December 2019 Archives - The Instrumentalist

The Best of 2019

theinstrumenta — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 01:57:13 +0000

Here is my third annual list of yearly highlights. I challenge you to compile your own list and see if you had a more exciting 2019 than I did.

Best Worst Time to Wear a Band Shirt. A colleague of mine had a student who was arrested wear her band shirt in the mug shot.
Best Prank. I boarded the bus to leave a jazz event and was startled to find that not one of my jazz band members was on the bus like they were supposed to be, only to find out they were ducking down in their seats. They thought they were so clever.
Best and Most Addictive Oldie I Discovered This Year. Psycho Killer by Talking Heads.
Best Desk Ornament Idea That I Didn’t Follow Through On. A personalized bobblehead of my principal so I could see him nodding his head “yes” to every question I ask.
Best Heartwarming Moment. Attending a Texas A & M football game and seeing how much the home crowd gets into the Aggie Band’s halftime performance.
Best Student Excuse for Underperforming in Beginning Band Class. “My brain hurts.”
Best New-to-Me Conducting Concept. On how to conduct music emotionally, but maintaining the concentration required for a great performance, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, suggests that one “keep the mind cold and the heart warm.”
Best Example of Making a Once Simple Task Annoying and Difficult. On school checks: “Remove Stubs at Both Ends First, Then Fold, Crease and Remove This Stub at Perforation.” It took several attempts for me to learn that all perforations are not created equal.
Best Classic Reading for Getting Those Positive Vibes and Endorphins Going. The Complete Far Side by Gary Larson, and The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson.
Best Worst Inservice I Didn’t Have to Attend Because I Retired. Thirty hours of training in literacy, most of it during time that would have been summer marching practice time in previous years.
Best Marching Mystery I Never Solved. How two students can arrive at a drill set with the same, exact incorrect marching interval with amazing consistency but cannot arrive at the right interval consistently.
Best Thing I Learned That I Should Have Known Already. I always assumed the brass mouthpiece visualizer was just for taking a look at students with possible embouchure problems. It actually opens up a brass player’s sound even more than mouthpiece buzzing does.
Best Humorous Orchestra YouTube Videos. Any featuring humorist and conductor Rainer Hersch.
Best Annoying Song I Actually Like. Baby Shark.
Best New Book on Leadership. Leadershift by John Maxwell.
Best Musical I Saw In Person. The Lion King in New York City. What’s not to love? Catchy and familiar music, drama, great spectacle, and mesmerized children young and old in the audience.
Second Best Musical I Saw in Person. Beautiful in New York City. The very entertaining life story of singer-songwriter Carole King.
Best Tip That Really Has Nothing to Do With Music But Might Prevent You From Having to Pay a Plumber with Money You Could Use to Buy a Ticket to a Musical. Do not put grease, fat, rice, pasta, cornhusks, celery, asparagus, bones, fruit pits, or anything hard in the garbage disposal.
Best Worst Oldie Rediscovered That You Will Never Find on My iPhone. The 1974 #1 hit (You’re) Having My Baby by Paul Anka. (Sadly, he also sang “. . .but I’m a two-timing man” on a later 1974 hit.)
Best Novelty Item. The Brasstache, a clip-on mustache for brass mouthpieces that even comes with its own carrying case.
Best “New” Artist Who Makes Me Look Cool Because I Downloaded His Song. Canadian singer The Weeknd and his catchy number one hit Can’t Feel My Face.
Best Confusing Experience that Needs a Name. That short period of musical limbo when you lose concentration during extended rests and don’t know exactly when to come in.
Best Facebook Experience. Reconnecting with my favorite band director of all-time and bragging to her like I was still in 8th grade so she would be proud of me.
Best New Organizations I Have Joined Upon Retirement. Association of Concert Bands and the International Tuba and Euphonium Association.
Best Addition to Marching Band Rehearsals. Cool Towel, a super cooling towel that you soak with water, wring out, and snap several times to get relief from the heat. Just snap it again several times whenever you need it cool again.
Best Personal Technological Advance. About 50 percent of the time I actually think of taking a picture of something with my smartphone as opposed to searching for another hard copy.
Best Professional Move. Retiring!

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Personal Perspective: Sousa – Still a Somebody

theinstrumenta — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 01:49:50 +0000

Editor’s Note: As a tribute to the memory of Sousa we offer Frederick Fennell’s remembrance of this not-entirely-imaginary conversation with a slightly cynical teenage trumpet player at the intermission of an all-state rehearsal. This gem from our archives originally ran in March 1982.

John Philip Sousa died of a heart attack on March 6, 1932 at the age of 77, in Reading, Pennsylvania where he had gone to direct the Ringgold Band in a concert commemorating their 80th year. He arrived at the Reading train station Saturday afternoon, checked in at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel, and conducted a rehearsal at the Gregg Post No. 12 of the American Legion. The final number, Stars and Stripes Forever, was the last composition ever played under his baton. After the rehearsal he attended a banquet at the Wyomissing Club, where he made a short speech and autographed menus for many of the 200 people who attended. At about 11:30 p.m. he returned to his hotel room, where he and Albertus Myers (former member of the Sousa Band and director of the Allentown Band) conversed until after midnight. At approximately 1:30 a.m. John Philip Sousa was dead.
The body was taken to Washington, D.C., where both Houses of Congress paused to pay tribute, and thousands lined the streets on March 10, 1932 to pay their last respects as eight white horses drew a black caisson to Congressional Cemetery.

(from John Philip Sousa – American Phenomenon by Paul E. Bierley, and excellent 261-page biography containing reliable information and valuable insights)

TT: Dr. Fennell, how come an obviously old swinger like you can be so hung up on a square like Sousa?
FF: First off, who said I was old? And another thing – Sousa wasn’t square.
TT: Now come on, Dr. Fennell, how can you say that, let alone believe it?
FF: It’s not my custom to say things I don’t believe, and when I like something as much as I like King Cotton, High School Cadets, or U.S. Field Artillery I not only say so, I play them to the hilt any time I get the change. They really swing! By the way, have you played any of those marches lately?
TT: Well, not really, but I remember trying to play On the Mall in junior high, and that was so . . . so yukh. I couldn’t even get with the la-las.
FF: Well, la is A natural in solfege, and, besides, Sousa didn’t write that very good march. Goldman did – the father, not the son.
TT: Who’s Goldman?
FF: Mr. Goldman was a very successful bandmaster in New York City, and he composed some fine marches, too. Like Sousa, he wasn’t square, either. His name appears in the upper right hand corner of the music you played from, or – as you said – “tried to.” But let’s get back to Sousa. I take it that you don’t care much for Manhattan Beach, which we just read through before the break.
TT: Uh, it was kinda okay. It’s such a drag reading charts from those dumb little hunks of paper they usually give us. Thanks for making this one so I can read it.
FF: Don’t thank me, thank the publisher, and toss in some real appreciation for Mr. Sousa while you’re at it. You kids owe him a lot. Everybody who has ever heard his band, including me, always said he had a really great one. He loved entertaining people with his music – all kinds of music, not just his marches – and he took his big band to just about every place that the railroad went. By the way, have you ever seen a train or been on one?
TT: I rode the one at Disney World last summer. Why do I owe Sousa anything? What did he ever do for me and the rest of us in this band?
FF: Well, we’re due back on stage in about five minutes, which is hardly enough time to even open up a subject as big and as close to my life as that one, but in essence let me say that Sousa was a great example of how far a person can develop his talent for the pleasure of others, while not becoming a success by trampling others into nothingness in the process. He learned his crafts, kept his faith, paid his bills, and enriched the lives of the people of his time with music. He and his band were the Led Zeppelin of their day, bringing the people out wherever they went. Tickets sold out the day they went on sale, and the band was re-booked when available. The did it with all kinds of tunes, including a lot of the pop music of their day. You probably haven’t played The Washington Post March. Sousa’s march most likely made the paper known to lots of people outside Washington. This happened because the Washington Post became one of the hottest dance tunes of the 1880s and 90s. The dance is called the two-step, and it isn’t likely to go away. If you could get a peek at Mr. Sousa’s royalty sheets and convert those dollars to today’s values you just might be impressed.
TT: Okay, he was somebody then. How does he get to be somebody today?
FF: He probably always knew that you were the people who could keep him a somebody. Just keep your ears open and judge what you hear by how you feel about it. Don’t color your hearing by the dark blue of the Sousa band uniform or thoughts of how square it was way back then. Reach beyond that. Open up your ears and your heart. John Philip Sousa awaits you.
Thanks a lot for making me think. We’re due back on stage. It’s time for another shot at Manhattan Beach. You just might like it, too. Where did you say you were from?

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New Year’s Resolutions for String Players

theinstrumenta — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 01:37:17 +0000

Jump into the new year with fresh, well-defined goals, innovative organizational and practice techniques, and a renewed passion for playing.

Take Care of the Instrument
Start the new year off right with a set of new strings. Save the old set of strings in a separate envelope and label the envelope with the current date. This makes it easy to remember when new strings were put on the instrument. If the old strings are frayed or unraveled, throw them away instead.
Always keep an extra set of new strings and an extra set of old strings. Old strings are useful replacements if a string breaks minutes before a lesson or performance. It is safe to use a small amount of rubbing alcohol on the fingerboard to clean it while changing strings. Do not use rubbing alcohol with plain gut strings or on a fingerboard that has inlays. Make sure rubbing alcohol does not come into contact with any other part of the instrument.
New strings are even more enjoyable with fresh bow hair. Start a new cake of rosin at the same time as the rehair so the new hair is not in contact with any grime from the old cake of rosin. Make it a goal to keep the bow hair at the frog clean and rosined.
Take the instrument to the luthier and have them check for open seams, a hazard of the winter months. The luthier may adjust the placement of the bridge and sound post and recommend a fingerboard planning or other repair. Ask the luthier to remove excess rosin buildup so that your instrument looks as beautiful as if sounds.

Restock Accessories
Replace the batteries on metronomes and tuners, and store spare batteries in a logical place. Some players use metronome and tuning apps, so make sure apps are easily accessible on the preferred device. Many violinists and violists use shoulder rests or sponges, and the new year is a perfect time to purchase a spare. Cellists should check rockstops and straps, and basses can reevaluate their seating options. Make sure pencils are sharpened, erasers are functional, sticky notes are still sticky, and the lesson or practice notebook has spare pages.

Organize Music
Many players carry music bags stuffed with every piece of music they have studied, performed, or printed out in the last five years. A well-organized music bag includes a folder or binder with current music, a lesson or practice notebook, relevant scale and etude books, ensemble music, pencils, and metronomes. A personalized or monogrammed music bag is less likely to be stolen or confused with someone else’s at a group rehearsal. Store extra music in a plastic file box that has a handle and can be easily moved and lifted. Cardboard boxes are not a preferred method for storing music because they are subject to water damage.

Create a Music Calendar
Create a separate calendar that contains important musical information like lesson and ensemble rehearsal times, audition dates, summer camp application deadlines, and competition details. The most functional and useful calendars include lists of required repertoire for each musical activity and deadlines for learning pieces or mastering techniques. Consider using a different colored pen for each musical category: green pen for performances, blue pen for rehearsals, purple pen for paperwork or applications, and red pen for personal goals.

Practice with Brains and Balance
Work with a teacher or coach to design a well-balanced practice routine. Productive practice sessions include technical studies like scales, arpeggios, and etudes; a piece that has been learned and is in the final polishing stages; and a new piece that demands analytical practice. Pair difficult repertoire with easy repertoire to avoid mindless practice or frustration. Practice slowly and in different types of rhythms, bowings, and patterns. Experiment with taking a five-minute break every thirty minutes or a ten-minute break each hour to see which leads to the most concentrated work.
Some players think the cozy atmosphere of a small practice room is conducive to focused practice, while others find small places limiting and claustrophobic. Experiment with different sized rooms, including large performance spaces, to find the right fit for productive practice.
Make a list of priorities for each practice session. It is easier to accomplish concrete goals when actual goals are in place. For instrumentalists who struggle to stay motivated while practicing, try setting a timer for ten or fifteen minutes. Divide an hour-long practice into these ten or fifteen minute increments instead of trying to spend a complete hour practicing.

Commit to a Healthy Playing Position
Most students have received ample advice about proper playing position from private teachers, ensemble directors, and adjudicators. Now is the time to clean up weak technique; get violin and viola scrolls up, solidify standing and seating positions, keep the left-hand fingers close to the fingerboard, and commit to a beautiful, balanced bow grip. Reevaluate hand position. Is every finger where it should be? Are thumbs relaxed and bent? Are pinkies sticking up or curling inward?
Study videos and photographs of accomplished players and compare them to your personal playing position. Sometimes practicing in the mirror or filming a personal recording can accomplish as much as a private lesson. Remember that practicing with bad habits reinforces those habits, making it harder to change technique later.

Improve Tone
Practice open strings every day. Play full-bow whole notes with an even, sustained tone. Be able to play in every part of the bow in every dynamic. Divide the bow into thirds and use sticky notes to understand and improve bow distribution. Set the metronome to 60 and create different bowing patterns. Try seven beats on a down bow followed by one beat on an up bow to gain control of slow bow speeds at the frog. Then try to sustain a beautiful mezzo forte tone for 15-20 seconds.
Players often neglect off-the-string practice because it involves the lower half of the bow and takes well-developed right-hand flexibility. Practice a long brush stroke near the wrapping at the frog. If the stroke is uneven, practice the stroke with the bow on the string or with the upper arm and elbow resting against a wall. Then practice a rapid spiccato stroke (sautillé) in the middle of the bow. In the sautillé stoke, the hair of the bow actually stays on the string but the stick is flexible, which creates the illusion of a bouncing bow. To develop greater flexibility in the right hand, practice string crossings in the middle of the bow, letting the right hand guide the action instead of the arm.

Improve Rhythm
Sit down with scores and practice counting aloud. Know where all the beats in the measure are and be able to subdivide note values both mentally and physically (bowed subdivisions). Drill time signatures and review the differences between simple and compound meter. Find a book of rhythmic exercises and accurately sightread two or three a day. Practice with the metronome – and with bowed subdivisions and the metronome at the same time. Count out loud and stick to one system for counting subdivisions. For example, some people use the syllables one-e-and-a to subdivide the first beat of a measure into sixteenth notes.

Improve Intonation
Tune the instrument carefully before starting to play. Use a tuner or a tuning app to check pitch or to set up a drone while practicing scales and arpeggios. Create double stops while crossing strings to listen for resonance. Check all first fingers with the open string above, articulating perfect fourths. Check the pitches G, D, A, and E with the corresponding open strings.
Analyze each position change to make sure there is a shifting plan. Shifts on an old bow should be led by the old finger, and shifts on the new bow are led by the new finger. Often old-bow, old-finger shifts can be measured with a guide note that is created by dragging the old finger to the new position.
To make good intonation permanent, practice placing the finger on the string, committing to its placement, and then adding the bow. The finger is either in the right place or not. If finger is in the wrong place or wiggling around, go back and start over. Practicing with spiccato bow strokes also improves intonation. The finger is either in place at the beginning of the spiccato stroke or it is still finding its way into position.

Listen
Players sometimes forget to listen while practicing. Although this seems like an obvious task, make a commitment to listening more carefully. In ensemble practice, listen to what is happening on the next stand and across the room. In a chamber music setting, be able to follow along with everyone’s part. The best chamber musicians are people who are not only easy to play with but also listen the deepest. For musicians who find it difficult to play and listen at the same time, work with an audio recorder to listen to passages immediately after playing them. Listening extends outside of the practice room. Listen to recordings, explore lesser known works, and attend concerts.

Enjoy
Practicing an instrument and working on musicianship is a process, and improvement can seem imperceptible at times. When frustrated, some players enjoy bringing out easy pieces that they have known for a long time. Playing an easy piece at a high level creates confidence and brings joy. Other players find that listening to music they love brings back the excitement of practice and makes them remember why they want to play. Other performers benefit from a day off from practice to reboot and start with a clear enthusiasm the next day. Seek out new playing opportunities, new collaborators, and enjoy the learning.

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Preparing Percussionists For Festival

theinstrumenta — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 01:29:19 +0000

After a recent performance at a band festival, I was reminded of the critical importance of preparing percussionists to perform in a new space. We had not performed at this festival in a few years, and I had forgotten how live the stage would be. Several evaluators noted percussion struggles throughout our performance, and although I talked to the percussionists before performing, they were unable to adjust as much as needed in the moment. Indeed, percussionists need to make these adjustments weeks ahead of the performance to ingrain the correct muscle and auditory memory.
Music festival spaces typically require a more nuanced and sensitive approach to playing percussion. Simply put, percussionists must play quieter. The acoustics in rehearsal spaces are ideally dry, so every last detail can be identified and corrected prior to the performance. By design, performance spaces are often more reverberant than practice spaces, whether it be a school gymnasium or a concert hall. As a result, percussion volumes that may seem appropriate in a rehearsal room can quickly become problematic in a performance space.
When possible, be sure to listen from the audience perspective to other ensemble performances in the same hall. Sometimes, it may only be possible for the director to have this opportunity beforehand, but ideally, the entire ensemble should hear other performances. Talk to other directors who have experience playing in the hall. Notice which instruments in particular may be problematic. In some halls, only the battery equipment, such as suspended cymbal, snare, or timpani, will overwhelm the ensemble sound. In other spaces, even auxiliary percussion, such as tambourine and claves, can quickly become too loud. Mallet instruments can also become problematic depending upon mallet choice.
The goal is to find a happy middle ground. I have heard performances in which the winds sound amazing, but the percussion section has been minimized to the point of almost being inaudible. It is important that the percussion instruments appropriately contribute to the excitement of the performance; certainly, the composer intended the percussion to be heard as well. Finding this middle ground is the essence of a great performance.
Percussionists must be taught proper playing techniques. One of the first things I emphasize is the bell-shaped crescendo. A trumpet bell is relatively narrow until it flares right at the end, and percussionists should shape their crescendos the same way on all battery equipment. This ensures that the ensemble can easily be heard and provides just the right dramatic sweep of energy at the end of the phrase. However, on suspended cymbal, make sure that a player is producing enough vibration initially to hear a soft roll. Frequently, suspended cymbal rolls can only be heard at louder dynamic levels or at the end of a crescendo.
It also important for percussionists to hold auxiliary equipment, such as triangle or tambourine, above the tops of their music stands. This way, the instrument’s sound will project to the audience. Also, this makes it easy for the director to ascertain whether the player is using correct technique. The sound of an instrument that is obscured behind a stand will be diminished, both in terms of tonal quality and overall volume. Remind percussionists that audiences hear with their eyes.
The quality of the percussion instruments provided, and the mallets used on them, also have a profound effect on the sounds achieved and the ways in which they are projected. The quality of large percussion instruments varies widely at festivals, and it is something that percussionists have little control over. Bring as much of your own equipment as is feasible, so percussionists feel comfortable and know what they can expect to hear. Encourage percussionists to play on new equipment prior to the performance if time permits. This is especially helpful if a dress rehearsal in the performance space is not possible. In particular, have them test out the playing zones on bass drum and tam-tam, as these instruments seem to vary the most. Make sure your percussionists know how to tune the timpani without pre-marked gauges; there is no guarantee that tuning gauges will be on the festival timpani.
Mallet and stick choice, however, is absolutely something percussionists can plan for in any performance. Encourage percussionists to continue to build their stick bags every year. I ask young percussionists to buy larger stick bags and tell them that we are planning ahead for all of the mallets that they will eventually own. Relative to larger instrument purchases, mallets are an inexpensive, but worthwhile investment. Be sure to purchase a variety of any mallets that are typically provided by the school, such as bass drum beaters, triangle beaters, or bell mallets.
Muffling can also be critical in performance. Make sure percussionists bring a large towel that can be used to dampen the bass drum by draping it over the top. The amount of ring on a snare drum can be altered significantly by placing a plastic card (such as a student ID or credit card) on the beater head. Plastic rings that fit around the inside rim of the drum can also be used, as can a wallet. For concert toms, placing masking tape or something similar on the head can help eliminate extra ring. You can also use silicone squares that adhere to the head but are easily removed, such as Moon Gel.
Just as dynamic levels must be adjusted in the winds to achieve correct balances, so must the levels be adjusted in the percussion section. I am wary of any dynamic marking above fortissimo. Wind players can only play so loudly before their tone is compromised and becomes distorted; many percussion instruments, however, can be played at extremely loud dynamic levels while still producing a basically characteristic sound. This is why percussion instruments can completely overpower an ensemble. Dynamic levels should be adjusted according to each percussion instrument, not just across the board. If you are unsure whether you have achieved the right balance, record the ensemble to hear how it sounds in playback. When in doubt, always ask percussionists to play more conservatively.
In performance, too, it can be difficult to ascertain the percussion balance on the podium. Typically, I tell the wind players not to react in the moment to how they sound in a new space, but rather, to simply play the same way they have been practicing. With percussionists, however, I ask them to very critically monitor what they are hearing and make nuanced adjustments. In a new space, I find myself giving percussionists feedback regarding balance through conducting gestures more often than the winds.
Vertical alignment can also be deceptive in a new space, which can result in phasing problems. I teach players to listen back for pulse. This means that the percussion section and low winds are most directly responsible for establishing the ensemble pulse. All other winds must listen through the band to correctly align their rhythms with the percussion and low winds. I frequently have wind players identify what percussion instrument to listen for and write it on their parts. Conversely, percussionists must learn to play slightly ahead of what they hear from the winds, otherwise their sound will arrive late. This becomes even more critical in a new performance space. Percussionists must watch the conductor carefully and frequently will have to ignore the pulse they hear. Echoes from the concert hall can be particularly deceptive for the players and conductor alike.
Percussionists must be held accountable for the same level of performance excellence as the winds. Mallory Thompson at Northwestern University leads by example in this respect, often giving percussionists detailed requests in rehearsals and clinics. I can vividly remember the first time she worked with my band at a festival. We had been working on Rocky Point Holiday for just a few weeks, and the winds were progressing at a much faster rate than the percussion section. She lovingly but firmly made them aware of this discrepancy. Make sure you give percussionists consistent feedback in rehearsals so they can make informed decisions in performance. Many poor decisions during performances are caused by inadequate rehearsal.
Finally, make sure percussionists have a clear plan for transporting all of the necessary equipment and understand the time constraints of the performance. Create a comprehensive packing list and assign each piece to individual players. Be sure to label all equipment that will be used, along with the bags and cases used to transport everything. Help percussionists determine what equipment should be pre-assembled and what equipment would be better assembled on the performance stage. If possible, assign a director and multiple adults to assist the percussionists with set up and tear down.
Most festivals require a set-up diagram in advance, but make sure all equipment is in the same physical locations on the performance stage as expected, so the percussionists and director know where everything is during the actual performance. Nothing can ruin a performance faster than the percussion section not being ready and then scrambling during the performance to find correct equipment. Practice a full runthrough of the performance prior to the festival, so percussionists get a sense of the pacing required for resets between pieces. Although time consuming, helping percussionists plan for their performance at festival will dramatically improve the musical results for everyone involved.

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The 2019 Midwest Clinic

theinstrumenta — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 01:21:57 +0000

Join us in Chicago from December 18-21 for The 73rd Midwest Clinic. There are more than 50 concerts and more than 90 clinics to attend, plus reading sessions, rehearsal labs, and the largest exhibit hall in the history of the convention.

Feature performances include the United States Air Force Band, United States Navy Band Commodores, Boston Brass, Verona Quartet, Osakan Philharmonic Winds, New Chicago Brass, and Donald Sinta Saxophone Quartet. In addition, there are plenty of talented middle school, high school, and university ensembles from around the nation and the world.
Consider observing the second annual H. Robert Reynolds Conducting Institute, with sessions on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. This year’s clinicians are H. Robert Reynolds and Jerry Junkin. Brush up on your college methods courses with the Day One Institute, which focuses on woodwinds and percussion this year.
If you have juniors and seniors who will major in music education, sign them up for Thursday’s High School Institute. Billed as “serious training for those who have already chosen to be leaders,” this is an exciting opportunity to meet and work with other high school students planning to pursue the same path.
At the first Midwest Clinic in 1946, a group of 120 directors came together to improve themselves as musicians and teachers. This tradition continues today, and there is plenty at McCormick Place West for teachers of all ages to see, hear, and learn. Don’t miss it!

A Sneak Peek From the Clinicians

Our tradition of bringing the Midwest Clinic to our subscribers continues. For those who cannot attend, enjoy these tips from some of the clinicians. For those attending, this is but a taste of what you can expect.

Strategies for Diversifying and Enriching Concert Programs in the School Ensemble
Jordan Smith
Wednesday, 10:30 a.m.
Devote time on a regular basis to listening to music you have never heard before, with a strong emphasis on all those composers who were left at the margins when we were students. This will undoubtedly become the most enjoyable part of your work week.
Start small. Devote a part of your commute to tuning into playlists like the Toronto Symphony’s “Discover Female Classical Composers” or unCLASSIFIED’s “Need to Know: Black Composers.” For now, focus on the joy of listening to new music without worrying about the specific needs of your band or orchestra. Decide what works and what composers are your favorites, and use later listening sessions to explore these composers’ complete catalogs. Integrate it with your life, but avoid listening to too much in one sitting. In time, this music will help to inform every other layer of decision making about the music your students will perform.

Horns Can Be Your Friends Too! Helping Horn Players be Successful in a Concert Band Setting
Laurie Lafferty and Margaret Tung
Wednesday, 10:30 a.m.
Often horn is considered a color instrument, and in many band programs, starting on the horn is not an option. Therefore, directors must be keen in choosing students to switch to horn. Directors and teachers should look for students who have a good sense of pitch and a strong work ethic and who do not get discouraged easily.
Setting the student up for success is crucial when switching a student to horn, and embouchure development is key for long term success on the instrument. For example, a trumpet embouchure uses 1⁄2 top lip and 1⁄2 bottom lip, but a horn embouchure uses 2⁄3 top lip and 1⁄3 bottom lip. These details can mean the difference between a successful or unsuccessful switch.

From Chaos to Sanity
Andrea Hollenbeck
Wednesday, 12:00 p.m.
Gain more sanity, cherish the gift of time to be your best, prioritize your health, and find more balance in your life. This clinic shares efficient strategies through checklists, provided lesson plans, and a discipline toolbox.
I become inundated and sometimes overwhelmed with handouts at conferences, so I created a website, www.band , which is updated consistently. The site is organized by months of the years, and by categories. You can peruse the website, dive in deeply, or use it as needed.
I also kept a journal, challenging myself to summarize each class of every day in one sentence for a year. I challenged myself to summarize each class into one sentence, then to summarize that data by months.

Building Beginning Bassoonists: A Quick Start Session for Music Educators
Shannon Lowe
Wednesday, 12:00 p.m.
To set up students for success on the bassoon, one of the best things you can do is insist that they play on professional handmade reeds. Mass-produced bassoon reeds, although affordable and easily purchased, do not come with the craftsmanship and care that a professional reed maker’s bassoon reed does.
When I have worked with middle and high students who play on mass-produced reeds, many of their struggles with embouchure, response, pitch, and sound quality are caused by commercially made reeds. By switching these students to handmade bassoon reeds, many of their problems on the bassoon significantly improved. Professional handmade bassoon reeds come at a greater cost, but the investment will indeed be worthwhile.

Middle School Rehearsal Environment
Susan Waters
Wednesday, 1:30 p.m.
Create a culture in your rehearsals where students can feel supported, welcomed, respected, and safe to try whether they succeed or fail. This culture of safety and respect is built from the first day of the beginning class, when students start to learn how to be a member of an ensemble.
One way to teach respectful culture in early lessons is a “Selfish vs. Selfless” lesson. Students understand the difference between the two terms but will need to learn how this looks in a performing ensemble.

Examples of selfishness in an instrumental ensemble:
• Not practicing my part.
• Playing louder than everyone else.
• Playing incorrectly on purpose.
• Not playing correct bowings or articulations.
• Playing with bad posture.
• Not bringing materials to class.

Examples of selflessness in an instrumental ensemble:
• Practicing my part.
• Playing with good balance and blend.
• Trying my best to play accurately.
• Playing the written bowings and articulations.
• Playing with correct posture.
• Bringing all necessary materials to class.

Ensemble students who understand this simple comparison, along with directors who actively support the concept, enjoy a supported and respectful culture within the ensemble that transcends all grade levels.

Program Building in Title I Schools
Andy Bower
Wednesday, 1:30 p.m.
Building a strong music program in Title 1 schools is challenging. However, with creativity and the right folks in your corner, anything is possible. These people, who I like to call Friends of the Program, can often be a surprise key to your success or failure.
Friends of the Program are individuals outside your paid staff who are invested in your students and have unique ways to help. Consider what non-monetary needs you have to meet to keep your program afloat. A few common examples include lighting and sound experts, dry cleaners for uniforms or robes, other music experts to give you feedback, and truck drivers.
There are three steps for finding Friends of the Program. First, identify the program’s needs and the individuals in your community who can fill them. Next, reach out to those people with both requests and offers (offers can include such perks as advertisement, free performances by your students, or community service). Always frame your requests around how they can help students. The final step happens when these folks help your program in any way. Quickly follow up with an attitude of gratitude. Anyone who helps your program deserves to hear back from you and your students directly, giving thanks and explaining how their contributions helped you. Donors/helpers who receive genuine and specific feedback from you and your students are incredibly likely to help again in the future. Once you have these Friends of the Program in your corner, the sky’s the limit.

Save Your Program Now! Proven Strategies!
David Law
Wednesday, 2:00 p.m.
The school board is not your enemy, but they are the decision makers. Early in the fall, ask for permission to present a five-minute session to your board. Bring in students to talk and demonstrate. Help students prepare what they are going to say and consider such topics as how preparing for All-State auditions hones life skills in preparation and focus. Also, consider a demonstration of how to play Hot Cross Buns on clarinet with a student for each board member.
Make your principal look good by having that person introduce the students. Teach students how to shake hands correctly (while making eye contact) and to speak clearly to the board members. When finished, have the students thank each board member individually for the opportunity to present and shake hands again. Follow up in the spring with a similar presentation but with a different age group.

Juggling Artistry and Strategy: Maximizing Time in Our Rehearsals, Days, and Years
Karen Fannin
Wednesday, 3:00 p.m.
The poet W.H. Auden said: “A modern stoic knows that the surest way to discipline passion is to discipline time: decide what you want or ought to do during the day, then always do it at exactly the same moment every day, and passion will give you no trouble.” Although music teachers are probably not striving to be stoics, we can still learn from Auden’s advice.
One way to discipline time is to automate behaviors and habits that energize us. For music teachers, the energy trifecta consists of score study, healthy food, and exercise. These three sources of fuel provide the energy we need to feel invigorated to make music and teach our students. These sources also feed off each other. Activity helps us feel better, which inspires us to eat healthier. When we feel better due to healthy eating and exercise, we have more energy for score study. Score study energizes us because as we discover more in the music, we feel excited to lead rehearsals and share what we have learned with our students. The key to making changes in any of these areas is to focus first on just one of these sources of energy to create sustainable change. Creating one new habit can lead to building others.

Oboe Pedagogy from Day One
Carol Zeisler
Wednesday, 3:00 p.m.; Thursday, 4:30 p.m.; Friday, 12:00 p.m.
Without excuses answer the following questions: How prepared are you to teach oboe? How many oboe students have you started or switched? How many oboe students have you prepared for the next level?
Our role as directors is to prepare students for the next level. We learn the basics in our college instrumental methods classes and then are expected to be all knowing on all instruments, but without performing experience, we know little. Put aside excuses and fears. This clinic will cover many of the Fs of oboe, including foundation, fundamentals, fingerings, familiarity, finances, fear, frustration, and forked F.
One tip is the D Rule of oboe playing. This means that any D5, whether D, Db, or D# (Eb), uses the half hole. For notes higher than these Ds, cover the half hole and use the thumb octave key.

Embracing the Traditional and the Emerging: A Win-Win for Ensembles, for Music Education, and for All Students
Keith Kaiser and Matthew Clauhs
Wednesday, 4:30 p.m.
Rather than discussing traditional ensembles versus emerging or popular ensembles, the profession is better served by focusing conversations on the best traditional and emerging pedagogies that can be used in all music education settings. As an example, emerging/popular ensembles should consider the relevant best practices that are considered fixtures of traditional ensembles, such as the importance of planned and expert-led pedagogy, music literature that is likely to provide expressive music experiences, and sequenced and goal-oriented curricula. Likewise, traditional ensembles should carefully consider the relevant best practices inherent to emerging ensembles, such as the importance of active student participation and independence, lifelong music participation, and the inclusion of all K-12 public school children in music education. Lastly, we offer that, as long as all facets focus on best practices and the shared values most important to music education, a comprehensive public-school music education program can reap many benefits for ensembles, for music education, and for all students.

Rescoring for the Small or Incomplete Band
Karen Gregg and Kirk Vogel
Wednesday, 4:30 p.m.
When rescoring for a small band or a band with incomplete instrumentation, by looking at the function of each missing instrument and you may find that the task of rescoring for your ensemble is not as daunting as it may first appear. Determine the function of each missing instrument (melody, countermelody, sustaining harmony, rhythm, bass line) and determine if another instrument in the band is already covering that functional part of the music. If that functional part of the music is written in another part, there is no need to rescore that section of the missing instrument. By viewing your ensemble from what functional parts are missing rather than seeing what instruments are missing, you could significantly reduce the amount of rescoring necessary for your ensemble.
If that function is not covered in another part, determine which instrument will now cover that function. The new scoring might make it necessary to rescore other parts. If you rescore a soprano melody to a tenor voice, you might need to adjust octaves in the harmony or countermelody parts.
Obtaining publisher permission to rescore music is a requirement. Visit the publisher website and send an email to the permissions department. Make sure to include all pertinent information such as the reason for the rescore, the purpose of the performance, the date and location of the performance, and the size and grade level of the ensemble. The response time from publishers can range from a few weeks to a couple of months. One publisher requested the pdf of our proposed changes. Once we provided that information, permission to rescore parts was granted within one week. Be prepared for some publishers to charge a fee.

Lessons with the Masters: Rehearsing the Jazz Band
Mary Jo Papich, Roxanne Stevenson, José Diaz, Antonio García, Roosevelt Griffin III, and Ellen Rowe
Thursday, 8:30 a.m.
This session will include tips from top-notch educators on rehearsing middle school through professional jazz bands. Favorites include:

• Encourage your students to externalize the beat. If they feel it the groove will improve instantly.
• Tune your brass to concert Bb and saxophones to concert A.
• Rehearse in a big circle.
• Do your best to create a no-fail atmosphere and encourage all students to solo.
• When tuning, ask everyone to decide if the pitch is above, below or in tune, keeping all involved.
• Everything we do in jazz has to do with listening and imitating. Play many recordings and use YouTube for assignments.
• When working with young students, empathy and patience are key to getting the most out of them.
• Do not permit passivity. Don’t rehearse one section of the ensemble while the rest of the band does nothing.
• Instead of trying to explain the swing feel, have your drummer play the ride cymbal with a good Duke or Basie recording repeatedly.
• Set high expectations for your musicians and make rehearsals enjoyable.
• Never use the word difficult because it sets limits in expectations. Use new instead.
• Give the students a list of professionals on their instrument to explore. Every couple of weeks ask kids which tunes they have listened to, and ask specific questions, such as what they like about that artist’s playing. Active rather than passive listening is extremely important.

In-Tone and In-Tune: Improving Your Low Brass Sound From Beginning Band Through High School
Justin Cook and Ryan Robinson
Thursday, 10:00 a.m.
Playing sharp is endemic in young brass players. The simplest and most obvious solution is to pull the slide so the pitch goes down. However, the easiest fix is not always best. Every brass instrument and player has a magic place where the tone is the most resonant. For most, the magic place is significantly lower than commonly understood. Because it is difficult for young players to differentiate between good and great sounds, there are a few exercises that can help.
A simple exercise that can help students find the sweet spot is playing long tones, such as a Remington exercise or scales, against a drone. Set the metronome to a moderate or slow tempo and have students play the exercise against the drone. Avoid allowing students to move slides too much. Instead, try to have them focus on listening to the pitch and matching it themselves. More often than not, students will find themselves playing lower in the pitch. The result tends to be a more open and resonant sound. When we find that magic spot, only then should we adjust the slide to correct pitch issues.

Whatever It Takes: Building a Successful Music Program in a Title I School
Sarah Moulder
Thursday, 10:00 a.m.
Students make bad choices, which can range from saying hurtful things and forgetting to do homework to substance abuse and damaging property. How we deal with and react to failure and mistakes determines much about character.
Restorative practices are key to setting a safe and comfortable climate that promotes success and academic growth in a classroom. The next time you have a student who makes a bad choice, help this student recover. Don’t allow students to flippantly apologize; the best apology is changed behavior. Help students to understand how their actions affect those around them, and hold them to high standards of behavior and discourse. Remember to remain calm, even in the most challenging situations. Many students have experienced significant trauma, which can trigger some poor choices.
As adults, we need to help students learn how to interact with one other. Start by setting a positive example and remaining calm and consistent as often as possible. The bottom line is that we are all human, we all make mistakes, and we all deserve a chance to fix things without being ridiculed, shamed, or yelled at. When implemented consistently, restorative practices can revolutionize broken relationships and classroom climates.
For more information about restorative practices, visit the International Institute for Restorative Practices website at .

It is Better to Illuminate Than to Shine: A Credo for All Teachers and Conductors
Frank Battisti and Tim Lautzenheiser
Thursday, 3:00 p.m.
When ensemble directors select the music they plan to use with their students, they do more than pick out pieces to perform on concerts. They define their curriculum. The quality of the music performed and consumed by students profoundly influences what they come to appreciate and love later in life. The potential for students developing high musical taste, values, and appreciation is much greater if they perform and consume music of artistic merit than if they perform and consume junk-food quality music. (We are what we consume.) Teachers of English literature select novels that are written by the best authors in the English language. Likewise, public school music teachers ought to select music composed by the best creators of music – composers such as Bach, Ellington, Beethoven, Gershwin, Ives, Sousa, Copland, Joplin, John Williams, and Schuller – music capable of igniting both the student’s intellect and emotions.

Mystery of the Clarinet High Notes
Meghan Cabral
Thursday, 3:00 p.m.
The altissimo and clarion registers for clarinet players are often a struggle but do not have to be. This struggle can be avoided by setting up the clarinet players differently from day 1. Clarinet embouchure setup is the key to student success, and the key to the clarinet embouchure is obtaining an F# on the clarinet barrel and mouthpiece. Students can be set up on the mouthpiece and barrel with a tuner on their first day, and students who have been playing for years can be reset on their barrel and mouthpiece to learn how to get there. To get the F#, all clarinet students should use a mouthpiece patch to help anchor the top teeth on the mouthpiece. The perfect embouchure is formed by saying ee to give a high tongue, with an oo to bring the corners of the mouth forward around the mouthpiece.
Have students do pop-up exercises, where students play and hold a C4, for example, with a good full tone and then they add the register key to continue a good, loud tone on a G5. If the higher note doesn’t come out, have students remove the mouthpiece and barrel to check whether they are still getting an F#.
Students rarely take enough mouthpiece into the mouth. They should take in enough mouthpiece to hit the fulcrum between the reed and mouthpiece. This is where the reed and mouthpiece separate from each other. It is easy to check by carefully sliding a piece of paper between the reed and mouthpiece. Students should then make a pencil mark where the paper stops and then take in that amount of mouthpiece. This will most likely be too much mouthpiece, so then students should back off a little bit at a time until they no longer squeak.

Do You Hear What I Feel? Uncovering Instructional Pathways Leading Toward Increased Expressiveness
Erin Cole Steele and F. David Romines
Thursday, 4:30 p.m.
This clinic distills the myriad expressive components into easily manageable points with rehearsal strategies. It is no accident that many great band directors are also talented storytellers. Music obviously tells a story, and how expressive elements are managed is important to both music and a good story.

1. Grabbing audience attention from the beginning.
2. Changing volume and intensity.
3. Timing of events.
4. Peaks and valleys.
5. Rhythm.
6. Contrasts.
7. Repetition.
8. Silence, pauses, repose.
9. Emphasis on the smallest elements that move things forward.

We cannot ignore the universal elements of communication when crafting an interpretation or telling a story. Laughter, surprise, joy, and sorrow are all expressed in similar ways across cultures. Tell a good story with music and you will do just fine.

Special Education in the Large Ensemble: Successful Strategies for your Band and Orchestra
Julie Anne Syperek, Maria Shea-Michiels, and Danielle Slansky
Friday, 10:30 a.m.
Related Service Providers are found within the world of special education – a complex area within schools that can be difficult to navigate, as there are many moving parts and many staff members who are specialized and only work with a select amount of students. In other words, their world is a lot like the world of band and orchestra.
They are experts in fine motor movement, large muscle movement, vision and hearing, tongue and mouth manipulation, behavior, social-emotional learning, and all of the areas that we as instrumentalists probably wish we knew more about. Their knowledge goes deep, and their flexibility, innovation, and desire to help their students succeed is unparalleled.
Partnering with these teachers has helped me find solutions for the seemingly impossible challenges that face my special education students, and in a surprising twist, they have taught me strategies that help my general education students as well. Over the past year, we have been collaborating to solve common problems band students have with articulation, while building student awareness about their oral motor strength and coordination.

Classroom Management Solutions: Who Is In Charge of Your Rehearsal, You or Your Students?
Marc Dickey
Friday, 12:00 p.m.
The concept of extinction is that by having specified rules, and by enforcing them consistently, students will eventually comply, simply as a result of repeated restatement of the rules. For instance, if your rule is “If you want to speak, raise your hand and wait for me to call on you,” then every time students break that rule, you simply restate the rule dispassionately. You do not need to get angry or escalate your rhetoric in any way. Guilt and fear are powerful motivators, but they are dehumanizing and not conducive to learning. Once you begin enforcing your rules, expect that students will test them. Testing your rules is how students affirm that you are sincere in creating a safe, predictable, and routine environment in which they can learn.

Teaching Deliberate Practice: The Missing Fundamental
Chris Grifa
Friday, 1:30 p.m.
Deliberate and effective practice may be the most important skill we can teach our students. When my school changed the class schedule from a traditional seven-period day to a four-by-four block, students were progressing more slowly, preparation for concerts were was taking longer, and students were struggling to reach the previously established levels of performance. I realized that even though I was teaching my students to practice, I was not teaching them as effectively as I believed. I discovered that practice itself is a skill that can be practiced and improved.
The biggest change to my teaching of practice was to give my students opportunities to practice practicing during rehearsals. I call this practice time guided practice. During their guided practice time, students have five minutes to practice using a process we have developed to work on challenging sections of music on their own. The process includes using the following practice strategies in this specific order.

1. Count the rhythm.
2. Check whether they know all of the notes (this is accomplished visually, without playing their instruments)
3. Play each note slowly and out of rhythm. Use a tuner to determine if they are playing the correct pitches. (Students are using the tuner as tool to determine if they are playing the correct note, and not necessarily whether they are playing the note in tune.)
4. Put the correct rhythm and the pitches together at a slow tempo.
5. Repeat the passage while slowly increasing the tempo.

When the time limit has expired, I ask how many students improved the section they were practicing and then ask one or two students to share what they worked on and what they did to improve the passage. My favorite follow-up question to ask is what they would work on if they had two more minutes to practice on their own. This allows students to understand they can improve without my help, which bolsters their confidence when they practice at home.

The post The 2019 Midwest Clinic appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

An Interview with Gustavo Dudamel

theinstrumenta — Tue, 17 Dec 2019 01:02:48 +0000

Currently the Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel has been a tireless champion of new music and of music education. He has received many awards and international recognition for guest conducting at La Scala and the Vienna Philharmonic at the Lucerne Festival. Dudamel has conducted at the Vatican for the 80th birthday of Pope Benedict XVI, the 2016 Super Bowl, and the Vienna Philharmonic 2017 New Year’s Day concert. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera conducting Verdi’s Otello in 2018.
Dudamel was featured in the 2011 documentary Let The Children Play, which focuses on his work advocating for music as a way to enrich the lives of children. On January 23, 2019, his name was inscribed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As a young conductor of 38, Dudamel is a true star and strong musical force in today’s world.

photo by Stephan Rabold

El Sistema (The System), founded in Venezuela in 1975 by José Antonio Abreu (1939-2018), is a remarkable music education program that has achieved international recognition and includes 400 music centers and 700,000 young musicians. You once said “music saved my life and has saved the lives of thousands of at-risk children in Venezuela.” Could you describe the origin and history of El Sistema and your musical beginnings and the training you received in it under Abreu’s leadership?

In Venezuela and now around the world, El Sistema promotes access to music for everyone. That is its great strength and why it offers such hope for thousands of people in hundreds of countries, from all walks of life. In my work, I, too, am always looking for ways to engage with young people and to encourage access to and participation in music.
Maestro José Antonio Abreu taught us that art is a universal right and that inspiration and beauty irreversibly transform the soul of a child. I am who I am today [because of him], and I owe it to Maestro Abreu’s generosity, humanity and vision.
Music saved my life and has saved the lives of thousands of at-risk children in Venezuela. Like food, health care, and education, music has to be a right for every citizen. Maestro Abreu saw how music has a unique power to heal society. Through El Sistema, we bring music to disadvantaged communities and create a space where children have access to beauty, art, and culture, which in turn, brings out their identity. These are the elements that build a better human being in society, and this is what Maestro Abreu created and has spread around the world.
I was born into a musical family; my father played the trombone, and he was part of El Sistema in the 1970s in my hometown of Barquisimeto. I was surrounded by music and listened to salsa and symphonic music at home and going to concerts.

After becoming involved with El Sistema you took up the violin at the age of 10, composition, and later, conducting. Was there a magic moment when you decided to become a conductor?

As a child I wanted to play the trombone, but it was too big, my arms were too short, and I didn’t have the instrument. So I tried the trumpet and then the violin. My ambition was to enjoy the world of music.
I still experience those magical moments as I did when I was a child when I’m performing with an orchestra. I’m in love with what I do.
I studied music because it was my desire. It was a great education. Maybe I would not have become a conductor without the encouragement of my parents and the guidance of Maestro Abreu. I think every child has a natural talent for music, every young person can play an instrument, learn to sing, and dance. Maybe it leads to a career, maybe it becomes a lifelong passion alongside other things; the point is that the gift of music is for everyone, not just for those like me.

You began to study conducting officially with Abreu in 1999 and later became his protégé. What essential conducting techniques and guidance did you acquire from him in your formative years at El Sistema?

Maestro Abreu was a great musician in the technique of rehearsal. He taught me the method of movement as an important element to give an artistic message language. Additionally, my philosophy of music, the way to learn, the way to structure, and the way to memorize and to put things together all came from Maestro Abreu.

You have won a number of competitions, including the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in Germany in 2004. What advice do you recommend to young conductors about conducting competitions and attempts to attain the attention of prominent conductors?

Take the time to learn and to develop your ideas as an artist. Competitions should be seen as an opportunity to gain experience and learn from others. The most important thing is to respect the musicians in the orchestra. You have to respect their tradition, and you learn to balance in the moment. Music has an immediate reaction that you have to be aware of. Everything can change, and you must be flexible. Conducting is psychological, and you have to inspire and guide.

What is your response to the rather common belief among conductors that the craft of conducting can be taught but that the true art of conducting cannot?

Conducting cannot be taught. My suggestion would be to learn by observing conductors and see how they work, and then pave your own way. For conductors, it’s all about understanding the dynamic of creating an interpretation with others. It is not about the gesture; it’s about inspiring and connecting with the orchestra.
I am growing every day with every composition I conduct. Conducting is a journey, not an endpoint. Every time I conduct a piece I have conducted before I learn something new and different about the piece and myself. I used to say, “How do I conduct that piece?” Now I say, “Why do I conduct it?”

What would you like to see emphasized in the training of conductors today?

The elemental education of music and harmony is necessary, but it is more important to learn to connect with and learn from musicians in your orchestra.

Do you study the interpretation of past conductors such as Toscanini, Furtwängler, or Karajan in formulating your interpretation of a master work?

Absolutely. I love to listen to music. When you listen to conductors of the past, you see that there is a specific way of interpretation. My interpretation might be different, but it is essential to listen to masterworks as a reference.

What are some common psychological and technical mistakes young conductors make when they first begin working with a professional orchestra?

Connecting with musicians is key, but understanding how to collaborate as a team should be at the core. Ego is the most dangerous trait for a young conductor.

In a rehearsal I have observed that you do not agree with the autocratic dictatorial approach. How do you encourage feedback from musicians?

I’ve been conducting orchestras for the past 10 years. We know each other well, but of course, every orchestra is different. It takes minutes to see what works and doesn’t work. The dynamic is in the moment, and then you start to build things. It is important to respect that.

photo by Stephan Rabold

Bruno Walter once said “A musician that is only a musician is only half a musician.” By this, he meant that a conductor must develop certain sensitivities outside music. Do you recommend any studies, art, or activities for young conductors that will help in achieving this sensitivity?

I believe in learning a little about everything. I love literature, philosophy, and cooking. As humans it’s important to learn and to be inspired. It cannot just be about music. You need to cultivate yourself as a human being to bring that to the art.

As a tireless advocate of music education, why is it so important?

It is access to beauty, contemplation, and creativity. Especially when working with an orchestra, music is about teamwork. When you learn all the aspects of life and art, music is an important tool in human development, especially for a child.

home page photo by Smallz + Raskind

The post An Interview with Gustavo Dudamel appeared first on The Instrumentalist.