Ramona’s comment inspired me to write 15 Tricks To Transform Yourself From Classroom Bully Into A Favorite Teacher a few days ago. Yesterday, it inspired Joey to leave a comment. The excerpt that jumped out at me was this:

In response to Ramona’s post, I see 680 students some twice a week, some once every other week each as a class (30-35 students.) I found the best thing to do is to have generalized rules and consequences posted up and always refer to the posters. If I notice the class is coming in wild I start by reviewing them. I have what we should do posted up, and in my time out spot, I have the consequences. I found most if the time, my pacing dictates a lot of the behavior. I try to make sure everyone understands the concept and then try to move on, but am finding out that I have to just give information in snippets of 5 minutes and then move on to another activity quick. For example, I teach music. We took 4 class sessions to learn the names of notes on the treble clef. 4 hours of class to achieve my goal of having kids remember the spaces spell the word FACE, and the lines can be remembered by Every Good Bear Deserves Fish (girls objected to every good boy does fine . . . grr!) I will probably take 2 more class sessions reviewing and reinforcing something that my HS teacher brain is screaming at me thinking it should only take one class. I spend 5-10 minutes on the review, then we sing a song, or do a dance, or play recorders to reinforce the concept.

I realized that this might have once taken me a long time to teach also, but I have since learned how to make the learning much more fun. I found a couple of little songs and chants that work wonders. The kids LOVE learning this, especially when I add some dance moves in there. “Okay, everybody lean to the right when we say ‘F’” or whatever. It’s cool.

They love the clapping. They love deciding what word/non-offensive gesture to put on the end.

But I didn’t know how to relay that to my readers other than audio. So I recorded some of my horrible singing skills here for you to listen to. It’s nothing magical, but it should hopefully give you an idea of how I can get some fairly difficult concepts taught in a short period of time.

So hopefully this will work. If you like the 2:30 audio clip, let me know and I’ll do some more.

Lines-And-Spaces

This week, I went to San Antonio for the Texas Bandmasters Association convention. I attended some really good sessions and took a few notes on my iPhone. Without spending a lot of time to expand on these notes right now, I thought I would post them so maybe someone else can benefit from them. After the convention, I’ll sit down later and flesh them out a bit more. Here are the notes from Days 2 and 3.

• Meet with parents prior to testing 5th graders
• Parent orientation at beginning of year 4-6 weeks into school year
• Take a class period to discuss procedures
• Teach basic reading skills and introduce counting system early (8th notes asap)
• Open cases on the floor – Respect the instrument
• Take up headjoints and mouthpieces early. Ziplock bag with name, give it back after a couple of weeks when they know hand position
• Thumb touches the flute at 3-4 o’clock between fingers 4&5
• Thumb is perpendicular to flute
• Flute thumbnail is toward the ceiling
• Clarinet thumbnail pointing toward chin
• First finger (LH) is the key to playing the clarinet
• Clarinet LH thumb at 45 degree angle. Teach three positions.
  1. Hole only
  2. Hole and register key
  3. Register key only
• If they can’t talk with their embouchure, there’s too much bottom lip in their mouth
• Take in as much mouthpiece as you can without spreading the sound
• Flute gymnastics
• Suspend the flute, don’t hold it
• Flute vibrato // steady air, faster than steady air
• Saxophone vibrato with jaw // steady air, slower than steady
• Brass teach hand position second
• Don’t squeeze brass embouchure. If they get air only on mouthpiece, it’s okay. The key is that lips touch teeth
• “do not let the bottom lip get wet from the top lip”
• “make sure the bottom lip is standing tall”
• Wait on articulation until they can all produce characteristic sounds. Start with saying it. Then say it into mouthpiece. Then blow air without mouthpiece. Then blow air with mouthpiece. Finally add horns
• Have them tap shoulder instead of clapping. They feel it more, less coordination issues, can hear counting better
• Count in your head while you play
• Fingers in the air – show your brain
• Basic priorities for beginning band
  1. Characteristic tone
  2. Proper hand position
  3. Music reading skills
  4. Good work habits
  5. Good concentration skills
• If wrong notes/rhythms/articulations are enough reason to stop a band, so are tone quality problems
• Breathing: “HOW” (in) “TO” (out)
• Listen to individuals more. Even for short passages.
• That’s a good concert F, but I want a high definition version. Try again…

This week, I am in San Antonio for the Texas Bandmasters Association convention. I attended some really good sessions and took a few notes on my iPhone. Without spending a lot of time to expand on these notes right now, I thought I would post them so maybe someone else can benefit from them. After the convention, I’ll sit down later and flesh them out a bit more. Here’s Day 1.

• Raise your level of absurdity. If something doesn’t sound stupid, you won’t address it.
• Come up with a warmup rotation. Same concepts per day of week. Lip flexibility, scales, tone production, articulations, intervals/listening
• Same with journals. Music appreciation, rhythmic dictation, music/rhythm copying, free writing, theory exercises
• All bad behavior is fear-based. Fear creates bad behavior. Cultivate self-respect
• Make binder organization part of the lesson. Manage whatever is turned in or expected. Teach the value of why we expect these things.
• Shut up and teach. Don’t turn a 2-minute bullet point into a 20 minute lecture
• Public speaking from time to time. Introduce yourself in front of the class the first week of school. And provide the opportunity throughout the year.
• Practicing – 1. Students must learn to use the information they have. 2. Teach the value associated with practicing. 3. Play songs/pieces/etudes.
• Posture is the gateway to the breath and uninstructed air.
• Teach posture standing up. “Swan neck” vs. “Turkey neck”
• Every day is posture day!!!
• Your hands should look beautiful // remember band is a fine art
• The air falls out of the body the same way water flows over Niagara Falls
• “Let more air out of the body” not “blow more/faster air”
• Most articulation problems are corner placement problems
• “The process is developmental and must be monitored arduously”

One of the greatest parts of being a band director is that what I do really matters. Beyond the students acquiring a skill of playing an instrument or working together as a team, there is this aesthetic element of education in the arts that is just absent in most every other line of education.

I’m not discounting the importance of grammar or math or science or social studies or athletics or technology education or whatever else might be offered. Were it not for those, I wouldn’t have the amazing opportunities that I have. Plus, Texas law says that students have to pass all of their classes in a grading period before they are even allowed to participate in extracurricular activities.

But I found this past school year more than ever that many people simply do not even remotely understand what it is that we do in the band world. From budget planning to schedule coordination to fundraising to advocating for the students, most of the work that we do has nothing to do with actual music-making.

One of my huge projects for the upcoming year will be called Band Directing 101 where I go through some of the numerous things that are part of my daily routine that I never really give a second thought. Until I’m confronted by a teacher who tells me she wishes she had my job because “all [I] do is stand up in the front of the room and wave my arms.” Of course, these are often the same teachers who complain about having to walk around the room and constantly monitor their students when we are giving the TAKS test, but I digress.

So with everything that we do to keep the program running and to positively represent the school, it’s easy to forget about the emotional element of what we teach. This summer, I’ve been watching and listening to quite a few of the TEDTalks and a number of music-related ones jumped out at me. A quick search of ted.com for “music” yielded 434 results. Clearly music is important!

While this is not an exhaustive list, I want to share with you some of the highlights of what I’ve heard so far. Though I won’t include the videos of all of them, I think it’s important to start out with this one by Benjamin Zander on Music and Passion.

The next video is one of the most clear articulations of why music education is fundamental to a person’s overall education, especially in the most poverty-stricken areas.

Needless to say that music is the number one prevention against prostitution, violence, bad habits, and everything degrading of the life of a child.

Here is José Abreu on Kids Transformed by Music.

Finally check these out

• David Bryne: How architecture helped music evolve
• Evelyn Glennie: Listening to music with your whole body
• Evelyn Glennie shows how to listen
• Itay Talgam: Lead like the great conductors
• Julian Treasure: The 4 ways sound affects us (not specifically music-related)
• Matthew White gives the euphonium a new voice
• Robert Gupta: Music is medicine, music is sanity
• Sirina Huang: 11 year old dazzles on violin

As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts.

This year, I’m going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I’m taking you along for the journey as well. Now we come to the most modern marching shows available. Props continue to be more thoroughly integrated into the show, and the color guard continues to be used to add color and visual contrast, as well as actual actors in a story. Electronics are now integrated into the DCI shows as well, and we see the drum majors of Phantom Regiment’s 2008 production being used as characters throughout the entire performance. Many corps are now using a pre-show, which adds to the storyline as the ensemble is entering the field and setting up/warming up. Essentially, the entire time from field entry to field exit is now one grand production.

2005 – The Cadets

2006 – The Cavaliers

2007 – Blue Devils

2008 – Phantom Regiment

2009 – Blue Devils

As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts.

This year, I’m going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I’m taking you along for the journey as well. As we moved into the new millennium, the color guard moved further from the hornline and drumline as far as uniforms, but began to interact much more with the individual members. Where the early 90s has included an occasional soloist interacting with the guard, now large groups of the hornline were doing full out ballet moves and poses throughout the shows.

Though it had been before, the marching show is now even more dance- and entertainment-oriented and becomes more of a full out production rather than just musical entertainment.

1999 – Blue Devils/Santa Clara Vanguard

While the Blue Devils were performing at their very first show of the 1999 season, the lights in the stadium and the entire city of Concord, CA went out. The Blue Devils continued marching. This video was posted on YouTube less than a week ago.

2000 – The Cadets/The Cavaliers

2001 – The Cavaliers

2002 – The Cavaliers

2003 – Blue Devils

2004 – The Cavaliers

As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts.

This year, I’m going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I’m taking you along for the journey as well. As music selections moved away from the more traditional Broadway and Latin Jazz themes that had dominated the early years of drumcorps, corps began focusing more on classical-type (mostly Romantic era and early 20th century) and concert band music. This development continued through the bulk of the 1990s, with the addition of more elaborate props and other visual elements.

1994 – Blue Devils
Video unavailable. In 1994, Star of Indiana left DCI and began touring with the Canadian Brass in “Brass Theater” which was the precursor to the Broadway show “Blast”. I saw Brass Theater that year, and found this video.

1995 – The Cavaliers

1996 – Blue Devils/Phantom Regiment

1997 – Blue Devils

1998 – The Cadets
Video unavailable. Here is a video of the 1998 Crossmen (7th place).

As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts.

This year, I’m going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I’m taking you along for the journey as well. Last time we saw how the Garfield Cadets transformed the marching by speeding things up and adding pass-thrus and of course the famous “Z Pull.” If 1983-1987 was about revolutionizing marching style, 1988-1993 was about bucking the traditional musical elements. One of the key innovators in this area was The Star of Indiana, who left DCI following the 1993 season.

1988 – Madison Scouts

1989 – Santa Clara Vanguard

1990 – The Cadets of Bergen County
Video unavailable, though it seems every other corps can be found from 1990. Here’s the 2nd place Cavaliers.

1991 – Star of Indiana
Embedding disabled, click here to see the video.

1992 – The Cavaliers

1993 – The Cadets of Bergen County

As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts.

This year, I’m going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I’m taking you along for the journey as well. So far, we’ve seen the first 11 years of DCI. In 1983, the Garfield Cadets began their three-year of DCI dominance with some of the most innovative marching drill ever seen. The Blue Devils won in 1986, and the Cadets were back on top in 1987.

1983 – Garfield Cadets

1984 – Garfield Cadets

1985 – Garfield Cadets

1986 – Blue Devils
Embedding disabled, click here for the video. However, since every other year was dominated by the Garfield Cadets, here is their 1986 video.

1987 – Garfield Cadets

As we close out the school year and begin looking toward the summer, band directors turn their minds toward marching arts.

This year, I’m going through some history and exploring The Evolution of Marching via YouTube. I’m taking you along for the journey as well. Yesterday, we saw some classic footage from the first five years of DCI. Today, we’ll look at the next six years.

1977 – Blue Devils
I can’t find a video! I did find one of the Kilties from 1977 (11th Place) though.

1978 – Santa Clara Vanguard
Embedding disabled. Click here to watch the excerpt.

Here’s the 1978 Phantom Regiment (2nd place) finale.

1979 – Blue Devils
Video unavailable. Here is the 1979 Guardsmen (7th Place). Notice by this point the “pit” section has evolved for the concert percussion instruments.

1980 – Blue Devils

1981 – Santa Clara Vanguard
Video unavailable. Here is the Blue Devils (2nd Place).

1982 – Blue Devils