HS Orchestra

Mike Certalik (?) led the Bozeman HS Orchestra through a warmup in which the orchestra played through some tricky rhythms and accidentals. After that, he had them play through again, only faster this time. He played along, clearly having the piece memorized, as he was playing WHILE talking to another student. After that, they played it again, even faster, and then once more, as fast as they could. Some students got lost and dropped out, but most were able to keep the pace and finish, and the warmup continued to sound good, even with a couple small timing issues and a little sketchy intonation at times. I don't recall the name of the piece they played next, but I did notice that as they played, the posture of the class seemed to be one of "Sit however you like". There were students slouched in their seats, there were others sitting attentive, and there always seemed to be a student getting up to go to the bathroom, I assume, as they would leave the class for approximately 5 minutes. Mike kept the class pretty well managed, even though he seemed to have a really lax way of running things. He never raised his voice, or even really spoke that much, and never showed much excitement either, although that could have just been the mood that day. It seemed to be the norm though, as no one acted like it was different.

Festival

Friday, April 20th, saw me at the Willson school to attend the District festival. I watched the West Yellowstone school band, which was a mix of middle school and high school students, in about equal numbers. The band was under the conduction of miss Nancy McPherson, and for the 30 or so people in the band, they sounded pretty good. They played a piece I did not catch the name of, an arrangement of The 1812 Overture, and then sightread a piece I also did not catch the name of. The two rehearsed pieces sounded great, and there was a fantastic trumpet solo in the first piece. The sightreading went well, but as with most sightreading, it was sketchy in parts. They did have a couple moments where intonation was not the best, and a few tricky rhythm problems, but Ms. McPherson got everything back on track in an efficient manner.

Irving Elementary Band

8:30 in the morning is never a good time to listen to band, but especially a fifth grade beginning band. I'm keeding, I'm keeding!! They were surprisingly good, especially with two oboes and a new student who had never studied music before. The teacher didn't really warm them up, but rather launched into the rep right away. I applaude that, and even though I believe a warm up is a very important part of ensemble playing, with the limited time she had, and the questionable intonation already, perhaps focusing on the notes and rhythms was more important at this point. They didn't have an actual music classroom, but instead they were in a regular classroom with the desks moved aside and the band set up at one end. She seemed to focus a bit on the drum section, leaving the rest of the band to kind of goof off, but as soon as the "sectional" was over they were all right back attention-wise and ready to play.

HS Band WarrmUp

Adam, Shannalee, and myself engaged the band in a set of three rousing warmups, in that order. Adams warmup was very involved and had a lot of moving parts that he obviously spent a lot of time planning out. It seemed very effective though to achieve good intonation with the group, and they also seemed to enjoy it. After being made an example due to her chewing gum, Shannalee took to the podium and performed her warmups with the group. Considering the fact that she was never a band person, I thought they went well. Then, it was my turn. I did a one octave B flat major scale, in eighth notes, up and down the scale thrice, like you do, Dr. Stark. I varied the tempo to make sure the group was paying attention to my conducting, and after doing that a couple times, I was able to get the group focused on changing speed and watching me. I then did the LightHouse technique, in which I hold my arms out in front of me and sweep across the room, having people enter on a B flat when they are in the "Beam". This is good for working on entrances and also for dropping out, and to also work on blending. It also works well because there are fewer students in the beam, which allows the ones who are playing to really be able to hear themselves and their neighbors.

HS Band Observation

Kelly Berdahl started the rehearsal off with a rousing warmup, including a major scale, and a thing he called "Pops", which had students play beat one of a measure of five beats, and then silently count the rest of the beats, and come in one beat one a note higher in the scale. After warming them up, he sightread a couple of songs with the group, which they performed quite well, and then they turned in the set of those pieces. Kelly ran the rehearsal very effectively and in a timely manner, and kept the group busy the whole time. The ensemble themselves were quiet during rehearsal and there weren't many distractions or disruptions, but this might have been due to the fact that the baton he recently threw/stuck in the wall was STILL stuck in the wall. :)

Blog 6: Trombone (minus the romb)

Tone, while important in EVERY aspect of musicianship, is especially significant in the following three areas: -Tone is the building block for other aspects of good playing, including tuning, timing, and being "in touch". If a band lacks good tone, their intonation will never be together. The lack of good tone will make it impossible to tune the band, and will also make entrances together a difficult thing, in addition to other timing issues. -An ensemble with good tone will project and sound more full than a band with poor tone. A band with poor tone will sound quiet and unsure of itself, which will also have bad intonation, due to the first aspect of tone in this blog, whereas a band with good tone will sound confident and more full, which will result in a more pleasant experience for both the audience AND the ensemble. -Even if an ensemble hits every note and rhythm correctly, if they lack good tone, the piece will not sound very good. One of the biggest differences between professionals and amateur musicians is the production of a good, solid tone. Finger dexterity is also a big aspect, but some musicians, especially in a jazz setting, can play just one, two, or three notes as a solo, and due to their tone, can make a more pleasing musical experience than someone who plays a lot of notes, but who lacks tone.

Blog 7: Advocacy

The importance of music cannot be stated enough. Students participating in a musical ensemble develop friendships that can last a long time, and also a sense of family as well. It is also a place for students who don't perhaps fit into other groups, such as athletics or cheerleading. Playing an instrument develops great hand-eye coordination, and combined with reading music, activates nearly all parts of the brain, and is one of the few, or perhaps only activity to yield such high levels of brain activity. Also, students participating in a music program tend to show higher grades in other school subjects as well. Playing music is also a great way to relieve stress and is also a great source of joy, and with its aesthetic qualities, can also provide joy to others. Overall, music is an essential program in the schools, and is an invaluable asset to all involved.