Tenet One: Our very first learning objective in Beginning Band is for students to make a characteristic sound. In fact, tone quality remains the first criterion on most judging rubrics right through high school. Really, what kind of classical musician would you be without the ability to make a beautiful sound? The need for good tone quality even affects other elements of music: “only play the fortissimo as loud as you can control the tone”, “don’t play the staccato so short that we miss the tone”, “your high range is not how high you can squeak out a sound, but how high you can control, sustain and repeat”, and “play that _____ a little slower, Billy, quality is more important than quantity” are always good advice.
Tenet Two: As interpreters of music, it is our job as professional musicians to bring each work to the audience in such a way as the composer intended for it to sound. That is, we strive for authentic interpretation. As educators, part of our task is to teach young musicians how to interpret each piece authentically. But we cannot simply teach each piece–we must give our students a wide range of tools to do so in a wide range of musical literature. Another way to say this is that we must give students the vocabulary to make all the sounds required in different works and syntax to combine them in meaningful ways in new situations. We must not train our students (like circus monkeys) to play this piece or that piece, but rather educate them to apply musical wisdom to new situations without prompting.
Query: Are there any situations in which authentic performance could be in opposition to tone quality? Are there any situations in which you would actually give your students permission to sacrifice timbre? Jazz music is a good example…while jazz players have a different concept of tone from symphonic players (even different mouthpieces and reeds!), there is still an enormous disparity between jazz musicians in what constitutes acceptable tone. Many jazz musicians of renown have been musically illiterate, and some have produced tones that would peel paint of walls. Should we teach students to make those sounds in the pursuit of authenticity? What if I program a Rebirth Brass Band chart for my Jazz Ensemble? The characteristic second-line sound is gritty and in-your-face. What about a Rolling Stones or Hendrix rock chart for my Concert Band? Do I simulate a little bit of distortion by tacitly allowing the trombones to play a bit blatty? Even back “at home” in traditional “classical” wind band repertoire, surely experienced conductor and performer Percy Grainger knew what would happen to timbre when he marked multiple “f”’s in Lincolnshire Posy. How do you teach tone quality? How do you teach articulation and dynamics? Are there any situations in which you would sacrifice a little tone quality?
January 29th, 2009
“Joey” is a sixth grade beginning trumpet player. Bless his parent’ hearts.
I gave Joey a high five in the hallway today. He was there, I was there, I thought it was the thing to do. “What was that for?” he asked.
“What was what for?”
“The high five. Why do I get a high five? Did I do something good?”
“Because you’re Joey, that’s why” I improvised. “You’re Joey, and Joey means high fives. It’s intrinsic. It’s built in. Joey, high fives. High fives, Joey.”
He walked away with a smile and felt important. I walked away with a smile and felt like a good teacher.
P.S.: Let’s see if he doesn’t practice tonight and let’s see if he doesn’t sound great tomorrow.
January 26th, 2009
The official list of the 100 Music Education Bloggers Campaign has been published. Many excellent resource lists are on the list, as are many writers with deep insight into the music education field. Cruise over to www.mustech.net for all the gory details. Special thanks to Dr. Joseph Pisano for leading the charge to connect music educators all over the world!
1. http://www.mustech.net
Dr. Joseph M. Pisano - MusTech.net
2. http://digitalmusiceducator.wordpress.com
Owen Bradley - The Digital Music Educator
3. http://etobiasblog.musiced.net
Evan Tobias - Catalysts & Connections
4. http://musiced.about.com/
Espie Estrella - About Music Education
5. http://jamesfrankel.musiced.net/
Dr. James Frankel - Music Technology in Education
6. http://weblog.siba.fi/msalavuo
Dr. Miikka Salavuo - Music Education, Technology & Social Media
7. http://pwhitfield.edublogs.org
Pete Whitfield - e-Learning for Music
8. http://www.musicedmagic.com
Chad Criswell - Music Ed. Magic
9. http://jsavage.org.uk/
Dr. Jonathan Savage - Jonathan Savage
10. http://musictechforme.com/
V. Keith Mason - Music Tech. for Me
11. http://tjweller.wordpress.com
Travis J. Weller - Composing Like Mad
12. http://mystro2b.edublogs.org/
Ken Pendergrass - Music is Not for Insects
13. http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/
Joel - So You Want to Teach
14. http://stengel99.wordpress.com/
Steve Engel - Music Ed. Lounge
15. http://fsharpbflat.wordpress.com/
Linda Granite - Bb, F#
16. http://doublebassblog.org
Jason Heath - Double Bass Blog
17. http://musicisfree.ning.com/
Robert Brannan - The Music is Free
18. http://dvzmix.wordpress.com/
Deborah Valdivia-Zwolinski - DVZ’s Mix
19. http://choirteachers.blogspot.com/
Kyle Gardner - Choir Teachers
20. http://www.pauldraper.org
Paul Draper - Draper’s Blogspot
21. http://johnwilborn.wordpress.com
John Wilborn - John Wilborn’s Weblog
22. http://iknowithink.blogspot.com
Leo Park - I Know…I Think
23. http://gluedtothestring.blogspot.com
Stan Haskins - Glued to the String
24. http://musicedtech.wordpress.com
Barbara Freedman - Music Ed. Tech.
25. http://tomrudolph.berkleemusicblogs.com
Dr. Tom Rudolph - Make the Most of Notation Software
26. http://teachingthewirechoir.com/
Dale Lewis - Teaching the “Wire Choir”
27. http://docandry.edublogs.org
Dr. Kevin Andry - Dr. Andry’s Band Blog
28. http://sperham.wordpress.com
Steffany Perham - Perham’s Prattlings
29. http://alexruthmann.com
Alex Ruthmann - Alex Ruthmann’s Blog
30. http://www.beatechie.com/
Carol Broos - Be A Techie
31. http://musicanthology.org
Geejay Arrioloa and Jeffrey Langlois - Music Anthology
32. http://southiowamusiced.blogspot.com/
Michael Compton - Southern Iowa Music Education Network
33. http://qachsband.edublogs.org/
Eric Wright - QACHS’s Band Blog
34. http://alleyjazz13.wordpress.com/
Alison Hulihan - Marching Music
35. http://rogerwhaley.blogspot.com
Roger Whaley - The BandEd ToolShed
36. http://mgrondin.edublogs.org
Martha Grondin - Artful, Tuneful, Beatful
37. http://percussioneducationonline.com
Kevin Tuck - Percussion Education Online
38. http://www.musicteachersblog.com
Janice Tuck - The Music Teacher’s Blog
39. http://bnceducation.blogspot.com
Steve Raybould, Kriston Feldpausch - Band and Chorus PMS/PJHS
40. http://musicedshare.wordpress.com
Kyle Krstolic - Music Education Share
41. http://musicedforall.blogspot.com
Dan Leeman - Music Education for All
42. http://amymburns.musiced.net
Amy Burns - Elementary Music/Music Technology
43. http://www.music.erinnwrobel.com
Erinn Wrobel - Notes From The Mitten
44. http://dougbutchy.wordpress.com
Doug Butchy - Confessions of a Band Director
45. http://studiobeemusic.com/mutech
Rich Blenkinsopp - Studiobee Music
46. http://musicmiddleschoolandweb20.blogspot.com/
Susan Hurst - Music, Middle School and Web 2.0
47. http://www.kirki.co.uk
Dr. Phil Kirkman - Music Education and Technology Blog
48. http://tufsdblogs.org/winze
Ann Winze - WI Orchestra
49. http://thirddivision.org
David DeVoto - Third Division
50. http://collaborativepiano.blogspot.com
Dr. Chris Foley - The Collaborative Piano Blog
51. http://bandguys.wordpress.com
Matthew Pelandina and Mike Lewis - The BandGuys’ blog
52. http://tanbur.wordpress.com
David French - The Music Education Blogspot
53. http://musicteachers911.blogspot.com
Larry Marra - Music Teachers 911
54. http://www.pianoteacherblog.com
Rebecca Brown - Piano Teacher’s Retreat
55. http://wordtogo.wordpress.com
Steve Mugglin - Creativity and Songwriting in Music Education
56. http://totalmusiceducation.blogspot.com
Greg Albing - Total Music Education
57. http://teachingmusicbs.com
Ben Baker - Teaching Music
58. http://susanadavis.blogspot.com/
Susan Davis - Music Technology Musings
59. http://www.howtopractise.com (yes it’s letter “s”; it’s spelt in British spelling)
Mike Saville - How To Practise
60. http://www.free2create.com/blog
Valerie Kampmeier - Free 2 Create
61. http://musicmattersblog.com
Natalie Wickham - Music Matters Blog
62. http://theresawhite.edublogs.org
Theresa White - Education In Music
63. http://africlassical.blogspot.com
William Zick - Africlassical
64. http://discoverlearnplay.blogspot.com
Eugene Cantera - Discover, Learn, Play (MusickED.com’s Blog)
65. http://mstrismusic.com
Ms. Tris - MsTrisMusic.com
66. http://www.learn-theory-music.com/learn-theory-music-blog.html
Julian Partridge - Learn Theory Music Blog
67. http://www.guitarticles.net
Tennyson Williams - Guitar Articles.Net
68. http://creativekidmusic.wordpress.com
Dan Thompson - Creative Kid Music
69. http://educacionmusical.blogspot.com
Oscar - Educacion Musical (Our first ME Blog in Spanish!)
70. http://rizzrazz.vox.com/
Dr. Eric Rasmussen - Rizz’s Blog
71. http://reband.wordpress.com
Mr. ReBand
72. http://www.techtempo.com
Brenda Muench - Tech. Tempo
73. http://www.thomasjwestmusic.com/blog.htm
Thomas J. West
74. http://musictech4ed.edublogs.org
Andrew Spang - MusicTech4Ed
75. http://www.pedaplus.com/
Jon Ensminger - Pedaplus
76. http://techtoysandtunes.blogspot.com
Richard McCready - Tech Toys and Tunes
77. http://downpressup.wordpress.com
Derek - Downpressup
78. http://listenlearnmusic.com
Rachel Rambach - Listen and Learn
79. http://jazzworks.wordpress.com
Allan Perkins - Jazz Works
80. http://msgallant.edublogs.org
Alexandra Gallant - The Misadventures of a First Year Music Teacher
81. http://www.acousticpath.com/blog
Cameron Grant - Acoustic Path
82. http://musicteachercafe.viviti.com/
Scott Ashby - Music Teacher’s Cafe
83. http://www.frogstoryrecords.com/player_journal.html
Stever Carter - Frog Story Records/Player’s Journal
84. http://thirdstream.musiced.net
Cary Stewart - Third-Stream Music Education
85. http://michiganstatepianopedagogy.blogspot.com
Derek Polischuk - Michigan State Piano Pedagogy
86. http://fromthevoiceof.blogspot.com
Elizabeth McDonald - From the Voice of…
87. http://urbanmusiceducation.org
Sarah Johnston - Urban Music Education
88. http://musiced.jasoncrews.net/
Jason Crews - Music Education Resource Blog
89. http://www.classicalguitarblog.net
Christopher - Classical Guitar Blog
90. http://willie42.globalteacher.org.au/
Andrew - Split Three Ways
91. http://mjsheetmusictips.blogspot.com/
Marilyn Johnson - MJ’s Music Teaching Tips
92. http://www.musicteachershelper.com/blog/
Brandon Pearce - Music Teacher’s Helper Blog
93. http://jeane-metroyo.blogspot.com
Jeane Goforth - Scrollworks and Metropolitian Youth Orchestras
94. http://www.oparp.blogspot.com
Dr. Robert Phillips - The Opinionated Arpgeggist
95. http://www.wikyblog.com/CynthiaWunsch
Cynthia Wunsch - The Unlikely Entrepreneur (Click the “Blog” tab)
96. http://mineoladrama.blogspot.com
Joe Owens - MHS Theater
97. http://andyzweibel.com
Andy Zweibel - Music Musings and Other Randoms…
98. http://musicschoolsbc.blogspot.com/
Stephen Robb - Music Schools BC
99. http://paulbailey.us
Paul Bailey - Paul Bailey’s Blog
100. http://edubuzz.org/blogs/alancoady/
Alan Coady - Alan Coady’s Musical Blog
January 23rd, 2009