I started doing minor repairs to my clarinet in high school; I repadded an old metal clarinet in tenth grade. It was fun, but it still sounded like a metal clarinet. I enjoy making minor repairs for my students as well, but I didn’t become a band director so I could spend all my time fixing students’ instruments. I have learned when to stop to avoid spending all my time fixing instruments.
    When considering whether to repair something myself, I first consider how difficult the repair is. If it will take me five minutes or less and is something I can do with the basic tools in my drawer, I will make the repair. If not, I send it to the shop. It is also important to consider what happens if I damage a student’s instrument while attempting to fix it; I would have to pay for the repair. If a repair shop or music store damages my student’s instrument, then it is responsible for fixing or replacing it.

Flutes
    If a flute is missing the head crown, the student should order a new one from a repair tech. It protects the top of the flute from denting and debris.
    If the flute plays poorly or is out of tune on some notes, the head cork could be loose. Use the butt end of the cleaning rod to check head cork placement. If the little line on the rod is not in the center of the embouchure hole, the head cork is loose and should be replaced. This is a repair best sent to the shop; the new cork must be custom fitted to the head joint. In an emergency, warm up (not too hot) the outside of the head with a heat source. This will temporarily expand the cork for a day or two to get you through a performance. Then, send it in to be fixed.
    Dents (especially head joint and foot joint tenons) should be repaired by a professional. Other dents are cosmetic, but tenon dents make assembling the instrument difficult or impossible.
    Difficult assembly, if not caused by a dented tenon, is often caused by dirt. Do not put cork grease on a tenon to make the instrument go together more easily; cork grease is only for corks. Flute tenons and sockets can be cleaned with rubbing alcohol on a tissue or cotton swab. (Never use rubbing alcohol on plastic-bodied instruments; it can cause molecular changes in the plastic and cause it to crack.)
    If the head or foot joints are loose, send them to a shop to have them tightened. Do not wait until a footjoint hits the marching field.
    If the keys are not working, check whether one of the spring wires is off. If so, put it back in its cradle with a spring hook. If a spring is broken or missing, the instrument should go to a shop. Repair techs keep a stock of many sizes of springs, have the tools to custom-fit the spring to the instrument, and also know how to set the correct tension.
    A loose screw or rod can be tightened with a tiny screwdriver. If it is lost and a performance is not imminent, order a new screw or rod from a repair technician. In an emergency, a repairman can make a new rod or screw, but it will cost more.
    Is the key bent? The most commonly bent key on the flute is the Ab/G# key between the double G key. If it gets bent, which usually happens when a student assembles the flute incorrectly, it will cause an annoying clicking sound when those keys are used. The Ab key can usually be bent back with the fingers, but the best solution is prevention. Flutists should assemble the flute holding only the places that have no keys. Teach students to use the barrel/socket area at the top of the main joint and the bottom of the foot joint below the keys while putting the flute together.
    If the key is still binding, try putting a drop of key or valve oil on the joints of the key, and work the key back and forth a dozen times. If that does not fix the problem, send the instrument in for repair. It needs serious straightening or dent removal.
    If the key is broken it must be sent to a repairman to be silver-soldered. Some bargain instruments have keys made of pot metal instead of nickel-silver. Pot metal keys melt into an unsightly puddle when heated to a temperature hot enough for silver-soldering.
    If pads are leaking, avoid bending keys or setting adjustment screws. Send the instrument in for regulation.
    After playing, flute students should swab out their instruments. I have my students get a bandana to use as a flute cleaning cloth. They are inexpensive, colorful, and help them be able to tell which flute is theirs. They thread the bandana into the eye of their cleaning rod, fold it over, twist it around the rod, and clean out all three joints. I allow students to carefully wipe off their fingerprints with it after cleaning the inside, but I do not permit them to use a silver polishing cloth very often, because of the risk of scratching the silver or destroying a pad. When students are done cleaning their flutes, they tie the bandana on the case handle, never storing it on top of the flute in the case, because this can bend keys.

Oboes and Bassoons
    Check the reed first. Reeds cause many problems, especially on the oboe. To avoid this at first, I start beginners on a medium synthetic reed. After they have played for a year, I switch them to a cane reed. If you don’t have a professional oboist to make reeds for your program, students will need to order a good quality cane reed. I don’t recommend having band directors repair oboe or bassoon keys or pads. They are easy to mess up and not worth the time and effort. All repairs for these instruments should be sent to a shop.

Clarinets
    Check reeds first, and replace them early and often. My 5th graders go through many reeds before they learn to avoid snagging them on their clothes and music stands. Single reed players should be able to see a hair of black mouthpiece tip over the top of their reed. This allows the reed to vibrate freely when it’s played. I start beginners on #2 reeds. When they have gone through the box they bought at rental night, they are probably ready to move on to a #21⁄2. This typically happens at the end of the school year, when students begin playing in the upper register.
    If the mouthpiece has a chip or dent in the tip or rail, or if it has deep teeth marks in the top, it must be replaced. If it is dirty, students should clean the mouthpiece in warm, soapy water and use a mouthpiece brush.
    If one of the clarinet’s joints is wobbly or loose, or if the tenon cork is gone, send it in for a new tenon cork. In an emergency, put one layer of scotch tape on damaged cork or use a self-stick tenon cork strip from an emergency repair kit to replace missing cork. Then send it in after your performance. Too much cork grease is just as bad as not enough. An overabundance of grease will work its way under the cork and disintegrate the cork cement, causing the cork to fall off. Use cork grease only when needed.
    Missing key corks cause sloppy key action and clicking or will make some notes unplayable. Send the instrument in for a new cork.
    Bladder pads can rip or tear; have a professional replace them. If you find clean holes in the center of bladder pads, along with a powdery residue in the case, the clarinet has a carpet beetle larvae infestation. They love to eat the wool felt that is under the skin of the pad. This is usually only found in instruments that have been stored for a long time. Infested clarinets must be repadded, and unless it is repadded with synthetic pads, the instrument will need a new case, too.

    Swabbing is the best prevention for pad problems. I prefer to have students use a cotton or silk swab. Sticky pads often occur when students do not swab after playing, or when they chew gum, eat, or drink sweet liquids before or while playing. If pads stick, try inserting a dollar bill (the older and grungier the better) between the pad and the tonehole. Press down lightly on the key cup and gently pull the dollar bill out. If this does not take care of the stickiness, send it in to be replaced. Never use alcohol to clean a pad on a plastic clarinet; if the alcohol gets on the plastic, it can cause it to crack.
    If a key is bent, try bending it back with your fingers. If this doesn’t work, carefully use smooth-jawed pliers. Never use regular pliers, because the teeth will leave scars on the key. The most commonly bent keys on a clarinet are the Bb/Eb trill key, the bridge keys, and the left hand F#/C# lever. These keys become bent from improper assembly of the upper and lower joints. Have students push down the ring keys on the upper joint while gently twisting and pushing the joints together. it is best to hold the lower joint below the keys while assembling. Have them grease corks if the joints become difficult to assemble.

Saxophones
    Saxophone reeds, mouthpieces, and key corks have the same rules as those for clarinet, and socket and tenon cleaning should be the same as for flute.
    The main cork found on a saxophone is the neck tenon. If it gets too compressed and won’t hold the mouthpiece in different positions for tuning, send it in for replacement. In an emergency, put a piece of scotch tape around it to tighten it or hold a broken cork together. An emergency pad and cork kit should have neck corks that work in a pinch.
    The most common problem on a saxophone is that the neck octave key gets bent during assembly. This causes the neck octave key pad to remain open and make the lower octave notes squeak. Check this by fingering G to A. If the neck octave pad is open when fingering a G, put one hand on top of the key where the pad is and pull up on the back loop of the key until it closes. Then, with the thumb octave lever pushed, finger from G to A. The pad should open for A, close for G. Make sure students put their hand around the neck octave key when assembling, never grab the neck and the key while putting together and taking apart.
    Many saxophones come with a swab for the body, but not for the neck and mouthpiece. If the neck and mouthpiece aren’t cleaned after each use, nasty things start to grow in them. My remedy is to use a cloth clarinet swab to clean saxophone necks and mouthpieces.
    Most pad problems are caused by lack of swabbing or playing right after eating. The most common pads affected are the left hand palm keys and the low Eb. The low Eb sits where the moisture collects when the case is stored on its side. I show beginners how to swab their saxes after the second lesson and introduce swabbing by telling students I’m going to save their parents hundreds of dollars by showing them a simple technique. This gets students’ attention and will keep their instruments playing in band and out of the shop.
    If a pad falls out, it needs to be replaced, never try to heat up the pad cup and stick the gluey side of a pad back in. It is almost impossible to line up the indentations in the pad (the seat) with the tonehole so it won’t leak. In an emergency, use a peel-and-stick pad and cork kit, then send the instrument in to have the pad replaced by a professional.
    Saxophone key guards often get bent, making the key stick or not open enough. If it is not too badly bent, a light, sharp tap with a rawhide mallet often moves it back so the key can function again. If it is badly bent, send it in for straightening. If a keyguard flange is broken, send it in to be resoldered. Never put super glue on it; this is nasty for the technician to repair and never holds anyway.
    There is nothing I hate more than having a student sit for a week in rehearsals while his instrument is in the shop being repaired. Doing minor repairs can keep students from missing rehearsal time, earns appreciation from your band students, and is kind of fun, but it is always better to avoid having to repair an instrument. Cleanliness is next to godliness when it comes to instrument maintenance.  

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Rhythm
    Start by having students write their own rhythmic patterns with certain specifications. For example, students can write a four-measure phrase in common time using only half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes. Rests can be included. To work on compound meter, write a four-measure phrase in 68 using dotted-quarter notes, eighth, and sixteenth notes. Two sample rhythms are shown below.

    Although there are many excellent textbooks full of practice rhythms, students understand rhythmic components better if they write out their own exercises. Student composition also fosters individualism and creativity. Once students have composed their rhythmic patterns, have everyone in the class practice reading the rhythms together. Start by tapping or clapping and then play the rhythms using open strings. Practice the rhythms while playing a one-octave scale to combine the idea of reading notes and rhythms at the same time,
    Practice reading the student-written rhythms with different tempo indications. This is a great opportunity to drill students on the meanings of Largo, Andante, Moderato, Allegro, and Presto. Identify metronome markings that correspond to each tempo indication. Have students pinpoint a basic quarter note=60 pulse by using a clock as a reference. Discuss and practice the bow strokes that might be applied to each tempo indication. For example, a Presto excerpt will require less bow and shorter bow strokes than a passage marked Andante.
    Next take a simple melody that everyone knows and rewrite the rhythms to make them unexpected. In the following example, the first eight measures of “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain” are rewritten to include syncopated patterns and dotted rhythms. Practice the familiar melody in different tempos and
characters.

Pitch
    To review key signatures, read the sample melody in each of the major and minor keys. Then have students play the melody all in first position, all in second position, and all in third position. Other options would be to play the melody using only the first or second finger or to transpose it up one octave for practice reading in higher positions. Continue to alter the rhythms and tempo indications of the melody.

    Once students are confident playing the melody in every key, give them a copy of the music that includes occasional wrong notes and unusual accidentals to see if they identify all of the pitches and play without hesitations.

Dynamics and Articulations
    Dynamics and articulations are often the hardest details to include when reading music for the first time. Students should start by adding dynamics to the rhythmic patterns they composed. Encourage them to include a wide range of dynamics, from ppp to fff. Include crescendos, diminuendos, accents, dashes, and dots. Have the group play through each phrase seeing how many details they can include. Then take easy melodies and add dynamic and articulation marks.
    In the example below, the player is asked to differentiate between accents, dashes and dots, perform a tremolo bow stroke, breathe at the end of the first phrase, and shift to third position to execute the trill in measure seven.

Bowings
    Although students will often be presented with sightreading excerpts that contain bowings, they may have to make bowing decisions on the spot. As a general rule, down beats and long strings of separate eighth or sixteenth notes should begin with a down bow. Pickups are usually played with an up-bow. Students can refine their bowing choices by practicing simple melodies with different slur patterns, all separate bows (as it comes), or opposite bowing. Some students will need a list of bowing rules, while others will instinctively find the natural bowing for a passage.

The Audition
    Students should take their time when presented with a sightreading excerpt in an audition. As tempting as it is begin playing right away to get the audition over with, remind them to take a few seconds to scan the excerpt. Have students practice looking at different musical examples and ask them to point out important features. A sample list of elements they should note are:

1.    What is the time signature? What is the tempo marking?
2.    Are there any unusual rhythms? What is the shortest note value in the excerpt?
3.    What is the key signature? Are there any accidentals? Will I need to shift out of first position?
4.    Are there bowings in the part? If not, is there a logical way to bow the passage?
5.    What is the dynamic? Are there crescendos, accents, or other articulations?

    Students should feel free to ask the adjudicator for clarification if they are confused or if there is no tempo marking in the score.
    The best way to improve sightreading skills is to practice them regularly. Play simple melodies with altered rhythms, pitches, and dynamics to improve coordination and flexibility. Wohlfahrt and Kreutzer etudes contain the left-hand patterns that string players use the most, so playing through these etudes in different positions and rhythmic patterns strengthens a student’s ability to immediately recognize the most common musical patterns. String players will also greatly benefit from reading chamber music. Dedicate time every week for students to divide into small groups and sightread chamber music.
    With practice, students won’t be as afraid to sightread in audition situations. Although sightreading perfectly is difficult, remind students that they can read more than just the notes and that attention to detail will be rewarded by adjudicators.        

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From the Circle of Fifths to Scales
    Previously, part of our warmup included playing all major scales, both out of the book and from memory. I thought this meant that my students understood major scales but I was wrong. They only memorized and regurgitated major scales. We abandoned the scale portion of our method book and began relying solely on the circle of fifths for constructing major scales. The circle of fifths has all the information students need to do this.
    In method books and concert literature, transposition is done for the students, so many never make a connection between concert pitch and their instrument. I have heard transposition referred to as an upper-level concept, something that would be nice if students knew how to do it. I could not disagree more. Transposition is a requirement. If we cannot discuss music in concert pitch fluently, rehearsal time will be wasted. The first thing students should know is how to deduce the tonic for their instrument and the accidentals needed for the scale. The circle I draw has G to the right of C and F to the left of C. For students who play Bb instruments, I teach them that because Bb is two ticks to the left of C, when I call out a note in concert pitch, they can find what note that is for them by moving two clicks to the right, to offset the fact that Bb is two clicks to the left of C. F instruments move one click to the right, and Eb instruments move three clicks to the right. For directors who have the notes in the circle going the other way (F to the right of C), the directions are reversed.
    I strongly discourage counting whole and half steps when building a major scale, especially in an ensemble setting. This reduces tonal harmony to a math problem and becomes a tedious and time-consuming exercise; it has no application to ensemble performance. Instead, draw a dotted line on the circle of fifths between F and Bb. Teach students that counting from C to the current key will show how many sharps or flats are in the key signature, and the dotted line between F and Bb  will tell them which notes are sharp or flat. (F is the first sharp and B is the first flat.) I don’t want students thinking note to note, I want them thinking in a key signature. When a flute player has music in Bb, I want the student to see that the scale has two flats, B and E and be sure not to miss those notes rather than figuring out whether the next step of the scale is a whole or half step. Worrying about whole and half steps prevents students from getting the whole picture of the key.
    It takes time to get students used to thinking in a key rather than note to note. The first couple weeks of school are perfect for this. We sightread frequently so students can think in the key. We use etudes in many keys and actually work back to the major scale from the music.
    While working on playing scales this way, I also teach students the terms for the diatonic function of each note, such as tonic, mediant, and dominant. This is one of the few times when I just write the terms on the board. I also use the words anywhere I can, giving such instructions as “Play the first degree of the scale, also known as the tonic.” We sing scales using these names, as well. This can be quizzed by giving students a key and asking them to play the dominant. If everyone plays the same note, they understand the concept. Another good test is to have students play an Ab concert scale and stop on Eb, but tell them to play an Ab concert scale, tonic to dominant in half notes.
    I might also ask the band to play five notes of a scale up and down but to start on the supertonic. At first, this produces blank faces and wrong notes, but with review students will get it. Always move toward having students perform; never get to the point where they are simply regurgitating information. If the answer cannot be played on an instrument, the information is useless. These basic concepts will prove vital in later exercises because these terms will then be used to discuss the tonic/dominant relationship in melodic patterns, harmonic patterns, and triad construction.

From Scales to Triads
  As students become familiar with scale construction and scale tone names, introduce triad qualities. This basic idea will relate to later intonation exercises. Many directors split their bands into three groups (low, mid-range, and high instruments) to play a major scale in thirds as a warmup exercise. This can be used to teach major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads. Play the scale in a round, stopping when the low voices are on the tonic, middle voices are on the third, and upper voices are on the fifth. Introduce this to students as a tonic major triad. This triad can be manipulated to create all four triad qualities. This is not a groundbreaking exercise in any way, but few bands take it to the next step.
    Discuss with students how to alter the tonic triad to make minor, diminished, and augmented triads. After students understand how to alter the major triad to create another quality, begin moving between them. The ensemble might start with F major and move to F minor, then to F diminished. I use hand signals to show which triad I want played. I use a fist for major, a flattened hand for minor, the okay sign for diminished, and crossed index fingers for augmented. These last three symbols are designed to represent what students might see on a lead sheet. This is not a groundbreaking exercise, but the aim is to get students thinking about the chord quality rather than lowering their note a half step. To get students accustomed to hearing the differences between these triads, I have three students play, and the rest of the band has to figure out who was playing the root, third, and fifth.
    Such exercises inevitably lead to a discussion of balance and blend in triads. I tell students there should be more root than fifth and more fifth than third. My students draw triangles over sustained chords and will shade the top, middle, or bottom depending on which part of the chord they have.
    It is also much easier to explain intonation, something students struggle with. Students want to play well, so they use tuners frequently, but they have no concept of when to pin the needle at zero and when not to. Students have no idea what it means to lower the third of a triad if they don’t know what thirds or triads are. They think that if the tuner says they are in tune, they are on pitch.
    Students were good at playing the tonic triad in every key; that was an easy concept to grasp. To get them to understand the notes they were responsible for in a different triad was difficult. Students struggled to build a triad off of a note other than the tonic. I think it is because we drill the key signature so much. When students are in F major, they want to think about F all the time, and asking them to play the dominant triad in F major is a stretch.
    When students have a functional understanding of triad qualities and pitch tendencies, the possibilities are endless. An example of a great listening exercise is to have half the band students close their eyes. Then, using hand signals, have the other half play a triad while students try to guess the triad quality. I was shocked at how much my ensemble intonation improved after this exercise. An advanced extension of this exercise would be to introduce seventh chords. Use the same techniques for introducing triad qualities to teach seventh chords.
    It takes longer to change the terminology, but it pays dividends by spring; you can actually have musical discussions with your ensemble. When you get into performance music, you can ask what quality a triad has. If it is major, the follow-up question can be, “If you have the third, what do you do?” We discuss these things in warmups, and the way to asses them is whether students do them in performance. For extended chords, such as a dominant seventh or ninth chord, I have the students with the extra notes sit out while the rest of the band plays the triad. Then we add the other students back in and students understand how the chord is supposed to sound.

Interval Qualities
    Interval qualities are secondary to triad qualities in ensemble performance, but it is also beneficial for students, especially brass players, who might miss partials, to learn these. Below the circle of fifths, post the following diagram, which permits students to identify interval quality based on the tonic of every major key. When working on intervals, write the current key in the center of the diagram.

    Pick a key and have half the group stay on tonic while the other half ascends the major scale. Stop on any note, then have the students with the upper note alter the interval to different qualities by moving by half steps. This will lead to discussion of perfect and major intervals and the different qualities stemming from each. The importance of this exercise is not only for the learning interval qualities but it is for aural development. Students can play and sing all intervals, adjust qualities, and tune different intervals without ever having to write anything down.

Chord Progressions
    Now that students understand triad and interval construction, the possibilities are endless. Students can construct chord progressions, such as Bb major-F major-C minor-A diminished-Bb major. This can then lead to a discussion on chord symbols in popular music. This all takes place over multiple rehearsals, and integrates seamlessly into the band’s already established warm up routine. which are then played through using the triad hand signal exercise.

    Many high school students are taught to be very talented to performers but very limited musicians. This is not due to a lack of effort or knowledge on the part of the teacher; it is because there is always a performance looming, and ensembles can be trained to perform at extremely high levels without this knowledge. These theory exercises will take time to install in your warm up routine, but they will pay dividends in the future. Students that understand chord structure will then understand intonation, phrase structure, balance ,and blend. If students are treated as musicians in regards to conceptual musical ideas, they will make musical decisions and perform on a higher level.  

The post Theory Conspiracy: Helping Students Find Meaning Inside the Music appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

    They should mention qualifications and personal qualities that would make them a good section leader.
    “I have been an All-Region player for four straight years.”
    “I’m a very outgoing and energetic person. I have a great sense of humor and get along with about everyone.”
    “I would be a great section leader because I am a very dependable yet eccentric person. I know when it’s time to work hard, and I also know when it’s time to have fun and be silly.”
     “I am a responsible person. If I see something that needs to be done or fixed I do my best to fix the problem.”
    “I have the necessary experience and training to be an effective section leader.”
    “I am a good listener. I am able to identify the needs of other players and find innovative ways of filling them.”
    “A section leader must have qualities like patience, determination, and communication.”
    “During marching season I was constantly complimented on my flex step. I reached all of my spots on time and spaced out my steps appropriately from one point to another.”

    I also ask applicants to mention things that have been done in the past that they like and give examples of what they think can be improved and how they would improve it.
    “As a section leader, I don’t want the section to look at me as someone who will let them off easily like some of our past section leaders. They should look at me as someone who knows what they are doing and someone they can ask for help.”
    “During summer practices, I think we should all go to the same place to eat lunch so that we can bond and get to know each other better.”
    “In my opinion, the clarinet section needs stronger vocals, more enthusiasm, and should memorize their music better. I will set the right example by doing it myself.”
    “I want to encourage the freshmen to hold on through the summer heat and work hard until that first Friday night game so they can see how it is all worth it.”
    “With maturity being a problem in my section, I know it will be my responsibility to keep them in line.”
    “I like how Ashton encouraged everyone, especially the freshmen. I would do the same.”
    “I know that I messed up a few times this year, but now I have my priorities straight. I’ve definitely matured and learned from my mistakes.”

    Section leader essays can also help in unexpected ways. The year I was leaving for another position I asked all of the applicants to address the fact that they would have new directors the next year. I then gave the essays to the new director.
    “No one in the band has ever witnessed a change in directors, and it will certainly impact the band. All I can do is try and make the transition as smooth and positive as possible.”

    Requiring section leader essays is almost worth it just for the entertainment value. One student even won brownie points by quoting from one of my books. It was hard not to give him an edge.
    “You will probably see this essay and automatically deny me the position of section leader, but before you do, just listen to the reasons I want to be section leader. I know you see me goofing around and not being responsible, but I’m going to change.”
    “If I became section leader I’d make sure no one gets out of line. They might get out of line once, but that would be the last time.”
    “I’m loyal and I will do anything you need me to do. I might talk back, but I always do it.”
    “I think I would be a great section leader because I have an awesome personality.”
    “Sorry about the smudges. It rained.”
    “I turned fifteen Monday so that means for fifteen years I’ve wanted to lead a drumline.”
    “After reading this you’ll go home, pet your blind and deaf dog, and think, ‘She sounds like she would really be a great section leader.’”
    “First off, I would like to say, since it’s teacher appreciation week and all, that if you suddenly died, band would really stink. (You probably don’t hear that enough.)”
    “I do not know how to read a drill chart but I will gladly learn.”

    As for judging the essays, I look more at content than length. Some of the better section leaders may not be great writers, so I often overlook spelling and grammar errors. After the selection process is completed, I file the essays in case I have a problem with a particular section leader the next year. If something occurs, I can pull out the essay and say, “You know, last year you wrote that you believed that a section leader should set the proper example at all times. Do you see yourself as doing that right now?” They can’t argue too much with their own words.
    There are some unexpected benefits of filing the essays as well. In preparation for this column, I was reading one written by my now son-in-law years before he began dating my daughter. Maybe I should have made him write an essay before I let him date my daughter. After all, dating my daughter is a much more serious responsibility than being a section leader. However, it’s too late for that now; I guess his wedding vows will have to do.

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Find Your Teaching Style
    A philosophy of music is the sum of your experience plus what you want to add to it and change. My first band director, Tom Goodwin, down in New Lenox, Illinois had a wry sense of humor that clicked well with junior high students. He was an excellent musician who loved what he was doing. Even back then his attitude inspired me, and as a teacher, I frequently considered how a sense of humor fits my teaching.
    It is important to be yourself, however. Everyone has a sense of humor; the question is what kind and how to express it. Reflection will help you decide what to project as a teacher. I am passionate about the music we play. Over time, I realized that sometimes I come across as aggressive rather than passionate. That is where a sense of humor is helpful. Model your passion for the music so students feel the same way, but balance that with a sense of humor and understand yourself well enough to project what it is you really feel.
    Be honest with students. If you do not know an answer, say so, and then go find out. It was difficult for me to admit I didn’t know something when I was starting out. You are trying to establish yourself as an expert but are only four or five years older than students. It is difficult to admit ignorance, but it is always the best approach.

Find Mentors
    In my early years I had great mentors. In my first teaching job, I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with two other instrumental music teachers. I was a percussionist, another was a brass player, and the third was a woodwind player. We each led separate grade school programs but worked together at the high school and were able to help each other a great deal. When I was in college, I foolishly did not take the secondary methods courses seriously. I still remember walking into the bandroom before my first year as a teacher to discover four young children with trumpet cases in their hands asking if I was their new teacher. Seek out help to learn as many instruments as you can and make notebooks of information on the various instruments. Spend time learning instruments with someone who can really help you; it is worth every second. When I taught at Western Illinois University, many of my students ended up in positions where they were the only music teacher for miles around. They contacted each other and shared tips and ideas.

Student Mentors
    Students can be mentors too. In Evanston we developed a student mentorship program that runs during the middle two quarters of the school year. Older, more advanced students work with those who need help or lack the practice skills to improve. A peer teacher is more interesting to some students and certainly is more affordable. Everyone benefits. The weaker players get help and the stronger players learn from teaching.
    We found the program worked best during the middle two quarters because in the fall everything is still being established, and marching band takes a great deal of time. Students also do not have a performance assessment until near the end of first quarter. The first official assessment is a good time  to suggest areas of improvement and encourage students to seek help.
    At the end of the third quarter, the mentors and students perform together at a solo and ensemble festival. The performance is a goal to work toward and a good way to end the program for the year.

Parents
    New teachers often struggle to work with parents. I remember early in my career when I was not married yet, parents would sometimes become angry and say, “You don’t have children; you don’t understand.” This can be very frustrating.
    Always take time before responding to parents comments. Be a good listener and allow the parents to speak. Depending on the parents and the level of anxiety or anger, they may talk for a long time. Sit there, listen, and take notes if necessary. Don’t interrupt them; just keep track of the points you want to address. After a while angry or upset parents will run out of steam. Often they are overreacting and need to get things off their chests. Then they calm down. That is when you can come back point by point. Respond to them, “Here is what I think I heard you say,” and spell it out so they know you heard them.
    When a parent is angry about a child’s placement after auditions, I explain exactly how the audition process works. We build in safeguards for just this type of situation. For example, auditions are blind. They are recorded by proctors, and students are given numbers. The directors listen to recordings with no idea who is playing. Often a logical explanation is enough, as parents may not understand the process or the reasoning behind it. With this audition example, I have the tapes there at the meeting. I first play the best example I have of how a piece sounds and then play the student’s audition. While it is playing, I have the written assessment in front of the parents so they can see my thoughts as I point out aspects of the recording. In doing this you show your expertise and share information with the upset parents in a logical, calm manner. (I do this with students who feel an audition result is unfair as well.) I end the conversation with, “Rather than talking about who is sitting in which chair, let’s discuss what your child can do to become a better player.” This flips the meeting around to something positive and often gets parents on your side.
    Quite often when parents are angry, they do what you should never do and start talking right away. It is similar to the rule about email: never send one while angry. As a young teacher, it is difficult to handle this sometimes. One solution is always go to the administrators first. Explain the situation, how you would like to handle it, and ask what the administrator thinks. Do not ask, “What should I do?” unless you are at an absolute loss. If you come to an administrator right away, he will usually help.

Avoiding Conflicts
    Some advance planning can also avoid many problems. Parents often complain when music schedules interfere with other activities. We developed guidelines for conflicts between the schedules of different departments. It took six months of meetings, but the music department, athletic director, and person representing all the clubs came up with a policy. The policy prevents students from feeling caught in the middle of different teachers’ and coaches’ expectations but puts responsibility on them to handle the scheduling conflicts.
    It starts with the premise that from time to time there will be conflicts, so there should be a predetermined process to go through. One of the first things we decided was what takes precedence. For example, a game or performance is always agreed to be a higher priority that a rehearsal or practice. Another consideration is that band is an academic subject, and a sport is an extracurricular activity. Curricular almost always supersedes extracurricular. This is basically common sense, but by having it in writing, everyone can agree. The most important component is that students do not get caught in the middle. If a student comes from a morning swim team practice to tell me that he cannot be at rehearsal after school the next day because the date of a meet has changed, then I do not penalize him for attending the meet.
    The next part of this is that timing is everything, and we encourage students to take responsibility for their schedules. Unless there is an unexpected time change for an event, the onus is put on students to look at the calendar as far in advance as possible so when conflicts are found they can be dealt with right away. I have a couple students who are wind players in the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. As soon as they won their auditions, I got emails from them about events scheduled months in advance. The policy helps students realize that they should manage their schedules, and that is a good teaching tool.
    When a student finds a conflict, he is to notify the teachers and coaches on either side of the conflict. Then the adults communicate with each other and decide how important the conflicting events are. After we sort this out, we go back to the student with a suggestion of what we think should be done. Ultimately, the decision is left to the parents and student. If a student picks a regional game over a performance, I might disagree with the decision, but as long as they followed the process, I accept the choice. I have found, however, that the students and parents almost always make an appropriate decision.

Organization
    I did not realize as a new teacher that 80% or more of my time would be spent on organization and communication and very little would be spent on music making. I did not realize I would have a music library to maintain, uniforms to care for, or an instrument inventory to manage. At bigger schools, this can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment. So don’t expect to spend the majority of your time making music. This means you have to be efficient in what you do.
    Archive your work. When I was in high school I kept all my programs from concerts. It has served me surprisingly well over the years. In December we had a joint concert with the University of Illinois Wind Symphony, and one piece I was considering was American Salute. Oddly enough I was looking through these programs last month, and I found the first program from my first concert down there with Harry Begian. American Salute was on that concert. It was odd to realize that both my first and last concerts there would include this piece.
    Saving concert programs helps me keep track of what I have played or heard other groups play. This may also help the person who follows you at a school. When you take a job at a new school, it can be difficult to get a sense of how the group sounded in the past and what repertoire they have played if they have not kept good records. This information can really go a long way in helping a teacher get off to a good start. Quite often there is no transition for new teachers.
    Cleaning a back room ten years ago I found binders from the 1970s filled with all the concert programs and other interesting material from those years. It stopped around 1982. When I saw those, I started to do the same thing because I figured someone would want, at some point, to look back to see what we did.

Expressive Playing
    I frequently have to ask students to exaggerate, because if you say to crescendo more, they only give you a little bit although they might think it is a lot. Develop students’ confidence to the point where they give you a lot when you ask for more. I see this in both concert and jazz band. In jazz I frequently tell the bari sax and bass trombone players, “Play as loud as you can all of the time, and I’ll tell you when it’s too much.” The more expressively that students play, the more they will enjoy the music.
    I once saw a great clinician get a junior high band to play a phrase more expressively. He asked one student to play the phrase with the instruction to interpret it any way he wanted. The student played a rather vanilla rendition, and the clinician urged him to be more expressive. After much encouragement the student played with some nice dynamic shaping. The clinician then told the whole band to play the phrase and said, “I want all of you, each in your own way, to do something like this, with similar intensity. Do anything.” About 80% of the students decided to copy the same dynamic shaping, which was what fit the music best anyway. After they heard the results, they realized how much better they sounded. If music is played expressively it is noticeably more beautiful.

Practice Habits
    Tom Godwin, my grade school band director, always said, “If you can count it, you can play it.” I say that a lot. Students sometimes come into the program needing work on counting. At one rehearsal there was a 16-note passage that started in the clarinets on beat one that the flutes picked up on the and of two. The flutes were all over the place, so first we figured out how to count it. We counted it in tempo; we put it back in context with clarinets counting their part; we articulated the passage rather than slurring it; and then we played it. With that the younger students understood it.
    I always try to teach practice habits from the podium, because rehearsal technique is not all that different from what you hope they do at home.
    I teach students to take things slowly and accurately at first. I had an interesting conversation with Greg Bimm, the highly respected director of bands at Marian Catholic High School, whose father was a cornet player. He said that every night the two of them would sit and practice together. If he made a mistake, his father would make him play it ten times in a row correctly before they went on. Great musicians don’t practice until they get something right, they practice until they can’t play it wrong.
    Students are so fragmented that it is easy for them to think, “I only have ten minutes, so it isn’t worth practicing,” but a little bit every day is better than trying to cram it at the last minute. I tell students that practice is just as important as their other homework.    

* * *

Technology
    I strongly recommend that new directors learn web design. In the days before the web, I taught a class called Multimedia Technology in the Arts that was all about taking sound, text, and pictures and putting them together using HyperCard. When the internet came along, I thought it would be a great way to share my students’ work. The school heard about this and wanted a website, so I was the school’s first webmaster. It grew so fast that within two or three years I had to choose between being a webmaster or a band director. The internet is a huge advantage for teachers. I rarely send paper home anymore. Email to parents is easier, quicker, and more reliable.
    We have taken the band to Disney World every 4 years for the last 20 years. We always photocopied every park pass with the students’ names written on each one because invariably when you take 200 students, someone is going to lose their park pass. If you do not have a copy of the original, you have to pay for another one. This last trip we just told students to take a picture of the pass with their smartphones. If a pass was lost, the student could go to the front gate and show the picture. Find ways to use technology to make your job easier.

Other Ideas
•    Know your students. I didn’t realize this right away, but you are likely to be the teacher who knows your students the best. You may be the only teacher they have all four years. Be prepared to teach adolescents to grow up and plan to write many letters of recommendation. 

•    Social Media. Never friend students on Facebook. I make alumni wait for one year before I add them.

•    Preparation. Make sure that 80% of your time is spent preparing for rehearsals. As much as you might hate lesson plans, take the material you want to rehearse, divide up the available time, and decide how to accomplish your goals.

•    Goals. Have a set of goals for each rehearsal. If it does not go well, be able to adjust the plan and move onto the next thing. Come back to the troublesome section later from a new direction.

•    Repertoire List. If you haven’t started developing a repertoire list based on more than what you played in school, do so.

•    Rehearse During Rehearsals. Don’t use lesson time to hand out music. If you want to listen to music, be strategic about it. Students can listen to music at home, but rehearsal time is the only opportunity for them to work with you. Post announcements on a chalkboard or PowerPoint. Identify distractions and figure out how to make them go away. If you show that you value rehearsal time, students will too.

•    Be Involved. Join organizations and give back to your profession. They always need volunteers and it is a great opportunity for you to meet people and learn from them. Keep playing. Don’t give up being a musician yourself.

•    Listening. I always tell students that you are what you listen to and try to expand their listening habits. At the same time, don’t be afraid to learn from students. They listen to interesting stuff.

•    Jazz. If you play an instrument not usually found in a jazz band, find a way to get some jazz experience anyway.
        

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