sbo august 2009
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SBO August 2009TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 2009$5.00
Dr. Richard Suk
UpFront Q&A:CMEA’s Jeff Jenkins
Guest Editorial:The First Day of Rehearsal
The Most Exciting Band in the Land
Ohio University’s Marching 110
SBO_COV1 COV1 7/30/09 4:15:42 PM
SB&O School Band and Orchestra® (ISSN 1098-3694) is published monthly by Symphony Publishing, LLC, 21 Highland Circle, Suite 1, Needham, MA 02494 (781) 453-9310, publisher of Musical Merchandise Review, Choral Director, Music Parents America and JAZZed. All titles are federally registered trademarks and/or trademarks of Symphony Publishing, LLC. Subscription Rates: one year $24; two years $40. Rates outside U.S.A. available upon request. Single issues $5 each. February Resource Guide $15. Periodical-Rate Postage Paid at Boston, MA and additional mailing offi ces. POSTMASTER/SUBSCRIBERS: Send address change to School Band and Orchestra, P.O. Box 8548, Lowell, MA 01853. No portion of this issue may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. The publishers of this magazine do not accept responsibility for statements made by their advertisers in business competition. Copyright © 2009 by Symphony Publish-ing, LLC, all rights reserved. Printed in USA.
Cover photo by Luke Potter of Luke Potter Photography, Athens, Ohio.
4 Perspective
6 Headlines
56 New Products
61 Playing Tip
62 Classifi eds
64 Ad Index
Columns
Features
12 UPFRONT Q&A: CMEA’S JOHN JENKINSJohn Jenkins, the band director at Hilltop High School and current president of the California Music Educators Association, answers some tough questions about the status of music ed in the fi nancially challenged West Coast state.
16 SBO ESSAY CONTEST POSTER
17 COMMENTARY: WORKING WITH BEGINNERSEducator Deborah Way gives advice on working with novice music students.
22 UPCLOSE: RICHARD SUKDr. Richard Suk is the longest tenured director in the history of Ohio University’s Marching 110. In this recent SBO interview, Ricky talks about building on the legacy of a marching band already nicknamed, “The Most Exciting Band in the Land.”
33 HOW TO BUY: STEP-UP TRUMPET
36 ROUNDTABLE: FUNDRAISINGFive music educators from some of the states hit hardest by the re-cession share their thoughts on fundraising in these diffi cult times.
44 GUEST EDITORIAL: THE FIRST DAY OF REHEARSALRob Stein, a marching band consultant and founder of Marching O Concepts, presents a primer on what to look out for during the fi rst rehearsal of the year.
48 PERFORMANCE: ARRANGING MELODIESIllinois State University professor David Snyder opines on the construction of a high quality horn section.
52 TECHNOLOGY: WASHINGTON CBPAS, PART II
Contents August 2009
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48
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2 School Band and Orchestra August 2009
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Perspective®
August 2009Volume 12, Number 8
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4 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
Texas Gets ItT
exas gets it. When you add up the facts, the results point to the fact that Texas most likely has the most support for music education of any state in the na-tion. The state boasts the largest independent music educators association, the TMEA, as well as the largest bandmasters group, the Texas Bandmasters. We regularly receive subscription cards from Texas schools indicating enormous numbers of mu-
sic students compared to other states across the country. However, there are some numbers that don’t seem to add up. For example, “Texas’ investment in the arts is approximately $0.18 per citizen placing it near the bot-tom of all 56 U.S. states and territories. The national av-erage is $1.44 per citizen.” (Department of Education, The Texas Cultural Trust). Texas also ranks 29th in the country in teacher pay according to the American Fed-eration of Teachers 2007-08 survey.
So the question everyone is asking is why and how does this state have such strong support for music, es-pecially with the low level of spending per student? There is no clear answer, but only some hypothetical explanations that have been tossed around in recent years. One sug-
gestion is that Texas has such a strong culture of football that, rural communities, if you are not on the football team, you want to support the team by being involved in the marching band. Others suggest that folks in Texas think “big,” and that the large marching band sizes refl ect this. However, the more likely explanation is the strong cooperative support from well-run organizations such as TMEA, TBA, Texas Coalition for Quality Arts Education, the Texas Commission for the Arts, The Texas Music Project, The Association of Texas Small
School Bands, and many others. These groups, along with a culture of strong parent organizations and potent college music programs, make Texas a tremendous power in the fi eld of music education.
At the recent Texas Bandmasters show, I met with Ross Boothman; the VP of the band division of the TMEA. He indicated that Texas is one of the few states that has a viable set of standards and competitions from the University Interscholastic League. Per the UIL Web site, the “UIL is designed to support and enrich the teaching of music as an integral component of the public school curriculum in the state of Texas.” Addi-tionally, TMEA has moved their offi ces to Austin in order to have greater access to the state legislature, so they can be proactive in promoting and lobbying for arts programs to be maintained as a part of the core curriculum in the schools. Although many of the state music education organizations have their own sets of goals, Boothman did indeed highlight the fact that there have been many joint efforts to further the greater good of music education.
It would certainly be benefi cial to do an in-depth study of the multifaceted efforts going on in Texas, both at the local and state levels, so that this exceptional model for music education could be adapted to other regions of the country. This could potentially provide the necessary roadmap needed to bring music programs greater strength to music education nationwide…
Rick [email protected]
“These groups… make Texas a
tremendous power in the fi eld of music
education.”
SBO_4 4 7/30/09 11:34:36 AM
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6 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
HeadLines
PASIC 2009
The Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) will take place
in Indianapolis, Indiana from November 11-14, 2009. For the second time in the event’s his-tory, Indianapolis will play host to more than 6,500 drummers and percussionists from around the world at the Indiana Convention Center and Westin Hotel.
PASIC is the world’s largest and most prestigious drum and percussion gathering that fea-tures more than 130 events on 13 stages with the leading artists from around the world in the percussion community. Session topics span a variety of areas including drumset, symphonic, marching, recreational, world and keyboard percussion.
Evening showcase concerts include a variety of performances and styles of music. Wednesday evening features Filipino trip-hop duo Electric Kulintang (Susie Ibarra and Roberto Rodriguez), keyboard master Julie Spencer and percussionist Vanessa Tomlinson. Thursday evening brings Taiwanese percus-sion ensemble Ju Percussion Group to the stage. Israeli powerhouse percus-sion duo PercaDu will perform on Friday evening, and Tommy Igoe and the Birdland Big Band featuring guest percussionist Rolando Morales-Matos will close the convention on Saturday evening.
The convention’s International Drum and Percussion Expo will highlight industry exhibitors showcasing the latest in drum and percussion instruments, publications, and services. The Expo will be open to convention attendees November 12-14 and available to the public for a daily fee of $15; children under 12 are admitted free.
The annual PAS Marching Percussion Festival will take place on November 12 and 13. The festival features a competition of high school and collegiate individuals, ensembles, and drum lines vying for top honors in this nationally recognized contest. Scheduling changes and the addition of new competitive and non-competitive categories makes this year’s festival more accessible to marching programs. Tickets for the Marching Percussion Festival are avail-able to the general public for $15 and includes access to the International Drum and Percussion Expo; children 12 and under are admitted free.
Grand opening celebration events for Rhythm! Discovery Center will co-incide with PASIC, allowing convention attendees to have access to both func-tions for the fi rst time in the organization’s history. A creative vision of the Percussive Arts Society, Rhythm! evolved from the Percussive Arts Museum that closed in Lawton, Okla. in March 2007. Rhythm! builds on the many successes the museum experienced and will maintain the most extensive and unique display of rare percussion instruments and artifacts from around the world. Now, with signifi cantly more exhibit space and convenient pedestrian access, Rhythm! will interpret the role of rhythm and percussion in music and culture through dynamic educational experiences. New interactive ex-hibits, participatory learning opportunities and a hands-on area will illustrate rhythm, its role in society, and its connections to daily life.
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HeadLines
Music for All Adds Key Staff
Music for All has added three key pro-fessionals to its Indianapolis head-
quarters staff. Beth DeHoff joins Music for All as com-
munity relations manager. She brings more than a decade of experience as a freelance writer and communications consultant, as well as public relations and marketing staff experience with Community Health Net-work and Eli Lilly and Company.
Kayla Murphy will take the position of development coordinator. Prior to joining Music for All, Kayla worked in development with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and event coordination with the Arts Council of Indianapolis. She also has served on board committees for the Greater Indianapolis Flute Festival and Indiana Wind Symphony.
Kristin Riccardo Conrad joins Music for All as marketing coordi-nator. She attended Indiana University and holds a bachelor of music degree in horn performance as well as a Master of Arts degree in journalism. Kristin is presently a member of the Southern Indiana Wind Ensemble.
Learn more at www.musicforall.org.
Visit www.sbomagazine.com and let your voice be heard in the current
online poll – results to be published in the next issue of SBO.
Online Survey Results
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HeadLines
Guitars In The Classroom Debuts Programs In California
Continuing its 10-year effort to bring the enjoyment and ben-efi ts of music participation to all
children, Jessica Baron, executive direc-tor of Guitars In The Classroom, has an-nounced the successful completion of the organization’s innovative music integra-tion programs for the 2008-2009 school year. Ms. Baron thanked the NAMM Foundation for their generous support and made special note of GITC’s ongo-ing and newly created projects within the organization’s home state of California where the recently concluded school year saw the expansion of GITC programs in 21 locations statewide.
GITC programs complement tradi-tional music education by expanding what students learn from their school music specialist and applying it in general
classroom situations. In schools where music programs have been compromised or cut, GITC provides a vital connection to the value of developing musicality and creativity while supporting full music education for every child.
During the 2008-09 academic year, GITC faculty in 19 cities in the Golden State participated in the initial phase of GITC’s new AMIGO (Achievement through Music Integration with Gui-tars) Project. AMIGO is designed to give teachers of Spanish speaking Eng-
lish Language Learners (ELLs) the tools they need to boost their stu-dents’ language and literacy skills in English and help close the “achieve-ment gap” through integrated, song-based instruction. Pilot AMIGO sites included Atascadero, Benicia, En-cinitas, Los Angeles, Napa, Oakland, Oakley, Oceanside, Petaluma, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Sherman Oaks, Sonoma, Victorville and Wat-
sonville- bringing a new level of music integration to more than 1100 teachers and approximately 113,000 students.
As the number of ELLs in American schools rises by as much as 200 percent in many cities across the nation, GITC’s AMIGO Program follows the concept behind classic education-through-music programs like Sesame Street and School-house Rock but goes further-applying Guitars In The Classroom’s “Strum & Sing” teacher training model while adapt-ing the lyrics of traditional American folk songs and familiar Spanish language favorites such as “La Bamba” and “Mi Gallo” to reinforce learning in academic subjects such as math, science, social stud-ies and language arts. Integrated learning through music provides deeper meaning and also helps reduce anxiety for students who fi nd they can memorize, practice and express phrases and sentences more easily in a creative and socially motivat-ing setting. Sponsored by GITC and the NAMM Foundation, AMIGO has the potential to benefi t millions of “at risk” students by training classroom teachers to provide daily musical opportunities that help them succeed at school.
With an enthusiastic team of talented and dedicated teachers and volunteers, plus the steady support of the NAMM Foundation, and leading music products industry corporations, plans are current-ly underway to signifi cantly expand the number of GITC programs and locations in the coming months. Parents, educators and community members are encour-aged to contact GITC about upcoming activities and events.
For more information, visit www.gui-tarsintheclassoom.org.
10 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
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School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 11
NAACP Honors Rep. Conyers & Supports Civil Rights for Musicians
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People overwhelmingly passed a resolution honoring Representative John Conyers (D-MI) for his decades of public service. The NAACP also
passed an amendment to the resolution supporting Rep. Conyers’ Civil Rights for Musicians Act (HR 848), which would end big radio’s exploi-tation of musicians for billions in annual profi ts and protect performers’ rights to fair wages.
As the longest serving African-American in Congress and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Conyers has worked tirelessly to protect and promote the civil liberties and civil rights of people of all colors and creeds. Rep. Conyers has been a driving force behind bills to protect voting rights and civil liberties.
Most recently, Rep. Conyers sponsored the Civil Rights for Musicians Act (HR 848), which would protect the labor rights of performers by ensuring that they get paid a fair wage when their music is played on the radio. The way things stand now, big radio conglomerates make bil-lions in advertising profi ts every year by playing hit music, but they don’t compensate the musicians who recorded those songs. As a result, many performers have to continue going out on the road well into their 70s and 80s just to get by.
The NAACP’s resolution was a strong rebuke to big radio conglom-erates that, in recent months, have attacked Rep. Conyers and members of the Congressional Black Caucus through a misinformation campaign claiming the Civil Rights for Musicians Act would hurt African American radio stations.
For more information, visit www.naacp.org.
2009 Summer NAMM: Smaller, But Upbeat
NAMM announced fi nal registration and exhibitor numbers for 2009 Summer NAMM. At show close, NAMM reported
a 26 percent decrease in registration from last year’s event, with 12,967 total registrants for the three-day event. Ex-hibitor numbers were also down at the Nashville Convention Center during this turbulent economic year, with 383 companies displaying and demonstrating products. Many exhibitors chose NAMM’s Club option, bringing in products and literature, and hosting meetings without the cost of a full exhibit space on the show fl oor.
During the show, the NAMM University education sessions were packed full of dealers serious about their success as the economy re-bounds. Despite the fact that it was a smaller gathering due to the chal-lenging economic conditions, both exhibitors and retailers reported hav-ing a good show.
The 2010 NAMM Show will take place January 14-17, 2010, in Ana-heim, Calif. For more information about 2009 Summer NAMM, inter-ested parties can log on to www.namm.org/summer.
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12 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
SBOUpfrontQ&A: CMEA’s Jeff Jenkins
Against that dire and depressing backdrop, SBO recently caught up with Jeff Jenkins, a high school band director and president of the California Music Educators Association, who is one of the people leading the charge to protect California’s music programs from the fi nancial storm.
School Band & Orchestra: What is really happening with school mu-sic programs in California?
Jeff Jenkins: Music education in California has been in jeopardy for several years now. The fi rst onslaught came from the unintended conse-quences of No Child Left Behind. Now, because of California’s huge budget defi cit and our struggling economy, schools are experiencing more cuts in available revenues to local school districts. These cuts have the potential to impact music education for years to come.
The following is an excerpt from my column in our association newslet-ter, The CMEA Magazine. It explains the impact of No Child Left Behind on music education:
California is facing a tremendous fi scal crisis. With over
72 billion dollars in debt and a budget shortfall of more
than 25 billion dollars, lawmakers have been scram-
bling to fi nd ways to balance the state’s troubled fi nan-
cial books. Unfortunately, any conceivable solution will un-
doubtedly take its toll on schools and other educational
programs. Recent estimates have stated that as much
as nine billion dollars may be slashed from the state’s
education budget, leaving teachers in all disciplines
struggling to cope.
California: A State in Crisis
Jeff Jenkins
SBO_12 12 7/30/09 11:37:38 AM
School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 13
When our political leaders speak about educational issues, there are im-plications for music and equitable ac-cess, for all students, to a quality music education. Clearly the pursuit of test scores under No Child Left Behind has had a detrimental effect on music education. We have seen all arts class-es become marginalized as administra-tors are pressured to get every student up to the state level of profi ciency, par-ticularly in English and mathematics. As a result, many students, especially in lower socio-economic schools, are slotted into additional hours of Eng-lish and mathematics.
Policy makers and the media proclaim that the 3 R’s must be mas-tered, and if that needs to happen, at the expense of the arts, so be it.
In secondary school, students who are low-performing on standardized tests are given additional English and math classes, many of which are taught by inexperienced teachers. These support classes sometimes do not count toward high school gradu-ation. These same students have no room in their schedule for an elec-tive. Since many of these students are English language learners and ethnic minorities, these large groups are de-nied access to the arts.
Now, with budget cuts, we are see-ing a further erosion of music classes. We are seeing many districts using one music teacher to cover multiple school sites. Secondary music teachers are teach-ing other subjects, with mixed results in terms of student achievement and nega-tive results in terms of energy left to de-vote to growing the music program.
SBO: How are your state’s premier band and orchestra programs hold-ing up?
JJ: It is diffi cult to fi nd a band or or-chestra program that has not been affect-ed. However, the affl uent schools con-tinue to have a larger pool of students to draw into the arts and thus many are able to offer a strong music program. These same schools are not seeing the severe cutbacks in music funding since affl uent programs can generate their own funds to cover transportation, equipment, and additional staff.
However, even strong programs know that they are in for some lean years in the near future. For example, in Poway, a dis-trict north of San Diego that has pockets of higher socio-economic areas, the el-ementary program that used to include instrumental music lessons for all fourth-grade students is gone and the fi fth-grade program is largely funded by donations. Even with schools that have strong music programs, under-performing students are often not allowed to participate since, as noted before, they are given additional math and English classes rather than elec-tives.
SBO: Are things really that bad across the board?
JJ: In most school districts, administra-tors and school boards have attempted to show restraint when dealing with arts programs. The truth is that California’s budget cuts are deep and far-reaching. Given the current fi scal situation, most districts have little choice but to make cuts and the arts are seeing a large portion of these cuts. To quote D. L. Johnson, past president of CMEA and current director
of North Monterey County High School Band, “The damage to school music pro-grams in the Monterey Bay area is so bad the even such institutions as the Monterey Jazz Festival Education Program, one of the top jazz education programs in the country, will have to cut back its clinician program, not due to lack of funds, but lack of formally participating schools. Several school jazz programs have been cut for next year.”
SBO: What is CMEA’s role in all of this?
JJ: The purpose of CMEA is to pro-vide leadership for music educators. We do this with advocacy through lobbying work with CAAE (California Alliance of Arts Educators). CMEA provides profes-sional development by organizing an out-standing Annual Conference that brings all music disciplines and grades together to learn, grow, and share ideas about teaching. Sharing these ideas about teach-ing helps us pass on our love of music to our students. CMEA brings national ser-vices to the local level. CMEA speaks for music education in this state.
SBO_13 13 7/30/09 11:37:44 AM
14 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
CMEA works with other music asso-ciations for the mutual benefi t of our mu-sic students. There are many music pro-fessional organizations in California. The important thing is that we must work to-gether to provide a quality music experi-ence for every student in California.
SBO: So what is CMEA doing to keep music programs afl oat? Are there any new initiatives you are hoping to put into place?
In terms of specifi c actions, CMEA has written letters in support of music education to numerous school boards across the state. In these letters we cite current research detailing the benefi ts of music education. In a few cases we have been able to save a music program from the chopping block. Regrettably, we have not always been successful.
In addition, we have published lists of national advocacy resources and encour-aged our members to become involved in local, state, and national initiatives to improve access to the arts.
CMEA is aware of the fact that, in education, trends change like the swinging of a pendulum. We are work-ing on positioning ourselves to rebuild music when the pendulum swings back. By surveying our current mem-bership, we are learning more about how we can meet their needs. We hope to be able to offer conference sessions that provide practical strategies for building a music program along with innovative suggestions for using tech-nology to enhance our programs and class offerings.
SBO: What lessons have you learned as CMEA president that might be relevant to music educators across the country?
JJ: No Child Left Behind has had dire consequences for music education. Access to the arts is no longer equitable. Music organizations such as CMEA and MENC can no longer sit on the sidelines and remain neutral where politics are concerned. We must become advocates for equitable arts education by meeting with our local, state, and national rep-resentatives. We need to speak with a unifi ed voice throughout our state, and indeed, throughout the nation.
Two key points must be discussed as we engage in the current national dia-logue around national standards: 1) the
arts must be treated as a core subject, not just labeled as such; and 2) the bar for state testing cannot be set so high that only a select few students are able to participate in elective classes.
We need the national spotlight on the diffi culties music education is fac-ing. California teachers cannot fi ght this battle alone. We need national voices to join us in raising the alarm about the negative effect of No Child Left Behind. Right now, in California,
our state leaders are so focused on bud-get woes that there is very little room or motivation for them to consider the plight of music.
Because we seek this national voice, we are deeply grateful to MENC for their campaign to bring a quality arts educa-tion to all students through their Nation-al Petition for Music Education. We look forward to joining other campaigns that seek to bring a quality music program back to all public schools.
SBO_14 14 7/30/09 11:37:51 AM
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16 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
Your students are eligible for $10,000 in music scholarships!
Attn: Band/Orchestra Directors
Please post the attached poster within your school and encourage participation in SBO’s 10th annual music students scholarship program.
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School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 17
SBOCommentary: Working with Beginners
You can tune a piano, but…BY DEBORAH WAY
...you can’t tuna fi sh. So goes that stale, old joke that is neverthe-
less ever new in my world. I work with beginning band students,
and for most of them, it’s fresh and still quite funny. But while
working with beginners carries with it the opportunity to inces-
santly recycle old jokes and instructional anecdotes to ageless
success; localizing one’s career to beginner band jobs does have
its drawbacks as well. “Sending them on” to their blue horizons
can touch a director’s soul in curious ways.
For instance, one of my clarinet stu-dents is moving on to study with a new private lesson teacher, one who is rec-ommended by the high school she’ll be attending. Its elite and competitive music program offers very little ad-vancement opportunity to a student who does not follow prescribed chan-nels, and this instructor is one of those channels. Cassandra feels somewhat guilty for leaving her more rudimen-tary lessons with me and going to a more accomplished instructor, but I encouraged her to go wholeheartedly into this new era of study. How do I convince her to not feel bad about this change? Right now the music halls of her future are still just bare stages. She doesn’t know much yet about the pa-rade of personalities she’ll meet as she begins to “swim” in that world.
Speaking very generally, she and her mother drew some conclusions after her fi rst lesson, stating briefl y the impressions made by the woman who is Cassandra’s new instructor. Their comments offered the following information: this new teacher is arro-gant; however, she’s arrogant because she has a legitimately weighty resume. That resume details her studies at the best music schools, followed by a life-time of performance work, and not just on clarinet, but on other instru-ments as well.
I learned that she likes to use the idea of teaching clarinet from the same perspective that prompts that metaphor about teaching a man to fi sh so he’ll eat for a lifetime, rather than simply giving him a fi sh so he can eat for a day. As best I understood it, this metaphor explained her rationale for extracting technical in-struction and making it the sole material for private lesson work, removing all fo-
SBO_17 17 7/31/09 10:26:12 AM
18 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
cus from the study of clarinet literature. She considers her job to be best defi ned as teaching the nuances of physical skills, no matter that they are isolated from specifi c musical application. With good technique, any piece can be played well. I confess I learned all this second-hand, so I may be misinterpreting her priori-ties in pedagogy. And my young student may only be receiving what will be but a fi rst stage of many in this teacher’s in-structional method, but my refl ections on this teacher’s initial approach sent my thoughts back to my own days of being “taught” to play the fl ute, long before I became the band director for scores of beginners over the years.
When I was Cassandra’s same age, my own junior high band director referred me on to a “higher level” instructor, too. Amy, another girl who was a year ahead of me in the same band program, had been referred to higher level instruction the prior year, so I expected to be sent to the same teacher who was teaching her, but Mr. Church referred me to a different teacher. Why? I wondered. Mr. Church
sent me to Brinkman, a teacher of whom I’d never heard and who lived farther away than Evans, the man who taught my friend. Why not send me, like Amy, to study with Evans? He had certainly impressed me as I could hear Amy’s great facility when she played. Did I not show
as much potential as Amy? Did I not de-serve as “good” an instructor?
So I screwed up my courage, and I asked Mr. Church about it. He had a rather strange look in his eyes as he gave his answer. “I sent her to Evans and you to Brinkman because Amy plays from her body, while you play from your soul.” He considered that to be answer enough.
It took a long time for it to be answer enough, but eventually his wisdom shone
sun-bright into my playing, because I did study with Brinkman. She taught me whatever degree of musical facility I had in the context of experiencing the heart of some of the greatest historical works available for my instrument. Mr. Church was right: if I hadn’t had the music itself as the underlying driving force, I would not have cared two cents about the de-velopment of physical skills. Those skills had to become necessary to me because I needed them if I was to perform the music – because doing the piece justice was the greatest desire of my heart. With that context of application ever before me, any effort required of me felt worth-while.
Now, if I were to give any parting words to my own young student, just in case those words could apply – because I believe she, too, may be a player from the soul – the words would be to offer her this follow-up to her new teacher’s metaphor:
“Cassandra, if the ‘fi sh’ are your skills, then don’t forget to consider why you’re going after them in the fi rst place. Are you learning fl y-casting or hiring that deep sea fi shing guide because you want something exotic to mount on the wall for all to see? Or, do you simply love the taste of fi sh, and long to eat and serve your catch to others who also have a taste for fi sh? How much does it really have to do with you, the fi sherman – with you, the performer?
“But I believe it can go a little deeper even than simply learning fi shing (or per-forming) skills. Mr. Church left perform-ing behind him years before he taught me, but I’m incredibly grateful for the wisdom of old music teachers like him. They are people often hidden and hard to fi nd, so if you fi nd such teachers, Cassandra, count them as gifts, because what those teachers want for you, as a performer, is not fame for yourself, but that you learn to bring the music alive for its own sake. They know that you as a performer can take great joy in a techni-cally perfect performance, but they also know that your greatest joy is not found in technical perfection alone. Your great-est joy as a performer is the swell of tears that form in the eyes of your listeners – tears that spring not from awe at your magnifi cence, but rather from awe at the beauty of the moment you have just giv-
“What those teachers want for you is not fame, but that you learn to bring the music alive for its own sake.”
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20 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
en them, a moment of magic. Only then have you presented the soul of a piece of music with purity, and nothing parallels the glory of such a moment for either the listener or the performer! These rare ones in the world of pedagogy will remind you that the fi sh and the fi sherman must fi rst be one in their love of the sea, as are the student and the teacher in their love of the music.
“So just remember, Cassandra, that every type of fi sherman has his or her place. The important thing is discov-ering which type you are going to be and staying true to your nature. Mr. Church always said to our band, ‘The piece isn’t ready until you give me goose bumps when you play it.’ If we never moved him to experience those goose bumps, then he assessed that we hadn’t learned the soul of the piece, and so we wouldn’t perform it. We hadn’t earned the privilege of public performance. With him, it was always about the music. As long as the mu-sic stays larger than your technique, Cassandra, you’ll never be bored with your study, and you’ll never be satis-fi ed with anything less than what it de-mands. It wants more than glib meta-phors; it deserves more.”
Deborah Way has taught as a band director in beginning and intermediate band programs for the past 20 years, working
with elementary- through junior high-aged students. For the past four years, she has built a band program at the Horizon Christian School, where there was none prior to her employment. The band at this private school in Indianapolis, Ind. now consists of 45 students in grades four through eight, out of a student popula-tion of 350, K-12. Prior to that, she taught at a public school in Southern Illinois. Deborah has also directed handbell choirs for both youth and adults in various churches over the years.
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SBO_21 21 7/30/09 1:24:29 PM
22 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
UpC
lose Dr. Richard Suk
The Most Band in
SBO_22 22 7/30/09 4:20:12 PM
School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 23
Dr. Richard “Ricky” Suk
(rhymes with “book”) is the
director of Ohio Universi-
ty’s Marching 110, an il-
lustrious marching band
that may fl y under the ra-
dar because the school’s
football program isn’t ex-
actly among the nation’s
elite. In fact, the Ohio Uni-
versity Bobcats have only
made it to one bowl game
in the 13 years in which
Ricky has been leading the
marching band. Yet, the
lack of national exposure
doesn’t stop the Marching
110 from putting on daz-
zling and electrifying fi eld
shows, with a high-intensi-
ty, athletic marching style
that often includes elabo-
rate dance routines. In
fact, one could argue that
the band’s halftime shows
are the highlights of the
Bobcat football games, as
Suk’s ensemble routinely
keeps the crowds ooh-ing,
aah-ing, and cheering ec-
statically throughout their
performances – hence the
nickname, the “Most Ex-
citing Band in the Land.”
BY ELIAHU SUSSMAN
Exciting the Land
SBO_23 23 7/30/09 4:20:17 PM
24 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
After cutting his teeth at several high schools in Mississippi and Ten-nessee, Ricky followed his ambitions to the University of Illinois, where he earned a doctorate while studying un-der the Fighting Illini’s distinguished director, Gary E. Smith. From there, Ricky packed his bags for Athens, Ohio, where he’s been since. In a recent SBO interview, the Alabama native details his progression through the teaching ranks while stressing the importance of forging bonds between universities and local high school bands.
School Band and Orchestra: Think-ing back to when you were a stu-dent, how did the idea of getting into music education fi rst enter your mind?
Richard Suk: I don’t think that came along until high school. I always liked the band stuff and I was always talking about the band pieces we were playing. One day, one of my class-
mates told me I should be a band di-rector when I grew up, and I thought to myself, “Oh, wow! You can do this for a living?!” From that point on, I just focused on being a band director and that was that.
SBO: So you went to the University of Southern Mississippi to study Music Education and later started teaching band at a high school. Tell me about some of those early experiences?
RS: I taught in Mississippi for four years, and then I moved to Alabama, where I taught for another six years. In my fi rst job in Mississippi, I was an assistant director at a small rural school, but I quickly realized that I really wanted my own program. So I moved to another small school out-side of Hattiesburg. I had some re-ally good groups there, and we were able to take advantage to the proxim-ity of my Alma Mater, which meant
that we were able to have some uni-versity students from there come out and teach sectionals and give lessons. We had a really good core of kids in the band and it was a great commu-nity. I also had help from some men-tors in the area who showed me the ropes and basically told me what to listen for. I felt like sometimes I was listening to what I thought the mu-sic should sound like, rather than to what was actually coming out of the kids’ instruments. Once I realized that, I started getting a much better grasp on how to fi x the sounds the students were making.
After a few years, I moved back to my old high school, which was a cath-olic school in Mobile, Alabama, and I taught there for two years. When they opened up a new school just outside of Mobile, I switched over and taught there for four years. I had always wanted to teach in a college or uni-
“We have a motto, and that is to be ‘better than the best ever.’”
SBO_24 24 7/30/09 2:33:49 PM
School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 25
versity setting, I just didn’t know how to do it. A buddy of mine was in grad school at the University of Illinois and he recommended that I join him up there. The only obstacle was getting my fi nances in order to make that leap and undertake a doctorate program.
SBO: It sounds like you had a fair degree of variety in your early teaching experiences.
RS: You’re right, it was a good mix of situations. I went from a rural school in Mississippi to a Catholic school, to a larger suburban school in a more metropolitan setting.
SBO: Was moving from one teaching situation to another like night and day, or did you have a consis-tent method that you implemented regardless of the school’s particular details?
RS: To a certain extent, a lot of the kids are the same, regardless of the setting, and they’re motivated by the same things. However, economics plays a big role in whether or not a student can afford that upper-line, high quality instru-ment, or whether a parent is willing to invest in some private lessons; that does play a factor in the program. I will say that even though, for example, that fi rst school I was teaching at in Mississippi wasn’t in a very affl uent community, the stu-dents there worked even harder to make music happen.
SBO: And that compensated for the fi nancial disadvan-tage that some were facing?
RS: Defi nitely. I think you can fi nd frustrating elements in any situation – you wish these students had the work ethic or those students had the money. It’s just a matter of fi nding a program’s strengths, and then you build on that.
SBO: So what was it like making the leap into the col-lege ranks?
RS: I’m glad I had the experience that I did at the Univer-sity of Illinois because I couldn’t have made that jump straight from teaching in a high school without that. I needed those three years of learning about teaching at a higher level, and my mentor, Gary Smith, who was the marching band director there, really taught me a lot. Even just watching him work and seeing the differences between high school and college kids was really helpful. And then when I arrived here, I basically used a lot of the same systems that they used at the University of Illinois to teach drill and other components of the system. As far as the students go, I still think they’re motivated by some of the same things as the kids I taught in high schools. They like to be successful. They like to hear applause. They like for the music to be good. I’m very fortunate here that I was able to step into a program where the students already had a great work ethic. These kids really want to excel, and we have a great tradition here.
SBO: What kind of things do you do to keep that work ethic and that motivation up?
RS: I’m not really a cheerleader. However, I think it’s im-portant to enable the students to be cheerleaders. They want to work for you, but they also don’t want to disappoint their peers and their alumni. Allowing the student leadership to blossom is important in any teaching situation.
SBO_25 25 7/30/09 2:33:54 PM
26 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
SBO: By student leadership, you’re referring to section leaders?
RS: We have leaders for each section and then we have a fi eld commander. I allow the section leaders to do section-als. Very rarely, I’ll have a faculty mem-ber come in and work with a section, but I don’t assign TAs to a particular section; I let the students take care of that. That hones their leadership. And if a group is having trouble on a par-ticular area, I’ll counsel them on the
specifi c area that needs work, whether that’s pitch, intonation, completing phrases or something else. I simply try to provide guidance.
SBO: I suppose that also might instill that sense of ownership in the program for the students.
RS: It absolutely does. You know, it’s a big deal when someone is select-ed to be the section leader, and a lot of students are very disappointed if they
aren’t chosen. Not everyone can wear the chief ’s hat.
SBO: I imagine there’s a good deal of competition for those positions. Speaking of, what’s your take on the role of competition in music?
RS: We like to preach that we want to be better than the best we’ve ever given. We have a motto, and that is to be “better than the best ever.” We aim to better ourselves. However, I can’t deny that when an-other band takes the fi eld, our stu-dents want to be better than them. We want to have a better fi eld show, want to have better musical and vi-sual execution. In that sense, compe-tition is a good motivator. That said, I try to just concentrate on our band and what we have to do. We played the University of Illinois a few years ago and the only thing I told my kids was, “Hey, you’re facing a re-ally great Big Ten band, so you have to be ready.” It wasn’t a matter of us having to be better than them, it was a matter of us having to be ready to turn in a great performance because we knew that the other band was go-ing to be ready to play.
SBO: Do you have any game-day tips? Do you believe in those big motivational speeches right before a performance?
RS: Some days it’s not needed be-cause you can just feel the energy in the band, but other days you really have to kick them in the tail. At that point, I talk about our responsibility to our fans, about how much work and sweat we’ve put in on the prac-tice fi eld, and all the time we’ve spent memorizing and preparing the music. The performance is our opportunity to reap the fruits of our labors. The other thing I talk about is pacing. The college football game day is such a long day. It starts with a morning practice, then pre-game warm-ups and a parade to the stadium, the tail-gate concert, then the pre-game, then we play after every play or so, and that’s in addition to the highlight of the day, which is the half-time show. It’s really important for the students to pace themselves so they don’t run out of energy.
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School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 29
SBO: Energy is one thing your band exudes in spades. As for overarch-ing goals beyond simply solid mu-sical performances, what is it that you’re hoping your students can take away from your program?
RS: For the music majors, which make up about 20 percent of the band, I hope they take away with them a sys-tem of running a marching band. Even if they don’t choose to use the same style we have here, that they still do fundamentals everyday and they still concentrate on the details, and still hopefully have a band that will work as hard as they worked when they were here.
For the non-music majors, I hope they gain from the social contacts and networking opportunities pre-sented by being in this ensemble, but also the work ethic and sense of ac-complishment that they can then ap-ply to whatever fi eld they go into. For team leaders and section leaders, there are all kinds of lessons they will take with them about motivating their sec-tions and other leadership skills that they will be able to apply to their own fi elds.
Marching 110 At A GlanceLocation: Athens, OhioOn the Web: marching110.squarespace.com/oumb/Founded: 1923, with current style incorporated in 1967Trivia: The name “Marching 110” refers to the original number of band numbers. Current Number of Students: 210Directors:• Gene Thrailkill (1967-1970)• Thomas Lee (1971-1972)• Ronald P. Socciarelli (1973-1989)• Sylvester Young (1990-1995)• Richard Suk (1996-present)
SBO_29 29 7/30/09 2:34:04 PM
30 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
SBO: Is it challenging to work with both music majors and non-music majors? Is that a distinction that is noticeable in the ensemble?
RS: Well, the music majors are gen-erally better players, but there are a lot of non-music majors in leadership positions. The non-music majors take it just as seriously, they just don’t have the private lesson once a week, so they don’t tend to improve on their instru-ment as much. Music majors are not required to take marching band, so the ensemble is made up of entirely volun-teer members. In some respects that’s good because it means that everyone who is here wants to be here. On the other hand, it doesn’t give me that 50-member music major core.
SBO: Sure. How does the marching band fi t into the overall scope of the Ohio University music depart-ment?
RS: We’re part of the University Bands department. We try to be sup-portive of each other and inform the kids of the various band concerts and
encourage participation in other ensembles. We have band members who play in our university concert band, which is open to non-ma-jors, and I encourage that so that the non-majors can keep up their chops in the winter and spring, when the marching band isn’t ac-tive. The marching band is one part of the large com-prehensive music program that we have here. Is that too cliché? [laughs]
SBO: Not at all, many times the marching band is in the domain of the athletic department.
RS: Right, well we’re not. We sup-port athletic events but we’re funded through the College of Fine Arts and the School of Music, not through the athletic department.
SBO: So is it extra-curricular?
RS: Yes, in that it doesn’t count towards the credits of any major. It’s an elective. The students do get two hours of credits, though, as a reward for the time and effort that put into it every day.
SBO: Earlier, you mentioned how benefi cial it was as a high school band director to be situated near a university. Now that you’re teach-ing at the college level, do you or any of your staff or students work with area high school bands?
RS: Yes. The CMENC (the Collegiate Music Educators National Conference) has an outreach program and through
that we will offer sectionals and work with area high school groups. We’re in an area of the state known as Appala-chia, and the schools around here could really use the mentorship. We have lot of conscientious band directors in the area who want to have good programs and so they tap some of our students to come in and work with their kids. We have some alumni, too, who are teach-ing in these schools, and they’ve retained their contacts with us.
Our students and staff might lead sectionals or work on particular ele-ments that the high school director is looking for help with. Sometimes we get a little bit of compensation for this kind of work, but often it’s purely on a volunteer basis.
SBO: What do you hope to accom-plish with the Ohio Marching 110 in the next fi ve or 10 years?
RS: One of the things about teach-ing at the college level is that the marching band often only goes as far as the football team. I’ve been here for 13 years, and we’ve only been to one bowl game – which happened to be in my hometown of Mobile, Alabama, so that was a great experience – but I try to do other things that keep the stu-dents interested. Our kids look up the road and see Ohio State, which is go-ing to the Fiesta Bowl every other year and all kinds of other big-time football events.
We’ve done a few Macy’s Day Pa-rades and this January we’ll be in the Tournament of Roses Parade. I see us hopefully doing more of these types of events where we can get some na-tional exposure for the university and the band.
SBO: Do you have any advice for band directors out there who are trying to keep their heads above water in these diffi cult fi nancial times?
RS: Try to tap into area resources – especially universities. There are a ton of students at the college and university level that want to whet their chops teach-ing in the local schools. Band directors can take advantage of this to get some extra instruction in their classrooms, but also to help out these students who are going to be the future teachers that carry on the profession.
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School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 33
Even though I switched to a professional trumpet at an early age, generally the ideal time to purchase a step-up in-strument occurs at the transition from junior high/middle school to high school. I spoke with several successful junior high band directors about this and they all agreed on this timetable but also pointed out that exceptions can be made in the case of an advanced and noticeably dedicated student. Students entering high school are also often inspired by the level of “older” players around them as well as exposure to more challenging and sophisticated music.
When buying a step-up instrument, parents must consider whether their child is mature enough to appreciate and care for the instrument. I remember teaching a seventh-grader sev-eral years ago with well-to-do parents. They wanted the best for their child so, against my advice, they purchased the most expensive trumpet on the market. Within months, this beauti-ful instrument looked like it had been through a war zone.
By purchasing a professional trumpet for their kids, par-ents are showing their commitment in support of their child and their musical pursuits. Although it is next to impossible for kids at this age to really commit to anything, a new horn is, in essence, the child’s commitment to continue playing throughout high school and hopefully college and beyond.
THE NEXT STEPMany schools recommend that stu-
dents start on cornets so, when stu-dents move to a step-up instrument, they will also be changing from cor-net to trumpet. Though the change from cornet to trumpet will not re-ally change students’ abilities one way or another, it can and oftentimes does inspire them to practice with renewed enthusiasm. At this stage of a student’s development, a step-up horn might not produce any immediate no-ticeable differences in tone quality, range, fl exibility, etc., but the quality of sound and ease of playing (characteristics of higher-quality instruments) will become apparent in the long run.
During my junior year of col-lege, at one of our fi rst concert band rehearsals, a new student pinged the bell of my trumpet and proclaimed that it was not a professional trumpet because it did not make the same sound hers did – which her high school band direc-tor “assured her” was the sign of a professional trumpet. I don’t even recall what horn she played, but at the time I played a Bach Mt. Vernon Stradivarius trumpet, which is a hand-made and highly sought-after professional trumpet. There is no universal “ping” sound on professional trumpets and it is amazing the number of myths like this fl oating around about what differentiates a professional instrument from a student/intermediate one.
33 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
HOW TO BUY A STEP-UP TRUMPET
BY DR. KEITH WINKING
I started playing cornet in third grade and switched to a professional trumpet my second year – not due to any great improvement on my
part, but because my older brother who was going to high school switched from trumpet to French horn and I inherited his trumpet. I thought that I sounded a lot better on the trumpet, but at that time in my life I was also convinced that a new pair of sneakers would enable me to run faster and jump higher.
Editor’s Note:“How to Buy a Step-Up Trumpet” continues our intermittant series of instruc-tional guides on purchasing the principal band and orchestral instruments. SBO grants permission to photocopy and distribute the article to both students and parents. Other articles from this series are available online at www.sbomagazine.
SBO_33 33 7/30/09 11:41:14 AM
34 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
THREE LEVELS OF TRUMPETSFor many years, trumpets were divided into two catego-
ries: beginning and professional models. Now there is an emergence of a third category, intermediate/mid-level. These trumpets contain features of both pro-line and student-line instruments. Recently, a parent contacted me about buying a step-up horn for their son, who was entering high school. They told me that he was not really that interested in music and wanted to stay in band throughout high school mostly for the social aspect, so the parents did not want to invest in a professional trumpet. They were able to purchase a lower-priced intermediate trumpet that will probably suit his needs. If he becomes more interested in playing and pos-sibly wants to continue in college, I would encourage them to move up to a professional-level trumpet.
There have never been iron-clad rules governing what constitutes a professional trumpet, and it is even more dif-fi cult to defi ne these days since many features previously used exclusively on professional horns can now be found on virtually all levels of horns. An example of this is fi rst and permanent third valve saddles/triggers, which for years were not usually found on student-line horns. The third valve saddles/triggers were also never universally found on all professional horns. For years, I heard some band direc-tors proclaiming that all beginning trumpets had remov-able third valve rings, but the Martin Committee, Selmer pro models (Radial II’s and K Modifi ed) and Olds pro line trumpets all had removable rings.
While trying out professional trumpets, there will prob-ably be two aspects immediately apparent to young players. The fi rst is that on student line horns the action on the valves tends to be a little stiffer whereas professional trumpets are much smoother. Most professional trumpets are made with monel valves and most beginning trumpets are made with nickel-plated valves. There are some professional trumpets with nickel-plated valves – especially older models – which is fi ne, but generally the quality of the valves on student-level instruments is not as high, so the valves tend to be a little sluggish.
The second noticeable difference is that student-line trumpets tend to have smaller lead pipes and bells, which offer some resistance. Professional trumpets are made with larger lead pipes and bells and, because of this, are a little more open and free blowing. You have to reach a certain skill level before you even notice that beginning horns tend to offer more resistance. I recommend that, when the time comes for students to purchase a step-up horn, whenever possible, ask a professional/teacher to try the instrument out fi rst. Even though professional players will sound great on virtually any horn, they will quickly notice any weaknesses with the instrument.
SILVER-PLATE VS. LACQUEROne common misconception is that all professional
trumpets are silver-plated. I worked at a music store while
in graduate school and remember a parent coming in to purchase a new silver-plated “professional” trumpet for his child and refusing to even look at lacquered horns – even though, at the time, the lacquered horns the store had in stock were superior. I tried to convince the parent that the lacquered horns were better and they thought I was some kind of used car salesman trying to pawn off junk horns. Although it is true that the majority of professional trum-pets today are silver-plated, you can purchase beginning and intermediate silver-plated trumpets as well as profes-sional lacquered ones. Silver-plated horns are supposed to be brighter, and the theory is that silver plate is relatively thin and harder so it vibrates with the brass, while lacquer is thicker and soft, producing less vibration. From my ex-perience, most silver-plated horns are brighter, but I have also played many dark sounding silver-plated ones as well as bright-sounding lacquer trumpets, so it really depends on the individual instrument. I still own both silver and lacquer trumpets and bought all my instruments based on how they played – not on what kind of fi nish they had.
MOUTHPIECESWhen students move to a step-up horn, it is also com-
mon practice to change mouthpieces. Everyone has unique lip and teeth structure so there is not a “one size fi ts all” mouthpiece. Changing mouthpieces can have a big impact on a student’s playing, an issue too in-depth to address here and one that warrants a separate discussion.
Recently, a new student trumpet came on the market and several area professional/teachers were at a local music store testing them as possible new horns for their students. The professionals all sounded great on the horn, which was more of a testament to their abilities than the quality of the trumpet. I recall one of my teachers telling me that he never knew a trumpet player who got a lot better or a lot worse with a new horn. It is important for students to know this and to keep it in mind when looking to purchase a step-up instrument.
Keith Winking is a professor at Texas State University, where he teaches trumpet and directs the Texas State Jazz Orchestra, and is a member of the SouthWest BrassWorks. He received his undergraduate degree in music education from Quincy Uni-versity, his M.M. in trumpet performance from Texas State, and his D.M.A. in trumpet performance from the University of Texas at Austin. Winking has presented solo and ensemble concerts and clinics throughout the United States, Canada, Sweden, Japan, Switzerland, and Russia. He is a freelance trumpet player performing with many local and national groups, including the Austin Symphony, the Austin Jazz Or-chestra, James Brown, the Manhattan Transfer and the Austin Sinfonietta. Winking is a voting member of the National As-sociation of the Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammys) and a clinician for the Selmer Company.
School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 34
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SBORoundtable: Fundraising
36 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
The State of Fundraising in a Fickle Economy
Vince Clayton: Due to the eco-nomic crisis, I believe most families in our area are watching their budgets more closely and are being very se-lective when spending money on the various fundraisers that are offered. Although our school district is in good shape, I do have parents who have lost their jobs. There are other schools and organizations close to us with worth-while causes. We have to plan care-fully and know our target groups.
We’ve had to make adjustments to our fundraising efforts. We look for the less expensive ticket items.
Instead of the $18 cheesecake, we look for slightly smaller and less ex-pensive items. We use a local fund-raiser company. Our booster club raises about 40 percent of the entire budget. Families pay about 36 per-cent in camp fees, and the school and district budgets make up the re-maining 24 percent. We have been fortunate to fi nd a local fundraiser who understands the needs of our program and the community that we are in. We have been loyal to them, and they have been loyal to us. We also have an active booster club with
Fundraising can be challenging for any school’s music
program. How does a music educator convince his or
her school district to pump money into the music de-
partment? How does a band director motivate students
and parents to organize a car wash or a fruit sale? How does
one convince a community to fund a high school band’s trip to
China? In the best of times, this can be laborious work for any
band director. And, as we all know, the past year has not been
the best of times economically. With staggering unemployment
rates, crippling budget cuts, and consumer fear, how are school
music programs going to secure the funds they need in the com-
ing year? SBO recently contacted band directors who are not
only facing this challenge, but are doing so in states that have
some of the highest unemployment rates in the country.
SBO_36 36 7/30/09 11:42:18 AM
38 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
parents who fi nd new ways to meet our needs.
Much of our money is spent on equipment, supplies, and staff. None of these expenses have decreased. We have to fi nd ways to raise money with-out turning the students into weekend door-to-door salespeople. We ask the students to fundraise three times a year. Typically, we have a cheesecake sale beginning at summer band camp, a fruit sale just before Christmas, and a consumable product in late winter, early spring. In addition, the booster club runs a marching band compe-tition, concessions at University of South Carolina, and sponsors din-ners and other events throughout the year. Students also pay a reasonable fee for summer marching band camp and a two-day winter symphonic band camp.
Surprisingly, our program has not suffered any budget cuts. I am very fortunate to work in a school district which has a reserve plan in place. But it cannot work forever. I just hope that the country can rebound soon. I support having some sort of a music specialist on the national gov-ernment level. It would certainly be nice if money were allocated for mu-sic education.
Michael D. Stone: Two years ago, California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signed into law two block grants designed to support the purchase of new art and music sup-plies and equipment for California schools, and to hire credentialed music teachers. The Bakersfi eld City School District has purchased close to $2,000,000 worth of new musi-cal instruments and equipment for its schools, and provided additional in-structional support.
Today, however, we know that California is in a budget crisis. Mu-sic teacher positions are threatened throughout the state. Yet, the Bakers-fi eld City School district has not laid off any certifi ed teachers this budget cycle. Some district teacher positions have been left unfi lled due to the state’s budget crisis, including one music posi-tion. The district’s music program will continue as it has during the upcoming
2009-2010 school year. The district is the largest K-8 school district in Cali-fornia. Due in part to many years of strong fi scal control and planning, the district has been able to keep most cuts to its general fund budget away from the classroom. Our music program is structured with a built-in budget for music supplies, musical instrument repair/purchase, and transportation to district-approved educational fi eld trips. All teacher positions, as well as the coordinator position, are funded by the district.
Fundraising is limited to provid-ing extra support for out-of-town fi eld trips, performances, et cetera. I have encouraged the music fac-ulty to focus on fundraisers where 100 percent of proceeds come back to the music program. Candy sales and catalog sales make money for the person/company coordinating the fundraiser, with only a portion of proceeds coming back to the or-ganization conducting it. I encourage teachers to create their own fundrais-ers: spaghetti or enchilada dinners where food items are donated by lo-cal businesses; music program spon-sorships where benefactors are listed in concert programs; and car washes where pre-sold tickets provide dona-tions to the school’s music program. These fundraisers are defi nitely suc-cessful if each student is encouraged to sell a certain number of tickets, ensur-ing a large profi t for the music group. These fundraisers work especially well for music programs with lots of stu-dents. I would imagine that we will fi nd many music educators in Califor-nia going back to fundraising in order to sustain programs. A new obstacle will be that folks have less to give to the schools due to a down economy. I just hope that the economy will allow folks to continue to supplement music programs in my community through charitable giving.
In the long run, I would prefer a school-funding approach that involves little if any federal funding. This way, local and state tax revenue would fund schools directly, without taxes being siphoned off by the federal govern-ment, and then re-allocated to states with little funding fl exibility.
Vince ClaytonDirector of BandsRidge View High SchoolColumbia, S.C.
Vince Clayton is the director of bands at Ridge View High School and has been a music educator for 27 years. The Ridge View Symphonic Band has performed at the BOA National Concert Festival, two SCMEA State Conventions, and two USC Band Clinics.
Michael D. StoneCoordinator for Visual and Per-forming ArtsBakersfi eld City School DistrictBakersfi eld, Calif.
Michael D. Stone has been the coordi-nator of visual and performing arts for the Bakersfi eld City School District since 2004. As the arts administrator for the district, he oversees arts pro-grams at 31 elementary schools, six middle schools, and two junior high schools. Instruction in the arts is of-fered at all schools in the district.
Scott RushDirector of BandsWando High SchoolMount Pleasant, S.C.
Scott Rush is director of bands at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, S.C. Mr. Rush is active as a clinician and adju-dicator throughout the United States. He was a co-pre-senter at the 2002 MENC National In-Service Conference in Nashville, Tennessee and has done workshops at several universities. He is current-ly working on a book for Focus On Excellence Publishing and is writing an instrumental curriculum guide for the South Carolina Department of Education.
SBO_38 38 7/30/09 11:42:27 AM
40 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
Scott Rush: We’ve experienced several issues due to the current economic crisis, but the most critical has been the number of parents who have fi nancial hardships due to being laid off from work. We have a fi nancial hardship clause in our by-laws which states that “no student will be de-nied participation in the band program due to fi -nancial hardship.” We will need to assign more hardship funds to allow these students to partici-pate. These hardship funds come from everyone else’s fundraising efforts.
Our booster organization raises 97 percent of the total program budget. The other three percent comes from the school district. Because of this, the small budget cut handed down by the district did not make a severe impact on the program. We were able to make up the differ-ence in other ways. Most of the booster con-tributions are generated through fundraising. However, some parents choose to pay their “fair share” amount, instead of raising the money. One of the pluses of using this system
David LeachPerforming Arts Chairman, Director of BandsPioneer High SchoolAnn Arbor, Mich.
David Leach has been di-rector of bands at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School since 2002. He received his bach-elor’s and master’s degrees in Music Education at Eastern Michigan Uni-versity, where he studied conducting. He was appointed Chair of the Pioneer High School Music Department in 2006-07.
Howard C. Parnell, Jr.Director of BandsFairfi eld Central High SchoolWinnsboro, S.C.
Howard C. Parnell was selected as one of the Na-tional Honor Roll’s “Out-standing American Teach-ers” for 2005-2006. His professional affi liations in-clude National Education Association, South Carolina Education Association, Mu-sic Educators National Conference, South Carolina Music Educators Association, South Carolina Band Directors Association, and the International Association of Jazz Educators.
is that everyone is responsible for an equal amount (as opposed to 10 percent of the parents fundraising for the entire program). The other source of revenue comes from generous donations to the program.
We’ve adjusted both the budget and the fundraising. We’ve cut about $20,000 from the total budget to keep the “fair share” amount the same as it has been for the past 10 years. This was significant because this is a travel year for us. We’ve also stream-lined our fundraising efforts and have focused on the traditional ones that have been profitable. We’ve cut the ones that weren’t to our benefit and added news ones that we think will work. We also held a meeting at the end of last school year for parents to share new ideas about fundraising. We felt that we needed to be creative in our approach, and the synergy worked for us.
The most profitable fundraiser for our program has been selling advertisement signs to local businesses, which are hung around the football stadium. For each sign that is sold, a certain amount of money goes toward a student’s “fair share” account. A student can sell four signs and that amount takes care of their expenses within the program for the entire year. The student then has first-rights to sell those signs each year they are in the program. We encourage all of our students to fundraise because it promotes a sense of ownership. It has been interesting to see how fundraising itself has changed over time. We’ve had to take a much more creative approach to raising funds. Going door-to-door seems to be a thing of the past because of societal issues.
I’m concerned about the coming year. We rely heavily on businesses and individuals within our community. My feeling is that many non-profit organizations will be soliciting funds and there simply won’t enough to go around. Everyone is feeling the pinch.
I would like to see the federal government continue to fund national, regional, and state arts organizations, such as the Na-tional Endowment for the Arts. I would also like to see a cabinet-level position created for the arts to oversee financial matters and advocacy issues. Having a voice at this level of government may be the best way to ensure that no school arts program is cut due to tough economic times.
We have seen no direct financial benefits from the stimulus package. However, the stimulus funds did allow several folks in our district to keep their jobs. Based on this premise, instruction and programs would have been severely affected had it not been for the stimulus funds.
David Leach: Michigan has been particularly hard hit by this economic crisis. Most of our program’s funding comes from student family members, followed by fundraising, and the dis-trict. By far our most successful fundraising event is our auc-tion. Most items are donated; bidders are aware that they are helping the program. Items and/or services are auctioned off at an evening gala. In terms of budgeting, we try to stay one cycle ahead - not year to year, but two years in the future.
Our music program has yet to see any budget cuts, but last month our governor informed us that the per-pupil “adjust-ments” would be made this fiscal year. In other words, we are bracing. We are planning on traveling to China and with the downturn in the Michigan job market, we are bracing for added requests for financial assistance. I am certain that if this crisis
SBO_40 40 7/30/09 11:42:31 AM
42 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
continues or worsens we will need to reevaluate music program fund-raising efforts state-wide.
There are so many education-al concerns that are ravaging this country. Fiscal responsibility and in-tegrity from our government, state officials, and school districts would make it much easier, but I am afraid that the greed of Wall Street isn’t confined to that sector. I would be remiss if I did not point out that under-funded, or not funded at all, government initiatives are the most grievous concern we have as a na-tion. It is our responsibility to teach our children well.
Howard C. Parnell: The school district has allocated most of the band program funds. Our band booster club has also worked very hard in providing additional funds for the band program. However, the newest complication (but a good one) is that we have tripled the size of the band in two years. So we have to be a bit more creative with the types of fundraising we do in the coming year.
My main concern for this year is the time we will have to spend fund-raising because of the economic cri-sis. Due to the loss of about $5,000 dollars from our budget this year, I will have to reconsider the number of trips the band will take. We are going to be hitting the ground run-ning with a donut sale, car washes, raffles, and a fruit sale. Our annu-al fruit sale is the most profitable fundraiser. We kick it off in October and finish it just before the Thanks-giving holidays. The fruit sale has been very successful and profitable for the band program. Every band member will be participating in these efforts.
I would like to see funding set aside every year for music programs according to the size and grade level of the schools throughout the United States. For example, if a high school has marching, concert, and jazz bands, along with gospel and show choirs, the funding should be significant.
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SBOGuest Editorial: Rehearsal
BY ROBERT STEIN
The fi rst day of rehearsal can be the most stressful day of
the year for directors and instructors. There are the new
students who have to get acquainted, paperwork that
needs to be handed in, drill to be handed out, music to
be memorized, and so much more. The fi rst day is also one of the
most important days of the year, as it sets a standard for the rest
of the season and lets the band members know what to expect.
There are many considerations to evaluate when planning the
fi rst day of rehearsal, including:
44 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
What to Do on the First Day of Rehearsal
• How late into the summer should we start?
• How many returning members will be there? How many new mem-bers?
• How long have the students had the music to work on – if any time at all? (Music should always be handed out by the end of the previ-ous school year!)
• How much time is there before the fi rst performance of the season?
• What level of performance will the students be at?These are the fi ve main things I con-
sider when planning a fi rst rehearsal. My main rule of thumb is that earlier in the season, more time should be spent on basics and fundamentals of technique (visual or musical). Later in the season, spend more time on show aspects – drill, show music, et cetera. Of course, foundations of technique must be applied and reviewed all sea-son long. To further examine our con-siderations, let’s go over the details and corresponding results for each one.
How late into the summer is it?
The later it is in the summer, the more pressure there is to get moving with the show. The fi rst football game could be in as little as three weeks! At this point, teach your students every-thing they need to know to execute drill, and start teaching drill as soon as possible.
SBO_44 44 7/30/09 11:43:27 AM
School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 45
How many returning (and new) members will be there?
This factor is important, in that it will dictate how much time needs to be spent teaching foundational con-cepts, such as mark time, attention position, forward marching, backward marching, and so on. I have found that the more experienced performers there are, and the fewer new members there are, the less time I need to spend on these new concepts each year; the newer students watch the older mem-bers and catch on quickly.
How long have the students had the music to work on, if any time at all?
If the students have had their mu-sic for a signifi cant amount of time, or enough time to learn the material and begin the memorization process, more time can be spent on basic technique, such as proper breathing or tuning. If it is mid-August and the students are reading the music for the fi rst time, you might need to jump right into the music and catch up on basic technique studies at a later time.
How soon is the fi rst performance of the season?
That fi rst football game always seems to come upon us too soon! And, realistically, you need to hit the halftime fi eld with something present-able. If the fi rst performance is sooner than later, it might be necessary to concentrate on more show-oriented tasks, such as learning drill and memo-rizing the show music. While most of us would rather have a really clean opener than a mildly dirty half of the show, we know the school administra-tion will come knocking on the door if the halftime show is only three min-utes long.
What is your students’ level of performance?
Hopefully, this level grows each year. If you’re in the situation where you are a new band director building a program, or it is the program’s fi rst few years in existence, more time should be spent on foundations of a good pro-gram, such as rehearsal etiquette, mu-sical and visual technique, and so on. If your students are at a higher level,
they will be rehearsing well by them-selves and executing proper technique already, allowing more rehearsal time to be spent on show-oriented tasks.
Here a few examples of possible fi rst rehearsal scenarios:• It is the fi rst week of July, the band
members have had the music for a month and a half, and we have two months until the fi rst football game. We have not received any drill yet. We have a three-hour rehearsal scheduled. In this case, I would be-
gin with the usual stretch and brief run, and then hit the basics block for an hour or so. I would cover parade rest and attention positions, mark time, and give a brief intro-duction to forward marching. Fol-lowing that, I would break off into
woodwind and brass sectionals and work on warm-up exercises and ba-sic technique. Towards the end, I’d briefl y go over the show music.
• It is the third week of July, the members are just getting the music, and we have a month and a half until the fi rst football game. It is a three-hour rehearsal. We have drill for the opener. Here, I would begin the rehearsal with the usual stretch and brief run, then a fast paced ba-sics block to explain standing posi-tions and forward and backward marching. I would then go to music block, which would include a semi-brief warm up, and jumping right into show music. We would start learning drill at the next rehearsal, after basics block.
• It is the middle of August, the mem-bers have had the music for three weeks, and we have three weeks until the fi rst football game. We have drill for the entire show. It is a nine-hour day, and the fi rst day of band camp. At this point, I would
“No matter what the situa-tion is, there must always be some time spent on foundational techniques.”
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46 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
begin with the usual stretch and brief run, and a two-hour basics block to introduce standing posi-
tions and marching in all directions. Although we go through this much more quickly than we should, we
must perform at the football game. I would then teach everyone how to read a drill chart, and begin drill rehearsal. After lunch, I would con-tinue with drill, followed by two hours of music rehearsal at the end. For the rest of the week, I would continue with the same schedule. After we fi nish a part of the show drill wise, I would put music to it, then move on to learn more drill.
Obviously, the later in the season the fi rst rehearsal is, the less time there is to spend on the necessary foundations of visual and musical technique. While in a perfect world summer rehearsals would begin the week after school is over, and we would have numerous hours of basics and warm-up time to instill great technique in our students, reality does not always work with us. The school may not want to pay cus-todial staff to have the school open for your summer rehearsals; students go on vacation and miss all of the basics; the music arranger you thought you had bailed out and now you need a show fast! These are all scenarios that lead to a late start to a season, and can even ruin a program if not handled correctly. It is important to remember that no matter what the situation is, there must always be some time spent on foundational techniques, and never allow a rehearsal to feel rushed or out of control.
Even with a late start to the season, it is still possible to instill great foundations of technique in your students. It will take a little bit longer, but with careful plan-ning and proper teaching techniques, it is certainly achievable.
Rob Stein is the owner of “Standing ‘O’ Marching” (www.standingomarch-ing.com). He currently lives in Lake Geneva, Wis. and is also the brass/per-cussion product manager for Dynasty. He has worked directly with over 20 high school music programs across the country. Prior to his current position, Rob was the assistant band director at Sterling High School in Summerdale, N.J.
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48 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
SBOPerformance: Arranging Melodies
Some of the greatest experiences an arranger can have are
the opportunities to lovingly “mess with” someone else’s
melody. I’ve found that it is also the one aspect of ar-
ranging which less experienced musicians are the most
intimidated by. However, altering aspects of a song’s melody
shouldn’t be looked upon as something that is taboo. Rather,
the process can be thought of as actually paying tribute to what
makes a work great in the fi rst place.
Arranging Fundamentals: Reinventing MelodiesBY DAVID W. SNYDER
Selection and ApproachWhen picking a melody I want to
reformat, I always try to select a tune I feel a strong personal connection with. But even when working with lesser material, it is important to fi nd some-thing to love about the given tune and to deeply understand the song’s struc-ture and history. This will keep you in-spired and informed, helping creative ideas come more easily.
If the selected tune is one the average listener is generally familiar with, then the way an arranger treats it can act as a window into his or her creative thinking
and personal style. Whenever possible, it helps to start by listening to a record-ing of the original version of the song, or at least a version done in the tradi-tional manner. This will help make clear the tune’s original intention as a com-position. Assuming there exists plenty of freedom to alter various aspects of the song (melody, harmony, style, meter, et cetera), the most crucial choice the arranger fi rst makes is with respect to the new overall “feel” of the composi-tion. This decision should be allowed to evolve very generally, by choosing basic things like tempo, overall level of
“The idea here is to con-vince the listener that your new arrangement of the tune could, in fact, be the originally intended version – very tricky to pull off!”
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School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 49
tension, and so on. Then, the arranger should pick a rhythmic style that best ad-dresses those overall ideas. For example, if I want to turn a standard-sounding ballad into something “fast” and more “tense” in mood, I might select a samba for the groove, with a heavily synco-pated treatment of the melody, perhaps adding some unusual re-harmonizations as well. Maybe I would also incorporate some kind of underlying rhythmic vamp fi gure, which could possibly enhance the feeling of tension. Not every change of groove or tempo is going to work for the arranger, personally. He or she must sit with the tune for a while and play around until something feels right. It’s really a matter of taste.
The idea here is to convince the listener that your new arrangement of the tune could, in fact, be the origi-nally intended version – very tricky to pull off! But, if the arranger is familiar enough with the rhythmic and stylis-tic language of many styles of music (underlying drum patterns, bass lines/comping patterns, traditional rhyth-mic treatment of melodies), he or she will have more options, and the music will sound authentic. Personally, I fi nd this to be one of the most fun parts of the arranging process. I suggest trying lots of approaches out. You may fi nd that you can hear the tune in more than one new context, so you should give yourself time to fi nd the “right” one. Most importantly, pick one in which you can hear the melody work within the rhythmic style. Remember, it is generally the melody that is the most important aspect of any song, so deal with it fi rst. You can worry about re-harmonization, orchestration, and everything else later. They are the ic-ing on the cake in comparison (the exception being a more conservative alteration of the melody in favor of other changes, such as more heavy re-harmonization, much counterpoint/rhythmic vamps, et cetera). Regardless of the style chosen, let it be one that is familiar to you. I often start by lis-tening to classic recordings, typical of the genre I’ve chosen for my chart, in order to get my head into the specifi cs of the style. Then, I’ll think about the structure of the melody I’m arranging in relation to this chosen groove.
In some situations, this may seem like putting a square peg into a round hole, but if you think about the original rhythmic design of the tune’s pitches, and compare that to traditional melo-dies in the chosen style, you may see rhythmic possibilities leap out at you. Trust your ear and your knowledge of the style. Remember, there is some rea-son you fi rst chose this approach for the tune (or more likely, it chose you). Start by experimenting with the layout of the pitches. If the song has lyrics, even if the arrangement is to be an instrumental, try to hear the lyrics of the song as you re-structure the pitches. Do the words still seem to have a grammatical fl ow and logic? Melodic structures working with lyrics are often composed with this in mind. How about rhythmic sequences in the original’s phrases? Where’s the tune’s climax (usually the highest note somewhere towards the end)? The ar-
ranger must thoroughly understand the important features of the tune’s original melodic structure, and use technique to “comment” on them.
Interpreting a SmileIf you look at the notation examples
I’ve prepared, you’ll see various re-work-ing of a song near and dear to my heart, “Smile,” by Charlie Chaplin for the soundtrack to his fi lm “Modern Times” (1936). My fi rst exposure to this song was the classic ballad recording done by Nat King Cole in the 1950s. Both Cole’s version and the original from the Chaplin fi lm are very ballad-oriented and romantic. It is a very simple song, almost like a lullaby, so there’s lots of room for alterations. A word of caution at this point – there is a fi ne like between being clever and interesting as arranger, and just “doing stuff” to show off musi-cal knowledge for its own sake. Try to
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50 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
remember the original spirit of the tune and the overall intent of the new con-text, while tastefully trying to keep the listener’s interest.
In the examples on the previous page, I’ve tried to come up with several pos-sible contexts in which “Smile” might appear, while trying to retain as much of the tunes original character as possible. Example 1 is simply the straightforward, unaltered presentation of the song’s fi rst four bars (for reference). Notice that the fi rst note is a longer time value (half note) than the notes that follow.
This may have to do with the lyrics – “Smile, (pause) though your heart is breaking…” The melody makes sense rhythmically with the fl ow and grammar of the words here. So one way I tried to maintain a sense of the tune was to remember this point, at least in the fi rst two bars of each example (Ex. 4 being the only exception for va-riety), in order to more directly let the
listener know what song they are hear-ing. If you clearly establish what the tune is early on, you will have more liberty to stray further from the tune later on. It is also important to strive for a balance of the expected, such as sticking close to aspects of the original tune, and the unexpected, such as perhaps altering/ob-scuring the melody more, even inserting original composed material (carefully!
– remember, this is an arrangement you are working on). Great ar-rangers have the ability to stray from the tune to the point where
it almost sounds like a different melody. Case-in-point: Bill Holman’s treatment of “Stompin’ At The Savoy,” arranged for Stan Kenton in 1955 (found on The Best Of Stan Kenton – Capitol Records). But even in this chart, you somehow always hear “Savoy” in the presentation of the melody. Arrangers like Bill Holman are true masters of this technique. However,
I strongly advise less experienced arrang-ers to master the art of arranging/alter-ing melodies et cetera with subtlety fi rst before experimenting with more abstract concepts.
If you return to the notation examples, notice the various grooves and styles that have been chosen, and how the melody has been made to fi t rhythmically. In ex-amples 2 through 6, only the original pitches were used, nothing extra.
This is a particular challenge, as the arranger must deal with only the number of notes as in the original. This is where knowledge of many tunes done in each particular style comes in handy. For in-stance, in example 2, the rhythmic fi gures are very typical of swing phrasing – lots of eighth-note anticipations, a mix of short/long notes,. Whereas in example 4, I employ common samba-like rhythmic patterns, such as consecutive syncopated up-beats, and the “surprise” anticipation on beat 4 in the second and fourth bar of the phrase (the beats here are represent-ed by eighth-notes in double time feel). Example 6 is a jazz waltz, with one less
“There is a fi ne line between being clever and interesting as arranger, and just ‘doing stuff’ to show off musical knowledge for its own sake.”
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School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 51
beat per bar – an additional challenge. Example 7 is the only one where I use extra pitches besides the originals. No-tice that in this case the locations of the original pitches within the line (each indi-cated with a “*”) are fairly close to their locations in the original version (ex. 1). This helps keep the feeling for the tune, in spite of the fact that there are many embellishing pitches in the line.
Of course, there are many, many more others styles and ways of phrasing that could have been chosen for this example. In fact, arranging melodies can get much more complicated – longer note and/or phrase lengths (augmentation), turning intervals upside down (inversion), mixed meters, not to mention all the things that can be done with reharmonization. All of these techniques are available, if the ar-ranger has the technique, a background in listening to lots of styles of music, and most importantly, good taste! It should always be remembered that a good ar-rangement is mostly a clever commen-tary of a song, using technique to serve that end not for it’s own sake. So don’t try to do everything in one arrangement – that’s just plain overkill.
In ClosingOne last thing – remember to reuse a
few ideas in the course of your arrange-ment. You want the listener to walk away remembering something specifi c about your arrangement. It could be a certain phrase from the rearranged melody, an underlying repeated vamp fi gure, a spe-cifi c harmonic progression, a voicing type. Find a few things you can bring back from time to time in the arrangement to give it some specifi c sense of character. If you are clever about it, you may only need one or two elements to reuse. The key is to have enough of both reused and varied material to keep things interest-ing. This is part of the game of arrang-ing – the fun of pulling the listener along, giving them something to guide their ears through the chart, such as reuse of ma-terial, as well as offering surprises along the way. Good luck. I hope you will feel more confi dent that it is okay to “mess with” other people’s music, even famous tunes. If your arrangement is done well, you may fi nd that the composer will be very fl attered!
Pete McGuinness is an active New York City based jazz composer-arranger, trombonist, vocalist, and leader of his own big band, The Pete McGuinness Jazz Orchestra, whose debut CD First Flight was released nation-wide on Summit Records in 2007. He has written arrangements for many other groups including the Dave Liebman Big Band and the Westchester Jazz Orchestra. Pete is a member of the jazz studies faculty at New Jersey City University (Jersey City, N.J.). Visit Pete at www.petemcguinness.com.
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52 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
SBOTechnology: CBPAs Revisited
BY JOHN KUZMICH, JR.
Dr. John Kuzmich Jr. is a veteran music educator, jazz educator and music technologist with more than 41 years of public school teaching experi-ence. He is a TI:ME-certifi ed training instructor and has a Ph.D. in com-prehensive musicianship. As a free-lance author, Dr. Kuzmich has more than 400 articles and fi ve textbooks published. As a clinician, Dr. Kuzmich frequently participates in workshops throughout the U.S., Europe, Austra-lia, and South America.
For more information, visit www.kuzmich.com.
Two years ago, we reported here about the Class-
room-Based Performance Assessments (CBPA) pro-
gram being implemented in the state of Washington
(SBO August, 2007). Many readers were interest-
ed enough in this news that they accepted the invitation to
take a closer look. Now, educators from 15 states and seven
countries have contacted Ms. AnnRene Joseph, Arts Program
supervisor, for permission to cite and use the Washington
CBPAs as a model for their own state, district, and school
arts assessment programs.
Revisiting the Arts Classroom-Based Performance Assessments in Washington
Since that time, we can report that excellent progress has been made. Washington has completed its second phase of this important fi ne-arts class-room-based performance and assessment project involving 295 school dis-tricts and is the only state in the nation conducting a large-scale reporting of performance-based assessments at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels, in all four fi ne arts disciplines: music, art, dance and drama.
The positive impact of the CBPAs ensures that arts instruction is occurring in the state of Washington and validates the need for highly qualifi ed and certifi ed instructors in the arts to meet and exceed the expectations of the state for its one million students. Teachers are reporting that the CBPAs and the statewide reporting process “saved the arts programs in their districts” during the past year of fi nancial issues across the nation.
Rob Lindfors teaches music at Newport High School, as well as guitar, piano and 5th-grade orchestra in the Bellevue School District. He uses tech-nology extensively in two classes: Composing Music with Technology and Guitar. “All of my instruction,” Rob says, “is guided by a desire to help stu-dents recognize and appreciate their own musical and creative potential, and to help them gain confi dence in their own abilities. The greater the success in this, the more captivated they will be by music, and the more relevant music will be to their lives.”
SBO_52 52 7/30/09 11:45:39 AM
School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 53
For Guitar class, Rob has created a variety of materi-als that make effective use of Sibelius’ Scorch software for home practice and study. He uses the same material in class with Scorch, rather than with Sibelius, so that students be-come familiar with using Scorch interactively. “Scorch al-lows students to change the tempo to suit their needs and to begin playback from any point in the song,” Rob says. “This allows them to focus on the sections that most need work. It even allows students to transpose the music to a differ-ent key: great for those who need the additional challenge. When a play-along track includes both melody and accom-paniment, I mix it so that the melody comes out of one speaker and the accompaniment comes out of the other, al-lowing students to turn off the melody and play along with just the accompaniment if desired.”
This material is intended to help students learn how to become “their own best teacher,” by improving their own practice strategies, which is a focus of Rob’s instruc-tion. He continues, “I provide scaffolding for a number of pieces through special ‘learning versions,’ which isolate key elements to facilitate practice and increase understanding. These help students better grasp how to tackle a diffi cult piece.”
No prior music experience is required for the Compos-ing, Music Technology class. Rob notes that his teaching is guided by a concern for leveling the playing fi eld for stu-dents with little experience. “Nevertheless,” he states, “it is
essential that they learn about notation, melody, harmony, rhythm, form, phrasing, dynamics, texture, timbre, et ce-tera. That’s a lot for beginners to absorb, while simultane-ously learning how to use the technology, and then having to put it all together into composing. To help students de-velop confi dence, I provide a great deal of scaffolding.”
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54 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
One way technology helps Rob do this is through something he calls “Music Minus One” assignments: composition exercises that are missing one part – melody, harmony, bass, or counter melody, et cetera – which the student needs to add to complete the piece. Rob has found that this is an ef-fective way to help every student suc-ceed. These exercises were designed primarily to provide scaffolding for creating pieces with clearly defi ned harmonic progressions, allowing stu-
dents to focus on writing melodies that more creatively respond to the harmonic structure and to the form the harmonic progression provides, which also helps with phrasing. The teacher emphasizes that nearly every student’s work improves markedly if greater attention is paid to these cru-
cial elements: form and phrasing. “To do this,” he says, “I teach students enough about chord construction and chord progressions for them to grasp how harmony provides the underly-ing structure to most music. Even just a basic knowledge of how harmonic progressions function helps students
better understand form and phrasing, and how repetition fi gures strongly in the harmonic structure, which also aids in melodic phrasing. Students are provided with numerous sample pro-gressions (some from popular songs), and emphasis is placed on learning how tempo, texture, and style affect the feel and sound of a progression.”
It is important that students grasp how the harmonic basis of music in-fl uences the melody. They learn about the use of stepwise motion versus ar-
“The greater the success in this, the more captivated the students will be by music, and the more relevant music will be to their lives.”
Links to information on arts education in Washington: 1. Designing the Arts Learning Community: A Handbook for K-12 Professional
Development Planners: handbook.laartsed.org/models/index.ashx?md=18 Washington’s CBPAs are featured as an effective and successful process in the professional development of educators.
2. Complete Worksheet with Instructions, FAQs, Links, Elementary, Middle, and High School Arts CBPAs in Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts, Optional Survey, and Arts Courses: www.k12.wa.us/curriculumInstruct/arts/pubdocs/ArtsReportingFormTeacherWorksheet12-2008.doc
3. Arts Assessment Article, “The Journey in Progress”: www.newhorizons.org/strategies/assess/joseph.htm
SBO_54 54 7/30/09 11:45:49 AM
School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 55
peggios in creating melodies, and the benefi t of understanding what the underlying harmony is in their com-positions, and of knowing what the chord tones are. “Music Minus One” exercises allow students to put these concepts into practice when writing melodies, focusing on how the melody intertwines with the harmony through a combination of arpeggios and step-wise motion. Alternately, students may be asked to write a supporting harmo-ny to a given melody.
Other exercises ask students to re-orchestrate and re-arrange the rhythm parts (chords and bass) to a given mel-ody, to get them to think more deeply about style and timbre. Examples of the missing parts are provided for ev-ery exercise, so that students can study them individually or for class discus-sion.
AnnRene Joseph is happy to an-nounce that the CBPAs have been uti-lized in K-12 classes and developed for courses that include and are not limit-ed to traditional arts classes. Technol-ogy classes are using Sibelius, Finale, Garage Band, and other programs. Teachers in all areas of music study, including technology in music, orches-tra, band, guitar, and more have con-tributed to development, designing, piloting and refi ning the fi rst menu of 60 Arts CBPAs into a new menu that can be found online by going to www.k12.wa.us, clicking on “WASL,” under the “assessment” tab, and then scroll down to fi nd the link for CBPAs on the left-hand side. These new CBPAs are scheduled for fi nal approval six month from now.
Washington currently has a one-credit requirement in the arts at the high school level for all learners. Be-ginning in 2013, provided that full funding is given, two credits in the arts will be required for graduation, taught at the high school level. Washington will be the fi rst state in the nation to have such a requirement.
AnnRene Joseph, whose full title is “program supervisor for the Arts for Teaching, Learning, and Assess-ment at the Offi ce of Superintendent of Public Instruction,” is credited as leading the decision making and de-velopment that resulted in the cre-
ation of the CBPAs for dance, music, theatre, and visual arts at the elemen-tary, middle, and high school levels. She has nurtured this innovative pro-gram from 2002 to the present with the unyielding support and participa-tion of her state’s arts educators and leaders. One of her mantras is this: “Our lives, and all aspects of our lives – personal and professional – are an artwork in progress.” Ms. Joseph can be contacted at annrene.joseph@k12.
wa.us or at www.k12.wa.us/curricu-lumInstruct/arts.
In his statement in support for arts education, Mr. Randy I. Dorn, Washington’s superintendent of Public Education notes, “We know that arts education allows students to learn and practice skills and behaviors that foster ‘out of the box’ thinking and creative problem solving. Those skills will be crucial to innovation in the 21st cen-tury.”
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56 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
Vandoren’s B50 Mouthpiece & Java Reeds
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Yamaha’s AvantGrand N2Yamaha’s AvantGrand N2 is an upright piano crafted to feature the sound,
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The AvantGrand Se-ries’ Tactile Response System transmits “string” vibrations through the keys to player’s hands, while the four-channel, three-way Spatial Acous-tic Speaker System repro-duces the original grand piano samples. In addi-tion to the grand piano sound sample, the N2 also features electronic piano and harpsichord voices. The AvantGrand N2 is slated to ship in September 2009. Both the N2 and N3 models include a matching pad-ded bench. www.avant-grand.com
Avid’s Sibelius 6 Music Notation Software Avid’s version 6 of Sibelius music notation software includes a toolset designed
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Xylosynth from Wernick
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Theodore Presser’s New Trumpet Method: Lips of Steel
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Meisel’s MST-10 Tuner
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Alfred Releases Music from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
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Gator has released a new line of furniture grade wood laminate speak-er stands. The stands are sold in a pair with rubber trim edges for protection coupled with rounded corners for a stylish design. The GE-SPKR-ST Se-ries is available in 36” and 42” sizes with 12” square platform and base pieces. www.gatorcases.com
Bari Woodwind’s HybridBari Woodwind Supplies’ Hybrid,
is a saxophone mouthpiece designed with a metal inner chamber enclosed by hard rubber. The weight of the metal chamber is said to add clear, au-dible mass to Hybrid’s projection and versatility to the traditional hard rub-ber sound. Metal mouthpiece players will discover a mouthpiece tone that’s bite is made more controllable by the outer hard rubber shell and hard rub-ber players will discover a mouthpiece that delivers a crisper projection. Both the Hybrid tenor and alto models are available in a hand polished or a vin-tage matte fi nish. www.bariwoodwind.com
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60 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
NewProducts
New Saxophones from PJLA & Sax Dakota
Sax Dakota, the newest product line entry from PJLA Music Sales is of-
fering a matching pair of Straight Alto and Tenor Saxophones. Both the Alto
and Tenor have solid stainless steel internal arm rods for minimal torque for all long/extended hinge rods con-necting to key cups. All key cup con-nections have tapered double arms for tactile closure. Bell tone holes have been repositioned for maximum sound projection and all key cups are custom designed to be low profi le so the designed steel booster pads have minimum travel and positive/fast seal-ing action.
The new left hand plateau design is said to provide fl uid speed and ease of reach for the most complex passages. Tapered oversize bells are standard on both instruments: Alto has a 5.32” bell opening and the Tenor has a 6.26” fl air. Both bells are graduated from the bow for sound projection.
All Sax Dakota Saxophones are fabri-cated from a 77 percent copper content brass formula. The Straight Alto, Tenor, and Soprano come standard in a matte gray onyx metallic fi nish with all keys/key guards and trim in satin silver fi n-ish. Cases are all wood with brass latch-
ing and covered with our exclusive beige tweed fabric. Straight Soprano retails for $2,450, Straight Alto for $3,700, and the Straight Tenor for $3,950.www.pjlamusic.com
The Jensen Jet 10” TornadoJensen Musical Instrument Speak-
ers’ latest addition to the Jensen Jet series is the 10” Tornado, sister to the 12” Tornado, a modern speaker offering defi ned tone. The 10” Tor-nado features a tight, warm low end response topped with highs and is said to exhibit a bright and well-defi ned bite when presented with overdrive distortion. The 10” Jensen Tornado generates 100-watts of power using a neodymium magnet. The advantage of neodymium is its light weight (half the weight of ceramic speaker magnets).www.jensentone.com
ToneGear’s String Cleaner for Bass
ToneGear’s String Cleaner for bass guitar utilizes a 360-degree cleaning process to preserve and maintain the tone and integrity of guitar strings. This year’s introduction features an advanced design that additionally and simultaneously cleans the fret board.
The String Cleaner for bass guitar is said to extend the life and preserve the tone of bass strings by up to four times more than untreated strings while clean-ing and protecting the fret board.
Created with specially designed mi-crofi ber pads that remove and hold debris without cleaning solution, The String Cleaner for bass guitar was cre-ated for long-term, low- maintenance usage. Users simply open the tool, slide it underneath the strings, close and se-cure the latches, and then slide the de-vice back and forth along the full length of the strings and fret board. The String Cleaner should be used after each play to ensure optimum performance; to clean the device, simply hand-wash with warm water and a drop of liquid soap.
The String Cleaner has one US pat-ent, two patents pending and is dis-tributed in 45 countries; The String Cleaner for bass guitar has one patent pending and will be available where The String Cleaner is sold with a list price of $19.99.www.thestringcleaner.com
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SBO_60 60 7/30/09 2:30:20 PM
School Band and Orchestra, August 2009 61
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64 School Band and Orchestra, August 2009
SOFTWARE
AdIndexCOMPANY NAME E-MAIL/WEB ADDRESS PAGE #
Ambassador Tours www.ambassador-tours.com 45American Way Marketing LLC [email protected] 53Antigua Winds, Inc. www.antiguawinds.com 51Band Shoppe www.bandshoppe.com 9Bari Woodwinds www.bariwoodwinds.com 11Barrington Music www.wwbw.com 55Bob Rogers Travel www.bobrogerstravel.com 6Capital University www.music.capital.edu 50Cascio Interstate Music Company www.interstatemusic.com 42Charms Music Software www.charmsmusic.com 46Crystal Records www.crystalrecords.com 59D’Addario & Co. www.daddario.com 37Dutch Mill Bulbs, Inc. www.dutchmillbulbs.com 32EPN Travel Services www.epntravel.com cov 4,39Festivals of Music www.educationalprograms.com cov 2-1Fiesta-Val Music Festivals info@fi estaval.com 27Gateway Shoes www.gatewayshoes.com 42Gator Cases www.freedmusic.com 13The Getzen Co. www.getzen.com 28Harlem Wizards www.harlemwizards.com 54Hawaiian Music Festivals www.himusicfest.com 60Hunter Musical www.huntermusical.com 50International Schools Services www.iss.edu 46Intropa Tours www.intropa.com 56Jody Jazz www.JodyJazz.com 10KMC Music, Inc www.kamanmusic.com 26Little Caesars Pizza www.pizzakit.com 54McCormick’s Ent. Inc. www.mccormicksnet.com 3,43Morris Press(School Mate Fundraising www.morriscookbooks.com 53NAMM www.namm.com 57New Horizons Tour & Travel www.nhtt.com 5Pearl Corp. www.pearldrum.com 7Performing Arts Consultants www.usafest.org 35Pro-Mark Corp. www.promark.com 18Rasmussen Company www.cookbookprinter.com 30Dan Ryder Field Drills www.danryderfi elddrills.com 19Sabian Ltd. www.sabian.com 21Sheet Music Plus www.sheetmusicplus.com 58SKB Corp. www.skbcases.com 14Style Plus www.styleplusband.com 8Super-Sensitive Musical String Co. www.cavanaughcompany.com 20Suzuki Music www.suzukimusic.com 41Vic Firth, Inc. www.VicFirth.com 47Yamaha Corporation of America www.yamaha.com 15Avedis Zildjian Co. www.zildjian.com 31
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