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- Written by Chad Criswell
I was stumbling around Twitter today and happened across a new NPR video of the Canadian Brass playing Bach's Little Fugue in G Minor. I was shocked to see that I didn't recognize any of the members of the group except of Chuck Daellenbach the tuba player. I have a very (VERY) small personal history with the group so I was kind of sad to see Chuck as the only current member that I knew. I know people retire and move on but come on, the Canadian Brass? No matter what I will still have them stuck in my head the way they were back when the school I taught at stuck our necks out and hired them in for a Christmas concert back in the late 2003.
It was both one of the most memorable, scary, frustrating, and emotionally painful events of my teaching career. Learn from my mistakes and read on...
Read more: Lessons Learned- How NOT To Bring In A Guest Performer
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- Written by Chad Criswell
I was recently at the Iowa Bandmaste's Conference and sat in on a great presentation by David Law, a past president of the IBA and current president of the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education. One of his duties is travelling around the state providing assistance to schools that find themselves in the face of potential fine arts program cuts. His main point throughout the presentation was that school music programs should be proactive instead of reactive and start advocating for their programs BEFORE the threat of cuts emerges. Here are the top six suggestions that I found to be very useful.
Top 6 Proactive Music Advocacy Tips and Tricks
#1- Start a Facebook page for your organization and have parents and other supporters log in. Make sure that interesting things are posted in a timely manner. Have a parent update it for you. Do NOT use school time or resources to update your band's Facebook page.
#2- Talk with your principal and superintendent and volunteer to make a short presentation to your school board on the arts and your program. Bring in a few students to make the presentation and maybe even play for them. Better yet, have your students offer to give the school board members a quick lesson on how to play their instruments. Try to do this early in the fall semester.
#3- Put your standards and benchmarks in your concert programs! List which benchmark or standard is being covered by each selection. Don't want to waste space on the program? Put it in a looping powerpoint and have it playing on the screen behind the band before and after the concert or during intermission. Add in some photos and other good PR stuff for added punch.
#4- List your administration and school board members in your concert programs. Recognize them when they are there. Ask them to read program notes aloud for you. Also try to have your students read the program notes if possible.
#5- If your school district, chamber of commerce, city council, or other group will allow it ask them to put recordings of your bands as the "on hold" music for their phone system.
#6- Make a video of your organization and see if your district or city web site will post it on their home page for a while.
For more great suggestions and advocacy materials be sure to take a closer look at the advocacy resources page over at the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education.
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- Written by Chad Criswell
From the mind of Gregory Burk comes a new music app for the iPad called MyRhythm. The app allows you to practice and test your skills at playing simple duple rhythms. Is it something I would use in my music education classroom? Read on to find out.
Read more: Practice Your Rhythmic Skills With MyRhythm for iPad
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At one of the schools I work at is a wonderful technology teacher that is constantly forwarding great links to information to use in class. Recently she sent us a link to a short movie that has to do with teaching kids to think about protecting their reputation while online. Considering the many examples of adults posting stupid things to their Facebook and Twitter accounts I kind of have to think that this would be good information for teachers to take a look at too as well as share with their students if the opportunity arises. The video is called Protecting Reputations Online in Plain English and is made available by a web site called CommonCraft. It presents a very useful message for those who are not up to speed on exactly how the Internet archives all of the information that is posted to it.
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- Written by Chad Criswell
I’ve been a fan of Fusion instrument bags for a long time now, using them daily to carry all of my instruments from building to building as I teach elementary band. Until now though one major instrument has been missing from their line, a bag for a bass trombone.
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Like most band directors I have had many students with special needs in my marching band program over the years. From the most minor of issues to more serious ones the most important thing for these students was simply being able to have the opportunity to be a part of the band and have fun making music. Regardless of the student's abilities just having them in the program was blessing on many levels both for me and for the student. In a recent issue of the NEA Magazine I happened across an article titled Six Miles in Pasadena. It tells the story of a very unique marching band from Ohio, one that after years of hard work and effort finally made it to Pasadena, California to march in the 2010 Parade of Roses. Take a look and prepare to be inspired.
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- Written by Chad Criswell
Here's an interesting, and tasty, way to help teach rhythms to your students. I heard this idea at the 2012 Iowa Bandmasters Conference. Sad to say I forget who told it to me, but when I found it in my notes I wanted to share it as it is quite original.
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Every music teacher knows that the prerequisite of becoming a good sounding brass player is being able to buzz your lips accurately and with a good tone. Buzzing on a mouthpiece alone is the easiest and most straightforward method, but more goes into playing a trumpet, trombone, or tuba than just buzzing alone. There are these annoying things called fingerings that require almost as much attention as the buzzing. That’s where the Buzz Extension and Resistance Piece (BERP) comes in. The BERP lets a brass student practice buzzing at the same time as they work their fingerings.
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All good things come to an end and so too approaches the end of free phone or case tech support for many of MakeMusic's Finale music notation software programs.
Read more: MakeMusic To End Free Tech Support for Certain Finale Versions
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There are many great, inspirational music advocacy videos out there. Why we should have music in the schools, why all kids should have access to music education, etc. A new documentary film, currently slated to hit the festival circuit in 2014 titled Some Kind of Spark is one that didn't set out to be an advocacy video but does so anyway. The documentary follows the young musical lives of seven inner city kids from New York that are just beginning their musical journey by being accepted to the Julliard School's Music Advancement Program. From what I have seen the video looks like it will be very inspirational and a great way to advocate for the necessity of music education programs.
Read more: New Documentary On Inner City Music Ed Needs Your Help
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If you are like me you still remember the old days when PBS or ESPN broadcast the Drum Corps International Finals. The days of free broadcasts are LONG gone, but these days you can experience the music and the pagentry in a way fairly close to actually sitting in the stands at Lucas Oil Stadium without having to travel or pay through the nose for a ticket. On August 7th, 2014, in dozens of movie theaters across the country you can pay around $17 for a comfy, air conditioned seat and get to see the show close up from the dozens of cameras that they have pointed at the field. That, by the way, is an incredible feat in and of itself so if you don't know just how intense of an event this is to setup and choreograph from a technical perspective take a look at this behind the scenes audio/video clip from one of the previous years.
Even though being at a live performance is incredible I have to admit that I like the theater show a lot better than sitting in the stands on a hard bench and in the heat. Much more comfortable and yet I still get the energy of the crowd sitting around me. Last year my theater nearly sold out so if you are worried go over to Fathom Events and buy an advance ticket. If you have ever gone to one of these live theater broadcasts please feel free to leave a comment and let us all know what you thought of it!
Are you going?