March 2019 Archives - The Instrumentalist

2019 Directory of Summer Camps

theinstrumenta — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 01:54:19 +0000

Photo courtesy of International Music Camp

home page photo courtesy of Camp Encore Coda

This is the 73rd annual summer music camp directory published by The Instrumentalist. Student camps are marked as S. Programs for college and graduate students and directors are marked with an A for adult. Camps are listed alphabetically by state. Within each state, student camps are listed first, then programs with offerings for both students and adults, and then those for adults only. You may link to the online version on your social media –

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Perfectionism Versus Fun

theinstrumenta — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 01:03:30 +0000

I wrote a piece for concert band once. It was called Dance of the Small Woodland Creatures, and it was a short, up-tempo tune that kept repeating the same melody, but with more instruments added each time. There was a brief section that got darker, which was designed to indicate some sort of predator animal (represented by low horns and untuned timpani) stalking all the small woodland creatures, culminating in the capture and demise of an unfortunate piccolo. Following this was a two-bar hymn-like section before a return to the cheerful major theme and a quick ending.
My composition sat untouched in a drawer for years as I never felt it was good enough to do anything with. It turns out that it is just as well that it did. A decade later while at the middle school band concert of a friend’s son, I learned that I had subconsciously stolen my tune’s melody from James Swearingen. The name of the Swearingen piece escapes me, but I must have played it when I was in middle or high school and gotten the melody stashed away in a dark corner of my mind.
Michael Fleischmann’s efforts to bring elements of composing into his ensemble classes (see page 12) reminded me of my past attempts, and I can relate to his students’ reactions. I was rarely the type of student to shy away from trying something new, but I was also the type of student to want to know exactly what I had to do to earn an A, which was – at the time – more important to me than having fun. My perfectionism probably had much to do with why I never showed my work to anyone. The Creative Music Strategy ideas Fleischmann incorporates are a great way for students to compose and have fun doing so. It makes me want to try writing some band music again – but with an original melody this time rather than something I accidentally borrow. I think it will be fun, and isn’t that a big part of why we make music?

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Tenor Sax Tips

theinstrumenta — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 01:00:39 +0000

The tenor saxophone is a familiar sight in rehearsal rooms and stages, and it is also one of the most recognizable instruments to non-musicians. However, it is often overlooked in teaching and incorrectly equated with the alto rather than treated as the unique, multi-faceted voice that it truly is.

The Tenor Player
In truth, there is no such thing as an alto saxophone player or a baritone saxophone player. All saxophonists are fully capable of playing any member of the family, and students should be encouraged to do just that for the sake of their flexibility and their continued playing once their school days are done. However, there are students who are drawn to specific voices in the family, and the tenor has loyal adherents.
There are few things that might hold a student back as a tenor player. The chief concern is height. Programs that begin in fifth or sixth grade should avoid starting students on tenor because the instrument is too large for most ten- and eleven-year-olds to hold and play comfortably. Instead, start students in these grades on alto. The tenor is best introduced in seventh or eighth grade, when most students will have grown enough that the instrument will be manageable. A student does not need to be of above average height, just tall enough to hold and play the instrument without strange contortions or unnatural posture.

Equipment
Many misunderstandings revolve around tenor equipment. Most manufacturers make at least two models of neckstrap: One for sopranos and altos, and another for tenors and baritones. Be sure a tenor player’s neckstrap is designed for tenor sax. All the weight of the instrument should be supported by the strap; the hands should not support the instrument. Proper sound and technique hinge on this.
There are two common mistakes made with tenor mouthpieces. The first is using a jazz mouthpiece for everything. This causes problems in concert band, in which the role of the tenor is often to blend and provide tonal color, not to stick out. The other mouthpiece problem is the assumption that a popular facing or tip opening for alto will work equally well on tenor. This is rarely the case. Tenor sax mouthpiece models suitable for concert band playing include the Vandoren Optimum TL3, the Vandoren V5 T20, and the Selmer Soloist C**. Many professionals play on one of these options. A strength 3 Vandoren traditional or D’Addario Reserve complete an easy-to-play setup.
Mouthpieces for jazz playing are another matter. Students with a burgeoning interest in jazz might look at metal mouthpieces similar to those used by past famous tenor players. While these are the choice of many professionals, they are quite difficult to play on. Instead, a high-quality hard-rubber jazz mouthpiece is best for many students and schools. Moderate facings by established brands are reliable and can be bought for reasonable prices. An Otto Link hard rubber 6 or a Vandoren V16 T6 will admirably serve the needs of most young jazzers.
To navigate the many saxophone brands available, two rules of thumb apply: If the deal is too good to be true, it is, and if you’ve never heard of the brand, it may not be worth the money. There are many vintage saxophone enthusiasts, but modern saxophones, thanks to improvements in acoustics, intonation, and ergonomics, are the finest ever made. High-quality brands such as Selmer Paris, Yanagisawa, and Yamaha remain the gold standard for all saxophones.
Beware of students pulling down on the tenor’s neck while playing. Although this is correct technique, the architecture of the tenor’s curvaceous neck means that downward pressure can wear on faulty or aging soldering on the neck socket, causing leaks and intonation problems. Directors should keep an eye out for any school- or student-owned horns with necks that are starting to droop. This problem can easily be solved by a repair technician.

Tenor Tone
There is no shortage of excellent tenor role models, including such familiar jazz musicians as John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Dexter Gordon, and Chris Potter. However, concert tenor playing calls for a different set of role models who may be less familiar to directors and students. One of the most prominent advocates of the tenor as a classical instrument in the last half century has been the American soloist and teacher James Houlik. Much literature for the instrument has been written for him. He teaches at Duquesne University, and many wonderful examples of his playing exist online. Other wonderful tonal role models for students include Stephen Pollock, tenor saxophonist of the New Century Quartet and a student of Houlik’s. In addition, Matthew Levy of the PRISM Quartet has long been one of the finest tenor players in this country and has a velvety, dark, rich sound.
Even many marquee saxophonists associated with the alto and soprano have made excellent, characteristic recordings on the tenor, including Paris Conservatory professor Claude Delangle and Amsterdam Conservatory professor Arno Bornkamp, who for many years has been tenor saxophonist of the Aurelia Quartet. Perhaps the finest of the new breed of classical tenor players is Jonathan Nichol, professor of saxophone at the University of Oklahoma and tenor chair in the H2 quartet.
Students should listen to all of these fine players as much as possible to establish a mental baseline of a great tenor sound. Then, a regime of long-tones, intonation work, and overtone exercises should be commenced.

Articulation
One problem that tends to plague tenor players is faulty articulation. Quite often, the instrument is guilty of slaps and thuds aplenty. This is caused by a misunderstanding of saxophone articulatory technique. The ta articulation is rarely advisable on saxophone, and it can often lead to many problems, especially in the larger horns. Instead, a ti syllable is much more desirable for all saxophones, especially the tenor. It helps with accuracy and lessens the amount of tongue hitting the reed.
Saxophonists should avoid articulating with the airstream. Tenor players who use a huff-and-puff approach will be doomed to failure, as the size of the instrument makes starting and stopping the sound through the breath a nearly impossible task.

Literature
While the tenor literature still lags behind that for alto, there are many exciting new pieces for the instrument being penned, including a sizable body of classic literature for students. No band room or young devotee of the instrument should be without Larry Teal’s Solos for the Tenor Saxophone Player, a large collection of transcriptions with piano accompaniment for players of many levels. Himie Voxman’s Concert and Contest Collection contains many pieces found on solo and ensemble lists throughout the country. Original pieces by Jean-Baptiste Singelee add a unique Romantic challenge for advancing players. Other avenues where the tenor can shine are, of course, the jazz band and the saxophone quartet. In both settings, the instrument is often utilized admirably, with juicy parts for the instrument. This can help assuage the all-too-often underutilization of the tenor in all but the most advanced band literature.

Conclusion
The tenor is a vital, unique voice in the saxophone family that is loved by its adherents but sometimes ignored or treated far too much like the alto. It is its own animal, and a loyal friend to those who respect it.

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Lessons from Beginners

theinstrumenta — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:54:08 +0000

Finding effective teaching strategies can often be a challenge for those who teach beginning and intermediate band. Working with classes of mixed instrumentation, including combinations of different woodwind, brass, and percussion during the same class period can exacerbate these challenges. This is especially true with the beginning band class, as the combination of mixed instruments and student dependency may often overwhelm the director. To assist with these challenges, the director should reach out to parents for help.
Shinichi Suzuki was noted for promoting many pedagogical ideas to make students better musicians. Some of these suggestions include simply surrounding the child with good music to help influence student understanding. Another component that many string music educators are familiar with is to include the parents to supervise and participate in the child’s music learning, especially at home. Band directors might find some benefit with this method, which will provide benefits not only to the student who is trying to learn the instrument but also to the relationship between that student and their parent.
My son, Timothy, came home at the end of his fifth-grade year with a note from the local band director recommending that he be allowed to participate in band next year on bassoon. The note mentioned that while my son scored highly on his first attempt on saxophone and trumpet, the director was especially impressed with his interest and proficiency on bassoon.
Even as a music educator, my first reaction was a bit reserved when I read that. During my undergraduate years I took all of the methods classes required for music education majors, but I was never required to learn bassoon because of a shortage of available instruments. Needless to say, I was concerned that I might not be able to assist my son as I had originally hoped to do.
To overcome this deficiency, I borrowed one of my school-owned instruments to begin learning how to play it. Within less than a minute I realized how cumbersome assembling the bassoon was. Memories of my woodwind techniques professor warning us about assembling woodwind instruments and the dangers of bending keys, especially when joining two joints together, we quickly remembered. Before I could break something, I shut the case. I decided to bring the instrument home and ask my son to help me assemble it.
When I brought my instrument home my son’s first reaction was that we were going to play duets together. I had to remind him that my proficiency was not exactly up to par with his (he had a few lessons over sumer before starting sixth grade) and that any duets that we might eventually play would probably be reserved to his father playing poor sounding drones to his quarter notes and half notes. Nonetheless, Timothy almost immediately asked if we could play together. Noting his interest, I agreed and promptly opened the case. My fear of putting the instrument together returned, but this time I asked him to show me how he did it, as I was curious to see what he had learned.

I was impressed with my son’s pedagogy as he explained not only how to put the instrument together, but also some of the concerns with the instrument’s assembly. Once the instrument was put together, he then disassembled the instrument and told me it was my turn. I remember giving him a sarcastic smirk but then realized he was modeling the importance of correct instrument assembly, including some of the concerns when handling the instrument.
Once I was able to assemble the instrument, which took me a bit longer than it did my son, I asked him to show me how to get a sound from the reed. Although I did have experience with oboe, I wanted to have my son explain and demonstrate the steps that were necessary to achieve this. His explanation was followed by a short demonstration. Afterward, I followed his lead and produced a sound. While I was not overly impressed with the sound that I produced, my son was encouraging me similar to the way I encourage my students when they accomplish a task for the first time.
As the lesson progressed, I realized that not only was my ability to play bassoon improving, my son’s understanding of the fundamentals needed to play bassoon was also being enhanced because of his ability to teach what he had just learned himself. That summer I received a half dozen lessons from my son, and I can proudly say that I was able to perform an F major scale and accompany my son by playing drones along with some of the exercises from his method book.
While not every parent will have the ability to have a second instrument available for their child to teach them as my son did with me, finding a way to be engaged in the process may still be possible. For parents who do not have this ability, securing a second mouthpiece or an additional pair of mallets may be possible. This would allow the parent the ability to participate in sessions that are led by their child. Having the child teach the parent allows the student to not only recall those fundamentals needed to teach their parents, but it can reinforce good habits for the student musician themselves. During my summer lessons, I would often show my lack of understanding of some fingerings, especially when a new fingering was introduced, and my son would not only demonstrate using his instrument he would also mold my fingers to the correct position on my instrument. Parents who may lack complete musical understanding can take these opportunities and learn from their child. In these cases, the benefits obtained are reinforcing good habits of the child on their instrument, but also strengthening the relationship between the parent and child. For many parents, including myself, a greater appreciation and understanding of their child’s learning a complicated instrument was also accomplished.
During the school year, directors can continue to enhance these experiences by inviting parents to attend a class and demonstrate a miniature private lesson. They can also expand the curriculum to having the child teach music- and rhythm-reading. Although the benefits are greater if there are like instruments in a single class setting, the suggested method may provide the director with much-needed support, especially during the very early period of a child’s music instruction.

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Avoiding Everyday Disasters

theinstrumenta — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:49:06 +0000

It was the earliest marching band disaster of my career. We had an early start at a marching contest on a frosty morning in late October. We were the second band to perform, and as we entered the stadium it became apparent that the artificial surface was covered with a thin, slippery layer of ice. It was a nightmare. My students were afraid to even take a step for a fear of falling, and the performance showed it. (The band after us did have a marcher slip and fall.) If only I had thought to bring snowshoes. Seriously, though, I didn’t beat myself up about it. There really wasn’t anything I could do; I couldn’t have anticipated that, and I haven’t seen anything like it since. However, there are other everyday disasters I have avoided over the years using a little more smarts, planning, and experience. Maybe these tips will help you better avoid the everyday disasters looming in your future.
Get your act together. For more efficient mornings, get everything together the night before. Other family members should do this as well. Always put your car keys, smartphone, and wallet in the same place. Because I often carry my smartphone around the house, I have designated five places I am allowed to put it. Without fail, if I put it anywhere else, I waste precious time trying to find it.
If you do lose something, take a deep breath, relax, and retrace your steps from the last time you saw the item. Do not rule out any place as a possible option; I was once without my keys for three days because I thought there was no way they could be in the garage refrigerator, but when I finally looked, there they were. I had put them down when trying to extract a soda bottle from its plastic six-pack ring.
Search out the cool, uncluttered mind. When you encounter a difficult situation, ask for advice, but not always from someone with a great deal of band experience. Experienced minds carry a lot of clutter and can overlook obvious solutions because they quickly rule out possibilities prematurely perceived as impossible. I will pose a particularly difficult band problem to my wife, and she sometimes hits the jackpot with a solution I never would have thought of because frustration and a sense of hopelessness were clouding my thinking.
Just a little dab’ll do ya. Beginning brass players get their mouthpieces stuck all the time. Take time every week or two to have them apply cork grease to the shank of the mouthpiece. It might fall out a time or two, but that’s better than you wasting time trying to get it out.
Steady as she goes. When performing, do everything exactly the way you have rehearsed it. This applies particularly to concert band set-ups. I have had percussion sections set up on stage before contests differently than they had rehearsed all year because that’s the way the equipment was positioned when they arrived. I once saw a small band that followed a large band whose timpani player left the timpani back in the far corner, at least fifteen feet away from the band. Even slight shifts can have the tubas blocking the view of the bass drummer. I have even started taking my podium to contests because of the variation in heights of the ones provided or the complete absence of one in the sight-reading room.
It is never too late. The last thing I do before leaving on a band trip is take a final look at my checklist to make sure everything is marked off. One time I looked at the list ten minutes before departure and threw it away when there was one task left to do. On my way to finish, I quickly was distracted by another matter, leaving the final task undone.
Big Brother is watching you. I have my drum major stand by the door to double check every member as they exit the band room to make sure they have everything they need. Then I do a sweep of the whole band room to make sure nothing is left behind.
Take everything but the kitchen sink. I take extras of everything on major trips, space permitting: mouthpieces, reeds, instruments (one of each if possible), music, mallets, music stands, band hats, and other uniform parts.
Understudies aren’t just for drama class. When it comes to soloists, it is easy to put all your eggs in one basket, particularly as a marching or concert season progresses. Always have a back-up plan, and let the understudy practice with the group multiple times. In marching band, you can always transpose the solo for different instruments.
Say it again, Sam. There’s a part of me that feels like I am enabling students when I go to such great lengths to remind them of things, but I think the end result (having everyone there) is most important, so I am going to do whatever possible to make that happen. I post all-important information on the whiteboard in front of the class and by my office door, send group texts, post in Google classroom, and even pass out a hard copy to those who want them.
Know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em. One of the biggest everyday disasters waiting to happen is the unpredictable behavior of a problematic student. Just how patient should you be with a problem child? As a general rule, I am more patient with students in beginning band or in their first year of marching band because it takes some people longer than others to acclimate to high expectations. Another factor to consider is the “rotten apple” principle. Are they pulling others down with them? If so, quicker action may be needed.
Label everything. I love silver Sharpies. I label all school instrument cases with them and even student instruments when given permission. I use white mailing labels to label every percussion item that a silver Sharpie will not write on.
Save the best for last. I keep all the best auxiliary percussion items in my office and only pull them out a couple of weeks before a concert. Until then, the stuff we use is adequate, just not in tip-top shape.
Make it a clean sweep. Make sure your kids clean up the bus after band trips. It’s just the right thing to do, and besides, it makes the bus driver’s job easer; you’re also less likely to have difficulty finding a driver for the next trip.
The road less taken. Avoiding everyday disasters requires clear thinking and creativity. It may seem unlikely, but there is evidence that doing something differently than you normally would can increase your creativity. Something as simple as regularly taking a different way home from work can do the trick.
The heat is on. Without going into any detail here, make sure you have a plan for dealing with heat illness during marching season. (Find appropriate information at .)
It was just a little hiccup. Students who get hiccups in rehearsal can be quite a distraction. There is no sure-fire way to stop them, but there are some methods that experts say have a chance of working: Stick a finger in each ear. This stimulates the vagus nerve which runs from the brain to the abdomen and controls hiccups. Draw a line gently down the roof of the mouth with a cotton swab. The tickling stops the spasm that causes hiccups.
Pig out. If you are on a tight schedule and have a bunch of kids in a restaurant, tell them to order their desserts with their main meal instead of waiting until after.
Look out and up. Many trips are ruined when students get motion sickness on the bus. The key to avoiding motion sickness is to look out the window at a nonmoving target. The brain gets confused when the fluid in the ears shifts with the motion of the bus, yet the eyes perceive that one is sitting still; it then sends out stress hormones and the stomach contracts. Looking out the window at about a 45-degree angle may prevent this.
Keep it simple. To get your email more organized, create three folders: follow-up, pending, and archive. Put more pressing items in the follow-up folder, messages that don’t need immediate attention go in the pending folder, and items you might want to retrieve in the future go in the archive folder.
Play it smart. Don’t say anything in emails or texts that you don’t want in writing. Don’t write anything in anger. Don’t make unfavorable comments about someone else. Any texts to students should be infrequent, short, to the point, professional, and band-related.
First things first. Research from Princeton University shows that when we meet someone for the first time, we make judgments about a person’s attractiveness, likability, trustworthiness, competence, and aggressiveness within 1⁄10 of a second. When you meet for the first time, make a note of the person’s eye color; this eye contact will make you seem trustworthy. (Don’t look too long or you will come across as a creepy.) Use open body language with your arms uncrossed and your hands unclenched. Stand up when you meet someone new. Provide a firm, but not too firm handshake.
Sorry seems to be the hardest word. Don’t ruin an apology by making excuses, or shifting the blame. Say “I’m sorry” or “I apologize” and offer some solution to correct the wrong.
This article won’t prepare you for every disaster, so be ready for anything. If you experience an unexpected disaster, learn from it and take steps not to let it happen again. That is an easy way to cut your disasters by at least one half.

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Teaching Composition In Ensemble Classes

theinstrumenta — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:39:33 +0000

State and national standards can be difficult to incorporate into a large ensemble class. Rehearsal time is limited, and topics such as composition and improvisation are difficult to fit in. I reserved teaching composition for my music theory classes, and I only taught improvisation in my jazz ensembles. Finding ways to teach these concepts to the other 80-90% of my students seemed like a daunting task. My answer was enrolling in a graduate course structured around Leonore Pogonowski’s Creative Music Strategy.

On the first day of class we reviewed Gregorian chant by using improvisation and composition to better understand the music. We first listened to a piece of Gregorian Chant. As a class, we took turns discussing everything we heard, including guesses about the identity of the composer and piece. Without judgment, the instructor recorded all of our responses on the board, although some responses contradicted one another. We listened again and continued to spout out any and everything we thought we heard. Some discussion was necessary to address contradictions, but the instructor allowed us to lead the discussion and solve the problems on our own. We were fully engaged in the music from multiple angles, including historical context.
Next, we were randomly put into groups of four or five students and instructed to write a piece of music in the same style as the chant we just heard on the text Alleluia. We were given 15 minutes to finish the assignment. Each group went into a practice room to discuss various ways of writing a chant, including intervals, modes, rhythm, text, melismatic versus syllabic passages, contour, and form. We were using vocabulary together and collaborating with one another to better understand the music.
After 15 minutes, each group performed their compositions without interruption, and a teaching assistant recorded the event. As a class, we listened to each recorded composition one at a time. We debriefed, discussing what we heard and what we liked, and asked the composers questions about their music. The composers had the last word to discuss their process, how they arrived at their final product, what worked, what didn’t work, and what they might have done differently. Through dialogue, we were able to discuss what the composers’ intentions were and how they were achieved. The debriefing continued for each group.
We used this same approach every day in class, immersing ourselves into other genres of music through physical movement, composition, arranging, conducting, and improvisation. We were placed into new groups each time, and composed music for the combination of instruments available to our group. I was initially skeptical that these exercises would work with high school students who knew less than a class of graduate music students. I doubted that they could compose something meaningful in such a short amount of time. I was wrong.

First Activity: Reconstructing a Melody
I first tried the Creative Music Strategy lesson with my Wind Ensemble, an advanced ensemble consisting of mostly juniors and seniors. I told them we were going to write music in groups, but first, we needed inspiration, which was going to come from a piece we were working on. I transcribed two of the main themes for all instruments so we could play them in unison. We discussed aspects like contour, form, motivic design, variation, repetition, musical contrast, and tension and release. I led students through a brief analysis using relevant vocabulary I wanted them to learn. For example, one of the melodies I transcribed had a sequence in it, so I showed students how it worked with the intention of asking students to include one in their compositions.
I wanted students to start composing using the familiar material from the melody without actually calling it composing. I divided them into small groups and told them, “Take the melody and do something with it. Develop it. Turn it upside down.” They were not only going to engage in composition, but also arranging, orchestration, and improvisation. I showed the students some example videos from my graduate class so that they could see both the process and how the final product would look. Students had three days to come up with a 90-second composition.
During these three days I wandered between groups to answer questions and boost confidence of those students who thought the exercise was too difficult. Common questions were mostly theory related – how to add harmony or which notes to change to shift a melody from major to minor. Although some groups took to the independent work well, others were uncomfortable because they were accustomed to a structured, teacher-centered curriculum their entire musical career. Some students just wanted to be told what to do, and follow the directions of traditional notation, but the whole point of the exercise was that I wanted students to engage in the creative elements of music on their own, without restrictions.
After three days, students performed for each other. Some notated passages in traditional notation, which was not required, others scribbled down a basic framework, and some groups played from memory or winged it – a rehearsed improvisation. Examples of ways students changed the passage included variations in a minor key, using a variety of tempi, or only using a motivic kernel of the original source material to develop. Some students wrote harmonies, and one group came up with a clever ABA-form composition inspired by a rain storm. This particular group experimented with shifting from the parallel minor back to major, and used multiple percussion instruments and extended techniques on their wind instruments to simulate rain, wind, and thunder.
I recorded the performances and posted them to our Google classroom site. Immediately after the performances, we debriefed in a similar way to my graduate class. I started by asking whether students were surprised that they could do this. Most of them were, although a few of the more left-brained students – the ones prone to wanting to know exactly what they have to do to get an A – still felt it was a difficult project.
Other questions were designed to get encourage reflection on the music after we watched a recording of a composition:

• What did you what did you like about their composition?
• What didn’t you understand about it?
• What musical elements (sequence, major/minor tonality) could you hear in their composition?
• What do you think inspired the composition, and were the composers effective in conveying their intent?

After going through the questions as a group, the composers were engaged in a good cross dialogue with their peers. Some things I would ask the composers to share included:

• Tell us what you did.
• How did you start?
• What were your inspirations?
• What surprised you during the process?
• What would you do differently?

Upon debriefing with my students, I was delighted to hear such comments as “This was fun,” “I enjoyed this as a break away from what we normally do,” “I learned more about myself,” “It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be,” and “It was fun to play with other people that I wouldn’t usually play with.” Overall, I felt that students exceeded my expectations. This wasn’t a six-week unit on composition and music theory, it was simply built on students using their instincts and musical know-how to come up with an idea. it is surprising what your students can do without courses in music theory, arranging, orchestration, or arranging. It was time to expand the exercise.

Second Activity: Words from a Theme
After experimenting with my most advanced students, I expanded this second lesson to include my Wind Ensemble, Concert Band, (primarily grades 9 and 10), and my beginning band (mostly 9th graders). Before winter break, we generated a list of words that described our experiences (or emotions) that we could associate with our upcoming time with friends and family. We ended up with about 30 words on the list, including things like laughter, food, friends, joy, and stories. New groups were assigned, and students used those words as inspirations for their compositions. They were tasked to chose one or more words from the list as inspiration for music: How would music about food or laughter sound? Student had three days to write something, and we presented and recorded the final products in the same way described above. During the debriefing period, students tried to guess the stimuli for each composition; questions added included “What were the words that you think inspired this piece?” and “What do you think they were trying to say with their piece?”

Third Activity: Telling a Story
Toward the end of the school year, students were asked to tell a brief musical story with a beginning, middle, and end. As an option, I invited them to reimagine thematic material from any of the repertoire we performed throughout the past school year. Some wrote original material, some used motivic material from our concert and contest music, and some went back to music we played at the beginning of the year for ideas. Some students painted storylines, while others came up with mood music. One memorable composition depicted a police chase, with a percussionist blowing a police whistle and a trombone imitating a car engine.

Self-Reflection
I felt that the lessons succeeded at pushing students to improvise and come up with musical ideas appropriate to the task. Students also had to compose in a novel and appropriate way. They were experimenting and giving each other feedback. As an added bonus, this activity requires students to play in smaller groups together, which may or may not be a regular experience depending on the role of chamber music in a program. Most important to Pogonowski’s vision of this Creative Music Strategy is that students are engaging in creative musical processes and discovering musical meaning on their own without the explicit direction of a teacher.
There were some surprises. Students at all levels were absolutely capable of doing this activity and enjoyed it more than I thought they would. I greatly underestimated their abilities.
The primary obstacle I experienced was space. I did not have enough places to send students in their break-out groups, and I had to send some groups outside to work, an unsuitable solution for colder climates than mine. Also, this presented a noise problem with nearby teachers of other academic subjects. Although I think student groups of no more than five work best for this project, it might be necessary to increase group size if space is limited.
I also gave students too much time to work on their compositions. Although the first attempt might take longer to put together, in the future, I would make this a two-day project and only ask for 30-60 seconds of music rather than 90. The introduction takes 15-20 minutes. The professor who taught my graduate class recommended no more than 20 minutes of actual composing time. In my graduate class, we discovered that more time might not have been that much more beneficial and that there may be a point of diminishing returns. The product may not have been that much better with an extra day of work. Then, the performances and discussion of each composition runs 30-40 minutes depending on how many groups you have, and this stage could run longer if the discussions are rich.
In the future I plan do develop more opportunities for more critical reflection. I would recommend generating a list of critical reflective questions beforehand to help guide discussions during the debriefing period. I would like to get students thinking critically about what they heard.

Finally, I should have allowed the students to refine their product after the initial debriefing period. Letting students apply suggestions from both the teacher and their peers can be a powerful tool in deeper learning of the material. It is in this stage that students can consider multiple perspectives about their work, and make it that much better.

Assessment
Although I did not grade any of these exercises, I would recommend using a rubric. Numerous rubrics and resources for student compositions are available online. I would recommend The National Core Music Standards on the NAfME page as a starting point. You might also consider creating a rubric with the help of your students. This can be a useful discussion with your students about evaluating music. Ask them what makes a composition good and have them determine how effective the composers’ intent is conveyed musically.
Composition is anxiety-provoking enough, I am reluctant to add the additional pressure of grading to the project beyond noting whether a group did or did not come up with something. Some of the groups did not try hard and only got a few seconds of music done. If this happens, try to use it as a teachable moment. For some students their belief that they cannot do the project might take longer to break down. It is important to remember that this is a messy endeavor, and some students are going to be less successful than others. Let them try again; that’s how they will learn.

Younger Students
I am teaching middle school now, and although students this age might need a little more structure, Pogonowski, who came up with this idea, describes using this activity for students as early as elementary music. The students in my high-school beginner class only knew seven or eight notes, and they were able to successfully navigate this lesson.

Conclusion
The student-centered approach of the Creative Music Strategy not only engages students more in the process of creating music but encourages a deeper understanding of music from a variety of aspects. I also believe that this strategy is a powerful tool to engage students in higher-order thinking and might improve their level of performance overall.
As a conductor, I think any activity that requires students to connect to music beyond traditional notes and rhythms is beneficial to their development. The applications for this strategy are almost endless and can be used to have students engage in specific concepts such as form, harmony, scales, and modes. By presenting a short composition that meets certain criteria, the activity is also an assessment tool. The most rewarding part of these lessons was walking around and watching the process unfold. Believe in your students’ abilities to be creative. They will surprise you.

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Tongue Twister Triumphs

theinstrumenta — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:31:14 +0000

David’s Daddy’s dog didn’t dig dirt in the dark.

We never know where or when the ideas will come to us or how they will originate. I was teaching a trombone sectional to the third band at the high school. We were discussing articulation, and I was teaching the standard issue clichés, such as tongue more firmly and use the tip of your tongue. I felt like I was digging a hole in a swimming pool. For years I have listened to great teachers attempt to clean up articulation with very little success. Then inspiration struck. I asked a young trombone player a question about the exercise, and his mumbled response made me realize students could not tongue clearly because they did not talk clearly.
I searched for articles on speech therapy and clearer speaking patterns, and repeatedly, tongue twisters were recommended. The next day, I passed out a short tongue twister – David’s Daddy’s dog didn’t dig dirt in the dark – to the ensemble, figuring that if nothing else, students would have a laugh and then speak a little more clearly. We repeated the exercise ten times, and as soon as we played again students were tonguing well.
It was a joyful moment. I had discovered something that made a clear, immediate, audible change and the students understood the exercise. I began sharing my revelations with friends, who would listen, and they were getting the same results. The students immediately articulate more similarly and the clarity of ensemble tonguing happens as never before. We have used tongue twisters with junior high and high school classes and the effect is remarkable.
I began looking for more twisters focused on the syllable we use in our day-to-day playing and found “When a doctor doctors a doctor, does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as the doctor being doctored wants to be doctored or does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as he wants to doctor?”
The students were getting better at the tongue twisters. We could understand them when they spoke, and we were tonguing better together. I next searched for a tongue twister that would fit the articulations for a march: “A tutor who tooted a flute tried to tutor two tooters to toot. Said the two to their tutor, is it harder to toot or to tutor two tooters to toot?”
I cannot explain the cerebral change that was happening with tonguing; I just know it was working and the students could hear it. We practice the tongue twisters every day before playing an exercise that focuses on articulation. We rarely go back to the tongue twisters while performing music, although we reference exercises during rehearsals, and I sometimes will catch students silently doing the exercises before playing.
The more I explored, the more I found. Two exercises to help with double tonguing are “Six sick hicks nick six slick bricks with picks and sticks” and “To begin to toboggan first buy a toboggan, but don’t buy too big a toboggan, for too big a toboggan is not a toboggan to buy to begin to toboggan.”
I have also done this with the high school my school feeds into. As with my students, we heard an immediate difference. We are used to having to practice and rehearse for weeks before hearing something improve, but the tongue twisters were an immediate fix.
Weirdly, this also helps with releases. I am unsure why this is the case. It may be that saying the tongue twisters causes students to listen more. Even in the beginner classes, if we say a tongue twister, then play an exercise, there is an immediate difference in the way they start and stop.
It is fun and silly and seems strange, but these exercises have made my students’ articulations cleaner. I can also understand them when they talk.

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An Eight-Year Plan, An Interview with Ian Flint

theinstrumenta — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:24:43 +0000

Two clarinetists.

Two saxophonists.

One all-state oboist.

One All-Eastern tuba player.

This was the entire band program at Bellows Free Academy in Fairfax, Vermont when Ian Flint was hired. Band was not a scheduled class, but these six students took lessons and auditioned for all-state. Says Flint, “It had been six years since band had been part of the schedule, and I figured there might be some part of a music culture left, but it was gone. There was nothing, and although some people wanted it back, most didn’t even miss it.” In just three years, Flint has built up the program from those first six to 130 students in grades 5-12. Band is once again a part of the school schedule, and students at all levels are discovering the joy of instrumental music.

What led you to take this job?
I worked as a brass specialist for nine years at Dartmouth (Massachusetts) High School, a big program. It was my first full-time job after college, and it was a great experience. However, I also wanted to build my own program. I looked around New England and found this school in Fairfax, Vermont. The building opened in the 1900s, and the school had two band directors who taught there for nearly 80 years combined. For a long time this was a strong program in Vermont, even though the school was small. There were maybe 50 kids in the high school band program through the 1980s and 1990s before it diminished. A new principal joined the school the same year I was hired, and it was made clear the administrators and community wanted to fix the program.

What were the first days like?
For the first month of the year, I didn’t really teach. I just walked around the building trying to convince middle and high school students to play an instrument. Some of the earliest recruits had played in the past and agreed to come back. Others had been in band in lower grades at another school before coming here for high school. For the first performance I had no tenor voice in the band. We played flex band music, and I asked an area director to play trombone to cover the missing line. By spring I had recruited a handful of middle school students, including a sixth grade percussionist. That first year, everyone sixth grade and up played in the high school band. We rehearsed at 7:20 in the morning, an hour before school started. This isn’t an easy time to schedule in a rural school because some students live 30 minutes into the country, and they had to find a ride.
At the same time as I was bringing in older students, I also put a great deal of energy into recruiting the younger grades, with a goal of 50-70% participation in band. These students had never seen a band before, so part of the job was teaching them what one was. Some students asked about playing violin or guitar in band, and I had to explain that wasn’t something we could offer, given the time and resources we had.
At the same time as I was recruiting I had to rebuild the instrument inventory. There was a fairly decent inventory six or seven years before I got here, and about half of it had disappeared because instruments were given out but never collected. There was no accounting system. I had 10-15 workable instruments, including a 50-year-old tuba in rough shape. My initial focus was on trying to get the instruments back. I kept asking around the community whether anyone had an unreturned school instrument. People spread the word, and 15 instruments showed up by the end of the year. Many of these were from parents of students who graduated several years ago; they hadn’t realized their child had never returned an instrument.
I also pressed for donations. I asked teaching staff if they played in high school. A number hadn’t touched their instrument in a decade or longer, and we received 15-20 donations the first year. I made a deal with a local shop to trade multiple instruments that weren’t worth fixing for one that did work. Why repair a tenor sax if you can buy a good used one for $100 less than repairs would cost? The local repair shop is 90 minutes away, so we worked next on having spare instruments available. If a student’s instrument had to go out for repair, it might be gone for a week.
After two years, the school board saw what we were building and tripled our budget. At the same time, we received a grant from the endowment attached to our school, which we used to buy two tubas and two euphoniums. I mentioned my old tuba and pointed out that if we bought a new tuba, someday it too would be decades old and still in use. Over the course of a school instrument’s lifetime, 20 different students might use it. Instruments seem expensive, but pointing out how many students one instrument can help makes the price seem much smaller.

How did you get band scheduled into the school day?
People want to see results and then respond to that. I had to convince people to support the program before they got to see what would happen. In my second year, band still wasn’t part of the school day. We sat down with the whole staff, because adding a class like band affects almost everybody from fifth grade on up – three quarters of the teaching staff and all of the grade 5-12 students. We also had to figure out how band would interact with sports and other extracurricular activities. Fifth grade band was especially difficult to schedule; there had never been a designated time for a fifth grade full band before. There had been pull-out lessons, but the idea that a beginning band might play at a concert was new to the district.
I proposed the model from my high school, which had only 250 students. The last period of the day was prep for most of the teachers, with the exception of a physical education or shop class, but most of the student population was in one of the performing ensembles. If students are not in music or extracurricular activities, there is not much to do in a small town. Here there is one restaurant within 15 miles, and the gas station is also the grocery store. The school is the hub of activity for the town, and the parking lot is full most nights.

How is your program set up?
Fifth graders meet for lessons in groups of three to six for 45 minutes once a week, with full band on Fridays at the end of the school day. The sixth and seventh grade students are split into a woodwind class and a brass class for each grade, and the percussion will go with whichever one is smaller to balance class sizes. I prefer this approach, because students get more individual attention. Each of these four middle school classes has about 15 students, and even with these numbers, we still sometimes split into sectionals.
These students do not meet as a full band until two weeks before a concert; we schedule three to four rehearsals with everybody. The first full-band rehearsal focuses on students knowing how they fit into the ensemble. This day is full of fun surprises, such as clarinets and euphoniums learning they have the same part on a Karl King march, and students realize that these rehearsals are the payoff for the time spent working on technique and method book materials. They take it seriously. Rather than having the same thing every day, there is variety in the way things are structured, and I think this is an advantage.
In addition, all sixth and seventh graders get about five private lessons per year. I have specialists who come in one day a week and see each student in a rotation. This is essential for a number of reasons. Students need individual attention at this stage of development. Without this, it is difficult to isolate and fix any bad habits. I also view these lessons as essential for recruiting and retention. Some students might start to feel like they are getting behind their peers and want to quit. Having someone there to sit with them and tell them that their struggles are normal and okay because learning an instrument is difficult is important, and it keeps students motivated.
This is especially important given that I might only have five clarinets per grade. If two quit, I have lost 40% of my clarinets for that year, and over the years that can add up to a lack of depth in high school. With a high school clarinet section of 15, a student can be a role player, but if I only have four or five clarinets in high school and those few students are not dedicated to band to the exclusion of all else, that can affect the level of music you can program. I don’t want that to happen, nor do I want students to feel they have to give up other activities for band. Many of my students play basketball or are on the nordic ski team. Some play travel hockey, and they are gone every weekend during the season. Enforcing weekend practice isn’t an option for me. If you let students choose their activities, they will stay in band, but if you force a choice, students might not choose music.
I have a wide range of students in band. For some students I have to fill out a sheet every day to make sure they are doing the right thing in class. In a lot of programs those kids don’t stay in band, because if they can’t handle it they disappear. In my program that kid might be my only seventh-grade percussionist, and I have to do everything I can to keep that kid, because he is a good musician, even if he isn’t a model student.
High school band includes eighth through twelfth grade. Right now there are 40 students, almost all of whom I recruited. Most of the students are no more than third- or fourth-year players – it’s a bit like a typical eighth grade band. I have a fair number of juniors who are second-year players. I recruited their friends in eighth grade, and when they were sophomores, they decided to join band, too. For a while, I had this odd scenario where students just started showing up.
I insist upon a high-school curriculum and that the music we play is grade 3 and 4 works, although we play easier music, too. The focus is not about how difficult of a piece I can program with this group, but rather about trying to meet the national standards and give them the experience they should have. This takes a lot of work, but it is amazing how quickly high school students pick things up. I have a senior trombone player who joined band for the first time this year. In five months he went from having never played an instrument before to making the district band.

How do you get inexperienced older students up to speed?
Partner beginning high school students with a more experienced player. The high school band rehearses five days a week, but we devote two of those days to sectionals, during which I will work with a section while the rest of the students find a place to practice and teach each other. They start with our beginning method book – the same one we use in fifth grade – but work through it at an accelerated pace. A high school student’s first lesson might be all the way through a Bb major scale.
YouTube has many videos of band directors teaching first lessons. I give older beginners a link and tell them to watch the same video once a week for the first few weeks. The material is basic but provides a great way to review good habits. There isn’t much time in the day for me to offer direct one-on-one instruction with high school students, but at that age, it is more important that they know how to teach themselves. A fifth grader will have a difficult time taking in information, analyzing it, and forming a plan, but a high school student can experiment and figure things out.

How are you raising the program’s profile in the school and community?
If everyone is a participant in the music program, then the program is valued. We just started a booster program this year. They will raise thousands of dollars for us, but to me the support and advocacy the group provides is more important. These volunteers make sure that the parents and community know what is happening in the music program.
We invite teachers to concerts and reserve seats for teachers who say they are coming. We thank and acknowledge them at performances, too. They feel like a part of the program, and if music students have to miss a class for a dress rehearsal, I don’t have anyone pushing back against that. In a school this size, it would only take two or three unsupportive teachers for me to lose a quarter of my students from a dress rehearsal.
I talk at faculty meetings, but never about how great the kids were in the performance. We discuss about the school culture and the positive aspects – the traits that we’re trying to instill. There has been a lot of buy in because of that. News bulletins to parents are the same. These never have anything to do with playing hard music and going to contests and getting a superior. We go to contests and aim for superior ratings, but that is merely a result of the culture of the program. If we do everything correctly, those things will just happen. We try to be the best version of ourselves.
The school building houses everything from Pre-K through high school, so having the high school band and choir perform for the elementary students is just a three-minute walk down two hallways. Occasionally, on days when it is too cold for students to have outdoor recess, we would give a short concert for the elementary students. Just two songs, one of which is a flex band version of Frozen or something similar that students can sing along with, is enough to create excitement. The elementary has a morning meeting every Friday, and we might put on a pop-up concert for them. For Music in the Schools Month we perform each week. The high school kids love putting one these performances.
We invited the local reserve band for a clinic with our band, and then we gave a 45-minute combined concert for the elementary kids, complete with a sing-along. They loved it, and I got to show students a 60-piece band right before I start talking to fourth graders about joining band next fall. They’ve just seen a performance, and they understand the opportunities. I also make sure to have a student soloist – usually on an instrument I would like to recruit more of – featured in March. Last year I featured my all-state oboist, and four fifth graders chose the oboe after hearing her play.

How is the community reacting to the rebuilding of the music program?
Right now, this is the biggest challenge for both the choral director and me. My first beginning band class is only in seventh grade right now. The middle school ensembles sound like an appropriate middle school band and choir. Then the high school groups come on, and people expect it to be phenomenal, and we have to point out that we aren’t even halfway there yet. We are right where I thought we would be four years in, but I have been thinking about eight years in, when almost all the students will be beginners I started. We are a small school, but I think we can be a model program for the state.

What advice would you offer a teacher in a similar situation?
Do not try to do what you think is right. Instead, do what is right for the community. Many people take a first job in small schools like this. They are out of college and have all these grand plans, but such plans are sometimes infeasible. I grew up with competitive marching band, but running such a thing in Vermont is not an option. There is no band circuit here; the closest show is more than three hours away. We started a marching band at the beginning of this school year, bought used uniforms from a high school in Ohio, and are marching in our first parade in April. Marching band here is about community engagement.
Analyze what is possible, and work toward that; this is the path to success and support. I think a lot of programs are cut because they do not cater to what the community needs. My directors always chose what was right for that community. I am trying to do the same thing here.
Working in a school like this is just as rewarding as working for the National Champion High School marching band or a similar program. We are both teaching students to be the best musicians they can be. A lot of people come to small-school jobs thinking they will move on in a few years. Honestly, if this had been my first job after college, I might have thought the same. I don’t see that way now. This was definitely a step forward in my career. I walk in here every day and think, “I’m doing what works for me, the community, and the students.” I am proud of what is happening here.

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