Achieving Musical Development Goals

Chavonta Edington

CODA Representative Director of Orchestras, Diablo Vista Middle School

Greetings Colleagues!

By now your programs are in full swing and whether you are teaching indoors or outdoors, I hope that you are able to find meaningful opportunities to create music with your students. Please take some time to explore all of the exciting news from the California Orchestra Directors Association for the 2021-2022 school year!

CODA Membership 2021-2022

It’s time to renew your CODA Membership! Become a member today and help take an active role in supporting students, educators, and school orchestra programs across the state of California. Click here to view membership class information and here to join the organization or renew your membership.

CODA December Honor Orchestra 2021

As an updated event for 2021 given ongoing safety protocols, we will be hosting two in-person, simultaneous, one-day events on December 4th, 2021. One will take place in Northern California, and one in Southern California; students from Central CA will have the option to choose which event they would be able to travel to. Audition materials for our one-day, in-person December 4th, 2021 Honor Orchestra event are available here! Audition materials are due online on September 30th. Please encourage your students to apply!

CODA Update

Junior High School All-State Updates

CODA is excited to announce a second All-State ensemble for 7th and 8th grade students! The new Junior High All-State Concert Orchestra will premiere at the 2022 CASMEC Conference, as a second group addition to our existing Junior High All-State String Orchestra. CODA has been fortunate to receive large pools of auditioning students over the last few years, and we are excited to open a second opportunity to include more students in the AllState experience.

Junior High School orchestra directors - this is a great year to encourage your students to audition for All-State! The Junior High excerpts have been updated to encourage accessibility - please do encourage your students to take a look and consider auditioning!

Find excerpts, scales and audition procedures for Junior High School All-State here. For High School All-State excerpts, scales and audition procedures, click here.

CODA and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

CODA serves to promote school orchestras in California by providing quality honor orchestra experiences for school orchestra students. Music continues to be a vehicle to bring our communities together in the ongoing effort to end systemic racism, discrimination, and injustice. We believe that our students deserve respect and representation inclusive of race, religion, socio-economic status, sexuality, and gender identity. CODA also facilitates an exchange of instructional strategies and ideas for the school orchestra director and provides a community and forum for school orchestra directors. We pledge to center the discussion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our ensembles, classroom culture, and music libraries.

Our goal is to help increase access to quality orchestral experiences for all students. Our proposed long-term plans toward increased diversity, equity, and inclusion include:

1. Conductor Diversity 2. Repertoire Recommendation for Honor Orchestras 3. Financial Barriers for Honor Orchestra Participation 4. Teacher Education Regarding Diversity 5. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Chair & Resources

Remembering Mike Gangemi

On June 20, 2021, Michael Gangemi, CBDA board member, band director at Santiago High School, and a friend to so many, lost his battle with liver failure. With Mike’s passing, the world lost a compassionate, hardworking, and loving man as well as a legendary music educator. On multiple occasions since June 20th I have found myself thinking back to the many times Mike encouraged us to reach out to one another and support each other. He once posted the following message on Facebook:

Please, for the sake of your own sanity, open your contacts and send someone a message to let them know you’re thinking of them. That you love them. That they’ve made an impact on your life...As corny and lame as it may seem, it certainly beats the… “if I only had 5 more minutes with them...”

What I wouldn’t give for the opportunity to send Mike another text, a quick call, or have “five more minutes” with my friend.

Mike served on the CBDA board since 2009, making him the current longest serving board member. As webmaster, Mike helped us move from an organization that was mostly offline into one of the leading groups in the nation for online auditions and applications. Of course, Mike’s work in CBDA went well beyond that of his role as webmaster. If you needed help, you could be confident Mike would be there in an instant, willing to do whatever it took to help you succeed.

As we prepare for our first conference without Mike, we are constantly finding “jobs” outside of the webmaster’s job description that Mike had been handling for us for years without being asked or told to do so. I don’t think anyone realized how much work this man did for our organization... and he was certainly never one to point it out or draw attention to himself.

Not only was Mike a prolific volunteer for CBDA, he truly believed in the mission of our organization and the impact that participating in the All-State groups could have on a student’s life. It was for that reason that Mike donated money to help pay the participation fees for students who couldn’t afford them on their own. Mike quietly donated towards these fees for years and did so anonymously, unknown not only to the student and director, but to most of our board as well. In addition to the financial gifts, Mike donated a significant amount of time to help students record their auditions, including students outside of his own school’s music program. To honor his contributions to All-State, CBDA is so excited and honored to announce the Michael Gangemi Memorial Scholarship Fund. This fund will help provide partial and full scholarships to All-State students in need, continuing Mike’s legacy of service to CBDA and his willingness to help those less fortunate.

Mike was celebrated with a wonderful “Mikeapalooza,” a Celebration of Life, on July 31, 2021 at Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks. Hundreds gathered to celebrate his legacy and enjoyed live music, fun stories, and an overall fitting tribute for such a wonderful man. The attendance at this event alone is a great example of the reach that Mike had, and how much he influenced and touched the lives of others for the better.

I know as we continue to prepare for this upcoming conference, I will constantly be reminded of all that Mike did for not only our organization, but for me personally. I already miss the banter of our text messages, the random checkins, and the loving concern Mike had for me and my family. I plan to live my life in honor of Mike by making sure others know how important they are to me, and I encourage you to do the same.

With love and sorrow,

Jeff Detlefsen

President, California Band Directors Association Director of Bands, Sierra Pacific HS

Achieving Musical Development Goals

David Lesser

Director of Bands Clovis North Educational Center

Fifteen years ago, I was given the special gift of opening a new school. Planning for opening the Clovis North Educational Center Bands began in the spring of 2007. Numerous decisions were made before construction had completed. A balanced music program was paramount. Every ensemble must be exceptional, from our marching band, to our second concert band. Goal setting was key for achievement during our first ten years. Our plan split goals in two categories, program operational goals and musical development goals.

I am going to share ideas which allowed us to reach musical goals pertaining to our concert ensembles. Short term goals included things like a successful intensely focused 90-minute rehearsal, to great posture for the duration of a performance. Long-term goals included, fielding multiple concert ensembles with full instrumentation and invitations to perform at state and national-caliber events. The pie-in-the-sky goal that would probably never happen was to perform at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. In 2007, I had very few solutions on how to get there. Through many mistakes, baby steps, plus a plethora of support from master music educators, and a bit of luck, our concert ensembles achieved all our primary musical goals as we celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2017.

The first step to achieving your selected goals will require an honest self-assessment. Decide how much you are willing to give to your students, your music program, your growth as a musician, pedagogue, and conductor. In my experience, achieving any of these goals has required extreme dedication, LOTS of time, and quite a bit of grit.

You must persistently reflect, revise, and retry. Setting small and large goals enabled me to stay grounded and move our program forward with purpose. I suggest creating a document comprised of detailed goals you wish to achieve in the next five years and move on to some broader strokes for what you hope to achieve ten years from now. Then add some pie-in-the-sky dreams to the list.

Finding your Mentor

Finding your mentor is key. This should not happen quickly nor be taken lightly. I have had two or three mentors who were my main council. They helped guide musical decisions, challenging me to do things I didn’t think I could. They have seen all my ups and most of my downs. The other mentors are an additional list of musical giants. Some played great roles in my development. Others sprinkled bits and pieces of advice leading to improvement in my teaching and our performance level.

Finding my mentors started by having the courage to pick up the phone. I was nervous and a nerdy fanboy reaching out to these all-stars. My relationship with them has been like a pendulum. At the beginning, I learned a great deal. I was in awe of how a guest conductor on the podium could use one metaphor, one descriptive word, or one gesture to correct a technique or error I was unable to cure after many attempts. My toolbox was being filled at lightning speed. Over time the pendulum swung the other direction where now their visits are much more collaborative and affirming. “Fake it until you become it”. – F. Troyka.

I have found mentors from the following groups of educators:

College Band Directors - As a new teacher, I relied heavily on my College Band Directors. They committed hours of council, guest rehearsal time, and friendship. After twenty years they live close to home and are still willing to help. It only costs a few lunches and dinners, which have also been learning experiences. I could never repay them for the time they have dedicated to the myself and my students. I hope every music educator has someone in their corner, like Dr. Sutherland and Dr. Gilroy have been in mine.

Veteran teachers in my school district or region - They had decades of teaching experience and very successful programs. It was easy to email, call, or have lunch. I would ask to observe their rehearsals, ask for them to observe one of my rehearsals, or even clinic my band. Again, most advice was free, but I often showed gratitude by a small gift card and a thank you.

Out of area guest conductors or clinicians – These were the idols. After much study and learning the model high school and University bands from around the country, I formulated the list of ensembles I wished to emulate. I wanted to know what they knew. I picked up the phone and cold-called many of these conductors. Sometimes it took a phone call, an email, then another phone call before I got a response. I thought, “why would this amazing teacher ever call me back?” Luckily, nine times out of ten they were eager to help. Through fundraising, finding grants, collaborating with multiple schools, working with companies to sponsor clinicians, we found ways to host guest clinicians from across the country to rehearse our ensembles. This is how many of my musical friendships were formed.

In the last 15 years, the Clovis North Wind Ensemble has had more than 56 guest conductors. I would consider there to be 5 mentors out of that group who continue to be very influential in the growth of our program. The remaining 51 guests provided a different perspective and gave some type of additional tool, for me to add to my toolbox.

Listening to Recordings – On My Own and With the Ensemble

I recommend purchasing a subscription to Masterclass (www.Masterclass.com). Questlove’s Masterclass was eye opening. I was amazed by his daily listening schedule, playlist organization, and the diversity of music he listens to. This was intended to create new set lists, beats, and to influence his own playing. This really resonated with me.

I treat listening like I should treat exercise. I tend to be more consistent with finding time to listen to music than I do finding time to exercise… (if I was smart, I would do the two in tandem). Listen to music is part of my job. I find time each day to listen to music on my own in one or more of these categories: • Studying repertoire I should know • Pieces my students should know • Intense study of music we are preparing to perform • Searching for that “new” piece or “new” composer • Find something I haven’t heard before • Mental health • Entertainment

There are many ways I use audio and visual recordings