When did you first pick up a baton in front of a band?
My high school band director, Tom Johnston, gave me the opportunity. In my sophomore year at Farmington High School (CT) I decided to be a band director. I knew I wanted to become a teacher but was not sure what I would teach. Like so many future directors, I lived in the band room during high school. One day when I was hanging out during study hall, Mr. Johnston came in with a set of scores. He had been called to a meeting in the counseling center and asked me to run a 35-minute lesson to a mixed group of freshmen from the Symphonic Band. I looked at the scores and jumped in. I fell in love with teaching music on the spot.

That year, my father gave me a Jethro Tull songbook, and I loved playing from it. One day as I was practicing, Mr. Johnston stuck his head in and said, “You should be a band director.” I said, “I think I should, too,” and that was it. That moment stands out so clearly as a turning point in my life.

Did you ever waver and think of doing something else?
I absolutely knew what I wanted to do, although every band director has many gigs, hobbies, and outside interests. We are natural teachers in all sorts of activities. Band directing is at the center of my life and career, and there has never been a moment when I didn’t want to do this. I love leading the Syracuse Youth Wind Symphony and loved running a prenatal and postnatal yoga business for mothers. I wrapped up the yoga business when I became Director of Bands at Westhill High School because it was just too much. Band directing has always been the thing that lights me up the most.

How prepared did you feel when you started teaching?
I was lucky to do my student teaching at Westhill, and began a one-year master’s program the day after receiving my undergraduate degree at Syracuse University. By Thanksgiving break, I missed the kids from my student teaching and stopped in to visit. That fall, there had been an additional director hired at Westhill who was not going to finish out the year. My host teacher asked if I knew anybody to fill the position for the rest of the year. All of my friends had a job or were in the same intense master program as I was. John Laverty, my mentor and Director of Bands at Syracuse said, “You do these master’s programs to become strong enough and good enough to get the gig. You have a chance to get the gig. We will support you in any way you need to make this happen.” That was 21 years ago.

I sometimes think back to those early years. As a young teacher you have such lofty goals and think if the kids work their hardest and everything comes together, we can play a particular difficult piece of music. The biggest hurdle is learning how to program. You have to see students as they are and meet them at that level, picking repertoire that fits them and challenges them. As a young musician and teacher, I always had a phenomenal network of mentors and colleagues I could contact.

What lessons from your mentors still come to mind as you teach?
John Laverty cared deeply about what students needed. He gave me so many extra opportunities, whether it was leaving a score on my chair and inviting me to sit in on a rehearsal I might not have been a part of or checking in to see how I was doing. He taught me the value of true, deep caring about students as musicians and individuals. I continue to connect with him to this day.

How do you approach score study?
Investigating repertoire is the most challenging aspect of teaching music. We are so lucky to have complete freedom to design our curriculum. Score study for me is a journey that starts with a light perusal of the music and researching the composer and piece. I want to get the music into my ear. I go through the music in layers and start by trying to map out the form of a piece. I have had 21 student teachers and one of my favorite lessons for them covers score study.

We start by going through all of the layers: form, instrumentation, the melodies and harmonies, dynamics, articulations, styles, and various tempi. I map out the entire work on a single page. Sometimes I use colors, labels, and post-its. Distilling the piece into one map that I can share with students has a big impact on how I rehearse.

How do you select music for your ensembles?
In programming, I look for a beautiful way to honor our traditions and histories while also including diverse programming, both for the Syracuse Youth Wind Symphony and my school wind ensemble. I strive to program a wide range of composers including those who might have been underrepresented in the past or have not had their voices heard. I am so fortunate to teach within such a strong music program at Westhill and co-conduct the Syracuse Youth Wind Symphony. With the privilege of programming such great ensembles, I can help to be an amplifier. It feels like a deep honor. When programming, I make sure that rather than doing what I’ve always done, I try to learn about more options that are out there. In our inaugural season with the SYWS, we performed Of Endless Miles and Empty Rafts by Michelle Fernandez and Symphony No. 1 Culloden by Julie Giroux. We also presented a 1914 piece by Amanda C.E. Aldridge and edited recently by Kaitlin Bove. Aldridge wrote under the name Montague Ring though she was a Black woman composer.

The question has been asked: is your repertoire a mirror for students? Are players always on the outside looking into someone else’s histories, traditions, cultures, and experience, or does the music allow students in your rehearsal to look at music that mirrors their life experiences and traditions? I feel strongly that it should do both.

When did you realize that you were good at teaching?
That’s a tough question because even after 21 years, there are moments when I think about how much I still have to learn. When I go back to a piece I programmed earlier in my career, I realize how much I didn’t understand the first time. There never was a point where I thought, “I’ve got this.” Bands will humble you in a second if you believe you know all there is to know about a piece, an ensemble, or aspect of band pedagogy. That is the beauty of what we do: we constantly evolve, assess, and grow. In the same vein, I have had invaluable mentorship and support from the beginning. My administration and community have always supported me. I never felt afraid to ask for help and guidance. I love the present, where my students are, and where the program is going.

What is your daily school schedule like?
We start at 7:40 am and end at 2:10 pm each day. There is a period each day for instructional assistance from 2:10-2:55. I typically teach four structured lessons during the day and some flex periods that might include working with the pit bands for the musical. I teach the wind ensemble third period every day. During the instructional assistance period, we have a five-day rotation with jazz lab, jazz ensemble, percussion ensemble, modern band, and the audio production and engineering club. I also get release time during the day for serving as the Fine Arts coordinator.

As a flutist, how did you get started teaching percussion ensemble?
As a student at Syracuse University, I participated in a group called Samba Laranja (Orange Samba), a Brazilian percussion ensemble. When I did my student teaching at Westhill High School, the brass and percussion instructor ran a concert percussion program and took the group out on the drum line circuit and performed standstill concerts. She probably had 12 to 15 students and all of a sudden, the concert percussion group started growing. I had 20 students and saw that number grow to 40. I decided it was untenable for concert percussion and asked the administration about purchasing a set of Brazilian Samba instruments. They were all for it and purchased a full set. I played in groups as large as 60 in college and drew on that experience and also stayed in touch with the directors.

How do you organize and run your rehearsals?
I was just talking to my student teacher about this. Rehearsals move in this arc pattern, and the arc changes if you are far away from your next performance. With more time until the concert, you can address various fundamentals. Our curriculum includes work on tone quality, blues-based improvisation, sightreading, and preparing for the state solo and ensemble festival. As the performance gets closer, rehearsals have a sharper focus on the performance repertoire.

For me, every rehearsal starts with meeting students, saying hello, and doing my best to connect with a name and eye contact. Our opening warmup helps me gauge where students are musically and personally. You detect their energy as kids walk through the door. As music educators, we assess our students throughout the rehearsal. Part of that assessment includes checking in and seeing how they are doing. We plan our lessons carefully, but in class, every next second depends on the present moment. Sometimes, students arrive, and your plans go out the window.

We talk often with students in our program about their experiences and try to describe the culture of the program. We discuss our values, and the primary value is joy. I was working with students on the school musical today, and they were exhausted. It wasn’t a day to focus on notes. It was about connecting to joy.

I hope that as they approach the band room, they can take a deep breath and exhale any thoughts or feelings weighing them down. I want them to know that someone will be ready to truly see them if they want to be seen. They will hear their names spoken and know that someone cares about who and how they are that day. Then, we get to make music and struggle and face challenges and find meaningful victories. Making music is not just checking boxes and moving on to the next thing. It is about community and engagement.

Part of evolving as a band director is learning how to give and receive with your heart, musicianship, and intellect in a beautiful way, but not give away too much of yourself in the process. It is hard to keep that balance. Band directing is not just a job: it is such a part of the fabric of who we are. At the same time, we also have families and hobbies and life outside of teaching. I have a background in yoga, mindfulness, and meditation that helps me to find that balance. Especially for those just starting out in the field, it is important to make sure that you take care of yourself as a person and not just as a director.

In our wind ensemble, which is an auditioned group, we do not have fixed chairs and rotate throughout the year. There is no hierarchy of first, second, and third chair. All of my clarinets should know how to be third clarinets and how to be first clarinets. We emphasize the importance of every seat in the band. When we talk about band family, it’s honest and authentic.

What advice do you give to your student teachers about dealing with parents?
We work to keep parents informed about what happens in the program. They hear the words and characteristics of our band culture and understand what their child is doing and why. I have learned that the key to resolving any challenge or conflict in the program is personal communication early and often. It feels safer for some directors to communicate through email. I found that if I had to have a difficult conversation with a parent, I might spend hours crafting an email. With a phone call, however, you can hear their voice, and they can hear yours. They can tell how much you care about their child, and that makes everything easier. I tell student teachers that it might be scary to call when they have a concern weighing on them, but it is so worth it.

How often do you sightread music in rehearsal that you have no intention of using in a concert?
All the time. I hope my groups play a whole bunch of notes they will never perform, from traditional pieces that don’t fit my group to music played for sightreading practice. It doesn’t feel like something special or different – it’s just part of what they do. We also encourage students to provide feedback on repertoire and suggest pieces we should play. They will hop online and find tunes they want us to consider, and we read them.

What led you to co-authoring sightreading books for students?
It came out of necessity. I was teaching a lesson to a middle school player heading to the state solo festival, and we practiced sightreading. I put a piece of music in front of her and realized that it was too different from the eight measures she would have to play at the state contest. We needed a better pedagogical tool.

I sketched out an eight-measure line of music and reminded myself that the contest manual has a grid for every instrument and playing level, showing the possible rhythms, articulations, dynamics, and range for the sightreading. I asked Brendan Van Epps, the fifth-grade director for the district, if he wanted to write sightreading books with me. He is a composer and began drafting the books, and I was the editor. It was a perfect partnership.

The result was sightreading material that illustrates exactly what you would find at any all-county or state audition in New York State down to every last detail. At the beginning, we just wanted accurate materials for our students, and then other directors started discovering that we had these books as a resource. Brendan has a publishing company, Happy Jack Music, and he started selling them.

How was the Syracuse Youth Wind Symphony formed and what have you learned from the group?
It really comes out of COVID. There is more of a range of playing experience in my wind ensemble than before the pandemic. I looked out at my ensemble and heard some students playing at a very high level. At the same time, other students had just started playing their instrument on a Google Meet during COVID.

I started talking to other area directors, who mentioned the same ability variations in their groups. I thought it would be neat to provide a youth orchestra intensive for the band students. Right next to Westhill is the West Genesee District, which also has a very strong band program. A year ago, I called their wind ensemble director, Greg Borsz, and asked if he would co-conduct this ensemble with me. He immediately said yes, and I started researching best practices for starting a program like this. I contacted another college mentor, Barbara Tagg, who is the founder of the Syracuse Children’s Chorus about how to found a 501c3 nonprofit musical organization. We met and she helped guide me through the process.

She was incredible and provided logistical assistance on finding an attorney specializing in 501c3 creation and developing a support group that would work tirelessly for the ensemble. She emphasized that creating a mission statement to explain the importance of this wind symphony would persuade others to buy in as well. She said that explaining the why for the group will make other directors encourage their students to join. From this, the SYWS mission statement became:

Musicians will perform a transformative and diverse repertoire of Wind Band music within an ensemble culture that embodies and celebrates connection, collaboration, belonging, musician-leadership, joy, and excellence in music-making. The SYWS seeks to augment, support, and serve our musicians’ outstanding school music education programs with its presence and outreach.

Last fall, we waited until marching season began to wrap up to advertise and hold auditions for the new group. Once you start something and put it out in the world, it is no longer under your control. You have to wait and see if anybody shows up. Students arrived for auditions, area directors supported the group, and the Wind Symphony held its first concert in January.

It is a complete and utter joy to stand in front of a group that makes sounds like this and rips through challenging repertoire like they do. I love watching students from across Central New York develop friendships, camaraderie, and inside jokes. Low brass kids are the same everywhere. When I head out to All-County, I see kids from different schools connecting because of the Wind Symphony. It’s a dream come true.

Erin Althen is Director of Bands and Fine Arts Department Chair at Westhill High School, in Syracuse, NY. The Westhill CSD has 1,750 students with 575 at the high school. She is the advisor to the school’s active Tri-M music honor society chapter, founder and co-conductor of the Syracuse Youth Wind Symphony, and has conducted honor ensembles and presented clinics to music educators at County, All-State, State, and National conferences. Althen earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Education with Performance Honors in Flute from Syracuse University.

All photos: © Root and Wander Photography, used with permission.

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Syracuse Youth Wind Symphony
2023-24 Repertoire (Inaugural Season)
(alphabetical by Composer)

Series 1
Concert January 21, 2024
Americans We – Henry Fillmore
Cry of the Last Unicorn – Rossano Galante
Symphony No. 1 Culloden (Mvts I, II) – Julie Giroux
Irish Tune from County Derry and Shepherd’s Hey – Percy Grainger
Rhapsodic Celebration – Robert Sheldon
Havana Nights – Randall Standridge

Series 2
Concert March 17, 2024
On Parade: Quick March – Amanda C. E. Aldridge, ed. Kaitlin Bove
The Rakes of Mallow – Leroy Anderson
Midnight on Main Street – Brian Balmages
Halcyon Hearts – Katahj Copley
Three Irish Dances – James Curnow
Of Endless Miles and Empty Rafts – Michele Fernández
Pablo! – Richard Meyer

Series 3
Concert May 12, 2024
Beyond the Horizon – Rossano Galante
Until the Scars – John Mackey
Jazz Suite, Waltz No. 2 – Dmitri Shostakovich
Washington Post March – John Philip Sousa
English Folk Song Suite – Ralph Vaughan Williams
In Two Places – Haley Woodrow

The post Honor the Past Love the Present Dream the Future – A Conversation with Erin Althen appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

On May 16, 2024, Washingtonville High School (NY) performed their annual spring band concert. For the first time, the school gave a concert where all of the wind ensemble music and one piece performed by the concert band were composed, rehearsed, and conducted entirely by students. The student-led rehearsals became a fully immersive experience that stretched far beyond simply showcasing student compositions. For the composers, it provided a distinctive opportunity to build leadership skills. The band took charge of every facet of the music-making, and by concert-time they were proud to know that they would be world premiering five original compositions by their friends.

The Spark
Senior Ryan Godfrey provided the initial catalyst for this project. With guidance from his middle school band director, Laura Giorgio, Ryan composed several full-band compositions before entering high school and wrote eighteen full wind band pieces while in high school. Six of his pieces have been programmed at concerts by three different schools.

Last year Ryan, along with Ella Dueck and Jack Carola, took Jeremy Groth’s digital production class. There, using SoundTrap, a digital audio workstation program, they learned the fundamentals of composition, including writing melodies, creating chord progressions, and understanding compositional form. One of their class projects would eventually turn into Ella’s and Jack’s compositions for this year’s band concert.

At the start of school, we asked Ryan to compose a piece for his final high school concert. He then encouraged Ella to rescore her previous year’s composition for our band. Once Jack heard Ryan’s and Ella’s pieces were going to be performed, he decided to write a percussion ensemble piece based on his composition from digital production class. Around this same time, Andrew Dahlstrom also became interested in composing. Once again, Ryan’s influence was essential.

The five compositions performed at our spring concert were: Journey’s End for percussion ensemble by senior Jack Carola, Phoenix Rising and The Adventure Begins for wind band by senior Ryan Godfrey, Soaring by junior Andrew Dahlstrom, and Petrichor by senior Ella Dueck.

Compositional Inspirations
Whether drawing from personal experiences or media, these composers had creative insights that shaped their work. Jack commented, “The concept behind [my] piece was to create the ending credits music to a story-based video game. You’d be able to look back on your journey and see all of the memories you have made along the way.”

When composing, Ella tries to create a visual story through music. “I draw inspiration from movie scores,” she said. “Composers like Hans Zimmer, Daniel Pemberton, and John Williams have made a huge impact on my music, and I always strive to tell a story through my compositions. While writing Petrichor, I incorporated cinematic themes while telling a story through music.”

Ryan was inspired by his experiences as a band student in the district. “When composing The Adventure Begins, I drew on my memories as a Washingtonville music student, with the goal of crafting a symphonic love letter to the music program to be premiered at the final concert.”

Andrew’s work portrayed his experiences from honor band festivals. “Playing in honors ensembles inspired me because I wanted to recreate impactful moments that I felt during those festivals in a creation of my own,” he said. “There is always one moment in a program where my heart drops, and I become engulfed in the music. I do my best to recreate that moment in my pieces.”

Guiding the Compositional Process
The compositions developed over several months. Early on each student worked on their own without help. Once they had enough material to share, we met with them individually to offer suggestions. We deliberately guided them in a way that allowed each student to make their own musical decisions. Often, just listening to their music allowed us to share ideas. Incorrect notes or unintended clashes of harmonies were obvious items to point out. More detailed recommendations addressed orchestration, potential balance problems, and technical facility difficulties. We gave students options, never prescribing a solution.

Making revisions was a key part of the composing process. After listening to the music live, each student noticed musical issues to correct. A balanced sound on a computer did not always translate to an ensemble performance. Balance was the most common problem, requiring adjustments to dynamic markings and instrument doublings. Whatever they settled on, it was correct as long as it was an intentional decision. Andrew recalls, “I was disappointed that I had to scrap ideas, but looking back, I now realize how important it was to do so. I learned not to force a musical idea to work if it just doesn’t.”

It was essential for students to hear their music played with the band. Playing music back on a computer is far less exciting than hearing it on acoustic instruments. Students understood that having it read in rehearsal did not obligate us to program it on a concert. However, if the piece was well-scored and engaging, we might choose to program it. After hearing their music come alive, the student composers took the initiative to schedule appointments with us to go over their work.
We weren’t surprised that the composers had great experiences. However, we did smile at how excited the rest of the band was to play their music. Several younger students started composing, too.

There was one significant advantage to using student compositions over commissioning an outside composer. These students knew the strengths and weaknesses of each section of the ensemble. They could write parts that featured outstanding players. Ryan knew he had a fantastic euphonium player and acoustic guitarist in the band and wrote them a long duet in the middle of his piece. Ella added an important piano part for Ryan in her work.

Jack tailored each part of his percussion ensemble piece to emphasize each person’s strengths. He wrote challenging technical parts for the experienced mallet players while crafting manageable battery parts for the less experienced musicians. Andrew emphasized difficult running lines in the upper woodwinds, knowing that there were All-State level players in the sections.

A favorite memory during the composing process was watching Ryan help Andrew while they sat on the floor in front of my computer. Seeing Ryan in the role of mentor and teacher was incredibly special. He analyzed the score and its problems as easily as someone can see a math problem with a wrong answer. Andrew was sincerely appreciative of Ryan’s help.

Rehearsals
Daily rehearsals were the most rewarding part of the project. Because the composers were so immersed in their pieces, it was their job to make the music come to life. We handed over the reins to them for eight weeks. Though Ryan and Jack had conducted before, it was a new experience for Ella and Andrew. To get comfortable on the podium, they started conducting daily warm-ups. This taught them what it feels like to have 55 sets of eyes on them and how to show basic conducting patterns.

Andrew recalls, “At first it was incredibly nerve-racking and definitely harder than it looked. After some time, however, I realized that I was really just making music with my friends and peers, and it got a lot easier after that.” We quickly shifted to conducting run-throughs of their pieces.

As the students gained experience on the podium they took over rehearsal planning. Because they knew their compositions intimately, leading rehearsals came naturally. We remained close by to make suggestions in our respective rehearsals. Having students conduct was not only beneficial to them, but was an engaging and insightful experience for the rest of the band, too. “I had so much fun playing music written by my friends,” said Sophie Kilcoyne, junior oboist. “Our ensemble was always engaged by the pieces our friends made, so it never felt boring. The ensemble showed so much respect to the student composers. The composers were all working with good friends, people who wanted them to succeed.”

A Culture of Support and Trust
One element that made this endeavor so successful was the existing band culture in the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band. These ensembles thrive in an atmosphere of respect and support. We give sincere compliments at each rehearsal and make it customary for students to demonstrate genuine, enthusiastic applause or cheer any time someone does something well. We knew this attitude was genuine when students shared a story from an honor band rehearsal they attended. One commented, “We finished a run through of the piece, and I put down my flute and prepared to clap for the performance. Then, I realized that no one else was clapping.”

It was wonderful to see our norm of encouraging fellow students continuing during the student-run rehearsals. “My favorite memory was when I asked the students to sing through their parts,” Andrew said. “When they finished the class broke into applause! It was rewarding to know that everyone else was enjoying the process as much as I was.”

“Some of the most important things I learned was to always be kind, respectful and supportive of the musicians,” Ryan reflected. “Providing frequent sincere compliments is incredibly important. Point out the things that they are doing well, and compliment individuals who are really doing their best. It goes a long way with ensemble members.”

In addition, the students hold a deep respect for the music they perform, and they hold each other accountable to a high level of preparation and performance. Within the ensembles, students do not audition or compete for placement. All students are eligible to audition for solos, and students play different parts on different pieces of music. Because of these standards, there is an unspoken recognition that every member of the ensemble is critically important to the group’s success, and this is apparent in how students interact during rehearsals.

“What really allowed our ensemble to pull this off would have to be the atmosphere of our band room,” said Brady Crowe, an 11th grade flutist. “We’re all friends in that room, we clap after solos, encourage one another during rehearsals, and most importantly have each other’s backs.”

Advice for Helping New Composers
If you have a student with prior composing experience, you may only need to provide guidance as they share their work with you. However if you have eager students with no prior experience, here are a few ideas to help them get started:

• Create melodies by ear at first. As a starting point, have students use their primary instrument or piano to improvise short melodies. Initially, have them record themselves so they are not shackled by music notation. Once they have some ideas they like, give them advice on how they can expand their melodies to form musical phrases.

• Document their progress. Using a music notation program helps students transcribe their melodies. This way, it will be easy for them to experiment with adding additional parts.

• Help them with the fundamentals of composition. Teach them about the basics of compositional elements – use of repetition, building phrases, form, structure, and chords and progressions to fit their melody.

• Create accompaniments. Help them with crafting accompaniment parts that properly fit their melodies harmonically speaking.

• Assist with scoring. Guide students in making decisions as to which instruments will get the melody versus the accompaniment parts making sure the students stay within a comfortable playing range for each instrument. (Most music notation programs will highlight notes that go beyond the normal playing range of an instrument). Refer to scores of familiar compositions to see how professional composers arrange their parts (e.g. in easier music, the saxophones and horns typically have the same parts).

• Help with percussion instruments. Unless students have percussion experience, they will need to learn the basics of each percussion instrument. Take students on a tour of your percussion section, allowing them to experience each instrument. You will likely need to help them with notating what they are envisioning. Show them percussion parts to provide notation examples.

• Talk to other students. Have student composers talk with players in other sections of the band to learn the fundamentals of each instrument. Encourage composers share their music with the other students to learn if the music is playable.

• Play secondary instruments. Have beginning composers start playing as many secondary instruments as possible.

Advice for Starting Student Conductors
The initial goal is to give students experience on the podium in a non-threatening way. Prepare them in advance so they can demonstrate basic conducting patterns. Once they are comfortable, have them conduct the band’s warm-up exercises. If needed you can co-conduct on the side of the podium so they have a model to imitate. Depending on the students, they may need multiple times on the podium before feeling comfortable enough to conduct their own piece. After each rehearsal, try to meet with them to discuss what went well and the plan for the next rehearsal.

Once they get used to the process they can start creating lesson plans for your review. Depending on student skills and the rapport they have with the ensemble, you can decide how much or little you want to steer the rehearsal. We were fortunate to have four very strong students, but we still sat next to the podium with a score guiding rehearsals by sharing suggestions as needed.

Lessons Learned
• Our students can accomplish more than we could ever imagine with the opportunity and the space to grow. They need the freedom to make mistakes and the guidance to learn from them. Making mistakes or changes are not failures; they are part of the process.

• Creating and sustaining a collaborative, supportive culture makes everything better in class.

• Through the rehearsals, each composer was challenged with questions about their music. Each question demanded a thoughtful answer or decision by the composer. It was important to us that each student make these decisions with a clear, thoughtful rationale, but the final decision always belonged to them.

• Not all compositions will be ready or appropriate for public performance. All compositions can be given time for reading in a rehearsal and the opportunity to make changes for the purpose of becoming a better composer. Be clear and upfront about expectations and opportunities that may or may not be possible.

The Concert
As a gift for all of the hard work that they did, we wanted to do something special. At the beginning of the concert, we presented all of the composers with their own custom baton. Though we had program notes printed in the concert program, each composer spoke about their composition and the experience of preparing it with the band.

To help the audience understand how much work went into this project, we posted the musical scores on display panels just outside the auditorium. As the concert ended, we announced that the composers would stand at their displays for photos and autographs. It was a wonderful way to finish.

We have never received so much positive response from a concert. Students were thrilled to help turn their peers’ dreams into reality. Junior flutist Jaclyn Chubay commented, “Seeing my friends up on the podium conducting the pieces that they worked so hard on filled me with a sense of pride. The student pieces also gave me the rare opportunity to speak directly with composers about their music and intentions.”

For the directors, it was the first time that we sat back at our own concert and watched the wind ensemble perform without help. We will never forget this experience.

To see performances from this project, use the QR code below or go to: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-EDE9WRcsbqxkL4nqddrUPPaf3eZ-8EQ&si=w6UNu2KEhte8Ea9b

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Ryan Godfrey will attend SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music to study Music Education with a minor in Music Composition. He has been a member of numerous honor bands including the NYSSMA All-State Symphonic Band and NYSBDA Honors All State Symphonic Bands. After college he hopes to be a published composer of band literature and a high school band director.

Percussionist Jack Carola, will attend SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music to study Music Education. During high school he performed in the NYSSMA Area All-State Band, Senior High All County Orchestra, and various community ensembles. He plans on becoming a music teacher to share his passion for music.

Ella Dueck will be attending New York University to study Music Composition and Screen Scoring. As a clarinetist Ella has been a member of many honor bands including All County, Area All-State, and the NYSBDA Honors All State Symphonic Bands, and the NYSSMA All-State Symphonic Band.

Andrew Dahlstrom is entering his senior year at Washingtonville High School and hopes to go to college for music education. Andrew has been a member of the NYSSMA Area All-State Band, Senior High All-County Orchestra, and various community ensembles.

The post Four Students Make Their Mark – Indelible Lessons in Composing, Conducting, and Life appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

In her 18th year of teaching in Texas, Kim Shuttlesworth is Director of Bands and Fine Arts Department Chair for Coppell High School. Her ensembles have received recognition annually in marching and concert venues. Each ensemble has received superior ratings at the UIL Marching Contest, UIL Concert & Sightreading Contest, and the Texas State Solo and Ensemble Contest. Under her direction, her programs have been UIL State Marching Band Contest Finalists, Bands of America Regional, Super Regional, and Grand National Finalists, Shuttlesworrth’s concert bands have consistently received superior ratings. Her bands have advanced through the Texas Music Educators Association Honor Band Contest, placing 11th in 2019 for 4A with Tom Glenn High School and 6th place in 2023 for 6A with Coppell. Shuttlesworth has worked with summer programs over the past 20 years including the Music for All Summer Symposium, the Longhorn Music Camp, the Western Carolina University, and the Sewanee Summer Festival. She is an active adjudicator and clinician for marching and concert band.

The news came late. On the day that Kim Shuttlesworth learned that her top band at Coppell High School in Texas had earned an invitation to the Midwest Clinic, she was out of town assessing other ensembles. Her phone kept buzzing with friends wondering if she had heard from Midwest. When she spotted a message from the Midwest in a spam folder, she raced into the hallway and learned the news. She celebrated with her students the next day. When they first recorded their submission to the Midwest, Shuttlesworth reminded students to focus on their musical journey and not the possibility of an invitation. She has prepared her Midwest program for the convention with a focus on the family and colleagues who helped to shape her music journey. “I thought about all those people that took a risk on a young kid from Carthage, Texas. As directors, we are not just ourselves. We are made up of all these different people that have helped influence us.”

How did you get started in music?
I grew up in a small town in East Texas called Carthage and lived there most of my life until college. My mom taught choir and band in a different small town and notified the Carthage band directors that I was going to play trumpet. (My parents gave me a trumpet mouthpiece when I was 10.) After I started band, my mom decided to give up teaching band and stick to choir. She took a job in the district where we lived because she wanted to watch me grow up and push me to be the best. I played trumpet all the way through and became a Texas All-State musician. My parents bet me that if I made All State, they would buy me whatever kind of trumpet I wanted. They never expected me to win the bet, but I rose to the challenge and received a custom-made Strad. I spent summers going to different band camps and fell even more in love with the trumpet.

I wanted to become a professional trumpet player and applied to the University of Texas. About halfway through school, I decided that I should not be a professional musician. Kevin Sedatole, who was then Associate Director of Bands and Director of the Longhorn Band advised me, “The way to be a great teacher is to be a great player.” His encouragement pushed me in the right direction. At the University of Texas, I was the third female drum major in their history and had a great time. Next, I student-taught in South Austin at Bailey Middle School with the great Diane Gorzycki, a director who really influenced my life.

Then, I student-taught at James Bowie High School where Bruce Dinkins was my mentor. I was very close to him, and he wanted to keep me around, so my first job was at Clint Small Middle School, a feeder to Bowie High School. A lot of very old knowledge influenced me early in my career and led me to be the teacher I am today. After my first year teaching middle school, Bruce moved me over to the high school to fill an opening. When he passed, I took over James Bowie for the next few years before moving on to a brand-new school to see what I was made of. When you open a new school, you learn if you can really teach or not, so I became the first band director at Glenn High School in Leander ISD.

Life took a turn when my mom was diagnosed with cancer in August 2020, and I decided to move closer to East Texas. By the grace of God, the Coppell job opened in October 2020; it was meant to be. I had six good months with her before she passed in February 2021. She always wanted to listen to my bands. I’d send her a video on Friday night and by Sunday she’d call with a laundry list of things I needed to correct. She was the eternal mentor and was a huge influence on my approach to teaching ear training and singing and also how to treat kids and bring a program together. I try every day to honor her and who she was.

Are you honoring your mother at the Midwest performance?
Yes, the concert pays tribute to so many mentors who have gone before me. We will be giving the premiere of a piece by Jack Wilds on the Midwest stage that was dedicated to Diane Gorzycki. We are also playing a transcription that Bruce Dinkins would have loved and a piece by Ryan George, and Bruce is the connection to that. I’m also honoring Scott Mason, who taught at Coppell for 30 years and made the program what it is.

My father is my biggest fan and requested that we play March Grandioso because that is his favorite, and my mother loved it when I had to opportunity to play it at the University of Texas. The entire concert is a thank you to my parents.

How would you describe the band program’s culture and relationship with the community?
The Coppell Band is rich in tradition, and the City of Coppell calls on us regularly to play for events. We are happy to perform, and the community supports us unconditionally. The same is true for my administration, who I can’t thank enough. They believe in the mission of what we do and understand that is it not just music-based, it is life-based. That support was a big draw for me when I decided to come to Coppell.

Although the surrounding Dallas-Fort Worth area has millions of people, there is a small town feeling in Coppell that reminds me of where I grew up. It makes me feel at home. I already knew what the program could do musically. I wanted to see how much we could contribute and accomplish as the next phase of that. We currently have 49 National Merit Semifinalists, the highest number of any school in Texas, and seven of those are band kids this year, as well as ten band students who achieved this honor last year. Our students are high-achieving and really appreciate their teachers, which I love. I am constantly learning from them, and they make me a better teacher.

That type of culture, where students drive the learning and not the teacher, means that students are constantly trying to get better. This is as true in working on their instruments as it is academically. They thrive when you give them challenging content and help make them better. I may say “If you’ve got time and you want me to hear you play, you can sign up for a slot” and the slots are filled in five minutes. They line up at the door waiting to play. I have never seen that hunger in my career, and it makes me work constantly to be the best version of myself. I don’t want to let them down.

When did you first think about applying to Midwest?
I first applied in 2012 and 2014 when I was at James Bowie High School and learned quite a bit from that process. When I started a music program at Glenn High School, I knew that performing at Midwest was a worthy long-term goal and wouldn’t happen right away. After coming to Coppell, I intended to apply in 2022 but when my mom passed on February 12, that was too close to the recording deadline. I was away from school for a couple of weeks handling the family situation. I told myself that I would not be scared to try again, even though my mom wasn’t around. I knew Midwest would be a great experience for my students. The worst that could happen is that they would say no. I told students that we would work towards this goal, and if it happens, it happens. I just wanted to see if we could get the music to a great level faster than we had before.

Many directors should be encouraged by knowing that it can take many attempts to get the invitation. Just because you have a phenomenal band coming up next year, that isn’t your only shot. You need to build consistency and have a wonderful band over several years. Some people think there is an exact equation to getting invited, that you need to play a particular march or include a transcription in the recording. In talking with my mentors, I learned that the submission just needs to be good and exciting. It needs to have life.

Sometimes people may say that Texas bands give cut and dried performances that are technically perfect but lacking emotion. I have never been like that. When I was a kid, my mom would sit next to me and sing my region etudes to me, particularly the lyrical etudes. She’d say, “You need to give it this flavor.” I have always approached my teaching the same way. I may never win Honor Band and that’s ok because I’m not going to be perfectly in the box or whatever people think that we are. I just want to make really good music.

What music did you include in the recording when you applied to the Midwest Clinic?
I did Hail to the Spirit of Liberty, a wonderful march with a lot of personality. It is not often played but it lets you take some interpretive risks that can really pay off. Then, I did a piece that I have only heard the U.S. Navy Band perform, The Wild Goose by Ryan George. It’s fantastic. It runs about nine minutes and is about a goose chase. This work allowed me to feature my wonderful oboe and English horn players and my really strong clarinet and flute sections.

At first the kids did not like The Wild Goose. They’re music snobs and wanted to know why we couldn’t do Pines of Rome or The Firebird. I told them we were doing it, and they eventually fell in love with it. It has compound meter and sounds different and modern. All of a sudden their performance was glorious. You could hear the story of the goose throughout the entire piece. I felt this music had imagery and storytelling that we would not get any other music this year. I paired it with Pines of Rome later for my UIL assessment, and these were two pieces you could watch in your mind.

How did you approach programming for Midwest with the requirement of playing music at all grade levels?
The best advice came from members of the Midwest Board. They told me that an audience at Midwest is not just Texas ears all the time. The concert doesn’t have to be a certain way. You just need to have a concert that is fun and enjoyable for the audience. I took that suggestion to heart and tried to make the concert more of a celebration than a display of technical skill. Our performance will feature new composers and also pay tribute to the people who helped get us there.

With this approach in mind, I wanted to anchor the concert with an exuberant fanfare-style piece. I kept changing my mind about what to put on the concert. I gave careful thought to the length of the concert and how people listen, and picked Howard Hanson’s Symphony #2 as the finale. It is an old-school, major transcription that is not played much anymore but has great passion and excitement. I changed to this piece on the day the program was due. It will be my tribute to Bruce Dinkins because he used to make me go to Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and I learned about transcriptions because he directed an orchestra at the festival.

One of my favorite pieces is our Grade 2 selection called A Dashing Gallop by James Pierpont and arranged by Patrick Roszell. It is written in an orchestral overture style and naturally gets faster as it progresses.

I am excited to take our students to hear the Chicago Symphony Brass perform. The concert we are performing will test our students a bit, but this is the deepest trumpet section I have ever had. You can take the first part and pass it down to the ninth chair and they will play it without fault. The Chicago Brass will motivate all of our students, particularly the sophomores and juniors who are younger and might think “I can do this.”

How has your teaching and approach to working with students changed over the past 18 years?
When you are young and in your first job, you are cautioned to make sure that students know you are the teacher and take you seriously. I was fortunate to work with Bruce Dinkins because he made me his partner in crime and not just his assistant. Because of some of the influences in my life, I thought that the job had to be so hard. Unless you arrived at 7 each morning and left at 8 at night, you weren’t doing your job well. I spent much of my early years thinking that if I worked longer and spent a lot of time at school, maybe all of this talent would just jump in my brain, and I would be able to do it. I worked hard but wasn’t as efficient as I probably could have been.

When Bruce passed, I was 27 or 28 years old, and they handed me a nationally recognized program. My goal was not to screw it up. I learned about resilience and that it is ok not to know something but you must be brave enough to ask questions. If you don’t learn the answers, it affects kids. It’s ok not to know the answer, but it’s not ok not to ask the question.

So, I constantly tried to find people to talk to and then remember and write down as much as possible. As I get older, I appreciate when someone who has been in the business a long time tries to give the advice you need. I find myself now trying to give that advice back because I know that younger directors may not listen now, but may appreciate it later.

I have also learned over time about relationships with kids and parents. I don’t always have to be right, and they don’t always have to be wrong. I have discovered how much people can learn from each other by listening and having mutual respect and understanding. All parents want is what’s best for their kids. Many adults have a role in helping children in their journey. My principal at Coppell says the number one thing she wants us to do is to love kids because many students don’t feel that in their lives or realize that there are people who are there for them. As teachers, our tool is music but our skill is life.

* * *

Bands at Coppell

Coppell is a one-high school town with a building for grades 10-12, a 9th grade center, and three middle schools. The Coppell High School Band program has about 450 students and each middle school has about 250 music students. The high school has seven concert bands, two marching bands, a balanced percussion program, a color guard programmed with the marching band, and two winter guards. At the high school, there are three main directors plus a percussion director and a color guard director.

Shuttlesworth admits that the schedule is tight sometimes with two bands playing against each other in adjacent rehearsal rooms. She has tried to make the busy environment into a comical situation. “You can hear everything all the time. I will open the door to one room and say ‘your trumpets are flat’ and shut the door. Everyone laughs.” When the Wind Symphony was working on Pines of Rome, the band in the next room just stopped playing and listened because it was nearly impossible to get anything done.

The Coppell High School Wind Symphony performs at the Midwest Clinic on Friday, December 22 at 4:15pm.

The post Our Tool Is Music, Our Skill Is Life – An Interview with Kim Shuttlesworth appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

���� With so many bands on the field preparing for marching season, we asked a distinguished panel of judges to share their collected wisdom from decades of experience. They have judged locally and in most cases with Bands of America, US Bands, MAC, Drum Corps International and Drum Corps Associates. All have taught scholastic band. In addition to sharing their perspectives from having watched countless performers, they also offered helpful ideas for continued learning and dialogue between judges, educators, and students.

What are the vital details that lead to success or failure on the field?

Jeff Smith: Creation, communication and collaboration. The design staff must create a musical and visual presentation that resonates with the staff, members, judges, and the audience. This presentation cannot be created in isolation. The musical and visual concept must be developed simultaneously. Too often, design teams simply select music they like and attempt to squeeze the music into a weak, unrelated visual concept. Conversely, designers must not pair a visual concept with disjunct selections of music that are chosen merely to complete visual moments and lack continuity and line of thought.
���� During the creation process, the design team must communicate with other members of the staff in order to detail, coordinate, and emphasize the performance requirements and musical and visual vocabulary needed to successfully perform the presentation. This communication should continue throughout the teaching and performance process. As with any work of art, revisions and additions are necessary to skillfully communicate the show concept and nuances.
���� During the season, collaboration between staff, members, judges, and the audience is crucial for the growth and development of the performance. Some staffs act as if their jobs are complete after teaching the music and visual packages. These are just the skeleton of the presentation. Subtleties and performer communication must be continually revised and enhanced and detailed and can only improve when reactions to the show are incorporated into the presentation.
���� Staff members should avoid watching the performers exclusively and ignoring the audience and judges. The design team should listen to all of the judges’ commentaries and analyze their collective reactions to the performance. The staff can then decide whether to incorporate or dismiss the feedback.

Peter Furnari: Directors should prepare performers to have the ability to demonstrate good technique and training, consistent performance musicality, and understanding of material. The program should demonstrate good musical/visual construction, consistent coordination/use of elements, and an understanding of program direction.

Debbie Torchia: Make sure members can meet the challenges of the show through scheduled training sessions and skills they already have. These skills/choices are driven by designer intent and require variety with the use of many different methods. Performers require an understanding of the choices needed to accomplish the challenges in the manner required.

Key areas for training sessions include:
Equipment
Choreography
Field Orientation
Meter and tempo changes
Motion
Role Playing
Form control

���� The list has endless possibilities from location on the field to the emotions intended by the vehicle.
���� Failure on the field occurs when performers are not trained in all of the skills needed to accomplish the required choices. Again, the possible ways the show can fail on the field are varied – from asking performers to communicate different emotions using the same skills to not being able to control meter or tempo. In each case, training is what leads to success, and lack of training can lead to disappointment.

Charley Poole: Program selection is the first and most critical decision an instrumental staff makes. Often groups attempt material outside the reach of students. This may occur with units at both ends of the skill development spectrum. Directors must carefully assess the skill level of the group and also each component section.
���� Ideally the arrangements will fall comfortably within the reach of the members but also provide enough challenge for musical growth. The next step is developing a technique and skill development regimen that supports the program to be performed and leads to successful results. Finally, you have to predict how much members will buy in to the show based on the genre, themes, and challenges presented.

Jim Vitagliano: I look for strong show planning process being evident or neglected, strong training being displayed or absent, and commitment or lack thereof by the students to the project.

What is the difference between a stellar show and one that doesn’t reach its potential?

Debbie Torchia: When the show and performers can express the intent of the designers’ choices in the same way – at the highest level – then a stellar performance happens. All sections of the group have the same understanding and achievement of their individual responsibilities. That doesn’t mean that errors do not occur. Often they can in a great performance, but this does not interfere with the success of the show.
���� Programs may not reach their potential for several reasons. For example, different sections may reach different levels of achievement, or rehearsals may have neglected some of the group’s responsibilities. Sometimes a group is so perfect but it lacks emotion, or the students were so intense, but I couldn’t follow what they were doing or why.

Peter Furnari: High levels of achievement will elevate a program’s overall presentation. Levels of achievement can be seen in ensembles of any age, size, or competitive class. This excellence can be displayed through the performers’ maturity and musical and visual understanding of the repertoire along with the delivery of a well-constructed, coordinated and balanced composition. A program can’t reach its potential when the how or the what of the program falls short.

Jim Vitagliano: In a great show, foundational training blocks are evident and compositional choices are well thought out and delivered. A weak one includes program choices that do not reflect strong planning and foundational preparation.

Charley Poole: The best programs generally have the following characteristics:
• Consistent thread: This binds the varied musical selections so it is not a disjointed grouping of musical ideas.
• Pacing: There must be methodical pacing of musical and visual concepts that takes the audience on an organized and logical journey.
• Tension and release: To maintain viewer intrigue, the program segments must deliver effects through the application of sufficient tension followed by robust release.
• Staging: This includes the proper placement of ensemble sections and segments to achieve a pleasing and consistent blend and balance.
• Coordination: All aspects of the unit, winds, percussion, guard, and visual design must work in concert to achieve an effective
presentation.
• Creativity: This requires the insertion of novel concepts or variations on accepted norms.

Jeff Smith: An outstanding show incorporates musical and visual variety with consistent coordination between musical and visual concepts. Continuity, line of thought, coloration, subtlety, nuance, contrast, communication, and audience engagement are crucial factors to coordinate all elements of the show. George Zingali had a rule that guided him in designing – that every 20 seconds there needs to be a moment of visual or musical effect leading to a climax of events.
���� These development elements must be apparent throughout a show to create a coordinated and cohesive presentation. Proper design creates a mutual line of thought shared by musical and visual design to demonstrate direction, flow, intrigue, and emotional ebb and flow rather than a string of isolated, albeit brilliant, moments. Consistent staff and performer collaboration and communication through the final performance will beget a stellar presentation.

What elements do you look for in early season performances?

Charley Poole: With regard to the program, I watch for the framework of a thoughtfully packaged concept supported by the musical offerings and visual representation. With regard to performance, I want to see evidence of solid training on the technical approach to the instruments, uniformity of technique, ensemble listening skills, outline of phrasing concepts, signs of blend, and balance with the sections and the whole.

Jeff Smith: My primary focus for early season performances is potential. It must suggest moments of continuity, line of thought, variety, method of connecting thoughts and coordination of elements. Cleaner performance will come with practice, but it should be secondary to the show’s potential for future growth at this point.

Peter Furnari: I look for performers who understand what is being asked of them and how they deliver it. I simultaneously look at the construction of the program and how it is perceived. The layers of responsibility in the composition and the performers’ display of the skill sets required to deliver the material will often reveal the level of understanding that the designers have in the students’ abilities and the level of understanding the students possess as performers.

Debbie Torchia: I never look for anything in judging. I sit back and allow the program to develop so I can understand the design intent and how they have chosen to communicate it. By doing it this way, I don’t pull apart one aspect or idea from another and can then offer information on what they intended. If it is early in the season, performer accomplishment often will not be at its highest level, but as long as it is recognizable, I can understand what is happening and how well it is being demonstrated. As judges, we understand how to put a program together, so in early season I try to understand what they want to present and how well it comes across. By letting them know when, where, and how this is being accomplished, I offer them recognition and, hopefully, where they need to direct their attention to continue to develop their ideas.

What are the challenges of judging in the short school band season compared to summer DCI?

Peter Furnari: Consistency. Some factors include performer consistency – age, maturity, ability, skill sets. Performance consistency includes level of detail, time invested in rehearsal, and number of performance opportunities. I try to recognize the performance qualities of each ensemble as they are displayed and reward the performances of that day, summer or fall.

Jeff Smith: Making unyielding value judgments of a fall show too early in the season can be a challenge. In the Northeast, units have about ten weeks to perfect and perform their show. All aspects of the show may not come together until the final two weeks.
���� DCI and DCA judges and staff must avoid judging bands at a level just concluded at drum corps championships. Bands in September have only practiced together for two weeks at most before school started. Once school commences, many bands rehearse just ten hours a week, a single day’s practice for drum corps. Also, unlike marching bands, drum corps often rehearse during the non-competitive season and boast advanced experience, more mature performers, and larger staffs than do high school bands.

Jim Vitagliano: The biggest differences are fewer program views and less time for programs to institute a plan for noticeable progress.

Debbie Torchia: Many DCI performers have been doing this for years, while scholastic performers turn over every four years. This means that the training may vary considerably between the types of skills required. Judges have to understand the differences in philosophy when judging these two types of programs. School bands have time constraints that DCI corps do not, so when offering information, we should take that into account.
���� Also, judges rarely see a school band more than once a season, so we do not witness their progress over the time. Judges do not always get a chance to critique with band staffs, so many questions we have are not answered. In contrast, DCI corps usually have critiques through most of their season and often corps are seen more than once a season.

Charley Poole: The major differences in adjudication in fall marching band are exposure and judging guideline variations. Compared to DCI adjudication, a judge may only see an ensemble once during the fall. As a result, you must be familiar with scoring guidelines and criteria to provide an accurate ranking and rating. Second, if you judge in a variety of associations, you must be cognizant of the particular scoring and spread guidelines, criteria references, and any other home rule mandates. This requires study prior to each assignment.

Are programs usually underwritten or overwritten? How do you advise teachers whose programs have problems of either variety?

Jim Vitagliano: This varies from group to group. For overwritten programs, conversations about editing are essential. The same goes for underwritten programs, but because of the short time span in marching band, the conversations about underwritten programs may focus more on the achievement of performance excellence. These conversations will happen on different levels based on the experience of the staff, program structure, and knowledge levels

Debbie Torchia: An overwritten production needs clarity of thought (musically/visually), clarity in delivery (what/how), and an elevated level of achievement (write for skill sets). For an underwritten production, directors should review the skill sets of performers, introduce additional colors or textures visually and sonically, determine appropriate opportunities for visual or musical layering, maximize performer involvement, and maximize available resources.

Charley Poole: Overwritten. My advice is to know your players, design/arrange to their skill levels, and maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses through design.

Peter Furnari: A majority of compositional issues occur with overwritten visual/musical concepts. Overwritten programs often lack clarity, either because of too many layers in the composition or performers with underdeveloped skills that cannot achieve the desired performance qualities. Clarity of intent becomes cloudy and difficult to read.

Jeff Smith: I believe programs are more often underwritten. Inexperienced staffs may not trust students to learn the materials, so they place creative restrictions on the visual designer. This is especially apparent in visual passages that lack coordination, continuity, and creativity between visual and musical phrasing. Show design and coordination are difficult to discuss without hurting a unit’s feelings. Judges must reflect on how to address this subject.
Tactful honesty is the best policy. Make suggestions that will advance the program. Some ideas may take longer than one season to implement but will lead to substantial benefit for the program. Volunteer to come in for a rehearsal.
���� Some directors are open to suggestions, while others are defensive and think the judges do not understand their plight even when we have written, designed, taught, teched, and performed for decades. Indeed, those decades of experience may suggest to a youthful instructor that the older judge has antiquated ideas and doesn’t understand their current problems. As judges, we must remain students of the activity and suggest opportunities for growth. Through our judging and critique dialog, we must assure the young staff and directors that we are here to advance the activity and help them grow within it.

How do effective staffs handle critique?

Charley Poole: Some staffs focus on numbers or placement. Effective use of critique time is demonstrated by staffs that secure as much information and clarification from the adjudicator as possible. Solid open-ended questions always seem to provide the most fodder for improvement.
Jim Vitagliano: They understand the criteria used to evaluate their group, they listen to commentary, and make notes that spark conversations about the application of the criteria. They are willing to engage in conversations that not only benefit that group, but broaden a judge’s perspective.

Jeff Smith: They listen! Before entering critique, effective staffs listen to the adjudicators’ sound files or at least the summary at the end of the recording. If there are multiple staff members, they divide up which recordings each caption leader should review. Each staff member decides on one or two areas from the judge’s commentary to discuss thoroughly.
After critique, the staff meets immediately to discuss the adjudicators’ evaluation for their
caption and the implication for the other captions. They develop three areas to work on at the next rehearsal to advance the performance of the show. The staff collaborates prior to that rehearsal and determines methods for addressing those areas.

Peter Furnari: They come in with clear ideas of what their show/presentation is, where it is headed, and how they will reach their ultimate goal. They come in prepared having listened to and taken notes about the recorded commentary. They then formulate questions or answers based on judge commentary and are ready to engage in an interactive level of communication. Directors should come in ready to elevate the overall educational process through meaningful dialogue.

Debbie Torchia: I find the most effective critiques are with staffs that see not only their strengths but also their weaknesses. They know and can discuss what they are doing to improve. These staffs ask about specific moments and understand their show and their intent. They are clear on where they are going, and if I have any questions that I have asked on the file, they explain and answer my questions without attitude or accusations. If judges ask about a moment, it is not coming across as intended. They may discuss how to fix it or not, but the discussion remains professional throughout. It is clear that these staffs are able to see their competitors’ strengths and try to do it better than their competition.
���� It is a discussion of the program, not an argument about numbers, although it may end with a statement about working up to the number they want. They use their time wisely to gain and share as much information about their program as possible. Over the years, I have learned so much from this kind of critique because they are sharing the new things they are trying and I have the opportunity to watch that process unfold. It has made me a better judge, and I am thankful.

Marching photos courtesy of Jeff Smith and Westbrook (ME) High School Marching Band

Peter Furnari is a percussionist, instructor, and adjudicator with over 40 years of experience as a performer and educator. He joined the Mass Judges Association in 1976 and has been an adjudicator at a national and international level ever since. He has been an active judge for DCI since 1983 and WGI since 2000. In 2009, he was inducted into the Massachusetts Drum Corps and Music Educators Hall of Fame.

Charley Poole has taught, arranged for, and adjudicated marching bands, drum corps, and percussion ensembles throughout the United States, Canada and Japan. He has served as an adjudicator for DCI, DCA, WGI, New England Scholastic Band Association, Maine Band Directors Association, United States Scholastic Band Association, and Bands of America. Recently retired, he was a member of the music faculty of the Everett Public Schools for over 20 years as an instrumental teacher, as well as directing the marching band and percussion ensemble. He is a member of the World Drum Corps, Drum Corps International and Massachusetts Drum Corps Halls of Fame

Jeff Smith has been involved in the marching arts for over forty years as a visual designer, musical arranger, director, show coordinator, caption head, instructor, and judge. He is the Judge Coordinator for the Musical Arts Conference. He taught instrumental music in several public schools over 35 years, and is the visual designer/instructor for the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Wildcat Marching Band and designs for high school bands in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Debbie Torchia has been an instructor and designer of Drum Corps, Winter Guards, and Marching Bands, including The Guardsmen Drum and Bugle Corps, St Joseph’s Grenadiers Winter Guard, Triton Regional High School Band, Melrose High School Band, and The Boston College Eagles Marching Band, among others. She has a long history of judging locally and nationally for several associations, including Eastern Massachusetts, CYO, Massa-chusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association, WGI, Bands of America, Western Band Association, WGASC, and DCI.

Jim Vitagliano served as the President of Massachusetts Judges Association. from 2006 through 2019. Currently, he sits on the Board of Directors as Past President and Director of Communications. He served for several years on the WGI Board of Directors. He is chief judge of the Maine Band Directors Association. Since 1988 he has been active as a show designer, technician and consultant for a number of winter guards, marching bands, indoor percussion groups and drum corps in addition to his work as a judge. He is a member of the Massachusetts Drum Corps Hall of Fame.

The post Never Stop Learning appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

���� We have talked with countless conductors over the past 77 years and often ask about their rehearsal ideas – how to warm up, what to correct, and how to make the most of every minute. As a new school year begins, we take a look back at a few of most interesting approaches used by conductors at every level of the profession. Perhaps there will be an idea or two that you can add to your teaching repertoire.

No Magic Formula
John Paynter, July 1979
���� You have to find as many ways to make a point as you can. I don’t think there is anything more dull than saying the same thing the same way over and over again. A common rehearsal technique is to stop and correct, stop and go down the line and have the next person play and the next person. Although I’ve done my share of that, I always dislike myself in the morning after I’ve done it because there are so many better ways to teach….
���� There are rehearsals where I feel like I’ve spent the whole time chipping away at things that don’t matter. There’s no magic formula. To be efficient, the most important thing is to know your people. Obviously you rehearse a group like the (professional) Northshore Band that meets once a week for two hours much differently than you would a university band that meets four hours a week or a high school band that meets 40 minutes every day. [The key question is] what do you try to get done and what do you let go? I know the personnel of the Northshore Band so well now that I know that just by uncovering the mistake, the mistake will be corrected. There’s no need to go back and prove you can do it if you’ve had the opportunity to scowl at somebody when they did it wrong. With a group you don’t know as well, there has to be a period of time in which you make sure they will make the corrections once you have pointed them out.
���� Correcting is really not the most efficient way to rehearse. It is best to have in your head the sounds you want and to conduct those sounds right from the start, guiding the performers so the mistake is never made in the first place. That’s idealistic, but it certainly is more efficient.
���� Of course, the most efficient rehearsal technique is the score study that precedes the rehearsal. This nitpicking rehearsing you and I have seen is the result of the conductor really not knowing the score. The conductor will spend time pecking away at something he knows is safe because he doesn’t know what else to rehearse.
���� A legend in the band world, John Paynter directed bands at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois for more than 40 years.

Beginning Rehearsals
Amanda Drinkwater, October 2010
���� Instead of calling the start of rehearsals a warmup, we refer to that time as an opportunity to work on fundamentals. I don’t think using the term warmup is necessarily negative, but it can have a physical connotation more than a musical one. Fundamentals are the musical building blocks from which musical literacy grows. Winds work on breathing with and without the instruments, and percussionists work on technique and quality of stroke the first time they play the instruments each day.
���� Following this, we may focus on sustained sounds in the middle range of the instrument and move from there to articulation, volume, or technique in a context of transposition or extended ranges. As ensembles progress over the course of the year, things get more complex, but always with the same focus. A good sound is a good sound, and if you simply expect that regardless of the technical demand, then students will always value a good sound. The individual sound quality, along with ensemble balance, becomes the signature of a group’s ensemble sound. These are the first things I hear when the baton goes down.
���� We construct specific exercises for our students with music-writing software or simply by rote explanation. I will take something well known like Remington and write it out in a specific manner for the ensemble so that there’s a unified perception of note length and release points. For outdoor rehearsals we’ll put spaces between the exercises so we can recover visually and get set up with a good breathing plan for the next entrance. There’s nothing groundbreaking about the exercises we’re pursuing, we simply unify our efforts in a way that might offer additional benefits in an outdoor setting. The goal is for every student, from the mallet percussionist to the oboist to the trumpet player, to know what to do if we say Remington.
���� Amanda Drinkwater is Director of Fine Arts at Lewisville ISD in Texas, overseeing programs at 60 schools. She previously was Director of Bands of the nationally recognized program at Marcus High School.

Efficient Rehearsals
Marin Alsop, April 1995
���� The thing that bothers musicians most is having their time wasted. Orchestral musicians appreciate a conductor who uses rehearsal time well, and when they’re done, they’re done. I try to be efficient and to maintain a sense of humor, getting the work done while enjoying the music making. My father often said there was no point to a concert if you haven’t enjoyed the rehearsal…
I have the reputation of being tough and demanding. At the same time, I’m often able, especially with standard repertoire, to finish what needs to be done and end rehearsals early. Musicians appreciate that; not finishing early, but completing a task and not wasting time. I have to be prepared because musicians will know if I mess up. When conductors make mistakes on the podium, even if it’s just an accident, they should apologize and not try to cover it up.”
���� Marin Alsop was Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for 14 years. She is Chief Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor of Chicago’s Ravinia Festival.

Preparing for Performance
Bruce Dinkins, May 2011
���� When putting a piece of music together, the notes and rhythms have to come first. Without those, the performance will not convey the intentions of the composer. Every composer has a trademark sound, and producing that is the goal of a performance, not just playing the notes sitting on the stand. It is important that students realize that music connects us with some kind of past experience, whether musical or otherwise. As Hindemith so aptly put it, if we didn’t have an emotional connection to what we hear, it would simply have a tickling effect on our ears. The music would not connect with the emotions and the mind.
���� I spend a lot of time working on fundamentals. I like to go back to some of the old books, for example the Unisonal Scales and Chords by William White, which was used by the service bands in the 50s and 60s to build an ensemble sound. I also use the Grover Yaus books, including 101 Rhythmic Rests. I think that’s the one most know, but there are several others, each with a varying degree of difficulty. I use the 150 Unison Exercises book with my freshmen because it repeats rhythm after rhythm, all in unison. That way it not only teaches a unified articulation but also intonation.
���� I use I Recommend by James Ployhar and the Claude T. Smith Symphonic Warmups for Concert Band for the chorales. The tunes in Smith’s book are familiar and use difficult keys like Ab and Db, so students become comfortable in keys other than Eb, Bb, and F. Directors frequently pass something out in Db, like one of those dark, sonorous Alford marches, such as The Vanished Army, and students just fight notes for weeks. My freshmen have to play all 12 major scales individually. It still doesn’t guarantee a great reading of The Vanished Army, but it does assure that students can listen in all of the keys and make adjustments.
���� A book that few people still use is Leonard Smith’s Treasury of Scales, which really builds the ensemble sound. It creates a strong sonority by teaching players to hear the root, 3rd, and 5th in different settings and to drop the 3rd or raise the 5th in a major chord.
���� I always teach rhythm with drumsticks in my hands. My clarinet teacher at Juilliard said that every minute you practice without a metronome is a minute wasted, and that has stuck with me for 30 years. Pulse holds the group together, so I constantly keep tempo and pulse in their minds. I use drumsticks because I’ve broken so many batons by banging them on the stand. After a while the students settle into the rhythm and make that their responsibility. Rarely do the groups here lose tempo.
���� I also teach tempo memorization. To do that I will set the metronome to 120, and we will play for a while. We move on to something else, and a couple minutes later I’ll ask somebody to tap 120. After someone guesses I turn on the metronome to see how close it was.
���� Bruce Dinkins was a highly respected conductor who led acclaimed music programs at James Bowie High School in Texas and Irmo High School in South Carolina.

Developing Tone
Gabe Musella, November 2010

���� The best compliment I can give our students is to praise their openness to constructive criticism from the staff and their peers. I ask frequent questions from the podium about the sound and how it could be improved. The critiques are different depending on the playing level of the group, but even in the fourth band, I encourage students to give critiques of other players. With the younger students, it is really cool to watch their eyes light up as they develop the skills to hear playing weaknesses and make improvements.
���� I make it clear from the beginning that all critiques must be done in a constructive way without belittling anyone. The rehearsal room has to be a safe, comfortable environment at all times. I will ask leading questions about missed notes or whatever to steer the discussion. It works well to have one student play and then ask for comments from the rest of the band, but the director has to make sure that there is no personal vendetta or hurtful criticism of players. As we work on music and make suggestions for improvement, there is always a bit of the coach in me. If you make a suggestion about someone else’s playing, I might put you on the spot and see how you would play the same passage. In a friendly environment, this approach works well.
���� After a distinguished 30-year teaching career, Gabe Musella serves as UIL Assistant Music Director in Austin, Texas.

Mutual Respect
Harry Begian, November 1968
���� Implicit to a successful interaction of the two parties is mutual respect. Each side needs the other’s respect; the conductor without a group of players to conduct has no function, while the group without a conductor can only reflect a wide range of disjointed ideas and approaches to rehearsing and performing. It is the conductor’s task (mission) to unite individual attitudes and concepts and to direct their abilities toward a common musical ideal. This can only be achieved through musically demanding rehearsals during which the time is wisely spent in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Though the essential purpose of rehearsals is the detection and elimination of errors and wrong concepts, all opportunities to compliment exceptional performance should be enthusiastically and genuinely recognized.
���� Among many musical accomplishments, Harry Begian served as Director of Bands at the University of Illinois for 14 years and also at Michigan State University.

Lessons at a School Dance
John W. Knight, February 1994
���� As a first-year teacher of students in grades 5-12, I found that rhythms were the most prevalent rehearsal problem. I sent students home with the metronome and explained a foot-tapping method to them, but they returned the next day to make the same mistakes. Each day I sang the correct rhythm to them and hated myself for relying on rote teaching. One night I chaperoned a school dance and watched students who couldn’t keep a steady beat in rehearsals as they danced all night to complex rhythms. I realized that my traditional method of teaching rhythm had failed because it was too abstract.
���� That summer I read everything I could find about rhythm and concluded that students have difficulty when introduced to rhythms as fractional units instead of flowing patterns of duration with an internal pulse. To teach basic rhythm patterns that flow instead of isolated fractional units, I used a rhythm card devised by H.E. Nutt of the VanderCook School of Music and a counting system by E.C. Moore, from a helpful little book, Playing at Sight (Leblanc). I started teaching these rhythmic concepts to the fifth grade band during the two-week wait for instruments to arrive from the music store. I gave each student a percussion instrument on which to learn the rhythms on the card. They developed a firm basic understanding of rhythm from the start and progressed rapidly.
���� Rhythmic problems are not difficult when isolated and understood without being part of a context. I told students that a note has a beginning, middle, and end; the secret of reading rhythms is concentrating on all three areas and ending the previous note at exactly the right time by feeling the internal subdivision. I asked them to conduct the beat pattern and sing the rhythm while patting the subdivision with their free hand. After learning these in 4/4, I wrote cards in 2/4, 3/4, 6/8, and various asymmetrical meters. To add variety, I arranged the rhythms in chords and performed them at different tempos, styles, and dynamics. I had students count in both staccato and legato styles and in softer dynamics. Each day the band sightread a different rhythm composed by a student.
���� One student devised the rhythm, wrote it on the board, and taught it to the ensemble. The players also sang the rhythm card in canon with the bases and tenors starting on the tonic, the altos on the third of the chord one measure later, and the sopranos on the fifth of the chord one measure later. I emphasized the integrity of rests by explaining the silence is a dramatic and expressive element in music. I asked students to imagine the rests as a fortissimo dynamic. To augment my teaching I played a Toscanini recording of the introduction to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and let them hear how dramatic a rest could be.
���� John W. Knight is Professor Emeritus of Conducting and Ensembles and Music at Oberlin Conservatory, where he joined the faculty in 1978. He has published more than 100 articles on conducting.

Finding Balance
Robert W. Smith, December 1997
���� More ensembles should focus on the concept of balance, which is three-dimensional. Each individual has to match tone color with the other members playing the same part; then each small section has to blend with like instruments; and finally choirs have to balance. In other words, the third clarinets have to balance with one another. Then they have to fit with the first and seconds, and finally the clarinet choir has to balance with the brass choir.
���� I spend some time teaching traditional Western harmonies. Most people assume that the three notes in a major triad should be equal in dynamic intensity, and that’s not necessarily the case. To establish tonality, the tonic is most important. The third establishes color and should receive a little more dynamic weight than the fifth. If the fifth is weighted more heavily than the third, the chord begins to sound hollow.
���� In rehearsal, I’ll take three clarinets or three trumpets so tone color is not an issue and explore this concept. Also, look at where a specific chord occurs within a bar. If it is on the downbeat and you want to establish the key, the tonic has to be prominent. Once that’s been established, you can concentrate on the third and fifth on beats two, three, and four. I spend time making sure students understand weight. If you have a dominant seventh chord, the most important tones are the third and the seventh because they resolve and provide color. From there, I take passages from chorales and have students identify their harmonic role.
���� Composer Robert W. Smith has more than 600 works in print and is President of RWS Music Company, exclusively distributed through C.L. Barnhouse.

Let Students Conduct
Author Unknown, December 1986
���� In my college band, we give two outdoor concerts in the spring that are rehearsed and conducted entirely by students. They also select the music. Any member of the band may conduct, including the liberal arts students. When I gently urge a freshman music education major to try it, the usual response is, “Oh, but I haven’t had conducting yet.” Ridiculous. I coax with more questions:
“How long have you played in band or orchestra? Haven’t you watched your conductors? Couldn’t you handle a favorite march?”
���� The student usually answers: “Five or six years. Not really. I don’t know?”
���� So why don’t more of us give more of them conducting opportunities early in their musical training. The answer, of course, is time. However, every kid who has had the experience of leading peers through a piece of music is going to be that much more aware of what a conductor is trying to communicate. That can save a great deal of time, and the earlier students start, the better. After all, learning to follow intelligently is a pretty important basic for any band member.
���� The first time I tried to promote student conducting with a junior high band (a non-audition group of students who were supposed to have had at least a full year on their instruments), I was met with looks of utter disbelief. They had never thought of such a possibility. Conducting was only for band directors.
���� Almost any student can correctly complete the following sentence: The first beat of a measure is always _______. Next with a little prompting, anybody can figure out that the last beat of a measure just about has to be up, which takes care of a rather rudimentary two-pattern. If there are three beats in a measure, then we have to find another direction in which to go, and so on. This particular junior high band was fascinated with the whole idea.
���� “Don’t I have to have a stick?” No sooner said than done. After a few hysterical giggles and a false start or two (because nobody really believed a kid could conduct), I urged the group to watch, and voila. The stick came down, the band started, and to the amazement of all, everyone continued together for quite a few measures. “Any volunteers?” You bet your baton there were.
���� Nobody expects every band member to become a Wynton Marsalis, Vincent Cichowicz, or Woody Herman. Neither will they become a John Paynter, Arnald Gabriel, or Erich Leinsdorf. Give them a little exposure to conducting, though, and just maybe one or two of them might have the spark. It is a real thrill to watch a student find that peers are actually following. It is even more impressive when you realize the ensemble seems to be watching the young Toscanini more intently than they ever watched you!

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