westernbands.net

Congratulations to all the 2010 MSBOA District 5 Solo and Ensemble participants. Western performed very well overall with 28 total events (20 division ones, 6 division twos, 2 division threes). Thank you for performing and congratulations on excellent performances! I'm proud of you! (read more for all results)

STATE MSBOA Solo & Ensemble Festival is on Saturday, March 27, 2010 - yes, the first day of the trip. If you are going on the trip, you probably don't want to participate at S&E. Those of you that DO want to participate in State S&E must pay me before Thursday, February 25. See me in class on Tuesday for amounts.

UPDATE 2/22 @5:30pm: Costs listed after the S&E results.

Please click below to read about the January and February Conn-Selmer Articles.

You may remember the story requesting your help for the Bay City Fire Department.

Good news!

Congratulations! Thanks to your support - and the support of others in our community - Bay City Fire Rescue has earned a $10,000 Fire Safety Pledge Award from Liberty Mutual Insurance.

Thank you for contributing to this worthy cause by demonstrating your commitment to fire prevention.

Sincerely,
Michael Piscopo

Continuing in the tradition of promoting band participation in Bay County, the Bay Concert Band is again offering, to qualified band students,scholarships of up to $500 to be used for attendance at a 2010 summer band camp of the student’s choice. Scholarships are available to students in grades 9 through 11 who are interested in furthering their music education during the summer months. Scholarship awards will not exceed the cost of the camp session.

Key dates concerning applications and awards are as follows...

The Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra has announced the Citizens Bank Wealth Management Young Musician of the Year Competition. Students submit an application and recording to be considered for a $500 cash award and featured performance at a Saginaw Bay Orchestra concert. Please see the SBO website for more information. Deadline for application is January 8, 2010.

Take a moment to read this information from Doug Newcombe, Bay City Public Schools interim Superintendent. It is posted to help you understand some of the details about school funding and its impact on the Bay City Public Schools.

The November issue of SBO Magazine can be viewed here.

Just another day at the office; How to get better results in concerts, auditions and other high-pressure performing situations- Part 1 of 4 by Jon Gorrie
"Just another day at the office..." was originally written for classical musicians as an aid in preparing for auditions and other solo performances. However, the information in this article can be applied to anyone in a 'high-pressure' performance situation.

Time for Grant Writing by Marcus L. Neiman
Who in their right mind would even considered thinking about writing grants during an economic downturn? Who indeed!

Conn-Selmer's Donation-From Kenosha to Vermillion: Preserving the Leblanc Legacy by Margaret Downie Banks
After Conn-Selmer agreed to donate the Leblanc Archive and various musical instruments to the National Music Museum (NMM) at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, seven staff members and students made two, 500-mile road trips to Kenosha, Wisconsin, in late June and mid-July 2008, to retrieve priceless historic artifacts and archival materials from the plant, prior to its imminent closure.

YouTube has some very interesting videos and can be very useful in learning how to play your instrument better. Diego Calvo has found a few links on Trombone playing that he would like to share with you. Read the rest of the story to see them. enjoy!

Congratulations to Western High School students Samantha Ward, flute, Gabriel Deyarmond, oboe and Melissa Rutzen, clarinet, for their selection to and participation in the 2009 Central Michigan University High School Honors Band.

Students were required to submit a recording as an audition and were then selected by CMU Faculty. The concert was held Sunday, November 15, 2009 at the Music Building at CMU.

Bandorama 2009 takes place this Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 6:30 PM in the Western Gym.  This is a concert which features all the bands at Western: 6th, 7th, 8th, HS Concert, HS Symphonic, Jazz and Marching Bands! This should be a great concert for everyone.

Admission is $2 per person at the door.

Each grade-level student has received differing instructions for arrival times. Parents, please communicate with your student to know what time they are expected to arrive.

The Gym doors will not open to the public until 6:00 PM. 6th Grade parents need to sit on the first floor bleachers on the West end. Other parents can sit on the East end or in the upstairs bleachers.

Setup crews will begin at 5:00 pm.  We will need assistance cleaning up after the concert. Please consider helping out!

To view the October 2009 edition of SBO magazine click here.

A Quick Anatomy of the Flute by Valerie Simosko
Here is a quick “dictionary” describing essential parts of a flute and what their purposes are.

An Approach to Student Practice: Hints on Practicing or Close Enough only Counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades! by Keith Zimmerman
How do the really good players become so? How do the same people seem to always get high rankings in auditions? There is practice, and then there is quality practice! Which kind do you do? Do you just get close or do you really get the music down?

Educator's Viewpoint by Thomas Dvorak
If we lived in a perfect world and could design our band rehearsals upon the models of out-standing conductors, what would they be like?

Recruiting and Retention by Gary Gribble
Instrumental music begins in our school system in sixth grade. It seems that more
kids are getting “hooked” on multiple activities at earlier ages than ever before. We have
summer sports and arts camps for kids as young as four years of age. The potential
downside for our music program is that the kids become totally dedicated to other
activities before they get a chance to join a music program.

Perfecting the Reed by Pat Diller
Located in Mendoza, Argentina, surrounded by the Andes Mountains and vineyards, stands the impressive cane fields of Gonzalez reeds. The fields produce an annual 450,000 to 500, 00 cane plants, making it the largest single cane field in the world. With no pesticides, herbicides, or agrochemicals, a pure “green” product is consistently delivered to reed players around the world.

Great Teaching: Something We All Should Aspire To by David Branson
To be a great teacher is a gift that continues to be received by students for a life time.

HOW TO MAKE REHEARSALS MORE EFFECTIVE by Dr. Frederick Burrack
Interestingly the first area on which to focus in making rehearsals more effective does not coincided with the rehearsal itself. It is in planning.

Regarding the FINE ART OF PRACTICING by Keith M. Zimmerman
Many students do not know how to practice. I find that the teaching of how to practice is something I must cover in depth with college and private students in all but a few cases.

Training the Woodwind Section in Full Band Rehearsal by Randall Spicer
The proper use of rehearsal techniques will result in an improvement of tone, intonation, balance, and blend in all sections of the band. There

Fundamentals of Legato by Phillip O. Paglialonga
There are four primary components to seamless legato: fingers, embouchure, wind and equipment. Each of these categories contributes to the overall sound of your legato in different ways.

Young Instrumentalists Should Learn To Sing So They Can Learn To Hear by Robert Rawlins, Ph.D.
Like many endeavors, becoming a fine instrumentalist requires a broad range of skills. Accurate hearing is among the most important. Unfortunately, many young instrumentalists feel self-conscious about singing and thus neglect a crucial aspect of their training.

Common Characteristics of Outstanding Orchestra by Jacquelyn Dillon-Krass
Tuning: Group tunes quietly and carefully, special attention is paid to careful tuning of basses and cellos, group tunes at the bottom...

School Band and Orchestra Online Magazine

• June Edition
• July Edition

Click the title or the link below to see the May and June 2009 Conn-Selmer Articles for your reading pleasure.

MOUNT PLEASANT -- They've pitched and played defense like champions.

But the Bay City Western Warriors had to slug their way to Battle Creek.

When their pitching and fielding faltered for the first time on the tournament trail, the Warriors found another way to win, erupting with the bats -- including a seven-run, two-out rally in their final swings -- to defeat Hudsonville 15-8 in the Division 1 baseball state quarterfinals.

read the M-Live article by Lee Thompson

Today BCW girl's softball played against Hudsonville High School and after 12 innings and 4 hours of being tied at 2-2 we lost on base hit with bases loaded, 3-2. Hudsonville's all star pitcher was about 6'1'', is a sophomore and already has a full ride to U of M for softball. Her massive size didn't intimidate Western's smallest player. Karrie Jaynes (5'0'') lead the offense with 4 hits!

read the rest >>>

Both the Bay City Western Baseball team and Softball teams have won the regional championship. They are both scheduled to compete in the State quarterfinals on Tuesday at CMU. The Baseball game is at 10:00 am and the Softball game is at 1:00 pm.

Go Marissa!

Dear Music Directors and Parents,

This program will aim to provide access to musical instruments and/ or equipment by utilizing donated property from present and former musicians. Think of it as a sort of “instrument library” for musicians. I would like to invite you and your students to help us, help you.

Read the rest - they're looking for some musicians for the Loons game on June 7.

Did you not get to see Celebration 2009? Did your Grandma in Mississippi not make it to the show? Well they can watch it on the internet at ustream.tv. Once there, you will notice that you can watch either act from all three nights. Enjoy!

Our Podcasts are back! I recorded both Concert Band and Symphonic Band rehearsals on Thursday, April 23 and you can access the recordings through the Podcast link in the navbar at the top.

Please note: You will need to resubscribe to the podcast as the old feed is no longer valid.

February:
Good Teachers Learn to Evaluate Themselves As Well As Their Students by Donald DeRoche, Ph.D.
All of us are involved in evaluating our students, almost continually. We give seating auditions, challenges, playing tests, written tests.

The Academic Status of Musical Training by William Revelli
Music education today is pretty much at a threshold. After a hundred years of having music in the public schools, it still has no status.

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda; Solo and Ensemble Reminders for the Educator by Deborah Perkins
Remember to teach the music, not just the notes. Solo and ensemble judges are waiting to hear musical performances – not just a collection of notes with proper rhythms, but pieces performed with dynamic contrasts and phrases.

Click below to see the rest of the articles.

Right - we got hacked a couple days ago. The site was a complete mess. I'm sorry if you had to see that. Then of course, I had to take it down while I was attempting to fix it - so maybe you saw some of that too. What fun. So, I worked with our website host (jaguarpc.com, btw) and they restored the site to a backup -so, it is possible that we lost a few forum posts or something - maybe. Of course, that service they provide isn't free... Now, I have taken a few measures to counter the hacker, but I can't promise anything. You only become a hacker if you're really smart - and really bored. Obviously, this particular hacker was REALLY bored so they picked a very minor little site in our corner of the internets. Hey! Leave us alone! what did we ever do to you? huh? If we figure out who you are, we're going to come to your house and make the drumline wake you up at 4:00 am! Or worse, we'll ask the oboe section (yes I said SECTION - all SIX of them!) come to your house and attempt to play a unison! take that! we can fight fire with fire! (hmmm, speaking of fire... you know why a bassoon is better than an oboe?)



So, this little episode has only made me want to upgrade the site even more than before, so expect to see something new soon. Ironically, I had already been working on the upgrade plan and was hoping to get the largest chunk of work done over spring break. So, in a way, the timing couldn't be better. :-)