The Annual Band Marathon Never Fails to Please

Even though I don't do a whole lot of pure blogging right now, you can always count on something from me on the second or third Friday in January: The annual high school All-Region Band concert in the region where I teach.

The concert is really a series of five mini-concerts, with each band--a freshman band and four high school bands (which freshmen can make as well, but they surrender their chair in the freshman band if they do), all at 45-minute intervals. That way, if family members are only attending for their kid's band, they can make way for others to be seated (I have no idea if any school auditorium could hold the families of all five bands' members, plus all the directors and private teachers, not to mention the members of other bands who stick around to see their friends play). Also, having preset starting times allows the families of the later bands to show up as close to the downbeat as possible.

As always, what follows is not in any way a review of the concert, but instead some random thoughts that entered my mind as I was listening:

• I mention every year that, as a whole, I prefer the newer "wind ensemble" music to the older "band" music, but a well-played classic will still thrill me, especially if it's something I've played before. This year, almost all the music was new to me, save for the occasional march used to cap off a group's program. A lot of lesser-known (at least to me) new composers were represented (Ryan George, Ryan Nowland, and Daniel Weinberger, to name a few), and there are some brilliant fanfares out there that started a few bands' performances on an energetic note. And I was reminded how much I like Brian Balmages' music; it was extremely cool that the band who played two of his pieces Skyped him in during part of this morning's rehearsal.
• One of the bands used student announcers to introduce each piece, which I thought was a nice touch. It wasn't that the clinician himself didn't talk, but it was cool to hear some different voices from the mic, and I'm sure it was a thrill for the kids (and their parents).
• Speaking of...well, speaking, all the clinicians engaged with the audience (there have been times where some of them have barely said a word). As I've noted in previous years, since the programs often read "to be selected from the following" and then list a variety of pieces which may or may not be played, it's crucial for the audience to know what they are about to hear, or just heard. Plus, as I see it, an engaged clinician just makes a better impression on the audience.
• Kudos to the organizers for doing something I've asked for in these pages for years: Listing composers by first and last names, instead of just last names. It's one thing if you say "Sousa" (most people won't mistake John Philip for some random guy named Fred Sousa or something), but with so many new composers being programmed, it's good to provide more information.
• It wasn't as chronic as in years past, but there still were some problems with door etiquette among certain audience members. If you have to leave, please do so quickly and quietly, and make sure the door doesn't slam behind you. Several of the pieces had very soft introductions, and I hope none of the door slams made it onto the recording.
• The one thing I've noticed this year that's different among the announcements to the audience is the one about TMEA licensing agreements prohibiting recording of the concerts...and all I can say is, it's about time! And believe it or not--save for the one guy at last weekend's middle school concert who had a full-on camcorder with a tripod--people are obeying the request. It's so nice to be able to watch the whole concert from anywhere in the auditorium, instead of through someone's iPad.
• Only one more comment about the audience: I bet there's at least one person who will have better concert etiquette next time, after their not-whispered conversation wafted into the auditorium during an unexpected grand pause in one of the marches...)
• I sometimes use this annual post as a chance to brag on my studio (as in how many of my students made the bands); it's smaller this year because of some heightened commitments elsewhere, but I still had students in three of the five bands (even if one of them made a band on an instrument other than the one I teach him). It's always nice to be able to stand up when private teachers and directors of the students on stage are recognized.
• Even if I don't have a student in the top band, I always stay for the entire concert. Why? Among other things, because the college directors who have the top two bands always do amazing things, especially considering the short time they have (Thursday evening and Friday morning/afternoon) with their bands. Texas is famous for its school band programs, and when you combine the cream of the crop with some inspiring university bandmasters, some magical things happen. Kudos to Bobby Francis from TCU (Wind Ensemble, aka top band) and Dennis Llinás from LSU (Wind Symphony, aka second band) for bringing so much out of these young musicians in such a short time.

This concert is always an important part of my year; I get to celebrate the accomplishments of some of my students and their friends, hear some great new music, and spend more time with some of the directors I teach with than I do during a busy school week. I know what I'll be doing on a Friday night in January a year from now, and I'll take to the keyboard again when I get home.

One Friday Night Each January, We Band Together

I don't do a whole lot of long-form blogging these days; besides the usual "life got complicated" thing, most of my time is spent in places like Facebook and Twitter, where posts are much shorter. But one thing I do every year is write an extended post about the All-Region Bands concert in which some of my students play.

In the past few years, there's been a "cut and paste" element to this post;while every concert is different in terms of players, conductors and repertoire, there were certain thoughts that crossed my mind every year that I felt bore repeating. But this year, as I "scribbled" down my thoughts between bands on the notes feature of my phone, I realized that there were a lot of fresh things to say, so I'm not even referencing any of the previous posts this time.

So here are the things that came to mind at this year's concert:

• Not all regions have the same setup in terms of number of bands, etc., so here's a quick overview. Our region has five bands: A ninth grade band and four high school bands (which the freshmen can make as well, since the tryouts are on different days, but they have to surrender their seat in the freshman band if they do). Each band starts at a set time, which is listed in the program, so there's usually plenty of stretch time in between.


• Thanks to traffic, I missed most of the freshman band this year (which was unfortunate, because I had a student in there). But I did hear of a more effective way to get to the venue for next year (heading east out of DFW to make a Friday 6:00 concert is always a challenge).


• The conductor of the Wind Ensemble (the top band, and the last to play) and the Ninth Grade Band (the first to play) are husband and wife. I'm not sure that's ever happened in this region since I've been out here.


• I'll briefly mention something that I say every year: I prefer the newer "wind ensemble" music (highly influenced by film scoring, in my opinion) to the older, more homogenized "band" music...but that being said, anything by John Philip Sousa or Percy Grainger is still sheer perfection.


• And indeed, the newer music ruled the day this year, even from the older conductors (one of them noted that everything he programmed tonight was unknown to him five years ago!). Bravo to these folks for stretching a bit and staying current.


• One upside to the new music: So many featured saxophones! Extended alto solos, sax sections used as choirs. It's obviously cool for the students (and for those of us in the audience who play saxophone) to actually hear our instruments, instead of always doubling the French horns like back in the day.


• While the program featured many of the well-known modern composers (John Mackey, Jack Stamp, Eric Whitacre, Frank Ticheli, Brian Balmages), there were also some up-and-comers who had really enjoyable works performed tonight. I was especially impressed by these pieces: "Mekong" by Robert W. Smith; "Elixir" by Michael Markowski; "Oh! What a Morning" by Jess Langston Turner, and "Zing!" by Scott McAllister. Check 'em out; I'm sure they're on YouTube.


• One request to the organizers: Please put first names of composers in the program instead of just last names. The composers deserve that recognition, and it just looks more professional.


• I've mentioned in the past that this concert tends to run as efficiently as a Swiss train. While this didn't always happen this year, the time was made up by the end of the night, and the concert was still pretty much done by 10 PM. Squeezing five bands into four hours is still pretty impressive.


• I was happy to see that all the conductors were very much engaged with the audience, which hasn't always happened in the past. When the programs (prepared well in advance) list the pieces in random order with a "to be selected from" at the top (and the lights are lowered for the performances), it's crucial to introduce every piece, so the audience knows what they're hearing.


• Speaking of the audience, an amazing thing happened: A conductor announced in advance that the piece the band was about to play was in three movements, and nobody clapped between movements. Nobody! The conductor said afterwards that he and the band were a little thrown off by that (after all, there's always That One Guy who claps anyway).


• But I do have to admonish certain audience members for one thing: Door etiquette. If you're going to enter or leave in the middle of a piece (despite signs on every door asking you not to do so), at least wait long enough to keep the door from slamming. While one piece (the aforementioned "Mekong") had some great antiphonal percussion, lots of other pieces had it as well, thanks to the doors.


• But there was another positive audience note: For the first time, an announcement was made requesting that the concert not be recorded by audience members, as it would violate both copyright laws and TMEA regulations. And people obeyed this! It was nice to actually see the concert itself, not through the iPad of someone a few rows in front of me (watching the concert is superior to watching other people watch the concert).


• I often use this space to brag on my studio (i.e. how many students of mine are in the band), but I'm teaching considerably fewer people this year due to expanded responsibilities elsewhere. Still, I had students in three of the five bands, and it's always nice to be able to stand up when the directors/private teachers of anyone onstage are requested to do so.


• A parent asked me earlier today if I was just going to hear my students play and then leave. Not a chance! I'll stay for the top two bands no matter what; the elite college conductors who are selected to work with these bands always do a stellar job, and it's amazing to see what high school students can do in such a short time (the bands only rehearsed last night, this morning and this afternoon). This year's top groups didn't fail to impress me again.

I know what I'll be doing on a Friday night in January 2017, and I'll be sure to share my thoughts in this space once again.

The Marathon Band Concert That Doesn't Feel LIke One

I don't do too many long-form posts on this blog these days, but this still feels like the best medium during the Friday night every January when the All-Region bands in my region give their concert. The region where I teach is known for having strong band programs, and the result is a fine evening of music, even though the kids have had less than 24 hours (last night and most of the school day today) to rehearse the music.
And while I've blogged about Region for almost the entire twelve years in which this blog has been in existence, the post has been very similar each year, with only minor edits. But last year was a departure in several areas, and this year even more so. (As always, this post doesn't pretend to be a review of the concert, just whatever random thoughts popped into my head as I was listening.)

• For those unfamiliar with Region, this event really isn't one concert--it's five mini-concerts. Each band has a 45-minute slot, and the start time for each band is listed in the program; even if a band runs short, the next band won't start till its posted time.

  There is a substantial amount of turnover between bands, but that may well have made room for everyone to attend, though there were seats to spare during each band. (I've never done the math to figure out whether anyone's auditorium could hold a cumulative audience, but I have my doubts, especially if kids stuck around to watch their friends in later bands.)



• One of the things I've always observed is that the concert runs like clockwork. And for the first time in recent memory--perhaps since the set-time thing began--it wasn't exactly a Swiss train tonight. It appeared that one band didn't come out quite on time, and it made the rest of the concert run about five minutes behind. Not that it really mattered, of course, but it was just different.


• I make a point every year to state that I prefer the new "wind ensemble" music (whose composers show a strong influence of contemporary film score writing) to the older "band" music (with its smaller sonic palette), but the two things that most resonated with me tonight were older pieces that I had played in high school and/or college. The best conductors and performers can bring new energy to old music, especially that which is an outstanding example of its genre in the first place.


• Of the new pieces played tonight, the one that most caught my attention was "Ruckus." by a composer listed only as Standridge (let this be my annual appeal to include the usual composer info--at least first names, if not birthdates--in the programs), but a quick Googling suggests that it's this guy. Lots of fun, and there's even a jazz-sounding sax part in there.


• This yeasr, they returned to the theme of having the top two bands conducted by college directors, and this year's duo (in order of appearance), Robert Carnoghan and Jerry Junkin from UT-Austin, were outstanding. (I also pointed out to one of my students that there was a pronounced difference in the conducting styles of the college directors, who work in a more orchestral style, with less reliance on a steady beat pattern. My quote was, "Some conductors direct beats, but these guys direct style." They're really fun to watch...


• I always stay for the entire concert, whether or not I have students in the top band. But I would have done so anyway this year, just because of the Wind Ensemble's program. It was all of one piece, but..that piece was Carmina Burana. The entire band transcription. Played by high school students, after a mere day and a half of rehearsal. I was more than blown away. Congrats to Maestro Junkin and the students on an amazing job.


• I was very happy that the practice of having both parents/siblings and directors/private teachers of the students onstage stand before each group performed. Most of what we private teachers do is very much behind the scenes, but it's cool to be recognized once a year.


• Let's hear it for well-rounded musicians! Looking through the program, I counted five members of the Region Jazz band I directed back in November, and three of them were on other instruments than they played in that band--my pianist was on percussion tonight, one of my trumpets was on French horn, and one of my trombones was on euphonium. Nice work, folks!


• And because of that experience conducting the Region Jazz band, tonight gave me an unprecedented feeling of collegiality with the directors on stage. All in all, eleven individuals were chosen to lead honor bands in Region 3 (tonight's five high school clinicians, the four from last week's middle school concert, and the two of us who led the jazz bands in November). It's a privilege to be among that number, especially in the region where I've grown up as a teacher, and also to be able to see the work of all ten of my counterparts this school year--I bet that geography alone prevented anyone else from enjoying that experience.

This concert definitely should be a marathon, but this year, it really didn't feel like it. Maybe it's because I've been to so many, but maybe it's because the music is so good, and being made by at least a few people who are really important to me.

Did you really make it through this whole post? Congrats; you're a marathon winner in much the same way as those of us who stayed for the entire concert!

I'm sure I'll be writing a similar post next year. Stay tuned!

It's Region Band Marathon Time Again

No matter how seldom I may blog these days, I always find things to say on the night that I've attended the All-Region Bands concert every January. The region where I teach is known for having strong band programs, and the result is a fine evening of music, even though the kids have had less than 24 hours (last night and most of the school day today) to rehearse the music. And while I've blogged about Region for almost the entire eleven years in which this blog has been in existence, the post has been very similar each year, with only minor edits, but like last year, I seem to have come up with several new ideas. As always, this doesn't pretend to be a review of the concert, just whatever random thoughts popped into my head as I was listening.

• Let's get my own numbers out of the way first: There were twelve in all from my studio--four freshmen, a sophomore, four juniors and three seniors (plus one more senior who plays another instrument but studies jazz saxophone with me). The fact that four out of the ten saxes in the freshman band are my students certainly bodes well for the future, I think. I was also pleased to have my studio represented in all five of the bands tonight; it had been a year or two since that had happened.
• This concert is set up to run like clockwork--there is a 45-minute slot allotted to each band, and while a few bands started later than their posted times for the first time in a while, the whole concert still finished before its anticipated 9:45 ending. While the nearly precise schedule meant that, for "marathoners" like myself who stayed for the whole thing, there were some fairly substantial lags between bands, it worked out perfectly for the families of the students in the later bands, who may have just been there to hear their own kid's band. But the fact that five bands--one freshman band and four high school bands--can complete a concert in less than four hours, year after year, is indeed impressive.
• Thinking about the above, it occurred to me a year ago that this event really isn't one concert--it's five mini-concerts. There was a more substantial amount of turnover between bands than I recall seeing before, but that may well have made room for everyone, though there were seats to spare during each band. (I've never done the math to figure out whether anyone's auditorium could hold a cumulative audience, but I have my doubts, especially if kids stuck around to watch their friends in later bands.)
• I still like the new "wind ensemble" music better than the older "band" music (and I have yet to make my post about how film scoring saved classical music), and this was very much reinforced for me tonight. While most of the groups leaned toward modern music, one band played nearly all older compositions, and to these ears, there's a definite difference between the two. I guess the best way I can describe it is that the older stuff was written so that things would blend together into a more homogenous sound ("like a big organ" is a common description I've heard),whereas the modern stuff (whether influenced by film scoring or not, it's the best way I can describe the sound) takes advantage of a much larger timbral palette, with different sections playing off each other and combined in unusual ways, along with a greatly expanded percussion section, with an emphasis on mallets, piano, and so on. To me, the sound just pops compared to the older works.
• Speaking of modern, this was a new one for me: One of the bands played a piece written for winds and laptop! I've always been a fan of electronic sounds, and the ones used in this piece were tastefully done. The piece is called "Mothership" by Mason Bates; that's a name I'll be looking out for in the future.

  And who knew that you could make the All-Region band on laptop? How cool would it be to serve on that judging panel? But just imagine practicing the music for four months and then having your battery die during auditions. You'd have to carry extra batteries in your pocket the way we saxophonists carry spare reeds. (But seriously, the laptop appeared to be played by a director, or a very old-looking senior.)

• While the audience was rather good about not clapping between movements, there were still some concert etiquette problems, mostly related to people walking in during a performance and (only occasionally) letting auditorium doors slam. I'm not sure how well this could be enforced; a big sign telling people not to enter might work, but otherwise, it would require monitors, and I'm not sure who would do that job; directors wouldn't want to miss hearing their students play, and students themselves would be put in the awkward position of having to tell adults what to do. Not sure what the answer is here...
• The "theme" in our region for many years to get the top two directors from a major university to be the directors for the top two bands, but this year was different (though the directors of the second and third bands had former and current ties, respectively, to Texas A&M-Commerce. While all the bands did well, the top two, being made up mostly of kids who made at least Area if not State, take things to a whole new level. It's hard to believe that they're high school kids who had less than two days of rehearsal to put this together.

  (And a thought hit me tonight: Perhaps one of the reasons that these bands sound more like college bands than high school ones--besides the obvious fact that they're being conducted by college directors--is that the bands are often quite senior-laden. That means in around eight months, many of the people on stage will be playing in college bands.)

• I only have two mild bits of criticism of the concert: For the first time that I can remember, the parents, directors and private teachers of the students on stage were not asked to stand before each band's performance. In the private teaching world, we often do our jobs behind the scenes, and I have to admit I really missed having the one opportunity (besides this concert's middle school counterpart last weekend) to stand in support of my students. I was also surprised that, while the players who made Area were recognized in the program, those who made All-State were not singled out this year. To me, that's all a bit unfortunate.
• Quote of the night, from the concert coordinator/emcee, noting that few things in education can compare to the All-Region concert experience: "It's not as if, when you're named to the All-Area football team, that you get together and play a game after eight hours of practice." Well said.

Did you really make it through this whole post? Congrats; you're a marathon winner in much the same way as those of us who stayed for the entire concert!

I'm sure I'll be writing a similar post next year. Stay tuned!

Region Ruminations

No matter how seldom I may blog these days, I always find things to say on the night that I've attended the All-Region Bands concert every January. The region where I teach is known for having strong band programs, and the result is a fine evening of music, even though the kids have had less than 24 hours (last night and most of the school day today) to rehearse the music. And while I've blogged about Region for almost the entire ten years in which this blog has been in existence, the post has been very similar each year, with only minor edits (I somehow neglected to post last year, but 2011's post may be found here), but this year, I seem to have come up with several new ideas. As always, this doesn't pretend to be a review of the concert, just whatever random thoughts popped into my head as I was listening.

• Let's get my own numbers out of the way first: There were eight in all from my studio--five freshmen, a sophomore, a junior and a senior (plus one more junior who plays another instrument but studies jazz saxophone with me). The fact that five out of the nine saxes in the freshman band are my students certainly bodes well for the future, I think.


• This concert is set up to run like clockwork--there is a 45-minute slot allotted to each band, and everything started within a minute of the posted time. While this meant that, for "marathoners" like myself who stayed for the whole thing, there were some fairly substantial lags between bands, it worked out perfectly for the families of the students in the later bands, who may have just been there to hear their own kid's band. But the fact that five bands--one freshman band and four high school bands--can complete a concert in less than four hours, year after year, is indeed impressive.


• Thinking about the above, it occurred to me for the first time that this event really isn't one concert--it's five mini-concerts. There was a more substantial amount of turnover between bands than I recall seeing before, but that may well have made room for everyone, though there were seats to spare during each band. (I've never done the math to figure out whether anyone's auditorium could hold a cumulative audience, but I have my doubts, especially if kids stuck around to watch their friends in later bands.)


• In many ways, this concert hasn't changed much over the years. But here's one way in which it has: During one band, I looked up a few rows to see a parent recording the concert on his iPad. Granted, that's less obtrusive than a big honkin' video camera (a few of which were there as well), but it was funny to watch a small facsimile of the concert in real time on a tiny screen like that.


• One of the conductors programmed his own composition, which he claimed received its final edits on the plane ride to Dallas. I'm trying to remember if we've ever had a composing clinician in this region before; surely we've had Holsinger or Ticheli at one point. (Also, the composing conductor went baton-less for the composition right before his, but picked up the baton for his own piece. Anyone have a big philosophical statement about baton vs. no baton? It's been a while since I've picked one up, of course...)


• What's up with weird lighting things going on at this concert? Two years ago, the dousing of the house lights resulted in the stage lights going off as well...while a band had started to play! This time, the lobby lights went dark for a while; it was funny to watch everyone proceeding cautiously through the hall by cell phone light. Also, the house lights here apparently had no dimmer switch; it went, rather jarringly, from very bright to very dark within a nanosecond.


• I got to thinking about the whole idea of how to set up a band. It was different with every conductor tonight (with the exception, of course, of obvious things like the flutes in front and the percussion in back). Most other musical ensembles--big band, orchestra, chorus) have a fairly standard setup, but the band is subject to not only the whim of the conductor, but perhaps the pieces being played (to possibly create a "stereo" effect of different motifs being passed from section to section).


• I still like the new "wind ensemble" music better than the older "band" music (and I have yet to make my post about how film scoring saved classical music), but there were certainly plenty of composers making great, symphonic music for band before John Williams and his progeny came on the scene. Two of the best of the "old" composers writing in a "new" way--Vittorio Giannini and Ron Nelson--were represented tonight.


• One of my favorites among the "old" works is Ralph Vaughan Williams' "English Folk Song Suite." Both the MC and the conductor who programmed this work pronounced Vaughan Williams' first name as "Rafe"--just as I've heard with the English actor Ralph Fiennes, but never with anyone else. RVW was always just good ol' "Ralph" to us. (Also, if you're familiar with this work, ask me about my programmatic interpretation of the second movement--it's very dark. Also, the first theme in the third movement sounds a lot like "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Gets a chuckle out of me every time...)


• The "theme" in our region has been to get the top two directors from a major university to be the directors for the top two bands. This year, the guys came from Oklahoma State, and they did an outstanding job. While all the bands did well, the top two, being made up mostly of kids who made at least Area if not State, take things to a whole new level. It's hard to believe that they're high school kids who had less than two days of rehearsal to put this together.

Did you really make it through this whole post? Congrats; you're a marathon winner in much the same way as those of us who stayed for the entire concert!
I'm sure I'll be writing a similar post next year. Stay tuned!

Strike Out the Band? Only Partially, and It's Better Than the Alternatives

A friend on Facebook tipped me off to this story, which evidently was on the news today (I don't get to watch "the news" all that often, sometimes because I'm not home that early). One local school district's budget cuts have affected fine arts in a negative way, but not the way you might expect; for one thing nobody got fired. So how did they do it? They decided to let the high school bands perform only at home football games:

Starting tonight high school football teams in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD left the bands behind for away football games. The approved cuts are to the fine arts and athletics departments.

Benching the band is expected to save the district $50,000 in transportation costs, meaning hundreds of students at the district's five schools will perform to recorded music during the 17 away games.

"None of us are happy about having to do that," said the district's fine arts director Jim McDaniel. But "we literally save a teacher's salary, at least, by not going. We didn't cut anybody in the district. We kept everybody. We've been very committed to teachers. They're gonna go to some of the JV games as well and on Sept 23rd we're going to have a night that's just for our high school bands."

There are cuts being made in other areas as well--certain junior high "B" teams are being eliminated, sports camps are being shortened, and parents will have to buy letter jackets for their kids now, instead of the district picking up the tab.

As someone who was a Band Guy in high school, and works with school band programs now, my initial impression is that I'm not wild about the idea. Part of me says that's unfortunate, and that they should have cut the position of Deputy Associate Vice Superintendent for Curriculum Development in the Northwest Quadrant as a better way to save money.

And yet, another part of me is glad that no faculty positions were cut, realizing that not going to away games is just like marching at a second-tier football school such as my alma mater, UNT, where we went to maybe one away game a year. And while the bands won't be quite as performance-tested as usual by the time they get to their regional marching contest in October, it certainly could be worse. (Picking a random C/FB school, Newman Smith, it appears that the band only loses three out of ten games during the season; they only have four away games, but one is against another C/FB school, so it's played in the district stadium.)

I always hate to see any cuts done to fine arts...or any other area that affects students; as you may know from reading this blog, I'd prefer to see non-teaching areas trimmed down a bit first. So while this news disappoints me, I can't keep thinking about this one thing: No teacher lost a job here. So while I hope that a lot of districts don't make this move--football games might become as dull as some of the ones I attended at UNT during college--you have to give them credit for thinking at least slightly outside the box.

What say you? Let me know in the comments.

Tonight's Region Concert Was Lights-Out Good

Every year, I happily spend a Friday night listening to my students and other outstanding young musicians perform at the All-Region Bands concert; this year's edition took place tonight. As I say every year, this post is not by any means an attempt to liveblog the concert or even do a traditional review of same; rather, it's just the things that popped into my head while I was listening:

• As always, the concert runs like clockwork; each band is given 45-minute slots to play 30 minutes of music or less, so ample time is allowed for seating changes between bands, and the families and friends of the performers always know an exact time to arrive for a particular band's portion of the concert. In less than four hours, four high school bands and one ninth-grade band are heard, and the night goes more quickly than one might think. And while the fixed schedule does provide for some long lulls if a band runs less than half an hour, it also gives me the opportunity to schmooze with parents and directors. (And this year, if none of them were around, I had Facebook on my phone as well. Yes, I was that guy...but only during the breaks.)


• This year, I had seven people from my studio make the bands, which is one shy of last year. (Although it must be said that a pretty decent saxophone section could be made out of people from my studio alone who didn't make the band.) The distribution was two seniors, two juniors, a sophomore and two freshmen, so things look good for the future.


• The concert started in a rather unique manner: As the freshman band started its first number, someone in the light booth made an attempt to dim the house lights...and managed to douse nearly every light in the place, including those onstage. The band continued on valiantly from memory for a few bars, but they eventually stopped and waited for the lights to come on again; it would take a few more bands before the proper balance was achieved. Nothing like a good tech-crew FAIL to get things started.


• Musically, there wasn't a "dud" piece programmed all evening, which was a pleasant contrast from last year. While most of the music was of the newer "wind ensemble" variety (more on that shortly), even the older pieces were played well and with lots of enthusiasm; it was easy to forget that 1) everyone on stage is in high school, and 2) they had about nine hours of rehearsal over the past 24 hours to put everything together. My proverbial hat is off to all the performers and clinicians.


• Speaking of the clinicians, each one of them talked to the audience at least once this year, which hasn't always happened. Sure, in my perfect world, the programs would either list the pieces in their concert order (rather than saying "program to be selected from..." as they do now) or each clinician would back-announce anything that deviated from what was printed. (And the programs would also go into a bit more detail: First name of composer, if the piece is divided into movements, etc. But I'm probably being picky here..).


• One less-than-pleasant surprise was the large showing exhibited by the Dorky Parents' Brigade this year. It's one thing to clap for your kids, but there were way too many people making spectacles of themselves by either shouting, "[insert kid's name here], we love you!" or standing up and waving incessantly at the stage (one guy was so bad that a few kids--whom I assume didn't even know him--stood up and waved back just to mess with him). These are the same people who ruin graduations for everyone else, and I've never seen quite so many of them at this concert before tonight.


• But those folks aside, we had more proof tonight that audiences can in fact be trained: If the conductor left one hand up between movements of a piece, the audience would get the signal and refrain from clapping; if he didn't, inappropriate clappage would occur.


• One thing that's never happened before, at least in my memory: The auditorium really brought out the sound of the saxophone section. (I wonder if the fact that I was seated dead-center instead of off to one side made a difference.) Sure, the bands are big--the Concert Band had six altos, three tenors and two baris, and the sections got smaller as the bands did as well--but I've never heard saxes quite so "high in the mix" as I did tonight. (I always wondered what it would have been like if balance between the saxophone sound and the clarinet sound were reversed in the band, and I got a small picture of that tonight. Need I say that I liked it?)


• I always use this occasion to restate my belief that the newer "wind ensemble music" (with its film-score influences, reliance on interesting tonal colors and expanded percussion sections) is far superior to the older "band music" (which was written in a more tonally homogeneous fashion). And while I do prefer the newer stuff (represented tonight by the likes of Brian Balmages, Samuel Hazo and birthday boy Frank Ticheli), an old chestnut like Gustav Holst's Second Suite in F is always welcome when played well, and a Sousa march is still two or three minutes of perfection.


• After the above discussion, this is where I state that I really need to write my blog post on "how film scoring saved classical music." Someone please hold me to it this year.


• Every band played extremely well tonight--in no way, for example, did the Concert Band sound like a "fourth" band (and I'd say that even if several of my guys weren't in there)--but the top two bands, the Wind Ensemble and the Wind Symphony, were at another level altogether. These two bands are traditionally conducted by college directors (and lately, that's meant two from the same school; tonight's came from UTEP), and no matter what they play, the music crackles with new energy from the get-go. The Wind Symphony had a cool bit of programming by pairing Sousa's The Fairest of the Fair with a newer fantasy written on the theme of that march, and the Wind Ensemble had me from the first measure with their opener, Clifton Williams' The Sinfonians (featuring a couple of my fraternity's beloved songs), followed by one of my favorite pieces from my own Region days, Howard Hanson's Laude (which, after listening to it with new ears, may have been the first film-score band piece).


• And finally, the obligatory "it's nice to be recognized" part: It's always cool when they recognize the teachers before every band (by having all the directors and private teachers of the students currently on stage stand up for a moment). Most of the work that my colleagues and I do is behind the scenes, and that's OK; the real reward is watching them progress over the years and develop a love for music that will hopefully last far beyond their public schooling, no matter what their major will be in college. But I'd be a liar if I said it wasn't nice to be among those standing up every year. (Wow--looking back, this post is almost as long as the concert itself!)

As I've said before, I try to make this a must-see on my calendar; I may not get to attend too many individual schools' concerts, but I like to be at this one to support the students who have put in the extra work to earn the chance to play on this night. (And it's crazy to think that I began the tradition of blogging this concert in 2006, when tonight's seniors were in seventh grade.)

Previous Region Band concert posts: 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006.

Quoteworthy: The Wind Ensemble conductor, Dr. Lowell Graham, used to direct the top Air Force band. In an age when educational budgets are being slashed, leading some to call for reductions in arts education, Graham left us with five great qualities found in...fighter pilots:

• Personal responsibility


• Teamwork


• Multitasking


• Looking ahead over the horizon


• Real-time problem solving

Guess what--all those qualities were exhibited by the musicians onstage tonight as well! And all the aesthetic pleasures of music are just the frosting...

Forward March!

If you have no connection to the world of academia, you might still consider it "summer," but those of us in education have already switched over to fall mode. And even though it's not yet September, the beloved annual ritual known as high school football is already underway here in Texas. (Not everyone has started, mind you; this is "Zero Week," which means that the teams who played last night or Thursday will have a bye week later in the season.) And with the launch of football means the launch of another annual ritual that's much closer to me: Marching band.

As I've mentioned before, I have all kinds of appreciation for marching band--as long as I'm not the one having to direct it (or march in it, for that matter; I did my eight years in high school and college). I'll go to the big UIL contest (which has several parts this year, being a "state year" for my 5A schools) and at least one game per season. (I missed out last year because of my injury; I was having a bit of trouble with stairs during my recovery, and what is a stadium if not a giant set of stairs?) I also have a bit more connection with one of my two schools' shows, as I did seven days of sectionals over their music for them during summer band.

So I was happy to open up my newspaper this morning to see a positive piece about band on the op-ed page. The writer, Mike Shepherd, is from Duncanville, whose band has won all kinds of honors over the years, but a few things he says can be applied to band as a whole:

I still believe that the marching band is one of the best things about fall in Texas.

[...]Much of the success of the band is attributable to the band directors, who push the kids to improve and drill them many hours during the school year and in summer camps.

[...] My community is a better place to live because I know that – rain or shine, win or lose – the band plays on.

Indeed. And participation in school music programs helps build better students and citizens. (But you knew that already if you've been reading this blog for a while.)

Anyway, with all the bad press that school-age kids seem to get these days, it's nice to see something so positive so early in the school year. Let's hope for a lot more of this type of coverage.

The "Strike Up the Bands" Marathon Enters a New Decade

Tonight, I continued the tradition of watching the All-Region bands from my area perform in their annual concert, and I'll also continue blogging about it, as I have for the past four years. As always, there may be some "rerun" material, and this is by no means an attempt to liveblog the concert (which would have been both inconsiderate to the other attendees and a royal pain in terms of all that typing on a phone); it's just a collection of things that went through my mind as I watched the proceedings:

• Once again, my proverbial hat is off to the organizers of the concert, which ran like a Swiss train (each band has a 45-minute slot, of which maybe 30 minutes are used; that allows bands to start at a precise time so that the families of people in the later bands can be on time). This year, even the breaks between bands seemed to go quickly.


• Eight players from my studio were in the concert this year; that's one shy of last year, but I'm also teaching at one fewer high school than before. While three of them are seniors, I also had two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman in the bands, and several others who came pretty close could conceivably make it next year.


• I was only there for four of the five bands tonight, as my player who had originally made the freshman band ended up making a high school band as well. (If a freshman does this, he or she automatically assumes the seat in the high school band, which is--rightfully--considered more of an honor.) This allowed me a slightly later arrival and a slightly less-wolfed-down dinner.


• So why don't I usually show up for a specific band if I don't have a student in there? Well, I've always been concerned that my doing so might possibly prevent some proverbial kid's Aunt Edna from having a seat. But any anxiety along these lines was assuaged immediately upon my entrance, as this auditorium was gargantuan; it even had a balcony!


• But the parking situation was as bad as the seating was good; the school is adjacent to a stadium, and I had to park near the far end zone of said stadium--a walk of about four blocks. There were other events going on at the school as well: A soccer game in the stadium and a basketball game in the other side of the school. The part of school that led to the game wasn't open to concertgoers, which made for an even longer walk to the front of the school. I'm glad this wasn't six months ago when I was hobbling around with a knee brace and a cane; even the good handicapped spaces were gone by the time I arrived.


• OK, on to the concert: The bands played well, especially considering that they had around a grand total of nine hours' worth of rehearsal time (last night and today; one of the perks of making Region is that you get to miss school on Friday to rehearse). The only negative of the evening was that some of the musical choices made by the clinicians were somewhat less than inspiring this year. It's not surprising for the students to tell me that their band's music was "boring," but it is a surprise when I agree with them as much as I did tonight.


• The above sentiment dovetails nicely with my annual statement of how much I like "wind ensemble music"--the newer stuff, written in a more orchestral/film score style--than "band music"--the older stuff, written more to make the individual colors more subordinate to the whole. And as always, nothing that happened tonight changed my feelings on this at all, though there's always room for a surprise or two.


• But if some of the programming was less than inspirational, there were a few tunes that caught my ears tonight: Air (Dublinesque), a work originally for piano and orchestra by Billy Joel (yes, that one) and nicely arranged for band by a Texas band director (who went unnamed in the program; was it this arrangement?); a twisted circus march entitled Clowns, Clowns, Clowns by someone named Babrowitz (the reader will note that this writer laments the lack of detail in the composer column of the program); a rollicking Dimitri Shostakovich composition called Galop from Moscow Cheremusky (arranged by Donald Hunsberger, whose version of the same composer's Festive Overture goes back to before my high school days); and the second movement of Clocking by John Mackey, which contained some extremely cool colors, most notably the solo appearances by soprano, alto and tenor saxes (not that I'm biased or anything). And kudos to the top band for bringing new life to the old standard Chester.


• Speaking of Chester, I'll never forget how dissonant that sounded to me when I played it in high school; our ears, they do grow up.


• Most admirable audience behavior of the night: Nobody clapped between the six movements of Ron Nelson's Courtly Airs and Dances, despite the exact number of movements not being listed in the program.


• Most bizarre clinician behavior of the night: One of them didn't say a single word during his band's performance. Sure, we've had clinicians in the past who didn't come to the mic until right before the last number (due to time constraints?), but after a thirty-minute set, the audience didn't even know what this guy's voice sounded like.


• Here's a perennial: It's always cool when they recognize the teachers before every band (by having all the directors and private teachers of the students currently on stage stand up for a moment). Most of the work that my colleagues and I do is behind the scenes, and that's ok; the real reward is watching them progress over the years and develop a love for music that will hopefully last far beyond their public schooling, no matter what their major will be in college. But I'd be a liar if I said it wasn't nice to be among those standing up every year.

As I've said before, I try to make this a must-see on my calendar; I may not get to see too many individual schools' concerts, but I like to be there to support the students who have put in the extra work to earn the chance to play on this night. (And it's crazy to think that I began the tradition of blogging this concert in 2006, when tonight's seniors were in eighth grade.)

In January, I resolved to have my March played in May: While linking to the previous years' editions of this post, I noticed that I wrote last year...

I'll be the first to say that a Sousa march is three minutes of perfection--the absolute pinnacle of the genre. They may get maligned a bit in some circles for being impossibly old-school, but each one is a little gem in its own way. (Hearing four of them tonight reinforced this thought, and it also gave me a mini-clinic on how I would rescore my own march that I wrote in high school if the occasion ever came up.)

While writing that paragraph, I hatched the idea that would in fact result in that march of mine being performed at one of my schools a few months later. I'm really glad it turned out that way.

From band to Orchestrion: Pat Metheny's highly-discussed Orchestrion project drops next Tuesday; listen to some samples at Amazon.

A New Take on "Old Home Week"

I've been a jazz musician for a long time now. And while my teaching at both the college and in the public schools involves jazz and classical in various ratios, the sum total of my (sparse) compositional output since grad school has been in the jazz genre. That's why tonight was so fun.

Long story short: One of the high schools where I teach privately, led by a director who's been a friend since college, played a band composition of mine that I wrote in high school, guest-directed by a friend who was the drum major of said high school band the last time it was performed. It was quite enjoyable.

Short story long: Before I got to UNT and became bitten by the jazz bug rather quickly, I used to write a lot of band music. As noted in Fun Facts (#26, to be precise), I won the Reflections Contest all the way up through the state level with one of my compositions in eighth grade, and we got to march to another one of my pieces (Fun Fact #27) in the high school football playoffs in the Astrodome. It's the latter composition that is the subject of tonight's post.

When I was in high school, I spent three summers at the Midwestern Music and Art Camp (now known as the Midwestern Music Academy) at the University of Kansas. At the time, the camp was a month-long affair, and it proved to be a great prelude to college (living in the dorm, eating dorm food, walking to class every morning) as well as my first experience playing in a jazz band.

While at the camp, I took some of my afternoon break that wasn't devoted to practice and set myself up in the hall, working on a march that I had originally started in seventh grade. As the weeks went on, friends would come by and give me advice on instrument ranges and so on ("No, Kev, you can't write the French horn that high and expect it to sound good!"), and with over a week left to go, it was done. It was written for my high school band back home, but hey--if it was already finished, could I get it played here?

Even though the director--a great man--requested that, before having the band read my composition, I should have it proofread by one of their composition professors--a very cranky man--to make sure it was read-worthy. Having a strong desire to have it played, I endured a good 15 minutes (which seemed longer) of the cranky guy griping that I was doing things that Sousa or Fillmore would never have done (duh--I was 17 at the time. Cut me a break, sir!), but we did agree that the intro was way too long, and it was shortened to its current form at that time (thus obliterating the last remaining section of the piece I'd started in seventh grade). From there, it was off to that day's rehearsal, where they read it, the director liked it, and we played it on the final concert (the one time, unfortunately, that my parents couldn't come up to attend).

As i said, the piece was written for my high school band, so we played it there as well, in the Astrodome during the playoffs as noted above. I also helped design the drill for that show, but to this day, I have no idea what the PA announcer said about me, due to the speakers-in-the-round layout of the Dome. It was a very cool experience to have my composition played in a venue like that.

After high school (when, before graduating, I would receive my first rejection letter from a publisher, thanks to a connection made at camp), I cleaned up the march a little bit (my four semesters of undergrad music theory would help me write smoother harmony parts), but, other than being recorded for me a time or two, it had not been played again until tonight (unless my old high school busted it out since then without my knowledge; there should still be a copy in their library).

So fast forward through "lo, these many years" to now. My old high school drum major ended up being a band parent at one of the schools where I teach. This particular school has a silent-auction fundraiser every year, and one of the auctioned items is the chance to direct one of the bands in the spring concert, and my ex-drum major friend has won this item for pretty much the duration of both his kids' tenure in the band. Not long after I ran into him at the Region Band concert this year, I had a crazy idea: Would he like to direct my march in the concert? Both he and the band director were on board with the idea, and I was advised to have the parts ready sometime after concert and sightreading contest in mid-April.

Now fast forward just a little bit more, to the week of that contest, which was also the week I had my accident. As I was emailing the various directors to advise them of the time of my return, this director added an aside: "Since we're done with contest, I'll need to pass out those parts tomorrow or Monday." Guess who hadn't even started on the parts yet. (It was my intention to do everything over using computer notation software, since I didn't want the kids to have to read my chicken-scratch manuscript on march-sized paper.) So I learned how to use Finale NotePad pretty quickly, and, thanks to my not really going anywhere over the weekend, I had the majority of parts done for the following week.

Since I teach at that school a few times during the week, I was able to drop in on the rehearsals a few times, and I liked the little things the director did in terms of orchestration (it's fairly common to have different groups of instruments lay out while others are emphasized during marches, since nearly every section repeats). I didn't get to see my friend direct it, but I knew he'd do fine.

And sure enough, things went well. It was cool to hear something of mine performed for the first time since high school, not to mention having the opportunity for people to hear a concert work by me, since the entirety of my output in the area of composition and arrangement since the end of undergrad school has been in the jazz area. And it was quite cool to hear the director tell the entire backstory of how my friend and I, not to mention the director himself and I, were connected for all these years. (He even got the chance to poke fun at my gimpiness after asking me to stand up when the performance was done; the funny quote from him was: "So the lesson we've learned is that, if you find yourself falling down the stairs on your rear, just enjoy the ride." If only I'd been that lucky...)

This post has gone on very long, but tonight was sort of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; I'm glad that my upcoming surgery didn't happen in time to interfere with this in any way.

Strike Up the Bands (Marathon Version)

Tonight was the All-Region Bands concert in the region where I teach--an event which I have blogged about for the past three years. Anyone who reads this post every year may notice a bit of a rerun aspect to it, but I always have a new observation or two:

• Once again, this concert ran like clockwork, with each band starting precisely on time. Though none of the bands used the entire 45-minute allotment of time, the breaks provided time to stretch and schmooze with some of my students' parents a bit. (Since a lot of the school bands' individual concerts are on nights when I teach college, I don't get to attend nearly as many of those as I might like, so I don't always get to see the parents except in summer, and, once the kids get their drivers' licenses, not even then.)


• I had nine students make the bands this year, which ties my 2007 mark but falls short of the twelve I had make it a year ago. My students were in all the bands except the freshman band--someone did originally make that band, but also made the high school band, which supersedes the freshman result--though I forgot that I had no freshmen until my arrival. That would have given me a little more time to find someplace to eat (we were at the same "boonies" school as two years ago), but it did allow me to receive a set of mythical "five stars" awarded by the final band's conductor to anyone who made it through the entire concert.


• Though the concert has always gone according to a certain set of guidelines, there were some even more formulaic elements tonight: Most of the bands started out with a short fanfare, all but one included a Sousa march, usually as an encore-like finale (and the one that didn't play Sousa did a traditional Russian march instead), and the director didn't come to the microphone until after the second or third selection. (My only quibble with this was that the program said "to be selected from the following" before each listing of tunes, so if a band played two unfamiliar pieces before the conductor spoke, we were left guessing as to what was being played, or at least assuming that the order listed in the program was correct.)


• Though all of the conductors made mention of of how good the students were, and how it flies in the face of what is usually said about young people in the news media (I've done this myself both as a clinician and at jazz camp), one of them said something that amplified this point: It's too bad that the media weren't there to chronicle this mass of model youth, repeated five times over throughout the evening. But if some teens had knocked over a convenience store or scrawled graffiti on a bridge, the media would be all over that story. I guess it's up to us "citizen journalists" (i.e. bloggers) to keep the positive fire burning for the young people of today, because there really are a lot of good stories out there.


• I'm reminded that, for at least the past three years, I've meant to write a post entitled "How Film Scoring Saved Classical Music" or something of the sort. Tonight is not that post, though I'll reiterate that the modern "orchestral" style of writing for band is still more appealing to me than most of the old "warhorses" that bands used to play a few decades ago. Writers such as Jack Stamp, Samuel Hazo and Brian Balmages are, to my ears, just writing more exciting music and getting more innovative combinations of sounds out of the instruments than the older composers. In a nutshell, I prefer "wind ensemble" music to "band" music, and yes, there's a difference.


• But that being said, the top band tonight did an outstanding job with eight of the thirteen movements of Carmina Burana (even if you don't know classical music at all, you've heard the "O Fortuna" movement of this in a movie or something; give it a listen and see). That arrangement may have been published in 1967, but tonight, it crackled with energy in a way I'd never heard before. (And my proverbial hat is off to players and conductor alike for pulling this together in less than 24 hours!) Obviously, there's something to a few of those old chestnuts that's not always readily apparent.


• And not to dilute my "wind ensemble is better" thoughts anymore, but I'll be the first to say that a Sousa march is three minutes of perfection--the absolute pinnacle of the genre. They may get maligned a bit in some circles for being impossibly old-school, but each one is a little gem in its own way. (Hearing four of them tonight reinforced this thought, and it also gave me a mini-clinic on how I would rescore my own march that I wrote in high school if the occasion ever came up.)

At this concert, the directors and private teachers of whomever is on stage at the moment are asked to stand for a moment (as well as the parents, who are rightfully asked to do this ahead of us). It's always nice to be recognized like this, because most music educators--especially those of us who go from school to school--toil in quiet anonymity most of the time. (That being said, one set of parents attempted to give me quite a bit of the credit for their kid's success; I reminded them that I give out similar information across the board, but it's up to the students to take it and run with it. ) It's a night that we can all celebrate a little, which makes it totally worth whatever effort is required to attend.

Remembering "Ms. Z"

A lot of us were afraid this was coming, but we didn't know it would happen so soon.

Marcia Zoffuto, known as "Marcy" to friends and colleagues and "Ms. Z" to nearly all of her legions of students, passed away Sunday of cancer, surrounded by her family. She had been sick for well over a year, so much so that she retired from her position as the legendary band director at Coyle Middle School in the Dallas suburb of Rowlett, where she took the band to never-before-seen heights.

Among the band's awards: Being named State Honor Band in its classification twice (in 2002 and 2006, if I'm recalling correctly), which gave the band the chance to perform at the Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) convention the next year; an invitation to the prestigious Midwest Clinic in Chicago (which I attended for the first time last year), as well as two other major clinics in Seattle and Indianapolis. The program won the Sudler Cup in 2003, and this past May, Marcy was honored with the Bayard H. Friedman Hero Award for being the most outstanding band teacher in North Texas.

A daughter of the iconic West Texas band director J.R. McEntyre, Marcy was certainly driven, intense and demanding, yet she also had a gentle, caring and nurturing side. And despite all the accolades bestowed upon her and her program, she maintained a profound sense of humility; I think she sometimes found it hard to believe that people were making such a fuss over her, because she was just doing what she was born to do.

One of the most unique things about the Coyle program has been the constant involvement of the alumni. The way that the Honor Band competition works is that a band submits a recording of performances during the school year, which go through a judging process that culminates in the finalists being announced over the summer, with the winners performing the following year at TMEA. That means that, in a middle school situation, the eighth graders who played on the winning recording would be high school freshmen by the time of the TMEA performance. But Marcy made sure that those students were involved as well, utilizing a hybrid ensemble of eighth graders and alumni (i.e. a lot of the group that made the original recording) during the TMEA performances, and some of the other festivals as well. I've never been in another situation where high schoolers retained ties to their middle school program in this manner, but such was the nature of these kids' devotion to "Ms. Z."

Of course, this intensity and work ethic wasn't for everyone; kids would sometimes burn out so much that they wouldn't even continue with band in high school. (In fact, the one articulated difference of opinion that she and I had occurred a number of years ago when she asked me to listen to an eighth grader's alto solo on one of their contest pieces and help him sound "more professional." While I assured her that we shared the goal of excellence--and that I knew exactly what she was looking for, sound-wise--I wondered if the use of that particular terminology wasn't putting undue pressure on a kid that young.) But those who stuck with the program certainly reached a level of performance rarely seen by middle-school musicians (not to mention many high schools).

The cancer that eventually claimed her came sometime during the '06-'07 year. Despite rumors of her retirement at the end of that year, she came back last year and hung on valiantly, leading the band to the Indianapolis festival by sheer force of will. As her health worsened, we didn't see her all that often, but she came in for the key rehearsals and performances and got the most out of her time.

She did retire at the end of this school year (I really wish now that I'd made it to that final concert), and we received periodic updates of her condition throughout the summer, the most recent being on Saturday, the day before she passed. I heard then that she had some major setbacks in the past week, but I had no idea the end would come so soon.

The memorial service this morning was packed; I arrived fifteen minutes early and got one of the few remaining seats in the main sanctuary. People were seated in the choir loft, in folding chairs added to the aisles, and in several rows of the lobby, where the service was beamed out to a screen. The sheer volume of people, from all walks of life (family, friends, colleagues, current and former students), proved to be a fitting testimony to the number of lives she touched.

One of the eulogists noted that Marcy had once told him, "I really want to leave a legacy." You have, Marcy. You have.

Old Home Week at Region

Tonight was the annual All-Region Band concert in my neck of the woods. Since I usually talk a little about this concert, I'll do so again this year:

• This was the first time in recent memory that I had students in all five bands; it was cool to be able to stand up each time whenever directors and private teachers were recognized.


• The concert itself was sort of a reunion for me, as I had ties to three of the conductors: One of them taught my sister in high school, a second one was one of my supervising teachers when I student taught, and yet another one also supervised me when I student taught and was one of my sister's directors in middle school.


• I was very happy for my alto players, as I had a record number of them in the bands this year. Since I have a history--deserved or not--as a low saxophone player, it always frustrated me when my altos didn't do as well as my tenors and baris did in some years. But my altos came through with flying colors this year; in two of the bands, three of the four altos were from my studio. Way to go, folks!


• This concert is known for running like clockwork; each band is given a 45-minute allotment, so that parents whose kids don't play till later know exactly when to show up. But we did see the one downside of this policy tonight: One of the bands only took 25 minutes of its time, so we all had to sit around for 20 more minutes, as starting early would have probably caused some of the aforementioned parents to miss a tune or two.


• The concert was held in a coliseum-like venue rather than a traditional school auditorium. The pros of this: Plenty of seats, the ability to see everyone (even in the middle of the band, where they'd normally get covered up by the people in front of them). Also, the sound was better than I expected from this type of place. Cons: The stage was very far away from the seats; the performers and conductors generally left through the back, so it wasn't as easy to congratulate them afterwards (I only got to visit with one of the three conductors whom I knew); it was impossible to turn off the lights during a performance; the concrete floors amplified the footsteps of the late arrivals (who didn't know that it was against concert etiquette to walk in during a performance in the first place). Also, the place was built without water fountains, in an effort to force people to buy $3 bottles of water from the concession stands. Me, I went thirsty.


• It was cool that some of these directors talked to the audience more than others had in the past (the desire to adhere to the strict schedule had sometimes limited their comments to a single set, right before the last piece). It was less cool that some of them inexplicably chose not to use the microphone when doing so. Those of us seated near the top had no clue what they were saying.


• In the previous posts from Region concerts of the past two years, I've stated my preference for the newer, film score-ish "wind ensemble music" over the old traditional band music, and I've said that these concerts have reinforced the fact that I'm in the right place, career-wise, as a private instructor instead of a band director. Those feelings haven't changed a bit; I'm still very happy where I am, and I always enjoy the opportunity to watch some of the fruits of these labors on a big stage (literally).

Assuming tickets are still available, I'll be blogging about a very different kind of concert tomorrow night.

Friday Night (Under the) Lights

Tonight was my annual trek to a high school football game, where I tend to go see my two largest schools play each other (all in the name of efficiency, of course; I get to see the majority of my high-schoolers march in a single trip). While trying not to repeat my observations from last year, here's a primer on the game from my viewpoint:

• The weather was really weird tonight; I can't remember the last game that I attended that had both a nice chill in the air and crickets flying around everywhere. The attire in the stands ranged from shorts and flip-flops to hoodies and jackets. I got by just fine with rarely-used long sleeves on the shirt underneath my polo (in nice neutral colors, since I spent part of the game on each side).


• Both of my schools' bands did well at halftime; I think they'll be fine at their big competition next week. It was a little hard to hear, especially during the visiting band; if some of the non-musicially inclined football fans realized how much work went into perfecting a marching show, I wonder if they'd show the band some courtesy by, if not actually listening, at least keeping the loud talking down for the benefit of those who do want to listen.


• That being said, the football itself this time was...meh. I found myself talking to directors, students, alumni and parents most of the time instead of paying much attention to the game. I remarked to one of the directors that, if football were a huge factor, I'd try to teach somewhere like Southlake Carroll. And I'd definitely go to more than one game a year, if that were the case.


• Actually, the most exciting thing about the game was seeing not one, not two, but five players get ejected in the closing minutes of the game (though the last one would subsequently be unejected moments later). The crosstown rivalry between the two schools was surely a factor, as the ejections took place on three separate plays. I don't know that I'd ever seen even one player get thrown out of a game before, so seeing that many was rather surreal.


• I've mentioned before that, while marching band has changed a lot since I was in high school, drill team has changed very little. Tonight, the two squads did use some unusual props, though I have to point out to the one school that used giant pairs of eighth-notes for that purpose that, while the notes made for some clever dancing...umm, they were backwards. (Ask the band directors before you build next time, perhaps?)

I don't know that I'll ever have season tickets until I actually have kids, but it's always nice to experience at least one Friday night high school football game every fall; it's a big part of the social fabric of Texas.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I hate high school football. No matter how many rock 'n' roll songs we play, our team never seems to score any more touchdowns."--One of the directors at the school that lost tonight.

Stirke Up the Bands Wind Ensembles

An annual tradition took place last night: the All-Region Bands concert in my part of town (with "part of town" being relative this year, as the school where it was held was in the eleventh quadrant of the far western spiral arm of the Galaxy, with the added oddity of having the school auditorium in the back of the school and nowhere near any parking; I felt bad for the older gentleman who was headed there in a shuffling gait and the band kid on crutches who was carrying his trumpet as well).

This year's concert was very similar to last year's (which was also blogged) in terms of efficiency; every band played exactly when it was supposed to play, even if the previous band got done early, and there were plenty of seats for all comers. They've really got this down to a science now. They no longer have the 4A band, which in my case provided me an early exit, as the top tenor and bari were from 4A schools (my two who made 5A Area competition were thus the tops in their classification but second in their rooms). This was actually a good thing, as I was coming straight to the concert from teaching, with no time for dinner along the way.

Once again, this concert reinforced the idea that I like the newer style of wind music much better than its older counterpart. As I said last year,

Tonight also reminded me once again how much more I like "wind ensemble" music than traditional "band" music. Sure, I'm a sucker for a good march (which makes sense, seeing as how my first two widely-performed compositions were marches), but the more orchestral style of wind writing that's employed today just draws me a lot deeper into the music than most of the old band "warhorses" do. (It doesn't hurt that a lot of wind ensemble writing draws heavily from the modern film-scoring sound...which reminds me--sometime soon, I need to write the post about "How Film Scoring 'Saved' Modern Classical Music.") The effective use of the different colors of the winds, along with the expanded percussion section, really heightens the overall appeal of the genre. I wasn't familiar with a lot of the compositions I heard tonight, but I would definitely acquire some of them on CD for when I'm in a classical mood (yes, it happens)>

One of the bands played something from an older era, and it was striking to me how there was just something missing in the old-style writing. Sure, I loves me some Festive Overture and Second Suite in F, but the new stuff just grabs my attention as a listener much more. (And yes, a year later, I still need to write the post about film scoring and its beneficial effect on contemporary classical music.)

Congrats once again to all of those who made the bands this year (I had nine people make it from my studio, which I think is way more than a year ago). As much as we all get tired of hearing the audition music by December, it's still a great honor to be selected.

PREVIOUS POSTS ON THE SUBJECT:
Strke Up the (Marching) Bands (10/29/06)
Strike Up the Bands (1/20/06)
Region: A View from the Audience (1/25/04)

Least surprising headline of the week: Scientists can't get sloth to move.

Interesting hybrid products of the week: Coffee stout (yes, we're talking beer here) and caffeinated doughnuts.

Strike Up the (Marching) Bands

I went to the Area Marching Contest finals last night; I didn't actually hear the results of the prelims before I arrived, but I had faith that at least a couple of my schools would make the finals, and sure enough, three of them did, and one would advance to the state contest, while another would be named one of the alternates. (You can find out all the results for the two Dallas-area contests here.)

As I said last week after seeing two of my schools play each other in a game, marching band has changed a lot since I was in school (commenter Gary P. correctly attributes most of those changes, of which he is not a fan, to the strong influence of Drum Corps International). This has led to things like the use of solo instruments up front next to the pit (which has included saxophone solos in the past, a practice of which I strongly approve), and lots of other unusual things as well:

• I meant to mention last week that the two schools I saw last week included things like a flute duet and a vocalist; both these things were repeated last night and came off well.


• The unusual instruments came out in droves last night; one school featured an oboe solo (which made sense, because they were performing part of an oboe concerto in their show), and another one had a piccolo/bassoon duet. I'm pretty sure I heard some piano in there too, though I never could spot the keyboard player. Another school performed part of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" (with some of the borderline-risque dancing but no accompanying riot from the fans), but they used a solo trombone in place of the famous bassoon.


• Another show, patriotic in nature, had a pair of narrators located next to the pit. I'd never heard narration in a show from anywhere but the pressbox in the past


• I also forgot to mention last week that one of my schools did a holiday show that ended with the whole band singing "Auld Lang Syne" at the end; by last night, they'd put it into four-part harmony at the end

One of the schools also had all-white uniforms (except for their drum majors, who wore all black). I wonder what the dry-cleaning bill is for those babies...

As I've said before, I have a definite appreciation for marching band, even as I'm fully aware that I'm not the person to be teaching it. I enjoy the performances, but I'd probably hate the rehearsals even more than the students do. I've always thought that a little too much time is put into something that is really as much entertainment as it is music, and it's always seemed to me that there are way too many contests before the "real" one that determines whether or not the band advances to area. But something that a band parent (from the school that's advancing to state) told me last night made something click about all that: She was talking about how bad the show looked at their very first "pre-contest" competition and how much better it looked after being battle-tested for virtually the entire month of October. It made me realize that, since the music and movement has gotten so much more complex, perhaps it really does need a few more competitive performances to get up to the high level that's being sought. (For the "indoor" version of "why I'm not a band director, even though I appreciate what they do," read this post from earlier in the year.)

One of my colleagues made note of the fact that, during the time when everyone was waiting for the results to be announced, many of the band parents were acting as crazy as the kids were (doing the Wave, etc.). I said that, yeah, a lot of them really were just "grown-up band nerds," (meaning that in the nicest way, since I'm one too), and my friend said, that's right, we're reproducing at a great rate. That can only be good for America...seriously.

One more thing--my thoughts go out to the Allen High School band, two of whose buses were involved in a wreck on LBJ yesterday on the way to their own area contest. Five of the students complained of neck and back injuries. (I teach one kid out of the 600 in that band, so the odds aren't great that he was one of the ones involved, but still, I'm eagerly awaiting a reply from the email I sent his mom last night.) The band did regroup and make it to the finals of their contest last night.

Light when we don't need it, dark when we do: I trust that by now, you're aware that Daylight Wasting Time began today. You can probably also tell that I'm not a fan of having the extra hour of daylight at six in the morning instead of later in the day when I could really use it. Instapundit is a fan of year-round daylight savings time for the same reason, and because it would actually save a lot of energy to keep the extra hour of daylight in the evening. He also points to a Popular Mechanics article that supports the same thinking.

Personally, I blame Mr. Wilson: A statue of Dennis the Menace was stolen from a city park in California this week.

Friday Night Lights x 3

At least once a year, I go to a high school football game in my area to see as many of my students march as possible (which can usually be accomplished by watching my two biggest [as in the most students of mine] play against each other. Last night was that game, so I took advantage of the situation and made my appearance. As always, I had a few observations:

• The band on whose side I spent the second half did crazier stuff in the stands than we ever did in my high school days. Not only did more than one section do wacky dancing during all the drum cadences, but pretty much everyone participated.


• That being said, the other activity in the stands was far more regimented than when I was in school. After halftime, we had the third quarter off to go walk around and grab refreshments; this school had to pretty much sit in an orderly fashion (OK, except when dancing) and needed an adult chaperone to escort small groups of people to the restroom.


• As I said a year ago, it always amazes me how much marching band has changed since I was in high school, and how little drill team has done so in that same period of time

All in all, spending a Friday night under the lights in Texas is a good way to spend one's time (though I'll concede that I'm glad my job doesn't require this of me on a weekly basis). The game I saw was exciting and actually pretty close most of the time. If this ends up being my only stadium visit this year, I picked a good one.

And on the same subject, when I got home from the game, I watched a show that I'd taped earlier in the week: NBC's Friday Night Lights, based on the book and movie of the same name about West Texas high school football (in this case, moved from Odessa to the fictitious town of Dillon). I've heard that it hasn't been doing so well in the ratings, but I was drawn in immediately; the story and characters seemed pretty realistic. I'll definitely be taping it on a regular basis. (And if you're questioning the wisdom of showing a program with "Friday" in the title on Tuesday, remember that most of the people who would watch this show would be attending an actual high school football game on Fridays.)

Reality meets TV: Following the episode of FNL on my tape (yes, I'm so ancient that I don't even have TiVo yet) was the season finale of a similar show, MTV's Two-A-Days. The premise is similar, except this show documents an actual team, Hoover High in Alabama. The Bucs won a state championship last year, and I for one would definitely pay money to see them play the mythical national chamipion from here in the Dallas area, Southlake Carroll. That would probably be a great game...

Not Just Any Plain Ol' Band Director

As most of the high schools in the area are in the thick of marching band (much to the chagrin of most of my students, who have had to become reacquainted with early-morning hours again), I was saddened to note the passing of a local icon in the profession:

During his nearly 40 years as a high school band director – including a dozen years at Plano Senior High School – Charles Eugene Forque won the respect and affection of students, colleagues and his fellow professional musicians.

He took 36 bands to University Interscholastic League competitions and brought home 34 sweepstakes awards. Former Tonight Show bandleader Doc Severinsen performed 43 concerts with Mr. Forque's high school bands, whose public concerts included one at the first baseball game in Houston's Astrodome.

Mr. Forque, 75, died Saturday of complications of Alzheimer's disease at his McKinney home.

The whole article may be found here.

I first met Mr. Forque in high school, when he was a guest clinician at a camp I attended. One of his former assistants was one of my high school band directors, so we crossed paths again when our school played Plano in the playoffs. Later on, I auditioned to teach lessons at his school when I was in college (I didn't get the job, but benefited from the experience, as it was the only time I've had to do such an audition for a private teaching job). And more recently, I would see him at my old music-store job when he, by then the director of the Plano Community Band, would come in to purchase band music. I only reminded him once that we'd first met when I was in high school, but it was cool to have bridged the gap from calling him "Mr. Forque" to "Charles" by that time.

Forque always struck me as one of those gruff-but-caring individuals who got results. According to former student Jim Carter, who succeeded him as director of the community band,

"[w]hile he was a disciplinarian – when it came to wanting things done a certain way and making sure it was done that way – everybody saw the reasons why," Mr. Carter said. "In the end, when you finished that particular performance or that show at contest, you realized you'd done an incredible job and you felt basically fulfilled."

He will definitely be missed in our profession, but his contribution will live on through the many alumni and supporters of his programs.

What a miracle: ...that everyone survived this plane crash today.

A new form of 'roid rage: There's quite a spirited discussion of the Raffy situation in the comments to yesterday's post.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: In a continuing series taken from a set of notebook sketches made during an Amsterdam trip in 1993, Ann Althouse describes the European electrical socket as "a space-baby looking out a porthole." I have a couple of friends who used to refer to Chipotle burritos as space babies, so I got an extra big laugh out of that.