Mom? Can you send me more money? I ran out...

While I may not call my mom, I may want to.

The question of the century when a director asks for money to purchase new instruments..."Can you do a fundraiser for it?"

While no one likes to hear it, the question still remains. Should we rely on parents and fundraising to keep our music programs going?

Although I feel that part of the money can come from fundraising, I do not feel that all of it should. Yes I understand that parents are roped in there too, but think about it, they have already invested time and money into your son/daughter's musical experience. Whether it is buying music, instruments, lessons, paying for gas to get them to and from rehearsals, taking time off of work to chaperone a trip...you get where I'm going.

Back to the fundraising half...if you are running a music program in your school, I feel that funding for the essentials should come from your district. Although it may be tricky, you should not be relying on fundraising for everything. What it boils down to is the fact that there are some things that are necessary for a music program to not only survive, but provide our students with a good education. Let's look at a choir for example. If you were to go into a program as the new choir director and walked into an empty room, what is one of the first things you would think is missing? A PIANO!!! In this case, I do not think that the choir should be required to raise the money for the piano. This is a piece of equipment that is necessary for the group to learn and grow as musicians. I'm not saying that you need to go out and buy a Steinway Model D. I'm saying that you need something that is fully functional, that will last a long time, and is of high quality. If you are in a district that is tighter on money, look at some of the Yamaha electronic pianos. They are much less money, but at the same time, provide q quality sound with the feel of a true grand piano. If your district is willing to spend the extra money, invest in a baby grand that will last longer. Just remember that it is much more expensive.

How about band?

I personally would walk into that same empty room and say," where are the stands?" No, you don't need the best of the best, but you at least need something that the students can put their music on.

What should fundraising money go to?

I think one of the biggest, if the school doesn't want to pay for it, is marching band uniforms. These can get quite expensive because of the numbers that you need to order. If you consult with FJM or DeMoulin, you will realize that you could be spending upwards of $30,000! That's quite a big number to swallow. What you can do is talk with the district and ask if they will contribute a small amount and you will raise the rest. Even if it takes a few years to raise the money, the students will appreciate what they have done and feel a sense of ownership when they wear the uniforms.

Field trips.

While it would be ideal for a school to fly the whole band to Disney every other year, it's not realistic...it's the same thing as with uniforms. If you can get the district to fund a little bit of it because you are representing the town and what a great school system it is, GREAT. If not, well you need to raise the money. Once again, it gives the students a feeling of pride and ownership that they were able to raise the money so they can have the best experiences of their high school career. I can remember back to my senior year and even my sophomore year where we went on big trips. They were some of the best times of my high school career and all I can do is look back and see how hard we worked as a group to make it happen.

So what's my point?

My point is that I don't think that a music program should be surviving just off of fundraising and least of all parents (they're better for man power!). I believe that it is up to the district to provide the essentials to keep the program running. If there are other things that are desired, it is up to the director and the students to come up with a way to raise the money for them.

Does your music classroom have a flux capacitor? Mine does!

Well...not exactly...but that may be the route that we are taking.

We as music educators and musicians are fortunate to be in a time full of opportunities and an ever increasing advancement in technology. Back in the day (1919), Jazz de Luxe was the first musical performance to be recorded. Nowadays, we look at that and say, "man records are old fashioned." Back then, it was a whole different story. It was cutting edge!

Now it's time to jump in that Delorean, speed down the road until we hit 88 MPH and bam!

We have just arrived in 1964. You are outside a music store that is releasing a new song. It's called I Want to Hold Your Hand. But it's not on a record, it's on this new thing called an 8-track. Although people still collect and listen to records, the 8-track is all the rage. 

Too bad we don't have time to take the Delorean to one of those Beatles concerts right now. Oh well. Onward!

Bam! We pass by the cassette tapes in the 70's and 80's, cruise by the CD's in the 90's, and end up in 2014. Now we don't use CD's too much. Although they are still very common, it is much easier to pull up an MP3 or a file on the internet. 

But how does all of this change the way we look at music education?

Well for starters, we have the world of music literally at our fingers. Let's say you wanted to teach a unit on different music cultures because it's cultural awareness month at school. Before the internet, you would be limited to whatever you (or your colleagues) have for music. Now if I wanted to, I could show my students some African drumming music, a little Gospel, maybe a bit of traditional Japanese folk music. But it doesn't end there! I can even throw in some Latin/Cuban, a little steel drum from Trinidad and Tobago, the use of the frame drum in Arabic culture, or the current pop music. Whatever you feel "Happy" with. 

The craziest part about this is that it is only the tip of the iceberg. Along with the infamous Youtube, there are a variety of music notation softwares out there. There is Sibelius, Finale, Pro Tools in conjunction with the previous two, and a really cool new app. called Notate Me. Notate Me can be used on the iPhone, iPad, or android platforms. It is an interactive writing software that transcribes your handwritten notes into legible printed notes. I personally have used this quite a bit recently arranging things on my phone when I forgot my laptop. I think the best part of it is that I can write in what I was and then EXPORT IT to my laptop and further edit it in Sibelius. 

With the advancements in technology that are out there today (like the availability of iPads in the classroom), we have the ability to put apps like Notate Me to good use. We have the ability to provide our students with technology that they can write out their answers like they would on paper, but be able to play back and hear what they have written. After they are relatively satisfied, they can export it to Sibelius or Finale for teacher review and further editing. By sending it to Sibelius or Finale, there is no mistaking what note is what if a student has sloppy writing (like me!).

Although we aren't at the world of flux capacitors and time travel yet, the advancements in technology have put our students and ourselves at a serious advantage to becoming well rounded musicians with an understanding of a wide range of cultures. 

If you had to pick only 3 important traits/skills that a music teacher would possess, what would they be?

Man that sounds like such an easy question until you really dig into it. The first time that anyone asked me that, I felt like I knew it cold. If you were to ask me 5 years ago, I would say that they need to be a talented musician, have a passion for music, and be in charge of a large ensemble that plays really tricky music.

Now, after years of working with very talented teachers, and reading a few different books, I have changed my opinion. After reading Frank Battisti's book On Becoming a Conductor, and Peter Boonshaft's book Teaching Music with Purpose, I realized that it's not all about being a super talented musician yourself, or standing up in front of a huge ensemble.

Would those things be nice? Yeah, I guess they would be. But, only if they were getting the most out of their time with me and learning about the inner working of music as well as having fun. 

OK, enough dreaming. Battisti writes in numerous places (and I couldn't agree more) that one of the most important traits of a great music teacher is that they have a true passion for music.

Without a true passion for music, how are you going to be able to motivate your students to look at it the same way that you do. There needs to be an underlying drive that keeps not only you going on those long days, but also the kids. They need to understand why you think what you are going over is so important and realize that it is even more important for them.

Boonshaft talks about presuming excellence from our students. Awesome! But....there is something that is even more important that he covers. No matter what, we need to be able to see greatness in each and every one of our students. I'm not talking about saying great job to them when they play that really hard lick perfectly for the first, second, and third time in a row. I'm talking about seeing the greatness in their abilities in and out of band, but more importantly, in them as a person. If you can show your students that you truly care about them, it will be a much more enjoyable experience. 

The final trait I feel is important in any music educator works is kind of a morph of two. The ideal music teacher will have passion and the ability to see greatness, but where to go from there. There needs to be a vision and a commitment to reach that vision. By having a true passion for music and seeing the greatness in each and every one of their students, a great music educator will be able to see where they want not only their program to go, but what they want their students to achieve by the time that they leave them. While it sounds great, that same ideal educator needs to have the commitment to challenge their kids to reach the greatness he/she sees in them. 

So you ask me...what are the 3 important traits/skills that a music teacher needs to possess?

• A true passion for music and a need to share that passion with others
• The ability to see greatness in each and every one of their students. At all times.
• The vision/commitment (visimmitment) to see the greatness that their students can achieve and encourage them to want to reach it.  

Warming up a choir...a reflection

Ouch.

So I feel that it started off pretty well. I started with lots of energy and feel like a grabbed the attention of my "students." After that, it kind of went downhill.

The first exercise I did started with humming. After modeling it and playing it, I began to hum along. I'm not really sure why though.

It may have been because I didn't want to get lost or any number of other things. Either way. Don't do it.

What could have I done better?

I could have improved on a few things:

• Try not to sing along. I realize now that if I am singing along, it is very hard to listen to the rest of the ensemble. 
• Start my first and second exercise on a different pitch. It was a little rough on the voices. If I start on a higher pitch, it will go more smoothly. 
• Explain how the diaphragm works. It was unclear to my students and because of that, not everyone was using it properly. 
• If I'm going to say something after, make it mean something. I realized that I was saying things like "great' or "cool" after almost every exercise. If I'm going to say something, I have to make sure it connects with how they just sang.

Time flies when I have 5 minutes to teach the flute

Oh boy. So the other day, I had to give a model lesson on what I would teach in the first five minutes of a beginning flute lesson.

I think that about sums it up how it went.

I got caught up in the moment. I tried to teach too many things at once. My teacher, Professor Brandt Schneider, made me realize that I was trying to do too much in too little time. I was more focused on how to breathe than how to make a sound on the flute. Although breathing is a very important part of playing well, I now see that I can let it slide until a later lesson. 

First things first. Stop talking so much!!! After I was done, I realized how much I was actually talking and if I were to press the rewind button to do it all again, I would focus on procedure, procedure, procedure. Without a procedure, everything will end up like a horrific train wreck before you can blink! If there is time after that, I would focus on how to make a sound on the head joint. 

Long story short and with hindsight being 20/20, there were quite a few things that I would change about how i went about the precious five minutes. But, as I said, procedure, procedure, procedure, and don't talk so much!