Janos Starker was twice profiled in The Instrumentalist, by Shirley Strohm Mullins in November 1986 and again by Anne Mischakoff in August of 1996. On the next two pages are some of the best excerpts from each of these conversations.

On Showiness
    “Grand exterior gestures bother my stomach a little. Nevertheless I tell students that if they aren’t up to the task of playing well for an audience that paid for tickets, they should at least do something to justify their presence on stage and give the audience its money’s worth. That’s stage presentation.
    “I’ve spent a thousand nights in the opera, where I learned all the commedia dell’arte tricks to capture everyone’s attention and make sure they have much to talk about at the end of the evening. This shouldn’t be the goal. If the entertainment dominates the music, then you have failed in the mission of bringing music to the audience. Use it when in trouble, because on stage part of the job is entertaining. Some of what I disagree with boils down to taste. It bothers me if a player allows stagecraft and show business to dominate over the music.
    “Emotion is supposed to come through, of course. I consider my mission to create poetry through music, not to speak about music in poetic terms. Many of my distinguished colleagues have developed the ability to speak about music in flowery phrases. For me, that is meaningless. I’ve spent a lifetime expressing poetry through music, and I did it at the times when I was considered cold. I’m a sentimental slob when it comes to soap operas; but in music, I’m emotional – not sentimental. There are clear rules and regulations in music; to be a disciplined musician means that you have an inner need to adhere to these.” (Mischakoff)

Starker as a Teacher
    Students come to Indiana University from all over the world to learn the powerful formula from Janos Starker. If the phone rings during a private lesson in Studio 155, you might hear French, German, Italian, or Hungarian after the initial English “hello.” Great artists and teachers like Franco Gulli, Josef Gingold, Menahem Pressler, Gyorgy Sebok, Fritz Magg, and Leonard Sharrow have visited Studio 155, as well as composers including David Baker and Bernard Heiden.
    “If he’s such a great teacher, why doesn’t he stay put and teach?” a friend once asked me. The answer comes from Starker himself, for in almost every interview, he speaks of his commitment to education. “If I do not teach, I cannot play; if I do not play, I cannot teach. They are equally important to me.” (Mullins)

Coaching vs. Teaching
    “I’m not a coach, I’m a teacher. Coaching means helping students to learn specific pieces. Teaching is imparting principles and helping students attain the skills that will enable them to make decisions based on knowledge. Taste is elusive; some people have it, some people don’t. The teacher is supposed to simply make students aware of the difference. Something strikes them if it is played one way or another, whether they hear the difference. As a teacher my job is to disturb students, to make them aware of things that were unknown to them so they have choices. Eventually they will choose what they want: a major responsibility is to get them to develop to the point that they can choose instead of playing something the only way they can manage. Good teaching is giving choices, triggering the imagination, and letting students find their own way. (Mischakoff)

On Teaching
    Starker believes that the real challenge in teaching is finding the solution to each student’s problems. At one lesson he told me about a young cellist who had been working on a piece by a French composer. Though the notes were technically perfect, the student’s interpretation lacked the mood and feel of French music. Starker related that he gave the student a book containing reproductions of French Impressionistic paintings. Using these paintings, the student was better able to understand the mood conveyed in the composition. Starker uses the term “preconceived imagination” to describe the change in the student’s understanding of the piece.
    One cannot speak of Starker without mentioning the musical trinity of purity, simplicity, and balance that touches everything involving his teaching and playing. The Saturday master class at Studio 405 is really a laboratory for everyone seeking the solutions to problems related to the cello. It’s an effort that requires concentration, experimentation, and observation to reach the ultimate goal of ease in playing. Students learn the repertoire by hearing it played and critiqued in class. They watch as Starker dissects and explains a difficult passage; they listen to comments on interpretation and musicianship, which gradually build a foundation of musical integrity.
    Starker has a doctor-patient relationship with his students. When a student arrives with a problem, the diagnostic procedure begins. After Starker spots the difficulty, he prescribes several remedies. If the student follows the suggested directions, a cure is usually forthcoming; however, if a particularly difficult problem or a new version of an old problem appears, the doctor is intrigued and tries even harder to find the solution. Starker is able to analyze and isolate technical trouble spots, then relate the problem in language that students understand. He shows how to make a correction: “Ah, ah, too much tension. We can’t play when we are tense.” Then comes an experimental phase: “Try this, try that.” If the suggestions don’t work, Starker keeps trying until the answer appears, because, “there are many ways to arrive at the same destination.”
    Starker’s vocabulary is full of metaphors and colorful descriptions. When a student has trouble with a treacherous shift, the pedagogue might coax, “Take your time and enjoy the trip.” Explaining a bowing concept, he may say, “Try spreading peanut butter on your bread.” (One student responded, “Chunky or smooth?”) If a tempo is too slow, he could tease the youngster with, “Son, that’s a middle-aged tempo.”
    This teacher claps, grunts, gestures, and commands to make his points. Once a student was having trouble articulating the correct bowing for the opening theme of Dvo˘rák’s Cello Concerto in B Minor. “Sing the opening theme,” Starker bellowed. “I can’t, I’m too embarrassed,” the student admitted. “An artist cannot afford to be embarrassed – SING!” The student sang and discovered the mistake, and her playing improved immediately.
    Starker’s technical and analytical advice includes details as specific as which muscle should contract or relax. One student sent him a postcard with a drawing of a human back, every muscle identified by name. A desperate question came along with the card: “Which muscle did you say to tighten?” (Mullins)

The End Result of Teaching
    “A teacher cannot teach something that the student is incapable of doing. It’s the teacher’s job to find what a student is capable of and try to enhance that capability. Teaching is supposed to inform but you can only bring forth what is in a student’s nature and enhance the love of music by giving the right information. By nature some people will be ensemble players, some will be orchestral players, and a few will be soloists. The teacher’s job is to help students learn all the skills and principles of instrumental playing and music making.
    “The results from teaching fundamentals are not necessarily visible or audible immediately. With some students only years later do I get a letter saying, ‘Now I understand what you were telling me.’
    “The greatest reward from teaching is to make a student’s imagination work. I’m far less interested in talent than in a student whose brain allows for continual development. I want to make sure that my students are prepared for any demand that music may make on them throughout their lives. It isn’t important how many good violinists there are, but how many people value music in their lives. (Mischakoff)

On Musicianship
    Despite his stern reputation, Starker is generous with his advice: “Learn as much from every area of music-making as possible. Get the broadest possible education so you are functional in every area. Be the complete musician, not like the great virtuoso who can’t play second violin in a string quartet.” (Mullins)
    “All musical problems are caused by changes: the note values change, the tempo changes, the phrase changes, and the dynamic changes. All the instrumental playing problems are caused by changes in the music. Going from one position to another, from one string to another, or from one bow speed to the next – these changes are the core of our problems. Once we discover this it becomes natural to look for places where changes occur and to prepare for them.” (Mischakoff)

Playing in Tune
    Starker trusts his ear, not theories of intonation, which only amuse him. “Absolute pitch is much less adjustable than developed pitch. Someone with absolute pitch can be almost maniacal on the minor and major third distances, but for me his playing might be out of tune if not adjusted to the harmonic context.” Thirds, like widely spaced octaves, should be guided by the ear. In high and low octaves the ear wants to hear the upper note on the high side of true pitch. “Obviously this tends to be sharper, but it still has to be dead center. I have to trust my ear. If it is high and it clashes with the bass, then there’s a problem.”
    Starker was among the first musicians to use tape recordings, which he credits for developing his ear. “Once, after recording the Brahms E Minor Sonata, we listened to the playback for a particular note, so as to cut and splice it. We slowed the recorder to half speed, and the tape sounded an octave lower. Everything that had sounded perfectly in tune at the regular pitch sounded awful at the lower octave: the width of the vibrato meant my fingers almost touched other pitches.” Starker began using this recording technique regularly because at half speed he could hear pitch problems clearly. “I altered the range of my vibrato and changed various colors and accents. This process affected my ear. I believed I had always played in tune, but this showed exactly how in tune it was. The whole issue of playing in tune covers such a very wide range of views. Some people count the vibrations per cycle; they remind me of Pablo Casals, who influenced cellists for decades by saying the leading tone must be sharper. Sharper than what, than out of tune? The leading tendency is toward the tonic, but the point is developing the ears to hear tiny discrepancies. (Mischakoff)

Conductors
    “Most people become conductors because it’s a dominant role with lots of power; they can say who plays and what they play. I don’t feel that need. Like General Colin Powell, who said that to run for president you must have the inner urge and drive, I recognize that I lack the inner drive and urge.”
    Having spent a major part of his career in or in front of orchestras, Starker has strong opinions on what separates great conductors from the rest of the pack. He finds that some younger musicians are better prepared than some of the great conductors of the past who became great by virtue of aging. He jokes, “One secret to becoming great is to last, then you’re automatically called great. If you have prominent positions and keep aging, people will forget some of the things you didn’t do well.” (Mischakoff)

On Fritz Reiner
    Fritz Reiner was “not just my favorite, but the conductor I consider the greatest of the 20th century.” Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, Ernest Ansermet, and Pierre Monteux were others he deems to have been outstanding. “Reiner was distinguished by his knowledge of scores, first of all. He knew Sacre du printemps, now considered the test piece, by memory, among hundreds of other works; but he used a score. Moreover, he could balance an orchestra and focus on what the score contained. He had control of an orchestra with the minimum means, simply by knowledge and by ear. He did the least stage acting in his conducting. If he repeated a program for four performances, three of them were not necessarily exciting and on occasion might even be dull; but his performances were of the highest order, musically and technically. Playing for him for nine years was a stunning, memorable experience.” (Mischakoff)

A Wonderful, Complex Man
    Even after all the years I’ve known Starker, sometimes it’s difficult to reconcile the image of the great artist with the grandfather making funny faces at a little boy, the master teacher growling at a student in a Saturday morning class with the party host playing ping-pong with the same student that evening. They’re all Starker, though. (Mullins) 

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Large Brass Ensembles
    The Antiphonal Music of Gabrieli is one of the earliest of its kind. Comprised of double and triple brass quintets from the brass sections of the Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia Orchestras, this group performs the music of Gabrieli. Included here are such standands as “Canzone per Sonare Numbers 1 – 4,” and “Canzon Prima Toni.” The sound is stunning, almost as if you are sitting in the middle of these amazing artists as they play back and forth to one another in antiphonal choirs.

    The Bay Brass is made up of players from the San Francisco Symphony, Ballet Orchestra, and Opera Orchestra. In 2011, they released their second recording, Sound The Bells. This recording includes compositions by John Williams, Bruce Boughton, Michael Tilson Thomas, Morton Lauridsen, Kevn Putz, and Scott Hilzik. Most of the works were conducted by the composers, which provides these pieces an ideal interpretation. Several of the pieces were commissioned by the Bay Brass. All of the works on this recording were written within the last 40 years, with three of them composed since 2002. This is some of the most stunning brass playing I have ever heard. The flexibility of this group is amazing, and the tonal colors and intonation are second to none. The Bay Brass shines on every selection. I think the John Williams selections and “Elegy for Brass” by Kevin Puts deserve special recognition.

    Americana by the London Symphony Brass, under the direction of Eric Crees, is a recording that I would take with me if banished to a desert island. Included here are selections by Copland, Bernstein, Cowell, Ives, and Barber. Of special recognition is “Somewhere,” from Bernstein’s Suite from West Side Story. This is the best example I have found illustrating the contrast between the delicate warmth and sheer power of brass instruments. This recording is currently available as an mp3 download. However, for those of you like myself who must have a cd, this recording has been rereleased under the title Brass Americana.

    Summit Brass Live is a must have. Founded in 1985 by David Hickman, the Summit Brass is comprised of many of the nation’s leading brass soloists, chamber musicians, and orchestral players. This recording was made during the final concert of the 2003 Rafael Mendez Brass Institute. Many outstanding composers are represented on this recording, including J.S. Bach, Dimitri Shostakovich, Eric Ewazen, and Allen Vizzutti. I especially enjoyed Vizzutti’s “Prism: Shards of Color for Brass and Percussion.” Each movement, titled after a different color, features a different brass soloist (Dan Perantoni on tuba, Larry Zalkind on trombone, Brian Bowman on euphonium, Gail Williams on horn, and Allen Vizzutti on trumpet). The other piece that blew my mind was Richard Strauss’s “Vienna Philhar-monic Fanfare.” The sound and precision of this ensemble are stunning, and when listening to it I forgot it was a recording of a concert until I heard the applause at the end.

    The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass Live was recorded in 2010 in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center. The group is conducted by Dale Clevenger, Jay Friedman, Michael Mulcahy, and Mark Ridenour, all members of the ensemble. This recording is as close as it is possible to get to hearing the signature brass sound of the Chicago Symphony without attending a concert. This Chicago Symphony brass sound has been the standard for orchestral brass since the 1950s, when the catalyst for this sound was established by principal trumpet Adolph Herseth, and principal tuba Arnold Jacobs. The tradition is carried on through this wonderful live recording, which includes: Walton’s “Crown Imperial,” Prokofiev’s “Three Scenes from Romeo and Juliet,” and J.S. Bach’s “Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor.” My favorite is the transcription of Grainger’s “Lincolnshire Posy.” This transcription is extraordinary and sounds as though Grainger actually wrote the piece for brass ensemble. I was especially blown away by the trumpet performance of the upper woodwind part in “The Brisk Young Sailor.” “Sensemaya” by Silvestre Revueltas is also extremely enjoyable. The playing is flawless throughout and another great example of performance at its absolute best.

     Sacre Symphoniae, the newest release by the Metropolitan Opera Brass, is a marvelous recording of the Antiphonal Motets of Giovani Gabrieli. It was recorded in 2012 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in New York City, which is a gorgeous and massive building that allows for the many nuances of performing this type of antiphonal music to come to life, even on cd. The gothic vaulting rings for ten seconds after every release. With the exception of “Canzon Septimi Toni a 8,” all of the other works are new transcriptions that have never been recorded before. The motets differ from the canzonas and sonatas as there is less individual interplay between the lines, and more choir against choir playing, which allows for more large blocks of sound. In addition to the outstanding arrangements, the level of playing is extraordinary. This group’s performance is a clinic on how brass instruments should sound.

Brass Quintets
    The American Brass Quintet was organized in 1960. This group set a goal of establishing the brass quintet as one of the major chamber music ensembles, which was at that time predominantly made up of string groups and pianist. The American Brass Quintet sought to expand the brass quintet repertoire, not through transcriptions, but with commissions written exclusively for brass quintet. American Visions is an excellent example of the fulfillment of this mission, with works written by American composers Melinda Wagner, Andrew Thomas, Robert Beaser, Samuel Adler, Joan Tower, and William Schumann. The music on this recording is of the highest artistic quality. I especially enjoyed the Beaser “Brass Quintet,” and Joan Tower’s “Fifth Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman.” The American Brass Quintet has established itself as major force in the classical chamber music world, as they have a discography of more than 45 recordings. The performances here are first rate.

    The Canadian Brass is probably the world’s most renown brass quintet. This group has had a tremendous impact on the popularization of the brass quintet, and the various musical genres that can be performed by the brass quintet. This group has probably logged more travel miles than any other brass group in the world. I recommend The Pachelbel Canon – The Canadian Brass Plays Great Baroque Music. Included are many wonderful works arranged for brass, including Handel’s “Water Music,” Frecobaldi’s “Tocatta,” Pachebel’s “Canon,” and many of J.S. Bach’s works, including “Sheep May Safely Graze,” “Wachet Auf,” and “Little Fugue.” The highlight of this recording is Bach’s, “Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor.” The technical brilliance with which they perform, in addition to their consistently high standard of musicality, really make this piece a tour de force for brass quintet.

    The Empire Brass is one of the world’s finest brass quintets. Originally made up of members of the most prestigious orchestras in the United States the Empire Brass members soon left their symphony positions to perform in the quintet full time as their popularity grew. They have commissioned more than 50 brass quintet works covering a wide range of styles. Class Brass is a great introductory recording to Empire Brass. This recording includes work by Copland, Grieg, Bizet, Ravel, and Moussorgsky. Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Procession of the Nobles” is especially noteworthy; trumpet player Rolf Smedvig’s performance on the G trumpet is astonishing. Copland’s “Simple Gifts” is gorgeous as well. Indeed, all of the Empire Brass recordings are excellent.

    The last of my recommendations is a set of recordings that can be purchased separately. The Orchestra Pro Series by Summit Records consists of recordings that are perfect for demonstrating the characteristic sounds of each brass instrument. Outstanding players from major symphonies perform and provide commentary on the most common orchestral excerpts for their instruments. The performers include: trumpeter Phillip Smith (principal, New York Philharmonic), hornist David Kreihbel (former principal, San Fran-cisco Symphony), trombonist Ralph Sauer (former principal, Los Angeles Philharmonic), bass trombonist Jeffrey Reynolds (formerly Los Angeles Phil-harmonic), tenor tubist Michael Mulcahy (Chicago Symphony), and tubist Gene Pokorny (principal, Chicago Symphony). These sound models are some of the finest in the entire world, and the commentary is also extremely helpful, especially for high school- and university-level players who are preparing excerpts for auditions. 

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    Assessment has become a topic of increasing concern among educators, particularly as education policy makers place a stronger emphasis on teacher and student accountability. Many states are starting to consider student growth in determining teacher effectiveness. Because most states do not have standardized music assessments, directors have to determine and implement their own evaluations to measure student growth.
    However, many music teacher preparation programs do not include courses in this area. Even at the graduate level, such courses are commonly offered only as an elective. Consequently, many music educators feel overwhelmed by the process of assessment. Large class sizes, performance expectations, and limited instructional time add to the challenge of evaluating band and orchestra students.
    Fortunately, implementing an effective system is easier than it may seem. With clear goals, a structured plan, and a consistent approach, assessing students in an ensemble can become a regular part of the class.

Initial Evaluations
    Diagnostic assessments are not just for math and language arts. At the beginning of the school year, administer both a performance-based and a written assessment to discover students’ strengths and weaknesses across various aspects of music. This will help shape the focus for the year. For example, if students already have a firm grasp of staccato articulations but struggle with understanding minor scales, adapt curricular goals to best address this area.
    Diagnostic assessments are also invaluable in determining student growth over the course of the school year. When teachers can compare diagnostic test results with assessments at the end of a unit or year, they quickly see which instructional elements worked and which were unsuccessful.
    A final use for diagnostic evaluations at the start of the year is to determine what knowledge and skills were lost over summer break. Use this information to refine teaching methods for the future.
    Appropriate material for this evaluation may include etudes or exercises from the previous year. Often, method books have corresponding written assessments that can be used to determine retention of music theory concepts. Look for resources that will accurately reflect students’ knowledge. 

Identify Goals
    Once you have determined a starting point, look to the school, district, or state curriculum to see where your students’ levels fit into the bigger picture. Plan the curriculum to meet clear, attainable, and measurable goals.
    When determining goals for the year, make sure they are specific. Students will play in quartets is not sufficient. Instead, create a clearer goal, such as, students will accurately perform independent musical lines in a four-part chamber ensemble. This level of specificity clearly defines expectations, and helps both teachers and students focus their efforts on the targeted material.
    Ensure the goals are attainable. While a teacher may have high ambitions for growth throughout the year, remember to consider what was found in the diagnostic assessment, as well as the more informal, daily observations of skills and knowledge. Break down larger performance and content goals into smaller, manageable units. This increases the likelihood of success and often improves overall motivation as students notice their progress.
    Finally, make sure goals are measurable. Keep in mind that knowledge-based skills can be more easily measured (through a written quiz, for example) than performance goals. Perhaps one goal is for students to improve overall tone quality throughout the year. Have a clear idea of how to consistently evaluate and measure that skill.

Appropriate Assessments
    In performance-based classrooms, the majority of students’ time is typically spent playing instruments. As such, many band and orchestra teachers will find that performance-based assessments comprise the majority of their testing approach. The example below shows a detailed method to evaluate a particular performance skill.

Articulation
 Student rarely performs the indicated articulations, missing eight or more
 Student performs some of the indicated articulations, missing six or seven
 Student performs many indicated articulations, missing four or five
 Student performs most indicated articulations, missing two or three
 Student consistently performs all  indicated articulations, missing one or fewer

    Written or online quizzes may work better for testing music theory knowledge. Be creative. Students could write  program notes for an upcoming performance to demonstrate an understanding of historical and cultural events related to the music. A year-long portfolio allows the teacher to  observe a student’s overall growth throughout the year. Take the time to find appropriate ways to assess students’ skills.

A variety of assessment methods offers teachers a more comprehensive perspective on student knowledge and allows them to identify and target any critical gaps. A student who has a difficult time performing a major scale, may perfectly understand the theory behind the scale. Another student may be able to correctly perform a rhythm, but cannot identify and label the counts on paper.

Develop a Reasonable Plan
    After the goals and a plan to assess progress are determined, create a calendar outlining when and how to incorporate those elements into the school year. Decide at what points students should achieve certain skills. Performance repertoire should complement these plans. When developing a year-long plan, keep in mind existing obligations. If there is an important ensemble performance in March, consider strategically planning student assessments around the performance date to maximize critical ensemble rehearsal time. For example, an individual playing test two weeks prior to the performance helps ensure that students master their parts before the last minute. A written assessment addressing cultural elements of a recent program could be administered following the performance.
    Keep in mind that the time required goes beyond the class time used to administer a test or worksheet. The ten minutes spent every Friday for a brief quiz does not include the time spent outside of class grading those quizzes. Many directors have hundreds of students, so it is important to be practical and strategic when planning assessments throughout the year. Plans that are too ambitious or time consuming run the risk of being abandoned when things get busy.

Keep Records, Give Feedback,
    Be meticulous about entering assessment results into a database that is clear and easy to interpret, and remember to back up that file. Keeping track of progress is critical to improving not only student knowledge, but also your teaching strategies. It also serves as a record of your effectiveness as a teacher.
    Regular assessment yields many opportunities to give students clear and specific feedback. Embrace these opportunities to ensure students are aware of their successes and areas for improvement. For performance-based assessments, include specific strategies for potential  improvement. For written assessments, cite resources that might help students struggling with certain content. The more clear and specific the feedback, the greater the chance a student will take away something valuable.
    Finally, once you create a plan for the year, stick with it. It is not enough to simply plan to assess; you must execute that plan for it to yield valuable information about students’ growth and your effectiveness. Busy schedules and the drive to produce outstanding concert performances often lead to a failure to follow even the most well-intentioned plans. Consistency and commitment to the plan are essential to accurately assess students and make improvements to your teaching methods. By maintaining clear goals and adhering to a plan, even large ensemble directors can effectively assess and evaluate music students.

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    When I went through school, I had a great band experience, but that was it. I did not realize there was chamber music or centuries of phenomenal orchestral music. I wanted to introduce my students to a wider variety of music and give them an opportunity to participate in string ensembles, but my string background was limited to a college string methods class.
    Our orchestra began as a string quartet three years ago. When I asked who was interested in playing in a string quartet the following year, I expected a few volunteers but did not anticipate having 20 hands go up. We started small because we did not have the funds or the instruments. Through fundraising, I bought two violins, a viola, and a cello.
    The first year I gave precedence to upperclassmen, so that first quartet had three seniors and one junior. They all planned to pursue music in college; the seniors all majored in music. The quartet met after school for an hour a week, and they learned the basics of string playing while working through a method book. At the end of the year, they performed excerpts from the back of the method book, including a fiddle tune and Pomp and Circumstance.
    After the first year, I asked whether anyone wanted to play in an orchestra that met after school. Again there were about 20 interested students. The junior from the quartet became a leader in the second-year orchestra. With the group meeting after school, there were some conflicts, and we eventually narrowed the ensemble down to nine students. I wanted to let any student who had an instrument participate, so I told students to bring in what they could. Those who owned a string instrument were automatically in; one girl had a viola, and other students bought instruments from eBay although the quality was poor.
    I was also able to purchase a few more instruments. The second-year orchestra, which was basically a double quartet with a bass instead of a second cello, rehearsed after school one day a week. I did not want students to drop other extracurricular activities. As this was almost all new students, we started over with the method books. They advanced more quickly and were able to play slightly more difficult repertoire, but I felt they should have more practice time than was available after school.
    I talked to the curriculum director to find out how to make orchestra a curricular class. I wrote a curriculum and got it approved by the school board. In our district high schools offer a course called Preparatory Band, that is designed for non-musicians to learn any band instrument. The class covers everything students learn from fifth through eighth grade but is condensed into one year. Because that program was already in place, it was easy to adapt it for orchestra. This was a better choice than trying to design an entirely new curriculum.
    My next step was to find repertoire. I called music stores and publishers and talked to string teachers to collect suggestions for good works and composers. Eighty percent of the curriculum was borrowed from Preparatory Band, and the other twenty percent was concert music.
    The goal was to create a program that audiences would enjoy hearing at a concert. While I would love to read symphonic literature, Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony is not possible with beginning strings. I wanted repertoire that had contrast between pieces but could be played by inexperienced students. One work I found was Las Mariposas Exoticas, which is almost entirely pizzicato. I chose the piece so students would learn both arco and pizzicato. Another piece was Dorchester Street Songs. This is in two movements, all in D major, which meant we could start working on it while still going through the method books. A third piece, El Toro, was in 34 and E minor; this gave students practice with accidentals and sudden dynamic changes. There was also a solo cadenza section for violin and cello. The last work I picked was a strings arrangement of “Hornpipe” from Handel’s Water Music. This was the most difficult of the four works on the concert.
    There was an incredible amount of paperwork to fill out, but eventually everything was approved. The final obstacle was numbers; the class needed at least 12 students, and 14 enrolled this year. This is the first time in over 20 years that the school has had an orchestra; we are also the only school in our district to have one. Students rehearse every day for 50 minutes. The class is labeled orchestra in the course catalog, but it is really a beginning strings class.
    Now that it meets during the day, anyone is welcome to join. This year there are three first violins, four seconds, three violas, three cellos, and a bass, and the group is projected to double in size next year. Students recruit their friends, and orchestra is experiencing a revival, which is interesting because there are no middle school string programs in any of our feeder schools. Many of the band students tell me they have figured out in advance what year they can take orchestra and what instrument they want to play. It is exciting as a teacher to see students plan to take a class years in advance. Students even get tips from current orchestra students about how to play a string instrument before they  join the class.
    The ensemble includes band members who want to play a secondary instrument, some choral students, and even some who have never read a note of music before. Prior to the start of the year I surveyed students to find out what instruments they wanted to play. For those with no preference, I made choices for good instrumentation.
    To obtain more instruments, I posted a fundraising project on and was able to get five violins, three violas, two cellos, and a bass through donations from people across the country. This is a website founded by a New York public school teacher to help teachers who often have to pay for classroom supplies themselves. The site allows teachers to post project lists, and people can decide to whom they would like to donate. Donors can browse projects by area, school, teacher, or subject.
    A full orchestra is on the horizon, but my primary focus is to grow the string orchestra as much as possible. With more students I can campaign for additional sections of the class. I would love for the school to eventually hire a full-time orchestra director and include strings in the feeder programs as well. For the last four years, we have been doubling in size. Ideally there will be a beginning strings class similar to Preparatory Band and a top orchestra to match the top concert band.
    My biggest struggle is my limited string playing and teaching experience. I have played in orchestras as a percussionist since high school, so orchestral repertoire is familiar. However, string players have a different perspective than a timpanist who may have a roll followed by 180 measures of rests. I had to become reacquainted with the fundamentals of technique and posture prior to teaching the course.
    Because I was primarily a band teacher, I had a pretty good grasp of what the classic band pieces were. However, orchestral repertoire goes back many more years and there are a huge number of options. I had no idea how to go about choosing music. I found some great string players to call with questions, including a former roommate who was a cellist. The first time a violin sound post fell, I spent an hour trying to fix the instrument before calling him. Through Skype he showed me how to fix it in a minute and a half.
    As an educator I want my students to experience different things. Orchestra has taught my band students something new, brought new students into the music program, and given them the joy and satisfaction of playing in a musical ensemble.    

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What are the perks of running the entire program yourself?
    One of the beautiful things is that I can control the instrumentation. I have the numbers to be able to select the instrumentation in the top group. The instrumentation of the younger bands may not be as good, but down the road I will switch some flute players to oboe or bassoon and trumpet players to euphonium or horn.
    I demonstrate instruments at the end of the school year for fourth graders. I start beginners on flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, trumpet, trombone, percussion, and, if there is a student physically large enough, tuba. I send information to parents, including a form they must sign. It indicates that the child will test for an appropriate instrument. I am always concerned when directors let students play any instrument they want without checking to see whether they will succeed on it. I had a student who transferred in as a clarinetist and walked in with a blue clarinet. I try to be cautious because I am at a private school where parents pay a lot of money for tuition, but I was not going to have that blue clarinet in my bandroom. It was never going to produce a good sound, so I quickly said to her parents, “I think she is overblowing this clarinet, but I see some potential. Do you mind if we look at bass clarinet? The mechanics are still the same, but she needs a bigger clarinet.” The student felt I was selecting her for something special, and I got the blue clarinet out of my band room.
    I start thinking about switching students in seventh grade. This means finding someone with the right personality for the new instrument. I have approached some students who adamantly refuse to switch. Those who do not immediately refuse I ask to think about it, and sometimes it opens up a whole new world for them. You can see they are having more fun playing the new instrument than they ever were the old one. This happened this year with a ninth grade trumpeter who started band late and is not in the Symphonic Band. I approached him in March and said, “Your trumpet playing is going well, but I see the possibility of you being a horn player. Things in your embouchure make me think you could do well as a hornist, and I think it could propel you into Symphonic Band next year.” He asked what his chances were of making the Symphonic Band on trumpet, and I told him truthfully he wasn’t quite there yet. He decided to try horn.
    Within a few minutes he started getting the partials down. By April he was already a better hornist than he was ever going to be a trumpet player. He asked if he could still play trumpet in jazz band, so I put him on the low trumpet parts to avoid hindering his work on horn. The same thing happened with me. I was originally a trumpet player who switched, and after making the move did not touch a trumpet again until a college methods class. I started to enjoy playing it and bought an old trumpet just to have available to play again. My daughter is following the same path from trumpet to horn.
    Some students take longer to realize that switching was a good choice. I had a young man who graduated valedictorian of the school and is now a music education major at the University of Mobile. He came to me in middle school as a trumpet player. He had a nasal sound that was never really open. He could understand any of the music, but struggled physically to get to F5. At the end of his eighth grade year, I said to him, “You are a tuba player. How did you ever end up on trumpet?” He switched but told me several times during his freshmen year that he was not enjoying the tuba. I asked him to give it time and he eventually passed another student who had played tuba since fifth grade. He made all-state his senior year and loved the tuba in the end.

How do you teach beginners?
    While in St. Louis. I learned a great lesson from Bob Schmiehausen, the band director at Chaminade Academy. He told me, “Find a good method book, and when you work an exercise, do not go to the next one until the first is perfect. When you start doing that, every time you begin something new, your students know that they are going to work on it until they can play it perfectly.”
    Sometimes daily, sometimes every other day, I pick an exercise for the beginners that has a new fundamental, such as a new note or dynamic marking, and often spend the entire period on it. I will announce that we will sightread the exercise in two-measure sections. It is essential to train students properly from the start. I teach beginners how to sightread using exercises in the method book. I ask who can play the first two measures and might have five students raise their hands. I have one play the first two measures and another play the next two; soon the entire exercise is played close to perfectly, but only by four students.
    I then expand on that. If the student who played the first two measures is a flutist, I have all the flutes play the first two measures. The other two-bar chunks will be played by the sections of those soloists, so soon the whole band is playing some portion of the exercise. The next day, it is amazing how many students can play the entire exercise. They heard the measures played, and all they had to do was learn a few more measures at home. This approach makes it possible to move through a method book quickly. Students often learn from each other better than they will from me. I can show students how to play something, but it lights a fire under them if they hear another student do it. They want to be the one who gets called on to demonstrate in class. When students are called on consistently to demonstrate, they always want to play at that level.
    Because my program is under one roof, younger students hear what the older ones are doing in the higher-level ensembles. For directors who teach at multiple schools, it takes some creativity to get older students working with younger ones. Once a semester, take the top high school students to the middle school to sit in and play with the band.

What are the most difficult parts of being on your own?
    If my top band cannot play the music I want to conduct, I have no one to blame but myself. I get frustrated when I hear about band programs where the middle schools are struggling but the high school director complains instead of going to the middle school to help and get to know the younger students.
    Running the entire band program yourself means making difficult decisions on what the program will do best. That means if you focus on having the concert band play exceptional music, you may not be able to have a jazz program or the marching band might not attend competitions.

How do you handle marching band?
    Originally, the jazz band played at football games. They played the national anthem and fight song and jazz tunes and built up their chops and repertoire. We recently changed athletic conferences from one that was strictly private schools to one with public schools. In the old conference there was no pressure to form a marching band because some of the schools did not even have band programs. With the public school conference, we had to look at marching band and decide what would work for football games.
    Rather than a marching band, we created an extracurricular drum and bugle corps consisting of the brass and percussion players from the symphonic band, and some woodwind players who learn brass instruments or percussion to join the group. I borrowed the idea from the University of Mobile, which has a similar ensemble. The percussion is set in a concert setting behind the brass. The brass do horn flashes and other such choreography, and they move around to let featured sections be in front. We usually have a drum feature.
    A couple years ago I had an extremely talented percussionist capable of sightreading four-mallet pieces without missing much. I arranged Flight of the Bumblebee as a percussion feature for the ensemble. The brass played an opening fanfare and then moved off to the side as my percussionist took off his snare drum while a couple parents rolled in a xylophone. After the solo, the brass moved back into concert formation, and the show continued. The group does not actually go on the field but performs in front of the stands.

What are the obstacles to running a full marching band?
    The primary reason we do not have a marching band is the cost. There are bands in the area that spend $80,000 on their halftime show. I don’t have that money and cannot put on a show that will look and sound as good as an $80,000 one. The expenses add up quickly when factoring in writing a show, guard equipment, and charting. I do think money some people spend on marching band might be better placed. To spend six figures on a halftime show but have concert band equipment fall into disrepair is no good.  
    Another reason we don’t have a marching band is that I teach more than 220 students by myself. I have to set priorities. Our school is K-12th grade with 2,000 students. I teach all levels of band from fifth grade up. That load includes all-state, solo and ensemble for all levels, two jazz bands, and a percussion ensemble. Few of my students even have the money to take private lessons; the responsibility to teach them falls on me.
    When people ask why we don’t have a marching band, I tell them to look at what the program offers and the success we have had. Some students would love to try marching band, but others would quit because they just want to play their instruments. It is unusual, but it has helped our program. With the lack of funding and manpower, I have to figure out how to compete with the public schools. If it means that we don’t march but the rest of the program is competitive, then that’s what we will do. The high school group, according to state qualifications, should only be able to play grade 2 and 3 music, but actually plays grade 4 and 5 music. Last year they played Chance’s Incantation and Dance and Holsinger’s Liturgical Dances. This year they played Ticheli’s Vesuvius, Gillingham’s Century Variants, and Holsinger’s Quiet River.

• • •

Structuring the Program
Lower Bands
Placement is by ability and not grade level.  There are four levels of band from fifth grade through high school. The beginner group has 40 students who are primarily fifth graders with a few sixth graders who were not in band the previous year. They work from the first method book all year.
The next level up is Concert Band 2. It is primarily sixth graders with a few seventh and eighth graders and the occasional ninth grader who plays at a second-year level. Concert Band 2 works through book two and goes into book three. If students finish book two and get into book three, they will move up to Concert Band 1. If they are still in book two because of poor practice habits or struggles, they spend another year in Concert Band 2. I don’t make them go back to the beginning of the book, but they continue where they left off. Some advanced students are promoted in the middle of the year.
Concert Band 1 is basically a strong middle school program with 60 students who are mostly seventh and eighth graders. It is rare for me to have anybody beyond ninth grade. I once had a senior who never made it into the Symphonic Band. He loved band, but just never made it into the top group. It made contest classification interesting as there is no category for ensembles with mostly middle school students plus one high school senior.

Symphonic Band
    The Symphonic Band is entirely high school students, but not all of my high school students, as some are still in the lower groups. No one gets into the Symphonic Band just by grade level. In too many schools high school students are automatically in the top band, even if the playing ability is not there. This either frustrates a struggling student or brings the playing ability of the band down.
    To get into the Symphonic Band, students have to play all twelve major scales from memory. Those who play flute, clarinet, or percussion have to play them in two octaves, which is consistent with all-state requirements. I have all students prepare the all-state etudes, as well. I do not require students to audition for all-state; I pick those who are ready and offer them the opportunity. I don’t want my students to waste the judges’ time, although I will permit students who are right on the edge to try. I want them to know what it is like to audition so they are more prepared next year. 
    Students do not have to participate in solo and ensemble contests, but to make sure everything is progressing, I devote a great deal of rehearsal time to practice on ensembles and solos. If I have ten flute players, but only four will play in the contest, I don’t want the other six twiddling their thumbs during rehearsals. To avoid this, I require every student to prepare a solo in the spring. For students who do not participate in  the solo and ensemble contest, I set aside a day for them to perform for me.
    If students meet the requirements – the major scales, exercises, and solos – then they are considered for Symphonic Band. Once students are in the top band, it is necessary to maintain their skills. It has been a while since I did this, but one year I moved six students down from Symphonic Band to Concert Band 1. It woke up everyone else and let them know they had to keep earning their spot. I want it to be an honor to get into the Symphonic Band.

Other Opportunities
    I encourage students to get involved musically in their churches. Growing up, I had good friends who played horn and belonged to a big Baptist church in town. One Sunday I accompanied them to church and was asked to bring my horn because they played in the church orchestra. I joined this group and soon learned why they sightread so well. The music director handed out music each week for the next service, and they had to have it ready to go for the sake of the choir. This music director would also periodically say, “We don’t have any trombones this week, so horns, you have to read a trombone part.” I learned how to transpose by sight. The services were televised, which created additional pressure. Because I learned so much from this experience, I let local churches know when students in their congregations are musically ready to participate in services. The students who do this dramatically improve because they perform every Sunday.

• • •

Covering Bassoon Parts
    I only have one bassoonist in the Symphonic Band this year, so I occasionally give parts to my bari sax player to help out. I fooled all the judges at our state performance this year on a David Gillingham number that had two sections with meaty bassoon parts. I had given the bari player the bassoon parts and a silk scarf to put over his bell while playing them, a trick I learned from a local saxophonist who had done quite a bit of classical playing. A strong bari sax player can overtake even an entire tuba section, but laying a silk scarf over the bari bell will soften the sound enough that it can be difficult to tell what instrument is playing. It has to be silk, not cotton, and it works especially well when covering technical bassoon parts. After receiving the judges’ tapes I played them for the band and stopped at that section. Every judge commented on how good the bassoon sounded. My bassoonist beamed, but I told him he ought to thank his back-up player, who probably put out more volume than he did.

• • •

    David Pryor has been teaching for 24 years, including the last 16 at Faith Academy. He has taught in Louisiana, Missouri, and Alabama. Pryor is a graduate of Loyola University in New Orleans and studied conducting under Lacey Powell, Joseph Hebert and Joe Barry Mullins. He was awarded the Citation of Honor in 2005 from the NBA. He was also named Faith Academy Teacher of the Year in 1998. Pryor is actively involved in St. Mary’s Catholic Parish and was head of religious education for the parish. He is also a member of the Mobile Singing Children staff, as well as numerous professional organizations. He and his wife Caroline have one daughter, Virginia, who attends Faith Academy.

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The closer to the performance, the more you play.
    While picky rehearsals with lots of stops are beneficial when first learning a piece, or even when working on details later, rehearsals that take place within the week of the performance should focus on building confidence through repetition and playing big chunks of music. This creates a greater sense of continuity.
    After playing through large portions of the music, go back and address problems that cropped up. Only a few should be dealt with at a time before playing through the music again. In other words, don’t play through a long passage and then proceed to read a laundry list of problems. Prioritize, address, play through, and then repeat this process as needed.
    If preparing a typical contest or concert  program of three or more selections, try to touch on something from each piece each day. From day to day, vary the order in which selections are rehearsed so the band does not always start with the same piece. Leading into the performance, the idea is to cover as much of the music as possible while still addressing and problems.
    In the history of school music there have been few perfect performances. Playing large portions of the music without stopping helps students learn to continue playing even when they make mistakes.

Change the Focus
    Early rehearsals are about the big picture; students learn to play the right notes, observe correct rhythms, and build in dynamics and balance. As the performance date draws near, students can become complacent. This usually manifests itself in careless mistakes, often in passages that have been fine for weeks. Suddenly there are wrong notes, random bad sounds, and early entrances.
    Students become comfortable with their parts and sometimes mentally fatigued from focusing on the same elements of the music over a long period of time. Make the music fresh again through a change in focus. A week or two before the concert, work primarily on artistic elements, assuming, of course, that the technical problems are well in hand. These can include phrasing, nuance, implied dynamic changes, and shaping.

Don’t Overreact
    As students achieve greater mastery of their parts and the music becomes more transparent, it becomes easier to hear individual mistakes, even small ones. Some directors feel like they are playing the arcade game Whack-A-Mole when trying to deal with one mistake and three others pop up.
    While it is important to address problems, overreacting raises the level of tension in the room, which leads to more mistakes. One suggestion is to approach the rehearsal as if you are a clinician for someone else’s group. By removing, or at least suppressing, the emotional investment, directors are better able to help the group improve.

Humor
    Humor can be a wonderful release valve when tensions run high. When I sense that my band is letting stress affect their performance, I tell a joke or a funny story. An icebreaker acts as a reset button and allows students to clear their minds and bring their focus back to playing music instead of worrying about mistakes.

Breathing
    Finally, when students are tense, it can be visible in the necks, shoulders, and even faces of ensemble members as they play. As they progress through a selection, wind players tend to take shallower and quicker breaths, leading to even more tension.
    Tell students to start all notes with a full, relaxed breath and encourage them to play complete phrases and then fully replenish their air. In extreme cases, directors should stop the ensemble and do a simple breathing exercise such as inhaling for 2 counts and then blowing a focused airstream to the palm of the hand for 4-8 counts. A sigh also tends to relax the body and serves as a quick reminder for proper breathing technique (deep breath in and turn the air around immediately).
    If brass players start to crack entrances as a performance draws near, have them practice starting notes at entrances with air only, no articulation. This forces them to think more about centering the notes. Once they can start the note with air only and with a centered sound free of cracks, have them put back in the articulation.
    By reducing tension and anxiety in the rehearsals that lead up to performances, directors allow students to focus on making music rather than just trying to avoid mistakes.  

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Appearance
    Appearance is an important factor in the public’s perception of someone as a professional, and most would agree that the old adage “dress for success” applies to any profession. Band directors routinely put careful thought into how students dress in preparation for public performances but should also be sure to give their appearance the same consideration. I recently attended a high school football game where a visiting band was in attendance. Though the band was in full uniform, the director was wearing faded denim jeans, a wrinkled polo shirt with the shirttail hanging out, and a backwards-facing baseball cap. The young man was the worst-dressed person on the sideline during the game and halftime show.
    Your appearance can exude confidence as well as help give you credibility in everything you do. Music teachers should dress to enhance their authority as well as display respect for the band program and school.
    I fondly recall my concert debut many years ago as a first-year high school band director. My parents were in attendance, and after the students and audience had departed, I asked my parents what they thought of the performance. Both agreed that the band sounded great, but my mother was quick to express disappointment in my appearance, commenting that the back of my suit coat was wrinkled and the cuff of one of my pants legs occasionally caught on the back of my shoe. I never again took my coat off the hanger until I was ready to walk on stage, and I always made sure that the length of my pants was appropriate. Whenever you appear in public as a band director, realize that some people will spend as much time evaluating your appearance as they will listening to your ensemble’s music.
    At some schools it can be difficult to tell the teachers from the students or maintenance staff. The attire worn by some teachers at a school I recently visited was more appropriate for yard work than for teaching. Although informality has become accepted in many school settings, I always believed that whenever I was on duty as a band director, I had the responsibility to dress in a way that projected a serious, professional image to my students and the public. I always wore a coat and tie when meeting with administrators or parents or speaking at school board or booster club meetings. For outdoor marching band rehearsals I usually wore what was appropriate for the weather, and if I wore jeans or shorts, they were paired with shirts, jackets and caps with the school or band logo. At marching band performances I often wore dress pants, a dress shirt and tie, and a school jacket or sport coat. For summer performances, I also considered khaki pants or shorts and a polo shirt with a band logo to be acceptable. Some may view my approach as old-fashioned, but there was never a doubt in any observer’s mind about who the band director was, or whether I took my job seriously.

Writing
    Effective communication skills, including the ability to be clear, concise, and accurate with all types of communication, are essential for any professional. Carefully proof all written material, including personal letters, handouts, concert programs, ensemble schedules, newsletters, and handbooks, before distributing them. When my children were in high school, I often found it disheartening that some teachers seemed to have little concern regarding the quality of their writing. Weak writing skills make a poor impression on students and a negative statement to parents about the quality of the school. School instrumental music directors are viewed as educators first, and their writing skills should reflect that. Distributing written materials with improper grammar, typographical errors, and incorrect information is simply unacceptable.
    Creating good writing begins by determining the primary audience (students, administrators, the community) and the tone that will best convey the message effectively. Determine what information should be expressed. Gather all the pertinent facts, including times, dates, and locations, and double check them for accuracy. Consider setting aside a specific time each day or week to write your communications. Initially allow thoughts to flow as quickly as possible, saying what needs to be said without concern for format or correctness. Then revise for content, with the aim of clear, concise, and accurate communication. Be sure information is presented in an appropriate sequence and appropriate style with sentences that flow. Maintain a professional tone and avoid slang, contractions, repeated words, and unnecessary information. Finally, proofread for content errors, awkward sentences, and typographical errors. Be organized and observe all rules of grammar. It may help to read aloud as a final review before distributing. Although this approach may seem time consuming, with a little practice, anyone can create high-quality written materials in a quick, efficient manner.

Speaking and Listening
    Oral communication skills are equally important in rehearsals and when interacting with the public. For conductors, non-verbal communication is especially vital, but they should be skilled speakers as well. When attending concerts, I enjoy when a conductor turns to the audience and offers comments about the music or the students, but there have been times when I have left a performance thinking that the band director’s poor speaking skills were actually a detriment to the evening. On one occasion at a high school band concert, the director began the performance by informing the audience that the reason a printed program had not been distributed was because he had failed to give it to the school secretary in time to have it copied. He then proceeded to read the program material to us prior to each selection, in a barely audible, somewhat halting, monotone voice – without a microphone. Rather than use this as an opportunity to connect with the audience in a personal manner while conveying a sincere appreciation for the music, the director bored the audience and embarrassed himself through his weak public speaking skills.
    Music educators frequently record their ensembles to evaluate performances, so consider doing the same to evaluate speaking abilities. Record rehearsals, booster club meetings, and concerts, and evaluate your speaking skills as thoroughly as the music. The secret to good public speaking is to sound natural, confident, sincere, and enthusiastic; speaking in a conversational manner with the same pace, pauses, inflection, and emphasis as when you have an animated conversation with friends. Make eye contact with your audience and only occasionally refer to any notes. Appropriate hand gestures will help emphasize points or direct attention. Project your voice to the back of the room or use a microphone if necessary. Also work to eliminate such filler words as “like,” “uh,” and “um.” Be personable and authentic, and allow both passion for the music and knowledge of the art form to be on display.
    Listening is another important aspect of effective communication. If your listening skills in conversations are less keen than your music listening skills, it will be necessary to work on becoming a better listener. Look people in the eyes when they speak, and avoid interrupting others or finishing their sentences. People will communicate more sincerely if they believe that you value what they have to say.

Body Language
    Although instrumental music educators study conducting and work hard to hone the skills required to lead their ensembles, it is important to consider the visual images projected when you are off the podium. As an adjudicator, I can usually guess the mood or confidence level of a director based on body language. Occasionally, I have even been able to predict what I am about to see and hear. Directors that appear to be tense or upset often have ensembles that look nervous and play tentatively, while directors who appear relaxed and confident often lead students who reflect those images through their performance. If an adjudicator who has never met you can sense this, rest assured that students and audiences sense it as well.
    Facial expressions are important. If you want your audience to enjoy the performance, and your students to feel confident, convey a pleasant demeanor with a natural smile when appropriate. Exude confidence while entering the stage or outdoor performance area by standing tall with your head up. If you are on the sideline at a football game or marching band competition, avoid nervously swaying back and forth or pacing the sideline. Ask someone to make a video recording of your rehearsals and performances, and when reviewing it, mute the sound and observe your body language. Always strive to convey confidence, energy, enthusiasm, professionalism, and control.

Behavior
    A professional image is also conveyed to students and others through behavior, including appropriate manners. Strive to be thought of as someone with high standards, and consider developing a personal code of ethics. This can encompass many things, but as a music educator, developing the ability to demonstrate on a regular basis that you are an honest person with integrity and character, who values others for who they are, appreciates people for what they do, and respects individuals for what they believe, can make a powerful statement about professionalism.
    Music teachers should always remember that students and parents form impressions whenever they are around you, not just when you step in front of an ensemble. Every comment, gesture, or expression projected may be seen and evaluated by someone. For example, I have known people who routinely made negative comments about fellow teachers, administrators, or school policies in front of students and parents. Rather than addressing problems in private, they appeared to enjoy complaining to others. Everyone is entitled to opinions, but as an educator and school employee, it is important to understand that those opinions should rarely be aired publicly, because as soon as they are stated, they become public knowledge. Negative statements about people have a way of getting back to them, and often in a much worse way then intended. A professional should always view himself as a reflection of both the school district and the entire music education profession. Demonstrate loyalty and respect for students, employers, policies, and colleagues. We should never allow our actions to mislead students that anything less is acceptable in any profession.
    Instrumental music educators routinely spend more time with their students than teachers of other subjects, thus the teacher-student relationship can often become less formal. However, it is still a priority to maintain professional relationships with students and their parents at all times in school, social, and public settings. Know the boundaries and never cross them. It is unfortunate when promising careers are derailed by inappropriate actions or comments. Also limit social media interaction with students, and avoid getting involved with the day-to-day gossip of your school or community.
    I often see high school and college students who lack basic etiquette in social settings. Manners should be learned at home, but students can also learn these by observing us. Simple things such as saying “please” and “thank you,” opening a door for someone, making appropriate introductions, offering sincere greetings, expressing sympathy, displaying
proper table manners, or looking someone in the eyes when shaking their hand all say a great deal about a person.
    Make it a priority to learn students’ names quickly, and call them by name whenever you interact with them. I have observed marching band rehearsals where directors have identified students as “the trumpet player on the 45 yard line” or “the flute player in the blue shorts.” Students appreciate being called by name; it creates the sense that you value them as a person, not just as a band member. Learn parents’ names as well.

Attitude
    Nineteenth century American essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” In music education, that sentiment certainly holds true, as enthusiasm for music by an educator often generates more enthusiasm from students. The best music educators I have known consistently demonstrated an enthusiastic, passionate approach to music. It is not surprising that they were the leaders of some of the finest music programs as well.
    Professionals handle both success and disappointment well. For a musician, there is nothing more gratifying than a great performance. It is exhilarating to know that hours of preparation have culminated in something special. Conversely, it can be frustrating when the long hours of hard work result in a lesser-quality performance or lower rankings than expected in competitions. How educators react to these situations is a true display of their professionalism. I have witnessed both ends of the spectrum in recent years. As a band parent in the audience observing an awards ceremony at a marching competition, I saw a director react to a first place rating in such a dramatic manner that some in the audience joked that he must have also won the lottery. At another competition, I saw a band director who appeared considerably less elated during the awards ceremony. Apparently his band had not scored as high as he expected. It was obvious that he was upset, and his students appeared to be extremely disappointed, some even wiping away tears. I had seen this band on other occasions and, from my observations, the group had improved throughout the season. In fact, I felt that this performance was the best I had seen from them. As we left the stadium that evening, my wife and I both wondered how this director might address his students’ disappointment. We soon found out when we witnessed him screaming at his students about their lack of dedication as they stood at attention in the parking lot. Needless to say, this sad public display did nothing to address the band members’ disappointment. In fact, I could only imagine that it left many students wondering if band participation was really worth the effort.
    When dealing with success and disappointment, I have often reflected on the story of New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig. Though he was one of the greatest to ever play the game, receiving numerous awards and recognition, those who knew him claimed that one of his greatest attributes was his character, specifically his humility. In situations where others might bask in the glow of victory and fan adulation with overt displays of celebration and arrogance, as we often see in sports today, he viewed personal success as nothing more than the result of hard work, his passion for the game, and the support of his teammates. Team victories were celebrated with smiles, hugs, and handshakes, but also with the understanding that today’s success, coupled with tomorrow’s continued dedication and passion for the game, would be ingredients for future success. After being diagnosed with the disease that would soon end his life, Gehrig appeared in uniform for the last time in Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939 for Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day. After testimonials from various dignitaries and tearful Yankees manager Joe McCarthy, Gehrig addressed the disappointed Yankee faithful with the now-famous speech that included the comments, “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.” Gehrig was able to find good in a tragic situation, while demonstrating to his heartbroken fans and teammates how to deal with a major disappointment.
    I always asked students to react to success in a way that reflected a belief that through continued effort they would have an opportunity to experience further success, and when facing disappointment I encouraged them to consider how fortunate they were to be a part of a special organization that allowed them to share with others their gift of making music. I also reminded them that although we might put great emphasis on the scoring or ranking at a band competition, those results never defined us. They were simply based on adjudicators’ opinions of our performance at that particular moment in time, compared with other ensembles in attendance. If we had not given our best effort during the journey or at the performance, then disappointment would be appropriate, as would a thorough evaluation of the program. However, if we knew we had prepared and performed to the best of our abilities, then we should have pride in the efforts, and replace the disappointment with renewed determination to continue improving.
    Such sentiments have been echoed in communications from former students. Although trophies and top rankings were exciting at the time they were earned, I find students rarely mention these now. It appears that it truly was the journey where the life-long lessons were learned and the lasting memories made. So, on those special days when you unexpectedly hear from former students, do not be disappointed if they fail to mention the ratings or awards. Perhaps, through the professional manner in which you shared your love of music, you taught them things that are much more important.

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