Curated from The Bandmasters Podcast – Kirk Hickman, band director at Hinsdale South High School in Hinsdale, IL, and Eric Wellman, band director at Joliet West High School in Joliet, IL, provide some tips and resources on how percussionists can practice at home (and how percussionists are already used to this type of practice!). Some suggested links from the video/audio: […]
MORECurated from Yamaha Educator Suite – Denis DiBlasio is a natural improviser. He was about 10 years old when his music teacher wrote down a blues scale in F. “He said, ‘Just make up stuff and use these notes,’” DiBlasio says. “I must have played that thing for two years. I just beat that thing to death.” After spending so […]
MORECurated from the Smartmusic Music Educator Blog – What is Sight-Reading? Being able to look at a brand new piece of music and play it at sight is a pretty amazing skill to have. Just think—what we’re trained as musicians to do is to simultaneously scan and identify various symbols and visual cues, register and process each one (both individually […]
MORECurated from Band Directors Talk Shop – Advice about clarinet embouchure in the clarinet pedagogy literature is fairly consistent no matter where one looks. Keep the chin flat and pointed, corners of the mouth to the center, touch the reed with the tip of the tongue, angle of the instrument between 30 and 45 degrees. If everyone does this, why […]
MORECurated from Band Directors Talk Shop – You may find it surprising to hear me say that I haven’t significantly changed the way I teach tone, vibrato, and dynamics since I have switched to lessons and ensembles entirely online. The issues students present with are the same as they ever were. However, I’ve had to significantly up my game in […]
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