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| Here’s An Idea These are a series of short articles from our newsletter that offer strategies for the everyday challenges music educators face. Embouchure Mirrors Kristen Hurd, the beginning band director at Novi Meadows, uses mirrors attached to the music stands to reinforce proper embouchure. She purchased locker mirrors (small 8”x 6” magnetic backed mirrors) and put two on each music stand. Her students are able to check the mirror and model or make adjustments to form a proper embouchure. Incorporating visual checks and reinforcement during the warm-up will greatly enhance student’s embouchure and tone. Student Recognition & Motivation Dale Marzewski at Howell Highlander Way Middle School has found a way to keep his students excited about the band program and at the same time giving them a long term view of the program. When Dale puts up his festival ratings plaques he attaches a list of the students’ names for that ensemble on the back of the plaque. He says students enjoy looking at the back of the plaques and seeing names of older students they know, brothers and sisters as well as their own names. This is a great motivator and a handy “history” of the bands. Reeds How many times have you heard, just as class is starting, “I need a reed.” Or the first chair clarinet has just put on a new reed at the beginning of a concert, because, after all, you want to have good equipment for the concert and then the poor thing struggles through the solo on an unresponsive reed. Unfortunately, most reed players think a reed, is a reed, is a reed. They do not have an appreciation for the fact that even though the cane has been cut down; the reed continues to evolve as it is exposed to the saliva and vibrations it experiences when being played. Have your clarinet and saxophone players invest in a reed case that holds four reeds or better yet a four case and a two case. Then label each compartment on the case M, T, W, t, F and * (Monday, Tuesday, etc. with * meaning the best). Then all they need to do is use the reed for that day and keep track of the one that is the most responsive. It is a good idea to have a surprise inspection once a month to be sure there are good reeds in the case. You can always give a little warning such as, “Gee, it might be a good time to check those reed cases in a couple days.” Just be sure you have a supply on hand for the rush to get them. Do this and the next time you hear, “My reed is broken,” you can tell them to use their Tuesday reed. Percussion Ensembles Much of a rehearsal is devoted to the winds and strings with little attention being paid to the percussion section. Most compositions require fairly basic percussion skills that place little demand on the average percussionist. This inactivity is often filled with activity of an inappropriate nature. Idle hands are the Devil’s tools. Percussion sections that have developed the proficiency to adequately perform their parts in the concert literature may be able to learn a percussion ensemble on their own. Select a couple ensembles that will reinforce the skills of your section. Two or three times a week, have the students rehearse in another room. This may take some creativity. If there is a nearby classroom or cafeteria available during the band period the ensemble may be able to rehearse there. You will need to make a specific weekly rehearsal schedule for them. Include clear expectations and offer general suggestions regarding their preparation: slow practice, use a metronome, isolate problem areas, etc. If the students are used to your rehearsal routine in the full ensemble they will be able to run their own rehearsal. The expectation is the section will perform one or two percussion ensemble selections on the next concert. Have a cassette player, video camera or some means of recording their rehearsals so you can evaluate the tape daily and offer suggestions. This helps to monitor their behavior during the rehearsal, too. Parent volunteers can also be used to monitor the students. Recruiting with Band Blast Off One of the recruiting challenges band directors face is competing for fourth, fifth and sixth graders’ attention to get them fired up to be in the band. Students and parents have many questions regarding playing in the school band. Band Blast Off was created by Deanna Swoboda, the Professor of Low Brass at Western Michigan University and former tuba player for the Dallas Brass. Deanna and co-host Lance LaDuke interview students in beginning band and high school who relate the advantages and joys of being in the band. The high energy DVD has Deanna introducing the instruments to the Band Rap she wrote and has performed across the country. This is a great recruiting tool that can be played at elementary parent meetings and in the general music classes prior to recruiting. Available from Marshall Music
Send Post Cards While On Tour to Recruit Beginners We all know the lifeline of the music program is the beginning ensemble. It is important to approach recruiting as an ongoing process throughout the year. Waiting until the few weeks prior to the rental night rarely produces the best results. In the year prior to the students signing up for the band or orchestra class there needs to be a multidimensional marketing approach. We all realize the obvious methods; school newsletter articles, high profile concerts, direct mailings, newspaper articles and quality ensembles all are important ingredients to a successful recruiting campaign.
Here is a great way to promote the band or orchestra program. While on tour with the middle school or high school ensemble have the students send postcards to the all the students in the class to be recruited this year. While in New York, Mackinaw Island, London, where ever buy enough post cards to send to every student in the beginning class. Then after you get back to school or while on tour distribute them to your students along with a list of names and addresses for the recruiting class. Have the students write a short note, “Having a great time on the tour with the Tiger Marching Band. Hope you will be with us in a few years.” Or, “Had a wonderful concert at Carnegie Hall,” “We just saw Lion King, fantastic (maybe, ‘awesome’).” Then sign it, “Joey Smith, Violist, River City Orchestra.” You can mail these while on tour or wait until you get back home.
To make it more personal, you could have the students pick names from the list they know and then assign the rest. A post card from a baby sitter, cadet teacher or older brother or sister of one of their friends can be a very effective marketing tool to a fourth or fifth grade student.
A post card while on tour says many things. Your program is exiting, it has prestige, an older student wants me in the orchestra or band, and it is fun. This will especially be effective for those who recruit in the spring since most tours are at this time of the year.
Another option for fall recruiting would be to have a post card made that features a collage of ensemble activities including the marching band, Halloween concert, tour, etc. Send these out the month before you recruit in the fall. Fun Recruiting Ideas Fun Recruiting Ideas It is never too early to get students thinking about playing in the band or orchestra. Here is an idea that incorporates music making into the math and science classes. Second graders at the Hebrew Day School of Ann Arbor have prepared for their school science fair by making their own French horns out of garden hoses, plastic funnels, and faucet connectors! Every second grader can now produce a clear, resounding tone on a "jug-band" horn. The second grade has been heard proudly honking horn fanfares that echo down the halls of the school.
These second graders have also learned to play "Twinkle, Twinkle" with a set of C major "Boom-Whackers", plastic tubes calibrated to play a scale. Teacher Linda Smith (a flutist) is delighted at how quickly her boys and girls learned to play their individual notes in correct sequence and to tempo. "This science unit has been one of the most fun hands-on studies we've ever done!" Smith says. "I think we'll turn out a whole crop of 5th graders who will sign up for a school band program in 2009!"
In addition to horns, the second grade class has built "jug-band" guitars, marimbas, clarinets, and seed-shakers with the help of their school art and music teachers. They have learned how to play these instruments and to discuss and experiment with tone, pitch, and many other sophisticated musical concepts. Piano Dynamics Ensembles trying to play with exciting dynamic contrast too often overemphasize the forte dynamics when the real problem is not playing soft enough in the piano passages to create the desired contrast. Have the ensemble play a scale beginning at pp and add one volume degree on each successive note until you reach ff. Continue through the scale and subtract one dynamic level for each scale degree until the ensemble is playing pppppp. (see example) After the group plays the pppppp tell them that is really pp. Naturally, the ensemble will need to focus on basic breath support and embouchure to ensure good tone quality. This will instantly demonstrate the ensemble rarely plays an actual p and generally play the softer dynamics too loud.
 Building Solo & Ensemble Participation
Introducing the ensemble experience in the first few years can create a greater positive awareness. We organized a solo and ensemble evening in the fall. Every student from beginner to eighth grade prepared something for performance. For beginning students this could be as simple as three or four students on different instruments playing a couple unison songs or simple four part arrangement of Row, Row, Row Your Boat. For the seventh and eighth grade students we would have several easy to play ensemble pieces from which they could choose. The students were given a few class periods or portions of class periods over a three to four week period to prepare the selection. The groups played for an adjudicator and received medals: blue for a First Division, red for a Second Division and a white one for “adequate” participation. Preparation is vital in providing a rewarding experience for the students. Take some time in the regular class period to go over how to prepare and rehearse. A guide the students can follow is very useful. With seventh and eighth grade students you can allow them to pick the members of the group or you can assign the groups. Assigning the members allows you to put more advanced players in groups to act as coaches. You can use high school students to coach the groups, too. It is important to pick music that is well within the abilities of the ensemble members’ abilities so they can focus on ensemble tone, precision and phrasing rather than chasing notes. Ideally, the music should require a minimum of outside practice for the students. Be careful regarding ensemble instrumentation. You can create a tremendous amount of work rewriting a clarinet quartet for clarinet, French horn, bari-sax and trombone. The students may need to be told some combinations just do not lend themselves to every situation. On the other hand, a little creative flexibility here may enhance student attitude. The initial set-up for this is time consuming. But, once you have assembled selections for the ensemble unit you will have a great resource to enhance the students’ abilities.
Here is a simple method to learn beginning students’ names, keep track of their progress, motivate them, help slower learners, reduce discipline problems, take attendance quicker and combat drop outs. That may sound like the claims of one of those infomercials with outlandish proclamations for their product but this really works. Using place cards to assign seating for the class has many rewards. Create a chart on letter sized paper using the landscape mode for the nine weeks. It should have a place at the top for the student’s name in larger letters. Below the name create a table that includes data for the marking period with spaces in each week for the practice card grade, test grade and one for each day to record if the student brought their instrument, book and pencil (or whatever you require). Glue the chart to a file folder. These are great tools to assign seating on a daily basis and keep things mixed up helping eliminate a stagnate routine in the class and keeping it fresh. If there is no assigned seating students can choose their environment and “claim” their territory in your class. Less successful students move away from you and can get lost in the class, discipline problems start to sit next to each other and reinforce each others’ behavior, cliques form where a social leader that may decide to quit can influence others. With the seating cards draped over the stand with the chart facing front, the teacher can mix weaker students in between stronger ones creating a more positive environment by helping the weaker player to follow along with the stronger ones. Cooperative learning, right? The teacher can separate the discipline problems by bringing them up front or spreading them throughout the group and placing them among the model students. Finally, mixing the seating up each day keeps the “social clubs” from forming in the class where a negative leader can start to misdirect the focus of the class. Maintaining the data on the front of the chart is a motivator for students. Placing a star on each week for a practice card, another for each day the student has their materials and one for each week’s test score creates daily visual motivation for the students. Their progress isn’t recorded on some distant chart on the wall. They see it every day on their stand when they come in reminding them of how they are doing and they sit right behind it throughout the class where their classmates can see how they are doing. Just as a soldier wears medals on his/her chest promoting pride and achievement so do these daily record charts motivate the student who sits behind his/her “awards” providing motivation for others as well as themselves. This also makes award immediate since you can place a sticker on the chart right in front of them each day for having their materials, practice card, doing well on a test or awarding a “bonus” star for something. There is another gain in that it forces the teacher to move from in front of the class and travel throughout the group during the class. This is like the rock star getting out among the people, getting you out of that power teacher place in front of the class. With a little organization you can change cards within a couple minutes between classes. Daily Star Awards To help promote appropriate behavior, practicing, preparedness, good posture, or to recognize outstanding contributions in the classroom try presenting Star Awards. These immediate awards earn points toward some benefit the student may “purchase” when they have acquired an appropriate number of points. Print up a simple 3”x 4”certificate with the words “Star Award” with a place for the student’s name and a brief explanation of the act that prompted the award. Each award is worth one “Star Award Dollar” (or point) to be used to purchase a privilege in the class. Or, you may want to leave a place to write in the number of dollars awarded similar to a check. Outstanding preparation may receive 2 points, a practice card with 5 days of 30 minutes of practice may earn a point. Extra work around the rehearsal room, filing music, room set-up, anything you want to encourage can be awarded points. The points earned may be exchanged for anything from candy bars, theater tickets, raising the grade a half point for each 10” dollars”, a once a month pizza party, even buying time out of part or all of a class period, etc. An added feature might include a place for the parent to sign to validate the certificate. This will get a positive message home to the parents and help discussion about that age old question, “So, what happened in school today?” The Star Award is a great way to enhance positive reinforcement and build a positive attitude about the class while helping you focus on the positive behaviors of the students creating a class students will want to return to year after year.
We would like our students to have an awareness of music other than the music in their folders. It is often difficult to fit this into the regular class period. Unfortunately, that means few band students will get to know the music of Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Mendelssohn, and others. The orchestra student will have little opportunity to know the music of Basie, Ellington, Coltrane, Davis, etc. To help students become familiar with composers, musical styles and periods teach these before and after the class period.
Display a timeline in the classroom large enough for students to see in the back of the room. It should have the musical periods marked on it along with some key historical events so students can reference the composer and style to a world view. If there is room on the timeline include the names of two or three of the major composers of the period. You can also include a few artists and author names if space permits. You might even ask your art teacher for pictures of paintings and the history teacher for pictures of historical events. You may want to coordinate your recordings with their classes.
Play a recording as the students enter the room and at the end of rehearsal while they put away their instruments and music. Have an arrow or dot on the time line showing the time period in which the composition was written. Display the composer’s name and the name of the composition on the chalk board, white board or overhead projector. Most classrooms have PowerPoint capabilities. Creating a short three to five slide presentation that is continually played is a great way to get the information to the students. I always displayed the jewel case from the recording in case a student wanted to buy the recording. Play the recording for twenty minutes before and after school and during the lunch period. Music students are always hanging around the band or orchestra room and they will have more opportunities to be drawn into the lesson.
Too often students are not secure in performing the dotted quarter rhythm. The lack of feeling for the placement of the dot throws students off. Once students are proficient performing rhythm patterns using the quarter note and two eighth notes and understand the concept of the tie you can use these to teach the concept of the dotted pattern . Review the quarter note two eighth notes pattern with the students. Then add a tie to the quarter and first eight note. Have the students perform and count the tied rhythm. When this is secure erase the first (tied) eighth note and move it closer and tie it to the quarter note where the dot will eventually be and keep the beam attaching it to the second eighth note and perform the tied rhythm again. I always said something like, “Since this eighth note is connected to the quarter I am just going to move it closer to it.” Next, I replaced the tied eighth note with a very small eighth note with the note head being the size of the dot that will eventually follow the quarter note and continued to connect the beam to the second eighth note. Here I would say, “Since this note is connected to the quarter note I am going to make it very small.” Again, perform the rhythm. Then replace the beamed eighth notes with flagged ones and keep the tie since, “The first eighth note is really connected to the quarter not the second eighth note,” and perform the rhythm. Finally, erase the stem and flag of the mini tied note leaving the tied dot saying, “This eighth note is so small it looks like a dot, doesn’t it?” and perform the rhythm followed by just eliminating the tie and leaving the dotted pattern. This time when the students count the rhythm and place the “Two” on the dot occasionally substitute the word, “Dot,” for “Two”. Breaking this concept down will help students better understand the placement of the tied note and reinforce the feeling for the beat and counting the dot.
Rehearse Back-to-Front Working with honors groups, color bands at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, the community bands I conduct and in my efforts to maximize teaching with my school bands, I discovered that rehearsing a composition from the back to the front is an efficient method. I happened on this method when I was trying to expose my students, who were accustomed to Holst and Kalinikov, to Del Borgo’s Prologue and Dance. They were not enamored with the dissonances and starkness of the composition’s opening. I decided to focus on a section in the middle that is quite beautiful and got them hooked on the piece. As I worked my way back to the beginning, a section at a time, I noticed things progressing quite well. Instead of constantly stumbling over new material and new key signatures, they already knew what the music was going to do and learned quickly. There are several benefits that are derived from this method. Most compositions present the major themes and ideas at the end of the piece, the recapitulation. The musicians are able to assimilate these in a condensed fashion and transfer this when they encounter them earlier in the composition. Key, meter, tempo changes and transitions are more easily learned since the ensemble has already become accustomed to the material. They are always coming from new unknown material into learned material so they are less likely to “stumble” as the composition progresses, thereby enhancing the feeling of accomplishment on their instrument. Most of the time, the end of the piece is the most exciting part of the selection and it creates an air of anticipation in the ensemble. It is a bit like offering a look at the dessert tray before the meal. Perhaps a better example is it is like the previews for a movie where they show you the good parts to get you to see the movie. Some may say it is like reading the last page in the book to see if you want to invest the time in reading the story. This method insures the end of the composition will get adequate rehearsal time. How many times have you heard an ensemble start a selection great only to stumble toward the end? I used this method with marching band, too. Having the band find their spots in the last chart and then building the show from the back to the front always gave the band closure as they added each set, creating a more positive attitude and secure performance. As with any teaching strategy, back-to-front rehearsing isn’t appropriate for all situations. I use it on those compositions that have a good deal of complicated material or time is very short and I need to compress my teaching. Sight Reading In order to successfully sight read a piece of music the ensemble needs to realize more than correct notes, rhythms and tone quality. They need to play in the proper style. A composition by Bach is not played the same as one by Stravinsky. A Robert Smith selection has performance characteristics different than Anne McGinty. Holst, Gillingham, Boerma, Curnow, Edmondson, Ticheli, Cesarini, etc., all have their distinct styles and sounds. King Cotton March is not played the same as On a Hymn Song by Phillip Bliss. Being aware of key and meter signatures, tempos and repeats does not offer adequate information to properly realize the composer’s work. I ask the ensemble to begin with the composer’s name, who the arranger is if there is one, then the title, and finally the “traditional” information keys, meter, repeats, etc.. This helps musicians gain an understanding of composers, musical periods, style and the mood of the piece. Armed with this information the ensemble is better able to interpret the piece correctly. Teaching Rests One of the difficulties students encounter in their music reading is the playing of rests. They find themselves lost in the silence of not playing a note and are unsure of the length or how to count this strange phenomenon. I have always found it easier to associate a known concept with an unknown. When teaching the concept of rests I refer to them as, “Notes of silence.” I use rhythms the ensemble has mastered. I review the performance and counting of a particular exercise to reinforce and review their learning. Then, I circle the note where I want a rest to occur and ask the ensemble to play and count the rhythm again but not to play the circled note. When they successfully perform the rhythm while not playing (resting) on the circled note, I place the appropriate rest symbol above or below the circled note and have them repeat the performance and counting of the example while I point to the rest placed over or under the circled note. Next, I erase the circled note and place the rest in its place (still circled) and ask the students to perform and count the rhythm. Finally, I erase the circle and have the students perform the rhythm. The students have learned the rest pattern by playing the known rhythm first and then attaching the unknown rest concept to that known concept. This may seem to be a time consuming process but in the long run this methodical approach teaches the rest concept more efficiently and saves valuable instruction time while enhancing learning. A final thought, I always taught and practiced rhythms to an external pulse. Anything from a pair of claves or metronome over the speaker system to a synthesized rhythm accompaniment or a CD by Spyro Gyra, Santana, whatever. This solidifies precision and proper placement of the note values. The concept of relating learned concepts to new ones is an efficient teaching strategy that creates successful and motivated learners through elimination of the roadblocks to success. Recruiting His genius does not end there. Bryan takes pictures of his athlete students wearing their team jerseys and playing their instruments in rehearsals throughout the year. This helps reinforce the idea that music and athletics do co-exist. Happy faces, good times, athletes, you can’t go wrong. Middle School Clinic-Tour This comes from Jane Detweiler at Woodland Lakewood Middle School. The past three years, Jane has taken her eighth grade band to university campuses before festival for clinics and a chance for her students to hear a university band in concert, visit a college campus and be exposed to other cultural activities. Her students have been to Butler University, Michigan State University, and this past February they traveled to The University of Michigan. The students have had rehearsals with John Graulty, Butler, Wesley Broadnax, MSU, and Steve Davis, at U of M. Jane contacts the music education departments at the schools and arranges the tour to include a university band concert in the evening and offers music ed students the opportunity to work with her band. The music ed students have rehearsed the group or given comments regarding the student’s performance, and Jane is called upon to share her experiences in music education. In a recent conversation, Jane stated the four main reasons for taking her students on the trip. "1. Group cohesion- Through extended time together the students grow closer to one another. They get to know me better as well. 2. Incentive, reward for longevity in the program. 3. To open their eyes to the larger world, to experience the sound of a university ensemble. 4. To have my students work with outstanding people and get the opportunity to give something of themselves." While on tour, the students have a campus tour, visit art museums or other cultural and academic enriching venues. The students still rehearse either in a meeting room at the hotel or in one of the rehearsal halls at the college. Brass – Range development This comes from Susan Bulock at Walled Lake. One of the challenges young brass players encounter is increasing their range. Susan uses the B.E.R.P. You can imagine the reaction beginners have to “B.E.R.P.ing” B.E.R.P. is an acronym for Buzz Extension & Resistance Device. This is a practice device developed by renowned trumpeter, Mario Guarneri. The B.E.R.P. is attached to the mouthpiece receiver of the instrument. The student places the mouthpiece into the B.E.R.P. and performs a set of exercises from the instruction sheet included with the device and then the same exercises on the instrument. This enables the student to replicate the same position and angle while using just the mouthpiece and B.E.R.P. that they use when playing their instrument. The B.E.R.P. facilitates embouchure, pitch recognition, resonance, and range development by showing how the air and embouchure change pitches.
Marching Band – Staying in step Here are a couple tricks to help students feel the pulse and get the correct foot down. Have the band begin their playing by marking time first. During long tone warm ups, tonguing exercises, scales and tuning chord progressions and chorales, start the band with eight to twelve steps of mark time so the students feel the pulse and get the feel for when the left foot hits the ground. Generally, call out, “left, left…..one, two, ready, play”. This is a good idea when students are learning drill, also. Have the band mark time four to eight steps before students make their maneuver. After the move becomes secure, have the band play the music for the move while marking time before they march the maneuver and play. This helps eliminate those roadblocks-to-success. These little tricks will reduce a lot of the cleaning time from rehearsals and create secure marchers.
Practice Card Lotto This comes from Martha Scharchburg and Gerald Woolfolk who teach band in the Dexter Community Schools. To encourage students to practice have a Practice Card Lotto on Fridays. It works like this: This was always a fun event, and you can’t loose. If have to give out candy, odds are most of the group is practicing. You win. If the student selected didn’t practice you get chocolate. You win. Although if you win too often, you could loose the battle of the bulge.
Recruiting Pep Band, Orchestra Winds, etc. from your ensembles This comes from Jim Barry at Okemos. Recruiting high school band students to play in the orchestra or pep bands can often be a challenging endeavor. Busy schedules, extra rehearsal time and practice can create a small pool of willing candidates to fill these ensembles. Use phrases like, “you have been recommended by…” or, “your exceptional performance ability”. You get the idea. Also, include the expectations for participation in the ensemble. Send a personal invitation on your ensemble’s letterhead to selected students inviting them to perform in the ensemble. Use phrases like, “you have been recommended by…” or, “your exceptional performance ability”. You get the idea. Also, include the expectations for participation in the ensemble. This can be delivered through the school mail if your school has it. I preferred to use the postal system. Parents had a chance to see the letter and this seemed to give the invitation more impact.
Handling Money
One of the great challenges for music educators is the handling of money. Fund raising money, camp payments, trip money is brought to you throughout the day at the busiest times. This causes interruptions in the daily schedule and can create nightmares for the director.
Two rules to follow: handle money as little as possible and leave only as much money as you are willing to lose in your room.
Money should be enclosed in a sealed envelope with the student’s name and what it is for written on the outside. Keep a locked box (plastic file box from an office supply store is good) by your stand or someplace secure where students may drop off money. Ask for checks, if possible. When you have time alone, empty the box and record the data or have a parent organization empty it every day. If you cannot empty it that day, leave it in the school safe.
Advocacy Implementation
Here are a few ideas to help get music advocacy to your parents. With students scheduling classes for next year in February and March and beginning band/orchestra coming in the spring, this is a critical time to get the word out. You can get advocacy materials from selmer.com, namm.com., musicachievementcouncil.org or Focus on Excellence 800-332-2637. · Include an article in the school district or building newsletter. Administrators are always looking for material. · Include an advocacy article or pamphlets with the program for your pre-festival concert so parents can read it between ensembles. · Have an advocacy video or power point presentation playing in the lobby or in the concert hall prior to the concert while students are warming up in the ensemble room. · Have a video or power point presentation at the next PTA meeting.
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