School Band and Orchestra by SBO School Band & Orchestra

April 2012 â&#x20AC;˘ $5.00

Paul Shimmons

Keeping Up with Changing Times Farwell, Michigan Area Schools

Roundtable: The Evolution of Music Ed Publishing Survey: Drill Writing

22 Paul Shimmons

“

APRIL 2012

Today’s world doesn’t look like the world that I grew up in, so I’m trying to make the musical experience that I’m giving my kids a little more meaningful and connected to their every day life.

”

Performance: Musicianship

Contents Features

Lessons for Instrumentalists from the

Choir Room

By Tracy Leenman

uch has been written about vocalizing in instrumental music classes – and most of us work with voices in our bands and orchestras, at least to some degree. However,

there are a number of other vocal techniques used in high-quality choral programs that also have direct application to instrumental music teaching techniques that may help improve students’ performance skills and help enhance musicianship.

Roundtable: Publishing

A Brave

Music Publishing:

10 UpFront Q&A: Thomas J. West Music educator and blogger Tom West talks recruitment and retention in this recent SBO interview.

Some young instrumental musicians equate “warm-ups” with “scales.” Middle or high school band students warming up on their own often start with scales, or with whatever other heterogeneous warm-ups the band plays all together. Unless they are taking private lessons, young players seldom begin with long tones, lip slurs (brass), or other instrument-specific exercises. Most choral warm-ups can be used individually as well as in a group setting. Commonly, choral warm-ups begin with breathing exercises; and much attention is paid to correct posture, and to relaxation of the throat area and freedom of tension in the upper body, neck, and jaw. These are areas that can be overlooked in the instrumental classroom (again, unless a particular student is taking private lessons). Emery Remington, long-time professor of Trombone at the Eastman School of Music, would ask his students to “sing into your instrument,” underscoring that proper breathing techniques provide a foundation for quality tone and phrasing, whether choral or instrumental. Young singers are taught to warm up first with slower passages in limited (middle to medium-low) ranges –They are taught to concentrate on tone, focus, intonation; then later, articulation (diction). Rarely does a singer “hot dog” or head for the top of his range right off the bat, as young instrumentalists some-

times do. In the instrumen- “By listening for and lock- an ensemble. If they encounter a chord in a different tal classroom, players of modality or a change in tonality, students will then each instrument can benefit ing in intervals, young be more able to negotiate the change with accurate greatly from learning hointonation. mogeneous warm-ups that musicians can more easPerhaps because of the almost-constant presence address their particular of bass drum, snare drum, and timpani in band muily stay in tune with each sic, needs – for example, octave young instrumentalists may tend to think more slurs for the flutes, descend- other at various dynamic vertically, focusing on the beat and the bar lines. Taping long tones in the lower ping one’s foot reinforces this even further. Choral ranges for woodwinds – that levels, and can maintain singing tends to be more linear, in part because of they can use both at home the presence of text. Text brings with it grammatical and in the classroom (when a more consistent pitch syntax, which helps interpret phrasing. How many appropriate) before wholetimes have we cringed to hear young musicians play center as an ensemble.” “Adeste Fideles” and breathe in the middle of the band warm-ups begin. When choir classes work phrase, “O come let us adore (BREATH) Him, Christ on singing staccato, the focus the Lord” simply because there happens to be a half is on diaphragmatic action. This can be note there? Obviously, if a band is performing a piece that has a text associated with helpful in the instrumental class, as well, it, using the text to guide breathing and phrasing is a must. Bar lines should be to encourage a correct staccato, where the viewed merely as aids that help students organize notes and measures into phrases; tongue begins each note (“TA-TA-TA”); they should not be assumed to control those phrases. “Thinking a text” can add but the diaphragm, not the tongue, (“TUTnot only melodic movement to a piece, but also rhythmic movement. Ask a young TUT-TUT”) ends it. This helps keep the instrumentalist to play the first few phrases of “America the Beautiful”; then give melodic line moving forward and adds him a copy of those same phrases with the lyrics underneath, and ask him to play acoustical richness, rather than closing off again, mentally “singing” the text. In many cases, the second attempt will be quite the throat and creating extra work for the different – focusing on the text will encourage students to use the pickup to “pull” tongue. into the next measure and create forward motion in the melodic line: “Oh beautiWhen choir classes work on chords, ful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain . . .” (see example). they work on balance, just as band classes do. However, they also work To find out what the dawn of the on making octaves, fifths and fourdigital age in publishing means for part chords “ring,” an acoustical phemusic educators, SBO reached out to a nomenon that requires that the interhandful of people at some of the leadval or chord be properly balanced and ing music publishers in the market. “locked in” (perfectly in tune). LearnAndrew Surmani is a senior vice presiing this skill helps particularly in a dent and managing director at Alfred The basic principles of correct diction automatically encourage linear singing; cappella singing, by giving students a Music Publishing; Paul Lavender is a for example, correctly putting consonants from the end of one syllable onto the pitch “anchor” throughout the piece, vice president at Hal Leonard Corpoand keeping the ensemble pitch from beginning of the next syllable. The old Fred Waring series of choral octavos would ration; Chris Scialfa is a senior vice show the text written out phonetically as it should be sung, to emphasize melodic rising or sagging. Further, it teaches the president at Carl Fischer; and Joseph phrasing (see example). singers to listen more carefully to each Galison is a director at LudwigMasters other and almost instinctively tune Publishing. chords properly. Many choral directors ask their students to mark octaves and SBO: As relevant to the music edufifths that occur between parts in their cation market in particular, how has music, as a reminder to listen for the the publishing world evolved over “ring.” Band students can benefit from the past 25 years? a similar awareness of intervals around Paul Lavender: Certainly them, marking in their music which music educators have more ith the rise of the an Internet andThe online media,equivalent it’s safe to instrumental of this is termed “playing through a line,” connectother instruments are playing occhoices than ever before, and ing note to note within a phrase, as though one were singing the entire phrase on tave or thirds or fifths above or below. say that the publishing world has undergone a virtual now we are seeing a dramatic ing. Many programs also alone breath. Simply saying ,“Play four measure phrases,” or “Don’t breathe until the By listening for and locking in these development in the way edulow the music to be slowed end of measure x,” may be enough to convey the full sense of melodic line to intervals, young musicians revolution overcan themore past quarter century. Thenot transicational materials will be dedown without changing the young players. easily stay in tune with each other at The shift to digital tion from print to digital another turn when onefronting of the consonants focuses andlivered. key. Many of our books are In singing, properly propels the airstream various dynamic levels, took and can main- dramatic textbooks and online learning also available digitally on forward.Britannica, Similarly, correctly performed articulation will encourage forward a more consistent as world’tain s most iconic book pitch titles,center the Encyclopedia which has will certainly apply to mu- Paul Lavender: iPads, Kindles, and Nooks. sic teachers and students as been in print for 244 years, announced in March that they are ceasing School Band and Orchestra • April 2012 33 well. All publishers – including books, Joe Galison: Compared to 25 years production of the hard copy edition in favor of an all-digital format. newspapers, magazines, and music – ago there are many more publishers have already started to offer new ways publishing a lot more music. Even the Clearly, for publishers big and small – as those of us at the SBO offices to deliver, enhance, and enrich their smaller publisher can publish a lot of publications. can attest – major changes are afoot. music compared to their size. For Lud-

32 32

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

16 Roundtable: Publishing

New World W

All publishers – including books,

Four preeminent publishers serving the music education market discuss the evolution of the print industry and what the spate of recent technological developments mean for band and orchestra directors.

newspapers, magazines, and music – have already started to offer new

ways to deliver, enhance, and enrich their publications.

wigMasters, we have turned Andrew Surmani: Techaway from printing presses nology is playing a bigger part and have turned to digital in education than it ever did presses. This allows us to before. Just the simple act of print quicker and with betmisplacing an instrument part ter quality. Also compared can be remedied 24/7 by goto 25 years ago, I don’t need ing to the publisher’s digital to keep as much physical insite to download a replaceventory, which, in turn, gets Andrew Surmani ment part. Recordings are the music to the student and still an important aspect of new muteacher faster and at the right price sic review and not only are recordings point. mailed to teachers every year, but they are also easily accessible from pubChris Scialfa: I think the biggest lisher and retailer websites, along with evolution (at least in the past 15 years sample pages of the score. Tools such during my time in this industry) has as the online SmartMusic program are been the number of publishers. Fifbeing used to help teachers assess their teen years ago, there weren’t as many student’s performance abilities. Music publishers releasing educational music software accompanies many method geared towards school bands, orchesbooks for additional study to include tras, and choirs. More publishers mean games, exercises, ear training and testmore titles released each year and that,

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

“Retailers who specialize in print music still exist. It’s not always about the internet and digital download.” coupled with the economic challenges schools are facing, makes it increasingly difficult for publishers to maintain market share. Also, the delivery for this product has significantly changed. More and more schools are turning towards digital downloads to obtain music they would have otherwise purchased a hard copy of in prior years. In addition to delivery methods, do you find that method books and other educational titles have changed dramatically? And if so, how? AS: Now directors want to have full audio and video to accompany their basic methods. On top of that, director’s don’t want the “one size fits all” approach anymore because we live in a world where you can download just the music you want without being forced to buy songs that you don’t like just because they are included on the album you need. As such, Alfred has created the world’s first-ever customizable band and string methods. Directors can choose the starting key, rhythm, note names in note heads, custom intro letter, custom book cover, and the ability to change some of the songs and add additional enrichment material into their printed book. School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

22 Upclose: Paul Shimmons Paul Shimmons, band director at Farwell (Mich.) Area Schools, has been integrating sophisticated tools into his instruction for years. In a recent conversation with SBO Paul highlights the most important classroom tools he’s discovered, and his methods for making them work.

32 Performance: Musicianship Tracy Leenman applies some lessons gleaned from the choir room to instrumental ensembles.

38 Survey: Drill Writing SBO readers weigh in on the latest trends in writing drill.

44 Technology: iPad Innovators Tech expert John Kuzmich checks in with several educators who are using iPads in their every day music classes in a variety of ways.

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

Columns 4

Perspective

53 Playing Tip

Headlines

54 Classifieds

51 New Products

56 Ad Index

Cover photo by Neil Ringwalt, Farwell, Mich. SB&O School Band and Orchestra® (ISSN 1098-3694) is published monthly by Symphony Publishing, LLC, 21 Highland Circle, Suite 1, Needham, MA 02494 (781) 453-9310, publisher of Musical Merchandise Review, Choral Director, Music Parents America and JAZZed. All titles are federally registered trademarks and/or trademarks of Symphony Publishing, LLC. Subscription Rates: one year $24; two years $40. Rates outside U.S.A. available upon request. Single issues $5 each. February Resource Guide $15. Periodical-Rate Postage Paid at Boston, MA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER/SUBSCRIBERS: Send address change to School Band and Orchestra, P.O. Box 8548, Lowell, MA 01853. No portion of this issue may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. The publishers of this magazine do not accept responsibility for statements made by their advertisers in business competition. Copyright © 2012 by Symphony Publishing, LLC, all rights reserved. Printed in USA.

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Perspective

The 21st Century Band Room If we flash back to the band room of the mid-20th century, they were mostly rectangular boxes with movable chairs, perhaps some risers built into the floor, a blackboard, podium stands, and perhaps a pair of speakers with a record player and amplifier. Earlier in the century, the rooms were often make-shift places: school cafeterias, basements, or even gymnasiums where acoustics were the last consideration. For the director, it was simply a place to gather the troops, sit down, and play music with only the simplest of technology. The centerpiece of the technology of that time was most likely the vintage Conn Strobo Tuner, which was developed by the Conn company in 1936. Students would line up to play a tuning pitch and peer into a tiny window that would tell them (only in that moment of course) whether they were in tune and whether the partials within that note were in line, as well. As strange as it may “It’s often a challenge seem today, that was often the highlight of the students’ rehearsal. to qualify and quantify Today, cutting edge technology has entered the the benefits and needs scene, enabling directors and students to practice for purchasing technol- in virtual environments that can simulate large ogy to administrators.” concert halls, recital rooms, jazz clubs, and other spaces. Wireless technology allows instant access to video presentations powered by iPads connected to projectors and invisible sound systems. Our cover story this month with Paul Shimmons of Farwell, Mich. Area Schools provides some insight into how one educator is utilizing the technology in an effective manner. And perhaps just as important is how to go about determining if a piece of technology is worthwhile or if it will simply get in the way. It’s often a challenge to qualify and quantify the benefits and needs for purchasing technology to administrators in a field that, to the uninformed, might seem unchanged by technological innovations. While it’s true that some musical instruments haven’t changed much over the years, a wide array of indispensible tools used by musicians, music educators, and performing ensembles are constantly, and dramatically, evolving. The other concern with technology is determining the best time to purchase hardware. With updates coming at a lightning pace, a piece of equipment that may be purchased today in the mid-life of the product cycle could be outmoded in a year or less. Though software is often upgradable, the increasing capabilities of newer hardware is sometimes required to take full advantage of the software. In this tech-focused issue, you’ll find a wealth of practical ideas from Mr. Shimmons about how to handle many of these concerns, as he has successfully integrated technology into the program at Farwell High School. In addition, you will also find advice on utilizing the iPad in the music room from our resident technology expert, Dr. John Kuzmich…

April 2012 • Volume 15, Number 4 GROUP PUBLISHER Sidney L. Davis sdavis@symphonypublishing.com PUBLISHER Richard E. Kessel rkessel@symphonypublishing.com Editorial EXECUTIVE EDITOR Christian Wissmuller cwissmuller@symphonypublishing.com EDITOR Eliahu Sussman esussman@symphonypublishing.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Matt Parish mparish@symphonypublishing.com Art PRODUCTION MANAGER Laurie Guptill lguptill@symphonypublishing.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Andrew P. Ross aross@symphonypublishing.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Laurie Chesna lchesna@symphonypublishing.com Advertising ADVERTISING SALES Iris Fox ifox@symphonypublishing.com CLASSIFIED SALES Maureen Johan mjohan@symphonypublishing.com Business CIRCULATION MANAGER Melanie A. Prescott mprescott@symphonypublishing.com ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Popi Galileos pgalileos@symphonypublishing.com

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School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

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Headlines The National Association for Music Education has announced the results of its 2012 national and divisional elections. NAfME members elected Glenn E. Nierman national president-elect for 2012-2014. Nierman, associate director of the University of Nebraska (Lincoln) School of Music, is currently immediate past president of NAfME’s North Central Division. Nierman is a past president of the Nebraska Music Educators Association (NMEA). His public school teaching experience includes work with middle school general music and choir, as well as high school band and orchestra. Nierman holds a bachelor’s degree in music education from Washburn University (Kansas), and M.M. and D.M.E. degrees from the University of Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music. At University of Nebraska, he teaches graduate classes in research and curriculum development, as well as a non-major popular music guitar class The results of NAfME’s division elections are as follows: * North Central President-Elect: Lance D. Nielsen, Nebraska * Western Division President-Elect: David C. Fullmer, Utah * Southern Division President-Elect: Maribeth Gail Yoder-White, North Carolina These individuals will assume office on July 1, 2012.

For complete biographies or more information, visit www.nafme.org.

Scholarships Available to 2012 DCI Corps Members From the contributions of current Friends of DCI members and other drum corps fans, this year’s Friends of DCI Scholarship Program will award up to two $2,000 scholarships for students to use toward academic tuition and fees. Approximately 70 percent of current drum corps members are fulltime students at higher educational institutions. Understanding the value of the drum corps experience for students, members of Drum Corps International’s Friends of DCI program continue to support the performers of Marching Music’s Major League with scholarship opportunities. High school seniors or college students enrolled for courses in the fall of 2012, and who are current members in good standing of an Open or World Class corps competing in the 2012 DCI Tour, may apply. The deadline to apply is Friday, May 11, 2012. Recipients will be recognized this August at the DCI World Championship in Indianapolis.

For more info, visit www.dci.org.

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

Music for All Announces 2012 Bands of America Hall of Fame Inductees

Four individuals were inducted this year into Music for All’s Bands of America (BOA) Hall of Fame. The 2012

inductees are Charles “Chuck” Campbell, previously band director at North Hardin High School in Kentucky and a longtime band director of 31 years; Chuck Henson, professional broadcaster who has served as the “Voice” of Bands of America’s series of Regional and Grand National Championships for the past 23 years; and Stu and Sharon Holzer, dedicated former Centerville High School, Ohio band boosters and longtime key volunteers at numerous BOA Championship events throughout the country. The Bands of America Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have greatly impacted Bands of America, which is a program of Music for All, as well as the nation’s band activity and music education. These new recipients were inducted during the recent Honor Band of America concert in Indianapolis during the Music for All National Festival, presented by Yamaha. For more info, visit www.musicforall.org.

NAfME Elects Next President

Headlines ISME Presents NAMM with the Global Sonar Award

The International Society for Music Education (ISME) presented its inaugural ISME Global Sonar Award to the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) and the NAMM Foundation for the organization’s invaluable support and ongoing efforts to understand, celebrate, and promote music learning across all ages. NAMM president and CEO Joe Lamond accepted the award on NAMM’s behalf, while composer and clinician Stanley Jordan was on hand to present the award on behalf of ISME. Over the last 10 years, NAMM has reinvested nearly $80 million in support of its mission to strengthen the music products industry and promote the pleasures and benefits of making music, including $13.2 million in direct grants to community-based music education programs. To learn more, visit www.namm.org

National Association of Music Parents (AMP) Adds Two Indianapolis Partnerships

The National Association of Music Parents (AMP) recently announced the addition of Paige’s Music as a new sponsor, as well as the establishment of a new strategic partnership with Drum Corps International. AMP founder and CEO Scott McCormick was instrumental in relocating Bands of America (now Music for All) to Indianapolis as part of the Music Crossroads Initiative of the ICVA. After leaving Music for All in late 2010, McCormick set about to create another national non-profit music organization headquartered in Indianapolis. The organization is pleased to add the support of local music retailer Paige’s Music to its growing list of supporting companies. Paige’s sponsorship enables thousands of parents of beginning music makers throughout Central Indiana to have access to a free subscription to AMP to learn alongside their kids about the benefits of music education in their child’s total development. Additionally, AMP recently entered into a strategic partnership with Drum Corps International (DCI), another member of the Music Crossroads initiative that relocated from the Chicago area. Launched in May 2011, AMP is a national non-profit organization whose goal is to preserve music and arts in our nation’s education system through grassroots efforts. AMP believes that music should be accessible to all students and provides a partnership between parents, music educators and the community to determine the future of their child’s music education.

To learn more or get involved, visit www.amparents.org.

CSO Honors Area Educators

The Columbus Symphony Orchestra recently honored three local music educators for their contributions to music education. John S. Long, chairman of the Pinkerton High School Central music department, was presented with the Music Educator Award for Secondary Education at a special brunch in Columbus earlier this month. Long has been teaching in the district for more than 38 years. Also receiving Music Educator Awards were Yeh-Fen Chin (Elementary Education) and Sgt. Martin P. McSweeney (Community Outreach). The CSO presents these awards “honoring individuals who make a difference in the community through a dedication to music education, and their efforts to promote a greater understanding of and appreciation for music education.”

For more information, visit www.columbussymphony.org.

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

three maraderie. These are the Confidence. Character. Ca fidence con e Th m. rming Arts progra tenets of the Disney Perfo uired to req r cte of stages. The chara to perform on the grandest ential ess t’s And the camaraderie tha perfect your chosen craft. rt pa And when your group takes to come together as a team. in a ts program– whether that’s in a Disney Performing Ar lls they ski the are se or festival– the p ho rks wo a or ce an rm perfo lusive ne, becoming part of an exc will learn, sharpen and refi e tim ife this shared once-in-a-l group of artists bonded by e Arts. Th means to earn your Ears For experience. This is what it Ea ir rs for has what it takes to earn the So if you think your group 095. planner or call 1-866-715-4 the Arts, contact your travel

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Q&A

Upfron t

Thomas J. West

Recruiting & Retention: Meeting the Community’s Needs By Eliahu Sussman

hen it comes to bringing kids into a music program and then keeping them there, directors can never have too many ideas. While researching the subject online, I recently came across a relevant blog post by Thomas J. West, a music educator, composer, adjudicator, and blog-

ger, prompting this recent exchange on recruitment and retention. Tom’s blog, www.thomasjwestmusic.com, features a bevy of useful information ranging from performance tips to the music ed-focused “quote of the day.”

School Band & Orchestra: What should educators be doing more of to bring students into their program? Tom West: The best method of recruitment is getting your committed, go-getter high school musicians (the ones who may become future music educators) involved with your middle school and elementary school music ensembles and lessons. Having a high school student sit in with an elementary band, a middle school baritone choir section, or your elementary cellists is a huge treat for the younger players and a good modeling situation for the high school students. Having high school students run sectionals or teach lessons at the elementary level is also very effective, but takes more guidance on the part of the music teacher. Getting high school students involved in lower levels is a win-win. Another extremely effective recruitment tool is hosting an alldistrict concert or other combined elementary-secondary performances. An all-district concert puts the entire instrumental or vocal curricula’s scope and sequence on display. Parents, administrators, and all stakeholders can clearly see how the forma-

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

tive studies at the elementary level build into the performance abilities at the high school level. The elementary students get a chance to see and get excited about being in middle school and high school, and the high school ensembles enjoy being the “flagship” performances. SBO: Do you see directors using recruiting tactics that are either ineffective or detrimental to their efforts? TW: Many districts like to do instrument demonstration assemblies for their second or third-grade students to get them interested in an instrument. This works, but it can also be a big turn-off if it is not presented well. Selling an elementary kid on playing the trombone or the cello is a challenging proposition, and a lot of music teachers either make excuses like “Well, it’s big, but...” or go the opposite route and over-sell it. Having the elementary or middle school band members play with the high school marching band in the

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“There are too many band programs trying to be something that their communities don’t value or want.” stands at a home game can be a great experience, but if the weather is inclement, it might not be so much fun. When I was a student, my high school marching band used to do a district tour where we went to each elementary school and performed. That was effective because we had a 90-piece band and were playing music the elementary students could recognize, so it was big, impressive, and fun. Modern marching bands that are small, elite, and competitive can actually turn kids off to their program if they do performances like

these. The middle school students might come away saying, “They were so good, and that is so hard! I’ll never be able to do that.” I took my small rural band program to Drum Corp International East Regional in Allentown, Pennsylvania one year as a motivational experience. I explained the differences between marching band and drum corps in both composition and rehearsal schedules, and told them that I didn’t expect them to look like these semi-professional marching musicians. The reaction most of them came away with was still, “This is what Mr. West wants us to be,” despite my pre-game speech. For that band, going to see a local college band in an exhibition would have been a better fit. Showing them something they perceive as achievable was my hard-earned lesson there. SBO: In your opinion, do instrumental school music programs have an image problem?

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TW: It depends entirely on the community you serve. You have to know the community and what they value. In my first teaching job in rural Pennsylvania, the arts were not valued highly. The town I lived in, however, had a thriving marching and concert band program because the director there had given the community what they wanted:

a non-competitive football band that plays entertaining music they recognized. Next to the football and wrestling team, they were the town’s ambassadors and frequently got called up for community events. That was an 85-piece band in a junior-senior high school of only 900 students. That’s nearly 10 percent of the school involved in the band pro-

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gram. He focused most of his music pedagogy and growth on the concert band program in the winter. In districts like North Penn in Lansdale, Pa., where I taught middle school band for a year as a long-term substitute, excellence and competitiveness are demanded and expected. Their band has a strong competitive tradition spanning over thirty years. That music program is giving that community what it wants and expects. For them, that level of elite performance works. There are too many band programs trying to be something that their communities don’t value or want. Band and orchestra programs do in general have an image problem, and I believe that we have performed ourselves into a corner. When the average band or orchestra program only serves 20 percent of the student population (and in some places, it’s more like one percent), we are failing to connect with the majority of students who go on to be under-educated music consumers. I think bands and orchestras need to back off the heavy performance literature and rehearsal schedules and leave time for students to experience chamber music, improvisation of all styles (not just jazz band), and simple melodic composition over primary chords. Our band and orchestra community is a self-supporting microcosm that fails to make a cultural impact past “one time, at band camp...” I spent the early part of my teaching career frustrated that all the great things we were doing in the band room had so little impact on the school and the community, and that the majority of my students went on to college and adulthood with no music-making going on in their lives. I want to give them experiences with making music – not just in performance, but also in ways that makes it possible for them to continue to create their own music in adulthood without the benefit of a band program to be involved in. Electronic music courses are starting to fill that void, as evidenced by the awesome programs of teachers

like Richard McCreedy (Maryland), Barbara Freedman (Connecticut), and Scott Watson (Pennsylvania). Google them and you’ll see what I mean. SBO: What are the biggest hurdles directors face when retaining students, and how would you suggest overcoming those hurdles? TW: Unfortunately, two of the biggest hurdles are grade-point average and scheduling. When band or orchestra’s credits pull down high-achieving GPAs because of credit weight issues, or when band or orchestra is scheduled against other singleton AP courses, great instrumental students are forced to drop out. Band programs that run heavy competitive schedules and require all band members to participate in the competition band lose people left and right. My wife is one of four siblings, and three of them dropped out of band for exactly that reason. As band and orchestra directors, sometimes our eyes are set on the heights of playing awesome grade 4, 5, and 6 literature or marching shows with over 100 sets in them when it should be set on providing students with an experience of playing in a full-sized concert band with full instrumentation. Competition has its place, and I have been on all ends of competition as a performer, director, and judge. Competition should not be the reason your band and orchestra program exists. It is a means to an end. The concert band and string orchestra that the majority of your students participate in needs to be the cornerstone of your curriculum. SBO: What should directors be doing more of to keep students returning to band or orchestra year after year? TW: Create opportunities for students to get excited about band or orchestra and to feel successful. Spring trips, the occasional popular chestnut concert selection, and chances to be together as an ensemble outside of the rehearsal hall are

all important parts of the band and orchestra experience. Band and orchestra shouldn’t be stressful all the time. Too many programs are like that. If your program can’t cater to the average ensemble member who will never be an honors ensemble member, you’re asking too much. You have to get them in the door and keep them before you start opening

their eyes to the rich depth of those grade 5 barnburners.

Thomas J. West is an active music teacher, composer, adjudicator, and clinician in the greater Philadelphia area. His music education blog can be found at www.thomasjwestmusic.com.

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School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

Roundtable: Publishing

A Brave

Music Publishing:

New World W ith the rise of the Internet and online media, it’s safe to say that the publishing world has undergone a virtual revolution over the past quarter century. The transi-

tion from print to digital took another dramatic turn when one of the world’s most iconic book titles, the Encyclopedia Britannica, which has been in print for 244 years, announced in March that they are ceasing production of the hard copy edition in favor of an all-digital format. Clearly, for publishers big and small – as those of us at the SBO offices can attest – major changes are afoot.

All publishers – including books, newspapers, magazines, and print music – have already started to offer new ways to deliver, enhance, and enrich their publications.

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

To find out what the dawn of the digital age in publishing means for music educators, SBO reached out to a handful of people at some of the leading music publishers in the market. Andrew Surmani is a senior vice president and managing director at Alfred Music Publishing; Paul Lavender is a vice president at Hal Leonard Corporation; Chris Scialfa is a senior vice president at Carl Fischer; and Joseph Galison is a director at LudwigMasters Publishing. SBO: As relevant to the music education market in particular, how has the publishing world evolved over the past 25 years? Paul Lavender: Certainly music educators have more choices than ever before, and now we are seeing a dramatic ing. Many programs also aldevelopment in the way edulow the music to be slowed cational materials will be dedown without changing the livered. The shift to digital key. Many of our books are textbooks and online learning also available digitally on will certainly apply to mu- Paul Lavender iPads, Kindles, and Nooks. sic teachers and students as well. All publishers – including books, Joe Galison: Compared to 25 years newspapers, magazines, and music – ago there are many more publishers have already started to offer new ways publishing a lot more music. Even the to deliver, enhance, and enrich their smaller publisher can publish a lot of publications. music compared to their size. For LudwigMasters, we have turned Andrew Surmani: Techaway from printing presses nology is playing a bigger part and have turned to digital in education than it ever did presses. This allows us to before. Just the simple act of print quicker and with betmisplacing an instrument part ter quality. Also compared can be remedied 24/7 by goto 25 years ago, I don’t need ing to the publisher’s digital to keep as much physical insite to download a replaceventory, which, in turn, gets Andrew Surmani ment part. Recordings are the music to the student and still an important aspect of new muteacher faster and at the right price sic review and not only are recordings point. mailed to teachers every year, but they are also easily accessible from pubChris Scialfa: I think the biggest lisher and retailer websites, along with evolution (at least in the past 15 years sample pages of the score. Tools such during my time in this industry) has as the online SmartMusic program are been the number of publishers. Fifbeing used to help teachers assess their teen years ago, there weren’t as many student’s performance abilities. Music publishers releasing educational music software accompanies many method geared towards school bands, orchesbooks for additional study to include tras, and choirs. More publishers mean games, exercises, ear training and testmore titles released each year and that,

“Retailers who specialize in print music still exist. It’s not always about the internet and digital download.” coupled with the economic challenges schools are facing, makes it increasingly difficult for publishers to maintain market share. Also, the delivery for this product has significantly changed. More and more schools are turning towards digital downloads to obtain music they would have otherwise purchased a hard copy of in prior years. SBO: In addition to delivery methods, do you find that method books and other educational titles have changed dramatically? AS: Now directors want to have full audio and video to accompany their basic methods. On top of that, director’s don’t want the “one size fits all” approach anymore because we live in a world where you can download just the music you want without being forced to buy songs that you don’t like just because they are included on the album you need. As such, Alfred has created the world’s first-ever customizable band and string methods. Directors can choose the starting key, rhythm, note names in note heads, custom intro letter, custom book cover, and the ability to change some of the songs and add additional enrichment material into their printed book. School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

PL: With the Essential Elements series, Hal Leonard is certainly a large part of the change in method books over the last two decades.

THAT’S MY SOUND!

Directors and students now have tremendous teaching and learning tools that didn’t exist before. Audio CDs, DVD video, learning software,

Alfred’s Drum Method: 25 Years Old and Still Going Strong

In 1987, Alfred Music Publishing debuted Alfred’s Drum Method, a publication that has enjoyed sustained popularity, even 25 years later. SBO recently caught up with co-author Dave Black to discuss the evolution of the publishing word, including some elements that haven’t really changed. With all of the changes in media that we have seen over the past quarter century, what is it about Alfred’s Drum Method that has kept it relevant and useful to educators, even after all this time?

GREG OSBY

Dave Black: Alfred’s Drum Method was the first drum book to include full– length solos after each concept taught, so there’s a total of 23 full-length solos suitable for contests. We also introduced rolls in a way that was easier to understand (particularly the 7-stroke roll). It was also the first method to include actual drum parts to Sousa marches and concert band repertoire, so that students could see how what they were learning in the book applied to what they’re actually playing in a real band setting. A VHS video that correlated to the book was made available, making it one of the first products to ever have that element. And, we actually taught a lesson live on camera. In keeping up with the changing technology, the video was later released on DVD and is now available digitally for your iPad and on SmartMusic (currently the only drum method available on SmartMusic). Are there fundamental tenets to method books and instructional guides for musicians that are simply timeless? DB: Well, my definition of “timeless” is something that has been around for a while, continues to be fundamentally sound, and continues to be used by generations of teachers and students. Even though newer books have come on the market that include accompanying audio and video elements (things that people have come to expect), the older books are still good, fundamentally sound publications that have stood the test of time. How has evolving media changed the way in which educators use these types of materials, and what’s the impact of all of this on the student?

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School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

DB: As you know, technology is playing a much bigger part in music education than it ever has before. Tools such as the online SmartMusic program are being used to help teachers assess their student’s performance abilities. In addition, many method books now include music software that contains additional study (games, exercises, ear training, music theory and music history). Many programs also allow the music to be slowed down without changing the key, and many are now becoming available digitally on iPads, Kindles and Nooks. Tools, such as videos or DVDs, have allowed students (especially those in rural areas where a teacher is not accessible) to have the opportunity to see how to set up, hold and take care of their instruments, as well as hear how a passage or exercise should be played. The tempo-change technology gives students the ability to be able to slow something down for practice and/or rehearsal purposes. And, the iPad, Nooks, and Kindles will allow students to be able to store and access much more music. It will also make it more convenient for them to be able to practice anywhere, as these devises are small, don’t take up much space, and are easily transportable.

and correlated performance materials have now become integral with methods for beginning students. These types of resources have been particularly important to teachers who need to adapt a traditional method to their unique situation or schedule.

in many different ways – by grade level, choral voicing, style, season, and so on – to find just the right piece you are looking for. You can then see a product description, listen to sample recordings, and view a sample of the music online. Most publishers sell through retailers so it is easy CS: The biggest change Chris Scialfa to find what you are looking has been the addition of a for and either transfer your media component such as a CD or shopping cart on the publisher site MP3 disc. This is no longer new, as over to your favorite online retailer the greater majority of titles released site, or just contact your local rein current years seem to have a media tailer for the items that you found component. However, years ago, this on the publisher site that you would was not always the case, even when like to order. Compact Discs sent cassette tapes to extinction. JG: Its easier then ever for a music director or teacher to JG: The market has so find music for their program many different method books from a publisher thanks to for everything out there and the Internet! Most publishyou have so many choices ers have a website that inof how you want to use the cludes an online catalog. method book (i.e. DVD, VD, For example, at LudwigMasapps for a smart device, and ters we have just created a so on) that it can be overwhole new website that was Joe Galison whelming. designed with educators in mind. We felt as a publisher we need What do educators need to know to provide the tools to educators to about how to find and purchase musee and hear our music instantly. We sic from today’s publishers? provide MP3 recordings and have CS: For educators who have been started to put the first few pages of teaching for 10 or more years, I don’t the score up so they can listen and think there is anything more they read along at the same time. Some need to know. They seem to be well publishers, like us, even allow eduaware that they can find our music cators to make purchases right on through their local retail stores and/ their websites. or their favorite websites. For educaI also recommend that educators tors who are just starting out, they sign up to be on the publisher’s mailneed to be aware that retailers who ing list so they can find out about specialize in print music still exist. new music. Like most publishers, It’s not always about the internet and LudwigMasters makes a promotional digital download. It can be, and that’s CD for all of our new music for band, fine. However, I’m afraid that the string orchestra, and full orchestra. younger generation of music educaWe do full recordings using profestors will miss out on the human elesional players and it’s a great way for ment about selecting print music… educators to hear new music. And of and you can only get that interaction course there is the old printed cataby walking into a local store and havlog, which is still a great resource for ing a conversation with someone that educators. knows the products. PL: Still, one of the best alternatives AS: Publisher websites are very for teachers to find music is through good these days. It is fairly easy to traditional retailers, many of whom are go to the publisher site and search well stocked with all publishers music. School Band and Orchestra • April 2012 Trevor James Ad_SBO_2011.09.indd 1

9/15/2011 9:53:44 AM

And now with powerful online search tools, many teachers have become comfortable with the convenience of online perusal of scores, demo recordings, and convenient purchasing. Like many other businesses, music publishers and retailers have found new ways to offer convenience and efficient service for music teachers and students. Additional thoughts on publishing for school music educators? CS: Don’t hesitate to reach out and share your ideas with the publishers. I can’t speak for all of them, but we are certainly open to receiving feedback about our existing publications as well as suggestions for future ideas. Educators shouldn’t hesitate to come up to us at a trade show and stop and chat for a while. That’s one of the reasons why we’re at that those shows. Although we sell our music through retailers, that sale “ends” when an educator purchases our product… so we want to hear from them as well as our retailers.

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

PL: We’re excited about the near future of what we’re bringing to teachers, students, and music programs. The launch of the powerful Essential Elements Interactive program is just one of those innovations that Hal Leonard has created for today’s music education community – dealers, teachers, students, and their parents. JG: As budgets get cut, teachers are looking for ways to get new music. Many publishers, including us, participate in reading sessions and clinics all the time. A teacher can call the local dealer and find out about these clinics. Often these sets of music are even donated to the clinic to be raffled off at the end. Teachers have a variety of tools at their fingertips, and they shouldn’t hesitate to call a publisher and ask questions about a piece or maybe even for some advice. A lot of publishers have former teachers and band directors working with them. The publisher itself can

be used as an invaluable resource for teachers and educators. Reach out to your print retailers and publishers – it’s a win-win proposition! AS: Educators are faced with a lot of challenges these days. Most states are experiencing difficult budget crises and the red tape teachers deal with every day is only increasing. However, this is not the first budget crisis that we’ve dealt with over the years and no matter what the economic and political climate is at the time, the best music programs and teachers always survive. The best teachers are very creative and do a fantastic job navigating the rapids during these challenging times, and in the end keep their programs in tack and growing in the future. Music is a critical part of the core curriculum and can be the one subject area keeping kids excited about coming to school.

UpClose: Paul Shimmons

Keeping Up with

Changing Times W

By Eliahu Sussman

hen it comes to using the latest devices, software, and digital instruments in the classroom, finding the right tools for the job can be a challenging endeavor. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more, with the exciting possibilities presented by touch screens, cloud storage, and the endless array of innovative products, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that this technology is only useful to music educators if it successfully enhances instruction, or creates new educational possibilities. Fortunately, there are some people out there who have been trying out and using increasingly sophisticated technological tools in their music rooms for years.

The Farwell High School marching band.

School Band and Orchestra â&#x20AC;˘ April 2012

Paul Shimmons, band director at Farwell Area Schools in Central Michigan, is one such educator who has been steadily implementing innovative devices, software, and instruments into his teaching methods since the dawn of the digital age. Shimmons has an impressive assortment of technology that he uses with his traditional ensembles, in addition to creating several new course offerings designed to keep up with the latest trends and tools used in music making today. In this recent interview with School Band & Orchestra, Shimmons provides insight into his approach to finding, selecting, purchasing, and implementing new technological devices into his classes and ensembles. School Band & Orchestra: How did your interest in technology make its way into your classroom? Paul Shimmons: My goal from the start was to make sure that my band room isn’t like the band room that I experienced when I was in high school. Today’s world doesn’t look like the world that I grew up in, so I’m trying to make the musical experience that I’m giving my kids a little more meaningful and connected to their every day life. I want to give my students the opportunity to create music with electronic instruments. I want to give them a chance to understand how some of the music that they are listening to outside of my band room is being created, as well, so we’re not using just the traditional wind instruments and having the

traditional concert band experience. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of opportunity for people to go out into the world to perform traditional concert or symphonic material. We’re lucky in that we do have a really good community band, but that’s a small portion of these kids’ experience. So many kids even outside of the traditional band and choir experience are messing around with creating music and playing in their garage band or their rock band. They want to play and sing, and sing and play together, so why don’t we do that in our classrooms? SBO: Do you try to attract those students into your traditional classes or create courses that will meet them at their own interest level? PS: We’re trying to do a little bit of both. We’re trying to utilize some of that technology in the traditional band department, and we also offer a whole other class with electronic instruments. We also have a combined class with singers, as well, so it’s not this taboo thing trying to get the two of them together. For these kids that are doing the garage band thing, maybe this will help give them a little bit of exposure to a traditional music education and a bit of training so they have a clue what they’re doing when they go back to making their music at home. SBO: So what are some of the newer tools that you’ve implemented into your teaching? PS: In my concert band, we have computers in our practice rooms. We use SmartMusic, which helps me better assess my students. I will send three or four kids back into the prac-

“With these tools, nothing really changes – they still have to work their butts off.” tice room and they will take tests and do some sight reading exercises on their own. That tool has been amazing. Before we had that, it was really difficult for me to be able to listen to my students on an individual basis. Now, over the course of a week, I can listen to every single one of my students in all of my groups and give them feedback. It’s a lot easier for me to know exactly how each individual student is doing. I can sit at home with my iPad or my computer and listen to their exercises at my convenience. It’s great that I’m not stuck at school – I can assess my students from anywhere that has an internet connection. We also have a projector attached to a computer in the front of my band room. Some of the other band rooms in my district don’t have something similar, and I don’t know how they do it. We use our projector every day. We have our announcements on it, our rehearsal plan, and so on. We also use the projector to show YouTube videos, and it’s hooked up to a sound system as well. SBO: How do you typically use YouTube with your students? PS: YouTube has a ton of performing groups at all different levels doing any song that you could want to listen to. 24

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

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Some of them are bad and some are good, but it’s all useful for teaching these kids. We can listen to the recording of a middle school band from Ohio or wherever, and then evaluate it with our students. “Was that good or bad? And why was it good or bad?” And when we find well played examples of music that we’re doing, we can ask ourselves, “How are we doing it different, and what do we want to try to glean from this performance?” It can be a little scary accessing YouTube in the middle of the class on a whim – I try to set it up beforehand just to make sure that what I end up with is the same thing I’m looking for. With my middle school band, especially, I use the website www. keepvid.com, which allows me to stash a video on my hard drive so I don’t even need to go to YouTube during class or deal with any weird things that may pop up. Our choir teacher also uses YouTube all the time to show demonstrations. We have our room set up to record, so at any given moment, I can walk over and hit record and then play back what our students are doing. That’s useful to show them what we really sound like. It scares, them, frequently: “Oh, I didn’t think I sounded that bad!” [laughs] We use Keynote for presentations. I have a lot of lessons saved on that which we use for the pencil and paper work – theory or learning about composers. I have an iPad that I keep all my stuff on, including my music. With the iPad, I use a program called Air Sketch to wirelessly connect it to the computer that is hooked up to the projector. With that, I can write on the iPad and it shows up on the pro-

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jector like a white board. I can circle things, write answers on worksheets, and so on. That’s really useful, especially when you have a larger class.

just pull up the score in front of the class and highlight or hide this or that. It’s quick and it’s easy, and it doesn’t take that much time.

SBO: Do you think that there’s a fine line between using the technology to improve instruction and getting carried away with finding the newest gadgets?

SBO: Is there a kind of clash of philosophy between these new tools and old-fashioned methods?

PS: It’s always fun to play with those things, but the question you have to ask is: “How is this going to improve what we’ve already been doing for years?” SBO: So how do you draw that line when you’re evaluating bringing in potential tools? PS: Sometimes it’s trial and error. I’ll bring something into class, try it, and think, “Well, I’ll never use that again.” And other times I’ll bring something in that works as expected and it’s definitely an enhancement. For example, when I bring up a particular song on the projector using SmartMusic, I know that all of my kids are looking at the same thing. If we didn’t have that screen up there, we’d be hoping that the kids would be looking at the right thing, but I wouldn’t be able to point to it in front of the class and say, “That, right there.” Plus, it gives the kids the chance to see things they wouldn’t be able to see before. Another part of what I’m thinking about is how we can do things differently from how we’ve done them before, or even how we can do things that we’ve never been able to do before. How easy is it to show the whole band the alto saxophone part? Here we can

PS: I don’t know that I see it as a clash. It’s always been a struggle for kids to understand the work they have to do, and this is just another way for us teachers to hit that point home. Our band boosters recently purchased a bunch of electronic instruments – a couple electronic wind instruments, a MalletKAT, an electronic drum set – because the kids were saying, “If only we had this and that, we could do these other things.” But then as soon as we got them, the kids realized that it was going to take a bit of work to learn to play those well. With these tools, nothing really changes – they still have to work their butts off.

boosters understand the reality of this technology: at some point it’s going to have to be replaced. When the band boosters bought three or four computers, we had that discussion about how, in a few years, we would have to go out and spend that money again once the computers need to be replaced or updated. It’s not a case where we can make a purchase and we’ll never have to spend that money again. We need to make sure that there’s more money in the budget for updates and repair. SBO: Is this an additional expense that has been added to the budget or do you find funding for these tech tools by cutting back in other areas?

SBO: How do you handle costs of both initial purchase and then maintenance? PS: I do a lot of research before we purchase anything, to make sure that whatever we buy is going to last. We ask a lot of questions about equipment. As a part of that, we try to buy things that have been proven, to a point. We just bought a digital soundboard to make it easier to make recordings. Well, we made sure that the company we purchased that from had a good track record behind it. The other side of this is making sure that the school board and band School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

PS: It’s a combination of allocating some monies towards technology and raising funds specifically for technology. My school gives our band department a budget every year and tech is one of the line items in that budget. The larger purchases are often the result of a lot of hard work from band boosters. SBO: Who is the real beneficiary of all of these technological innovations in the classroom? PS: The benefit of the iPad has gone directly to me, as far as being more organized and efficient. However, my iPad doesn’t belong to the school; it’s mine. A lot of the other stuff goes right straight over to the students. It helps them comprehend a lot quicker and gives them different ways to express themselves. It gives them different methods of exploring their creativity. SBO: What do you think band rooms are going to look like in five or ten years? PS: That’s a good question because this stuff is changing so fast. When I walk into a lot of the band rooms in my district, there isn’t a whole lot that is different from the band rooms I was in growing up. Unfortunately, I think a lot of band rooms are going to stay the same. Part of it is that a lot of these tools are cost-prohibitive. You need a good group supporting you, including

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

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boosters and administration, and, of course, money is tight everywhere. My hope is that maybe the traditional band class doesn’t look that different, but hopefully there will be other classes added that ties into the technology that kids are so comfortable with, that ties into some of the pop music that kids are doing outside of the traditional band program. So it’s not that we need to change what we’re doing, so much as add to what we’re offering our kids. SBO: So it is about addition, not transformation, per se. PS: Right. We have to be relevant to what kids’ real lives are. One of the ways that my band room is changing has nothing to do with me. Increasingly, our students have devices in their hand and in their pockets that can do amazing things. Smart phones and iPods that have cameras and audio recorders built into them are powerful tools.

Farwell High School Band

At a Glance

Location: 399 E. Michigan, Farwell, Mich. On the Web: pshimmons.wordpress.com/ Students in School: 425 Students in Music Program: 45 Band Director: Paul Shimmons Ensembles: Marching Band: 45 Students Concert Band: 38 Students Melodic Fusion (E-Instruments, Rhythm Section, & Singers): 15 Students

This shift has really happened in just this last year. There’s been a huge influx – probably half my high schoolers now have an iPod Touch or a smart phone, and that makes it usable. If half my kids have something

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that capable, I can have two or three kids working together with some of those devices. SBO: Would you worry about the students who don’t have a smart phone feel like they’re being singled out or something along those lines? PS: Exactly, that’s a concern. In our district, we just got a report from the state that we apparently have one of the higher rates of poverty in the state of Michigan. We knew we were bad off, but we didn’t think it was that bad! But if my school has that much poverty, and yet half my high schoolers have smart phones, we can certainly work something out so that the kids don’t have those devices don’t feel so bad. And hopefully they’re spread out enough – hopefully it’s not just percussion and brass with all the smart phones and none in the wind section! SBO: What’s the bottom line with all of implementing technology into music classes and ensembles? PS: It’s all about doing things in the classroom that weren’t done when I was a kid – doing things in ways that make it better for my students to understand, that helps them understand quicker and easier, and will stick with them longer. I’m always trying to find ways to reach kids that are not in that traditional band program, to pull them in somehow. I have a long ways to go before I call myself successful at that, but it is always something I strive for. A lot of schools are lucky to have 20 percent of their student body in the traditional band program, and that’s a lot of kids that are not involved. Those kids that are exploring music at home or on their own could be doing amazing things with some leadership from a trained musician, director, or music educator.

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Performance: Musicianship

Lessons for Instrumentalists from the

Choir Room

By Tracy Leenman

uch has been written about vocalizing in instrumental music classes – and most of us work with voices in our bands and orchestras, at least to some degree. However,

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

times do. In the instrumen- “By listening for and lock- an ensemble. If they encounter a chord in a different tal classroom, players of modality or a change in tonality, students will then each instrument can benefit ing in intervals, young be more able to negotiate the change with accurate greatly from learning hointonation. mogeneous warm-ups that musicians can more easPerhaps because of the almost-constant presence address their particular of bass drum, snare drum, and timpani in band muily stay in tune with each sic, young instrumentalists may tend to think more needs – for example, octave slurs for the flutes, descend- other at various dynamic vertically, focusing on the beat and the bar lines. Taping long tones in the lower ping one’s foot reinforces this even further. Choral ranges for woodwinds – that levels, and can maintain singing tends to be more linear, in part because of they can use both at home the presence of text. Text brings with it grammatical and in the classroom (when a more consistent pitch syntax, which helps interpret phrasing. How many appropriate) before wholehave we cringed to hear young musicians play center as an ensemble.” times band warm-ups begin. “Adeste Fideles” and breathe in the middle of the When choir classes work phrase, “O come let us adore (breath) Him, Christ the on singing staccato, the focus Lord” simply because there happens to be a half note is on diaphragmatic action. This can be there? Obviously, if a band is performing a piece that has a text associated with it, helpful in the instrumental class, as well, using the text to guide breathing and phrasing is a must. Bar lines should be viewed to encourage a correct staccato, where the merely as aids that help students organize notes and measures into phrases; they tongue begins each note (“TA-TA-TA”); should not be assumed to control those phrases. “Thinking a text” can add not only but the diaphragm, not the tongue, (“TUTmelodic movement to a piece, but also rhythmic movement. Ask a young instruTUT-TUT”) ends it. This helps keep the mentalist to play the first few phrases of “America the Beautiful”; then give him a melodic line moving forward and adds copy of those same phrases with the lyrics underneath, and ask him to play again, acoustical richness, rather than closing off mentally “singing” the text. In many cases, the second attempt will be quite differthe throat and creating extra work for the ent – focusing on the text will encourage students to use the pickup to “pull” into tongue. the next measure and create forward motion in the melodic line: “Oh beautiful, for When choir classes work on chords, spacious skies, for amber waves of grain . . .” they work on balance, just as band classes do. However, they also work on making octaves, fifths and fourpart chords “ring,” an acoustical phenomenon that requires that the interval or chord be properly balanced and “locked in” (perfectly in tune). Learning this skill helps particularly in a The basic principles of correct diction automatically encourage linear singing; cappella singing, by giving students a for example, correctly putting consonants from the end of one syllable onto the pitch anchor throughout the piece, and beginning of the next syllable. The old Fred Waring series of choral octavos would keeping the ensemble pitch from risshow the text written out phonetically as it should be sung, to emphasize melodic ing or sagging. Further, it teaches the phrasing. singers to listen more carefully to each other and almost instinctively tune chords properly. Many choral directors ask their students to mark octaves and fifths that occur between parts in their music, as a reminder to listen for the “ring.” Band students can benefit from a similar awareness of intervals around them, marking in their music which The instrumental equivalent of this is termed “playing through a line,” connectother instruments are playing an ocing note to note within a phrase, as though one were singing the entire phrase on tave or thirds or fifths above or below. one breath. Simply saying ,“Play four measure phrases,” or “Don’t breathe until the By listening for and locking in these end of measure x,” may not be enough to convey the full sense of melodic line to intervals, young musicians can more young players. easily stay in tune with each other at In singing, properly fronting consonants focuses and propels the airstream various dynamic levels, and can mainforward. Similarly, correctly performed articulation will encourage forward tain a more consistent pitch center as School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

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movement of a line, rather than hinder it. Voicing consonants correctly at the end of a phrase or at a cutoff encourages singing through to the end of the note, rather than allowing the tone to stop too soon, and leaving space between phrases. Equalizing vowels in singing helps maintain consistency of characteristic tone at all registers, all dynamic levels, and throughout melodic lines. Instrumentalists, too, should work towards consistency of tone; “vocalize” books such as Concone’s Lyrical Studies can be of great help for students developing this skill. These can be difficult concepts for young instrumentalists, ones that can sometimes be demonstrated or explained more easily with analogies to choral singing. Listening to a good choral rendition of Tchesnokoff’s “Salvation is Created” will have an impact on a young band performing the same piece as they understand the composer’s intent for phrasing, movement, dynamics and more. Choral singers strive to put tension, movement, and release into each musical line. Our high school choral director was quite muscular; and as he conducted, we could see his biceps flex as he pulled on a line; then we could see them relax and the end of each phrase. This was an unintentional but effective visual analogy of what he expected from us musically – not only melodic and rhythmic movement, but also the tension-release in each line. One exercise often associated with the great Robert Shaw, which is effective for instrumental as well as choral students, is playing/singing a line with each note divided into repeated eighth notes (or whatever is the lowest rhythmic common denominator), and striving to play/sing no two adjoining eighth notes at the same dynamic level.

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School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

Thus the student is at all times either moving the line forward, or bringing the phrase to an end. Crescendoing through the pickup notes can pull the four-measure phrases forward (much like “thinking” the lyrics of “America the Beautiful”). Playing/singing all the way through each subdivision of the last note of a phrase (see last measure, above) encourages students to play through the end of the phrase with energy, and not die out before the true end of the last note. This exercise also works especially well with suspensions and releases, helping the students to comprehend what is happening harmonically, and allowing the students to lean into the suspension and lock in the release. Again, marking suspensions/releases in the students’ music (4-3, 6-5, 9-8, or whatever) – and which other instrument(s) are part of the suspension – facilitates a more musical performance. Let’s dig deeper. The natural syllabic accents in a text can help choral singers interpret rhythms and rhythmic phrasing. Often, study of the text can give us insight into the underlying rhythmic structure of a piece, for example a hemiola that might otherwise be overlooked. Morten Lauridsen’s “O Magnum Mysterium” is an example of a piece written to accompany specific text; the arrangement of this piece for concert band by H. Robert Reynolds is intended to be performed with that text in mind. These liturgical texts were not originally sung in a fixed meter, but in idiomatic rhythmic patterns of 2+3 or 3+2 known as paeons. There were paeons associated with each word in the Latin language, and they were alternated within the musical line to suit

the accentuation of the text. In other words, the meter (tactus) was dictated by the text, and varied almost word by word; rather than fitting the text into a fixed meter as we tend to do today. The following excerpt is a condensed version of the band score of “O Magnum Mysterium” as transcribed for band by Reynolds (Songs of Peer, Ltd., 2003). Note that the articulation provided by Reynolds in the 3/2 measures seems to imply two measures of 6/4, rather than the time signature indicated.

 ®



Studying the Latin text from Laurisden’s choral setting, however, reveals subtle shift in tactus from the fifth to the sixth measure shown above – a hemiola not easily discernible from the original metric indications in either the choral or the band score. The idiomatic textual accentuation would suggest this interpretation:

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School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

For the choral singer, this shift in tactus would occur naturally with the proper pronunciation of the text, but for an instrumentalist, a closer look the Latin text may be needed to bring deeper insight into this piece. If our goal is to give our students the tools they need to grow as musicians, we need to teach them to look beyond the notes and the bar lines. Certainly, this requires that the band director convey to his students a thorough understanding of the harmonic, rhythmic and tonal structure of a piece. While we can all glean much from the teaching of great bandmasters such as Fennell, Revelli, Hunsberger, Gabriel, and Scatterday (just to name a very few), we can also add a new repertoire of teaching strategies, and another dimension of musicality to our teaching, by adapting ideas from across the hall, from the choir room. Tracy E. Leenman has over 40 years of teaching experience at the elementary through college levels, including instrumental music, choral music, classroom music, private teaching, church choir directing, and teaching conducting and rehearsal techniques. Currently the owner and CEO of Musical Innovations, a school music retailer in Greenville, S.C., Mrs. Leenman has served on the boards of NASMD and SCMEA, and served for 14 years as the president of the South Carolina Coalition for Music Education. A noted author and guest clinician, she performs regularly with the Palmetto Concert Band.

Survey: Drill Writing

In Step

with Drill Writing Trends

arching band performances by school groups vary from in-

credibly complex and elaborate field shows to simple, perfunctory performances. While much of this range is born out of the wide array of skill levels of the performers (and directors) – as well as program emphasis, competitive

inclination,

funding,

and the priorities of the community and school – the methods by which directors plan and implement drill have also changed dramatically, courtesy of technological innovation and the increasing sophistication of the activity. This recent SBO survey seeks to uncover the latest drill writing trends and tips from today’s band directors, while also providing a general overview of how educators approach the marching element in their music program.

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

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Does your marching band perform elaborate field shows?

How has drill writing and design evolved in the past 10 or so years?

“Velocity. We move so much faster and forms change a lot more frequently. You are also seeing a lot more individual demands placed on the performer in regards to choreography.” James Hannah Plano West Senior High School Plano, Texas

23% Yes

77%

“The evolution of drill writing has evolved with the technology, largely Pyware. As the routines with animation are easier to see animated, it’s easier to see if things are feasible for students to do. At the same time, those who are really good at drill writing are good at it with technology or not, just as composers who are/were really good without technology were composing before notation software.” Brian Toney Grovetown High School Grovetown, Ga.

“We do move, but not extremely difficult routines that we would 7-10 look bad on the field. I would 10+ that the band can be rather have an easier show 3% proud of than a harder5% one that would embarrass 4-6 them.” 5% Matt Nelson Fort Cherry Jr.-Sr. High McDonald, Pa. No “We perform2-3 23%our competitive 1show designed to push our students 26%physically without taking away from the musical product. We 61% perform this at all home football games andYes six or seven competitions a year.” 77% Brian Gallagher Chino Hills High School Chino Hills, Calif.

“Things now are much more theatrical. Some bands are much more worried about movement than they are staying in step. We have gotten away from the military style of precision drill. Some bands now rely on electronics and I don’t agree with this either. I guess I am just old fashioned.” Darrell Boston Loretto High School Loretto, Tenn. “The visual component has definitely become just as important as the musical component, and they each interact and support each other more than ever. You can’t have one without the other.” Scott Muenz Columbia High School Columbia, Pa.

How many unique shows does the marching band typically perform each season?

7-10 4-6

10+

No thanks!

15%

13% Yes, we use it for some aspects of 2-3 1 the planning process. 26% 61%

72% Yes – We couldn’t survive without it!

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

No thanks!

“The basic concepts are still the same. Drill writing does go through phases. Once a new idea Yes tahits, everyone wants to tryNo it. There are some boos it seems, and then all of the sudden, those 51% 49% fall away. The main concerns for us as a smaller band are instrument placement where elements can be heard, along with the integration of all of the elements into the thought process of the visual book. The guard is, of course, a huge element and, when included properly, can have a very positive impact on an otherwise small bands ability to be successful.” Michael Scheiber Chesterton High School Chesterton, Ind.

2-3

26%

61%

“From my perspective, there has been less change in the past 10 years than there was in the 10 years preceding. Mostly the changes have been in theme of the show and show concepts.” No thanks! Steve Garner South Middle School 15% Nampa, Idaho

Do you employ an outside consultant specifically to assist with writing drill?

Do youYes, usewe software when writing 13% drill? If so, how is it use it for 72% most helpful?

some aspects of the planning process.

51%

Yes

49%

Yes – We couldn’t No thanks! survive without it!

15%

72% Yes – We couldn’t survive without it!

“We still remain the same as we have been for the past 45 years. We are strictly a dance and swing marching band, incorporating the dancing techniques of Dyke Ford, George Bird, Jim Billingsley, and John Weitzel from the Stark County, Ohio area.” Dennis Dellifield Allen East High School Harrod, Ohio “Software makes feedback during the creative process so much more immediate and, therefore, allows the opportunity to perfect the program before the students begin the learning process.” Ronald Wasser Berwick Area Sr. High School Berwick, Pa. “I don’t really want to say we could not survive, but we do rely on it for precision purposes in printing out coordinate sheets and teaching using the animation functions. Most of the initial ‘writing’ and design work is done by hand.” Paul M Anderson Thornwood High School South Holland, Ill. “We are finally beginning to integrate drill writing that is done with the aid of a computer program. What has held this back so long is the lack of time provided for band instructors to master the software and really utilize it. However, we like the ability to show students what the drill will look like by playing it for them on the computer.” Patrick Dorn Monona Grove High School Monona, Wis.

No Yes “I have written drill myself, but as long as the budget can sup51% 49% port it, I like to have my summers free to spend with my family!” Jayson Gerth Southeast Polk High School Pleasant Hill, Iowa “I find it strange that no one expects directors to compose their concert music, yet some people still think that the director should write drill!” Steven Connell MOC-Floyd Valley Schools Orange City, Iowa

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Do you have any tips for writing effective and engaging drill?

“Every once in a while, we borrow a dance number from a college band on YouTube. This year we performed Ohio U.’s “Party Rock Anthem” routine, to great success. Our kids contacted Ohio’s director, who put them in touch with Wisconsin’s director (where Ohio got their arrangement of the music), who kindly forwarded it to us. Our kids watched the video and figured out the choreography to teach the band. A couple of our students made robot helmets to match LMFAO’s video (complete with light-up eyes) and donned them near the end of the routine, ripping off their tear-away slacks to reveal shiny leggings – the crowed went wild. We’re not the Marching 110, but it was super fun!” [For video of this performance, visit: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=IKOcFs59mYo] Richard Mancini Camas High School Camas, Wash.

“Write with the music in mind, change/transition with the phrases in the music. Great moves are cool but if it takes away from the music, what good is it?” Tedd Wilson Pikesville High School Pikesville, Md. “Often times, what is simple works best – the trick is to maximize your musical impact points. Those who understand and use transitions the best are often the most successful.” Jeff Rudy McCallum High School Austin, Texas “The music comes first. I try to write drill that will enhance the music, not take away from it.” Chris VanGilder Arkansas City High School Arkansas City, Kan.

Additional thoughts on drill writing?

“Software advances have made it easier to review drill before it is actually taught. Do your homework, examine the material before you spend hours working on it, only to go back and make major changes due to design flaws. Communicate closely with your designer (if you use an outside source) on your needs and on your group’s ability level. Drill that does not fit the ability of the group can be frustrating to performers, audience members, and evaluators. “ Gary Gribble Pope High School Marietta, Ga. “Drill must be a visual representation of the music. Drill must be of a difficulty level that the students can perform well. Musical and clean drills are the keys to success.” David E. Morris Edward C. Reed High School Sparks, Nev.

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Technology: iPad Innovators

iPad Innovators in the Music Room By John Kuzmich, Jr.

he “wildfire” began in April of 2010, when Apple released the first

iPad, selling three million units in the first 80 days and 14.8 million, worldwide, that year. In that same year, 95 educators from across the U.S. attending the Apple Academy in Cupertino, California were introduced to the iPad. And the iPad has been blazing its way into the heart and soul of education ever since.

I recently spoke with three amazingly innovative educators bringing new life to their music programs with the help of an iPad: Sarah Meyer of Jackson, Wis.; Anthony Johnson of Salisburg, N.C.; and Brandt Schneider of Seymour, Conn.. Meyer works with children in fifth grade through high school, using technology in a wide array of functions; Johnson has created an “iPad Marching Band” with over 100 at-risk children at his school (for the record, the students play actual instruments in that ensemble); and Schneider is bringing the iPad into his symphony orchestra. Their stories are among many emerging in our profession that can ignite imaginations and build new creative fires in the lives of music students. 44

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

Sarah’s Story Sarah Meyer instructs 65 students in grades five through eight across the seven schools that feed into Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School, where she also teaches freshman Pre-Algebra and conducts two concert bands. “I use the iPad for a number of things and I’m finding new uses for it almost daily,” says Meyer. “My information is stored in the Cloud and my teaching partner and I use Dropbox and/or Google Docs for everything. My biggest project this year was to record the students in lessons and rehearsal and create digital portfolios for each one. I believe in the power and value of summative assessment and self-evaluation. Portfolios can be a place to collect evidence of learning and progress or a place to collect cre-

ative ideas and compositions. We use them both ways. About once a month, students are asked to choose a song they are practicing to record into the portfolio. “My teaching partner and I are also working on simple composition projects that are captured and inserted into the portfolios. I have been using the free app, WavePad, for audio recording and editing. In the future I would like to see my students use one of the notation apps or websites to notate their compositions. I would like them to share with each other and give feedback on other students’ works – sort of a unique way to do collaboration and project-based learning. Our students often live as far as 45 miles away from each other. The world is becoming smaller through technology.

“All students have a notebook on my Evernote account, so all artifacts are sorted into the correct notebook for each student. Evernote became my medium of choice because I have it with me everywhere: phone, iPad, MacBook. I only have a free account and I have not come close to my data limit. As a solo/ensemble contest approaches, we will be recording at more frequent intervals to help them to self-assess their performances and set goals for practice. The more they can hear themselves play and be their own constructive critics, the better musicians they become. I have started using Smart Music more this year, and some students have it at home. I really appreciate what Smart Music has done so far with their iPad Inbox app. I can listen to completed assignments and give written feedback anywhere I like. “I work with some very creative students, and I encourage their creativity and exploration of sound through the apps I have. From time to time, I let students use those apps before or after their lesson to create. Sound Drop is a fun app for younger students to create sounds and rhythms without the hindrance of notation. It’s like Pong for musicians! Beat Wave is another app that the kids love. They can make designs on the grid and the sweeping bar creates music based on the patterns. In the past I’ve used ReadRhythm for rhythm practice. Other apps my students and I have enjoyed working with are GarageBand, SoundCloud, Music Studio, 4 Music Rooms, Chordinary, Symphony Pro, MadPad, Metronome+, Magic Zither, Rockmate, forScore, Loopseque, FingerStomp, Music for Little Mozarts, and Music Theory for Beginners. iPad apps are so cheap that an iPad can be customized to any content area very economically. Budget constraints are a challenge transitioning from one age of education to the next, but it’s important to put this technology in the hands of teachers and let them explore the best ways to implement them into the curriculum. And, this technology can really aid differentiated instruction.”

“I’m finding new uses for the iPad almost daily.”

Anthony Johnson works with Overton Elementary music students.

Anthony’s Story Anthony Johnson, a technology facilitator, works with Overton Elementary students in second-through-fifth grades, assisting teachers with integrating technology into the curriculum.

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“The world is changing and, as educators, we must embrace change, also. Johnson, an “Apple Distinguished Educator,” recalls, “Our executive director of Technology, Phil Hardin, came to me one day and said he wanted to start a Digital Band in the school system using iPads and asked if I was interested.” After two years of dramatic growth, Overton Mini Funk Factory Marching Band now performs in the annual Christmas parade and Charlotte St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which is very exciting for the young students. The superintendent, Dr. Judy Grissom, was so impressed with his program she purchased 16 iPads for the band. The section leaders use them to teach band members the parts. Johnson also used them to start a second band, the 25-member Overton Elementary School iPad Digital Fund Factory Band, in which students compose music using GarageBand and play it on the iPads. These two links show Anthony’s work with the two bands: tinyurl. com/8a4fgf6 and tinyurl.com/6nfp8uv. “I am a technology facilitator; therefore, I don’t teach classes,” explains Johnson.” “I assist teachers with integrating technology in the curriculum. I began a lunch buddy program with 32 at-risk third and fourth graders. The students eat their lunch with me three times a week, during which time they learn how to compose music using GarageBand on the desktops and create beats using the iMachine app on

the iPads. The behavior of students in the classroom has improved, as well as their grades on their report cards. Their performance in the county parades raised the awareness of the total community. Students’ self-esteem blos-

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somed and their collaboration skills are significantly higher. We created a unique partnership with the Livingstone College Marching Band. Through this partnership, we held the first elementary school band camp in Rowan County. And we made history as the first and only elementary school band to participate in the North Carolina Battle of the Bands. “Some students get to use iPads during band practice, currently just the section leaders to learn and practice using the installed music apps. The Notion app allows a visual of the arrangement and playback while the students play along. Because the iPads are portable, I can send students outside or to different parts of campus without limitations that are associated with a desktop. We don’t have a band room so the devices are great when we have to move. When I first started the iPad digital band, we began practice at 7:15 a.m., 30 minutes before the start of school. I had students arriving at 7 a.m. and some even at 6:50 a.m.

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“I download the music we play as a band from iTunes. I also use Notion for playback of band arrangements; GarageBand for playing and composing music; iMachine for creating drum tracks and triggering samples; and Wii Orchestra for live playing. iPad apps are economical and offer a lot of benefits for the program. I think we are in a transition right now in education from paper books to iPads. I just visited our school book fair and thought about how this is going to look in 24 months. The world is changing and, as educators, we must embrace change, also. The iPad offers so much potential for education with textbooks, calculator, dictionary, internet access, video, pictures, and camera all in one portable device.”

Brandt’s Story The students at Seymour High School are fortunate to have Brandt Schneider as their choir, band, jazz band, music tech, and web design teacher. On top of all that, Schneider keeps his music education blog, Things To Come (brandtschneider.blogspot. com), current for his students and the public. It’s chock full of helpful iPad information and recommendations he’s gathered since he obtained 14 iPads through a Katharine Matthies Foundation grant last year. Brandt points out, “The aspects of the iPad that are essential: Instant on... You can’t believe how much time we save. Battery life... Never a thought about running out of battery during the day or week. Ease of applications. There are entire courses that revolve around teaching software. Not so on the iPad. I give almost no instructions on software. I teach music. My threeyear-old is writing music and making animations. She can’t do that on a PC. While students can use the iPad immediately, there is a definite teacher learning curve for educators, mostly around logistics. Spend a lot of time organizing before you deploy. Think about how you will deploy apps, secure the iPads, and collect student work.” After finishing his first year with iPads Brandt reviewed some of the most useful features he experienced

with iPad. He says, “YouTube is the number one destination. I’m not sure if this would be the case in every class, but in a music class it certainly is. We use it to listen to music we are performing. We use it for lessons on guitar or piano playing. We use it for downtime. It is awesome to be able to direct students to watch a video to learn their part while the rest of the class continues to rehearse. “Google is number two,” Schneider continues. “We have greatly expanded all the Google functions from Google docs, to search to translate. Students get information when they need it. That is a huge shift. GarageBand is used constantly. GarageBand on the iPad is an instrument which makes it very different from the desktop version. I found that students were playing GarageBand both to create their own music and to recreate music they had heard. Verbally is the jaw-dropping app for anyone who works with special ed students. Hands down,

The

most amazing thing ever. Jampad is a very simple synthesizer and chord generator. Music theory kids used this a lot and seemed to be their destination of choice. Students said that iPad helped them explore music they wouldn’t normally listen to. Sometimes we forget that the iPad is really a music device.” In February, Schneider blogged about a GarageBand lesson he experienced with his students. After he explained the iPad assignment, he said, “Each student produced some cool versions. In almost every case, as I assessed them and gave some suggestions, they came back with a substantially better version. Some students started laying multiple tracks down of their own playing (scales in two directions, ostinato and melody, and so on). The iPad is so easy to do this with. This assignment involved analysis, evaluation, improvisation, and composition. It also required collaboration.”

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iPads in the Symphony Orchestra On May 12th, Schneider’s music theory class students will perform on iPads with the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra as they premier “iAlchemy,” a commissioned composition by Doug O’Grady, assistant professor of Music at Western Connecticut State University; supported by the Valley Community Foundation, Timex and Naugatuck Savings Bank. “It starts with the iPad playing electronic sounds,” O’Grady explains, “but then the orchestra joins in, little by little, instrument by instrument. It’s not crazy dissonant music. It’s kind of bombastic film music at the beginning.” Among the several different instruments that the iPads will mimic is a brand new iPad ‘instrument’ called a MorphWiz, which is played by sliding a finger along the iPad screen, moving up and down to change the volume, and back and forth to change the pitch. While O’Grady wrote the music in standard musical notation, he says, “Above some of that notation

are shapes, or indications of what they should do to the timbre or color of the music.” One student will play the MorphWiz, while the other students will use GarageBand to play wind and string instruments, along with some keyboards. Schneider said that because the MorphWiz is similar to the trombone in the sliding motion used to create notes, a senior, Amar Lapastica, who plays trombone in the school band will play the main iPad part for the premier of “iAlchemy.” Lapastica, 17, said, “It’s different than blowing air into a trombone. You use your brain more to figure out the notes.”

Closing Comments Technology and imagination are aligning at warp speed and music educators are putting new spark into music programs across America. Good iPad apps are perfect for differentiated instruction and project-based learning. And with the new iPad launch, iPad 1 and 2 will be more affordable as in-

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ventories are sold down, making this a good time to join teachers like Meyer, Johnson, and Schneider to ignite your students’ imagination. Dr. John Kuzmich Jr. is a veteran music educator, jazz educator and music technologist with more than 41 years of public school teaching experience. He is a TI:ME-certified training instructor and has a Ph.D. in comprehensive musicianship. As a freelance author, Dr. Kuzmich has more than 400 articles and five text books published. As a clinician, Dr. Kuzmich frequently participates in workshops throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia, and South America. For more information, visit www.kuzmich.com.

Calling All Music Tech Clinicians! 2012 Music Technology Workshop Directory

SBO will list your Music Computer Technology Workshop in a special directory to be published in the May 2012 issue. Free listings will include national, regional and local music technology workshops for music educators in the summer and fall of 2012 and winter 2013. Enhanced listings are also available. Complete and submit the online application here: www.kuzmich.com/Directory.html SBO readers are encouraged to email John at jkuzmich@earthlink.net with contact referrals for music technology workshops in their geographic area to ensure the directory includes workshops from all 50 states.

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

New Products Meisel Spitfire E-Fusion 6000E Electric Violin

The Meisel Spitfire E-Fusion 6000E Electric Violin offers the excitement of a “wired” electric instrument, yet aims to maintain the authentic acoustic sound of a traditional violin. The 6000E’s violin sound is reproduced by a new Shadow transducer system mounted under the bridge, using nanoflex technology. A built-in active pre-amp with volume and tone controls provides plenty of output. Two 3 volt coin batteries are included. A Wittner light alloy tailpiece allows for precise tuning. Extremely lightweight (18oz, 520g) and easy to handle, the violin features a unique shape by award winning designer Rich Roland. It is available in three different finishes: Antique Sunburst (SB), Metallic Black (BK) and Metallic Red (RED). The Spitfire E-Fusion Violin fits all 4/4 cases. All full-sized violin accessories (shoulder rest, mutes, etc.) will fit.

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Practica Musica 6

Ars Nova Software has released version 6 of Practica Musica, a complete music theory and ear training program for college level and high school courses. Among the many enhancements is a revised and expanded digital edition of Exploring Theory, a companion fundamentals textbook that is included in every copy of Practica Musica. The book begins with the basics of music notation and progresses through advanced topics such as chord progressions and voice leading. Exploring Theory is designed to engage students. The friendly and encouraging tone o fthe book makes it a pleasure to read, and students will particularly enjoy the book’s video enhancements. Nearly every page has music examples or illustrations in movie format allowing the student to follow the music while listening. Using high quality sampled sounds, the music examples draw from both classical and folk literature. Finally, the connection with the Practica Musica software offers students the opportunity to “learn by doing.” Suggested Practica Musica activities appear throughout the book, so that the student can practice and gain a deeper understanding of each lesson. Student and site editions of Practica Musica with Exploring Theory are available through Ars Nova Software, and an iPad multi-touch version of the textbook is coming soon!

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Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Shadows from Theodore Presser Shadows, for piano and orchestra, is Ellen Zwilich’s fifth piano concerto and the second concerto that she has composed for pianist Jeffrey Biegel and a consortium of many orchestras. The composer describes Shadows as a work evoking the recollection of ancestral, religious, and cultural roots in people’s constant migration. The final movement reflects the triumph of the human spirit over natural and manmade disasters.

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New Products Pearl Championship Maple CarbonCore Marching Snare

and musicality of 6-ply Maple combined with the Power and strength of an inner layer of Carbon Fiber for maximum tone, projection, and power. Championship Maple CarbonCore snares and tenors will be stocked in #368 Black Silver Burst lacquer and available in 40 additional lacquer finishes by special request. All Championship series instruments are designed to be integrated with Pearl’s CX AirFrame Carrier and Advanced Marching Hardware Systems.

Previously only shipped to the world’s top drum corps and world champion indoor drumline ensembles, Maple CarbonCore is now available for everyone to achieve their own peak Championship performance. Championship Maple CarbonCore snares and tenors feature the warmth

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Band and Orchestra

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Maestro Mate

Maestro’s Mate is designed to help music students focus on their music by easily displaying up to four pages of music simultaneously hands-free. It’s designed to take away distractions for young musicians caused by loose sheet music falling off a stand and by the simple act of turning a page in their music book (not easy for a student still learning to play). Maestro’s Mate takes away these hindrances by displaying up to four pages of music simultaneously. The individual sleeves that hold the music sheets, and the hinges that hold the sleeves together, are easily detached and re-attached to allow variations in the number of sleeves displayed. While most pianos will accommodate up to four sleeves, the standard music stand will accept up to three. Maestro’s Mate can be used with all kinds of instruments, whether in orchestra or band, or for solo instruments. Maestro’s Mate can be folded up easily for carrying around in a briefcase. Maestro’s Mate has a patent pending.

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School Band and Orchestra • March 2012

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Submit your PLAYING TIP online at www.sbomagazine.com or e-mail it to editor Eliahu Sussman at esussman@symphonypublishing.com. Winning entries will be published in School Band and Orchestra Magazine and contributor will receive a prize gift compliments of EPN Travel Services, Inc.

Searching for a college music program will never be the same… .com The Publishers of School Band & Orchestra, JAZZed, Choral Director, and The College Search & Career Guide are proud to present a comprehensive website for music students and colleges to connect. Launching in April 2012, yopus.com will be a dynamic, up-to-date online music college research resource where prospective students and parents can find information about their own geographic, instrument and program preferences to learn more about the music programs that are most relevant to their individual needs and desires. 

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Classifieds Arrangements

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Fundraising

Merchandise

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The NPS8210 Melody Chair

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DVDs

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BandGifts.com

Guitar • Horns • Piano • Strings T-shirts, Hats, Stickers, Jewelry, Keychains, Miniatures, Ties, and more.

www.SBOmagazine.com 54

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

Merchandise

Classifieds Merchandise

www.sbomagazine.com

Repair Tools

     

Software AUDITION MANAGER

makes handling large auditions easy. It features automatic data entry from initial registration to final judging via scanner cards. www.AudMgr.com • 800.579.1264 Barry Lumpkin

Teaching Aides Print Music

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Music and More Midwest/ Warren Creative Designs Let me help bring your group to life with one of my designs! Some of the best prices in the country on products!

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Repair Tools

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Or Write mjohan@symphonypublishing.com School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

Ad Index

www.sbomagazine.com

COMPANY NAME

E-MAIL/WEB ADDRESS

Antigua Winds, Inc.

www.antiguawinds.com

Ars Nova Software

www.ars-nova.com

Bari Woodwinds

www.bariwoodwinds.com

Beret’s Publications

www.beretspublications.com

Bob Rogers Travel

www.bobrogerstravel.com

Burkart-Phelan

www.burkart.com

Carnegie Hall

www.carnegiehall.org/nyousa

Cascio Interstate Music Company

www.interstatemusic.com

Charms Office Assistant

www.charmsoffice.com

D’Addario & Co.

www.daddario.com

Disney Performing Arts OnStage

www.DisneyPerformingArts.com

EPN Travel Services

www.epntravel.com

FAME

www.fameevents.com

Festivals of Music

www.educationalprograms.com

Five Towns College

www.ftc.edu

Full Compass

www.fullcompass.com

Gary P Gilroy Publications

www.gpgmusic.com

GraceNotes, LLC

www.SightReadingFactory.com

Hunter Music Instrument Inc.

www.huntermusical.com

Jupiter Band Instruments, Inc.

www.jupitermusic.com

KMC Music, Inc

www.kmcmusic.com

Manhasset Specialty Co.

www.manhasset-specialty.com

OnBoard Research Corp.

www.tuners.com

Pearl Corp.

www.pearldrum.com

Peterson Strobe Tuners

www.petersontuners.com

Pygraphics-Pyware

www.pyware.com

Dan Ryder Field Drills

www.danryderfielddrills.com

Dan Ryder Field Drills

www.danryderfielddrills.com

Sabian LTD

www.sabian.com

Students on Broadway

www.studentsonbroadway.com

Super-Sensitive Musical String Co.

www.cavanaughcompany.com

The Tuba Exchange, Inc.

www.tubaexchange.com

Universal Melody Services LLC

www.universalmelody.com

Universal Melody Services LLC

www.universalmelody.com

Universal Melody Services LLC

www.universalmelody.com

West Music

www.tjflutes.com

Woodwind & Brasswind

www.wwbw.com

Avedis Zildjian Co.

www.zildjian.com

School Band and Orchestra • April 2012

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Save The Date!

Jazz Education Network 4th Annual Conference Networking the jazz arts community... local to global!

Atlanta, Georgia January 2-5, 2013 The Jazz Education Network

is dedicated to building the jazz arts community by advancing education, promoting performance, and developing new audiences. For complete membership information/beneďŹ ts please visit us at: