Oct 24 2009
In a previous post, I mentioned I would be delivering a presentation to some high school and adult music tutors volunteering with Seattle Music Partners. Thanks again for your feedback. Below is my presentation. It may not completely make sense, but I hope it will be helpful.
Oct 21 2009
It’s not reality but augmented reality with my wife and I participating in a music video with my “buddy” John Mayer:
Here is John talking about augmented reality and the first music video to use the new technology:
Oct 17 2009
Hello music ed blogging community. I have the opportunity to speak to several wonderful music volunteers this next weekend. They are mostly high school aged music students who will be tutoring with Seattle Music Partners, a non-profit that provides after-school music lessons to underserved elementary and middle school students in Seattle’s Central District.
I have 30 minutes to give them some tips about how 4th-6th grade instrumental students, mostly beginners, can be successful. I plan to talk about-
I will also make my presentation available in a future blog post. Thank you blogging colleagues! I look forward to your ideas.
Oct 12 2009
Below is some information I’m sending out to my instrumenal parents this week. Maybe you’ll find it helpful…
Life after week one of Instrumental Music
Congratulations! You got the instrument, you got the book, and your kids managed to make it to their lessons this week. As a new instrumental parent, this is an awesome achievement…at my house, just getting the kids up and out the door dressed and fed is an achievement. You sent your kids to school with food, clothes AND an instrument in tow (even if you did bring it by school later in the day…) BRAVO!! Here are some practical ways you can help your child this week:
- FLUTE PARENTS- holding the flute is tricky at first. You are bound to see all kinds of weird things and some confusion and frustration…remind your kids about these steps (refer to the pictures in the red book on p. 3): 1) before bringing the flute to your mouth, sit with proper posture in a straight back chair- feet on the floor, back straight, chest high, shoulders relaxed; 2) hold the flute “clarinet style” with the head joint resting on your left shoulder, and the foot joint on your left knee, right hand near the bottom and left near the top; 3) then without moving your head or shoulder, bring the flute up into position. This last step is important: if you move your head or chin before bringing the flute up, you’ll get twisted. The arms need to be up holding the flute…some new muscles will come into play. AND if making a sound isn’t happening right away- be patient! Use your head joint only and use the “pretty” trick.
- CLARINET PARENTS- putting the clarinet together is tricky. Time your kids on how fast they can put it together (use p. 3 in the red book to help…). Put cork grease on those corks to make it easier for little hands to put the parts together. After putting it together, getting the reed on the mouthpiece is a trick. The more they practice, the easier it gets. Even if they don’t blow any notes, putting it together with confidence and by themselves is important.
- SAXOPHONE PARENTS- are you not amazed at how loud this instrument is? Before you invest in earplugs, make sure they can put the instrument together with confidence. Putting the reed on the mouthpiece is the trickiest part. Use cork grease to make the mouthpiece easier to put on the neck joint. No puffy cheeks when playing! This will cut the volume down considerably. At have them sit with proper posture (see p. 3 in the red book) then adjust the neck strap. No droopy shoulders or humpback positions. If they look uncomfortable, the neck strap is probably not adjusted properly.
- TRUMPET PARENTS- I would suggest not taking the valves out of the trumpet to be oiled. They can be mixed up or put back in wrong making it impossible to blow the trumpet. The easiest way to oil valves is to turn the trumpet upside down and put ONE or TWO drops of valve oil in the hole at the bottom of the valve. Encourage your trumpet players to blow without puffy cheeks.
- TROMBONE PARENTS- No puffy cheeks when playing. Use lots of air to get a good tone.
- PERCUSSION PARENTS- Playing with an even tempo is important and using the right sticking is key. Let them show you how it’s done.
GUITAR PARENTS- ask your kids how to read a chord diagram. And for those of you that play guitar, don’t worry, we will be doing full chord shapes later on…
- VIOLIN, CELLO PARENTS- many of your kids have been asking about using the bow. We introduce that in week 3 or so. Right now, we want them to hold the instrument properly and pluck the string. The musical term for plucking the string is called pizzicato. Throw that word around at the dinner table.
Oct 10 2009
If you are looking for a way to inspire your drummers to practice, you should check out the Roland RMP5 Rhythm Coach pictured below:
But before I begin this review, in light of the recent FCC ruling that bloggers must disclose payments for reviews, I would like to make the following disclosure about this review:
Music is Not for Insects in no way received compensation or a “freebie” from Roland for this favorable review. Even though the blog owner wished he would have received some free stuff from Roland, perhaps a shout out or even a keychain, this review of the Roland RMP 5 Rhythm Coach was made out of my own experience (and sweet frustration) using this awesome tool for percussion students.
Ok- now that is out of the way, let me tell you about my experience with this cool rhythm tool I will be using with my percussion students.
As you can see from the photo, this is an electronic snare drum with a mesh drum head that triggers an electronic drum sound when you hit it with your drum sticks. Not a new idea- electronic drum kits have been around awhile, but the feel of the drum head is really great and you can adjust the tension on the drum head to get the right feel for your students. As with most electronic drums, you can adjust the volume, the type of drum sound (snare, tom, cymbal) and output the sound to headphones or a powered speaker or PA via an external jack. But the cool part of this rhythm task master is the Coach mode.
Want your percussion students to focus on proper technique and accuracy? Set the RMP5 to “Coach Mode-Accuracy Score” and you can create exercises for your students that will kick their rhythmic behinds. Here is how it works:
Immediate feedback in the form of a percentage of hits right on the beat will be displayed after you play. Sounds easy? It took me 15-20 minutes of constant focus and concentration to get a perfect score playing simple quarters notes at 120 BPM! I nearly cried…but I did it! And took a picture to prove it (see Roland video below to watch coach mode in action):
Imagine how your kids will respond to the challenge. I found myself standing taller, focusing on my matched grip technique and making sure my strokes were the same height to get that perfect score.
There is also a “stroke balance” feature that will give you a visual cue as to how even the weight of your strokes are…get rid of that galop sound in those double stroke rolls and paradiddles. There is also a feature where you get a count off and you play through a cycle of half, quarter, eighth, triplet and sixteenth note patterns. Step it up to 6, 7, and 8 group patterns and you can really get your chops cooking. Price? Not cheap…about $250 on the street but I think it will be a valuable resource for my students.
I’m hoping to have this set up in a corner of my room and have my drummers rotate through using the Rhythm Coach during rehearsals. With a pair of headphones to keep the noise down, and one eye on them to make sure they don’t abuse the equipment, I expect this to be a valuable tool for my drummers. I will have them keep track of their accuracy scores and develop some friendly competition within the section. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.
