Updates

Hey everyone! It has been a while since I have posted. Part of the reason was that LOTS of stuff has been happening, thus I have a lot to write about, and trouble deciding what to write. This isn't very cerebral or thought out, but maybe by spinning a general summary I'll be able to articulate deeper thoughts...

Marching band ended, and I was grateful for that. Successes on the season: Generally good musical execution throughout, especially given our size and instrumentation issues. Also, changes I made to the gametime routine (new pregame formations, placement in the stands, level of involvement in games) went over well. By the last two games, the kids were having a ton of fun, even paining their faces school colors! (Thank goodness none of it got on the uniforms!) Areas for improvement are mainly visual execution, discpline with posture and horn angles, and rehearsal etiquette. I think much of that will be improved with me simply being more demanding. This summer I think I will try my hand at writing drill, so I can have something that is really appropriate for who we are and what we're trying to do.

We're getting ready for our winter concert, and I think the kids like the music I've picked out, which is reassuring. I ordered a medley from the Nutcracker for the top band, which they actually really enjoy. It's playable enough where we can work on ensemble concepts (blend, intonation, dynamics, stylistic nuance) without being bogged down with technique. Hopefully this gets them to buy in to my rehearsal style and what I want them to accomplish musically. Then in the spring I think I'll ramp it up a bit to see if we can reach the same integrity of performance with a greater technical challenge.

The freshmen band is going well also, most of the time. We are reading out of Frank Erickson's "Technique Through Melody". We sight read one or two of the etudes, spend a day or two on each, and move on. They are actually reading them quite well. I think some of the rhythmic training and scale exercises I'm also having them do is paying off. Then again, we have yet to venture outside of B-flat, E-flat, and F in the etudes, so we'll see what happens. However they are already halfway around the major scale sheet and doing C-flat major pretty well, which is exciting. A few of the students in there are way behind, just from a recognizing notes and their fingerings standpoint. I'd hate to blame my feeders here, but I'm going to go ahead and blame my feeders. That's a whole other discussion/rant. But anyway, giving them the help they NEED and DESERVE without boring the rest of the ensemble is the biggest challenge in there. Still stumped.

Next concept to teach that group is every single chromatic concert pitch relationship for their instrument. When I ask for things other than concert Bb, Eb, F, or A, things can get pretty hairy, especially for the saxes. I'll take any suggestions for how to teach the class this, please!

Freshman percussion ensemble is going okay. Those kids can be a lot of fun but also extremely unfocused. So trying to keep it fun and positive while still making progress is always a hard balance to find. They have good fundamental snare chops (most of them have better buzz rolls than me, which we joke about) but next to no mallet experience. I'm struggling a lot with how to develop this, and getting them to actually read instead of just memorizing it by rote. We've done note flash cards and note naming games, started off with simple C major songs, done different scales to get them used to using the accidental bars, but learning anything new, regardless of the complexity, is a huge challenge. If anyone has any tips on this area of percussion instruction, please please share!!!

Choir is great when its working. Really great. But it really sucks when it isn't working. I wish I knew more. I'm trying to minimize and make fun the tedious but necessary aspects (note names, scales, basic rhythm, etc) and spending plenty of time emphasizing the simpler, more rewarding aspects like good vocal production, blend, and phrasing. Right now we are sight-singing simple melodies, and I'm having them label the appropriate scale degree numbers above the notes. They still need a guide with the notes and their equivalent numbers (I put that up on the SmartBoard) but I hope to wean them off that sometime next semester. They are starting to recognize key signatures, and understand the relationships between 1 and 5, and so on. To recap, it is fun when it is working well. However, I really hope my school is able to have a full time choir teacher next year, not because I don't like it, but because that is simply what these students deserve. End of story.

Trying to keep busy and have a life outside of work. I have been playing my horn around town quite a bit the past few weeks, which was very rewarding and fun. Exercise regimen is going well, and I'm trying lots of new recipes and stuff. Sometimes getting up and going in the morning is very rough, but overall, the good parts still outweigh the bad.

I'll try to keep my contributions more frequent and more succinct. Class is about to start, so I'm signing off!