band music that is beyond what they can prepare in the available time.

Ron Keller: Know the piece well enough that you can teach the difficult passages first. It will save precious rehearsal time.

Kenneth G. Bloomquist: When you stop in a rehearsal to say something, be brief and get to the point; say exactly why you stopped. For example, if the players are out of tune, don’t just say, “tune it up.” State whether they are sharp or flat.

Quincy Hilliard: College taught me the mechanics of teaching band intonation, balance, fingerings, and charting drills. What I needed in addition were courses dealing with administrators, making out a budget, fundraising, setting up and dealing with a band parent organization, handling discipline problems, and how to sell your program to the school and community. It is one thing to know the subject matter, quite another to have to teach it in an environment that is not a college lab.

Mark Kelly: It takes a long time for young directors to learn to hear multiple sounds. They may have played trumpet, clarinet, or violin, but this is training to hear one line at a time. It takes a while to be able to stand in front of an ensemble and discriminate between the sounds you hear. By the ­time you have evaluated one sound, the music has moved on. All young directors should record rehearsals and listen to the recording afterwards as a way to sharpen their hearing. They can also evaluate what they did and did not stop for.

Robert Grifa: At the start of the school year I distribute a detailed handbook that covers everything about the program. I have learned not to become upset if things have changed over the summer. If my number one tuba player has moved away or the administration changed something and didn’t notify me, I try to attack the problem instead of complaining about it.

Michael Ross: I try to remember that most students will not become music majors and did not join the band to become the world’s greatest flute or trombone player. Some high school students join the band because they like wearing funny uniforms, others because this is a way to get out of the house on the weekend. If I remember to keep things in perspective and let students have fun, everything goes a lot smoother.

Charles Groeling: Never program a piece the students cannot sightread. Concert preparation should not take more than four weeks in a normal high school setting. A concert program should be a spinoff of skill development and not necessarily the source of such development.

Robert Sheldon: My favorite memory is the fall I returned to school and discovered that students had redecorated my office. This was my first teaching job, and I had written the school song for which the students wanted to thank me. Somehow they received permission to enter my office and paint it over the summer. On the wall behind my desk they painted cartoon bubbles. The first four measures of the school song melody were written in the biggest bubble, so as I sat at my desk it appeared that I was thinking of the school song. I knew something was up when I arrived on the first  day of band camp and many students were waiting outside my office with these goofy grins on their faces. After 22 years I still remember those students.              

Instrument Tips
Alice Render (horn): Watch that the mouthpiece does not slide downward; this is the natural effect of gravity on the horn in the hands of a small child. When a student appears for the second lesson, the embouchure will probably have moved down from 2/3 upper lip to half upper and half lower lip. Move it back up and emphasize the importance of practicing in front of a mirror to verify that the mouthpiece is where it should be. If a student knows this is likely to happen and looks out for it, the odds are improved that a good embouchure placement will emerge.

Joseph Gingold (violin): It is very important for violin students to begin by holding the instrument correctly. The left hand should support the violin so it is even with the chin and not drooping because the bow will droop with the instrument and end up almost at the fingerboard. The right hand is equally important and should draw the bow in a straight line and not exert too much pressure. Our terminology, saying up bow and down bow, may imply pressure. The French have a better way of describing bowing: push and pull.

Fred Hemke (saxophone): The first thing teachers should do is to be sure students have a top quality mouthpiece with a normal blade or facing. A good mouthpiece can improve a student-model instrument dramatically and makes all the difference in producing a good sound. Band directors should not allow beginning players to use a jazz-type mouthpiece or an inferior, standard mouthpiece that sometimes comes with a student-line instrument. It is best to start students on a #2 reed and progress to a #3 reed within the first year. Players can use #3 reeds with a good mouthpiece forever.

Harvey Phillips (Tuba): I have never known a fine low brass player who used more lower lip than upper; the ratio should be 3/4 to 2/3 upper and 1/4 to 1/3 lower. Teachers should watch for bad posture in beginners, particularly small students who hold the instrument in an unconventional way to reach the valves. A small player should stretch his arm to reach the valves, not pull the tuba down so the valves are horizontal. That causes hunching, which prevents proper breathing.

David Hickman (Trumpet): Puffed cheeks are a sign of a poorly developed or formed embouchure. Avoid loud playing until the embouchure is strong enough to play at least one octave. Mezzo-piano to mezzoforte is a good dynamic range for beginning students. Often students play loudly because they have a poorly formed embouchure and that is the only way to get a sound.

The post Off to a Great Start, Advice from Veteran Directors appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

  
   Despite having little initial experience in the field, Chris Harper developed an extensive technology program at Screven County High School in Georgia that attracts both band students and those who have never considered playing an instrument. The program inspires students to pursue a variety of creative composing and recording projects. Harper earned degrees from Valdosta State University and Troy University.

What was the genesis for your technology classes?
   In the summer of 2007, I started work on a master’s degree at Troy University in Alabama, and one of the first courses I took was Ray Smith’s advanced music technology class. Before I walked in I could not tell you what a microphone or a mixer did. He told the class that a band director who does not use a simple mixer, a portable speaker, and a microphone to address the audience at a concert deserves to have the audience to walk out. We started talking about microphones, sound reinforcement and how to mic drums and saxes for a jazz band. I had never thought about these issues before and started to understand how sound gets hidden in a jazz band performance.
   Smith took us to the music tech section of a music store in Montgomery, Alabama, and encouraged us to play around with everything and ask questions. As I asked questions about the differences in various analog and digital synthesizers, I realized that my students back home could benefit from the addition of technology in the music program. After the summer ended I went to my principal to ask about starting a music technology class. I knew there were students walking around the school who could play guitar and drums but never would have considered playing in the band program. I felt strongly that these students would enjoy learning about technology and computers.
   Two years ago we decided to eliminate the chorus at our school and the left us with a vacant space next to the band room. I have always been a big fan of electronic music, everything from Karlheinz Stockhausen to Trent Reznor. I asked the principal and received approval to begin a music tech program. At the first class we started with just a microphone, a Macbook, and some old PCs I rescued. Much of our early work was done in Finale Notepad and GarageBand. Now, I look around and am amazed that our technology program has spread across two rooms with a slew of computers, MIDI controllers, audio monitors, synthesizers, and more.

What is the curriculum for technology classes?
   The technology curriculum has quickly grown into two classes. Students in the level one class start out with lessons on the basic rules of music notation. Although many of the students in class play an instrument, I have been surprised by the progress of those with no musical training. They have the computer savvy already and pick up the necessary musical skills through immersion. After learning the basics about scoring, harmony, dissonance, and consonance, we move on to more advanced compositions. Some of the most talented students take off quickly in the composing unit and write a 60-measure quintet.
   After two to three weeks of reading and writing music we will segue into a big unit on setting up microphones and the uses of different types of microphones. I test student skills at setting up microphones for an imaginary band performance in the auditorium that night. The sound check is in 20 minutes, and in this hypothetical situation, the drumset is set up, but all microphones need to be placed and sound reinforcement, the mixer, and monitors need to be ready to go. The exercise is for a grade, and I am always surprised at the teamwork that the students show.
   We cover MIDI controllers and Garage Band on the Macs. I introduce students to loops, sequencing, editing, drum loops, and other concepts. With this basic knowledge have had great success with writing soundtracks to short videos. One of the more enjoyable projects this year was shooting a video while driving in the car or walking through the auditorium, for which groups of students had three weeks to compose music to go with the images. Students broke into groups and developed accompaniments with a mix of as many as 30 different tracks, and when they came back with the finished product, one was funny, one was dramatic, and one was like a horror movie.

How do you fund the music technology program?
   One of our best fundraisers has been to develop a compilation CD with all of the various pieces that students have created. I will master about fifteen tracks on it and offer people a free CD in exchange for a donation. The first time we offered the CD at a concert, we ended up with 52 donations that helped us buy some new microphones. I’m very blessed that despite any financial hardships today, the school district has never cut my budget. For a rural school district, that is sensational.

What was the biggest surprise as you have developed the music technology program?
   The chance to use technology has really engaged some students who initially seemed quiet. I have found that some of these students are not shy, just right brained. Students who have barely spoken all year have found their voices through the computer and microphones. I have students who perform poorly in many other classes but have a solid A in my class. I asked one student why he was doing so much better in the tech class and he replied, “I can think in here.” These classes are always a hive of activity with students moving from station to station. Everybody is doing something different. It is neat to see that creativity unleashed.

How do you channel that creativity?
   I have a few of the level two music tech students perform the first piece on every concert. Typically this group will include a guitarist, vocals, and a vibraphone or some auxiliary percussion; I think this is a much better way to open a concert. At a typical band concert, students are honking away on stage before the conductor comes out, turns his back to the audience, and starts; it seems extremely formal and detached. I start concerts by thanking everyone for coming, then introducing the music tech students. We might follow this with the percussion ensemble, and then go to full band. Everybody enjoys the variety, and going from small ensembles to bigger ones builds the program nicely.

What obstacles have you faced in developing your band program?
   Local employers here range from agriculture to an automobile bearing plant, and we struggle sometimes with scheduling. Many people have been laid off, and students have been forced to assume new responsibilities to help support their families. I am blessed to have good attendance, but there will be times when a student has to leave rehearsal to make it to work. That type of financial hardship is something we have never faced before.
The other obstacle is trying to keep students fired up about music. When I was young, I could not wait to get home and practice my instrument or ride my bike outside. In the current generation there are students who like band but would rather sit at home texting. That type of apathy and indecisiveness is something I fight against. I tell students it is ok to work at McDonald’s to support you family as long as you work hard and get promoted to shift manager in a year.

What techniques do you use to keep students fired up?
   One of the best ways has been trips to see professional orchestras. A number of years ago I developed a great relationship with the manager of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. I told her that I wanted to bring students to hear the orchestra but could not afford the $55 seats. She arranged for us to have balcony seats for $15 a ticket. With dinner and a few dollars to pay for a charter bus, the trip ends up costing about $25 per student.
   One year the orchestra was scheduled to play Pictures at an Exhibition, and I programmed a good transcription for our upcoming concert. We started rehearsing the piece before the trip to Charleston. It was such a great teaching tool for students to see professionals at the top of their careers playing the same piece. After the trip, we continued to rehearse for two weeks before our concert. I am absolutely convinced that our performance was better because of our exposure to the professionals.
   I also took six students on a memorable trip to hear the Atlanta Symphony. We drove over three hours to hear a piece that did not have anything to do with our current concert music. I just knew that some of the students would enjoy the concert. They heard Ravel’s Bolero, and on the ride home, I heard them singing that ostinato the entire way. When students get that fired up about music, I feel tremendous fulfillment.

How did you develop your programming approach?
   I came up through an excellent high school program at Heritage High School in Conyers, Georgia. We played the most serious pieces you could imagine, including the grade 6 Canticle of the Creatures and Lord of the Rings. When I made it to college at Valdosta State, I met other students who had come from various high school programs, some quite strong, others that were not that good. They told me about the music they had played in school, and I didn’t know many of the pieces. I knew the most advanced works but fewer good works for grades 3 and 4.
   One day a friend of mine invited me to attend a concert at Cook High School about 40 minutes north of Valdosta. At first I did not want to attend, but that concert had a dramatic impact on me because I met director Deborah Bradley, who became an important mentor. She knew I was a college student and offered to teach me everything she knew. Her only request was that I maintain an open mind. I started traveling out to her high school to help with rehearsals. She opened my eyes to the value of good grade 3 and 4 music. I discovered that you don’t have to play the hardest pieces simply to say you have played them. In every band program there are students who enjoy playing but treat it as a hobby. These players are not likely to go home and practice four hours a day, but playing in an ensemble can still have great value to these students.
   Her views on how to structure a concert have proven quite influential to me over the years. She noted that every concert should include a patriotic tune, because there will probably always be a veteran in the audience and everybody loves a piece that will bring tears to their eyes. She told me to program a transcription on every concert. She said “Trust me, you will learn that not every piece in the band world is good.” She emphasized the value of playing a piece that is one grade level above the skills of the band to keep everybody from getting bored with the music after one reading.
   I started helping out with her concerts and digging into her library, making frequent discoveries of hidden gems long out of print. One surprising find was a variety of great transcriptions by John Cacavas. I found a grade 4 transcription of Shostakovich 5 that is pretty scarce these days. Deborah Bradley also reminded me of the important of listening to every piece on the CDs that arrive from publishers, not just the first 20 seconds.  I started calling publishers and asking them to send me the same promotional CDs that they send to directors. Even now that I have been teaching for more than ten years I still call up other directors for great pieces that will wow audiences. I started making lists of pieces years ago that I think audiences and students will like.

What was your most surprising programming choice?
   One time I programmed John Cage’s 4’33". I brought out a senior who was a piano player and trombonist. She came out, sat down at the piano, adjusted her chair, and just sat there silently. People in the audience called out “Come on, you can do it.” One guy stomped out of the auditorium, saying “I’m not sitting through this.” At the end of the performance I came out and explained that the audience actually was the performance; everybody started clapping wildly. I like to keep our concerts lively and unpredictable.
   The parents are not afraid to tell me what they think about the concerts. There is one parent of a sophomore clarinetist who has come to the concerts for several years. Unlike most parents, she will sit there and write comments almost like a contest judge. After we performed the 1812 Overture with simulated cannons (detuned bass drums placed throughout the auditorium) she wrote: “The 1812 Overture was really neat. I listened to this and the recording I have begins with a string soli. I like how yours is transcribed for the brass choir. I noted that you took some tenuto and a lot of time. The music didn’t feel rushed.” I asked what recording she owned, and she said it was a Fritz Reiner recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She commented that “he sounded like he was trying to get through the piece quickly so he could blow the cannons up.” This type of audience dedication inspires me to give the best, most exciting concerts possible. I never forget that we are educating an entire community with our concerts. It is more than just teaching students how to play.

Does your concert band rehearse daily?
   Yes, we have a seven-period day and our concert band has 59 students including percussion. Due to scheduling problems we have 42 students in band during 5th period and 8 in a 7th period class. The percussionists meet during a separate period, and I have two periods daily of music technology class.

How does it work to have band split into two periods?
   The smaller class operates more like a chamber group with a bari sax, a baritone, two clarinets, and three trumpets. It is almost as if I have a daily private lesson with these students. I play my trumpet frequently in class and give students a model to strive for in their playing. With the smaller group, they know that it is impossible for them to hide and wait until class is over. I will be trying to stretch them mentally at every moment. Because this small class gets along so well, I find that I can’t wait for 7th period each day. The class is fairly laid back, and I don’t have to be a demanding Fritz Reiner-type while on the podium.
   I used to schedule more afterschool rehearsals before concerts but have gradually become more relaxed about this over the years. I hold myself to four full-band rehearsals with everybody and maybe some large sectionals with the woodwinds or low brass and reeds. The days of scheduling 18 extra rehearsals are over. When you have too many rehearsals their importance becomes diluted. You want students to show dedication to music, but these are some who need time for a variety of activities.

How did you develop skills in brass instrument repair?
   When I was in college, I was told that music majors do not have time for a part-time job. One summer I saw a flyer from a music store asking for someone to handle brass instrument returns. The ad called for someone who did not mind getting dirty. Even though I had no experience, I went over to apply for the job. I was so eager that I was given the job based on attitude alone. He directed me to the instrument repair shop that was located about a mile away from the main store.
   I spent the summer in a hot, dirty shop cleaning trumpets. The cleaning fluid has now been outlawed by the EPA as a carcinogen, and I had a mask and apron to protect me. I learned that summer how to take apart trumpets, remove small dents, and prepare the instruments for future rentals. I learned so much that summer that I received an offer to work for another nearby repair shop.
   I also learned a great deal from Victor Zajec’s five-day instrument course at VanderCook. He told me that I could divide up the five days any way I wanted, and I suggested two days on woodwinds and three for brass. I had not brought any instruments from Georgia to repair but volunteered to fix any broken instruments at VanderCook. He handed me a crushed detachable baritone bell and said that if I could complete the repair, I could continue repairing instruments as a side job. I spent many hours on it and the next day showed him the completed bell. He was floored. He spent the next two days teaching me about mandrel tools, After working mostly with acid at two music stores, I wanted to know how to solder, repair dents, and put instruments back together. I still get emotional thinking about how much I learned from Victor Zajec.
   When I returned to school I had about $6,000 in instrument repairs. I convinced my principal that I wanted to invest in repair tools. I converted an old  band booster room into an in-school repair shop. I was able to reduce the repair budget from $6,000 to $1,000. No has ever questioned why I have torches and instrument parts all over the floor. If a student drops a flute and headjoint is bent, I have a mandrel for that. I no longer send out trumpets and trombones for repair. When students need an $85 chemical clean on a trumpet, I can take care of it.
   My love is actually working on trombone slides. People who work on slides will cuss those up and down, but I view a slide that will not move as a challenge. By the time I have thrown it and rolled it on the slide mandrel and taken out all of the dents, the slide is like glass. I am a perfectionist with my band program and that approach carries over to my repair work.

How have your built support for your program over the years?
   When I first started at the school the program had been run for nine years by a wonderful director, who was replaced by another director who only stayed for one year. After that, students and parents were fired up for a new start for the program. I tried to program the most exciting first concert possible. The performance went so well that the superintendent came up and shook my hand after we were done playing.
   We are located in a small school district with just an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school that now has about 745 students. I find that it is so much of an advantage not to compete with another high school in town. The local newspaper has been a big supporter of our efforts and after the first concert the headline read “The Band is Back.” I was thrilled by the coverage but started to worry about topping myself. We do not fill the house for our concerts, but at our small school we regularly draw 200 or 300 people who enjoy our concerts and spread the word in the community.       

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Screven Co. H.S. Equipment List
Main Studio:
21" Apple iMac
M-Audio Keystation 61es (61-key MIDI controller)
Prosonus Firestudio Project (Firewire recording system)
Logic Studio (a professional level recording, mixing, and mastering program used in many studios)
Native Instruments Komplete (a collection of instrument sounds and effects)
M-Audio CX8 Monitors (high-resolution active studio reference monitors)
KRK RoKit 5 Monitors (having two sets of monitors makes it easy to compare recordings)
Shure SRH440 Headphones
Moog Little Phatty Synthesizer
Roland SH201 Synthesizer
Dave Smith Mopho (monophonic synthesizer box)
Thousands of loops (loops are included with Logic Studio, can be downloaded for free from the internet or created by students, and are included on sample CDs that occasionally come with music tech magazines)
16-channel snake
A couple dozen XLR (standard microphone) and TRS (similar to a headphone jack) cables

Student Workstations
21" Apple iMac
Apogee ONE (USB microphone interface)
M-Audio Oxygen 25 controller (a small MIDI controller/25-key keyboard)
Yamaha headphones
Logic Express (a recording, mixing, and mastering program similar to Garage Band, closer to Logic Pro)
Finale Notepad

Portable Studio:
15" MacBook Pro
Apogee Duet (Firewire audio interface for recording)
Logic Express

Microphones:
Shure: PG58, KSM-32, SM57, Beta 52A, Beta 57, SM58
Audio Technica: AT2020, AT2021
Sennheiser: 604, 609  

After a decade at Screven County, Harper begins a new position this fall as director of bands at Berrien High School in Nashville, Georgia.

Photos for this article were taken by Shelly Trimm and Enoch Autry.

The post Building a High-Tech Band, An Interview with Chris Harper appeared first on The Instrumentalist.