I conducted a community opera chorus for three years, guest conducted a few community operas, orchestras & bands and I am the Music Director of a community band for the last six years. Community organizations can be challenging to say the least! Increasing and maintaining high attendance numbers at rehearsals can not only make or break a performance, but also is the key to the stability of the organization. There are so many factors that go into building a stable core of performers all dedicated to the same goal. Each community will have it’s own culture and concerns. Here are my top three thoughts that I believe apply to most performing organizations.

1) Schedule rehearsals around the performance, not weekly.

There is an old established culture with community organizations around weekly rehearsals.  Maybe it’s because some community groups are also college organizations or maybe it’s just a night that people think works. Personally, I don’t find this pattern effective. Even a college/community group that needs to follow the universities class schedule might examine this practice. When I first started conducting the Sound Beach Community Band, we had weekly rehearsals. Every whatever-the-day-of-the-week, we had a rehearsal that culminated in a performance every several weeks. I remember having 8 – 12 people at a rehearsal and the very next week, a new set of 8 – 12 people. That’s not a rehearsal, that’s a group lesson. For thosemembers who like weekly rehearsals because it “helps keep my chops up”, I say, practice at home for your chops! The core members and I discussed possibilities and, over time, we came up with a good solution. We have our rehearsals in a one – two week period prior to the concert. For instance, we have an outdoor concert scheduled for Sunday, August 1, 2010 at 7 PM (click here for directions our Binney Park concert in Old Greenwich, CT!). Our rehearsals for this concert are scheduled for Thursday, Tuesday, Thursday before the Sunday performance with a 5 PM sound check at the band shell on August 1, the day of the concert. Here’s is what our July schedule looks like:

I have found this to be extremely effective. We tripled overall participation and player’s attendance is more consistent. Those players who can commit to the performance can commit to the limited and concentrated rehearsals and are more inclined to attend given they are very focused. Also, the music is very fresh in people’s heads come concert time. Programming takes on new challenges with this schedule. You’ll need to consider your ensembles strengths and weaknesses. I tend to program only two to three challenging pieces (level 4 – 5). The rest are either already in our repertoire or a level 3. Keep the medleys to a minimum. Those transitions need the most rehearsal time.

2) Don’t be a jerk on the podium.

This is pretty simple. Not everyone is going to like you or agree with you but there is no need to be a hard ass or belligerent. And don’t conduct what’s in your head. Conduct the players in front of you and their abilities. Conducting tempos that are too fast for the players only shoves the music down their throats and causes a hysterical performance. Speed does not make something exciting. Excitement makes something exciting. If you are going to do these and other things and be a jerk on the podium, no one will want to be around you. That includes students. As teachers, we all have bad years or semesters. Look at your enrollment numbers. If they are down, how were you over the last year? I have seen it in my own numbers. When you’re on, they come in droves. When your not, crickets. Students vote with their feet so do community players and professionals. I stopped playing with a professional organization after fourteen years because it wasn’t worth it to me mostly due to the person on the podium. It’s very sad. Remember, the baton makes no sound. The one and only job of the conductor at the moment of conducting is to evoke sound and performance out of the players. Ask yourself, “How do I need to be, at this moment, with these people, to get the best unified interpretation and performance out of them as I can?”

3) Have cookies at the break.

Community groups are social groups. People want to spend time with one another and catch up. Provide a few cookies (the kids love it!) and it gives them a place to socialize and interact. The more they interact, the more friends they make, the more incentive they have to come to rehearsal. No one wanders far from the cookie table so you can get back to rehearsing pretty quickly & easily. Make sure they have water before they start playing!

Start stuffing extra folders and have lots more seats available! Happy conducting.

Senior Ricco Burkhardt’s piece Does Murder Sleep was conceived and influence by the Shakespeare quote from Macbeth and was chosen as this year’s winner from amongst 200 entries into this national competition. Congratulations to Ricco for writing a fantastic piece and for winning this distinguished honor.

As Ricco’s essay states:

“The title of my piece is the key to understanding what I have created. The title is a line from the story of Macbeth: “Macbeth shall sleep no more. Macbeth does murder sleep.” I chose to reference the story of Macbeth because my piece tells a similar tail. The title represents a struggle through darkness, confusion and insanity in search of happiness. I thought that creating a story instead of just a song was a great way to break away from traditional song structure. I also wanted my piece to be something creepy, unsettling and multi-layered. Something that almost had to be listened to several times before being fully understood. I did not, however, want to make it too complex and difficult to listen to. Finding a balance between the two was by far the greatest challenge during composition.”

You can view a screen cast of Ricco’s piece below. It was composed using Logic 8 on an iMac G5 using an M-Audio Keystation 61es as MIDI entry. The audio vocal was inserted and manipulated by Ricco.

To hear Ricco’s piece and a list of past winners and their music, please visit:

http://www.menc.org/news/view/2010-nsba-student-electronic-music-composition-talent-search-winners

For more information on the contest, please visit:

http://www.menc.org/gp/nsba-student-electronic-music-composition-talent-search

Greenwich High School students have placed in the top two for the last three years:

2008 2nd Place – Kenny Bloom

2009 1st Place – Emily Boyer

2010 1st Place – Ricco Burkhardt

To hear Kanki’s piece, please visit Northeastern University’s site:

http://www.musictech.neu.edu/05_compcontest_winners.html

For more about their annual competition, please visit:

http://www.musictech.neu.edu/05_compcontest.html

For the last hundred years or so, K–12 music education in the United States has focused on reaching students with performance-based applied learning in band, orchestra and chorus classes, and in classroom general music. Applied learning in non-performance “general music” classes has been accomplished in the use recorders, ocarinas, harmonicas, Celtic harps, and guitars. When I taught in New York City, I used kazoos! Performance-based ensembles reach fewer than 20 percent of a school’s population (Figure 1) and traditional general music classes, frankly, just don’t cut it anymore. Students today, from elementary through high school, have access to sophisticated music equipment at home on their computers, video consoles, and even in their pockets on their mobile phones. To reach and engage more students, we need to embrace technology.

NB: The figures and images were omitted for this blog post.  If you would like the complete article, please feel free to download it here and share with colleagues. If you are posting on the Internet, please direct to this site.

pdf version of this article

Figure 1 he figures were omitted for this blog post

Source: http://musiccreativity.org/

When I started teaching music technology nine years ago, the technology was expensive, cumbersome, and difficult to learn. Digital audio workstations were a collection of computers, synthesizers, audio interfaces, and mixing boards arranged in a tangled web of wires and cables. Networking was a nightmare and I spent more time in a lesson troubleshooting problems, crashes, and lost files than I did working with students on music. Fortunately, times have changed. Today, computers are fast and efficient, software is free or inexpensive, connectivity is simple, and the possibilities for students are only limited by the imagination.

Fortunately, I now have a lab that is dedicated to the teaching music composition and music technology, outfitted with computers, music keyboards, and music software. Not every school is as fortunate. However, every school can easily and inexpensively accommodate a music technology lab if they already have computers.

A Word to the Technologically Faint of Heart

Teach music. The technology will follow. This has become my personal mantra and message to teachers and administrators who are hesitant about taking the plunge into technology. Today’s music software for creativity is so simple and easy to use. A music teacher, even the most technologically challenged, can learn in just a few hours the most sophisticated functions in the software suggested in this article “soup to nuts.”

The Computers

Find the computers. If you can, get your own computers. I heard of a district that wrote a grant for their music technology class by categorizing it as a vocational subject (which it is but that’s a topic for another article!). It doesn’t matter if you have Windows or Apple computers, desktops or laptops, any computer will do. If you can’t purchase computers for your own classroom, does your school Library or Media Center have a computer lab? Is there a lab used by another class in the building? Maybe there are laptops on carts? You don’t even need one computer per student, although it’s preferable especially for high school.

The Software

GarageBand (Figure 2) is the entry-level music software from Apple. It is part of Apple’s iLife package, which is free and already loaded onto the hard drive when you purchase an Apple computer. Future upgrades are inexpensive and are available at discounts to schools as site licenses. You can upgrade all the iLife software in your entire building at one low price! InGarageBand, not only can students create music, print music in notation, edit audio, add music to video, create podcasts or vodcasts, but also, in the latest edition, includes free piano and guitar lessons!

Figure 2

Source: http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/

Window PCs don’t come packaged with music software, but you have several choices from third party vendors. My personal choice, which is the most comparable to Apple’s GarageBand and just as easy to use, is Acoustica’s Mixcraft (Figure 3). The latest edition, Mixcraft 5, comes with more sounds and editing capabilities than in previous versions and has the ability to print music notation and create music for video. Individual copies of Mixcraft 5 cost about $75.00. Educational discounts and site licenses are available.

Figure 3

Source: http://www.acoustica.com/mixcraft/

Musical Input

Both GarageBand and Mixcraft software programs allow you to enter music by drawing it in using the mouse (step entry) or playing it in (real time entry) by using the computer QWERTY keyboard (Figure 4).

Figure 4: The Musical Typing Screen in Apple’s GarageBand

This computer display will do if you have to use it but there are more creative devices available that are fun and friendly for young students and those with disabilities. There are too many input devices available to list in this article. Some simulate drums or drum pads and you can even use a Guitar Hero USB guitar or Wii remote. For those of you or your students who are more advanced and adventurous, go to http://www.eamir.org/

For the most part, I want my students to play music on some device that simulates an instrument. A piano keyboard has many advantages and is my personal preference. Four- to five-octave keyboards with full-size or near-full-size keys are recommended if you have your own classroom. If you are using laptops or using a lab that is shared by other classes, you’ll need keyboards that are portable, durable, and quick and easy to set up. Just recently, Korg came out with a small two-octave keyboard called the nanoKey. It is a great two-octave keyboard that is lightweight and small. It is the length of a laptop and no wider than the computer’s keyboard. Don’t let plastic construction fool you. Korg has been making keyboards for many years and this baby is durable! The best part is that it is inexpensive and easy to use. You can purchase one for less than fifty dollars and all you have to do is plug it into the computer using the included USB cable and it is ready to go with either on Windows or Apple using GarageBand or Mixcraft. Get several of these, throw them and the USB cables into an attaché-style case and lock them up in a closet, ready to take out and hand out to students as they arrive in class. For my review of the Korg nanoKey, go to: http://musicedtech.wordpress.com/?s=nanokey

Figure 5: Korg’s nanoKey

Source: http://www.soundtree.com/

The Extras

The only extras required are headphones. Some teachers tell students they need to supply their own headphones. Usually, students use the headphones they already use to listen to music. Often school libraries or Media Centers will have headphones that they distribute to students when needed. I supply headphones to my students. You can purchase headphones in a range of prices from $5.00, $40.00, to $100.00 or more. After years of testing and trying headphones, I have found that an investment in a solid, quality headphone pays off in the long run. I use Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones. They are not inexpensive headphones. They can be purchased for about $90.00 each. What I have found is that they are good-sounding headphones, comfortable to wear, easily adjustable for all head sizes, and extremely durable. In the past, I purchased headphones for around $40.00 a pair and would replace about ten of them every year. I have been using the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones for three years and have never had to replace a broken pair, with six to eight students using them everyday for three years.

Figure 6: Sennheiser HD 280 Pro on a self-adhisive plastic hook

You might also want to consider having sanitizing wipes and disinfectant gel available so students can wipe down the computers, mice, and headphones, and clean their hands.

If you are going to be in the same lab every class with desktop computers, I do recommend a few things to make it easier to use the lab and keep everything neat and in good working condition. First and foremost, it’s a good idea to have plenty of three-inch nylon zip ties. They can be used to keep cables neat and help to prevent things like headphones, mice, and other small items from “walking away.” If you are going to keep the headphones out, you can put a little plastic hook on the stand to keep them out of sight when not in use. I would also zip tie them to a computer cable. Constantly plugging and unplugging headphones or splitters into a computer can wear on the computer’s audio jack. Since the little headphone jack in the computer is just made of plastic, it’s a good idea to plug a splitter into them so headphones can be plugged and unplugged into the splitter not the computer. Using a splitter also allows the teacher or a second student to plug into the same computer. If students need to share computers, splitters are essential. It’s best to leave them in the computer. Replacing the little headphone jack in the computer is more expensive and complex than it appears. An investment in a $4.00 splitter will save everyone money and heartache. You can hide the splitter in the back and make the input ends more accessible by using a little self-adhesive cable clip. The clip, hook, and zip ties can be purchased at any warehouse style hardware/home improvement store. The splitter can be purchased through your favorite music equipment retailer or local music store. (See samples below.)

Although teaching music using technology may be new to some schools and some teachers, it has been around for a very long time. My school has offered a music technology class as the general-music class continually since 1968. Using technology to teach music is fun and engaging for students. It can serve the more than 80 percent of students who do not participate in performing ensembles. It teaches Twenty-First Century and critical listening skills. It’s here. It’s here to stay, and schools around the country, elementary through university, use technology to teach music more than ever before. It has never been easier and more cost effective to teach music with technology.

Twitter March 26, 2010: @mbteach RT @NMHS_Principal: A simple fix for Internet censorship in schools http://bit.ly/bjH5AQ

The article referenced above was based on an interview of Craig Cunningham, a professor at National-Louis University by the author, Mitch Wagner, entitled,

I’ll be making two presentations this year. One will be Teaching Music Through Composition With Technology: Beginning Lessons That Work and the other will be a performance by a group of my students, nanoBands: Live Performance And Demonstration By Greenwich High School Students Sponsored by SoundTree.