Preparation. First, it is important to have parents complete a health form for their child. Make sure there is a place on the form where the parent can indicate if the student has a history of heat illness or other conditions that can be aggravated by exposure to hot conditions.
Band directors should establish an emergency procedure policy before the start of marching season and then clearly communicate it to students, parents, staff, and administration, whether it is via a band handbook, band website, letter, or email, whatever happens to be your primary means of communication. All concerned should be made aware of your heat illness prevention plan, one that is sure to include 9-1-1 emergency procedures.
    If you are like me and cannot remember everything in an emergency situation, it is critical that the right steps be taken to assure a student’s safety. A Heat Aware Card (available online) or any number of smartphone apps can be on hand to provide the information you need in an emergency situation.
    Watch the weather. Heat stress is affected by air temperature, humidity, and direct sunshine. Use the heat index or a wet bulb temperature/wet bulb globe temperature as a guide for workouts or competitions. Modify practices in response to the environmental conditions.
    Proper preparation for students begins the night before with a good night’s rest. Strongly encourage students to always eat a meal before a marching practice or performance. Healthy pre-practice or performance meals should consist of items such as fresh fruit, vegetables, whole grains, toast and peanut butter. Items to avoid include carbonated beverages, fruit juices, dairy products, syrup, energy drinks, and anything loaded with caffeine or sugar. Fruit juices can slow fluid absorption and cause an upset stomach; also, they often lack sodium that needs to be replenished to the body after sweating. Carbonated beverages, such as soft drinks, can reduce voluntary drinking due to stomach fullness and throat burn when gulping; they also lack sodium. Energy drinks should be avoided because many contain caffeine and have high carbohydrate concentrations, which slows the emptying of fluids from the stomach.

    Acclimation. It is important to work students into the heat gradually. Many students have spent the summer in air-conditioned comfort, munching Cheetos while watching television or playing on their smartphones. Whatever marching elements can be taught inside need to be taught inside. Begin in the most comfortable environment, whether it’s the band room, choir room, cafeteria, auditorium stage, or field house. A good medium step would be an un-air-conditioned gymnasium. Many elements of marching can be taught in this setting. Then move outside in limited time periods. Early morning and evening are best.

    Attire. Students should wear light-colored, lightweight, loose-fitting clothing. Clothing made from moisture-wicking material helps facilitate the evaporation of sweat as well. Some students may even need to change into dry clothing after an outdoor session or even during breaks. Ap­pro­priate footwear includes athletic shoes and socks. Students should be encouraged, if not required, to wear sunscreen and sunglasses.

    Hydration. Appropriate hydration begins the day before a marching practice or performance. Students should begin drinking water the day before. Sodas dehydrate the body and should be avoided. Students should drink a minimum 20 ounces of water or a sports drink two or three hours before. While at school, students should drink plenty of water during the day, not just when they are thirsty. Make sure your school allows students to carry bottled water with them throughout the day.
    During rehearsals, students should be provided regular water breaks and afforded at least five minutes to drink and return to practice. At no time should hydration breaks be taken away as a disciplinary procedure. To properly hydrate students in a given amount of time, students should bring their own water. Some schools have parents who maintain a hydration station to provide hydration in a timely manner.
    Following halftime or contest show performances, all students should be provided with water or a sports drink. The same is true at the conclusion of a marching practice – everyone should hydrate. Students must be taught that it is not only acceptable but required to notify the band director if they are feeling ill.

Know the Signs and Appropriate Actions
    If dehydration goes unchecked, the risk of heat illness increases. Heat illness has three separate degrees of severity: heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and the most serious and deadly form, heat stroke. The symptoms outlined below do not necessarily occur in progression, so heat stroke can occur in the absence of some of these symptoms.
    Heat rash or prickly heat appears as tiny red dots on the skin where there has been excessive sweating and the sweat has stopped evaporating on the skin. If this occurs, replace the wet clothing with cool, dry clothing and move into a cool environment.
    Heat cramps are muscle spasms caused by salt loss and dilution of tissue fluid. Students with heat cramps should move into a cool environment and drink water or a sports drink. Water is the best source of hydration, but some research has shown a properly formulated sports drink is best when one has been sweating for more than an hour because it has electrolytes to replace what is lost through sweating, flavor that encourages children to drink more, and carbohydrates to provide energy for working muscles. Remember to avoid caffeinated beverages; they will only make things worse.
    Heat exhaustion symptoms may include noticeable difficulty paying attention, thirst, chills, clammy skin, a pale complexion, fatigue, nausea, light-headedness, headache, excessive sweating, and a rapid, weak pulse.  Treatment of heat exhaustion is similar to that of dehydration and should take place immediately: find a cool place for the student to rest, place ice-cold towels on the body, provide them a sports drink that contains the adequate amount of electrolytes, and have them lie down with the legs elevated to promote circulation.
    If the student does not feel better relatively soon, they may be suffering from heat stroke. With heat exhaustion, a person’s condition will get gradually better, but with heat stroke it will gradually worsen.
    Heat stroke is a medical emergency that can result in death if not immediately treated. Symptoms include an absence of sweating, skin that is hot an dry, dizziness, confusion, loss of consciousness, convulsions, a strong rapid pulse, and a body temperature over 104°. (If emergency personnel are not on hand, this may require that you take a student’s temperature using a thermometer from a readily-available medical kit.) Call 9-1-1 immediately. Until help arrives, cool the student as rapidly as possible. An ice bath is the best way to do this, but this will require a readily available tub. Athletic facilities should be equipped with one, so make sure quick access to it is always possible. Other options are putting ice packs over as much of the body as possible or spraying the student with cold water. Cool, wet towels can also be effective in bringing the body temperature down. Remember to cool the child first and transport the child second. Do not have the affected student drink fluids, because nausea and vomiting are extremely common. Remove the student from cooling source when temperature is lowered to 102°.

Conclusion
    If you have not had a well-defined program for heat illness and have had no problems so far, consider yourself lucky. Get one set up before your luck runs out. One preventable tragedy is one too many.

The post Beating the Summer Heat appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Doug O’Connor
United States Army Band – “Pershing’s Own”

    The slap-tongue technique on the saxophone is often of great curiosity to audiences and fellow musicians alike. “What is that sound, and how are you making it?” I am frequently asked after performances that feature slaps.
    The slap is an engaged release of the reed, as if one were plucking the reed with the tongue as one would pluck a stringed instrument in pizzicato passages. Of great interest to me is that there are two separate pitches or dimensions to a slap that can be independently controlled: the pitch of the resonance, which is controlled by the fingering on the saxophone, and also the pitch of the percussive sound itself, which can be wet or dry, bright or dark.
    Producing any slap requires that the player be able to grab the reed with the tongue, and release it in a sudden enough way that it snaps back to the mouthpiece. The grab can be a pretty foreign and elusive feeling to many players at first, but there are some basic exercises that will help develop the slap.
    First, practice on a larger instrument if possible, as it is easier to slap (even by accident) on a bigger reed. To get an initial sense of the grab, try holding a reed on the tongue without the hands or lips; with the right curvature of the tongue, one can fairly easily get enough suction to get a sense of the grab. You can test the tongue’s grip by grabbing the reed with a hand and popping the reed off of the tongue.
    Next, try to get the same sense of grab with the reed on the mouthpiece. One might have to use the entire tongue at first to achieve this, despite it being an impractical position for application in performance. From here, one can transition to achieving a slap on the instrument and figuring out how to achieve the grab with less and less tongue on the reed.
    At this point it should be noted that there are two basic slap varieties, open and closed. An open slap is a sudden and violent opening of the jaw, exploding off of the reed at the same time. It produces a resonance pitch higher than that of a closed slap, for which the player keeps the mouth closed and the embouchure formed. The closed slap sounds at the fingered pitch. The open slap is often easier, but the closed slap is better for most saxophone repertoire.
    One should be able to produce the basic slap with no air at all. I used to practice slapping while inhaling to isolate the slap action from what my airstream might be doing. Working on this helped me realize that a slap is on a continuum with a standard articulation, rather than an extreme and disparate technique. At one extreme, the air acts as a bow on a string, brushing past the reed and coaxing it into vibration. This is like an H attack; there is no tongue at all. One can slowly introduce the tongue, and realize that standard attacks are not attacks at all, but rather delicate releases. A tiny amount of tongue pressure on the reed stops it from vibrating in a supported air stream, and a specific release of that light tongue gives the beginning of a sound clear definition. Gradually increased pressure of the tongue on the reed eventually produces the grab, which requires physically releasing the reed rather than just moving the tongue away from it. In addition, the quality of this particular sound has a full gradient of shadings independent of what the airstream does. Learning to slap helped me realize just how delicate and nuanced a standard articulation really is (for example, even short notes don’t have hard attacks, rather they have sharp cuts).
    By listening to Richard Ducros play Jungle by Christian Lauba, I realized that there had to be a way to slap quickly and delicately. What caught my attention was the pitch of the slaps he was getting – they were high, dry, and light. I don’t mean the fingered pitches. In my prior experience, slap was a heavy, tubby thud, impossible to do quickly. Hearing Ducros’s performance was key for me in unlocking a fast slap action. The oral cavity shape can help control the percussive pitch of the slap, in addition to using less tongue. Doing anything fast requires less motion and force. A fast slap is easiest to produce when using a dry, quiet slap and fluid airstream with low resistance, moving the tip of the tongue as little as possible. At this point, the grab can be achieved using the same amount of tongue as a standard articulation, making the two feel interchangeable with no adjustment of the embouchure. This is crucial for passages where alternation is important. Gradient 2.0 (2008), by Baljinder Sekhon II, uses a variety of slaps and hard articulations in alternation, and the result is a satisfying counterpoint of articulations. Such works demonstrate the need for modern players to master the continuum of slap articulations, to execute them proficiently at a variety of tempi, and in a manner that neither disturbs nor intrudes upon their normal mode of playing. The slap tongue expands the saxophone palette in ways both delicate and aggressive, like a whole new set of consonants in our performance language.

Joel Versavaud
Marseilles Conservatory
Translated by Matt Taylor

    Saxophonists create the slap using specific muscles on the front and back of the tongue. These allow players to simultaneously trap an air pocket between the tongue and the reed, and then snap the tongue off of the reed toward the back of the mouth. The resulting sound of the rapid decompression of the air trapped on the reed by the tongue is amplified by either the oral cavity or the tube of the instrument.
    It is difficult to teach the slap. The movement is hidden, occurs very quickly, and is based on feel. Success depends on the anatomy of the tongue and the amount of regular practice. Musicians who, despite their best efforts, are unable to play slaps must have a fleshy or spongy tongue. The flesh of the tongue may not be dense enough for the muscles to be able to exert the appropriate force.
    Patience is necessary. The slap can take a long time to develop, and finally being able to play a slap on the baritone saxophone does not automatically translate to being able to play it on the alto. The wider the reed, the easier the suction effect is to create.
    Speed and subtlety come only after regular practice and rest periods. With time, the muscles at the front of the tongue will become just as strong as the back. It is best to choose a piece and a deadline that will require a period of intense practice without discouragement.
    These muscles can be stimulated without the saxophone. Clench the jaw, open the lips, and press the entire tip of the tongue against the palate and the upper teeth. While continuing to press with tip of the tongue, quickly move the tongue backwards toward the throat. Chose a high sound and articulate with the tip of the tongue using a syllable like tss then slowly, striving for an intentional and accurate movement, try to create the slap, but just on the highest possible note.
    Wind players should work hard to develop independence of the front and back of the tongue, not just for the slap, but to be able to play high notes (back of the tongue) and to articulate them (tip of the tongue). Consider the pronunciation of the word tongue in other languages: langue, lingua, lengua, zunge – the beginning is always pronounced with the tip and the end is pronounced with the back.

Richard Durcos
Bordeaux, France
Translated by Matt Taylor
From unpublished manuscript in press, Resolute Music Publications, Marquette, Michigan. Used with permission.    

    The slap is a type of attack created by the rebound of the reed hitting against the mouthpiece. It is similar to a Bartok pizzicato on the violin. To create this attack, the tongue acts similarly to a suction cup. Unlike a normal type of articulation, in which the tongue makes contact with the tip of the reed, placing the tongue further down on the reed from the tip creates this attack.
    To get the feel of the slap, many saxophonists begin on a low Bb with the open slap, which is cruder and louder, but also much easier to produce. This is basically an articulation for which one presses a maximum amount of the tongue on the reed and opens the mouth simultaneously. The reed produces a dry clack sound similar to the slap.
    The disadvantage to learning the slap with this method is that it teaches the wrong reflex of opening the mouth at the same time, which is the opposite of the method for the normal closed slap. The open slap practice should focus on developing an awareness of the timbre created by the clack of the reed and the suction cup feeling of the tongue on the reed. This sensation is the most important part of the slap. Some professors use a spoon in the mouth to help explain this suction cup effect.
    Refining the technique to produce a normal slap, or one that is less open, is much more difficult. The sensations are difficult to acquire. The slap is created by a suction cup effect of the tongue on the reed. It is practiced with almost no air because the sound is created by the clack of the reed on the mouthpiece. It is, therefore, unnecessary to inhale or blow air to produce the effect.
    One important consideration is the seam created by the lower lip resting over the teeth. To create the suction effect, the tongue has to be applied on the full length of the reed. The air must be expelled over the entire contact surface of the tongue and the reed, but also between the tongue and the space created by the seam of the tongue over the teeth and the reed. The tip of the tongue must be positioned against the seam to seal the place – in other words, the entire tongue pushes on the reed. The lower lip is firm on the teeth. It remains only to articulate; the tip of the tongue stays at the seam of the lower lip. The articulation occurs with the middle to back portion of the tongue.
    Rather than trying to get the tongue to stick to the reed by pressing it up, it is possible to slide the tongue forward from the tip of the reed up to the seam of the lip, confirming that it is sticking as it slides down. This method allows for a better sense of the vacuum created by the tongue on the reed

    There are numerous viable recommendations for creating this type of articulation. Experimentation and persistence will be the key elements needed for students to create this sound. Also, most saxophonists conclude that starting on a larger saxophone will yield quicker results. Regardless of the techniques used to produce this effect, diligent practice and repetition of the tongue movements needed will ultimately contribute to successful production of the slap tongue.

The post Slap Tongue, Tips from the Masters appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Developing Knowledge of a Subject
    At the risk of being too simplistic, teachers should not overlook providing students with all the facts needed to learn to playing jazz. This includes such topics as scales, chord formation, and harmonic importance in developing a melodic line. The part of the brain where all these facts are stored does not do anything with this information, but it is important to have these musical facts available to be used when needed.

Developing an Understanding of Knowledge
    Give students opportunities to conceptualize the facts they have stored. I call this converting isolated, unrelated facts into usable, meaningful knowledge. As an example, have students play a C major scale, starting on C, over a C major chord. Then have them play the notes of a C scale, starting on D, over a Dm7 chord. Finally, they should play the notes of a C scale, starting on G, over a G7 chord. This will get students to conceptualize that all three chords share the same row of notes. At this point, explain that the three chords make up a key center. Students should then realize that these chords are all related. For wind players who can only play one note at a time, this is an important concept to understand.

Application of Knowledge
    People do not practice to learn, they practice to perfect what has been learned; this is the difference between knowing and doing. During this level of learning the teacher should structure an experience from which students can apply what have been learned. To emphasize the concept of all three chords being related and sharing the same key center, have students play up and down on the notes of a C Major scale while the three chords (Dm7, G7, and C major 7) are played. This gives students the opportunity to hear the sounds as they relate to the three different qualities of chords.

The Results
    The experiences we give students must include all three basic levels of learning. Learning jazz improvisation is a participatory experience. By involving students in this they will develop a sound bank in their brain, which will allow students to access what sounds are needed to improvise a jazz line that they hear in the mind.

Teaching Versus Learning
    Teaching is providing facts for students, which we sometimes call rote teaching. A student may recite these facts but may not be able to use them or they may use them to develop a mechanical approach of applying these facts.
    Learning can be described as being able to relate facts to prior learning and applying them in a meaningful way in making musical decisions. In the above example, students demonstrate learning by playing through the chords (Dm7, G7, and C Major 7) and not up and down on each separate chord. This gives the melodic line direction and forward motion and makes it sound more mature.

Playing an Instrument Versus Playing Music
    In teaching a student to play an instrument we should never lose sight of the fact that our ultimate goal should be for students to learn to use the instrument to play music. Teaching a student to play an instrument can often be a mechanical process, and teachers some times overemphasize the need to play faster, articulate cleanly, or develop an even scale line at the expense of using these skills to make music. It would be better to develop these skills to produce an uptempo, clean musical phrase.
    Some students can read music and make a physical response (fingering the instrument) to play what is seen. If a student plays a written musical line based on the theory and facts stored in the brain he is not playing what is heard in his mind and will hear the line after it comes out of his instrument. It is my notion that a student needs to learn to hear a musical line in his mind and respond by playing what is heard. A player who can hear music first in his mind and trigger the physical response of playing an instrument to make what he hears in his mind audible will be able to produce a meaningful jazz phrase.
    To make a comparison, when conversing with a friend what is said is what is heard in the mind just before it is pronounced. One does not mechanically put all the nouns, verbs, and adjectives together to manufacture a sentence to convey thought. Where the comparison falls short is that in our language a word has a fixed meaning, but in music a note does not; a note only takes on meaning when it is associated with other notes. This is why it is important to expose students to the three levels of learning.

Producing a Mental Response
    The mental process is important. The right side of the brain is connected to the left side of the brain by a strand of fibers called the corpus callosum. This thick bundle of nerves allows information to be transmitted between the brain’s hemispheres. Using information stored on the left side of the brain creatively, a right-brain activity, is called completing a mental cognitive shift.

    To learn how to use and feel this mental cognitive shift, have students play the appropriate arpeggio on each chord in a chord progression of Dm7-G7-Cmaj7. Now ask students to find and play all the common tones of each chord and play them while you play the progression on a piano. Next have the student play any scale notes of the Dm7 chord and aim the line toward the common tone with the G7. Repeat the process of playing any notes of the G7 scale and aiming for the common tone with the Cmaj7 chord. This is how a phrase is born. For this to happen, the student needed to access the appropriate notes stored in the left part of the brain and play by ear with them.
    Another good exercise is for the teacher to play a short, simple jazz line from printed music and ask the student to find the notes heard and then echo what was played. After the student matches what you played, show him how it looks in print. Do this often until the student can accomplish this task with ease. This makes students able to associate sounds with the fingerings rather than the visual with the fingering. All the veteran jazz players copied solos from recordings and developed their ability to play what they heard. Copying solos from recordings also helps a young jazz player develop the part of the brain that stores sounds to be used when needed. This exercise will also give students  the ability to see with their ear and hear with their eyes, which means when a phrase is heard, they will be able to see the notation, and when a phrase is seen, they will be able to hear it.
    In a traditional pedagogical approach to teaching music, a student is given a printed page of notes. Next, we label the visual (i.e. this chord is called C7). We then allow students to artificially measure the duration of a note by tapping their feet. This is follower by identifying the fingering that will produce the sound of the note or chord printed on the page. Scrutiny shows that a student who goes through this will learn to make a physical response to what is seen. This has little to do with making music.
    What is needed to learn music and improvise jazz is a mental response, not just the physiological response. I am not suggesting we do away with traditional teaching techniques that give students all the technical information needed, but we must add the mental process so students can turn technical concepts of music into useable connecting knowledge.

Creating Mature Jazz Lines
    Allowing a student to learn how to access all the technical material stored in the brain by this mental cognitive shift will make the information more useable in creating a mature jazz line. The student now can understand and play through chord progressions rather than simply moving up and down the scale on each individual chord. The approach outlined in the example below is what happens when students think of harmonic structure as unrelated sounds. Each chord is heard separately; this mind set would produce a jazz lick or scale on each chord.

    Conceptualization of the harmonic structure shows that chords are related. For example, Dm7, G7, and Cmaj7 are all related through the key of C major. The next step is to figure out which notes are the most important for conveying the harmony. Have a student play each note of a scale over that key’s tonic triad and then rate the sound of each note with the chord on a scale of 0-10. Students should discover that some notes sound better with the chord than others.

    To make good use this information when improvising, students should play the third and seventh of the chords to convey strong harmonic tonality of a chord. In the example below, the F conveys the minor quality of the Dm7 chord, and the C both conveys the chord’s quality and leads into the B, the third of the next chord. The pattern continues through the Cmaj7 chord.

    The seventh and third of the chord become the peak tones of the line. Other notes can be inserted to make the line more interesting but these notes will remain as the peak tones of the line, giving it harmonic focus and good line direction.

    To take the facts learned and create with them, ask students to sing a lick of just a few notes. Students will say they cannot sing. This should not be a concern because as students develop confidence, they will play the pitches heard in the mind and not the pitch sung. A lack of vocal training does not affect the ability to hear correct pitches in the mind.

    Now ask them to play the same lick on their instrument. This may be difficult at first, but when students develop confidence it will become easier. Each time the length of the lick sung should be extended.

    This exercise should be repeated often until students play the notes sung with a great degree of accuracy and become confident with a longer phrase.
    The second phase of this exercise is to have students sing a jazz phrase and, when playing it on the instrument, ask them to extend the phrase by adding a few more notes or measures. This will help make a connection between brain and instrument. The goal here is to develop students who can play a phrase heard in the mind without having to sing it first.

    Now have the student play the line and add  notes to the end.

    The same objective can be accomplished by having a student repeat what the teacher plays. Play a short lick and have a student mirror it back to you.

Transposing
    Another exercise that will help students become more comfortable manipulating what they know is to sing a phrase but play it back on the instrument in a different key. This can eventually be expanded to having students play tunes they know in all keys without a printed page. Have them learn to hear a tune in different keys and play them in the keys heard. Students should first sing the tune in the new key and then play it.
    These are only a few exercises that will help students learn to play what is heard in the mind and not try to theoretically formulate ideas.

Summary
    It is this mental process that allows a student to apply knowledge learned. Learning music is a participatory experience; we learn by doing. The brain is quick to discard what it does not like but will store what sounds good for future use; this is how a student finds and hears new and good sounds. The information stored will be used and connected to new additional information. Music is created in the brain, not on an instrument. The instrument allows one to amplify what is heard in the mind so it can be shared with fellow performers and audience members.

The post The Mental Process of Learning Improvisation appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Why the Audience Matters
    Begin by conveying to students the value and role of the audience. Be sure that students understand that the audience is a key ingredient in the music-making process. Whenever I encountered students who were nervous about performing in public or not excited about attending an event as a member of an audience, I always explained to them that concertgoers were needed to complete the musical goals of the performers, in essence the audience was our partner in achieving the emotional benefits of a performance, much like in the world of commercial music.
    Professional entertainers work to create music and produce concert events that will attract and engage audiences to reap the financial gain that will support and further their careers. Emotion is obviously a key aspect of the process, as it is not unusual to hear performers talk about how they often feed off the reactions of an audience. Similarly, student musicians spend countless hours perfecting music that will produce expression and transmit feeling, and while money is not a motivating factor, performers must still be cognizant of the fact that an audience is needed to receive those expressive messages, as the emotional rewards for members of an audience can be just as powerful, if not more powerful, as those experienced by the performers on stage.

Students as a Rehearsal Audience
    As a convenient way to illustrate this fact, I often gave band students the opportunity to be audiences in rehearsals. Beginning a week or two prior to a concert performance or competition, I rehearsed in the school auditorium so the band could get accustomed to playing on stage. As we rehearsed each number, a few students at a time would sit in the audience to experience the full effect of the performance. Afterwards I asked them to make notes to share with their sections and me prior to the next rehearsal. I found this to be an excellent way for students to experience the emotions they were trying to convey as a performer and for them to develop an appreciation for the unique sensations that listening to real-time music production can offer.

Building Rapport
    On concert night, the conductor should engage the audience between selections. I have always been intrigued and puzzled by conductors who do not do this. Upon my arrival at one high school band concert, I was surprised at how few attendees there were, but by the end of the evening, the reason was obvious. No programs were distributed, which led me to believe that the conductor would announce each piece, but at no time during the evening did he speak to the audience. He simply walked onto the stage, nodded to the audience, and began conducting. Between selections he did not even turn around to acknowledge the applause. At the conclusion of the program, he motioned for the musicians to stand, bowed to the audience, and walked off the stage. I found this behavior to be extremely rude, especially given that the few in attendance were mostly band parents. Although he may have been considering this performance as simply a dress rehearsal for an upcoming competition, his actions were inappropriate for a concert. His arrogance gave the impression that we were uninvited guests. The worst part of this unfortunate display though, was that this conductor was essentially conveying to his students that the role of an audience is insignificant.
    I have also attended concerts where a conductor’s engagement was minimal, but at least there were programs, often times with extensive program notes concerning the selections. In these instances I suppose conductors feel it is unnecessary to communicate much to the audience because the program contains everything the conductor believes a concertgoer needs to know about the pieces. Although this is a traditional approach, often embraced by college and professional conductors as well, I have always viewed this as somewhat shortsighted. Obviously the house lights are usually so dim that it is impossible to read the programs anyway once the performance begins, but the practice also seems to lend itself to an assumption by conductors that the audience will always be there whenever their ensemble performs. At the high school level, it is worth considering another approach that might better engage the audience, and perhaps garner long-term support.
    Always have a printed program with the names of pieces and composers, as well as the names of all the musicians. View these as keepsakes for your students and their families. I rarely included extensive program notes, as I always viewed it as my responsibility to share interesting background information with the listeners before or after each selection. Rather than solely sharing dry facts about the composers and the pieces, research the music in an effort to discover something interesting about the work, its creation, or the composer that might make an emotional connection with the audience. Consider pointing out certain things to listen for in each piece, and do not hesitate to share your impressions of the music as well. On occasion I even asked students to stand and introduce selections, offering their personal perspectives regarding the pieces and how the music made them feel as they performed it. It is important to understand that spoken information intended to foster engaged listening and an emotional reaction will be remembered much more clearly than statements that evoke no emotion at all.

The Right Move at the Wrong Time
    Students from my classes attended a modern dance concert performed by one of the nation’s top modern dance companies. The concert was filled with creative works, many with commissioned music composed specifically for the dances. A printed program with names of each piece and extensive background information about the artistic director, choreographers, and dancers was distributed as the audience entered the hall. Once the performance began, like most dance concerts, there were short breaks between each dance as the performers made costume changes and prepared for the next piece.
    It was one of the most enjoyable dance concerts I have attended, with creative choreography and extremely talented dancers. As the audience was departing the hall following the concert an announcement was made inviting interested audience members to stay for a special talk with the artistic director. Many of those in attendance had already departed, so less than a fourth of the audience stayed. The director was eloquent and engaging, offering information about the creation of each work. If this type of information had been shared prior to or after each piece, I would have had a higher level of emotional engagement in the performance. I will attend future dance performances, but I cannot say the same for the people who did not stay for the post-concert dialogue. Many of those who left quickly were students likely attending their first dance concert.
    In follow-up discussions in class, I learned that students who left immediately after the performance did not feel the same fondness for what they had experienced as those who had stayed and learned more about the inspirations for the pieces. Although not a traditional part of dance presentations, in this case, if the director had shared this background information between each dance, there would have been a much greater chance of those in attendance experiencing an emotional connection with what they were witnessing, and, I suspect, a much greater chance as well that first-time attendees would attend another dance event in the future.

The Audience as Part of the Team
    Another event students attended was a harp concert. The young woman performed both solo pieces and works with percussion and violin. The technical abilities of the performers were remarkable, and the musicianship was outstanding, but a certain amount of the enjoyment came from the personable and passionate manner in which the harpist engaged the audience. She spoke between each piece in a relaxed, conversational manner, offering just the right amount of information to pique our interest and create a sense of anticipation for what we were about to hear. She even asked her colleagues to speak about the pieces, and by the end of the program, she and her collaborators had developed such a positive rapport with the audience that we felt that we had not only witnessed a great performance, but that we had been participants in helping the performers achieve it.
    The next day, my students were excited about the concert as well. Although all agreed that they would not have attended if I had not required them to, the vast majority stated that they would definitely attend another performance by this artist if they had the opportunity. She had achieved what great performers in every style of music strive for: an emotional connection with the audience.

How to Be a Good Audience
    Prepare students to be respectful and appreciative audience members by sharing common audience expectations. Do not assume students are learning proper concert etiquette through their experiences as a performer. While it is true that musicians will know basic things such as when to applaud, by my observation there are other aspects of concert attendance that students may be unfamiliar with. The basic message to concert attendees should always be to refrain from behaviors that may be distracting to the performers or compromise the enjoyment level of other audience members.
    Performers routinely put considerable thought in­to their appearance on stage, and audiences should do the same. Encourage students to dress in an appropriate and respectful manner for the venue and the art they are about to experience. Be sure they know to arrive early to find their seats and examine the program. Impress upon them that all electronic devices must be switched to silent position and stowed away, as the glow of a screen when viewing or sending text messages is distracting to performers and other concert attendees alike. As an audience member they should listen closely and remain silent during the performance. Applause should only be offered when appropriate, and they should never wave, whistle, or shout to the performers on stage. They must also avoid approaching the stage before the performance or at intermission to attempt to speak to performers, and there should be no taking of pictures or videos under any circumstances. Finally, students must be aware that they are always to remain in their seats until intermission or the end of the performance, as it is rude to leave early without offering appreciation to the performers. Once students know how to be good audience members, it is time to plan concert-going opportunities for them. There are many ways to do this. 

Opportunities to Be an Audience
    Include audience time when attending competitions and festivals. When adjudicating, I have often noticed that there are groups that rarely listen to other bands’ performances. They simply show up at the appointed time for their performance, wait in a designated area for their ratings, and then leave. I always preferred to include ample time for my students to be members of the audience to hear groups that we were in competition with as well as other top bands in different classifications. I have noticed that many of the best instrumental programs embrace this idea. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the most accomplished performers are also accomplished listeners.
    Any activity that allows students to experience artistic endeavors can be valuable for students to attend. For example, if your school is located near a university, consider taking students to hear college concert bands, wind ensembles, jazz bands, and marching bands. When planning a trip to see these concerts, I often contacted the university conductors to learn about their repertoire, so I could prep my students for what they were about to hear. On occasion, I would even acquire one of the pieces and rehearse it with my band, so they would have a greater appreciation for the musicianship required to play collegiate literature. It was a great way to prepare them as it allowed them to engage the music on a more knowledgeable level.
    If possible, pursue opportunities for your students to experience professional artistic events as well. Students in my ensembles were always excited to attend performances by military bands and jazz musicians, as well as musical theater productions, as it allowed them to experience the emotions and artistry of live professional music. Consider having students research the performers, music, and venues, and hold group discussions to allow them to share their findings. Following an event, again have a discussion to give them an opportunity to share their reactions to what they experienced.
    When attending concerts at professional venues, consider contacting the site to arrange a behind-the-scenes tour before or after the performance. Also request someone involved with management of the venue to share information with your students about patron support for the arts, fundraising, and financial challenges routinely faced by performing arts presenters. Discussions should focus on the fact that young people will be needed as audiences and arts supporters in the future if the arts are to remain a key component of American culture. Experiences such as these are also great ways to introduce music students to arts careers in fields such as administration, development, public relations, marketing, production supervision, lighting, and sound engineering.
    Combine teaching the importance of support for the arts with a celebration of your students’ years of dedication to your program by coordinating an annual dinner-and-a-concert event for graduating seniors. Orchestra concerts, jazz performances, or musicals are great choices for this activity. Be sure to prepare students for what they are about to hear, as it will help them understand that a basic knowledge of the art form in advance can enhance the overall listening experience. Have dinner at a nice restaurant before arriving at the venue. Focus on making this event a fun night out to illustrate how experiences like these can be enjoyable social options as adults. Encourage them to view the experience as a rite of passage from high school to an adult life of engagement with music, perhaps as a performer, but also as an audience member and arts supporter.

Final Thoughts
    Recently one of my students submitted a performance response paper that included a quote by acclaimed American poet and author Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Individuals in a variety of professions have embraced these inspiring words, but they can also apply to the emotional connection between the performer and audience, as well as the educator and student relationship. Emotions help us remember. The feelings that live music performance generated in me when I was young are what inspired me to seek artistic experiences as a performer and as an audience member.
    During closing comments to my classes at the end of each semester, I encourage the students to attend live events and allow music to work its magic by putting a smile on their faces or bringing them to tears. In addition, I emphasize that the simple act of witnessing the creation of live music and sensing its power to shape our thoughts and feelings can be life changing.
    When I was young, my aunt took me to a Louis Armstrong concert – one of the events that sparked my career path – and to us, and, I imagine, everyone who witnessed his performances, it was obvious that Armstrong understood the importance of making emotional connections with audiences. Although he thrived in the world of commercial music many years ago, perhaps his words can offer a degree of motivation today regarding the importance of preparing students to be active audiences and future arts supporters, “My life has always been my music, it’s always come first, but the music ain’t worth nothing if you can’t lay it on the public. The main thing is to live for that audience, ‘cause what you’re there for is to please the people.”

The post Training Tomorrow’s Audiences appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Advocacy versus Lobbying
    There is a clear distinction between efforts to promote music education and legislation in support of music in the schools and the more formal work of lobbyists. Music educators are advocates. An advocate pleads in favor of a cause or proposal, and advocacy is a task that encompasses a wide range of activities, including building familiarity and trust between an individual and elected officials and providing them with reliable information.
    In the state of New York a lobbyist is “every person or organization retained, employed, or designated by any client to engage in lobbying. The term lobbyist shall not include any officer, director, trustee, employee, counsel, or agent of the state, or any municipality or subdivision thereof of New York when discharging their official duties; except those officers, directors, trustees, employees, counsels, or agents of colleges, as defined by section two of the education law. (New York State Government, 2007)
    There are numerous ways to advocate. The following list, courtesy of the South Carolina Music Educators Association, makes both a good assessment for this year and a good checklist for the next one.

• Prepare a fact sheet about the music program.
• Prepare an audio-video presentation on music education or about the music program.
• Write an article for the school newsletter. This can be about the program specifically or generally about arts education in your community.
• Write a letter to the editor in support of music education.
• Write and send out a news release.
• Call a newspaper photographer, editor, or reporter.
• Publicize Music in Our Schools Month activities. This is an excellent springboard for direct mailings or media notices to your public.
• Involve other subject areas in a cooperative project.
• Serve on a district-wide committee.
• Survey community attitudes.
• Discuss music education with a service club or community group.
• Work with a citizens’ support group for music education.
• Inform administrators of your community and state musical activities.
• Discuss the school music program with community leaders.
• Send letters with complimentary tickets to board of education members, administrators, and community leaders.
• Write letters of thanks to media, community, and political leaders in praise of efforts to advance the arts.

    Avoid falling into the trap of thinking that public relations means publicizing one event. It is only effective as a continued effort.

Media Relations
    If there is a general weakness in the public relations efforts of school music programs, it lies in actual relationships with the media. Because communication between the schools and the media is often viewed negatively – because of problems or conflicts that happen – a double-edged sword exists. Administrators tend to be careful not to give too much information to a reporter for fear of unfair or biased coverage of a story in the effort to build public attention to it.
    If a music teacher is ever contacted by a reporter, it is acceptable to tell the reporter you will get back to him soon. Take that time to go to your supervisor, whether that is the arts administrator, principal, or department chair, and ask about the established protocol for dealing with reporters.
    This is also good advice for reaching out to reporters. Do not write and distribute a press release about the students who made all-state without showing administrators first. As a district employee, you represent your employer, so you want your supervisors knowing what you are doing to publicize the honors your students receive. You want to be sure you have everyone’s permission and are following the district’s public relations protocol.
    It may be that protocol is to work with the district public relations specialist. Some schools might also have an outside public relations firm contracted to handle public relations for the district. Either way, you are the expert of your program and should be able to speak about it, whether to a reporter or a public relations specialist. It falls to the music teacher to explain the difference between a concert band and a wind ensemble or a chamber orchestra and full orchestra.

Media Lists and Contacts
    A list of local daily and weekly newspapers, social media sites, and radio and television shows will give you many outlets to best tell your story. In the United States, the white pages list radio stations east of the Mississippi River under W and west of the Mississippi River under K. In Canada, look under C. Many local chambers of commerce have press relations departments who can help.
    Once you have basic information to distribute, you need to find out to whom it should be sent at each media outlet. You might even wish to send a cover letter introducing yourself and establishing yourself as the information resource for your program. Check with your district’s public relations department first to determine its communication policies.
    Contacts at newspapers can include the assignment editor, who determines what is newsworthy, the arts editor, the education editor, and the editor of the community calendar
    The local radio station will have a news director. Also, check with the producer of any local talk programs. Radio talk shows are always looking for interesting guests and topical information. These shows provide excellent opportunities for lengthy interviews for your program’s spokesperson.
    For television, including cable, contact the assignment editor at your local television news station, as well as the producers of any community affairs programs, morning newscasts, or talk shows originating from your area. Unfortunately, the media has a high turnover rate for reporters. Be sure to update your media lists regularly.

Create Good Public Relations
    Get to know the editors at local media outlets and invite them to a performance. If you are having a meeting of your professional association or need an idea for professional development, contact a local reporter to present a session to your group on dealing directly with them. Information presented can include deadlines and writing or photo submission guidelines, but the most important thing you will likely hear is that reporters want clarity. They want you to clarify what you do. If you won a state marching title, and the reporter mentions a school two towns over also won, it is your job to explain about the different classifications. They want clarity about the story they are promoting for you.
    Create message points for your program. Find the grandest way of saying what you are doing, and remember that people are interested in statistics. They want to know that one third of the district enrollment is involved in music, that this is the ninth time in the last ten years you were named one of the best communities for music education. They want to know how big a deal something is. You can put out a press release saying your organization won a recognition, but if you’ve won it nine times in ten years your statement becomes more grandiose.
    Take advantage of the available “swiss cheese’’ media releases found in the Press Room of the NYSSMA website. Go to to obtain these template documents. Fill in the blanks with your own information to promote your events. Proofread them carefully and send them to your local media. In addition, the New York State School Music Association’s Advocacy and Media Relations Guide ( was created as a how-to guide to help members in the field with their public relations efforts. While this is meant to be a guide to better publicize events in an arts department, teachers and administrators should work through their school district’s official public relations policies.
    Finally, volunteer to participate in such community events as tree lightings and grand openings. It might never occur to people to ask you.    

***

Making News
News Idea Tip Sheet
    Write out the answers to these questions to keep your ideas and tasks organized. This will help in both planning and publicizing a new event.

• Who is involved? Consider what might be needed from students, teachers, administrators, parents, and members of the board of education.
• Who is the contact person? Include a telephone number, email, and cell phone number for on-site contact.
• What is the event?
• Where will the event be located?
• When will the event take place?
• Why are you holding the event? Is it related to the curriculum? Are you hosting an out-of-district artist or performer?
• Have approvals been obtained?
• Have legal releases been obtained for use of minors in photographs?
• Will you supply digital photographs?
• Will supplementary materials be distributed at the event?

Creating a News Release from Scratch
    Write out the answers to these questions to keep your ideas and tasks organized. This will help in both planning and publicizing a new event.
 
• Write it as you want to read it.
• Keep it student centered.
• Be precise.
• Use present tense.
• Remember that editors cut from bottom up.
• Use effective short quotes.
• Quadruple check spelling.
• Get permission from subjects before quoting them.
• Send the release one month before the event.

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