Respect

Solo Contest Checklist

High Schools, Repost, Respect, Solo Prep, Teaching /

ratingI prepared this list for one of my woodwind students and modified it some to include other instruments. There are links within this article to other articles I’ve written about literature selection, accompanists and the judging scoresheet categories.

Pre-performance

The basics. Music, instrument. People have forgotten both.

Solo Part – ORIGINAL for judge.  Measures numbered. 

Have you paid your accompanist? Customary, usually following performance. More about respect, preparation and appreciation for your accompanist, click here.

BRASS.

Valve oil

WOODWINDS.

Backup reed – in case something happens to yours that day.

Mouthpiece cap – Keep on when moving – protects and looks professional.

PERCUSSION.

Backup sticks/mallets.

Arrive at the school/venue about an hour before your performance time. Find your performance room and then you can go to warm-up. Don’t over-practice. Just review your challenging spots. Your ensemble should run through the piece. Note that these warm-up rooms can be noisy.

Performance Room

Arrive at performance room before your time. You can go in ahead of time (or anytime) and listen to other performers. Most in Group 2 will be h/s. If your accompanist is late because of accompanying someone else, just explain that to the door person or judge.

Have the book opened to your solo when you present it to the judge.

If judge asks questions, answer politely (as you always are).

Sit or stand. Your choice. I prefer standing. Judge may want to see your fingers, so don’t put the music stand directly between you and the judge. Be able to make eye contact with your accompanist.

Do not start until the judge tells you to. He/she may be completing notes on the previous performer. If permission received, play tuning note with piano – last chance to check your reed.

Be prepared to introduce yourself, your school, and your piece (title/composer).

When you finish, especially if there is any applause, a slight bow is appropriate to acknowledge. Applause is the audience saying thank you — a bow is your thanking them for the applause. Recognize your accompanist.

You will not get your music immediately – probably after the performer who follows you. You will not get your scoresheet. Those go to your band director at the end of the day. 

The door monitor will write your rating on the wall schedule.

Performance categories (sheet may vary slightly)

A separate post with addition scoresheet categories ===> HERE.

Intonation. Are you in tune with the piano? With each other (ensemble)? Do you have individual notes that are out of tune? Accuracy to printed pitches.

Tone. Resonance, clarity, control, focus, consistency, warmth.

Rhythm. Accuracy of note values, rest values, duration, pulse, steadiness, correctness of meter.

Technique. Facility, accuracy, articulation, fingerings.

Interpretation/Musicianship. Style, phrasing, tempo, dynamics, emotional involvement.

Performance factors. Choice of literature, appropriate appearance (related to performance), poise, posture, general conduct, mannerisms, facial expressions. Formal dress is not required, but jeans with holes and advertisement t-shirts will not only affect the appearance score, but also — judges can decide much about you before you play your first note. You are “on” from the time you take your performance position until you exit.

Did I forget anything? Let me know so I can improve this post for the next time. And note that rules per state are different… I tried to be generic in that regard.

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Wait Longa, Move Fasa, Hit Harda

Assistant Directing, Marching Band, Music Performance, Personal experience, Respect, Teaching, Teaching Music /

Horns UpWe had a Marching Band Drill Writer/Visual Tech who would use this instruction when talking about “horns up”. He wasn’t from Boston, but used that type of accent. Here is what he was talking about:

“Wait LONGA” means don’t rush it. Don’t move early. Wait until the last possible moment.

“Move FASA”. Once you move, move fast….like two film windows….. one you’re down, the next you’re up…. with very fast movement.

“Hit HARDA”. Without losing any teeth, stop the movement as if it hit something.

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Casual Retard – or Gradual Ritard

Leave a Comment / Personal experience, Respect, Teaching Music /

A lesson in Italian music termsI was rehearsing one of the concert bands on Pep Band music. One ensemble tended to lose tempo. To reinforce my point, I started them with a metronome — and then stop directing. After some time, I would restart the metronome. I described what they were doing:

“Sounds like a gradual ritard. You’re slowing down.”

No one in the ensemble said anything and I gave it no additional thought.

===================

But then, one of the building admins confronted me about a parent call. The parent was upset because the daughter came home telling him I said they were retarded.

I asked if the Admin had a quote of what I was accused of saying. She pulls out a piece of paper reads;

“Sounds like a casual retard slowing down.”

Admin instructed not to confront the student, but to talk to the band.

===================

Following is my followup with the band…

One of the agenda items on the board was “music term of the day” and next to it was:

Ritardando
Ritard.
Rit.

I asked the ensemble what those three terms mean.

Numerous correct answers.

Then I asked them to think back to the pep band music rehearsal last Tuesday — and I asked them what the overall group’s problem was (especially) that day…..

[We were slowing down]

Good answer.

Then, I shared the quote I was accused of saying…..

“I didn’t record myself, and I don’t think I said the word casual because that just doesn’t sound like something I would say. But let’s go with that for now. If I used any form of those three terms in the context of last week’s rehearsal, what do you think I was saying?”

[That we were slowing down.]

Good answer.

Now, let me tell you what I absolutely didn’t say — and would NEVER say….. I was NOT calling you retarded.

[Collective eye roll and OMG kinda responses.]

One four-year ensemble member, said….

“You would never say that.”

We went on to talk about what should have happened….. That if/when I said something that an individual thought was offensive, out of line, or even unclear — that this individual should come and talk to ME first.

[Collective yes nods.]

And that if your parent needs to call someone, who do you think they should call FIRST?

Good answer.

Then…we went on into rehearsal. I responded to the Admin the results of our conversation. Admin calls the father to explain Italian music terms.

The parent apologized, the daughter spent the next four years maturing as a productive ensemble member, and as far as I could tell, a respectable supporter.

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5 Considerations to Making a leap of Faith

Leave a Comment / Classroom Teacher, High Schools, Marching Band, Music Department, Music Performance, Repost, Respect, Teaching, Teaching Music /

Leap of faithby John Gardner

This graphic illustrates a scenario we all face, individually, in business, in school as well as in music ensembles. Most of us, at least once, have been to the edge, looked down, looked across and pondered the possibilities. It is easy to say you want to get better, but how do you make that leap to the other side?

Realize that not everyone WANTS to get to the other side.

Many are satisfied with the way things are, represented by this marching band member attitude:

I am okay where I am. I am not last chair, I can play my part reasonably well, I can pass the playing test. I see those people on the other side…..so much pressure, so much work, and for what? Band is a good social group. It is a good place to find a date, to make friends, to feel connected. I enjoy the bus rides, the longer the better. The band parent provided food at competitions is good and I like the freedom during the down time to hang with my friends and watch some other bands.

You are, after all, standing on solid ground. It is safe where you are. You KNOW where you are and are in your comfort zone. You look over the edge and see danger. You could fall, you could fail. You could get hurt.

WANT it….with everything that is within you.

You hear the musician who plays the more difficult solo or watch the marching band put on a crowd cheering performance. You see the elation at the award ceremony and YOU WANT THAT.

In “The Return of the Jedi”, as Luke Skywalker finally stands before his ultimate enemy, the Emperor says to the young Jedi who is viewing and considering his weapon,

You want this, don’t you?

Know that small, safe, baby steps won’t make it.

If you stand on the edge, look down and take a step, you will fall. The gap is wider than that and will require a running start LEAP.

Practice and Prepare to Perform!

Olympians don’t just show up at the games. Basketball players spend hours behind the scenes practicing boring free throws and doing exhausting repetitive fundamentals up and down the floor. The ice skater doesn’t decide at the start of the performance that a quad would be a good idea.

There is no short cut to success. You must be willing to pay the price.

The ice skater going for the quad is literally a “leap of faith”. There is never a guarantee of success, but repetitive practice, falling down, getting hurt, figuring out what went wrong and working harder to get better…..are necessary ingredients to establish confidence and competence to make the jump. A phrase I have used in rehearsals,

Like the ice skater who misses the quad, missing notes (steps, sets) in performance can hurt.

A good cartoon by Tone Deaf Comics illustrates part of this idea.

One more time

Commit to go….and then GO!

No more standing at the edge. No more looking down. No more considering the consequences of failure. Back up, focus on the other side, set your mind and then RUN hard at the edge. When the Israelites were crossing the river Jordan, the waters did not part until the priests feet touched the water, the point at which they demonstrated both faith and commitment (Joshua 3:14).

Once you commit to go, you have to “go all out”. Know where you’re going, practice and prepare, commit and go.

 

 

leap-of-faith-2

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Assume Nothing, and always Check Your Order

News and Happenings, Personal experience, Respect, Sales and Marketing /
Ink bottles are more economical than cartridgesLast Christmas, we purchased an Epson Eco-Tank printer and I ordered extra ink from LD Products. I’ve worked with LD for years and have always had good products and, when necessary, good customer service.
So impressed with the ink usage. Finally, after a full year, which included printing a dozen or so copies of a multi-hundred page memoir (2-sided in color)…. we FINALLY had to replace the black ink. Note, the rest of the colors are only half used in a full year — and these cartridges are well under $10ea. Much more economical and efficient than the cartridges we dealt with for years prior.
Only now, however, did I discover how messed up our order was, including bottles that didn’t fit, one that was sealed without a nozzle, one where the nozzle stayed in the lid and ALL the color cartridges were the wrong number for the box.
I had to prove what I had, so sent this pic to LD. I’m confident they will take care of me.
The good news is that I was able to get one bottle to work and fill the black (with still more left in the bottle for next time).Efficiency of ink bottles
Bottom line — and I knew this from my years in business:
1) Assume Nothing, and 2) Check your order when it is received.

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2 days of Jury Duty

Personal experience, Respect /

Jury duty

2 days of jury duty in the books. With 6 felonies and one habitual offender conviction, this one out-of-town drug thug who made the mistake of bringing his stuff to our town, will be off our streets for the next several decades.

Kudos to the observant patrol officer who pulled him over before he reached his destination. He was significantly and specifically trained, prepared and a well-spoken witness and, along with the detective who did a deep-dive on a device and the state police lab technician who tested everything — wow.

The prosecutor organized it all for us. What a case. I hope I don’t have to pass a quiz on drug jargon.

I was also impressed with the judge (husband is the sheriff), pleasant and soft-spoken but totally in control, including communicating well with the jury — and spending time with us after the case to express thanks and answer questions.

The bailiff was helpful with my mobility challenges.

There was a surprise (and very short) second trial. The jury was surprised as we were told to bring our jury notebooks with us back into the courtroom as we were delivering the verdict. Once the verdict was pronounced, the judge informed us that, we couldn’t be told in advance, but now must make a determination whether the defendant is a habitual offender. That didn’t take long.

Hopefully, by the next time I’m called for jury duty, the county will ensure ADA compliance in its courthouse, as it took steps to get into the jury box and even into the two restrooms I used on the 3rd floor. I may be contacting some county politicians.

ps…. some of the excuses used to be excused from duty:

No, I don’t like the police. I’ve been in trouble with them before.

No, I won’t consider circumstantial evidence.

I know a hopelessly addicted addict.

My medication makes things go blurry and also makes my hearing come and go.

‘Maybe’ I can consider circumstantial evidence. ‘Maybe’ I don’t have a problem with the police. ‘Maybe’ I can presume innocence.

Of those who stayed, I was not the oldest. At least one was missing work w/o pay, others who will pay more in child care for the day than they will get from jury pay….

It is not worth the pay, is inconvenient and all that….but if you get called, say YES. You’ll learn a lot.

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Busy dedication

Assistant Directing, Marching Band, Personal experience, Repost, Respect, Teaching, Teaching Music, Throw Back Thursday /
A cheerleader who cheers first half, runs to the band lineup to perform halftime, and then back to cheer for the second half.

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Band Camp Prank: Marching Band and Fire Truck

Leave a Comment / High Schools, Marching Band, Respect, Teaching Music /

I posted the picture below and got feedback asking how we did that…. so below the pic are some steps and suggestion.

Are your rehearsals always serious? This band, during band camp week, was complaining about the heat and wanted a water break. Not sure this is what they expected. Fire Departments need to have training exercises. We were happy to help.
Are your rehearsals always serious? This band, during band camp week, was complaining about the heat and wanted a water break. Not sure this is what they expected. Fire Departments need to have training exercises. We were happy to help.

Additional pictures below.

My father was a 32-yr fire fighter and I spent much of my childhood around the firehouse. Some things you may not realize:

  • Firefighters are community minded people — many are coaches for summer league sports, but genuinely interested in helping students.
  • The 1000 gallons of water carried in a pumper truck needs to be flushed/recycled periodically.
  • Firefighting professionals need practice – training in controlling and directing high pressure water flow. What better target than a bunch of teenagers.
  • Most have a cool sense of humor.
  • There is a hierarchy of command and approval in a fire department.
  • You can’t just park or hide a heavy fire truck just anywhere.
  • Consideration has to be made as to where that 1000 gallons of water is going to go.
  • Instruments, electronics, wallets, some eyeglasses, etc…. won’t deal well with that much water.
  • Without a legitimate way of opting out, which can’t really be announced in advance, you are taking some risk with parents….
  • Consider the effect on thin, white t-shirts.
  • Solicit help from a couple highly-trusted parents. (towels, etc)
  • We’re talking about a huge amount of water and a significant amount of wet.
  • What happens next?
  • Don’t just call 9-1-1.

Planning

Plan it for the end of a day. You’re not going to get anything done afterward. But also, consider that your students are going to be incredibly wet….. and putting them immediately in their parents cars might not be the best idea either. Consider having some fun and games …. or snacks after.

Have a backup day — obviously you can’t do it on a rainy day.

Coordinate with the Fire Department. Ensure you’re talking to the right people. It will take at least the person in charge of a particular fire house to oversee the specific event and he may need to get approval from higher-ups. This is not a normal request they get. Allow time for some inter-departmental communication and approval. 

Where? My original intent was to hide the fire truck and have it shoot water over the corner of our high school onto a totally unsuspecting group of teens. That didn’t work. The FD informed me that the truck would tear up any grass and also that there would need to be consideration of where the water would go, aka a drain. Unfortunately for us, that meant parking the truck in the middle of the school parking lot with no way that the students wouldn’t at least see it before something happened. So how do you get 100 students to get close enough to a fire truck? Keep reading.

Get school approval. At least inform your principal what you are doing so that if he/she receives phone calls, there will at least be knowledge of the event.

Protect the electronics, wallets, etc.

  1. You must convince students to remove cell phones, iPods, mp3 players, etc from their pockets. Also wallets and anything else that a lot of water could damage. How do you do that without telling them why? Keep reading.
  2. You must keep all that stuff safe. Have a way to guard it.

The Prank

The day before.

Some of you are starting to get red (burned) out here….including through some really thin t-shirts. It is supposed to be hot and sunny tomorrow and I’d like to ask that you consider wearing something other than a thin, white t-shirt.

Call a couple trusted band parents and ask if they can bring a collection of old towels. In case they are going to borrow from someone, ensure them that nothing will happen to damage the towels. If you must, and you can, tell them what is going on.

The day of.

Make sure everything is okay with the FD.

If you happen to be outside, be sure to have a reason to come inside for a few minutes prior to the arrival of the fire department.

  1. The music isn’t going well and you want an impromptu inside rehearsal or sectional.
  2. The marching isn’t going well and you are going to take them inside and give them the what for.
  3. You’ve noticed a problem with electronics and want to deal with it.

Find a place to line the band up in a parade-block type setting where they cannot see the truck. We planned behind a corner of the building.

Put on your mean face…..and throw a temper tantrum that goes something like this:

Ok band, it is time for some fundamental marching. Set you instruments down in the grass over there. And while you’re at it, put all cell phones, watches and electronics with your instrument. I want none of that on the field. Don’t worry, these parents will watch your stuff until you have marched this block all the way around the building. How many times around depends on YOU!

There will be a lot of questioning and maybe even some complaining. Remember, you must get all the electronics out of their clothing.

Now line up. Shrink the interval to 2-steps. Two steps across, two steps front to back. You’re going to be so tight that a mis-step is going to be problematic….so you need to focus, listen to commands and get everything else out of your mind, GOT IT?

As you march around the corner, they will see the truck, but if you are sufficiently convincing, they will be concentrating more on calming you down with absolute compliance. Consider starting and stopping them a couple times.

As they get in range…. STOP and correct alignment or something. And then…

(click any image to enlarge)

Afterwards, allow them to go back to get their stuff…..have the parents who were guarding it hand out some towels. Consider a few minutes of activity in the sunlight to also help dry out the clothes a little. You may hear comments like:

I don’t get this wet when I jump into a swimming pool.

Thanks for reading.

VMO Business Card

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Is it ever ok for a teacher to LOVE students?

2 Comments / High Schools, Personal experience, Public Schools, Repost, Respect, Teaching, Teaching Music /

There is more to school life than what happens during the academic day. Some academic teachers are also coaches or extracurricular sponsors. Coaches develop strong bonds with their athletes. Music and theater arts teachers spend considerable extracurricular time with students – evenings, weekends, summers. These teacher/student relationships are significant and life long impacting.

Is it ever ok for a teacher to LOVE students?

In a reunion with some of the students from my first teaching job, as they were sharing memories, one person put it this way:

“Come back to teach the students of the students you taught.”

I expected to hear some of the heart-warming stories and did, but one comment caught me off guard a little. As one was listing attributes he appreciated, he included…..

“…and your smile.”

What teachers do you remember most 10-20-30 years out, and for what do you remember them?

Band is the ultimate team.

Unlike a basketball team with its starting five, there is no bench in band. Everybody is in. Everybody is a starter. Few other types of groups will involve people from such varied backgrounds. There are children of doctors and lawyers performing with children of single-parents working multiple jobs or utilizing government help. There are the students who have their own cars and those who need rides, those with the iPhones and the free phones or no phone. You will find students in most bands from every church in the community and others who have never been inside a church.

High school provides a memorable time for teens and parents to be on the same team before graduation and the empty nest.

If only it were like that for all teens.

At this most critical time in their decision-making years, if teens can’t find love, acceptance, encouragement and support from parents, teachers and mentors, they will search for it elsewhere, often with disastrous results leaving them with consequences that change lives and crush dreams.

But even more than TEAM, band is FAMILY…

Most high school athletic teams are together for a “season” — maybe six weeks with a few more for preparation. Band meets in the summer, including band camp which can be 8+hours a day. Then there is every day at school with additional rehearsals in the evenings, plus the Friday football/basketball game and the Saturday competition.

…and more functional than some.

As I stood outside Door 34, she jumped out of the passenger side of the car and ran past me, teary-eyed, crying,

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

As she went by I saw the papa, for the first time, approaching me and angrily waving a piece of paper.

“How much of this schedule is mandatory?”

I paused, if only for a moment as I thought through his reaction to my answer…

“All of it.”

After grumbling something that I probably couldn’t repeat, he returned to the car and didn’t quite lay rubber in his exit. The daughter was waiting in my office, still crying and apologetic. I hugged her. How does such a sweet daughter have a parent like that?

There are loving parents who are working 2-3 jobs each, going to school and dealing with the challenges of large families – and it is somewhere between difficult and impossible for them to spend a lot of time at football games, parades and competitions. I get that. But what do you say to this parent?

“We need to pull [Benjamin] out of band because he won’t clean his room and he needs to learn respect. He loves band and so this is the only valuable thing we can take away to make our point.”

Or this one?

“Why should I pay money for her to spend time spinning a flag. There are no colleges that will offer scholarships and besides, what job is that going to prepare her for?”

Or to these students?

“Can you please give me something to do. I’ll straighten the library….anything….just don’t make me go home.”

“I have a job so I can earn the money for my band fee, and I keep hiding it, but my mother keeps finding it and taking it.”

“I have to quit music lessons. My dad found out I was using some of my job money for music lessons and says that if I am going to waste my money on that – I can start paying rent.”

“Please don’t try to introduce yourself to my dad. Please don’t. Please, please, please don’t. He is not a nice man.”

I want to share the LOVE they may be missing.

Educationally, the L-word is dangerous. Administrations encourage admiration and respect, but love is conspicuously absent. Understandable. Inappropriate teacher student relationships make national news and destroy lives. Elementary teachers can hug students, but by middle school it is to be a touchless relationship. I disagree.

Sometimes an appropriate touch, handshake, high five, tap on the shoulder or even a hug – can be powerfully effective in mentoring, consoling or encouraging. It doesn’t have to be physical. It can be listening and responding when others won’t.

C.S. Lewis in his book, The Four Loves, divides the Greek vocabulary for “love” into four categories:  Storge (στοργή storgē) -affection, Philia (Philia (φιλία philía) – friendship, Éros (ἔρως érōs) – romantic love, and Agápe (ἀγάπη agápē) – charity.

None of those match completely what I’m trying to define. Storge (affection) can include the physical. Philia (i.e. Philadelphia – brotherly love) comes close but can include the sexual. Éros is obviously not appropriate, and Agápe, often interpreted as the love between Christians is also close, but gets into spiritual and that is not quite it either.

I “L” my students with a parental type. I see their potential and their youthful enthusiasm and I love that. I love their willingness to share with me things that they can’t comfortably share anywhere else.

“You are always the one to trust with issues like this because you treat us like people and not just another bunch of “teenagers”.”

I ADMIRE students who…

  • pay band fees out of a paycheck
  • pay for private instruction lessons out-of-pocket
  • seem completely self-supporting (clothes, obligations)
  • apologize for the way their parent(s) behaved
  • juggle the extra rehearsals and activities with job and homework — and go for the best grades without parental encouragement or expectation
  • keep a positive attitude when others have parents involved and but they don’t

Nobody said life is fair. Those who endure hardships can be the better for it later. Trust me on that. As the oldest of five children raised in a single parent family by a polio surviving mother (and if you have no idea what that means, thank God), I understand poverty, but also how to work through it, with it, around it, and above it …. so cut me some slack when I don’t expect less from the less fortunate.

Students often impress me with friend choices and for the way they support and encourage each other. It is moving to see how friends and band members surround one who is hurting, physically or emotionally. With proper relationships established, teachers can be included in, or involved separately in similar support and encouragement – even of some personal issues.

I RESPECT students …

  • who work through moderate pain or discomfort without complaint
  • who have the musical ability to thrive, but can’t get the new instrument, or the private lessons, or go to the summer camps….or even stay in band, because of a parent who doesn’t see the value of band or color guard
  • expect more of themselves than their parents do
  • endure custody battles and try not to allow it to interfere with band

I hope these students appreciate how hard I try to make their situations work out.

And we have students whose parents are their biggest cheerleaders and amazing supporters…..

  • helping them earn the highest of Boy or Girl Scout honors
  • supporting their garage band
  • encouraging out of country mission trips
  • inspiring them to pursue the same vocation as the parent
  • or spending countless hours volunteering for band (committees, sewing, cooking, feeding, chaperoning, driving, etc)

We have CARING students who….

  • stand outside Wal-mart when it is below freezing to ring bells and play Salvation Army brass ensemble music
  • volunteer in nursing homes and with church youth groups in a host of different types of volunteerism
  • help raise money for those sick and injured

I am a retired high school teacher who appropriately loves, admires, and respects students.

Teacher Student Love

 

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