Presented for your approval Governor are a series of thoughts about the arts in public education, and what they can bring to the lives and future careers of students.  I am certainly not telling you that it has to be all our way like the way you have run the state during your term – but this is more from an informative perspective that your agenda is hurting our ability to reach and provide skills to students that serve them far beyond their high school years. Okay, so maybe I am being a little hard on the Ed, but if you are going to be head chef you better be able to stand the heat in the kitchen.

The arts can be a powerful tool for students to develop competence in as they compete in a 21^st century job market.  When he was interviewed by Business Week former PNC CEO Paul Chellgren (1996) had this to say about the arts:

“Today’s students need arts education now more than ever.  Yes, they need the basics.  But today there are two sets of basics.  The first – reading, writing, math – is a prerequisite for a second, more complex, equally vital collection of higher level skills         required to function well in today’s world….The arts provide an unparalleled opportunity to teach these higher level basics that are increasingly critical, not only to tomorrow’s work force, but today’s.”

There is significant discussion in education today about “Transformative Assessment” and its use in the general classroom.  Elliot Eisner (2002), Stanford Art Professor, would argue 5 points that demonstrate this component is evident in everyday practice amongst visual and performing arts educators.  These artistically rooted qualitative forms of intelligence reveal themselves in transformative assessment as students 1) experience qualitative relationships and make judgments, 2) encounter “flexible purposing” (capitalizing on emerging features of a work), 3) understand not everything knowable can be articulated in a propositional form, 4) that form and content is most often inextricable, and 5) realize the aesthetic satisfaction that makes the work possible.

The fine, visual and performing arts open many career doors to students because of the transitive learning that is encountered and then applied to a new field.  But we must not forget that the arts are a unique way of demonstrating intelligence in knowing, creating, doing, and appreciating within that domain.  Education in the arts should help individual students achieve whatever potentials they possess to be intelligent within that domain.

I realize that the many school districts are under a tremendous burden to make AYP in their PSSA.  This added pressure of the PSSA’s might influence the resources and time allotted for non-tested subjects like the arts.  Recent research in this area conducted by Thorton (2007) demonstrates that many Pennsylvania students who voluntarily participate in music programs such as band, choir and orchestra perform significantly better on PSSA tests than students who choose not to participate is such activities. It is necessary to note that these results do not indicate that students achieved higher scores on their PSSA tests because they were in music. The purpose of this study was to examine whether music participation negatively impacts PSSA test scores, and the data demonstrated that music students’ scores are not lower than those of non-music students.

I must again defer to the wisdom of Bennett Reimer (2003).  As I referenced on a recent post, there are 5 dimensions that cannot be ignored that music educators impart to our students.  By doing so in the unique way that music can, these values – which so many of us can extol – make the musical experience a life changing one.  The values of trust (depending on others who are depending on us), competence (achieving it means there is work to be done), cooperation (with people, with the medium, and with the situation), respect (granting others a sense of worth in a shared enterprise which all of us contribute), and courage (are willingness to risk, be open to the unknown, and deal with challenges) can be instilled in the lives of students within the arts.  Those students become new members of society that move forward and contribute positively to careers, their families, and their communities – no matter what their profession.

Beyond that we teach unique subjects with unique ways of knowing.  We learn to appreciate the intrinsic value of what we experience through direct interaction and production of art celebrating noble expression of man’s ability to create.  We are moved to great extremes of emotional depth, and experience a fantastic set of skills which are required to produce them. The arts will never cure cancer, help the stock market rebound, or rebuild a town devastated by disaster.  The arts will make us better people who appreciate beauty.  They were meant to enlighten our thinking, and bring out the very best our minds can offer.  The arts belong in the public schools for all the right reasons.  They make a bold statement to all who experience it about real education progress.
Notes:

Eisner, Elliot W. (2002) “What can eduction learn from the arts about the practice of education?”, the encyclopedia of informal education,      www.infed.org/biblio/eisner_arts_and_the_practice_or_education.htm .

Reimer, B. (2003). A philosophy of music education: Advancing the vision (3^rd ed.). Upper Saddle River,  NJ: Prentice Hall.

Thornton, L. (2007). A Comparison of PSSA Scores between Music and Non-Music Students:Summary Report.  PMEA Research Committee and The Pennsylvania State University (available at http://pmea.net/researchadvocacy.html)

What good is arts education? Educating the workplace through the arts. (1996, October)   Business Week,12.

Pick your artist and they have skeletons in their closet – I am not sure there is a musician alive who can say they are completely clean, honest, and devoid of some sort of crutch – except maybe Brittney Spears…just checking to make sure you are still reading.  Thinking about Mozart, who definitely died too young – was his personal life a detriment to others? Perhaps to his family, but to others I would guess no.  What about Liszt? My recent work at Kent State (which has been burying me lately – sorry for the long stretches with no new blogging) has involved a lot of reading about Beethoven.  The one side of him that I never really connected with him is how he elevated the expectation levels for the performers, the music being created, and the audience.  He elevated his position to that of being the “superstar” of his day and probably had to endure some unkind public critiques at one point of his career.  We know he had a temper, but what was his conduct like when nobody was watching him?

But another side of Beethoven was the advancement that music can have strong ethical content.  Once that concept was accepted, then the world owed the composer a living.  The composer would create a serious and intellectually respected masterpiece that would outlive its day and the impetus which led to its creation (Longyear, 1988).  But did it mean it created more ethical musicians who created it?

One part of Reimer’s 3^rd Edition of his Philosophy of Music Education was his open questioning “should it be claimed that the point and purpose of music education is to create more ethical human beings?”.  He outlines 5 dimensions that are clearly part of our responsibility as music educators to impart to our students.  By doing so in the unique way that music can, these values – which so many of us can extol – make the musical experience a life changing one.

Read on in Chapter 4 and you won’t be sorry.  The value of trust, competence, cooperation, respect, and courage cannot be measured in our programs by trophies and plaques, but the people that move forward and contribute positively to society – no matter what their profession.  Another day we will discuss those five dimensions and the attitudes that can be cultivated from using the musical experience to not only make great musicians, but also make great people.

Longyear, R. M. (1988). Nineteenth Century Romanticism in Music (3^rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Reimer, B. (2003). A philosophy of music education: Advancing the vision (3^rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.<–>

Our eventual performance on March 12^th by all the ensembles was superb.  It was probably the best concert I have put together in my 14 years of teaching.  Other program selections included Wagon Trail by Julie Giroux (excellent work), Cumberland Cross by Carl Strommen, and Cajun Folk Songs 2 by Frank Ticheli.  I am so proud of what they accomplished in the rehearsal hall, the auditorium, and now, as I begin to review the submissions for the interdisciplinary unit, in the computer lab.

The one main goal of the class last summer was to explore ways in which we as educators can help students make more authentic connections between the music we study and other subjects like art, music, history, and poetry.  The National Standards for Music make it pretty clear that we should be teaching students to understand disciplines outside the arts.  My view of the profession of band directors is that it must include becoming heritage bearers of the American Wind Band.  When that is translated into every day teaching, we must seek ways to help our students make more authentic connections with the music performed by the large ensemble.  It is no longer enough to just get music ready for the concert and adjudication or festival (Though noble goals they are).  We must find ways to engage them beyond the notes on the page so that their memories not only include the wonderful music they performed and studied but how that connects to their everyday lives and the culture in which they are living.

You can visit the website that I prepared by clicking here.  It was my first experience using iWeb, and the ease of use the software provided was appreciated since I am – as the commercial says – “PC”.  I am especially appreciative of Tracy Sevin, the technology coach in the building where I work, who provided me with a very easy way to collect the assignments from the students.  All the students are submitting their work digitally via Rcampus.  Within 15 minutes, I had registered myself as a teacher, set up 3 sections of classes, and provided links to the website and the learning activities.  The students are currently preparing their work in a Word Document, and then using a simple attachment option can send me the file electronically.  While we have used several of our rehearsal periods for the ensembles to access the computer lab, the beauty of this entire assignment is that it can be accessed and completed outside of school time.

Though very new to Rcampus, I am very impressed with their ease of use for both students and teachers.  A regular classroom teacher who creates projects for their students would be able to utilize Rcampus on a more regular basis.  It would provide a way for students to submit recordings for a playing exam or audition material, but there are issues of accessibility outside of school (several of my students do not have the internet), a student having the ability to record a sound file, and integrity of the person making the recording.  None of my students will be printing out any work – everything is handled through digital submission.

The student feedback so far has been very good.  Many of the upperclassmen have commented that the break from playing once every couple of weeks since January has made them refocus the next time a rehearsal begins.  I am planning on doing a post project survey to gauge their perspectives, and the open response section should provide some very interesting results.  The possibilities for future interdisciplinary projects are really endless, but it does take research outside our realm to bring authentic connections to the students.  I hope this sparks some interest and curiosity amongst our profession as move our 20^th century ensembles into a 21^st century educational setting.

One of my more critical beliefs about music education is its responsibility to be an integral force in shaping, educating, and influencing culture and society.  Similar to the thoughts of Reimer (2003), I believe that music education has a responsibility to make our students aware that music is a universal experience, the meanings drawn from music are contextual to the culture in which they occur, and that through exploration and study of other culture’s musical forms and practices students can come to a better appreciation, understanding, and value of the music indigenous to their own culture.   While I believe that some exploration and study of music of other cultures is a worthy endeavor, we are limited by our shared experience of that culture’s music, and we must be sensitive that our instruction through the represented medium in our culture may in fact not accurately represent the accepted practices of the culture from which the music originates (Jorgensen, 2003).  If we can recognize this limitation and seek means by which we are able to bring a better understanding to our students through authentic representation or performance, we demonstrate our commitment to the universal experience that music offers.  The respect and inclusion of music from other cultures is a valuable undertaking, but the profession of music education must also consider the many traditions and social values of our own culture in the music that is selected for study.  As a profession, our goal should be to provide an authentic musical learning experience for all involved and, in some cases, requires us to extend our research of appropriate music to many traditions, eras, styles, and genres as it might better reflect the desires of the community in which we teach (Rideout, 2005). 

            As part of our responsibility to educate and influence culture and society, we must develop and provide creative, responding, and listening opportunities “including but going beyond those that are readily available within the culture” (Reimer, 2003, p.160).  I will first address the opportunities within music that are engaged by the majority of the population, and later will discuss the importance of the opportunities found in the music which is engaged by a smaller portion of the populace.  I believe each side, for reasons of authenticity, aesthetic appeal, history, performance demands, and relation with aspects of the culture, is worthy of study for students at every grade level.  When music’s ability to contribute to moral conditions, regulate behavior or social norms, integrate society, enhance personal relationships, and promote social and political awareness are considered in addition to the reasons listed above (Alperson & Carroll, 2008), it becomes obvious how deeply music is integrated and functional within society and culture. My goal here is not to make qualitative judgments or imply preference, but rather to view music of our own culture from a broad perspective and illuminate reasons why there should be a diverse selection of music included for study.  The majority of my teaching experience in my career thus far has been as a high school band director and teacher of instrumental music.  The nature of this teaching position has required me to prepare soloists, chamber and small ensembles, and large ensembles of a traditional school setting for numerous public performances.  An additional part of my teaching duties includes instruction to students in a general music classroom, and although this portion of the student population does not have aspirations to enroll in one of the curricular ensembles, they are just as deserving as ensemble students to be engaged in musically meaningful ways (Reimer, 2003). 

            There is a healthy balance that needs to be achieved between the objectives of professional music educators and desires of students and community members on the music that is selected for study in education.  When the demands of the community are prevailing over the insight and experience of professionals education can be stagnant, and conversely when community values are ignored and the choices of the profession are substituted a definite rift develops between the two groups (Reimer, 2003).  In considering Reimer’s discussion on this very idea in his third edition, I believe that one of the more significant rifts that occurred between community expectations and professional aspirations has involved the exclusion of popular music from classrooms.  Reimer (2003) notes that “popular music” is engaged by the vast majority of the American populace, yet it has remained largely unused in the music classroom or rehearsal hall by the profession of music educators who seek to help their students make a meaningful connection with music.  British philosopher Kevin D. Skelton (2004) offers an interesting perspective on the idea of engaging students in studying music that I feel would be beneficial for the profession to consider.  He says,

            “Unlike most disciplines, students continuing to post-secondary education in music are likely to have undertaken private instruction in their principal             instrument, if not also in history and theory.  For this reason, it is my rather extreme opinion that pre-university music education would be served better by catering to the average students.  Such a focus would encourage more people to engage with music at a level of some personal importance throughout their lives. By this I do not mean a ‘dumbing-down’ of the curriculum, but rather a shift in focus that could benefit the musically proficient as well as the musically interested.”

While this statement is not meant to dismiss the value or heritage of existing performance ensembles within the school, educators must recognize that many students are already deeply immersed in some styles and types of popular music.  Providing opportunities to create, listen, and respond to music the student can identify with because of its familiarity creates a learning atmosphere that is energizing, refreshing, and responsive.  Skelton (2004) further advocates that our profession should seek to recognize the role music plays in each student’s life, and our classroom and curriculum should also seek to promote an increased and more diverse role outside the limits of school.  As Woodford (2005) suggests, students should be reminded of the significance of expanding their musical and social perspectives, while learning to live in a society where people’s values, morals, and beliefs differ from their own.  It is through the study of this music that we can challenge students to consider cultural, political, social and moral issues that have been central in many different styles of popular music, and come to a better understanding of the performance practices and traditions that have set it apart from other styles of music in our culture. 

            In my role as an instrumental music educator, I select music for educational study with opportunities for creating, listening, and responding going beyond what is provided by the culture utilizing music of various folk traditions, instrumental music of Western classical traditions, and Jazz music traditions.  From a historical and cultural perspective, this music has always been associated with the repertoire of music for school bands, and those ensembles retain unique characteristics that demonstrate its virtues.  The virtues of this ensemble are found as you examine its home within the school structure, the youthful spirit and energy of its members, the constant educational process eventually growing into a public product, and psychological/emotional needs of the participants as novices who are confronting complex musical challenges to their emerging self-image (Reimer, 2003, p.283). By examining the significant and meaningful music of previous generations of music educators and incorporating them into instruction, it instills a sense of the heritage that instrumental music has created among performers, conductors, and listeners.  As a profession, we should continue to preserve and present music that best represents this heritage in our instruction, and also seek new examples that extend the spirit and contribute to the advancement of our heritage.  In our search to present repertoire that answers this calling, we should also, as Reimer (2003) points out, not force our ensembles to study a “varied repertoire of music” at the expense of compromising our artistic integrity.  Over the past ten years, there has been significant collaboration among conductors, composers, and educators to identify individual pieces within the repertoire of Western bands that represent authentic, well-crafted, educational, and culturally and stylistically diverse literature that should be considered for study.  The efforts of projects like, but not limited to, the Teaching Music through Performance in Band series, Composers on Composing for Band, and Bandquest have yielded a considerable educational resource to those in our profession that are charged with educating, preserving, and advancing the heritage of instrumental music.  

            The short end is that this is not a process whereby we will see the results in one year.  I am distressed over the number of colleagues I have already known that have left the profession because it was a fight in which “they didn’t know where to start”.  We must find ways to retain members in the profession so that in time they see the fruit of their labor.  I am distressed when I learn of concerts and programs where musical expectations are far removed from the community in which it is situated.  We must find ways to preserve the heritage of instrumental music as it exists so that our audience is rewarded aesthetic, educational, and entertaining moments.  We cannot always fight the war of financial support for music education, though it is one which we should be aware.  We must be advocates that build knowledge, respect, and appreciation for our fine and performing arts programs within the schools.  We must take the responsibility to educate our communities on our value so that no school administrator or board of director for a community group will ever think “well, we have to have this music program”.  I want them to NEED this MUSIC program like a fish needs water.  This issue is bigger than me, and even bigger than the ME Blogger Movement.  But we need to be having this conversation with our colleagues about this responsibility. I’m in. How about you?

References

Alperson, P. & Carroll, N. (2008). Music, mind, and morality: Arousing the body politic.  Journal of Aesthetic Education, 42(1), 1-15.

Camphouse, M. (Ed.). (2007). Composers on composing for band.  Chicago: GIA.

Jorgensen, E. R. (2003) What philosophy can bring to music education: Musicianship as a case in point.  British Journal of Music Education, 20(2), 197-214.

Reimer, B. (2003). A philosophy of music education: Advancing the vision (3^rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Rideout, R. (2005). Whose music? Music education and cultural issues. Music Educators Journal, 91(4), 39-41.

Skelton, K. D. (2004). Should we study music and/or as culture? Music Education Research, 6(2), 171-177.

Woodford, P. G. (2005). Democracy and music education: Liberalism, ethics, and the politics of practice. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.

The post by One Family’s Blog is comparative review of Yamah Digital Pianos that attempts to guide families come to the right purchase decision.  Dan D. Smith reviews Griff Hamlin’s latest package, Playing Through The Blues - A Guide For TheLead Guitar Player. His review can be found at The Best Guitar Courses on the Internet . It is a pleasure to have Cary Stewart join us with two great submissions. Check out some practical rehearsal advice in Criteria for Superior Rehearsal Wasting and some more pedagogical thoughts in It’s the only connection they have. 

Mr. ReBand travels down a road unfortunately not less taken for many of us.  His own experiences in a typical situation are presented in  The Vice-Principal Talk . Rachel Rambach is doing some interesting things on her site with educational music for children.  The author presents Faster is Better , a first hand account of a new song that she has written. Arpeggio Exercises is a post by Barry Wright.  Barry offers some good tips in this concise post.

Thomas J. West has a great post that is a must for parents that are confronted with the question When you should get a private music teacher for your child?  I was in class with Thomas a few years ago at Villanova.  He is a wonderful composer in his own right, and it is exciting to hear him share from this perspective. Dr. Joseph M. Pisano points us in the right direction to find Free Printable Music Staff Paper and Sheets Online.    I am always impressed with his ability to find the best available free information on the web and make sure people know about it! Larry Ferlazzo has an informative post that profiles The Best Online Sites for Creating Music.  Larry is an English teacher in California.

Are you Teaching for Honors Choir? and more?  Be sure to check out this post by Theresa White.  As many of our students are moving into the festival season, her post has some really good points that encapsulate the experience. The Collaborative Piano Blog has a practical/seasonal post entitled 8 Ways to Improve Your Enjoyment of the Piano Through Playing Christmas Music.  As someone who has witnessed his own oldest daughter now surpass him in piano ability, I took a special interest in this post.  Finally, I would appreciate some feedback from all of you who teach middle school band as I try to turn up the heat on Middle School Band Literature in Where there’s smoke there’s fire…and hey is that my middle school band room?

Enjoy the show and the funnel cake as the Music Education Blog Carnival continues!

But we are lining up a series of great posts for the November carnival.  I can almost smell the funnel cake from here…

There is plenty of room for new posts as well as bringing back some old ones that have received attention.  So far I have really enjoyed reading a number of older submissions and reflecting upon my current perspective compared to the one I had reading it the first time.  It really is amazing how this campaign has taken off, continued to evolve, and is bringing some refreshing conversation to the perspective.

If you have not submitted before, never fear as this is easier that cleaning your band office coffee pot after a two week coffee hiatus….not there was mold growing mind you, just a penicilin experiment gone awry. The process is actually very easy.  You can find the Music Education Submittal Page by clicking on the following link: http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_4443.html. 

I am looking forward to hosting, so come one and all and step right up to the greatest show on earth!  And if you are able, I am really jonesing for some funnel cake…

So, I never dreamed in a million years that writing a post called “My Band Room is on Fire” would get the attention that it has.  After having the summer to review that list, it has churned a significant repertoire list that as a profession of directors should be familiar. I got to thinking about it over the summer, and while thought provoking and good debate for high school directors the conversation should not stop there.  There are plenty of colleagues (myself included) who really struggle with selecting good music for the Middle School/Jr. High Level.  There are some exemplary standards out there, but I believe there to be a wealth of undiscovered gems as well.

The rules: You have time to save 10 pieces for study.  I chose 10 so we have a little more flexibility, plus it creates a little larger rep list.  Don’t be like a near-sighted colleague from my area that said he would wait for the place to burn and get the insurance money – contribute to the conversation and help the profession make progress!.  A list of songs with arranger and/or composer will suffice.  If you want to explain any of your choices, feel free to do so but it is not necessary.  I will recap it all in about a month.  Beware, the fire is burning again!

Carpathian Sketches…..Robert Jager

Suspended Animation…..Patrick J. Burns

Friends of Freedom…..Timothy Loest

Air for Band…..Frank Erickson

Canto…..W. Francis McBeth

Kentucky 1800…..Clare Grundman

Grant County Celebration…..Mark Williams

Marching Song…..Gustav Holst/arr. Moss

Salute to the Duke….arr. Michael Sweeney

The Battle Pavane…..Susato/arr.Margolis

What a great night! (I am going to keep coming back to that word more frequently than a MLB player hears the word perjury lately).  First some absolute highlights:

• I am by no means an Alicia Keys fan.  But she (her performance) was great.  She brought out John Mayer, and for retaining that Billy Joel-esque looks he certainly gets around well on the guitar.  I made it a point to download “No One” – although it will never make it to my ipod (that is reserved for the likes of Ticheli, Boysen, Camphouse, Reed, Gillingham, Balmages, Erickson, McBeth, Hilliard, Loest, and some guy named Holst).
• I am so an official Foo Fighters fan.  I did two of their songs with my marching band this past fall.  After hearing them on Sunday night, it was confirmed – they were great!  Dave Grohl and the crew have it going on in all the right ways.
• The Gospel Music nominees performed highlighted by Aretha Franklin.  In an era where many of the big names in the early years of Rock are passing away (rest in peace James Brown, Wilson Pickett) it was nice to see Aretha again (though in a different style).  Ludacris’ intro was great – “Prepare to your soul sanctified.”
• Herbie Hancock! Great! Herbie Hancock with Lang Lange playing “Rhapsody in Blue” on National TV! Great! How many of you knew that? Probably 90% of America walked to the kitchen to get more pretzels and a beer the minute the clarinet started.  I was so juiced about it!  Take notice that this was real music, by two incredible musicians! And then to have your Grammy award (which it was 40 some years since a jazz guy won it) presented to you by Quincy Jones? It’s like getting being ordained for Priesthood by the late Pope John Paul.  Yeah, it’s that big.
• Beyonce. Disturbingly not great.  Not that she ever has been….
• Joan Tower.  Who? Oh, yeah the Best Classical Contemporary Composition, Best Classical Album, and Best Orchestral Performance Grammy Winner for Made In America (Nashville Symphony Orchestra led by Slatkin) Great! Just not televised which is not great!
• Keith O. Johnson. Another who? Engineer for Garden of Dreams the Grammy nominated Best Engineered Album.  And the album – yeah, Dallas Wind Symphony (Jerry Junkin) they are pretty alright if you are in to that “they-play-great- music-with-pristine-intonation-balance-and-musical-expression” thing (And yes, I am a pretty big fan of that kind of music performance!!!).  They didn’t win, but would it be awesome to hear them get to perform some year on the show!  If the Grammy Foundation really wanted to hit one out of the park for music education why not bring them in and give them some serious exposure!
• Best Instrumental Arrangement? The Grammy went to Vince Mendoza. Another who? But many of us already know this is the stuff of Joe Zawinul (who passed away in September of 2007).
• And while we are paying homage, look no further than the tribue by the classical fan-fav Josh Groban and the understated Andrea Bocelli.  Groban is fine with me, but Bocelli is where it is at.  Sure the tribute was being done for many who had passed away, but it was so fitting as the final still photo was of Pavarotti.  One day I am sure we will pay similar homage to Bocelli, though I hope that day is far, far away.  And BTW, he was great!

It was a rewarding experience to watch.  As I reflect on the class I led my fellow Doc students on today at KSU, I cannot help but come back to this thought: Don’t stand in the way of your students learning about all kinds of music.  We must equip our students with the musical experiences and knowledge that will allow them to be educated consumers in society.  We should be the conduit that allows the spark of all kinds of music to ignite them – not the electrician who only wires certain areas of the house for certain things.  Keep evolving by figuring out what kids are listening to so that  you are never that teacher whose music time has passed by.  Certainly we should develop a definition for what is music, and criteria for evaluating music that we can lead them to make educated choices.  Whether good or bad is an entirely different subjective can of worms.  But it is our duty as Educators to provide diverse experience in our teaching beyond what society offers in culture.  I think we would all be surprised by how giving students the power to explore, evaluate, and decide on their own will lead them to a healthier relationship with music.  A healthier regard and esteem for music would definitely make society a much better place.  And I don’t think that there is NO ONE who would argue with that.

I am fortunate to have a school administration and board of directors that are supportive of these endeavors.  It would not happen without them, and that is the truth.  They ultimately have the power to say “yes you can host this” or “no you cannot”.  Part of the equation is they see the value, but that comes because I take time and show them why it is important that we host these kind of events.  The other part of the equation is that these kind of events are very good for public relations, which may not sound like a legitimate reason to host.  The truth is it is great to bring the public to us on our terms.  It isn’t selling out by a long shot – we are selling one of the many positive benefits and outgrowths of studying music.

My parent group has also been very supportive of these endeavors through the years.  Our Band Festival has generated a lot of financial stability for our group.  That is a bottom line that cannot be ignored, but yet when they talk to me after the band show all they can remark is how good their child looked on the field, and how proud they were of the group.  It has taken time to educate them about the value of these festivals – musical, social, morale – but it has been worth the effort (As I have said before on this blog, at 3:15 class is just beginning….and Jim, if you are out there – THIS POST IS NOT FOR YOU.)

With just days remaining, and a free hour on Sunday evening, I have put together a crash course in hosting a music festival.  Some considerations for directors – practical, and simple.  I am certainly not going to reinvent the wheel on this post, but I am going to make sure I check the fluids, put in some gas, and check the tire pressure as I need to be rolling tomorrow morning like Optimus Prime taking on Bonecrusher.

1) Lock up the festival date early!  (I put in to host 4 years ago because of the student potential I saw).  You would be surprised to see what kind of message it sends to all those who are involved – it shows it as a big commitment.  Set deadlines for yourself leading up to the festival, and stay focused on meeting them.

2) Speaking of locking up – guest band? Guest Conductor? If the date works, college and university groups love to come out for festivals (generally speaking the result is a lot of “musical muscle flexing” that really inspires HS students).  Their conductors are not far behind as they know they will be received eagerly, and it is a great recruitment tool.  But they too have schedules, and the sooner they get requests the sooner they can plan and hopefully commit.

3) Communication! If you are bad at returning calls or emails – DO NOT HOST A FESTIVAL OF ANY SORT.  Sorry to be blunt, but it requires a steady stream of instruction from your office – hopefully given by you!  And what exactly are you going to be communicating? Well….

4) Festival plans! When again? Where again? What time? How many students? How much performance time per group? How long will the festival last? Does it require overnight housing? How much parking do buses need? Security? Chaperones? Food Service required? Music distribution to guest musicians? What about inclement weather? Do you have enough seating? The right equipment…..I could go on, but I am giving myself an anxiety attack.  The larger point here is to plan early and continually evaluate and revise.  Assemble a team around you that can offer sound advice and share your vision for the festival (ex: My assistant Michelle does a fantastic job identifying small details for a festival).

Having been on the other side, I try my best to comply with the deadlines and needs of other host directors when I take my students elsewhere.  Hosting a festival will teach you a great deal of professional courtesy for your colleagues.  It will also set you a part and alter the way they view you (both positively and negatively).  It also provides a carry over effect to your students, as they view as a director who will (hopefully) exorcise the “golden rule” and will put in the extra work for their benefit.

There is also a great professional growth spin-off that can occur.  As educators we have the opportunity to discuss issues we are having with schedules, with students, and with music.  It removes us(oft times) from our secluded kingdom in our own school, and gets us talking about issues in our daily life as educators.  Sometime we vent and “let off steam”, and yet other times we pick up great tips (i.e. how to get your ensembles to breathe together and correctly, what piece of music is great for a young ensemble).

My final thoughts about hosting revolves more around the “why”.  I always consider these questions as I make a decision about hosting a festival (even the marching band exhibition that I host each year) :

• Is hosting this festival consistent with my goals and philosophy of the program?
• Will  my students benefit from this exposure in a positive way?
• Will the outside groups or students benefit from attending and performing?
• Will this demonstrate to educational authorities (both at my school and others) the value of music education?
• How will hosting this festival benefit our program and my teaching over time?

For those of you who have hosted festivals, I would love to hear from you about your experience and what you have learned.  For those of you who have never, don’t rule it out.  A group of my colleagues collaborated resources, equipment and facilities and did a highly successful co-host of our District event 2 years ago (You would never see opposing athletic teams working together that way…ah athletics, a rant for another day).  Many of us have already made music our life.  So why not invite others who love it in to your home away from home?

Francis McBeth” “I am proud to say I have lived long enough to see the rise and fall of Communism in Russia and 12 tone rows.”

A wonderful two days in the city of Chicago, Illinois.  There were many personal highlights along the way.  I will make no apology for the shameless promotion of a few really good writers and new found friends that I spent some time with, in addition to an uplifting musical experience thanks to James Keene!

• The University of Illinois Wind Ensemble Concert – under the direction of James Keene performed works by Ticheli, Carter Pann (Holy Cow!), Hindemith, and Sousa (to name just a few).  BRILLIANT!!!  There have been few life changing moments that I clearly remember happening all at once (like listening to the Vaughan Williams fantasia on a theme of Tallis) – and this was definitely one of them.  Keene was smooth and musical on the podium, the ensemble played with effortless power and grace.  I think if God has a wind ensemble in heaven, James Keens might be the associate conductor.
• Reconnecting with Francis McBeth, James Barnes, Robert E. Foster, Jack Stamp, James Hosay, and James Curnow.  The common denominator here among these gentlemen is a lifetime of commitment to musical excellence.
• Catching up with Sam Hazo, Tim Loest and Patrick Burns.  All three of these guys are generating some great literature to read and perform with your groups.  Sam is really blossoming as one of the hottest writers in our profession.  Tim continues to pen solid music (through FJH) that is so educationally sound that students enjoy playing.  Patrick is a new found friend and colleague who is doing absolutely great stuff at pratically every level.  If you are the uniniated, I strongly encourage you to check out two pieces that hooked me on his writing – Suspended Animation and Enchanted Night.  Look for more great things to come from each of these guys in the future.  It is also worth mentioning here the music Julie Giroux, Joseph Spaniola, Willie Owens and Christopher Tucker.
• Meeting for the first time both Timothy Mahr and Brian Balmages.  Listen  up! There is more to Tim Mahr than just Endurance (although a great piece!).  Check out View From the Mountaintop, Sol Solatar, and Hey! by Dr. Mahr and you will find some great music indeed.  Brian’s reputation is quickly ascending in a lot of circles.  The bulk of his work is for upper level groups, but the compositions he is putting out are just brilliant.  He is a straight shooter, and does a great job improving the quality of literature available for public school bands.
• Great concerts – I heard two fine concerts by high school groups from Texas and Illinois.  While technically precise, pristine intonation, and good balance, I did leave feeling that the conductors and musicians left a lot of the music on the page.  My own philosophy is I don’t want to live life mezzo-nothing, so let’s put some emotion into our performance!
• Great clinics – jump on over to read the quote by James Barnes at Mustech.net, and you’ll get an idea just how good most of the clinics are at these conventions.  Sometimes funny, most of the time practical, and always give you good food for thought.  The other quote of that day also came from Dr. Barnes: “My high school band was small, and we didn’t have balanced instrumentation all the time.  We did have a bassoon….it’s just that no one knew how to put it together.”

Take the time, and make the trip.  Yes it seemed like a lot in two days, but I have come away with new respect for my profession, and more inspiration and determination to improve the quality of my life’s work.  Being a band director is the only thing I know how to do, and it’s the only thing I want to do as a professional educator.

Of all the battles I have faced during my tenure in the public schools, this is the easiest. We sometimes are the most consistent factor each day in a student’s life – and like Uncle Ben said to Peter “With great power comes great responsibility.” It also just so happens that we teach the most dynamic, cross-curricular, aesthetically appealing unique subjects in the history of the world – and if you missed it earlier reference Peter Parker’s uncle listed above. Our students may have trouble admitting it, but they want this exposure to everything that music can offer them: Appreciation as an individual? Step up to the mic and play over the changes Coltrane Jr. Contributions to a team that can achieve great things? Ask the GCC Marching Band how they felt after the Clarion County Festival a few weeks ago. Experiencing the height of human emotion and beauty? How about the Vaughan William’s “Variation on a Theme of Thomas Tallis”, Morten Lauridsen “O Magnum Mysterium”, or even “October” by Eric Whitacre (yes, he’s a youngster, but he is so good!). Power? Intensity? Drama? Mahler, Beethoven, Respighi. This is the easy battle. It’s when they leave the school day at 3:15 p.m., or after marching band, or show choir, or district festival practice….the battle at home begins.

No matter what they tell you in your methods, education psychology, foundations of education, or learning theories classes it comes down to this: Kids struggle in school because of heredity and environment. Why is being a public advocate of music so important? If you lose the battle at home, YOU WILL LOSE THE WAR. Educating the students about music is easy. Educating the parents who we only see at concerts, games (where a music group is performing), and booster meetings is ultimately tougher. We have limited time with them. We don’t have time to build the relationship of trust and communication with them like we do their children. Worse yet, talking with several colleagues who had recent confrontations with a parent, there seems to be less and less parents who have established a value system for music within their family setting. The impression I am left by some parents is that music is not a “real” subject. It is a course designed to give the core classes their prep time. It should therefore stand to reason that discipline problems within music do not matter, and attendance at a concert should be optional not mandatory.

I feel sorry for any family who feels this way. They are cheating themselves of the greatest of human experiences. Worse yet, they have cut off another generation from this experience because of their own myopic, uninformed, and uneducated point of view. They will pass this off as “I don’t understand music, so why would my kid?” Le the trained music educator expose your child to something you don’t understand so that maybe – just maybe – your child will become something greater than you. And as a parent, that is what I want for my three daughters – how about you?

Why is this battle so tough today? I can offer a few thoughts that we should consider. But I am more interested in giving some suggestions to all of you about how to start winning the battle on the home front for the good of music education and your program. First of all, I believe our microwave society is a detriment. We want instant gratification – something that goes against the very core of music’s being. Parents want instant success for our kids, and there are many bad avenues out there to explore. We can roll a ball out on the grass, watch six children swarm around it like bees around a hive and they call it a soccer team. Put six instruments in a room with six children and at the end of a day you have a music shop repairman’s nightmare. I use soccer as an example – we aren’t concerned with the quality of the experience, just so the child has the experience….and has time to get to another experience….which gets me to my next point. Will someone start telling the college and university admissions office that filling a resume with line after line after line of meaningless experience as officer for every tom, dick, and harry club in high school does not constitute a quality student? All this experience, but yet: what is this student actually good at? What did they really apply themselves in during these years. I grow increasingly frustrated with the over-commitment that stems from some parents making their kid do it all. Finally, my last suggestion as to the battle points towards the cheapening of the musical experience that has occurred thanks to MTV over the past 20 years. The students in high school and middle school now are products of the first MTV generation. Pop music has reigned supreme, and we all let the TV beast with its mindless stories of the pop star, their entourage, their trite songs of getting wasted, having a good time, their hardships growing up in Detroit suburbs (sorry Marshall Mathers….) tell us that this was music. Let me be clear on this point: Pop music is junk food. It isn’t bad to have once in a while. Too much of it and we are all going to be obese and blame McDonald’s…er….wait a minute! Do we have another instance of art imitating life?

We must fight for what we believe to be true about music all the time, and that means stepping outside our “box” and taking the battle home. This can alter the future of music education either way. My friend Joe and I go back and forth on this very point: What will music education be in the public schools in another 40 years? Will the traditional school ensembles and music classes exist as we know them? Or will the deluge of curriculum trimming, lack of financial support, and collapse of support and appreciation by parents and community members relegate music as a mystic art studied for the sole purpose of being able to play “Brittney Spears at age 50: Whoops I’ve fallen again, and I can’t get up!”?

The fight is on, and the fight is now. Some solutions I would offer to all of you as the education outside the school day begins:

1) Program Notes at Concerts: I use program notes at every concert. I am very particular about what they say and what information it reveals to the audience. It also allows me to expand my own notes to the audience when I choose to speak. As many parents drop their students off for a concert, they might actually enjoy having something to read! On a PSSA related note (hope your reading this Governor Rendell), it does promote literacy.

2) Host an “Informance”: Hold an open rehearsal with your ensembles in the evening. Allow the parents to sit side by side with their child in a live rehearsal. It might be loud (suggest earplugs), but they will have a better understanding of what their child is expected to do in your ensemble. If any of the parents are musicians have a side-by-side rehearsal. You could even program a song at an upcoming concert and invite them to play. Choruses do a great job with this at Christmas with the singing of the “Hallelujah Chorus”.  Ed Lisk originally developed this idea and has some great formats in his books.

3) Parent/Student Contracts: For several of my after school groups, I make use of a contract. It gives the family the opportunity to declare known conflicts with the ensemble, and I know that the family reads the material about the ensemble as it requires parental and student signature before it is returned. It is one form of communication that can prevent unwanted and unpleasant confrontations.

4) Monthly Newsletter: I compose a monthly newsletter to distribute to my students. It includes news about the curricular and extra-curricular bands. It also includes news from our Booster organization. Special kudos to outstanding musicians and a full calendar on the reverse side of that month’s band dates. A great way to communicate and administrate without sacrificing rehearsal time to read through a list of announcements.

5) Say Thank You: Express your gratitude frequently to the parents who are supportive of your efforts. It may only start with 3 or 4, but it is a start. A handshake and a kind word to let a parent know that you appreciate how they have raised their child, how much their support means to music and the program will sometimes go a lot farther than a pizza fundraiser. Tom Zumpella always told me that a phone call to say thanks is an easy thing to do, and if you can’t find a phone they do make nice little cards you can write in and address yourself.

I will leave you with a quote/paraphrase from Dr. Jack Stamp that I heard a number of years ago, but am only beginning to understand. At a Region Band, he was commenting that a parent said his choice of music wasn’t very “entertaining”. He responded by saying “I am a music educator. If you want entertainment, turn on the television.” We can find moments of entertainment to share with our community, our students, and our parents as long as they align with our goal to allow every student to connect with music in a meaningful way. What we must find is our desire to educate both in school and at home. We have tremendous power as music educators. Share the vision you have and empower music education at school and at home.