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Percussion Preservation: Basic Care & Maintenance

Music rooms sometimes contain tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of percussion equipment. Maintenance can feel overwhelming, but it’s worth it to protect your school’s investment!

The good news: basic care can be outsourced to students. At the end of each semester, your section leader and players can oversee most of these tasks.

First, dust everything with microfiber cloths, but don’t use cleaning chemicals. Keep a supply of cotton swabs on hand for dusty nooks & crannies! After everything is dust-free, go through this checklist.

Keyboard Instruments

Check cord between bars for worn or fraying spots
Play each bar to check for issues

Timpani

Check heads for damage, replace if needed
Check lowest pitch on each drum (32” D, 29” F, 26” Bb, 23” D, 20” F) and adjust if necessary
Store with pedal toe down

Snare Drums

Check top & bottom heads for damage, replace if needed
Check top & bottom heads for even tension, tune if needed
Dust snares with a soft brush (toothbrush or other)
Check cord on snares for wear & replace if needed
Check snare tension in on position & adjust if needed
Store with snares off

Cymbals

There’s some debate among percussionists about if cymbals should be kept as new or allowed to age with patina. If you choose to clean yours, here are some tips:

Wipe down your cymbals regularly with microfiber to keep dust and oils from building up
Fill a shallow tub large enough to fit your cymbal with 50% white vinegar, 50% water.
Allow the cymbal to soak 30-60 minutes
Clean the cymbal with a brush, scrubbing in the direction of the grooves
Rinse and dry with a clean cloth
Store covered (or in a cymbal bag for long-term)

When your equipment has been cleaned and checked, cover everything. Manufacturer covers are great if you have them, but if you don’t, use sheets/lightweight blankets. Cover your drum set too! Covering after daily use makes a big difference in the fight against dust AND covered instruments are much less tempting for visitors to touch.

Don’t forget to check your storage for mallets and auxiliary instruments in need of repair or replacement, and vacuum dirt out of your storage drawers!

Store all percussion instruments away from HVAC vents or radiators. If you have instruments with calfskin or other natural heads, make sure you consult the manufacturer’s care instructions.

If you have questions, consult a nearby percussionist band director, or a percussion faculty member at a local university – they’re usually happy to help, and you can get expert help with specific issues.

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Arranging for Young Jazz Bands: Getting Started

Published April 24, 2023 Band , Composing and Arranging , Contemporary Composers , General , jazz , music education Leave a Comment
Tags: arranging, jazz, jazz arranging, jazz band, music education, music teacher, roy phillippe, sheet music, Sheet Music Plus

Finding suitable arrangements for your beginning or young jazz ensemble can be tough, and many directors turn to writing their own arrangements. To help get you started, we’ve turned to Roy Phillippe, an expert arranger of jazz classics for young bands.

ROY’S PROCESS

If the music is new or unfamiliar to me, I study the melody and harmony until I’m comfortable with it. I consider style (swing, rock, latin, a ballad, etc.) and key. I’ve found that Bb, Eb and F are the most common keys at this level – it may need to be changed from the original.

When these basic considerations are set, I build a framework. For example: 8 bar rhythm section intro, sax melody with brass hits. On repeat trumpets join melody with trombone countermelody, followed by open solo section, and so on.

INSTRUMENTATION

I begin by sketching for an ensemble of 2 alto saxes, 1 tenor sax, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, piano/keyboard, bass, guitar and drums.

If desired for a particular arrangement, I then fill out chords with non-essential harmony notes on optional parts like 2nd tenor sax, baritone sax, 3rd trumpet and 2nd and 3rd trombone.

For young groups, I write a suggested solo with chord changes giving the player the option of ad-libbing his or her own solo.

WRITING FOR THE RHYTHM SECTION

Piano/keyboard parts should have chord changes and a written part which suggests voicings. This applies to bass parts as well.

Guitar parts are generally written with slash marks with the chord changes indicated above the staff, but

the guitar is a very versatile instrument. It can double the melody in the saxes, trumpets and trombone. In this case a melodic guitar part is written one octave higher than it sounds.

The drum part should not be too complex or overwritten. Start with indicating the style needed and indicate gaps where they can play a fill or solo.

WRAP-UP

When finished, proofread all parts for errors – this helps eliminate a lot of questions during valuable rehearsal time. A good arranger/composer has to be a first class editor!

Remember that a good arrangement is judged by how good it sounds, not how difficult it is to play!

ARRANGEMENTS FOR GRADE 1-1.5 JAZZ BAND

ARRANGEMENTS FOR GRADE 2-3 JAZZ BAND

Mr. Phillippe received his Bachelor of Music degree from Kent State University. He studied composition, arranging and orchestration privately with Phil Rizzo, author and director of theory for the Stan Kendor Jazz Orchestra in Residence program.

Mr. Phillippe is currently living in Los Angeles (CA), where he has been working as an arranger for film, television, concerts, recordings and publication. His many arrangements and compositions, which have been published for instrumental ensembles are performed regularly by student and professional groups throughout the world.

Mr. Phillippe is also the editor of the film scoring text “Case History Of A Film Score: The Thorn Birds” by Henry Mancini.

Easy Advocacy: Proactive Steps to Promote Your School Music Program

Published March 3, 2023 Band , choral , General , How To Articles , marketing tips , music education , orchestra , Teacher Resources Leave a Comment
Tags: communication, community, music advocacy, music education, music teacher, school music, Sheet Music Plus

Advocacy can feel like one more thing on an overfilled plate, but communicating with our administrators and communities is key to healthy school music programs.

These easy tips create little or no extra work for you – they capitalize on what you’re already doing.

Delegate tasks that don’t require your expertise

Utilize your parent and student leaders! You do not need to be in charge of taking concert photos, writing social media posts, and updating websites.

Cast a net for parents and older students who are into social media or marketing. Tell them what you’d like to see, make sure they’re aware of media permissions with student photos, then turn them loose.

Find someone who likes to write. Ask them to do a monthly or even quarterly email newsletter or press release for your local paper. It can include things you’re already keeping records on, like festival results, honors ensemble participation, and upcoming events. Use a template for consistency!

Invite everybody to take a look under the hood

Invite your instructional coaches, curriculum directors, and superintendents to your classroom – especially those who don’t have a musical background. These people make district-level decisions, and they all need to know what happens in your class.

For best results, meet with them for 10 minutes before they join your rehearsal to talk about your goals for the day, the standards or learning targets you’ll aim to hit, and the techniques you’ll use to achieve results. Speak their language, and they’ll be amazed at all you accomplish in 40 minutes.

If you’re doing something big (working with a composer on a commission, performing at a state convention) invite your administrators and your elected officials. The mayor, school board members, state-level legislators. They love being seen in the community, and they can feature your ensemble’s accomplishments on their social channels.

Plant your kids in the community

Your program’s visibility in the community is a crucial asset, but it doesn’t have to be all the kids, all the time. A lunchtime picnic concert downtown is great, but it’s a lot of moving parts. Think higher quantity, but smaller scale.

That crew of 4 friends who love to play together? Have them put together some carols and head to assisted living communities in December. Student council members in class? Ask them if there are some volunteer opportunities where music kids can represent the group.

A few students who attend church together? Ask them to prepare something to play at services. A parent with free time and a van? Ask if they’d spearhead a concert food drive to represent the music program.

Any local project that needs volunteers – send a few band kids.

Then (and don’t forget this part) hand that off to your social media person and make sure it’s blasted all over. Make sure they tag whatever business or organization they’re working with, and watch the ripples grow.

Start now

Take one step today, even if it’s a small one. Don’t wait until there’s a job or entire program on the line to start advocating.

With these measures in place, your community and your leaders will already see the positive impact your program has on the kids and the community. They’ll value it not just for what students learn, but for the people they’re becoming. They’ll be ready to fight for it.

John Williams: 90 Years – And Counting

Published February 8, 2022 Band , classical , Contemporary Composers , General , orchestra , Repertoire Leave a Comment
Tags: Band, band music, band sheet music, Harry Potter, john williams, John Williams Signature Edition, orchestra, orchestra music, orchestra sheet music, sheet music, Sheet Music Plus, star wars

On this, his 90th birthday, we’d posit that there is no living composer who has managed to be simultaneously so well-known, well-respected and well-loved than John Williams. We know his grand era- and genre-defining oeuvre like the backs of our hands: Jaws, Star Wars, Superman, Harry Potter, E.T., Indiana Jones — and the list goes on and on.

The broader public will recognize Williams pieces for their ingenious hooks, fearless displays of the widest range of human emotion, and instantaneous connection to the moving images they bring to life. Musicians, meanwhile, will simply enjoy playing his beautiful melodies and deeply satisfying orchestrations that feel undeniably natural.

None of this, of course, needs any introduction — and sometimes that’s the fun of it. Especially in times like these where our society seems to become more intensely divided with each passing day, a cultural touchpoint of pure joy that we all hold dear and that we can all relate to might be exactly what we need.

The John Williams Signature Edition series remains the gold standard in Williams scores. These spiral-bound, fully-engraved conductor’s scores come directly from the Williams originals and contain anecdotes written and signed by Williams himself that tell us, for example, which scene that he scored was his favorite, how the actors who worked on his legendary films helped to inspire his music, and his own personal connections to the characters those actors brought to life. Whether for orchestra or concert band, these editions have become cornerstones of the popular repertoire of premier ensembles across the country, and with Baby Yoda of The Mandalorian capturing the hearts of a whole new generation of Star Wars fans, that looks to be true for years to come.

**Star Wars (Suite for Orchestra) – Deluxe Score**

**Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Suite for Orchestra) – Deluxe Score**

Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician: How to Build Solid Foundations & Help First-Year Students Fall in Love with Music

Published December 18, 2020 Band , Distance Learning , General , Methods Leave a Comment
Tags: Band, band methods, beginner band, beginners music, GIA, Habits Universal, Methods, music, music education, music teacher, music teachers, sheet music, teaching music, teaching resources

Those of us who teach beginners have specific challenges. Not only do we have to acquaint our students with new instruments, but we also have to begin to acquaint them with musical notation and theory, help them develop good practice habits, and be on the lookout for improper techniques that can turn into major challenges in the years ahead. If our students are very young, we have extra work to help them develop their motor skills, and if we teach ensembles like bands and orchestras, we have the added challenge of attempting to do all of this for many students at the same time.

The team behind the much-loved Habits series, which includes such titles as Habits of a Significant Band Director and Habits of a Successful Middle School Band Director, is back to address these challenges head-on with a new method book focused on first-year band, Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician, and a treasure trove of supplemental resources on the Habits Universal website perfect for virtual, in-person and hybrid learning environments alike.

Here’s what makes Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician special:

Instrument-Specific Instruction

Even within the context of an entire band, Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician manages to deliver specialized resources for each instrument.

On Habits Universal, students can watch videos of professionals introduce and play each exercise on each instrument. This helps them learn how music notation translates to the sounds they make, exposes them to what their instruments can sound like with proper technique and tons of practice, and gives them models to strive toward. This is especially critical for students who don’t have access to private lessons, masterclasses or high-level live performances.

Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician also addresses individual instrument techniques that many other methods ignore entirely, which are especially helpful for instruments that a lot of band directors find a bit trickier. Among these topics are:

The oboe F dilemma: Did you know that the oboe has three different ways to play an F? Many directors don’t even realize that there are three options! Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician indicates which F an oboist should use throughout most of the book.
Bassoon flicking: The best way to initiate sound on the bassoon for an A, B-flat, B, C or D is to flick on the C key. Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician describes what this means and how to do it, and employs the degree sign, the universal sign for bassoonists to flick, throughout the book.

This level of detail extends to other instruments with such features as left and right indicators for clarinets, thorough sticking for mallets, and chromatic fingering indicators.

Teacher Tips & Resources

Each exercise in Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician comes with tips for the teacher: how to approach an exercise with their students, what to watch out for in various instrument sections, and suggestions for how to help students master it. Below is an example:

On Habits Universal Interactive, students can play along with backing tracks and listen to real audio models of their lines. They can also video record themselves playing their lines and get automatic graded feedback on their performance. While this feature is especially helpful for remote instruction, it’s also incredibly valuable for students who can be shy about playing in front of their peers.

Notably, the assessment software scores pitch, rhythm and length separately, and tracks errors alongside the notated line, so that a student can go note by note and see exactly where they need to improve. (The teacher still has the option to change final scores on assignments and to add comments.)

This video shows an extensive demo of Habits Universal Interactive. (The demo of the assessment tool starts at minute 27:39.)

As a note, grades can be integrated with virtually any software (e.g., Schoology, Canvas, PowerSchool) that a school uses to report grades via a simple export.

Musicianship

Written by band directors with decades of experience under their belts, Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician confronts the classic difficulty of getting kids out of what author Scott Rush calls the “B-flat/E-flat/A-flat Club,” where kids are only comfortable playing in B-flat Major and E-flat Major with some momentary departures into F Major. Rather than, as in other methods, playing in the B-flat pentascale 95% of the time, Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician quickly moves up a step to the C pentascale to get kids used to reading and playing in keys with naturals and sharps, opening up a larger portion of the literature to them by the time they get to middle school and high school.

With so much focus on specific tactics and features, it’s crucial to mention that what is perhaps the most important part of Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician is that its primary goal is to help students fall in love with music. Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician offers teachers developmentally appropriate language for teaching musical concepts so that even beginner band students can start to build musicality into their playing from the early days.

Pathway to Success: How to Give Every Student an Opportunity for Leadership & Create a Culture of Excellence

Published October 30, 2020 Band , General , Methods , orchestra , Teacher Resources Leave a Comment
Tags: classroom resources, education resources, leadership, leadership development, leadership skills, music education, music educator, music educators, music student, music students, music teacher, teaching music, teaching resources

Understanding that teaching band is as much about teaching students to work together as it is about teaching them to learn musical skills individually, the team behind the much-loved Habits series, which includes such titles as Habits of a Successful Band Director, takes on the broader subject of leadership in Pathway to Success, which helps develop leadership skills in every student in a class and includes a focus on emotional health that has been especially helpful for teachers during COVID.

Authors Scott Rush and Tim Lautzenheiser also host a free Zoom community on Sunday evenings to support teachers implementing the Pathway to Success method in their classrooms. Read more and register below!

“To borrow a phrase: All children have talents, however, not all children have opportunity and encouragement. Pathway to Success by Tim Lautzenheiser and Scott Rush describes in detail the ‘how’ and provides that encouragement young people need to overcome any reservations and reluctance they may have to step forward and become a leader! History is full of examples of shy and timid youngsters who responded to a challenge and rose to greatness as a leader. This book is invaluable for any age! Leadership by example. Pathway to Success. I wish it was available when I was a student. Tim and Scott nailed it!”
– Richard Crain, President of The Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic

Continue reading ‘Pathway to Success: How to Give Every Student an Opportunity for Leadership & Create a Culture of Excellence’

Guide to Remote Music Education

Published March 19, 2020 Band , choral , Distance Learning , General , How To Articles , music education , Music in Community , Online Education , piano , Small Business , Teacher Resources , Tech Tips 5 Comments
Tags: Distance Learning, education resources, music, music education, music educator, music educators, music teacher, music teachers, Online Education, online learning, remote learning, sheet music, Sheet Music Plus, teaching music, teaching resources, technology for teaching

So much of what makes music fun for us is sharing it with others: playing in ensembles, performing concerts, worshipping with our congregations, and teaching our craft. Unfortunately, many of us have found the usual ways we gather together to share music abruptly curtailed recently. With the help of technology, though, teachers and students alike can access a plethora of opportunities for distance learning through online lessons and rehearsals, practice aids, self-instruction and advancement, and sheer repertoire exploration.

Here’s our guide to navigating distance music learning and instruction. Let us know if you have any tips or pointers, and we’ll be happy to share them with our community! Continue reading ‘Guide to Remote Music Education’

Alex Shapiro: Making Her Own Rules

Published September 13, 2019 Band , choral , Contemporary Composers , General Leave a Comment
Tags: Band, composers, concert band music, Contemporary Composers, music, women composers

Alex Shapiro

If a composer just so happens to also be a photographer, an essayist, and an activist both within the musical arena and outside of it, it seems fitting that she would describe her own work as “pan-genre and diverse – sometimes within the same piece!” Alex Shapiro’s extensive catalog encompasses film scores, chamber music and choral works, but it is in concert band music that Alex has been leaving her strongest mark as a composer.

Alex’s first foray into the concert band world came in 2007, when Major Tod A. Addison, Commander and conductor of the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Band, contacted her via MySpace to commission a piece. At the time Alex had never composed for, participated in or even attended a performance of a wind band in her life, but was encouraged by Major Addison’s openness to her ideas and decided to jump right in.

The final piece, titled “Homecoming,” folds Alex’s sophisticated take on symphonic and jazz-pop music into traditional wind band sounds, while also taking a nuanced, multi-dimensional approach to the concept of a “military theme.” The result isn’t a collection of recognizable layers of elements, but rather something entirely new.

Continue reading ‘Alex Shapiro: Making Her Own Rules’

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