NBA Journal, Volume LXIII, No.4 | Summer 2023

The National Band Association acknowledges and embraces that our organization is strengthened by diversity. We welcome all peoples, inclusive of their culture, economic status, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, and abilities. The NBA is committed to including all voices in our organization and invites everyone to join us in the advancement of our mission and educational purposes.

Educational Purposes OF THE NATIONAL BAND ASSOCIATION

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Randall Coleman, President

Col. Jason Fettig, President-Elect

Matt Temple, Vice-President

Rebecca Phillips, Immediate Past President

Scott Tobias, Executive Secretary-Treasurer

PROJECT AND COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Al & Gladys Wright Distinguished Legacy Award, Rebecca Phillips

Alfred Young Band Composition Contest, Audrey Murphy Kunka

AWAPA Commission, David Gregory

Citations & Awards, Heath Nails

Constitution & By-Laws, Col. Jason Fettig

Corporate Relations, Gary Smith

Foster Project NBA Representative, Wolson Gustama

Hall of Fame of Distinguished Band Conductors Board of Electors, Thomas Fraschillo

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, & Awareness, Ingrid Larragoity & Elizabeth Peterson

Marching Band Committee, Adam Dalton & Bobby Lambert

Merrill Jones Composition Contest, Paul Popiel

National Programs of Excellence, Myra Rhoden

NBA Foundation, Susan Creasap

Nominating Committee, Rebecca Phillips

Research Grants, Brian Silvey

Selective Music List – Concert, Arris Golden

Selective Music List - Jazz, Steve Shanley

Selective Music List – Marches, Col. Don Schofield

William D. Revelli Composition Contest, Matthew McCutchen

Young Composer Jazz Composition Contest, Richard Stichler

Young Composer Mentor Project, Frank Ticheli

Young Conductor Mentor Project, Linda R. Moorhouse

NBA Journal Editor, Matthew D. Talbert

NBA Journal Layout & Design, Nash P. McCutchen

To promote the excellence of band performance throughout the world

To encourage the composition and performance of quality band music at all levels

To assist directors at all levels of experience to identify areas of mutual concern

To promote pride and continued enthusiasm among band directors

To encourage quality students to pursue careers in music

To promote a spirit of cooperation and continued dialogue among directors, performers, the music industry, and all other band support organizations at all levels

Articles presented in the NBA Journal represent views, opinions, ideas and research by the authors and are selected for their general interest to the NBA members. Authors’ views do not necessarily represent the official position of the National Band Association, nor does their publication constitute an endorsement by the National Band Association.

How is it possible that summer is almost over? I think it is true that the older you get, the faster time passes by. I hope that you all have had an opportunity for some much-needed rest, relaxation and time with family and friends. I know that many of you have been involved in summer classes, professional development, and improvement activities … all so important to us as educators and musicians. Ours is one of the few professions where most of us work … even during our periods of “off-time”! Here’s hoping that you have had a chance to take a deep breath before the new school year begins, although I know many of you who are responsible for marching band are already back at it.

Speaking of back at it, the new year brings our amazing NBA events that we all need to be aware of. Our two annual composition contests, the William D. Revelli Composition Contest and the NBA Young Composers Jazz Composition Contest are on tap, and winners will be announced during our annual meetings in Chicago during the Midwest Clinic. You can find information on both contests on the NBA website. Another incredible opportunity that is sponsored by NBA is the bi-annual Young Composers and Conductors Mentor Project that will take place June 2-5, 2024. This is an amazing opportunity for young

composers and conductors to have an opportunity to work with incredible mentors for a four-day symposium. This year’s event will take again take place in Washington D. C. with the phenomenal United States Air Force Band and their conductor, Colonel Don Schofield. Heading our composer mentor team this year will be noted composer, Dr. Frank Ticheli and heading our conductor mentor team will be NBA Past President, Dr. Linda Moorehouse. The application information will be posted on our website in early fall, so if you or someone you know is interested in this incredible program, keep an eye out for details. Additionally, this school year bring our bi-annual division conferences in our Southern Division and our North Central Division. I hope you will mark your calendars and make plans to attend. I hope you will also be able to attend our annual meetings this December in Chicago as a part of the Midwest Clinic. It is always a wonderful time of renewing our acquaintances, making new friends, and hearing outstanding ensembles and clinicians. A detailed schedule of NBA meetings and activities will be available in the fall issue of the NBA Journal

As most of us are preparing for the new school year, I would like to take a moment and thank you for being a member of the National Band Association. The NBA is the

RANDALL COLEMAN

I hope you will also be able to attend our annual meetings [at] the Midwest Clinic. It is always a wonderful time of renewing our acquaintances, making new friends, and hearing outstanding ensembles and clinicians.

President’s Message, Randall Coleman, cont.

only band organization that is open to all educators, no matter your teaching level, and anyone interested in making bands better. One of our strengths as an organization is our diversity with elementary, middle school, high school, collegiate, military and professional directors working together toward a common goal. Going above and beyond is what most of us expect from ourselves.

I would like to encourage the veteran teachers to seek out a young director and make sure the next generation is off to a great start. If you are a younger teacher, please seek out a mentor and ask for support. The network in our profession is actually very small…so find those veteran directors and seek their advice and assistance. Make time to observe rehearsals of your colleagues…never stop reaching for the best ideas and methodology possible. We are all embarking on a fresh start with the upcoming school year. It is always exciting to begin with a clean slate… and a blank calendar (that fills up quickly) as the new year approaches. Plan carefully, listen intently and always remember that our students deserve our best effort every day. Please feel free to reach out to me if I can ever be of assistance to you or your program. I wish you the very best as we prepare to embark on the new school year.

Randall Coleman President The National Band Association

The NBA is the only band organization that is open to all educators ... One of our strengths as an organization is our diversity with elementary, middle school, high school, collegiate, military and professional directors working together toward a common goal.

HAPPY SUMMER, COLLEAGUES!

I’ve been thinking a lot about transitions lately. Of course, we are focused on transitions all the time in music; it is an art that beautifully evolves in real time as one idea leads to the next, and it is often that development that keeps music interesting and vibrant. For those of you who conduct, transitions are also central to being physically expressive. Just like a dancer, it isn’t just the position that defines the emotion, but the way the body gets from place to place that truly illuminates expression. Those kinds of transitions when we make music are vital, and connected to the more global type of transition that has been on my mind: when something in our life changes, whether personal or professional (or both!)

Change is stressful, plain and simple, because it represents a potential loss of our hard-earned security. However, it’s so important to remember that it is change that makes

music so powerful. If the emotion in music is amplified by development and change, so too can our lives be invigorated by transitions, whether they be planned or not. Where would Beethoven’s music be without its development? Without all of its risk (courage), and innovation (growth), and surprises (adventure and new experiences)? It would be a collection of neat and familiar little motifs, and probably not much more. The great composers always embrace the magic inherent in transitions and the opportunities to move forward and through an open door even when they aren’t always sure where that door will lead. As we all move forward through our years, I want to encourage each of us to embrace the magic possible in our own transitions, wherever and whenever they present themselves. As we so often experience, sometimes it just takes the impetus of that first step, and we soon find ourselves off and running on a wonderful path we didn’t even know was there!

Jason K. Fettig President-Elect National Band Association

... it’s so important to remember that it is change that makes music so powerful.

If the emotion in music is amplified by development and change, so too can our lives be invigorated by transitions ...

MATT TEMPLE

Greetings one and all! I hope your summer was relaxing and restorative. Mine was filled with many family trips – a hallmark of any good summer in my book. When I first started teaching, I did not know how to respond when people would say, “It must be nice to have your summers off.” After hearing that statement for many years, I was able to hone a very succinct retort: “I work a 12-month job in the span of 9 months.” That seems to make sense to most people with little need for further explanation.

More than anything, I rely upon the summer to refill my tank so that I can provide ample inspiration as a director the following year. The best way I have found to accomplish this is to visit places that deeply inspire me. To that end, my favorite place on earth is Lake Windigoostigwan in Ontario, Canada. My maternal grandfather built a log cabin there in the 1950s – it literally took him ten years to build it. I have been going there most summers since I was less than a year old.

The cabin is definitely “off the grid.” Until the late 80s, the only way to get there was two miles over water by boat. Even to this day, we pump water up from the lake and only have limited electricity in the evenings provided by a gas generator. Bathing occurs by using a wood-burning sauna and then jumping in the lake. And no, there is no wi-fi, let alone a reliable

wireless signal. I usually just shut off my phone completely for the week. Needless to say, it is not for everyone. But for me, it is heaven on earth.

Regardless of how you spent your summer, I hope your tank is full again. I applaud you for the many tireless hours you devote to your bands, and for all the energy it requires. I hope you have a great year making meaningful music with the many appreciative players in your ensembles.

Matt Temple Vice President National Band Association

the NBA ... (IDEA) committee created a Welcome Statement

... that acknowledges how vital it is to hear and consider every NBA member’s voice. Our inspiration was drawn from the ever-growing use of “safe classroom” statements that many schools have developed.

Happy New Academic Year! I hope you took time for relaxation at some point over the past few months. I always find the start of the new academic year an exciting opportunity for us to help facilitate wonderful musical experiences for our academic, community, and military ensembles. There is a sense of renewal - a fresh start - and a chance to re-shape our teaching and rehearsal processes.

show support of our band colleagues is to share wonderful news about their individual accomplishments or contributions to bands. Let us know about awards bestowed upon your NBA colleagues, activities hosted by our NBA student groups, NBA Symposium opportunities, etc. by going to : nationalbandassociation.org/news. These items will be collected and posted either on the website or on the NBA Facebook page.

As we enter another school year, let’s strive to encourage our colleagues, both young and old, as everyone works to build their ensembles, programs, and the individual musicianship of their students. Encouragement is such a simple yet crucial gift, and taking time to stop by a band room, listen to a rehearsal with positive ears, and cheer on the hard work of a neighbor may make the difference in a fellow band director's Fall. One way that we can take time to acknowledge the accomplishments of our peers and

I thank YOU for your commitment to bands and band students and I look forward to hearing about the many successes of your programs over the coming months! I remain honored and humbled to serve you as immediate past-president, as we all work together to build the finest band organization in the world!

Rebecca Phillips Immediate Past President National Band Association

REBECCA PHILLIPS

Questions often arise regarding program design ... that will be both educationally sound for the performers while meaningful for our audiences, and how we prepare our ensembles to successfully communicate the composers’ intent ...

NBA’S ACADEMY OF WIND AND PERCUSSION ARTS

NBA AT ITS BEST

The National Band Association was founded on September 11, 1960. This new organization was the dream and brain child of Traugott Rohner, the editor and founder of The Instrumentalist magazine. Rohner set up a meeting with two of the most capable leaders among America’s band directors, Dr. Al G. Wright, who was at that time Director of Bands at Purdue University, and John Paynter, Director of Bands at Northwestern University, and these two very able leaders established a new, inclusive band organization which grew into the largest band organization in the world.

Al Wright was the NBA’s first president, and he soon became aware of a need to establish a special, high level award program to recognize excellence and exceptional service to bands. The result of this was the establishment of The Academy of Wind and Percussion Arts (AWAPA). This award was established for the purpose of recognizing those individuals who have made truly significant and outstanding contributions to furthering the excellence of bands and of band music, and it was not to be limited to band directors, but to anyone who’s contributions were determined to be so outstanding that they deserved and warranted honor and recognition.

The nine-inch silver AWAPA figure is designed to be the “Oscar” of the band world. Elections to the academy are made from time to time by the Board of Directors acting upon nominations from the AWAPA Commission. Presentations of AWAPA awards are made at band performances or meetings of national significance. The new recipients of the award are announced at the annual National Band Association Membership Meeting at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago each December, and the honorees from the previous year are invited to attend that meeting for a formal presentation of the award.

If the recipient is not able to be present at that meeting, the award is presented at another prestigious band event where the recipient is properly honored and recognized. The award consists of a silver statuette, a silver medallion, and an engraved certificate. The Academy of Wind and Percussion Arts represents the highest honor which the National Band Association can confer on any individual.

The NBA represents the best there is in a great, proud profession. When we honor our very best, we bring honor on our organization and on our profession. A list of the past recipients of the AWAPA Award is literally a “Who’s Who” list of some of the greatest leaders involved in the band movement during the past six decades. The list includes an international cross section of important individuals representing all aspects of the band world, who have rendered remarkable service to bands.

AWAPA RECIPIENTS LISTED BY DATE AND YEAR OF PRESENTATION

William D. Revelli

November 25, 1961

Karl L. King

November 10, 1962

Harold D. Bachman

January 9, 1965

Glenn Cliffe Bainum

February 21, 1965

Al G. Wright

March 7, 1969

Harry Guggenheim

August 18, 1969

Paul V. Yoder

December 18, 1969

Toshio Akiyama

December 13, 1970

Richard Franko Goldman

July 23, 1971

John Paynter

March 5, 1972

Roger A. Nixon

July 12, 1972

Traugott Rohner

February 11, 1973

Sir Vivian Dunn

March 2, 1973

Jan Molenaar

July 11, 1974

Frederick Fennell

August 3, 1975

Harry Mortimer

August 3, 1975

George S. Howard

December 16, 1976

Mark Hindsley

March 2, 1978

Howard Hanson

December 13, 1978

James Neilson

December 13, 1978

Vaclav Nelhybel

December 13, 1978

Leonard Falcone

December 12, 1979

Alfred Reed

December 12, 1979

Arnald Gabriel

December 16, 1980

Nilo Hovey

December 16, 1980

Trevor Ford

December 16, 1981

Vincent Persichetti

December 16, 1981

Clare Grundman

December 15, 1982

Morton Gould

December 15, 1982

Karel Husa

December 15, 1982

Harry Begian

December 14, 1983

Francis McBeth

December 12, 1984

Normal Dello Joio

December 12, 1984

J. Clifton Williams

December 18, 1984

Frank W. Erickson

December 17, 1986

Neil A. Kjos

December 17, 1986

Merle Evans

December 20, 1986

Hugh E. McMillen

December 17, 1986

Claude T. Smith

December 16, 1987

Warren Benson

December 14, 1988

John Bourgeois

December 14, 1988

Donald Hunsberger

December 19, 1990

Edgar Gangware

December 19, 1991

W J Julian

December 16, 1992

Geoffrey Brand

December 20, 1995

Harvey Phillips

December 21, 1995

Richard Strange

December 20, 1995

L. Howard Nicar, Jr.

October 16, 1996

Kenneth Bloomquist

December 18, 1996

H. Robert Reynolds

December 18, 1996

Elizabeth Ludwig Fennell

December 17, 1997

Arthur Gurwitz

December 17, 1997

Russell Hammond

December 14, 1999

William F. Ludwig

December 14, 1999

John M. Long

December 20, 2001

Raoul Camus

December 19, 2002

Paul Bierley

June 14, 2003

William J. Moody

December 18, 2003

Earl Dunn

December 16, 2004

Victor Zajec

December 16, 2004

James T. Rohner

December 15, 2005

Frank Battisti

December 21, 2006

David Whitwell

December 20, 2007

Frank B. Wickes

December 18, 2008

Ray Cramer

December 17, 2009

James Croft

April 16, 2011

Paula Crider

December 15, 2011

Mark Kelly

December 15, 2011

Bobby Adams

December 19, 2013

Richard Floyd

December 18, 2014

Edward Lisk

December 17, 2015

Linda R. Moorhouse

December 15, 2016

Thomas V. Fraschillo

December 21, 2017

John Whitwell

December 20, 2018

Richard Crain

December 19, 2019

Loras John Schissel

December 15, 2020

Bruce Leek

December 16, 2021

Julie Giroux

December 20, 2022

Frank Ticheli

December 20, 2022

NBA MISSION STATEMENT FOR DIRECTORS OF SCHOOL BANDS

BY DR. WILLIAM MOODY | REVISED IN DECEMBER 2009

The mission for directors of school bands is understood inherently by those who think of themselves more often as instrumental music teachers rather than simply as band directors. The basic objective of instrumental music education is that students will learn performance skills in order to understand musical language and to experience the joys of recreating music in the expressive medium of their choice. Music education should prepare students also for a fuller understanding and appreciation of the music they will be hearing the rest of their lives regardless of its style or venue. Efforts to address the National Standards for Music Education in band class by including music theory, music history, improvisation, and composition will help the students be better listeners in adulthood and will make better musicians of those who wish to pursue musical careers or practice music as an avocation in adult life.

The National Band Association would like school administrators, teachers, and parents to recognize that students elect to study instrumental music for a variety of reasons, including: as an outlet for creativity, a source of social interaction with like-minded peers, a possible career choice, gratification that comes from recognition by responsive audiences, discipline through study and practice, and service to school and community. The evaluation of instrumental music programs should be grounded in a review of the educationally and aesthetically justifiable objectives that are explicit in this mission statement.

The long-respected model for learning to play a musical instrument based on the role of artist-teacher with a studio of private students applies as well to school bands. Band class must provide these same foundations: a correct concept of characteristic tone quality, development of technique based on a graded course of study, a formal system for counting rhythms, practice in developing good intonation, and the sure goal of playing expressively.

An instrumental music program should offer a broad range of musical experiences: an extensive solo and chamber music repertory that provides subtle opportunities for nuance and other systems of expression; a school jazz ensemble that stresses rhythmic precision, understanding of harmonic progression, and creative improvisation; a concert band, the core of the program, where our musical heritage is transmitted through inspirational compositions by the most creative composers.

Service activities such as marching band are often important to the school and community, and students who participate gain social, educational, and musical values. Because evaluative competition can raise standards and motivate progress, NBA strongly recommends that all bands participate in festivals or contests sponsored by district and state music education associations, especially when a rating rather than a ranking is the goal. However, the integrity of the instructional program can be threatened by a disproportionate emphasis on competitions and service-related performances. Marching band activities that require extra rehearsals and travel time should be scheduled with concern for the many responsibilities that students have in addition to their musical studies, and must never be the focus of the instrumental music program. Excessive demands on students, parents, and community––financial and otherwise––bring about consequences harmful to the essence of the instrumental music program.

History demonstrates that those who cultivate a special intelligence in an area of personal interest make great contributions to the way we live. Efforts by legislators or educators to emphasize one area of study alone stifle the pluralism that has been one of this country's strengths. Rather, schools should provide a broad base of knowledge for students and also encourage development of the special abilities of those who demonstrate the capacity to excel. Instrumental music studies provide a laboratory of artistic and social opportunities for individual development that contributes to the collective good.

The arts provide unique forms of knowledge, present a basic means of communication, and produce lasting works that are the hallmarks of a civilization. President Abraham Lincoln reminded us that education is not for the purpose of learning to earn a living, but for learning what to do with a living after it has been earned. Whether in the arts or other areas of interest, students who are encouraged to develop their talents and interests participate in the continuous regeneration of our democratic ideals.

2023 FORTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL NBA/WILLIAM D. REVELLI MEMORIAL BAND COMPOSITION

CONTEST

WHO MAY ENTER: Anyone

REQUIREMENTS:

$5000 AWARD: November 1, 2023

ENTRY DEADLINE:

A work for Concert Band/Wind Ensemble. Recommendations as to style, form, length, and instrumentation are outlined in the contest rules.

ENTRY MATERIALS:

A pdf of the full score plus a digital audio recording of a live performance or recording session must be sent to the chair.

FORMS & MATERIALS:

Dr. Matthew McCutchen (e-mail: mccutchen@usf.edu)

Attn: NBA Composition Contest School of Music

University of South Florida, 4202 East Fowler Ave., MUS 101 Tampa, FL 33617

CONTEST RULES & PAST WINNERS: NationalBandAssociation.org/composition-contests

NBA/WILLIAM D. REVELLI MEMORIAL BAND COMPOSITION CONTEST COMMITTEE

Matthew McCutchen, University of South Florida, Chair

Terry Austin

Virginia Commonwealth University

Marcellus Brown

Boise State University (ID)

Catherine Sinon Bushman

St. Cloud State University (MN)

Colonel Jason Fettig

United States Marine Band (DC)

Diane Koutsulis

Retired (NV)

Arris Golden

Michigan State University

Jennifer Hamilton

Red Mountain High School (AZ)

Chadwick Kamei

Pearl City High School (HI)

JTremon Kizer

University of Central Florida

John Thomson

Roosevelt University (IL)

ason Nam

Indiana University

Sue Samuels

Furman University (SC)

Shanti Simon

University of Oklahoma

NATIONAL BAND ASSOCIATION AWARD WINNERS

Winners of the following awards are listed at NationalBandAssociation.org/Awards-Recognition

Academy of Wind and Percussion Arts (AWAPA) Award

Al & Gladys Wright Distinguished Legacy Award

NBA Hall of Fame of Distinguished Conductors

Programs of Excellence Blue Ribbon Award

The NBA/Alfred Music Young Band Composition Contest

The NBA/Merrill Jones Memorial Band Composition Contest

The NBA/William D. Revelli Memorial Band Composition Contest

The NBA Young Composers Jazz Composition Contest

FREE NBA AWARDS FOR MEMBERS TO USE

Mentor Award

Citation of Excellence

Outstanding Jazz Educator

Citation of Merit for Marching Excellence

Outstanding Musician Award

Outstanding Jazz Musician Award

Music Camper Award

Band Booster Award

DO YOU HAVE

• research relevant to the field that you would like to share?

• professional advice or tips that might help other band directors?

• something to say?

The National Band Association welcomes and encourages members to submit articles for possible inclusion* in future editions of the NBA Journa l. Peer-reviewed** and non-peer reviewed articles are accepted.

The NBA Journal is published quarterly and deadlines/instructions for submission are as follows:

Winter Edition (published in February)

Spring Edition (published in May)

Summer Edition (published in August)

Fall Edition (published in November)

Submit your article in Word document format to NBA Journal

Editor Matthew Talbert: talbertm@ohio.edu.

*Articles are published at the discretion of the editor and may appear in a later journal edition or not at all.

**For guidance on how to submit a peer-reviewed article, please see page 73.

PAST PRESIDENTS OF THE NATIONAL BAND ASSOCIATION

Al G. Wright 1960 - 1962

Honorary Life President

John Paynter 1962 - 1966

Honorary Life President

Edward W. Volz 1966 - 1968

William J. Moody 1968 - 1970

George S. Howard 1970 - 1974

F. Earl Dunn 1974 - 1976

William D. Revelli 1976 - 1978

W J Julian 1978 - 1980

Kenneth Bloomquist 1980 - 1982

James Neilson 1982 - 1984

James K. Copenhaver 1984 - 1986

James Croft 1986 - 1988

Frank B. Wickes 1988 - 1990

Edward S. Lisk 1990 - 1992

Robert E. Foster 1992 - 1994

John R. Bourgeois 1994 - 1996

James Keene 1996 - 1998

Thomas Fraschillo 1998 - 2000

Paula Crider 2000 - 2002

David Gregory 2002- 2004

Linda Moorhouse 2004- 2006

Bobby Adams 2006- 2008

Finley Hamilton 2008- 2009

John Culvahouse 2009- 2012

John M. Long 2010 Honorary President

Roy Holder 2012 - 2014

Richard Good 2014 - 2016

Scott Casagrande 2016 - 2018

Scott Tobias 2018 - 2020

Rebecca Phillips 2020 - 2022

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

PRESIDENT

Randall Coleman Director of Bands and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga

Chattanooga, Tennessee

APPOINTED REPRESENTATIVES

PRESIDENT-ELECT Col. Jason K. Fettig

Director, United States Marine Band Washington, D.C.

VICE-PRESIDENT

Matt Temple Director of Bands New Trier High School Winnetka, Illinois

IMMEDIATE PAST-PRESIDENT

Rebecca Phillips

Director of Bands

Colorado State University

Fort Collins, Colorado

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY-TREASURER

Scott Tobias

Director of Bands

West Virginia University

Morgantown, West Virginia

ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE SCHOOL & JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL REPRESENTATIVES

MILITARY/PROF. BANDS

LT. COL. DANIEL TOVEN

Commander & Conductor, West Point Band, West Point, NY

AT-LARGE REPRESENTATIVES

COMMUNITY BANDS MICHAEL BURCH-PESSES

Director of Bands Pacific University Forest Grove, Oregon

MUSIC INDUSTRY

MIKE MILLER

Fred J. Miller Inc. Miamisburg, OH

CHIP DE STEFANO

Director of Bands

McCracken Middle School

Skokie, Illinois

TRACY LESLIE

Director of Bands

Del Webb Middle School

Las Vegas, Nevada

CRAIG AARHUS

Associate Director of Bands Mississippi State University

Starkville, Mississippi

DIVISION CHAIRS

Lowell E. Graham, Col, USAF (ret)

Retired, United States Air Force Band Washington, D.C.

MARK HEIDEL Director of Bands University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa

DIANE KOUTSULIS

Retired Music Educator Las Vegas, Nevada

COL. DON SCHOFIELD

Commander and Conductor United States Air Force Band Washington, D.C.

TIFFANY HITZ

Director of Bands and Music

Department Chair

Rachel Carson Middle School Fairfax County, Virginia

SUSAN WATERS

Director of Bands W.H. Oliver Middle School Nashville, Tennessee

HIGH SCHOOL REPRESENTATIVES

BRIAN COVEY

Director of Bands Lockport Township High School

Lockport, Illinois

EASTERN ANDREW YOZVIAK

Director of Bands

West Chester University

West Chester, Pennsylvania

SOUTHWESTERN

DUSTIN SEIFERT

Director of Bands

Eastern New Mexico University

Portales, New Mexico

SOUTHERN COREY SPURLIN

Associate Director of Bands

Auburn University

Auburn, Alabama

WESTERN/ NORTHWESTERN

NATE SEAMONS

Associate Director of Bands, Brigham Young University

Provo, Utah

NORTH CENTRAL

THAD DRISCOLL

Director of Bands Cedar Rapids Jefferson High Cedar Rapids, Iowa

WESTERN/ NORTHWESTERN

DAHN PHAM

Director of Bands Washington State University Pullman, Washington

INTERNATIONAL HENK SMIT Education Specialist

Dutch National Institute of Cultural Education and Voluntary Arts

Groningen, Middelstum

The Netherlands, Europe

CHAD KAMEI

Director of Bands

Pearl City High School

Honolulu, Hawaii

JERELL HORTON

Director of Bands Vestavia Hills

Vestavia Hills, Alabama

BOBBY LAMBERT

Director of Bands Wando High School Mount Pleasant, SC

COLLEGE / UNIVERSITY REPRESENTATIVE

ARRIS GOLDEN

Associate Director of Bands Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan

FLIPPED CLASSROOM STRATEGIES FOR

BAND DIRECTORS: STRENGTHENING MUSIC LITERACY, PERFORMANCE, AND ASSESSMENT

BY KANDIS KING TAYLOR

March 13, 2020, was a pivotal day for me, as I suspect it was for many teachers. I remember that day vividly. It was 12:30 PM when I walked into the faculty room, expecting to hear the babble of lunchtime chatter, only to find hushed silence. Over twenty teachers huddled around a single, open laptop in the middle of the table. A livestream sounded through tiny speakers as the governor announced school closures due to the Covid-19 global pandemic.

The next two days were a chaotic whirlwind of activity as administrators gathered teachers together to implement hastily prepared plans of action in a desperate attempt towards online learning. It didn’t help that someone in the meeting chastised the faculty, saying, “We’ve been telling you for

years to start using Canvas,” which was our school’s learning management system. However, I didn’t know what a learning management system was then. I wasn’t using Canvas as a pedagogical tool for music teaching and learning. I didn’t even know my username and password! Until that point, in my mind, there was no room for technology in musicmaking, teaching, or learning. The magic of music was in creating and performing together. For years I maintained an instrumental music program producing happy students, happy parents, happy administrators, good recruitment, and even better retention. My students and I participated in every large-scale performing opportunity our state had to offer public school instrumental music ensembles; we participated often and performed well. I was doing my job, right? What else was there?

That all changed on March 13, 2020.

Continued on next page

Kandis King Taylor began her career by earning a Bachelor’s degree in Instrumental Music Education and a Master’s degree in Percussion Performance from Brigham Young University. In 2023, she completed a Ph.D. in Music Education at the University of Utah. Her research interests focus on educational technology as a tool for music learning and best practices for building pedagogical efficacy using technology in aspiring music educators. She has presented professionally, both nationally and internationally, on these topics. Kandis serves as the Director of Percussion Studies at Snow College in Ephraim, UT. She has over 17 years of experience teaching, directing, and adjudicating junior high and high school concert bands, jazz bands, and percussion ensembles in California and Utah. While teaching in California, she received the "Teacher of the Year" award in 2015. She received the 2019 "Accent in Excellence" Award from the Alpine School District as Director of Bands & Percussion Ensembles at Lakeridge Junior High in Orem, Utah. When she isn't teaching college or public school, Kandis composes music and has several compositions published through C. Alan Publications. Kandis loves her little family and lives with her husband and 7-year-old daughter in Utah.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the United States, schools were compelled to move to online learning formats. At that time, I was a 15-year veteran teacher, someone experienced in handling the challenges of educating young people. However, I was devastated and disappointed in my lack of technological knowledge; the worst part was that my ignorance was at the expense of my student’s education. I remember sifting through vast amounts of emails and digital tools from industry leaders, generously offering subscriptionfree tools to support teachers during a difficult time. Which digital tool should I use? How do I use it? What aspect of music learning am I using it for? Will it help my students in their musical development? Those questions remained on an endless replay in my mind.

A week later, a colleague of mine serendipitously reached out to see how I was handling the mass migration to online learning. I expressed my frustrations as a new Canvas user. He informed me that his son and daughter-in-law, both of whom were undergraduates at a nearby university, were home due to school closures and might be able to offer their assistance. Graciously agreeing to the offer, they immediately masked up and came over to my house. These two undergraduates provided me with a wealth of advice and techniques to create a Canvas space that was clear, organized, and

user-friendly. Their perspectives were invaluable as I made necessary adjustments to communicate educational information digitally. From that point, I was able to make it through the next several weeks.

A great irony occurred at the conclusion of the school year. Our school administrators, seeking feedback to enhance distance learning strategies and streamline Canvas practices, issued a survey to parents and students aimed at identifying the teachers who provided the most constructive online learning activities and the attributes that increased the accessibility of their Canvas courses. To my great astonishment, my name appeared near the top of the list! The perspectives of my colleagues improved my practice, which ultimately improved the online learning experiences for my students and parents.

I made a personal commitment to continue learning and adjusting to the obviously changing educational landscape. As a result, I enrolled in multiple online professional development classes offered by my school district, most of which centered on technology-integrated pedagogies in education. This marked the first time I had heard about the flipped classroom model of blended learning. Intrigued by the potential of flipped classrooms, I was motivated to explore avenues for integrating this model into instrumental music

education, which led me to a research trajectory centering on the use of technology as a tool for music teaching and learning.

WHAT IS FLIPPED CLASSROOM?

Blended learning refers to an educational approach that combines traditional face-to-face classroom instruction with online learning activities and technological resources. The result is a hybrid learning environment, ultimately providing flexibility, customization, and collaborative opportunities to enhance student learning. Flipped classroom is an instructional approach within blended learning where students are required to prepare for in-class activities by viewing online supportive video resources or readings before class (Bergmann & Sams, 2012), then participating in collaborative learning group projects during class time. One compelling aspect of the flipped classroom approach is how seamlessly it aligns with band instruction. When I first encountered this concept, it immediately resonated with me, as it resembled the typical directive given by band directors from their podiums: “Go home, practice, and come to class prepared for rehearsal.”

For more than a decade, the flipped classroom model of instruction has existed and has undergone extensive research in various facets of education. Researchers have suggested a positive correlation between the flipped classroom model

Flipped Classroom Strategies for Band Directors ... Kandis King Taylor, cont.

of blended learning and increased student engagement (Unruh et al., 2016). Furthermore, effective technology implementation can enhance student music achievement (Bauer, 2013) and improve motivation (Pendergast, 202: Yoshida, 2016).

By delivering content outside of traditional classroom settings, band directors can personalize instruction using digital tools (websites, apps, etc.), empowering students to advance according to their individual pace. Within the flipped classroom framework, band students have the opportunity to acquire essential knowledge of music literacy (terminology, note names, etc.) through independent activities conducted outside of class.

In reference to Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom, 1956), activities involving lower levels of learning, such as memorizing, recalling, and identifying basic concepts of music, occur outside of class. Outside of the class setting, students can utilize online platforms to exhibit their mastery and access additional remedial resources and support as needed. During class, students can engage in more advanced levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, such as demonstrating technical proficiency on their instrument, analyzing musical themes in performance music, or creating new musical compositions. Students come to the band room prepared to engage in music-making at an elevated and more meaningful level. By moving

the teaching of fundamental course content associated with the lower levels of Bloom’s taxonomy pyramid beyond the classroom, valuable rehearsal time becomes available to emphasize essential aspects such as tone production, balance, blend, and musical expression.

WHY DOES TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION MATTER?

The evolution of technology has transformed the definition of educational literacy within the American public school system. Because modern society and industry demand technological literacy, school districts require time and effort from teachers to acquire practical application skills in using hardware and software as a tool for teaching and learning.

In response to the increasing saturation of technology prevalent in daily American life, the United States Department of Education aligned technology use with educational goals by creating the National Education Technology Plan (NETP, 2017). This flagship policy centered on incorporating new developments in educational technology (Rochelle et al., 2000). The pervasive influence of technology in daily life requires a task force of teachers equipped to meet increasing national education standards and expectations to utilize technology effectively for teaching and learning.

The technological component of flipped classroom approaches frequently incorporates learning analytics and data tracking, allowing music educators to actively track student progress, identify areas for improvement, and provide targeted support and feedback at each stage of musical development. In reality, students have a multitude of resources, such as instructors, peers, method books, online platforms, and mobile apps to aid them in their music learning. By employing flipped classroom strategies, students can be inspired and motivated to make the most of these resources, thereby enhancing their overall musicianship.

WHAT DOES A FLIPPED BAND ROOM LOOK LIKE?

The next portion of this article presents a variety of flipped classroom strategies specifically tailored to band instruction, focusing on three essential areas: musical literacy, performance, and assessment. In each category, a scenario will be presented to illustrate how the implementation of flipped classroom method can enrich the learning experience for that particular context.

Getting Started.

Adopting a flipped classroom approach might appear overwhelming at first. As band directors, the performance calendar weighs heavy on our minds as the clock continues to tick. As such, our rehearsals occupy almost the

Flipped Classroom Strategies for Band Directors ... Kandis King Taylor, cont.

entirety of our class time. After all, the nature of our discipline revolves around the frequent demonstration of musical comprehension occurring in public settings! In such circumstances, is there any room for additional pursuits?

Begin with the end in mind. Start small. Don’t try to flip a year’s worth of curriculum for all of your classes! Begin with one class, one unit, one fundamental topic, or one song selection, and ask yourself what you want students to know. Start with a clear vision of the desired outcome. From that point, backwards design the learning process. Determine which musical learning activities can be assigned as outside-of-class tasks, utilizing your school’s learning management system (such as Canvas or Google Classroom) or possibly hosted on your personally designed course website. Next, identify the activities that will take place during class time while considering how they align with and complement the preparations for performances.

Educate all stakeholders regarding your efforts to innovate.

You may need to generate buy-in when it comes to flipping your classes. After all, we’ve been teaching music in a similar fashion for hundreds of years! Approach the process as “educating” rather than “convincing” stakeholders about the importance of innovation.

Be prepared to clearly articulate your vision for enhanced learning, outline the process itself, and, most importantly, demonstrate how it can strengthen student learning and musicianship. Guide students, parents, and administrators to recognize that the realm of music and music-making is vast, exciting, and dynamic. Emphasize the presence of alternative avenues of learning that have the potential to elevate their overall musical performance and expression.

Establish rigor, not busy work. Students must understand the purpose behind each learning activity. Ensure that learning objectives are meaningful and deliberate. Take the time to review your objectives and ensure that each one aligns directly with the overarching goals of your band program. Set clear expectations for students as well as what they can expect from you. Students must recognize the importance of completing the assigned outof-class tasks and understand the need for accountability so they come to class prepared and ready to engage with the material. Just as we ask our students to bring their best to our rehearsals, we must also ensure that we uphold the same level of accountability by designing meaningful learning experiences both within and beyond the band room.

FLIPPED CLASSROOM AND MUSIC LITERACY

Scenario #1: Building foundational note-reading skills in a beginning band class during the first month of the school year. In this scenario, your objective is for students to learn all the note names on the staff in either treble clef, bass clef, or both. Several free, web-based resources are available to help students master the fundamental principles of music (see a list of resources included at the end of this article). A certain level of musical learning involves the memorization of information. Beginning music students face the task of acquiring a substantial amount of terminology as they embark on their journey toward music literacy.

To incorporate flipped learning into this portion of your curriculum, begin by creating a short (5-minute) video explaining the staff, using already available websites such as the lesson portion of www. musictheory.net or tutorials from www.teoria.com. Record yourself and your screen using platforms such as Screencastify or Loom. Find out what school district or campus supported solutions for screen recording are available in your area. In your video, include simple instructions on how students access the next portion of the learning activity where they practice or apply their understanding of the

Flipped Classroom Strategies for Band Directors ... Kandis King Taylor, cont.

Next, create an assignment within your school’s learning management system (LMS) that directs students to a website such as https://musicracer.com. This free, web-based tool enables students to practice note reading and instrument fingerings in a gamified manner. Subsequently, students complete an online quiz housed on the LMS, assessing their understanding of note names. Allow unlimited access to the quiz, allowing students to engage in repetitive note-reading drills until they attain the desired level of understanding, such as a score of 90% or higher. Equipped with a basic understanding of the staff, students come to class prepared to begin connecting note names, fingerings, and sound production.

FLIPPED CLASSROOM AND PERFORMANCE PREPARATION

Scenario #2: An advanced-level high school band preparing for the festival season. I have often heard colleagues express, “All I want is for students to learn their parts! I don’t care about anything else. I just want them to practice and be ready for rehearsal!” I agree with them. I also want students to come to rehearsal prepared. However, I realized long ago that one reason why bands can fall short of achieving mature levels of expression is because they lack

an understanding of the music’s origin or nuance, there are gaps in their comprehension of certain musical fundamentals, or they are deficient in their sound concept.

Suppose your band is preparing to perform an arrangement of John Phillip Sousa’s The Washington Post. (This approach can be applied to any song selection, style, or composer. The following is merely an illustration, a template for further exploration.)

To help students grasp the context and execute the music as intended, create a unit titled, for example, “The Golden Age of the Band (1880-1920)”. Begin by developing brief, five-minute videos exploring Sousa’s life as a bandmaster and renowned composer, as well as his involvement in military music. This can lead to wider discussions on historical and contemporary civic topics or fostering a respect for military service. Share details regarding the origin of the composition. For example, The Washington Post was a commission from its namesake newspaper as a way to celebrate an 1889 student essay contest. Engage students with accountability questions that explore how Sousa’s music is equivalent to today’s popular music and how each reflects societal values.

highlighting melodies and countermelodies, which allows students the opportunity in rehearsal to hear and emphasize specific parts during the performance. Design an assignment where students listen to the United States Marine Band’s rendition of The Washington Post and compare it with their arrangement, allowing them to develop a “sound concept” of their festival piece. Consider the potential of this approach.

I am guilty of expecting students to play at a heightened level of musicality while failing to provide them with ample opportunities to derive musical inspiration. By providing students with a deeper understanding of the music’s origin, resources for improved technical proficiency, and musical examples to cultivate a refined sense of sound, they can enter the band room with knowledge that extends beyond notes on the page. Consequently, rehearsal can concentrate on exploring deeper levels of understanding, fueled by the infused vitality that students bring into their performance.

FLIPPED CLASSROOM AND ASSESSMENT

Your next video could discuss the musical form of the piece,

Scenario #3: Addressing knowledge gaps in a Freshman/Sophomore level concert band and fostering growth among all players. As band directors, our focus lies in elevating

Flipped Classroom Strategies for Band Directors ... Kandis King Taylor, cont.

the collective ability of the group. A crucial question we face is, “How can we enhance the skills of our least experienced players? How do we effectively address knowledge gaps across all our musicians?”

the subjectivity of music-making. By utilizing technology tools and assessments, you can accurately gauge when your students are ready to move on or if they require additional support.

By incorporating flipped classroom methods in your band instruction, you can leverage the power of technology to enable students to create video portfolios showcasing their playing tests and performance selections. Utilizing digital platforms such as Flipgrid or an unlisted YouTube channel, students can witness their progress and growth throughout the school year. Alongside the portfolio, students can engage in online written assignments, reflecting on their improvements and actively addressing their personal playing challenges. This approach empowers students to take ownership of their musical development by analyzing their abilities over time and applying critical thinking to determine their next steps. Alongside the guidance of the teacher, students actively participate in their assessment process, assuming an engaged role in evaluating their musical development.

The implementation of flipped classroom methods facilitates not only data-driven instruction but also removes much of the uncertainty in both the assessment process and

NAVIGATING ISSUES WITH FLIPPED CLASSROOM

Accountability

Ensuring participation in outside-ofclass activities is crucial to student success in a flipped classroom setting. Educating students about the expectations, digital tools, and accessing resources will be essential. Conducting a questionnaire at the beginning of the school year can offer valuable insights into students’ technological access and help devise appropriate plans for their success. By defining teacher instructions, expectations, and assignments and providing timely feedback, students will understand the importance of being prepared. Incorporating short quizzes or assignments the following day to reinforce the online lesson can further reinforce the expectation and motivate students to come to class prepared.

Access to Technological Resource

Teachers play a crucial role in helping students overcome the digital divide. To cultivate equitable learning experiences for all, teachers can provide opportunities for students to engage with educational technology even if

they don’t have internet access at home. Teachers can guide students towards technology resources within the school environment and during school hours. Exploring educational apps that offer offline functionality or allow content to be downloaded may also engage students with educational content even without internet access. Teachers can collaborate with school administrators and community organizations to secure funding for technology resources, internet access, and digital literacy programs. Furthermore, teachers can also encourage students to explore community resources such as public libraries, community centers, or after-school programs that provide internet access and technology resources can enhance their access to educational technology.

Developing a digital toolbox

Including technological tools can supplement the music learning process to enhance musical achievement (Bauer, 2020). Integrating technology in the music learning process should be viewed through the lens of a metaphorical museum curator. Burns (2021) suggested that museum curators orchestrate displays and select only artifacts that present a cohesive story. Curators select pieces (digital tools) to feature in an upcoming exhibit (learning objective), organize a clear pathway

Flipped Classroom Strategies for Band Directors ... Kandis King Taylor, cont.

Flipped Classroom Strategies for Band Directors ... Kandis King Taylor, cont.

in telling a story (developing a musical skill) and prioritize what appears on the walls in a specific order (curriculum design). It is not necessary to present all artifacts in a museum simultaneously. Similarly, overwhelming students with numerous digital tools at once is not recommended or efficacious. Curating digital content and connecting digital resources to learning objectives requires heightened pedagogical knowledge and skills.

CONCLUSION

The flipped classroom model optimizes class time, enriches learning experiences for individuals and groups, enhances collaborative music-making opportunities, and offers learners enhanced visual and auditory resources through online materials. The inclusion of educational technology, such as websites, apps, and software, can supplement music literacy and enhance the artistic development of creating, performing, and responding to music. The implementation of flipped classroom strategies not only provides students with valuable resources but also serves as a source of inspiration and motivation, empowering them to maximize their learning and elevate their musicianship.

Rhythm

The Rhythm Randomizer

www.rhythmrandomizer.com

Rhythm Trainer

www.therhythmtrainer.com

Note Reading

Name That Note (Staff Only)

www.richmanmusicschool.com/ products/name-that-note

Flash Notes (Staff and Keyboard)

www.pedaplus.com/games/fnk

Note Names/Music Terms/fingerings

https://musicracer.com

Sight Reading

Sheet Music Generator

www.randomsheetmusic.com

Ear Training

Ear Beater www.earbeater.com

Picardy

https://picardylearning.com/demo/

Tools for Instrument Technical Proficiency

Metronome Online

www.metronomeonline.com/

Music Speed Changer

https://app.musicspeedchanger.com/

Draw Music

http://drawmusic.com/musictheory/intro

MusicTheory.net

https://www.musictheory.net/

Composition/Creativity

Chrome Music Lab

https://musiclab.

chromeexperiments.com/

World Music

Folk Cloud

https://folkcloud.com/

Rock History

Teach Rock

https://teachrock.org/units/

REFERENCES

Bauer, W. (2020).

Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Bauer, W. I. (2013).

The acquisition of musical technological pedagogical and content knowledge. Journal of Music Teacher Education, 22(2), 51–64.

Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2012).

Flip your classroom: Reaching every student in every class every day (1st ed.). International Society for Technology in Education.

Bloom, B. S. (1956).

Music Theory

WEB-BASED RESOURCES

The list below contains free online resources organized by music fundamentals.

Teoria

https://www.teoria.com

Taxonomy of educational objectives, handbook 1: The cognitive domain (1st ed.). New York: David McKay Co. Inc.

National Education Technology Plan. (2016, January 1).

Reimagining the role of technology in education: 2017 National education technology plan update Office of Educational Technology.

https://tech.ed.gov/netp/

Pendergast, S. (2020). Understanding participation in secondary music classes: A literature review. Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, 39(1), 38–49.

Rochelle, J. M., Pea, R. D., Hoadley, C. M., Gordin, D. N., & Means, B. M. (2000). Changing how and what children learn in school with computer-based technologies. The Future of Children, 10(2), 76–101.

https://doi.org/10.2307/1602690

Unruh, T., Peters, M., & Willis, J. (2016). Flip this classroom: A comparative study. Computers in the Schools, 33(1), 38–58.

https://doi.org/10.1080/07380569.2016.1139988

Yoshida, H. (2016).

Perceived usefulness of “flipped learning” on instructional design for elementary and secondary education: With focus on pre-service teacher education. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 6(6), 430–434.

https://doi.org/10.7763/ijiet.2016.v6.727

Flipped Classroom Strategies for Band Directors ... Kandis King Taylor, cont.

LET'S START AT THE VERY BEGINNING INTRODUCTION BY MATT

TALBERT

As music educators across the country head back to school, I wanted to devote a section of this issue to beginning instruction. To that end, I enlisted the help of master teachers, currently teaching public school, to share how each of them starts a specific instrument. Although there is not one correct way to instruct beginners, the pages in the next few articles will provide strategies that continue to produce incredible results year after year. If you are new teacher, absorb as much of this information as possible, understanding you may have to alter the strategies to fit your ensemble. If you are a veteran teacher, I encourage you to reflect on your practices and see what, if any, changes you can implement.

I was fortunate to have sound pedagogical instruction as I was enrolled in my undergraduate teachertraining program. When I was hired for my first job, I was privileged to have mentors that were willing to share their knowledge with me and help me as I navigated my first few years in the profession. I am forever grateful to those mentors for sharing their wisdom, years of experience, and passion for teaching with me. They were honest with me and patient with me. I am also fully aware that not every teacher had this same experience.

The following articles are designed to help you start your students with a solid foundation, one that will ultimately maximize student success.

None of the authors collaborated, yet you will find some of the same themes emerging. It is not an accident – master teachers have an arsenal of teaching techniques to reach all students in their classrooms. Beginning flute, clarinet, trumpet, and trombone will be discussed, and this section will conclude with general thoughts that tie everything together.

Remember, teaching beginners is noble. No advanced band program would exist without quality instruction at the beginning band level. Take your time, always remain student-centered, and strive to provide a high-quality music education experience to every student.

THE MAGIC, MYSTERY, AND METHODS OF TEACHING BEGINNERS AND BEGINNING FLUTE BY

HEATHER LUNDAHL

THE FIRST DAY OF BEGINNING BAND!

It’s the day they’ve all been waiting for! They’ve selected their instruments, done everything you’ve told them to do, bought everything you’ve told them to buy, and learned all the note names, basic rhythms, and musical terms you could cram down their throats, knowing all they wanted to do was play! Finally, it’s Bandmas! Christmas in the band room! The day they receive the best gift they will ever get - their first instrument, which will lead them down the music education path of life skill building, core musical memories, and relationships that will last a lifetime!

Not unlike Christmas, there is a great deal to be done BEFORE the first day to have a chance at successfully teaching beginning instrument pedagogy. The process of balancing the students’ natural abilities and instrumentation needs when selecting instruments must be intentional to maximize the outcome.

INSTRUMENT TESTING AND FITTING:

Congratulations! You have successfully recruited tons of beginning band students, but what should they play, and how do you get them started? Do not let this be more complicated than it has to be. Set aside time to let the students “try out” instruments. There are a multitude of ways to do this, but that would be an article all on its own! What is most important is that your instrument fitting is a fun, low-stress opportunity for students to try out as many instruments as you have available in your beginning band program, much like an instrument petting zoo! I have done this a few different ways, but once I had been at a school for a while and had reliable older students, I would have my best players lead each instrument station. The new students rotate through each station, learning embouchure formations to produce basic sounds and holding the instruments to get a feel for each horn – nothing overly complex – the reality is that nobody will be a virtuoso at that moment.

As the students rotate through each

Heather Lundahl is the Associate Director of Bands at Walter L. Sickles High School in Tampa, FL. She assists with all aspects of the program, including three concert bands, jazz ensembles, and the “Sickles Marching Wall of Sound.”

Mrs. Lundahl began her music education in Monroe, New York. She attended the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and a Performer’s Certificate in flute.

Currently, Mrs. Lundahl serves as the Florida Bandmasters Association District 7 Chair. Her professional affiliations include the National Association for Music Education, the Florida Music Educators Association, the Florida Bandmasters Association, and the National Band Association. Mrs. Lundahl’s entire family are instrumental musicians, including her son Ryan, a trombonist; daughter Hannah, who plays Oboe and English Horn; and husband Rich, who plays the saxophone.

instrument station, they keep track of their desires for each instrument by ranking each experience on a 5-point scale, while the older students assess them on an (albeit loose) aptitude rating. For example, if a student tried for five minutes to make a sound on the flute and was unsuccessful, that is valuable information to keep track of, just like it would be valuable to know if a sound popped out naturally on the first try! Data from these surveys provides the director with a general gauge for putting this giant instrumentation puzzle together. Students will gravitate towards instruments they are good at and are encouraged to play by the director. As the director, you play an essential role in taking the information from the students’ surveys and encouraging each student to play an instrument they have a natural aptitude for and a strong desire to play. This does not always mean students are assigned to play their highest-ranked instrument, as it is also a concern for the director to procure a well-balanced ensemble, though picking one of their top three choices is essential.

Another component that must be considered is parental input. I recommend collecting the student surveys before the students return to their parents to avoid parents persuading them to request instruments that another family member used to play and is now just sitting in a closet. You can navigate this by planning a consultation

meeting for all students and parents!

THE CONSULTATION MEETING:

This is a game-changer! It’s what I refer to as the front loader for success. Depending on how many beginners you have, you will invite students and their parents to a required consultation meeting where they will come and have a one-on-one consultation with you to:

1. Discuss the final instrument selection determination. This is where you can ensure everyone is on board with the instrument assignments. In this meeting, you can ease concerns, try out the instrument again in front of the parents, or, if necessary, try out an alternate instrument. Taking this step will save a ton of future headaches and will hopefully reduce or prevent requests to switch instruments after only a few weeks (or months).

2. Talk about the commitment involved with band, specifically time, money, and practicing at home. This is an invaluable opportunity to build relationships and learn more about each student and their unique family unit. This insight will help you understand why certain challenges may arise later and how best to address them.

3. Take the time to congratulate the student and their parents for becoming a trombonist and the

parents of a trombonist!

4. Hand them a beginning band permit! You can make a special document that you fill out using check boxes for all the equipment they will need and send them over to the music store to get the order filled!

Each consultation only needs to last 5–7-minute– time well spent! Doing this with every family now will save a great deal of time answering emails, handling confused and possibly upset parents, and so on.

The other essential aspect of this consultation is the instrument and equipment rental portion. Partnering with a music retailer who knows your expectations for what brands and models you want your families to rent is crucial. This includes approved mouthpieces, reeds, and care kits you wish to be incorporated into the rental package. Do not neglect this step! Insist on high-quality equipment, repair service inclusion, and convenient customer service for the parents. This will ensure that parents get what you want them to have without getting overwhelmed during the process. The parents will appreciate your proactive work in this area because it made it efficient, convenient, and affordable! This is a win-win!

BANDMAS:

On the first day with instruments, place instrument cases, books, and

The Magic, Mystery and Methods of Teaching Beginners ... Heather Lundahl, cont.

accessories in front of each student’s chair, clearly labeled with their name. Make this a HUGE deal when students first arrive at the band room! Wear your Santa hat, play Christmas music, or anything to make it an exciting and festive experience! After the students enter the band room and find their seats, explain that you will give them instructions and they must listen very carefully and only do as they are told. At this point, you should have them in the palm of your hand, so take advantage of it! Explain that instrument cases are always to be left on the floor when opened so that nothing can fall and get damaged. Never let them place instruments on chairs, or even worse, on music stands – this is a recipe for disaster!

everything fall out. Instruct students to check their neighbor’s case so that everyone’s case placement looks correct. Once everyone is ready, tell them to open their cases, and voilà –the students get the first glimpse of their shiny new instrument!

Pro Tip: As fun as it is to have all the plastic and wrapping of a brandnew instrument, this takes extra time, creates a mess, and is generally a bit more than they can handle. I recommend removing the plastic wrapping beforehand. This will be particularly helpful if you have a class of 60 or more students!

At this point, we talk about all the parts of the instruments and how they are assembled. If you are in a heterogeneous situation, you will be juggling your attention back and forth between all the instruments. It can be challenging to expect the brass students to assemble their instruments without playing while guiding the woodwind students to set up their reeds and mouthpieces correctly. Let’s not forget the percussionists in the back of the room. Great fun!

should be thoroughly covered before you move on to some basic mouthpiece, embouchure, and hand position instruction. This process usually takes 2-3 days before we all come together and make that very first joyful noise! This time for me is typically about a week.

FINDING SUCCESS IN STARTING FABULOUS FLUTES:

The students should understand that the latches are like suitcase latches. It is important to ensure that they are on the side closest to them and right side up to avoid opening the case upside down and having

Pro Tip – It would be ideal if you could arrange to have extra help (or crowd control) on the first day with instruments. This could be other adult musicians or some of your older students! If you have students assisting, you will need to train them on how to teach assembling and disassembling instruments, using accessories, and daily care and maintenance. All of this

I recommend that my beginning flute students rent a good quality and reputable brand, such as a Yamaha student model. I advocate renting for the first few months at a minimum before making a more significant financial commitment. Rent-toown programs are easy to sell to parents and help promote band as an investment in their child’s education. When students are ready for a step-up instrument, I encourage them to keep their student model instrument for High School marching band. Essential accessories for flute players should include a) a flute swab, b) polishing cloth, c) a tuning rod, d) a flute stand, and e) flute-specific method and etude books beyond your classroom text. Other accessories that all musicians should own include a) an electronic tuner, b) a metronome, and c) a folding music stand.

FLUTE ASSEMBLY:

1. Place the case on the floor, ensuring the latches are upright and facing you. Open the case.

2. Notice how the three pieces are laid in the flute case. The end

The Magic, Mystery and Methods of Teaching Beginners ... Heather Lundahl, cont.

The Magic, Mystery and Methods of Teaching Beginners ...

joint, in particular, always faces the opposite direction of what students want it to be, so draw attention to that.

3. Start assembly by carefully removing the body with the right hand curved over the keys to not bend them and pick up the head joint with the left hand. Carefully twist the head joint entirely into the body and then pull out about 1/8 inch to start.

4. Pick up the end joint with the right hand and twist it carefully onto the body, aligning the pinky key to the center of the D key on the body. The instinct is to align the two rods, but this needs to be corrected. Note: It is common that once students do this for a while, they will want to roll the head joint in too much, so be aware that even the slightest adjustment can cause a significant change in tone production.

5. Disassemble the flute by returning each piece to the case with the same care as during the assembly. Have students practice this process a few times, latching the case several times to ensure they will not break or damage the instrument when they take it home.

TONE PRODUCTION ON THE HEAD JOINT:

1. Take the head joint and practice bringing it to your lips, having the tone hole make direct contact

with the lips so that the top of the tone hole is touching the middle of the top lip and the bottom of the tone hole is touching the center of the bottom lip.

2. Roll the head joint out to the point where you are essentially blowing the air straight across the hole.

3. Using FAST air, blow with the embouchure forming the syllable “pooh.”

4. The aperture, or opening, should be small, keeping the lips very close together.

5. The place where the sound naturally pops out easily is commonly called the “sweet spot.” This is where the sound resonates the best, and it is hardly an effort for a bright, strong tone to come out.

6. Practicing in front of a mirror can help students identify this spot easier.

7. After successful repetition of this, change the syllable to “tu.”

8. Working on just the head joint at the beginning of each lesson and practice time is essential to establishing a good tone from the very beginning. Students should return to this exercise if their sound gets worse or becomes non-existent at any point in time.

2. The lips should be evenly on top of each other, with the bottom lip being ever so slightly further out than the top lip.

3. The head joint is either rolled too far in or too far out.

4. The lip plate is too far up or down on the chin and not hitting the right part of the lip.

5. The air is not fast enough or is directed too far up or down.

6. The teacher can roll the lip plate and head joint around slightly while the student plays to help find the necessary angle adjustment.

Below are common reasons why students struggle to produce a sound on the head joint:

1. The top lip is too far over the bottom lip blocking the air stream.

FLUTE POSTURE & HAND POSITION:

1. Teach students the importance of sitting correctly at the front edge of the chair with their feet flat on the floor at all times. If you have them stand up and then sit down while maintaining the posture in their upper body and only bending their knees, they will be in the proper position when sitting.

2. Flute players usually need to angle their chairs a bit to avoid having their flute in the next flutist’s face, but rather have it

Heather Lundahl, cont.

placed behind. If they do not angle their chair and try to put their flute behind their neighbor, they will probably end up tilting it too much.

3. There are three main points of contact on the flute - this needs to be emphasized at the beginning when first learning how to hold the flute. These contact points are a) the inside left index finger knuckle, b) the right-hand thumb, and c) the head joint on the chin.

from the first note typically taught, “D,” and the second note, “C,” which does not use the thumb.

6. The right hand is curved, the fingers are curved right over the keys, and the right-hand thumb is not too far forward, indicating that the hand is remaining curved.

7. The right elbow placement should be aligned with the wrist. their wrist and not dropped. A visual cue is to have them think about holding a tennis ball in their right hand and keeping the elbow and wrist aligned in order for the ball not to drop.

THE FIVE FIRST NOTES ON THE FLUTE:

4. The left-hand should curve from the index finger around the body with the thumb on the thumb key.

5. The left-hand index finger knuckle should be curved and not be collapsed. This is crucial for students to change positions

8. Finally, the angle of the flute should be slightly downward so that the lips and lip plate are always perfectly parallel, just like this photo shows. Have students look in a mirror to check this every day for several weeks to ensure that they do not develop poor habits, remembering to sit up tall and bring the flute to them.

I have always used Standard of Excellence, the good old red book, as my beginning band method. This book, as well as many others, starts flute students on 4th line D, 3rd space C, and 3rd line Bb and then adds 4th space Eb and 5th line F. This is probably the most practical approach when starting flutes in the full band setting. Still, it presents some challenges for hand position right away for flutes, but it is also an excellent opportunity to reinforce the importance of the aforementioned contact points. Beginners will only realize how challenging this skill is if you tell them, just like the break on the clarinet! Just teach the students what to do with confidence and encouragement, and they will rise to the challenge!

Body position and alignment (photo 1)

Hand position and balance points (photo 2)

The Magic, Mystery and Methods of Teaching Beginners ... Heather Lundahl, cont.

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HOW TO START A CLARINETIST FROM THE VERY BEGINNING AND WHAT TO LOOK FOR

ALONG THE WAY BY KELLY

OLIFF DORSEY

“Your State Band Performance begins the first day of your beginning band class.”

Ionce heard this from a colleague. “Wow! What a spot-on comment,” I thought. As a director, it is easy to fall into the trap of concentrating on our advanced groups more than our beginning groups. Likewise, we may also get distracted preparing music for a performance and neglect fundamentals.

As a young director, I thought spending a lot of time on the basics wouldn’t give me the time needed to prepare the music. Once making the commitment to incorporate more fundamentals, I was amazed how quickly the music prepared itself. Students began immediately transferring basic concepts to every piece of music without having to relearn them. However, when making that commitment, you must know what to look for and how

to fix issues; otherwise, you will go through the motions of a misguided warm up.

For the purpose of this article, let's focus on the basic fundamentals of the clarinet. A clarinet section can make or break the overall tonality of the band. As an adjudicator, I find few bands having an appropriate section sound (especially regarding the upper register). So, let’s begin this conversation: how to start a clarinetist from the very beginning and what to look for along the way.

EMBOUCHURE

• The bottom lip should cover the bottom teeth just enough to provide a cushion between the teeth and the reed. There should always be a little pink showing in the lip; otherwise, there is too much coverage.

• The corners of the mouth should be firm so the air will not escape. This will also help to maintain stability in the sound.

• The upper teeth should always be placed directly on the top of the

Ms. Kelly Dorsey is a graduate of The Florida State University. She has enjoyed over 30 years of teaching during which her bands have consistently received superior ratings at all FBA Sponsored events. She is currently the Band Director at Union County High School, having served previously at Bell Jr./Sr. High School.

Ms. Dorsey has served as a guest clinician, adjudicator and conductor for numerous band programs and honor bands throughout the State. She served as the Conductor of the Florida Small Schools Honor Band in 2008 as well as the FBA Nine Star Honor Band in 2022. In addition, she has served The FBA as a member of numerous committees. She was awarded the prestigious "Oliver Hobbs Award’ presented by the FBA and District Teacher of the Year for Union County. She is a member of the FBA, FMEA, NAfME, NBA, Tau Beta Sigma, ASBDA, and Phi Beta Mu.

mouthpiece. For students with sensitive teeth, a mouthpiece patch can be used.

• The top lip should be firm.

• The chin should be flat while pointed out and down.

How to Start a Clarinetist from the Very Beginning ... Kelly Oliff Dorsey, cont.

APERTURE

• The tongue should be in the “ee” position. If you say the letter “e” you can feel the back sides of your tongue touching the top back teeth. I teach my students to say “hee”. This is often a difficult practice to develop. I will very often, as a reminder, have the clarinet players hiss at me using the “hee” syllable just before I give a downbeat.

• When articulating notes, the tip of the tongue should be used to touch the tip of the reed.

After demonstrating these concepts to the student, place the mouthpiece as if they were playing the instrument while holding it at a 45°angle. Have the student repeat the instructions given above to make contact with the mouthpiece. A simple wiggle back and forth by the teacher allows them to tell if the top teeth are making contact. Tell the student to hold the mouthpiece still with their embouchure and keep it still. This will encourage them to tighten the corners and put enough pressure on the reed. To help students visualize where to place their bottom lip, here's a simple trick: gently slide a small piece of paper between the reed and the mouthpiece. The bottom lip should be placed where the paper stops.

have the student blow fast, cold, forward air (the sound should match a concert F#). Using the app, “Tonal Energy Tuner,” one of our favorite games is having the students match pitch. The longer they play in tune, the smiley face grows bigger and begins to blink. Young students get very excited when they are able to achieve that level!

HAND PLACEMENT

• The right thumb should be placed between the nail and first joint under the thumb rest on the bottom stack of the instrument.

• The left thumb (when covering the hole on the back of the top stack) should be at a 45° angle so that the register key can eventually be pressed simultaneously while still covering the hole.

• Fingers should be in a “C” shape and hover closely over the tone holes. Don’t let the fingers fly away too far from the tone holes. This will inhibit the ability to play fast passages accurately.

• When lifting fingers, it should be from the back knuckle closest to the wrist keeping the “C” shape of the fingers.

students learn all of their note names and fingerings. Once the embouchure and tone have been established, have students add one finger at a time down the instrument. When they reach C4 in the chalumeau register, touch the register key for them so the note becomes G5 in the clarion register. When students are left to do this on their own, they tend to change their embouchure. Therefore, by having the teacher touch the register key for the student, it allows them to feel and hear the note without changing their setup. Each day add another note down the chalumeau register and repeat the practice of touching the register key.

As students add fingers, another will often slide off a tone hole. The most common culprit is the ring finger on each hand. This is often a result from tilting or shifting the wrist. Have students squeeze their instrument to check for a complete ring indentation on their fingers. Rings should not be on the fingertips, but instead, should be on the pads of their fingers.

To help eliminate distractions, I prefer to begin students with just the mouthpiece and barrel. Once the mouthpiece placement is achieved,

• The right hand should never rest under the Eb side key on the top stack because it will often cause the key to bend as well as promote bad hand position.

GOING OVER THE BREAK

Teach the break early, even before

In addition, teach students to roll their left pointer finger from F# to the A key in the throat tone range. Just as above, add one finger at a time going down the instrument and rolling back up to the A key. Continue this practice to the bottom of the instrument. It is important to make sure the pointer finger does not slide rather than roll.

MOUTHPIECES

Nothing is more important than a good mouthpiece/reed setup. This will make more of a difference in the success of the student’s performance than anything else. A few of my recommendations are as follows: Hite, Yamaha 4C, Vandoren 5RV, and Dolcé. The Dolcé mouthpiece is relatively new but is similar to the Hite mouthpiece and has great results, especially in the upper register.

LIGATURES

Reverse ligatures (where screws are on the back side of the mouthpiece) are preferred. They make better contact with the reed. No matter which ligature you choose, screws should always point to the right. A few recommended ligatures are: Rovner, Bonade, and Vandoren Optimum.

REEDS

It is important to note that playing on a brand-new reed for a long period of time shortens the life and performance of the reed. A sign of an overworked reed is when the tip of the reed will look “see through.” Stop playing on it and let it rest. Continuing to play on the reed at this point will cause a very bright sound and the upper register notes can be difficult to achieve. Reeds can be problematic and considerable care must be taken. A great practice is to require students to have a minimum of four good, working reeds at all times. Because reeds are made from a wood substance, they will often be

affected by changes in the weather such as cold, hot, rainy, dry or muggy days. Reeds must be “broken in” to help avoid problems.

A helpful “break in” process is as follows:

• Day 1: play on a new reed for no more than 3 minutes.

• Day 2: double the playing time to 6 minutes.

• Day 3: double the playing time to 12 minutes.

• Day 4: double the playing time to 24 minutes.

After a few days of this process, the reeds will be ready for a lengthier playing time. A recommended practice is to rotate “broken in” reeds daily. It is helpful to have students mark their reeds, so they know which ones have the best performance results. Another suggestion would be to mark them for each day of the week for rotation.

Vandoren offers several different types of reeds that are displayed in a helpful comparison chart on their website. Generally, the more open tipped mouthpieces require a softer reed. Likewise, the more closed tip mouthpieces require harder reeds. I recommend starting beginners on Vandoren 2.5-3.0. The goal is to move to a size 3.0 by the end of the year. More advanced students will typically require a 3.5 or V12 3.5+.

MAINTENANCE

• Grease all corks regularly to keep them from drying out and breaking.

» If a joint wiggles easily, it is time for a new cork.

• Swab out instruments after every playing session.

» Be careful of the post inside the top joint. NEVER force a swab through the instrument! Make sure the swab is straight and not bunched up before pulling it slowly through the instrument.

• Swab the insides of all joints.

• Use a Qtip to clean tone holes.

• Use a small clean paint brush to clean small, hard to reach areas so they are dust free.

• Keep a very small screwdriver to tighten loose screws.

» Do not over tighten screws. This will keep the key from moving freely.

» Do not tighten the screw on the throat tone A4 key. This is an adjustment screw only and there should be a slight wiggle in the G# key before it picks up the A key.

RECOMMENDED ARTISTS

Learning to play a musical instrument well is largely based on listening to great examples. Here are a few to consider: Sabine Meyer, Julian Bliss, Andrew Mariner, Martin Fröst, Larry Combs, Stanley Drucker,

How to Start a Clarinetist from the Very Beginning ... Kelly Oliff Dorsey, cont.

PEDAGOGY

Alessandro Carbonare, Jon Manasse, Sharon Kam, Karl Leister, Ricardo Morales, Jack Brymer, Yehuda Gilad, Harold Wright, Robert Marcellus, and Richard Stoltzman.

TROUBLESHOOTING

ISSUES

Airy Sound

POSSIBLE FIXES

• Reed is too hard

• Reed is placed too high on the mouthpiece

• Use faster air

• Tighten corners

• More pressure on the reed is needed

• Reed may not have enough moisture

Bright Sound

• Reed is too soft

• Reed is placed too low on the mouthpiece

No Sound or Small Sound

• Biting too hard on the reed so it won’t vibrate

• Not enough mouthpiece in the mouth

• Fingers are not covering the tone holes completely

• Push the clarinet up into the top teeth with the right thumb

Flat Tone

• Not enough pressure on the reed (weak embouchure)

• Barrell is pulled out too much

• Angle of the clarinet is too much (Bring it in toward the player more while keeping the head level)

• Tongue is too low

• Use colder, faster air

Harsh “slap” Sound (when articulating)

• Students not using the tip of their tongue, rather they are touching the reed further back on their tongue (This is called anchor tonguing and should be discouraged)

Upper Register (notes not speaking)

• Tighten the corners

• Use faster air

• Raise the tongue

How to Start a Clarinetist from the Very Beginning ... Kelly Oliff Dorsey, cont.

Developing the tone quality of the clarinet, especially in the upper register, takes time. Students must develop good habits, and they must be reminded daily until these basics become second nature. This may be accomplished in days, weeks, months or even years. It simply depends on the student. As teachers, we must be consistent in working with our students until they accomplish the task at hand. Remember, we are asking them to process several types of information at one time, not only about how to play their instrument, but also how to blend with others and how to play musically. Diligence and patience are needed to apply these fundamentals daily, and this will make a huge difference in your overall results whether it be for state or any other type of performance.

How to Start a Clarinetist from the Very Beginning ... Kelly Oliff Dorsey, cont.

STARTING BEGINNING TRUMPETS BY RENEE TODD

They are excited to make a sound so ... take that energy to get them to do all the things! Building good habits right away with the focus on a great characteristic sound. A good tone is most important!

Starting beginning trumpets is a process and not all students will get there the same way. Think of it as artwork and you are creating sculptures. You will need to keep molding them into the characteristic sound “tone” that you have in your head as a great trumpet sound.

Whether you teach beginning trumpet as a separate class, brass class, or a combined beginning band, you can incorporate these methods into your class.

BEFORE YOU PLAY (HOW TO SET UP)

The set up is important, the case is closed and in front of students on the floor with the handle facing them on bottom. Sit as if you are standing, with your back off of the chair, feet flat on the floor, "sit up tall". Having expectations right from the start about playing an instrument just lets students know there is a process and

guidelines. Introducing and teaching each part including how to sit will keep most of them from getting overwhelmed and allow them to think sequentially.

EMBOUCHURE BUILDING (SMALL INSTRUMENT/ MOUTHPIECE)

Embouchure Building is the next step with the “Small Instrument” or Mouthpiece. Have them open the case and take out just the mouthpiece. All of this is “I play, you play”; modeling is key to reinforcing and giving them their first concepts of what it should look like and sound like.

Coffee stirrers to guide the beginning placement is a neat trick I picked up over the years. Since all students’ physical situations are different with their teeth, lips, chin, tongue etc., a generic way to help start beginners is to use a coffee stirrer (single cylinder) that will go between their lips. Have students hold the straw with their dominant hand and say “Ahh" and place the stirrer between teeth then “Mmm” to bring the lips together. Demonstrating first will be key as most students will not bite the straw but some are creative. Once you demonstrate the “Ahh -

Mmm” and then blow air through the straw hold your opposite hand in front of the stirrer to show that you can feel the air and then walk them through the steps and let them start. Ahhh keeps teeth apart and mmm brings lips together. The air should be cool air like the air used for trumpet. Model blowing through the stirrer and adding the tongue by using tu-tu-tu-tu and they can feel that on their hand.

Ms. Renee Todd is currently in her 12th year as Director of Bands at Ligon GT Magnet Middle School and 31st year of teaching music. The Ligon Band program has grown to over 250 band members and was invited to perform at the 29th Music For All National Concert Festival in 2020 and 2019 the Jazz Ensemble performed at the prestigious 73rd Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.

Ms. Todd received her Bachelor of Science in Music Education from the University of Maryland College Park. She is an active honor band clinician, freelance trumpeter as well as a private instructor.

Involving the tongue right away is important as tongue placement is a part of making a great sound on the trumpet.

Next have students hold the mouthpiece in their non-dominant hand in the air like “Statue of Liberty”. Have them hold the mouthpiece with two fingers on top, thumb on bottom near the end of the stem; it adds pressure if they use their whole hand. Think “hold between thumb and peace sign”. I start this immediately, as it is hard to make sounds with the mouthpiece in the air, plus it brings the mouthpiece to them avoiding pressure later. Using the stirrer like before except this time bring the mouthpiece over the stirrer. This is a guideline for mouthpiece placement. Model blowing through the mouthpiece and coffee stirrer using “Ahh mmm” then tu-tu-tu-tu nice and connected. After they have the hang of that model then same thing but do it twice and on the second time take the stirrer out. This is about the formation of the embouchure - not sound - so no buzz at this point. Most of this can be done without the coffee stirrer by turning the mouthpiece backwards the airstream for the aperture will be larger.

makes the buzz. This should be an airy sound and not forceful and loud. If air is too dispersed and loud, go back to blowing through a straw, back of mouthpiece, or coffee stirrers.

*Remind the students that they are making a Mmmm shape, lips flat to the teeth, bring corners toward teeth and just air then bring lips together. When you bring the lips together that is when the buzz sound will start. Move lips apart and it’s just air again.

Starting with the lips pinched and adding air makes a super pinched sound so this is the opposite. It’s helpful to use a pinwheel to visually model the air (there will be many variations so it is important to keep reinforcing and modeling).

Keep firm corners and be careful not to say the word "smile," which creates a thin tone and is hard to correct later. Later add sirens letting pitch change going down and then up.

HOW TO HOLD IT/ ASSEMBLY

(do how to hold without mouthpiece at first)

position they should use to put their fingers on the finger buttons. Have the students think holding a pencil, or backwards C. The right thumb should go under the leadpipe between the first and second valves. The palm of the hand should not touch the leadpipe. Have your students be pirates and look through backwards C at you like a telescope and “arghhh”. Be careful they do not place the right thumb in front of the first valve. This causes valve problems later from pushing down on an angle.

Add the mouthpiece to the receiver and do a slight quarter turn to the right. Do the opposite when you take the mouthpiece off - a quarter turn to the left. Popping the mouthpiece causes it to get stuck and you will need to use the mouthpiece puller.

PLAYING THEIR FIRST NOTE

Have them echo sing matching a G (Concert F) on Tu. I use a Self-Check before playing for all beginning band students and say it out loud before we play.

Next we have the “Magic Buzz” which is air and then add mouthpiece. You demonstrate starting with a column of air using Ahhh Mmm form, add the mouthpiece - still just air - and then bring the lips together which

The left hand holds the weight of the trumpet! Thumb in the first valve saddle, ring finger in the third valve slide ring and pinky can wrap around ring, or with smaller hands go under the 3rd valve slide.

The right hand is only for moving the valves. Have students drop their right hand to their side and relax. The natural way it falls to the side is the

1. Instruments Up -review and model each of these

2. Hand Position -review and model each of these

3. Embouchure -review and model each of these

4. Posture-review and model each of these

Time for Ocean Sounds! Have students hold instrument up and model taking a breath and blowing

Starting Beginning Trumpets, Renee Todd, cont.

slow air into the trumpet without making a sound. Next, increase the air speed and then slow it down (so it sounds like an ocean wave coming in and going out). You may need to play a YouTube video if your students have not been to the beach. Once they have done that a few times, model doing the same thing but this time as your air speed gets faster, keep increasing the speed of your air until you make a tone. Basically, their air increases to the point where their lips will pop into place, however, I try to avoid saying that so students do not force it. Let the air do the work. It does not matter if the student plays a C or G that comes out. Have the students hold a steady note for 4, 6, and then 8 counts and you can add the drone later on a G.

ARTICULATION

I like to add articulation right away after learning to buzz and play their first note. On their small instruments then on the trumpet. I use 4 quarter notes and a whole note using the tu syllable. Air drives articulation and if the tongue is not in the correct position, the tone will not be characteristic and the students will have trouble with changing partials.

4 quarter notes and a whole note

SAY IT, AIR PLAY IT, PLAY IT

"Say hot and then the number 2/ Tu" (where tongue hits behind upper front teeth and where teeth meet the roof of the mouth. Say as half notes,

then quarter notes, then as if the word hot is a grace note or flam, and then remove the word “hot” completely, remember the quick speed of air must be present. Pull the tongue down, not back, keeping the tongue in a more forward position. It’s just the small tip of the tongue that moves “baby tongue”. Avoid between the teeth (you will hear a “thew” sound).

It is sometimes helpful to use the analogy of trying to cool hot food and add the tongue, or spitting out watermelon or sunflower seeds. Although this is not exactly the form, it does get the tongue engaged. Creating an airstream and tonguing is like turning on the water from the faucet, then flicking the water with your finger. The tongue interrupts the air like flicking the water; avoid starting and stopping air for each note. (Don’t turn the water on and off each time to play.)

PARTIALS/ SIRENS

Use your hand to feel the air direction when changing partials. Hold your hand in front of your face and aim the air toward the palm for a G, and aim air at finger tips for a middle C. Do the same with mouthpiece and make siren sounds, loosely moving from G to C back and forth to build flexibility.

the two notes while aiming air at fingertips, and then toward the palm of hand. Next, advance to trumpet playing CC- G while using the “tu” syllable. In the mirror, students should watch for firm corners, tall space, and a flat, pointed chin, as well as angle of their mouthpiece. Later you can add C- G - C and go for 3rd space C using the wrist as a focal point when doing the hand air pattern. Later, I like to use the lead pipe only exercise to teach compression by taking the tuning slide off and playing the mouthpiece on the leadpipe. The pitch should be a flat trumpet f and if overblown, a G at the top of the staff. This is much like a flute head joint. .

Have the student add the mouthpiece to instrument. Model playing CC- G in 2 quarters and half rhythm. Go back and forth between

Ping Pong Balls are also fun to use to teach air speed for the trumpet. If you take the trumpet mouthpiece and turn it backwards, hold a ping pong ball against the cup of the mouthpiece with your finger and have students blow fast air and let go of the ball at the same time. Centrifugal force with keep the ball in place if they are blowing fast enough. Otherwise, it will go across the room when they let go. As students advance, build long tones, lip slurs, and lip bends into your band warm up every day. In general, brass players always need a warm-up: lots of practice with buzzing and lip slurs (or playing different partials tongued and slurred). Avoid starting with scales for a warm-up for young brass players, as it will cause them to over-articulate, lock their air, and have an unfocused tone. Brass players need to establish a

Starting Beginning Trumpets, Renee Todd, cont.

focused yet flexible aperture created by buzzing, long tones, lip bends and flexibility exercises.

TRUMPET PLAYERS FOR LISTENING

• Tine Thing Helseth

• Ben Wright

• Alison Balsom

• Wynton Marsalis

• José Sibaja

• Håkan Hardenberger

• Elmer Churampi

• Phil Smith

• Chris Martin

• Joe Burgstaller

TROUBLE SHOOTING/ QUICK REFERENCE

1. PINCHED SOUND (very common)

» Go back to Magic buzz and Ocean Sounds.

» Check for teeth apart

2. PLAYS TOO LOW (most common)

» Sirens on mouthpiece (start low, slide high, slide low)

» Check for rolling the bottom lip in too much pinching off sound

» Check for bottom lip rolled too far out as if pouting go back to coffee stirrer

» Check for lips flat against teeth, sometimes students will pucker their lips like a “duck bill” right when they go to play which creates a very low sound.

» Faster air/ Ping Pong all

» Build embouchure strength and flexibility daily

PEDAGOGY

Starting Beginning Trumpets, Renee Todd, cont.

3. PLAYS TOO HIGH (not as typical)

» Check for rolling lips inwards over teeth too much almost hiding lips making a thin sound

» Check puffed cheeks and go back to coffee stirrers or mouthpiece backwards.

» Hand Air Patterns aiming toward finger tips giving a bigger aperture

» Reverse Sirens (start high, slide as low as you can)

» Ahh Mmmm teeth apart

SLIDING INTO SUCCESS WITH BEGINNING TROMBONE INSTRUCTION BY MATTHEW S. LINER

Learning to become efficient and effective when helping students learn to play the most noble of all instruments is both challenging and rewarding. This article is a presentation of ideas and concepts that have been assembled by collecting tips and tricks from a variety of master teachers as well as lots of trial and error. That being said, instructors are often opinionated and may disagree with elements presented within. If you feel that your procedures are more effective, great. I hope that you will share your methods with us/me in the near future. I’m always on the lookout for the next useful nugget of information or procedural technique to add to my instructional arsenal.

Let’s begin with identifying who will be invited/chosen to play trombone in the beginning band. It’ll be the students that couldn’t get a sound on the flute head joint, used a double lip embouchure when trying clarinet, and could only buzz a low C when trying the trumpet mouthpiece while at the instrument petting zoo meeting. In a way I’m kidding but at

the same time, I’m not. I’ve placed students on trombone because they had little success on the other mouthpieces but it is most rewarding when a student chooses trombone because they have the greatest success with the trombone mouthpiece. If, after the first couple of petting zoo meeting nights, I see that the balance of the ensemble would benefit from more trombone players (when doesn’t that happen?), I will make a really big deal out of a kid that selects trombone at the petting zoo meeting so that the students that are waiting for their meeting might be a little more interested in trying the trombone.

The instrument petting zoo meetings provide a great opportunity to communicate the how, where, what, and when for parents to secure a good quality instrument for their child; a trombone that will allow them to be as successful as their work ethic. Nothing is as heartbreaking as having a student that gives their best effort but experience diminished success due to the limitations created by a poor-quality instrument.

The slide function is the most

important element when evaluating the playing condition of a student’s instrument. A poor functioning slide will most certainly lead to a student developing bad habits with their posture, hand position, or both. When the inner slide is removed from the outer slide, the two should line up perfectly. If there are dents present on either slide, the instrument will

Matt Liner is the band director at Oak Grove Middle School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where he teaches the sixth grade beginning, seventh grade, and eighth grade bands.

Mr. Liner is a graduate of Appalachian State University and is currently in his twenty-fourth year of teaching. Ensembles under his direction have received consistent commendations at concert band evaluations.

Matt is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the North Carolina Music Educators Association, the North Carolina Bandmasters Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Pi Kappa Lambda, and the American School Band Directors Association.

need to be repaired prior to beginning instruction. The motion of the slide should be effortless. It is acceptable to request that the students not use the oil that is supplied with the rental trombone and use the premixed SlideO-Mix (black cap) and a water spray bottle instead.

The mouthpiece for the trombone is very important. At our school, all of our trombone players are started on a 6½ AL mouthpiece. If a student is using an older mouthpiece, we inspect the quality of the mouthpiece to make sure that the plating around the rim is intact. Mouthpieces with chipped plating should be replaced. It is also important to inspect the end of the shank to make sure that it is free of dents which could cause tone/intonation problems. If dents are present in the shank, they can be easily smoothed out with a truing tool.

It is important to instruct the students on proper posture before you go any further. Having students stand while learning and performing embouchure formation and buzzing exercises will help prevent seated posture errors.

We always begin tone production instruction by focusing on embouchure formation, focusing the air column, followed by buzzing without the mouthpiece. Buzzing with the mouthpiece adds a level of resistance that makes buzzing easier to achieve but I find that starting

without the mouthpiece helps the student to use more and faster air which will result in a better air support later when they begin to play on the fully assembled instrument.

To begin the formation of a proper embouchure we have the students say “Ahhh Emmm.” The Ahhh keeps the teeth apart and the Emmm brings their lips together. It is important that the students keep their lips flat against their teeth when in the Emmm position. This seems to help prevent them from puckering or rolling their lips out. Always performing the “Ahhh Emmm” prior to telling them that their lips should be flat against their teeth also helps prevent them from pulling the corners of their mouth away from the center of the embouchure. One of the most difficult embouchure habits to correct is a student that stretches their lips flat to their teeth by smiling, moving the corners of their mouth toward their ears.

Once the student’s “Ahhh Emmm” embouchure formation is correct we begin to develop a focused column of air (still not buzzing). I have students form their embouchure (Ahhh Emmm) around a coffee stirrer straw that they are holding with their dominant hand. Once they form the embouchure around the straw I have them let go with their hand and hold the straw in place with their lips. This is when we talk about the angle of the straw. The straw should be pointed

PEDAGOGY

Starting Beginning Trumpets, Renee Todd, cont.

down at an angle, not parallel to the floor. This happens naturally with most students but some will have to work to get their top lip slightly more forward of, or over, their bottom lip. Once the straw is at the correct angle the students are instructed to remove the straw and blow air through the aperture for varying durations of time. Students can hold their palm one foot away from their mouth at their downward angle to feel the stream of air. As the air stream becomes more focused and they begin to blow with increased velocity they can move their palm further away. A focused air stream blown with adequate velocity can be felt with the palm at arm’s length. To get the lips buzzing, students only need to set their top lip down on top of the air stream. If students maintain firm corners and buzz with their lips flat to their teeth, it is doubtful that they will puff their cheeks when they play. If students are puffing their cheeks you can ask them to think “Ewww” when they play which will help firm their corners, bring their cheeks in, and flatten their chin.

Once students are buzzing correctly, we play different games (buzzing exercises) that will get the students to hold their buzz for different durations and begin to alter their aperture to buzz different pitches (siren and roller coaster exercises).

When it is time to start using the mouthpiece in buzzing exercises,

you’ll need to teach the students the correct way to position the case for opening and closing the lid. The first step is to make sure that students have enough space around themselves for their case and assembling their instrument without interfering with their peers that are near them. I have students sit in every-other chair with their trombone case on the floor on the right side of their chair with the bell of the case facing forward and the handle facing up towards the ceiling. When we’re ready to begin using the mouthpiece or instrument I have the students reach down with their right hand and bring their instrument case around in front of them and place it flat on the floor with the label of the instrument manufacturer facing up toward the ceiling and the handle of their instrument case facing their toes. We unlatch the latches of their case and carefully lift the lid of their case so that their case opens fully. If we are just using the mouthpiece for buzzing exercises, we will remove our mouthpiece from the case and then immediately close the case and latch one latch before moving the case back to the right side of the chair with the bell facing forward. Because we use our mouthpiece with our nondominant hand there is a risk of dropping the mouthpiece. We want to make sure that the mouthpiece doesn’t fall and hit the body of the trombone in an open case that is positioned at our feet. A mouthpiece dropped on the outer slide will create a dent and prevent the slide from working

properly.

When we add the mouthpiece to our buzzing exercises, we hold our mouthpiece on the shank using our nondominant hand. Using the nondominant hand on the shank of the mouthpiece prevents the student from using too much pressure of the mouthpiece on the embouchure.

Once students are achieving a consistent good quality buzz on the mouthpiece it is important to introduce articulation. Students must understand that the tongue releases the air to the aperture where the buzz is created. We teach the students to think “Tu” when releasing the air. The tip of the tongue begins on the roof of the mouth directly behind the top teeth and the air moves it to its resting position in the bottom of the mouth. Equally as important as the understanding of the tongue releasing the air is the understanding that the tongue interrupts the air stream to create consecutive notes on one long stream of air. Students that stop and start their air to begin and end consecutive buzzes will develop a habit of huffing to start and stop notes. It is vital that students can master the coordination of using their tongue to start consecutive notes on a single long stream of air quickly in order to avoid the development of incorrect articulation habits. Be sure to assess student achievement and look for movement of the jaw or lips. Movement in the lips could mean that

the student is tonging between their teeth which will affect the tone quality at the beginning of notes. Moving the jaw when articulating will also affect the tone quality but will also alter the intonation at the initiation of the tone.

When it is time to assemble the trombone, students are instructed to prepare the case on the floor in front of them as provided previously. Assembling the instrument begins freeing/unsnapping any areas of the case that may be securely holding either the slide or the bell in the case. Students are asked to remove the slide portion of the instrument from the case with both hands. They are told to position the slide vertically so that the open ends of the slide tubing facing the ceiling and the curved end of the slide (slide bumper) is on the floor between their feet. Students are then told to rotate the slide on the slide bumper (pivot point) until the taller open end of the slide tubing is further away from them. They should hold the slide with their left hand. The next step is to reach into the case with right hand, and with an underhand motion, place their right hand under the thicker diameter potion of the bell tubing between the two main bell braces. They then lift the bell portion of the instrument out of the case and place the open slide receiver tubing over the taller potion of the slide at a ninety-degree angle and tighten the threaded tightening bolt. Once the two main body sections of the trombone are securely assembled the

Sliding into Success with Beginning Trombone Instruction, Matthew S. Liner, cont.

student can rotate the instrument on the slide bumper pivot point ninety degrees counterclockwise so that the bell of the instrument is furthest away from them and the slide tubes are equidistant from them.

Hand position is vital for proper performance on any instrument and trombone is no different. The weight of the trombone is supported by the left hand when the instrument is in playing position. Trombonists that fail to develop the correct left-hand position initially will always have difficulty holding the instrument correctly and will likely have endurance issues with supporting the instrument with their left hand and arm. To develop the correct left-hand position students should begin by making an “L” shape with their index finger and thumb. The next step is to invert the hand position so that the index finger points down to the floor. If these two steps are completed with the hand to the left of the trombone the student can then move the left hand toward the instrument so that the lower bell brace makes contact in the corner of the index finger and thumb of the inverted “L”. Next, the student should pivot their “L” counterclockwise around the bell brace so that the index finger points to the right. This will place the index finger in a parallel orientation to the slide brace where it can make contact with the mouthpiece receptor of the slide. If the student’s finger is long enough to reach all the way to

the mouthpiece receptor then they should place it on the slide brace. The middle, ring, and pinky finger of the left hand should be placed in the rectangle space between the two slide braces. The pressure of these three fingers closing against the palm of the hand along with the left-hand thumb curving around the bell brace is what makes it possible for the left hand and arm to support the weight of the instrument.

Have the students use their right hand to make contact with the lower slide brace. The right thumb, index, and middle fingers should lightly pinch the lower slide brace.

When the trombone is lifted into playing position there should be a straight line from the left elbow all the way to the tip of the left index finger. Any bend in the wrist will weaken the student’s support of the instrument and result in endurance issues. This straight line from the left elbow to the tip of the left index finger should result in the slide and bell sections creating a “V” shape. If the shape created is an “L” the student has their left elbow raised too high resulting in the bell tubing of the instrument being too close or touching the left side of the student’s head.

position, they are ready to being making sounds on the fully assembled trombone. Once the students have assembled the slide and bell, the last step is to insert the mouthpiece into the mouthpiece receptor of the slide. The shank of the mouthpiece should be inserted straight into the mouthpiece receptor and then rotated ninety degrees so that the mouthpiece is firmly attached. Students will want to ‘pop’ the mouthpiece into the receptor with the palm of their hand. This should be discouraged so that the mouthpiece doesn’t get stuck in the receptor.

Students will find achieving a buzz on the fully assembled instrument easier than try to buzz on just the mouthpiece because of the added resistance created by the instrument.

Creating a relaxed full tone is dependent on air. Students should be reminded to breathe to a comfortably full position when inhaling prior to playing, and exhaling to a comfortably empty amount at the end of their tone/phrase. Shoulders should be in a relaxed position at all times. Tension when breathing or playing is the enemy of good quality tone production.

Once the students are comfortable assembling and disassembling their instrument and are demonstrating correct hand position and posture when holding the trombone in playing

The pitch of the first notes aren’t important. Instructors should be more concerned with the relaxed open quality of the tone. Most students will naturally play either a second partial Bflat or a third partial F.

Sliding into Success with Beginning Trombone Instruction, Matthew S. Liner, cont.

PEDAGOGY

Some beginning method books have multiple “for trombone only” pages as a part of the introductory section of their trombone method books. The lines on some of these pages provide whole note and half note lines that are written for students that achieve the low Bflat easiest while other pages are for students that find playing the third partial F more natural. The low Bflat pages will have lines that use Bflat, C, and D. The F pages will have lines that use F, E flat, and D. The common note between these pages of exercises is third line D. This is why D is first note that we try to play as a unison pitch. Once everyone plays a D correctly (along with a drone) we will move forward with unison lines for all instruments out of the method book. Most method books will then introduce notes in the following order; Concert D, C, B flat, E flat, F, higher G, lower A.

Although your students may want to move faster, it is vital that the pace that you progress through these procedures be driven by the students’ demonstration of mastery. Students that develop poor playing habits or uncharacteristic tone quality will be disadvantaged in the future. There is never a better time to be thorough in the development of the correct techniques than when students are just getting started. Fix incorrect technique/procedures early so that students are set up for success from the beginning.

Sliding into Success with Beginning Trombone Instruction, Matthew S. Liner, cont.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER IN THE BEGINNING, EXPECTATIONS, ASSESSMENT, AND PACING

BY PHILLIP RIGGS

Students have selected to be in your beginning band class, now what?

Before they walk into your room for the first time it is important that expectations have been determined. A great way to do this is with a band handbook. Instead of creating a handbook from scratch, reach out to successful directors within your local system, in your region of the state, and look for examples online. Once you have created the handbook be sure to share it with your administration to confirm that they can support the expectations and consequences you include. Try to anticipate every scenario. By doing so you are not having to make a decision at the moment. You simply follow the procedures in your handbook. Obviously, you will miss something. If you find yourself not sure of how to handle a situation, it may be best to delay a decision (if possible) instead of making the wrong decision in the moment. Once you have determined the best course of action, add it to your handbook for the future. It is important to take the time at the beginning of the year to go

over all information in the handbook with each class. Many directors also include an agreement page that they ask students and parents to sign to confirm they understand the expectations. Be sure to include any meetings, concerts, etc that will occur outside the normal class period. Take time to check the school and athletic calendars before you schedule your concerts/activities. Also, include expectations of what to wear. Take care that the clothing expectations are inclusive of all members of the ensemble.

It is important to establish good habits and routines from the beginning. Don’t assume the students will know. If you are a new teacher or a teacher that is moving to a new school you will need to cover this with all grade levels.

Questions to consider include:

• How should students enter the classroom?

• Where should they put their bookbags?

• Where should their phones be during class? (What is the school

Phillip Riggs, 2016 Grammy Music Educator of the Year, retired after teaching more than 30 years in North Carolina. Phillip is a recipient of the Outstanding Teacher Award and the Exceptional Contribution in Outreach Award presented by the UNC Board of Governors. Mr. Riggs was the first faculty member inducted into the Reagan High School Hall of Fame, (Fall, 2015).

Phillip currently serves as a conductor with the World Adult Wind Orchestra Project (WAWOP) held in Austria each summer. He is a co-founder and conductor of the NC Youth Wind Ensemble. Mr. Riggs is a Past President of the NC Band Directors Association. He also served as founding chair of the NCMEA New Teacher/Mentor Committee. He has served as the Southern Division Representative on the NAfME Council for Band and the NC chair of the National Band Association. Phillip is active as a clinician and adjudicator throughout the United States, Austria, and China.

Photo Credit: Alexandra Lane

Putting it All Together ..., Phillip Riggs, cont.

policy?)

• How do they enter/exit the storage room?

• Should they take their instruments out of the case as they enter or wait for instructions to put instruments together?

• Are they allowed to “warm-up” on their own or should they wait for instruction?

Assembling instruments and warming-up may change as the students progress. As important as these questions are, what happens if a student does not do what they are supposed to do is also important.

• What is the expectation if a student does not have their instrument or needed materials for class?

• How does this affect their grade? (Check with your administration.)

• Can this affect their grade?

• What if they miss a concert?

• Is there a deadline to let you know in writing?

• Is there an alternate assignment? You need to determine this ahead of time and be sure to be fair and consistent. Discipline does not have to be negative. The word actually comes from a root word meaning to guide or to teach. Students actually want routine.

to assume they all know. These can vary from school to school and community to community. Is winning at all costs important? Is playing the most difficult music technically a sign of success? Is making the ensemble inviting to all important? Is experiencing a musical moment each day valuable?

Be sure that your actions agree with your words. Including the program philosophy in the handbook and even posting it on the classroom wall (and maybe your office wall) will help you and the students remember your values throughout the year. Fostering the band culture with non-musical gatherings is important. Examples include ice cream parties, pool parties, skating parties, video game tournaments, etc. Even planning after-school hangouts in the bandhall by section will help build culture within a section.

another class, attend sporting events/ academic competitions/dances to show your support for the students. We are one of the few teachers that will have students in our classes for multiple years. Supporting their basic needs will help keep them making music year after year.

Another consideration is pacing. How far should your beginners be by the December break, by the end of the year? Answer: it depends. It depends on lots of factors. Do they meet every day? Is each class like-instruments only or heterogeneous? Do you have assistance from other directors, high school interns, student teachers, or professional musicians during the classes? Ultimately, the pacing needs to be determined by student mastery. This year will be different from last year and next year will also be different. We must constantly assess and alter plans based on the students’ progress.

It is also important to convey the program philosophy and values with students and parents. It is easy

Another consideration is hierarchy of needs for each student. Sometimes our job as a teacher is to be sure a student’s basic needs are met and that they feel comfortable and secure in our classroom. Once this occurs, they can begin to be successful as a musician. Discipline issues often happen because fundamental issues (non-musical) are not being addressed. As President, Theodore Roosevelt said, “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” Offer to help a student with their homework from

In the beginning, spend appropriate time with “small instruments” (flute head joint, clarinet mouthpiece and barrel, saxophone mouthpiece and neck, brass mouthpiece only). Know the pitches that the small woodwind instruments should produce. Continue to revisit these often even after students are playing on full instruments. This is a great way to check embouchures and articulation in sections that are not clean.

Think “two steps forward, one step back”. We must continue to reinforce previous concepts while introducing new ones. We must always be listening/watching for basics such as embouchure, hand position, etc. In the short term moving ahead before students have mastered a concept may keep them engaged but will not ensure success. If they do not feel successful, they will not continue in the program. Our challenge is keeping the students engaged and motivated until they have mastered each concept.

Other considerations for pacing include: Perform soon and often. More of less is more. Mr. Rogers from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood said, “I feel so strongly that deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex.” Kids join the band to perform. We all enjoy the feeling of saying something musically to one another and the audience as we perform. We all love hearing applause. For beginners consider informal concerts/open rehearsals. This gives you an opportunity to educate parents, administration, community as well as the students.

At my last middle school program we offered a two week summer camp for the middle schoolers. They came three hours each morning. The beginners met in sections with instructors for the first and third hour while the second and third year students met in full band. During the middle hour the beginners met

as a full group to work on rhythm reading, posture, etc., while the older students worked with the individual instrument instructors. We gave a concert during lunch on Thursday of the second week. Yes, the beginners had only played nine days. Their performance was a few lines from the book by section and several lines as a full ensemble. The second and third year students performed four or five pieces that usually had a theme. None of the music was very difficult but appropriate for the amount of time we had to rehearse. On the last Friday of camp we went to a local water park for the day. (Did I mention earlier the importance of non-musical events?)

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime” Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu. The band equivalent is “Teach music, not tunes.” Teaching students to read music takes a little longer but allows them to become independent musicians. It will save time in the long run.

Assessment is also important to determine before the year begins. What will be graded and the percentage for each must be shared with students and parents in the handbook. Just like other items mentioned above, be sure to get administrative approval from the beginning. There are many varieties of pass-off systems that can be successful. Many now require students to submit video recordings

via classroom management software. This is a great way to get students playing their instruments outside of class and allows you to give students individual feedback. Hearing students individually, whether in person or recorded also allows for individualized pacing. The advanced students can move ahead while the students struggling to master a concept don’t feel overwhelmed. Explore ways to establish a culture that enables students to feel successful even when they are not as far along as other students. Be sure to consider internet access for your students. You can create an alternate plan if a few do not have internet. If a significant number do not have internet access at home, you will need to use a more traditional approach. Many directors also include a weekly rehearsal technique grade. This grade can include many things including good posture, having music/ method book, having reeds and oil, and having a pencil. This may also allow you to alter a student's grade if they do not have their instrument. Worksheets and written tests are essential in band classes especially if the classes are heterogeneous. Example; You can have the woodwinds working on a written assignment while the brass are working on buzzing techniques. Much like handbook ideas, use local, regional, and online resources to determine your assessment plan.

Expectations, Pacing, and Assessment in a given program may

PEDAGOGY

Putting it All Together ..., Phillip Riggs, cont.

evolve from year to year. Our primary responsibility is to constantly evaluate our plans and adjust them to allow our students to make progress. Do not be afraid to try something new if you think it will help individual students and the overall program. On the other hand, do not hesitate to change your plan if it is not having the desired outcome.

Concepts and strategies that work in other programs may not work for your program. The best thing you can do as you begin the year is to establish a network of successful directors you can communicate with throughout the year. Do not hesitate to ask questions and get multiple ideas from various teachers. Compare all the feedback and determine the approach you think will best fit your students.

BY KEVIN

Who’s the Assistant Director?

This question is rarely asked. When we see the high school marching band in the local paper, most people associate the face of the head director with that program. This is a natural and logical response. When you ask pre-service instrumental music teachers what their “dream job” would be, I would argue that most of them want to be a head director of a high school program. Why? This hierarchy of position titles is embodied in many professions outside of music education. Position Coaches aspire to be Head Coaches, President-Elects aspire to be Presidents, Corporals aspire to be Sergeants. It is human nature to pursue growth and surpass the various levels of command in our respective fields. While this is encouraged and perfectly acceptable,

what if we had a different mentality for these assistant positions? What if we had more emphasis on the quality and experience of the individuals in these positions? What would our programs look like? How can we make these positions appealing for all levels of experience and expertise? How can we keep quality teachers in these positions?

RESEARCH

In the Fall of 2022 I completed a series of semi-structured interviews with various head and assistant band directors from the state of Ohio. Based on my results, it is arguable to say that the assistant position is not being utilized in a way that is most beneficial for school band programs. Many programs rotate through assistant directors every few years. In this study, both head directors and assistant directors alike struggled to define the assistant role in their respective programs. This uncertainty between director colleagues appeared to be a major contributing factor to the dissatisfaction of the assistant

Kevin Niese is a first-year Graduate Associate at the University of Iowa pursuing his PhD in Music Education, with an emphasis in conducting. His assistantship includes working with student teachers, beginning conductors, the Iowa City New Horizons Band, and the Hawkeye Marching Band. Prior to his current graduate appointment, he completed his master's degree in music education at Ohio University. At OHIO he assisted with all wind bands including the Marching 110, Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, and University Concert Band. His teaching positions included Director of Bands for Vinton County Local Schools in McArthur, OH and Assistant Director of Bands for Nordonia Hills City Schools in Macedonia, OH. Kevin's teaching experiences include Marching Band, Concert Band, Beginning Band, Chamber Ensembles, Pit Orchestra, Pep Band, Jazz Band and other various music electives. In the field, Kevin excelled in areas of recruitment and retention. His students were also successful participants in adjudicated events receiving exceptional ratings.

The North Central Ohio native is an active drill-writer for high school marching bands throughout the state of Ohio. His primary research interests include adjudicated events in secondary music and their relationship to lifelong musicianship.

“WHO’S THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR?” A CLOSER LOOK AT THE ASSISTANT POSITION AND MAXIMIZING ITS POTENTIAL.

NIESE

PERSPECTIVE

Who's the Assistant Director ..., Kevin Niese, cont.

output. Generally speaking, several assistant directors felt their skill-set was being overlooked. Surprisingly, head directors held themselves accountable for overlooking the assistant position. This could suggest another barrier in the communication and understanding between directors. Other impeding factors mentioned by directors was the overall job satisfaction of an assistant position. Several assistant and head directors shared the idea of being valued and how being valued can impact the productivity, work ethic, and work environment for the assistant position.

The promising outlook I have gathered from this research was that several directors agree that more can be done with the assistant position. Head and assistant directors shared quality ideas as to what the assistant role should be, but are not executing in their respective programs. Assistant directors have the ability to drastically influence the musical output of the students, improve program recruitment/retention rates, and impact established band cultures. It is imperative to complete more research on the functionality and output of the assistant position for the benefit of secondary band programs. More research would be beneficial on the relationship between directors while analyzing director personalities that work well together. Other useful research could focus on student perspective and perception of the assistant position. This extended

research could also include the student perspective of the assistant and head director relationship.

SO, WHAT CAN WE DO?

How can we be an advocate and support the assistant position nationwide?

SELF-REFLECTION

Take a strong look at your current program. What do you see? How is the assistant position incorporated with your students, ensembles, staff, administration, and community? Are they actively engaged in the music making process? Are they in a position to make a positive impact on your program? These are questions that must be answered. Sometimes the answers are alarming and reflect significant gaps within our programs. Selfreflection is imperative for growth and change.

ASSESSMENT & INVOLVEMENT

What are the strengths of your director colleague? What are YOUR weaknesses as a director? All directors have a unique set of qualities. If you are fortunate enough to work with a colleague, why wouldn’t you embrace every opportunity to collaborate, share, and ask questions? We see this utilized in co-teaching scenarios when our colleagues serve as a counterpart to our instrumental background. Specifically serving as a brass, woodwind, or percussion specialist. This mentality should go

beyond primary instruments. Our specialty area can be pedagogical, philosophical, or administrative. It could be teaching tone quality, rhythm, technique, or intonation. Personally, I love the process of recruitment and retention. These were areas where I excelled. This is where I shined. My colleagues and administrators knew that I was passionate about getting students involved in our program and provided several opportunities for me to lead these initiatives. We must rethink how we involve our colleagues and do so as often as possible.

DELEGATION & COMMUNICATION

The original title for my research paper was “All Hands on Deck!” It’s no secret that teachers nationwide are simply exhausted. Again, why wouldn’t we utilize the assistant position as often as possible?

Delegating is not a sign of weakness or laziness, it’s an essential task that facilitates progress and completion of necessary tasks. With that being said, if you're putting a colleague in an uncomfortable position to complete a poorly planned task due to your lack of preparation, you’re not delegating, you’re failing. Quality communication is essential for programs to be successful. It’s very clear when colleagues don’t communicate with one another. Lack of communication is easily seen by students, parents, administration and can affect all

aspects of the program. Most of the interviewed directors indicated that poor delegation and poor communication are the driving force of confrontation between colleagues.

FORMING AN IDENTITY

Who’s the Assistant Director? That’s a good question. Several assistant directors mentioned the feeling of being overlooked or simply being an afterthought. It’s important to create a cohesive environment for the assistant position with opportunities to lead certain aspects of the program. Having autonomy creates a sense of ownership, which in turn shows value. In the early stages of my research, a larger pool of directors completed a general survey. One of the questions simply asked “What is the primary duty of the assistant position?” A head director responded, “To take attendance…” As I was shocked by this response, I continued to research. I was curious as to how assistant positions were being advertised on job posting platforms. After a simple Google search, I found several postings for full-time assistant director positions and the necessary “qualifications.”

iPad.”

• “Minimum qualification: completion of student teaching/ internship.”

The qualifications listed above appear to be harmless and likely have good intentions. However, why would individuals be inspired to pursue these assistant positions when head director positions are seen as such:

• “Present an enthusiastic love for music…”

• “Candidate must be well-versed in advanced wind repertoire.”

• “Outstanding interpersonal and collaborative skills.”

• “Minimum qualification: 5 years experience, at the secondary or collegiate level…”

While these qualifications are a mere snapshot of a few job postings, it appears that assistant positions don’t demand the same quality or caliber of director as a head position. There is clearly a gap in the perception of these position types. If continued, this mentality will significantly impact the quality, creativity, and productivity of band programs.

Who's the Assistant Director ..., Kevin Niese, cont.

Here are simple things we can do to continue to make progress with the assistant position:

OPEN COMMUNICATION - Talk with your colleagues, even the tough conversations

SHARING OF RESPONSIBILITIESDelegate appropriately

UTILIZING STRENGTHS OF OUR COLLEAGUES - Work together with your specialized area

CREATIVE & CONSISTENT COLLABORATION - “Two heads are better than one.”

EMBRACE DIFFERENCES - Learn from one another and appreciate your different backgrounds

Now, who’s the new assistant director? Is it you?

• “Must be able to carry a minimum of 25-30 lbs unassisted.”

• “Ability to sit and stand for long periods of time.”

• “Maintain emotional control under stress.”

• “Must be able to work with an

FINAL THOUGHTS

Assistants need to be involved in all aspects of the program and be an extension of the head director. This is crucial for the success of our students and for the entirety of our programs.

CREATING A HEALTHY REHEARSAL ATMOSPHERE MATTHEW DOCKENDORF

Many factors go into the ability to create a healthy rehearsal atmosphere for our student musicians. We want our students to be progressing technically, developing as individuals as well as an ensemble, and ultimately, we want our students to experience music EVERY rehearsal. These desires affect our choices in rehearsal techniques, prioritization, and even how we speak to our students.

Throughout my career, I have worked with ensembles that have wide variations of ability levels within the ensemble. This differentiation of instruction I must deliver is paramount to assure they have a musical rehearsal and not just a “practice notes/rhythms” rehearsal. My goal is for the most accomplished musician and the least accomplished musician to be challenged and have a fulfilling experience.

I start to create a healthy atmosphere by simply trying to keep the rehearsal about being together and making music. I try to limit distractions, occasionally have music playing when they enter the room,

and be respectful of everyone so they know this is a safe space for making mistakes and making music. Once we build that trust with the musicians that we will always do our best to help them perform rather than put them down for making mistakes, we can cultivate the ensemble relationship. The students also begin to understand the expectation and standard and realize pointing out room for improvement is part of the caring process - “students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care…”

My ears and my conducting gestures are two of the most utilized rehearsal tools and one of my strongest assets to create a musical rehearsal atmosphere. When we think about it, conducting is simply human interaction. We are trying to convince and inspire other musicians to change the way they are playing based on preparatory gestures, gestures in real-time, and reactionary gestures. If we are able to gesture vividly and convincingly, then we do not have to stop the music in order to rehearse and fix or change something. Everyone could imagine a buoyant and fluttery trill or a low brass and bass drum accent that feels like a

Matthew Dockendorf is Associate Director of Bands and Director of the “Golden Buffalo” Marching Band at the University of Colorado Boulder. An Assistant Professor of Music, Dr. Dockendorf conducts the Symphonic Band and teaches instrumental conducting as well as music education courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

Dockendorf maintains an active teaching, conducting, and clinician schedule with engagements throughout the United States. He has guest conducted high school and middle school bands in Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri, South Carolina, and has presented clinics at various state music conferences, the Texas Music Educators Association convention, and the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.

Dr. Dockendorf holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from Michigan State University under Dr. Kevin L. Sedatole; a Master of Music in Conducting from The Ohio State University under Dr. Russel Mikkelson; and a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Minnesota.

20-pound sack of potatoes. Chances are, if you demonstrated both of those sounds your gesture would change and your facial expression would follow without even thinking. These types of musical concepts are what I use to develop gesture, to speak to the ensemble, and to get those musical ideas to stick with the students. We are very quick to say “louder, softer, longer, shorter”, but quite often our gestures do not reinforce those feelings and are occasionally contrary to how we ask our students to play – thus mixed messages and the loss of our greatest asset as conductors –gesture. Also, consider the mindset of students who constantly hear “shorter, shorter, shorter” and never anything more vivid - they tune out and become disengaged.

Disclaimer: Development of gesture and translating those gestures to changes in the ensemble takes work from us as conductors and takes TIME to train the ensemble how to react. Start with your warmup or other music the students have memorized to manipulate the sound and start making changes in volume, balance, style, length, emotional content, tempo, etc.

Creating this connection with the ensemble is crucial to the music and immediately benefits the atmosphere of the rehearsal. When the connection is strong (read: the students are able to respond to us) then the ensemble becomes much more responsive

to our musical ideas – IF WE HAVE THEM.

Admittedly the score study process can be tedious and subjective, but this is music. If we expect our students to have prepared the notes and rhythms for the music, then we must also have prepared the technical aspects AS WELL AS the musical/emotional aspects. It becomes our responsibility as conductors, teachers, leaders, MUSICAL INSPIRERS to have an idea of WHAT the music can be – not just the notes and rhythms.

I often have discussions with colleagues about how to get to the “music” faster and often the reply is: “we are working on the notes and rhythms, then we will be able to add more of the music.”

My response is often, “why can’t you be working on the music right now and incorporating those elements of phrase, emotional content, style, feeling, evaporating the last note to complete silence, RIGHT NOW?”

There will ALWAYS be notes, rhythms, balance, and intonation to fix, but when you were sitting in ensembles, I am certain your least favorite rehearsals were the ones where the conductor stopped frequently and only addressed mistakes. Now, think about a rehearsal taught THROUGH the music with musical ideas, analogies to demonstrate

sounds, and gestures to reinforce those sounds. A rehearsal that holds students to a high standard, but always keeps pushing them to find out what’s next. A rehearsal filled with inspirational “can it be more like this…” rather than punishing, “don’t do this or that…”. A rehearsal where we use a variety of rehearsal techniques that are scaffolded appropriately and directed toward the success of the students where everyone is engaged. A rehearsal where every student finds success at MULTIPLE times throughout the rehearsal and gets enough disguised repetition to work on technical issues as well as musical issues. These are the types of rehearsals that I try to achieve every single time.

My challenge to conductors/teachers/ leaders/inspirers is to:

• Look more like the music.

• Give musicians the CHANCE to succeed.

• Provide a musical piece of feedback and technical piece of feedback every time you stop the ensemble.

• Always question yourself… WHAT’S NEXT?

» Even with younger students, this is never complete. We can inspire and motivate our students to dive deeper into their own musicianship and foster ensemble skills that engage students beyond the notes on the page.

Creating a Healthy Rehearsal Atmosphere, Matthew

Dockendorf, cont.

Look more like the music – Practice gestures while recording yourself or signing the music and moving in a way that is reflective of the sounds you wish to emulate. Yes, gestures must be in time, however, beating time (because we think our students need it) is largely a crutch for us not knowing what we want musically. You can also practice musical gestures to recordings or by simply telling your ensemble to continue playing while you give them musical information. The easiest way to start is with a march or a piece with a steady pulse but lots of room for interpretation.

Give the musicians the CHANCE to succeed – Think about the pace of your rehearsal. Do you tend to play a few measures, stop and talk to the ensemble for a minute? Do you stop immediately after the first note is not performed together? Consider how this pacing and instruction negatively affects the psyche of your students. Give your students a chance to succeed. Refrain from stopping after every little mistake. Give them the opportunity to play, then make a few comments and go back and do it again. This will also give you the opportunity to prioritize your thoughts so you can efficiently give them feedback.

ensemble and the person that picked up their instrument again after 2 years of not playing. It was crucial that I was able to differentiate my instruction for all ability levels – chances are you have the same issue. After a while, every student benefits from the musical analogy or unattainable palette of sound, they may have not understood it to begin with, however, they could still strive for it … it always gave them a musical goal – in addition to giving reminders of key signature, air, or embouchure formation.

Always question yourself… WHAT’S NEXT? – This is a challenge. It is easy to accept correct notes, rhythms, tempo, balance, intonation, and move on to the next thing. Are we able to have an idealized image of what is the next layer of music? It is important to praise students when they are doing well, however, it is our responsibility to provide the next level of instruction and ask what the music can be, not just accept the status quo.

In my rehearsals, I have five simple guidelines that I like to use to engage the students and keep them thinking about the big picture of musicality while also mindful of the technique.

1. Care about your sound.

2. Evaluate how your sound is interacting with others.

These verbs ensure that students are active somehow with the music. For example, think of how many issues can be improved by simply reminding your students to CARE about their sound. Now, yes, this does take some training to understand what that means, but if we model or provide sound models for our students, they do try and emulate. This simple reminder (which I give multiple times throughout a rehearsal or isolated passage) gets them closer to a characteristic sound, thus being more in tune with others, and feeling better about what they are doing –this simple change affects the entire rehearsal atmosphere.

The other guidelines put the ownership on the students to be engaged with what is happening around them. As long as we have programmed music that is within their capability, they will be successful in evaluating these other guidelines. If your students are engaged with the pulse/momentum of the music, then we DO NOT need to beat time for them. We can be freed to show musical ideas while they are engaged with the pulse.

Provide a musical piece of feedback and technical piece of feedback every time you stop the ensemble – This strategy started from the necessity of instructing the music major in my

3. Be engaged with the pulse/ momentum of the music.

4. Search with your ears.

5. Be musical, always.

Oftentimes I challenge my students to perform a passage again and be more musical than they were before. Generally the line has more shape (or some shape at all), dynamics are more extreme, and students take risks – all of which are vivid characteristics of music making. We can then have

a conversation about what type of shape we would like to explore and make sure everyone is contributing. I remind them “Music is not what comes after the technique, it is what develops while the technique grows.”

All of these discussions can happen with either line #28 from Standard of Excellence or the Hindemith Symphony, just to varying degrees. However, it requires us to set up the environment for these teaching ideas to be successful and nourished.

I’m hopeful some of these thoughts are helpful in creating a healthy rehearsal atmosphere for your students. As a wise principal I once had would say, “Keep the main thing, the main thing.” In all teachers’ cases, it is the students, and in our case we also need to find a way to cultivate the rehearsal atmosphere to make room for the other “main thing” - the music.

Creating a Healthy

Rehearsal Atmosphere, Matthew Dockendorf, cont.

BOOK REVIEWS

BY GARY BARON

a phone call to a colleague. Text is concise, to the point, and contains no wasted words. Information is included that covers making paper copies, recordings, videos, your own arrangements, the internet, digital products, public domain, and any other factor that may arise. A glossary contains many surprising terms. With the thorough index, almost any question can be answered within a few seconds.

When I retired, our human resources manager gave me this warning: “Don’t look toward other retirees for advice. They are not experts. Only seek advice from the Teacher Retirement System office and their publications.” It seems so much easier to ask fellow directors for copyright do’s and don'ts, but why would they know more than you? Like retirement laws, copyright laws can be a confusing web of details.

Pam Phillips and Andrew Surmani have produced a book that lays out copyright information in a manner that helps you find answers even faster than sending an email or making

This Copyright Handbook will pay for itself in time saved and you won’t have to wonder if the information is correct. Phillips and Surmani have done us a real service. Highly recommended.

Gary Barton retired from the La Porte, Texas Independent School District after thirty-seven years of teaching in five states. He received the Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Louisiana-Monroe and the Master of Science in Education from Indiana University. A Past President of the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association and Past 2nd Vice-President of the National Band Association, he has written for numerous publications and has done clinics and presentations in sixteen states. He may be reached at bartonglp@gmail.com.

Copyright Handbook for Music Educators and Directors

by Pam Phillips and Andrew Surmani

Van Nuys, California: Alfred Music, 2017;

ISBN-10: 1-4706-3598-4

ISBN-13: 978-1-4706-3598-5

US $19.99; 72 pages

Continued on next page

Josh Gottry’s new little book, Freelance, is one that inspired me to share it as soon as I read it, which didn’t take very long at a compact seventy-three pages and ten chapters. Each chapter has its own topic and can be approached independently. Chapters are two to five pages and are followed by one journaling page with three

questions that create the opportunity to brainstorm (use a pencil because you will be revisiting over time). Finally, each chapter is followed by a very brief discussion by a successful musician/entrepreneur (the essay by Patrick Sheridan alone is worth the price of the book). Some of the topics of the tightly-written chapters include life-long learning, how every gig is an audition, creating visibility, finding your unique abilities, diversifying yourself, the value of professional organizations to your career, the value of surrounding yourself with quality people, and knowing how to create your best financial practices.

Each chapter made me think, “Everyone needs to read this. A dentist, a lawyer, a plumber needs these skills as well as anyone who works with the public.” This book is for everyone. A bonus is that teaching tips are inadvertently peppered throughout the book. Freelance helps us work with

Book Reviews, Gary Barton, cont.

the public. Josh Gottry has written a book that will help us work with large groups of students and booster groups, our most important clients. I promise every reader will benefit from this book. Highly recommended.

Freelance, 10 Common Sense Keys to Making Your Music Your Business by Josh

Gottry

Greensboro, North Carolina: C. Alan Publications, LLC, 2021; ISBN 978-1-955700-00-9; US $12.99; 73 pages

Original photo (without effects) ©Aaron Jay Young, 2021 Los Angeles

A CONVERSATION WITH VIET CUONG

BY BENJAMIN

POUNCEY

Viet Cuong (b. 1990) is an award-winning Vietnamese-American composer whose eclectic sound has been described as “alluring” and “wildly inventive” by The New York Times.1 The composer’s catalog includes works for wind ensemble, orchestra, chamber ensemble, solo, vocal, and electronic music. In November 2022, I conducted an interview as part of the research for my master’s thesis pertaining to orchestration techniques used in Cuong’s wind band music. The interview’s entirety has been condensed and optimized to offer a resource for the preparation and performance of the composer’s music as the content of the conversation provides insight into the life, career, and compositional process of Viet Cuong.

INTRODUCTION

Viet Cuong is an award-winning Vietnamese-American composer whose music has been commissioned and performed on six continents by internationally acclaimed ensembles,

such as the New York Philharmonic, Eighth Blackbird (Chicago, Illinois), the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (St. Paul, Minnesota), the Atlanta Symphony, the United States Navy Band (Washington, D.C.), and the Dallas Winds, among many others. International performances include those by the Queensland Wind Orchestra (Brisbane, Australia), the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore), and ensembles in Canada, Brazil, Portugal, Italy, and Japan. With an eclectic sound described as “alluring” and “wildly inventive” by The New York Times, Cuong is lauded as a leading contemporary composer and has amassed numerous accolades, including the Walter Beeler Memorial Compositional Prize presented by Ithaca College, the Theodore Presser Foundation Award, the ASCAP Morton Gould Composers Award, and the 2023 ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize for Vital Sines (2022). Cuong served as a mentor for the 2022 National Band Association’s Young ComposerConductor Mentor Project, hosted by the United Stated Air Force Band (Washington, D.C.), and was selected as a mentee participant for the project in 2010. Currently an Assistant

Benjamin Pouncey is a graduate assistant pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in wind conducting from the University of South Carolina. Mr. Pouncey earned the Master of Music degree in wind conducting from Colorado State University and the Bachelor of Music degree in music education from the University of South Carolina. He was a middle and high school band director for eight years in Dorchester School District Two (Summerville, SC).

Professor of Music Composition and Theory at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Cuong earned degrees in music composition from Princeton University (M.F.A./PhD), the Curtis Institute of Music (Artist Diploma), and the Peabody Conservatory (B.M../ M.M.).

Cuong was born on September 8, 1990 in the west San Fernando Valley

suburb of West Hills, California. Beginning piano lessons at the age of five sparked an early interest in music and his fascination continued when Cuong’s family ultimately relocated to Marietta, Georgia. His piano experience provided a natural bridge to mallet keyboard instruments when Cuong joined band in middle school and he continued as a percussionist in the renowned Lassiter High School Band. Cuong took an early, explorative initiative in creating his own music. Later learning to play clarinet broadened the horizon for the young composer and established a knowledge base that, when paired with the support of his teachers, lit the flame of his renowned career.

On Monday, November 14, 2022, I had the honor of interviewing Viet Cuong as part of the research for my master’s thesis pertaining to orchestration techniques used in Cuong’s wind band music. The topics included biographical information, the composer’s compositional process and philosophy, as well as the significance of composer-conductor collaboration. The excerpts that follow are from our conversation.

BIOGRAPHICAL

The following questions pertain to the composer’s life, education, and musical influences.

pieces were you writing? Were they full band works or were they compositions for small ensembles?

Viet Cuong: It was a combination of things. I got my start from trying to write music that was similar to what we were playing in middle school. When I got to high school, it was mostly a continuation of that. I remember my freshman year of high school, the associate director at Lassiter named Catharine Bushman—it was Catharine Sinon at the time, so Ms. Sinon—gave me one of her downloads of Finale that she won at a raffle while attending the Midwest Clinic. That was a big moment because what I was using when I first started was Finale Notepad, and I think at the time you could only use up to seven instruments. Then towards the end of middle school I got what was called Finale Printmusic, which allowed you to use maybe up to twenty instruments. After I received the full version of Finale, that allowed me to have an entire band score and I never reached the max number of instruments possible. I would say that's when I started to actually write full band pieces, my freshman year of high school.

pieces that were “marching bandesque.” An example of this being, oftentimes in Lassiter’s marching band shows the closer would have a woodwind fugue, and that's where I learned what a fugue was—I never learned what a fugue was from Bach or anything. (laughs) I would write these woodwind fugues and they often had this marching band sound to them. I was also inspired by the original source material of the marching band arrangements we performed. My freshman year our show included music by David Holsinger, which led me to write pieces that were similar to Holsinger. Then in the spring I would write pieces inspired by what we were playing in concert band. I was also in percussion ensemble in high school and our percussion ensemble was really good—in fact, we performed at the Midwest Clinic my sophomore year. We played David Gillingham’s Stained Glass, which is a big percussion ensemble piece, and I remember writing a piece for a mallet percussion ensemble that was similar to Stained Glass

When you were a young band student beginning to explore composition, what type of

They were mostly in the style of whatever I was playing in band, so in the fall I would write these

I also wrote some chamber pieces for my friends. I wrote a woodwind quintet, and a string quintet, because I didn’t know that a string quintet was unusual. (laughs) I figured, of course it would include string bass! (laughs) I also wrote arrangements of piano music for my friends to play on mallet

A Conversation with Viet Cuong, Benjamin Pouncey, cont.

instruments in our percussion ensemble—I remember writing some Chopin and Rachmaninoff arrangements. I also wrote a vibraphone trio arrangement of the Morten Lauridsen O Magnum Mysterium because we were playing that my junior year in concert band. Everything I did was directly tied to what the Lassiter band program was doing.

When you were applying to undergraduate music programs, what really drew you to the Peabody Conservatory?

Viet Cuong: I didn’t know what Peabody was until the summer before my senior year. There is something called the Georgia Governor's Honors Program (GHP), and it is basically a summer program available to high school students throughout Georgia. You could audition and interview for whatever program you choose and it acted as a small preview of college, if you will. I was a percussion major there and we had different classes each week. One day we attended a twenty-first century music class and I remember our percussion teacher, Ryan Smith, would play music for us. This was my first experience hearing the music of George Crumb. He also played an orchestra piece titled Rainbow Body by a composer named Christopher Theofanidis. I loved it and I still love that piece. I remember getting

chills listening to it. I was so inspired that I Googled Christopher Theofanidis and read that he taught at a music school in Baltimore called Peabody. I looked further into it and Peabody ended up on my list of schools for that reason.

There were other schools on that list as well. I remember applying to USC (University of Southern California) and Michigan because I knew they had good band programs, and I was very inspired by Frank Ticheli and Michael Daugherty’s music. We had previously sight-read Daugherty's Niagara Falls in band so there were other schools I applied to that were tied to the music and composers we learned about in band at Lassiter. Peabody was different, however, because it was discovered in this place outside of Lassiter. Ultimately, I decided to go to Peabody because everything in my musical life had been so band focused, I thought I probably should try to do something outside of that. By going to a music conservatory like Peabody the emphasis generally surrounded the orchestra and opera program— there is a wind ensemble but it's not the focus—so it was good for me to branch out.

Viet Cuong: My roommate my freshman year was a violinist, and I remember learning about the violin the first week of school. Prior to this I didn't even know what the open strings of a violin were. (laughs) As I mentioned, I wrote a string quintet in high school and it was not good. It showed no understanding of string instruments, or bowing, or anything like that. Talking to my roommate about violin, string writing, and things like harmonics was so mind-blowing. In addition, one of my best friends, who was also a violinist, lived right next door to us. Being around people who came from a different musical background and who played different repertoire was so amazing. When I think back to my best friends in college, many of them were string players, guitarists, and percussionists— some were also woodwind players and brass players—so it was a good mix. When you’re in music school, everyone's conversations are about the repertoire they’re working on and what the orchestra is rehearsing. I remember going to orchestra concerts to support my friends and hearing music I had never heard before. That opened up my world to so many other things that I could try to write.

Do you recall experiences as a composition student that were turning points or that really influenced your musical outlook?

Regarding your teachers and mentors, are there characteristics of your writing that you attribute

A Conversation with Viet Cuong, Benjamin Pouncey, cont.

to a particular person’s influence?

Viet Cuong: I have always been inspired by my teacher's musical voices and the pieces they write— that includes the risks they take, and the risks they don't take—along with the things they’ve learned through all of their experiences. I think as a composer-teacher that's what you teach—your learned experience—and you help students navigate those things themselves. For me, I always found Kevin Puts, in particular, to be a guiding light because I think his music is in a similar world to mine. Nowadays, as a composer, you can really write whatever you want and it's really exciting for that reason. Maybe fifteen years ago, however, in some ways I felt pressure to write music that wasn't necessarily true to myself, in order to be taken seriously. But I always remember, no matter what, Kevin would write, and continues to write, whatever music that is really honest and sincere to him, and he's massively successful. That inspired me to do the same and stay honest to who I am. I would say that's true of every teacher that I studied with. They are all really confident musical voices, and even though Oscar Bettison’s music is very different from Kevin’s he has the same confidence in his voice. Oscar also really helped me to think outside of the box. That was great to study for a year with him at Peabody. Every

teacher I have had has influenced me in a different way and I owe a lot to them.

How has your experience been thus far as a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas?

Viet Cuong: It's been really rejuvenating to have my teaching be part of my musical life and to feel like I am useful in ways other than just as a composer, (chuckles) in terms of what I have to offer the world musically. I think when you're freelancing as a composer, like I was doing for years before beginning this role, a lot of your self-worth is tied up in your composition career—what kind of commissions you're getting and how many performances you're getting—and it can be overwhelming at times. I feel much more as though I have a balanced outlook on life. I still want to have all these things happening in my career outside of teaching, but I have really enjoyed teaching as a grounding force in my life now.

Is there anything in your teaching experience that has reinforced or changed how you approach composition?

Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé for my orchestration class last year, which is a piece I love, and a piece I feel is something everyone who teaches orchestration tends to introduce. My mind was blown the first time I heard the piece in college. When I played it for my students, however, some of the them were just not into it. (chuckles) It seems as though, and I'm generalizing here, people in my generation love these really textural pieces—music that’s really focused on color and timbre and shifts in texture. More recently, I've noticed younger students in college are really into counterpoint and more structured ways of making music. It's just been interesting to witness. In that way, teaching is a nice way of keeping you on your toes and connected to what's happening.

Do you have any ideas where that comes from [younger students’ musical interests]?

Viet Cuong: Even with a separation of ten or fifteen years, it's interesting to see what different generations enjoy about music. I remember playing Maurice

Viet Cuong: I’m not sure, I think it's just the pendulum swinging. If a lot of composers are interested in one thing then interests eventually shift because we're trying to find fresh ways to approach writing music. Once a lot of composers have exhausted one avenue you typically explore a different one. It’s what keeps music interesting and why music has evolved over hundreds of years. This semester I’m teaching a graduate Baroque

A Conversation with Viet Cuong, Benjamin Pouncey, cont.

seminar class and we cover many notable composers of the Baroque era. It’s really interesting to hear Baroque era composers write within these similar styles and forms, using the same instruments, for the most part, and similar chords—yet everyone has their own distinct musical style. Scarlatti, for example, is so vastly different than Bach. It's also interesting that the pendulum completely swung in a different direction for the Classical era. What people valued and what people wanted to hear was so different. It's fascinating to compare Bach to Mozart—two composers that are really iconic, but so very different. I think music just does that every so often and I think changes and shifts now happen more quickly because music is so accessible.

You have mentioned before that you have traversed stages in your compositional career2. Do you still recognize those stages, and if so, where do you see yourself now in that trajectory?

Viet Cuong: It was so funny when I was sitting in Nils Landsberg’s doctoral defense because it was very meta and kind of strange to listen to someone discuss the stages of my life, (laughs) but I think it's true. I would say I'm in a completely different place now than I was in 2019. COVID

happened and there was a pretty stark change in terms of the music I wanted to write during that time. I think in his dissertation Nils called my second compositional stage a more whimsical era— including Bull’s-Eye and my double oboe concerto—these pieces that are really humorous and sound as though I'm winking throughout the piece. I got to a place during COVID when a lot of the music I was writing was actually all very reflective and more melancholy. During that time, and I think maybe still now, I was writing music as a way to find comfort as opposed to a way of entertaining. Vital Sines is definitely one of the pieces from that period. I was also really interested in writing music that was unapologetically beautiful and, in a way, using that idea as a means of defiance. For example, Vital Sines is a concerto for Eighth Blackbird, which is a very prominent new music ensemble, and almost every chord is a triad or major seventh chord. I guess that's how I would sum up the last couple years.

COMPOSITIONAL APPROACH

The following questions pertain to compositional components in the context of how the composer approached writing music in the early stages of his career versus currently.

it has developed over time in conjunction with your compositional voice?

Viet Cuong: I'm now much more drawn to using the piano in the process than I was before, and I keep the piano in the process longer. I’m not sure why that is. It might be something as simple as I use the piano to import music into the notation software I use now called Dorico. I didn’t do that prior to this when I was using Finale. I would say I also think more deeply about every single note and the voice leading of notes. These are concepts I think more seriously about after years of teaching music theory. I don't like to compromise on things like voice leading and I think more about it now than I did when I was younger. When I listen to a piece like Sound and Smoke or when I rehearse it with a group, I appreciate its youthful quality. It always brings me back to that time when I was twenty years old and starting my senior year of college. It was an exciting time too and I think all of us composers look at these younger pieces that we wrote before we knew as much as we do now, and there's something very endearing about it.

In terms of your overall process, do you feel as though

2Nils Landsberg, “Viet Cuong’s Bull’s-Eye: A Conductor’s Analysis” (DMA diss., University of Kansas, 2019), 6.

A Conversation with Viet Cuong, Benjamin Pouncey, cont.

A Conversation with Viet Cuong, Benjamin Pouncey, cont.

Regarding some of your earlier pieces, you have mentioned that in some cases you wrote them beginning to end, and did not begin with a form in mind.3 Is that the case now or do you think differently about form when constructing a piece?

Viet Cuong: Yes and no, I think it still depends on the piece—but I do think about form more now than I did earlier in my career. There is almost this youthful indiscretion in Sound and Smoke where I was writing whatever I thought should happen next and wasn't considering form as much. But now I like to combine that with being more deliberate about the overall structure of a piece and to every so often take a step back and think about that structure. Over the past ten years, in terms of structure and form, I've learned how to make the most out of one musical idea. In Sound and Smoke there is an early indication of that in the second movement when a motive is developing but it's all over the place. Now I really try to squeeze as much as I can out of one idea and be really economical with it because I think it results in a piece that's really tight and focused. I think if you want to use a word to describe a big change over the last ten years it's focus. I think my music is much more focused now.

Do you think about thematic or motivic material early in the process? Or do you begin with a specific timbre first?

Viet Cuong: It's hard to say what truly comes first, melody or texture, because it's different for every piece. Usually I start with one of those two. I think for Vital Sines, the very first thing I wrote that ended up in the piece—actually there was a lot that I wrote that didn't end up in the piece because it was originally supposed to be premiered in December of 2020 at Midwest. If that had happened the piece would have been completely different than what it is now and I think it's much better now than what it would have been in 2020— however, the first thing I wrote that ended up in the piece was the opening measures. That “melody,” I guess you could call it, led me to orchestrate that in the winds. I knew right then what the texture would be. It was almost as if the texture and melody came together. I knew immediately that I wanted to make it sound really resonant and reverberant, and as if all these sounds are being echoed. It developed from this way of writing for piano that I had been working on in pieces such as America the Beautiful: “Echo Chamber,” which was a prototype for the technique, as well as another piece called Again and Again that I wrote for prepared piano around the same time.

Melody and texture are almost inseparable to me. When writing a melody, I immediately think, “how am I going to orchestrate it?” And when working within a texture, I think, “what melody am I going to use with it?” I don't ever write a piece as a piano short score and then decide when it's time to orchestrate it. It's totally inseparable to me. Some composers will write something that looks like a piano piece, or they'll use a couple of grand piano staves to write the piece and then orchestrate it. What I do is insert a couple of piano staves inside the band score and that's where the information is, because it can get really unwieldy if, for example, there is a whole band plus a sextet, (chuckles) so there are piano staves running throughout the piece. Those staves do not contain music that anyone is actually playing but they act as a short score within what is happening everywhere else.

Regarding the acoustic delay processing effects that you have uniquely incorporated in your music, how has that technique become a compositional throughline in your work and how has it developed?

Viet Cuong: If there is one thing I want to be my signature, I want it to be that. I have used this delayed sound world since 2011 when I wrote a saxophone solo titled

3Andrew Trachsel, “Sound and Smoke,” in Teaching Music Through Performance in Band 11, ed. Richard Miles (Chicago: GIA Publications, 2018), 812.

Naica. It's been over ten years and it has become an aspect of my orchestration that feels really personal to me. It has also been really fun to explore. In a piece like Sound and Smoke the delay is a quarter note, so the rhythmic offset of the delay effect, or echo, is equal to one beat. That is something I still do but I have played around with using delays that are different durations depending on what meter the music is in—which is something I first did in Re(new)al. What is interesting to me about this idea [delays of different durations depending on meter] is that a computer, such as a Max patch or a pedal, cannot do this—unless a really complicated Max patch is written that is probably going to have bugs or not work. Changing the duration and speed of delay note to note is something I've been more interested in recently. I incorporated this in Vital Sines too. In that piece, sometimes the delay is even set to the dotted sixteenth note in addition to being set to eighth notes at other times. The actual delay becomes a counterpoint to the music that is being processed. It’s been really fun to do that and I'm still exploring more ways to use these sounds—it is something that has been a throughline throughout a lot of my music. There was a time in graduate school that I was not using it as much. I used it in Sound and Smoke and in Moth, however,

I didn’t use it in Diamond Tide — there was a period when I wasn't really interested in it up until somewhat recently within the last couple years.

On another level, for me, this feeling of delay and echoing symbolizes, especially during COVID, all of us being alone and our thoughts bouncing around in our head. Our communities became these online echo chambers and it was almost the only way we interacted with people. There is also the idea of music notes being echoes of our influences and, as musicians, we are echoes of our mentors’ pedagogy. There are different ways to look at it, but I think thematically it is a tool and an intriguing sound.

Wow, I love that. Regarding the delay effects, when you are creating different sound pallets, are there certain timbres and instrument combinations that you are drawn to or do you try to create something new each time?

Viet Cuong: I really like the sound of using delay with percussive instruments, such as piano or marimba playing staccato notes, with woodwinds. With brass I have these tricks to make them playable because, for example, playing dotted eighth notes at a quick tempo creates this cross

rhythm of four against three—what I oftentimes do is give the brass downbeats so that it is easier to play. Sometimes, however, that rhythm on brass instruments does not sound as effortless, but if I were to write repeated dotted eighths, it's more challenging to count.

I just finished a piece for band titled Deciduous, for the Florida Bandmasters Association and Florida All-State Symphonic Band. The entire work is delay effect and it’s mostly in the woodwinds, mallet percussion, and piano. I would say in terms of colors I'm drawn to, I really like woodwinds and percussion because those are instruments I play—brass is great too—but for the delay effect, woodwinds and percussion are the instruments I gravitate towards most because they're just more nimble.

When you are designing a piece, do you begin with orchestration, such as voicing the delay processing effect, or harmonic motion? Does one drive the other?

Viet Cuong: I would say purely that, for example the harmonic motion of a G minor chord, that is not connected to the effect. But to make the delay effect the most effective, the notes have to be a certain distance apart. Otherwise it just sounds like a scale. But if I voice a G minor chord with notes a sixth apart, it makes the delay

A Conversation with Viet Cuong, Benjamin Pouncey, cont.

A Conversation

effect work a little better. That's why all the intervals between the notes in the opening of Vital Sines are sixths or fifths. I could have closed the voicing but it wouldn’t have sounded as interesting. In that case, the voicing is tied to the effect.

Are there other compositional throughlines you have noticed in your music?

Viet Cuong: I would say triadic harmony. It’s something I have always loved. If I ever use seventh chords I'm really judicious about it. There is something about triads I find beautiful and pure in a certain way. I think maybe in a couple years I'll graduate to using seventh chords. Maybe by the time I'm old I’ll be up to eleventh chords and just stop there. (laughs) The opening of Sound and Smoke is overlapping triads. Vital Sines also uses triads but one note changes at a time to create suspensions and chords move down by step one note at a time. There are probably other throughlines as well—for example, I've always loved the use of metallic percussion—but I would say triadic harmony is probably one of the biggest.

Viet Cuong: Similar to the way my compositional voice has become more focused over the years, the way I write for percussion has become more focused as well. In terms of writing for percussion instruments, I always try to get as much as I can out of a select group of instruments that I choose to use in a piece. In a piece like Sound and Smoke I think there is a moment where I used sleigh bells shaken for six measure, or something like that, and I don't use them again. (laughs) It’s sort of this youthful discretion in thinking, “there's so many great percussion instruments. I love this sound of rolled triangle with sleigh bells, it's really jangly and really cool”—and it is a cool sound—but now if I were to do that, I would think, “I need to use these sleigh bells again, what can I do with them? What other sounds can I make? What else can I combine them with?” Now if I decide to use crotales, for example, I'm going to divide them up between six people and create different effects with them. That's one way writing for percussion has changed.

like to play. Either that, or I just feel the sound of them is tired and that they've been used so much they are not as interesting to me. An example of this is snare drum. Unless I'm using snare drum in a specific way—such as in Re(new) al where it's part of a drum set, or in Vital Sines where it's literally part of a drum set, or in Sound and Smoke, there's a segment where I wanted a boom-chick sound—I otherwise don't use snare drum. I think part of that is because, how many middle and high school band pieces do we have that use some sort of snare and bass drum motor? That sound is so tired and it automatically makes the piece sound like it’s written for a specific purpose—and I don't like that about it.

Being a percussionist, how have you approached writing for percussion instruments over the course of your career?

In some other ways, it has somewhat stayed the same. I don't know if you’ve noticed, there are certain instruments I don't use a lot for the percussion section. I think this has to do with being a percussionist growing up and there were just instruments I didn't

I also don't use xylophone very much at all. I used it recently in my double oboe concerto, but that's because it sounds great with harpsichord—using xylophone like continuo. Otherwise, I don't really like it because it sticks out too much—and also maybe because in the marching band front ensemble I was always the xylophone player. (laughs) What I love about marimba and vibraphone is that, on some level, they are neutral instruments and, almost like piano, they can blend really well with other things—so when you hear a marimba and vibraphone, you don’t think, “that's

with Viet Cuong, Benjamin Pouncey, cont.

a marimba and vibraphone.” They create beautiful timbres that come out of the instrument. I'm also really interested in reverb, delay, and really wet acoustics in my music—xylophone is the antithesis of that. It’s meant to be really brittle sounding and just doesn't fit in my music. I would say usually when I use xylophone a lot I regret it. There are moments, however, where I use xylophone because I want it to articulate and accent what the marimba and piano are doing.

There is a great deal of motion in your music. Is this related to your choice of meter and how you employ time signatures to generate velocity?

Viet Cuong: In the first movement of Sound and Smoke, I gave the half note the beat because I wanted it to feel like the music of Palestrina and other Renaissance vocal music that is usually written in the same fashion. When we see half notes and a lot of empty note heads, I think there's something psychological that leads us to sing or play longer. Even though the same music could be written with the quarter or eighth note as the beat, I think we would approach it differently because we see more stems and beams and it just looks faster—even when it isn't. I’ve noticed Bach did this in an opposite way as he writes solo

violin music that’s really slow, but he uses all these thirty-second notes. It doesn’t actually sound like that if you were to transcribe it without looking at the music—but I think he psychologically wanted something that had a sense of urgency—even though it wasn't necessarily fast. In Bull’s-Eye, I want that sense of urgency a lot of the time. I remember thinking that I could notate it in eighth notes, and it might be easier to read, but it wouldn't have that lightness about it. I've done this in other pieces too. I have a chamber piece that I’ve withdrawn titled Nothing If Not and sixteenth notes run throughout most of the piece. I made a full orchestra prototype of that piece and wrote eighth notes instead— the ensemble never played it as fast as Nothing If Not. No one ever plays it that fast because they see eighth notes and don’t play as quickly. That's one aspect of generating motion—choosing the mensuration of the meter.

Meter changes are another interesting aspect I've been exploring. In Vital Sines, there's a section that uses constant meter changes, but those meters are what the music is—going between dotted eighths to eighths—so I notated it that way. Then there's a point where the drums come in and I take the same music but write it in 4/4. Doing that creates cross rhythms and a groove which is a

fun thing to do. I know someone could look at that music with all those meter changes and think, “why don’t you just put it in 4/4?”— well, turn a couple pages and that's what happens. Trying to write it both ways is kind of fun. That was a big moment when I realized that I can just erase all the meter changes and put a steady groove on top, with the drum set playing a very straightforward 4/4 beat— that was a cool discovery with that piece. But generally, I like for meters to be very straightforward. I only do meter changes when they are necessary—or when I feel as though it adds something to the music that would be missing if it wasn't there. I don't write meter changes just to make the music hard. If someone commissions a grade six piece, it might remain in 4/4 throughout the entire work. I don't think of grade six as a formulaic concept that must have specific meter changes and metric modulations, etc. All the notation serves to express exactly and most clearly what I'm trying to do.

It is interesting in Bull’s-Eye that, without changing the tempo, the overall feel of the music changes, thus drawing attention to the orchestration.4 Is that technique used often in your music or are there other approaches used to focus the listener’s attention to certain aspects of the music?

A Conversation with Viet Cuong, Benjamin Pouncey, cont.

Viet Cuong: In Bull’s-Eye that was something specific to that piece, in terms of using metric changes to draw the listener’s attention, but I will thin out the score all the time and orchestrationally draw the listener’s attention to other things— similar to working in a digital audio workstation, like Logic or Pro Tools, where you can mute and unmute voices—sometimes I'll do that to the orchestration. I will write an entire, fully orchestrated idea, and then decide that it's too thick and dense for too long and begin to “poke holes” and thin things out—which is a fun thing to do because it's almost like being a DJ remixing your own music.

What can you share about the inception of one of your earliest pieces for band, Sound and Smoke?

Viet Cuong: Sound and Smoke actually began as an orchestra piece—it was a piece I was working on my junior year of college. At some point I abandoned the piece and then at the end of that year, Harlan Parker, conductor of the Wind Ensemble, asked if I wanted to write a band piece for the Peabody Wind Ensemble. I had previously written a piece my freshman year of college, which I have since withdrawn, that the Wind Ensemble premiered my sophomore year and it went well. After being given the opportunity to write another piece I thought,

“there's all this music I abandoned that I wrote this past year. It would be a shame for it to go to waste.” I remember pulling out the original file and deciding to turn this orchestra piece into a band piece—and that material became the second movement of Sound and Smoke. I hadn't written any of the first movement until I received the offer from Harlan. Although, the first page of the opening to Sound and Smoke is music that I had played on the piano from a time, probably since high school. It was something I had come up with and never used for anything—I had also never written it down—but I had it in my hands and my ears and I eventually decided to notate it. I remember writing it out and thinking, “Wow, this is cool!”

How did you make the decision to have two movements in Sound and Smoke?

Viet Cuong: I really just wanted to write a slow and fast movement. This is another throughline in my music—I don't change tempos very often. Usually the tempo is just set and away it goes. (chuckles) When I do change tempo it's when I change movements—I don't write a lot of accelerando or ritardando. I have ideas to do that more, it just hasn't been something I've done very much. If there is a tempo change the music may go into halftime, so it's not necessarily a change of

tempo. That’s not to say that my music doesn’t ever change tempo. For example, in Vital Sines there are tempo changes, but they are very small. The music says something like “slightly faster.” (chuckles) When I say I typically don’t change tempo, I’m saying it's not drastic— suddenly slow or suddenly fast. In Sound and Smoke, I also wanted to break away from the form I had heard my whole life in band music which is fast-slow-fast. The piece I wrote for band my freshman year that I mentioned earlier is called Ziggurat, as in the Mesopotamian structures called ziggurats. That was a fast-slow-fast piece. Writing two movements in Sound and Smoke was almost like giving myself the challenge of, “You’re going to write something that’s seven minutes long, and it’s going to be slow the entire time—and then it’s going to be fast.”

COMPOSER-CONDUCTOR COLLABORATION

The following questions pertain to the composer’s view on the collaboration between the composer and an ensemble conductor, as well as a few closing thoughts.

How do you view the significance of composer-conductor collaboration in projects you have completed and current projects you are working on?

Viet Cuong: It's really important

A Conversation with Viet Cuong, Benjamin Pouncey, cont.

to me because it involves so much mutual trust. The composer trusts the conductor to bring the music to life, and the conductor trusts the composer to have a vision they know how to attain. Though it might be hard to get the music to sound how you want it, the conductor trusts that the composer knows how they want the music to sound and that what they write can achieve that. With every conductor I work with I really value that sense of trust and I think it's good to be involved with one another in the process. Very rarely do I ever just send off a piece—there is some level of back and forth, which is great and I always welcome that.

How do you view the role of the wind band right now in the art music realm? Both in general and specifically for you, what trajectory do you see the wind band on in terms of its place in the music world?

Viet Cuong: I think it's a vitally important medium for composers. First of all, we as composers can take so many risks with wind ensemble music because a lot of conductors are willing to go there with us. There's this renaissance of band music and people are really excited about it—which means conductors are really excited to commission composers, support them, and develop lasting relationships. In a couple of

months, I'm going to the University of Oregon for a performance of Vital Sines with Dennis Llinás. He was one of the very first people who performed Sound and Smoke, when I was a complete nobody. It's been amazing to work with conductors who really support your music over the years.

I also think bands have an importance in the music world because there's such a strong sense of community in band. For me, that was really important as a kid— to have that community. I was, of course, so lucky to be in a program like Lassiter. Nevertheless, I talk to people who weren’t in programs like Lassiter and they still have that same experience—where they felt lost as kids, and then they found band. It was something they always looked forward to doing, regardless of whether or not they became professional musicians. In my opinion, that is perhaps one of the most important things that the wind band does.

For my own personal trajectory, I think band is something I'll always write for because it is a place where I feel very at home. Even though I started off as a band kid and took all these different turns—and I still hope to write for all sorts of ensembles—band is something I will continue to come back to, at least every couple of

years. As long as you all will have me.

What other composers and ensembles are you interested in and listening to right now?

Viet Cuong: I’ve been listening to a lot of orchestral music recently because I'm writing this big piece for orchestra. I recently listened to Steven Stucky’s Concerto for Orchestra No. 2. I’ve been listening to ambient music, such as Nils Frahm, because I'm wanting to create something like that for this orchestra piece. I think there are hints of ambient music in what I've been doing recently and it’s something I want to explore more. I listened to a piece by Andrew Norman recently called Sustain that's really incredible. I’ve listened to some saxophone quartet music as well. I listened to some of Eighth Blackbird’s albums recently. I also like listening to music that’s by people around my age, maybe a little older, or a little younger, to see what other people are doing. These days everything is so easily accessible through the internet, so it’s easy to stay in tune with what everyone is doing.

What is your hope for ensembles and audiences that experience your music?

Viet Cuong: I just want them to connect with it in some way. I

A Conversation with Viet Cuong, Benjamin Pouncey, cont.

A Conversation with Viet Cuong, Benjamin Pouncey, cont.

think it's a hard thing to be able to predict how the audience will react to your music because audiences are different every time. The audience at Midwest is going to be extremely different than the audience at a new music concert in Chicago. Ideally, I just want them to connect with it in some way so that maybe they leave humming a melody, or leave having a favorite moment, or just remember something that really resonated with them.

In Vital Sines, I hope there are different things with which different people might connect. There are some moments in the piece that I think of as really special or moments that, if I was an audience member, I would probably walk away remembering. One moment for me is when it all focuses into the clarinet solo in the middle of the piece. I think of it as, after all this big and static energy, along with maybe some turmoil and anguish, it comes down to this moment that is like a ray of light coming through a cloud. I am also really proud of the last four minutes of the piece [Vital Sines], with the chaconne and the big build to the end. I just hope everyone connects with my music. Ideally, maybe it even inspires them in some way.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blue Dot Collective. “About.” Blue Dot Collective.

Accessed January 14, 2023.

www.bluedotcollective.weebly.com.

Cuong, Viet. “About.” Viet Cuong Music. Accessed September 11, 2022. www.vietcuongmusic.com.

———. “Adaptation as Composition: Flexible Approaches in Renewal.” PhD diss., Princeton University, 2022.

———. Interview by author. Microsoft Teams, November 14, 2022.

———. “Naica.” Viet Cuong Music. Accessed September 30, 2022. www.vietcuongmusic.com.

———. Sound and Smoke. Downingtown, PA: Murphy Music Press, 2011.

———. Vital Sines. Downingtown, PA: Murphy Music Press, 2022.

———. “Vital Sines: The Making of a Commission.” Presentation at The Midwest Clinic: An International Band and Orchestra Conference, Chicago, IL, December 20, 2022.

———. “Vital Sines.” Viet Cuong Music. Accessed March 9, 2023. www.vietcuongmusic.com.

Davis, Vanessa A. “A Concept–Based Pedagogy Approach To Selected Unaccompanied Clarinet Repertoire.” DMA diss., University of North Texas, 2018.

Edgerton, Cody. “Conversations with Composers: Engaging, Programming, and Performing Wind Band Works by Composers from Historically Underrepresented Communities.” MM thesis, Western Michigan University, 2021.

Viet Cuong’s Wind Ensemble Version of Re(new)al.” DMA diss., University of California Los Angeles, 2022.

Landsberg, Nils. “Viet Cuong’s Bull’s-Eye: A Conductor’s Analysis.” DMA diss., University of Kansas, 2019.

Leung, Erik Kar Jun, ed. The Horizon Leans Forward. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2021.

Trachsel, Andrew. “Sound and Smoke.” In Teaching Music Through Performance in Band 11, edited by Richard Miles, 802–817. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2018.

Tran, Patricia. “Viet Cuong: Virtuosity Unbound.” MM thesis, California State University—Northridge, 2020.

Kim, Janet Song. “Repurposing Sound: A Conductor’s Guide and a Focused Analysis of

HOW TO SUBMIT PEERREVIEWED RESEARCH ARTICLES TO THE NBA JOURNAL BY

MATTHEW

TALBERT

The difference between a peer- reviewed research article and the articles traditionally published in the NBA Journal is best described as a difference in the vetting process and source material. To have an article appear as “peer-reviewed” in the NBA Journal means recognized researchers and scholars in the field of music/music education will read, evaluate, and then recommend whether or not an article should be published, revised or rejected. This process is widely recognized as an indicator of quality scholarship in a particular discipline or field. Other names for these types of articles are “scholarly” or “refereed.”

A traditional NBA Journal article is most often written from the perspective of the author’s unique experiences in life, music, and/ or the profession. These articles are of extraordinary value, as they often present a number of ideas that have been effective for the author and may also be effective for the reader. A research article is most often written as a continuation of ideas presented in previous articles, with the motivation drawn from

combining the findings of those previous articles and the author’s own experiences, experiments, or observations. In building the article in this way, the validity of the information is heightened beyond the traditional article. These articles are also of extraordinary value as they may also impact the way the reader approaches the subject material in a potentially more generalizable way. When incorporating the peerreview process, the an author’s article now has a final layer of review (for accuracy) utilizing other experts within the same subject matter.

The Traditional Research Layout and Value of the Research Article

Dr. Russell Gavin, former chair of NBA’s Research (and Editorial) committees, shares his thoughts on the layout and value of these types of articles:

A number of peer-reviewed research articles may read like other articles found in the NBA Journal, with the author outlining their thoughts on a subject while using citations to support the premise of the issue being discussed. Other research

articles will take on a bit more of a scientific approach. These articles begin with a review of literature summarizing the research on the topic that already exists, while simultaneously presenting the reader with the rationale driving the current article. A method section follows, describing what actually happened in the research, then a results and analysis section(s) describing what the researcher found, if anything. The article closes with a discussion of the findings and how they may relate to the world. The article concludes with a list of references from which the author drew

Matthew Talbert is Associate Professor of Music Education and Director of the School of Music at Ohio University.

Talbert earned a Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of South Carolina (2012), a Master of Music in Music Education from Appalachian State University (2005), and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Appalachian State University (2004).

How to Submit Peer-Reviewed Research to the NBA Journal, Matthew Talbert, cont.

information and ideas.

If you are inexperienced at reading research articles, you may want to read the discussion section first. This part of the article will explain how the information found in the rest of the article may impact you and others in the article subject community. Oftentimes this is the place where practical ideas will be most clearly expressed; however, taking in the entire article will always give a much clearer view of what the author was attempting to express.

As mentioned above, an ideal research article is adding to the research that came before it. This continuation and growth of knowledge is one of the defining characteristics of this kind of inquiry. At the end of the article, the reader is left with information that is not only new to them, but simultaneously new to the world. This level of investigation is of paramount importance in all areas of music and education, and the NBA is proud to present this new avenue for such exploration and thought.

email to the Chair of the Editorial Committee, Brian Silvey at silveyba@missouri.edu

B. Length: The manuscript should not exceed 25 pages and should include an abstract of 100-150 words in length on a separate page. We encourage the submission of short form articles (4-10 pages) as well as full-length articles.

C. Cover Page: To ensure anonymity in the review process, the manuscript should contain no clues as to the author’s institutional affiliation or identity. Author’s name(s), address, institution affiliations, and pertinent information should be listed on a separate cover page at the beginning of the submission. The cover page should also include up to five keywords/phrases that describe the contents of the manuscript.

D. Style Guide: Manuscripts should conform to one of the following style manuals:

Booth, Gregory Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, and the University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff, 2018).

Note: Authors may not combine and/or mix styles within a single manuscript

E. Tables and Figures: Tables and figures may be included with the manuscript, however, these must be publishable in black and white. It is the author’s responsibility to make sure any tables/figures are checked for accuracy before submission. Additionally, if any copyrighted materials are submitted, it is the author’s responsibility to provide documentation allowing the reproduction of these materials.

Guidelines for Submission of PeerReview Research Articles

A. Submission Method: Manuscripts should be submitted as Microsoft Word attachments via

(1) Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition, 2019),

(2) The Chicago Manual of Style(17th edition, 2017), or

(3) A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (K. L. Turabian, 9th edition, revised by Wayne C.

F. Ethical Requirements: It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that no copyright issues have been violated by the submission, including images, charts, etc. Manuscripts already published in other journals can be submitted for consideration in the NBA Journal providing the author has permission to do so.

Questions about submitting a peerreviewed article? Email Research Chair Brian Silvey at SILVEYBA@MISSOURI.EDU.

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