Posts Tagged 'orchestra'

Percussion Preservation: Basic Care & Maintenance

Published May 8, 2023 Band , General , How To Articles , music education , orchestra , Teacher Resources Leave a Comment
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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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How to Keep Your Music Students Sharp Over the Summer

Published May 11, 2022 General Leave a Comment
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While summer is a great time to relax and enjoy the vacation, it can also be a great time for music students to improve their skills and become even more proficient musicians. Below are some tips and advice for music teachers wanting to help their students practice music over the summer.

Offer a summer music program

If you’re able to keep working with your students throughout the summer (or if you know other teachers who might be), let your students know that they can continue taking lessons over the break. And if you can’t do lessons yourself, consider offering a summer music camp or other similar programs where they can keep up with their practice and their peers.

Use social media to keep your students connected to each other and to you

Not only will your students stay connected over social media, but they’ll also be able to access a wealth of resources that can improve their playing skills. Facebook groups can be private or public, and you can use them to share practice tips and videos.

You could even create a private group for your current students and alumni so that former students can offer advice on how to overcome technical challenges or share musical ideas. You might also consider creating an online course that your students would have access to all summer long.

This course could include weekly mini-lessons on topics like sight-reading, ear training, improvisation, or music theory. This is an especially great option if you have multiple levels of experience throughout your studio or if some of your students will be traveling this summer.

Encourage students to listen to music in the car and around the house

One way to keep students engaged with music during the summer is to encourage them to listen while going about their regular lives. While they’re riding their bikes, playing outside, or waiting at the doctor’s office, they can listen to their favorite songs. This will keep their musical ideas flowing even when they’re away from the instrument.

It will also help them familiarize themselves with new songs—if you have a student who has learned a new piece of music, they may have trouble remembering it. Still, if they hear it a lot over the summer (either because you gave them a copy beforehand or because they listen to videos on YouTube), they’ll be more likely to retain it when you get together again in the fall.

Encourage your students to enlist a fun practice partner

The summer months can be difficult for students to continue learning—a friend or a buddy can help keep them engaged! Try partnering up student by instrument and the neighborhood they live in. Next, have them take turns picking out music to practice together, or create a music bucket list for students to choose from all summer (bonus points if they practice all the pieces on your list!).

Give your students a chance to reflect on their music and improve their playing this summer!

Now that you’ve got the tools and a clear picture of the benefits of summer practice, it’s time to take action and make the most of your summer! The best part about these tips is that they’re not just for your students—they’re can apply to you, too. No matter the experience level, everyone will benefit from keeping up with their playing through the summer months.

Even if they don’t have time to practice every day, they’ll retain more information and advance more quickly if they keep up with practicing regularly. More than anything else, you want them to enjoy playing music and making progress on their instrument so that they’ll continue in the future. At Sheet Music Plus, we provide the world’s largest sheet music selection for all abilities, styles, genres, and instruments.

John Williams: 90 Years – And Counting

Published February 8, 2022 Band , classical , Contemporary Composers , General , orchestra , Repertoire Leave a Comment
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John Williams

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
Summon the Heroes – Score and Parts

Revisiting Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor

Published February 28, 2020 choral , classical , General , New Releases , orchestra , Organ , Repertoire , Sacred Music Leave a Comment
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Mozart-NepomukDellaCroce

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Mass in C minor (K. 427) stands alongside the Requiem (K. 626) as his most remarkable church composition. Today it enjoys almost cult status, first because of its monumentality, which is unique in Mozart’s sacred vocal music, and second because, like the Requiem, it partakes of the aura of the unfinished and mysterious. The exact circumstances that gave rise to it as a votive mass have eluded explanation to the present day. The same applies to the reasons why it was left unfinished and to many details of its first performance, which, as far as we know, took place at St. Peter’s Church, Salzburg, on October 26, 1783. Finally, the transmission of the original sources also raises many questions. Indeed, it is astonishing that the Mass, although left as a torso, was performed at all during Mozart’s final visit to Salzburg. Continue reading ‘Revisiting Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor’

Series Spotlight: Teaching Music through Performance

Published August 30, 2017 General , Practice & Performance Leave a Comment
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Teaching Music through Performance is a best-selling series of books and CDs that are theoretical, practical, and analytical. Written, researched, and compiled by scholars with a wealth of teaching and conducting experience, this series enables conductors,  educators, and students to move beyond the printed page toward full musical awareness. Sheet Music Plus had the opportunity to learn from the publisher what inspired the creation of the series.

1. When was the Teaching Music through Performance series developed?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first edition of Volume 1 was for band and was released at the Midwest Clinic in 1997. This year, 2017 is the 20th anniversary of the series.  The Teaching Music through Performance series now includes 26 volumes, 16 for band, three for jazz, three for orchestra, and four for choir. In addition, each volume has accompanying CDs.

Continue reading ‘Series Spotlight: Teaching Music through Performance’

Classical Music Program for Halloween

Published October 31, 2014 General , Repertoire Leave a Comment
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by Jacy Burroughs

There are a plethora of classical pieces appropriate for Halloween. The best known are arguably Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain and Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King. Here are my suggestions for a slightly less typical, yet spooky program. They are also great pieces to listen to and get you in the mood for a night of tricks and treats!

1. Isle of the Dead, 29, Sergei Rachmaninoff – 1908

Rachmaninoff was inspired to compose Isle of the Dead after he saw a black-and-white reproduction of Arnold Böcklin’s painting by the same name in Paris in 1907. The image is of a boat bearing a coffin to a fortress on a mysterious island. Rachmaninoff’s musical interpretation begins with the sound of oars in the water, represented by an irregular 5/8 meter. The urgency of the music increases as the boat approaches the island. Then, the Dies irae – the Gregorian Chant from the Mass for the Dead – takes over. Briefly, there is a struggle with music that sounds full of life, but the Dies irae theme is stronger. At the end, the piece comes full circle, returning to the relentless sound of rowing oars.

Continue reading ‘Classical Music Program for Halloween’

Why Supporting Local Music Matters

Published August 21, 2014 General , Music in Community 2 Comments
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Not only is it back to school season, it’s also the time of year when local symphonies and bands, both professional and community, begin their new seasons. Orchestras and bands exist in all 50 states and nearly every community. The Performing Arts Alliance estimates that there are approximately 1800 orchestras alone in the United States, including professional, paid orchestras, volunteer orchestras, collegiate orchestras, and youth orchestras. Do you have an orchestra or band in your community? If you don’t know, it is very likely that there is at least one in your town or county. During the 2014-2015 performance season, we challenge you to go to at least one concert of a local community group, and here’s why:

Community music groups are great for local economies. How many times have you and your friends or family gone out for dinner before or after a sports game or important school function? Musical performances encourage spending at local restaurants, parking facilities, shops and more.

Music organizations create jobs – and not just for the musicians. Depending on the size of the group, it may have an executive director, a marketing team, a personnel manager and music librarian, just to name a few. Even small community groups will require stage crew at venues, box office attendants, and ushers to distribute programs.

Orchestras and bands play an important role in music education and community engagement. Musicians from these groups will often visit local schools and provide educational assemblies, instrument petting zoos, and even coachings on their instruments to students in the music program. Some groups give free performances or open rehearsals in senior living centers, or free, family friendly concerts in local parks. Even the country’s most esteemed musical organizations perform special concerts for children and families. For example, the San Francisco Symphony recently performed live music from several Pixar movies with clips and memorable scenes playing in the background.

To reach a wider audience, orchestras and bands have expanded their musical selections beyond the traditional repertoire. Not everyone finds the standard Bach, Beethoven or Brahms appealing, and there is a lot of great music for orchestra and band from the movies and even video games. So, if you aren’t a particular fan of classical music, look up your local group’s programming for the season and select a concert to attend that will interest you.

This only scratches the surface of the many reasons it is important and FUN to support local music. If we are preaching to the choir and you already do support local music, share this with your friends! Invite them to a concert. Ask them to attend one of your performances. Attend a concert with them – make it an event and go out to dinner before or dessert after. We want everyone to attend one local music concert this season! Lastly, please chime in with reasons why and how you support music in your community.

From Trash to Treasure – Landfill Harmonic

Published April 24, 2013 General , Music in Community Leave a Comment
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By Brendan Lai-Tong

Landfill Harmonic

Landfill Harmonic

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure“. It’s likely that you have heard, or even used this saying at some point. As easy as it is to use this phrase, seldom does it take on such a literal meaning like the story of the Recycled Orchestra. The orchestra is comprised of impoverished children from Cateura, Paraguay who have dedicated themselves to making music on instruments made out of only bits and pieces of trash. These instruments, gracefully constructed by director Favio Chavez and luthier Nicolas “Cola” Gomez, were made from objects found in the landfill close by. A film/documentary, Landfill Harmonic, will feature the orchestra.

Under the direction of Chavez, the orchestra has Continue reading ‘From Trash to Treasure – Landfill Harmonic’

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