Allow me to share the story behind the performance and the rating from this 46-yr old piece of falling-apart paper.
Throughout high school, Robert Roden was my clarinet teacher. I was the first chair clarinet at Holmes HS in Covington, KY. He also taught the first chair clarinet student from Simon Kenton (where he was Band Director) and at Campbell County HS. We were all in the same grade and had been competing with each other throughout high school when it came to District and All State ensembles.
For Solo Contest senior year HE GAVE ALL THREE OF US THE SAME SOLO!
It was a crazy difficult Theme and Variations on “Au Clair de la Lune”.
It created quite a stir as it became a bragging rights contest between the three bands.
When the schedule came out, I was third to go.
Pressure.
The first girl went – got a “I” (Superior) Rating. The room was fairly full with mostly students from her school.
More pressure.
The second girl went – got a “I” (Superior) Rating. Again, the room was fairly full.
Pressure cooker.
When I went, there were students from all three schools who couldn’t even all get into the room.
The piece is structured with a theme, piano interlude, variation, interlude, variation, etc.
The judge is Earl Thomas, clarinet professor at Eastern Kentucky University. He knew me well as I had studied with him four summers at the Stephen Collins Foster Music Camp at his school.
As I am ready to begin, Thomas says,
Mr. Gardner, I don’t think I have ever heard this piece performed at the high school level and this is the third time I am hearing it today.
(I explain we three had the same teacher).
Cruel.
Well sir, since I have already heard this piece twice, can we just cut out the piano interludes? Just play each section, pause, and go on to the next.
For those who know me, I hope you would agree that my biggest strength is technique while my biggest challenges are endurance (and nerves). I could play fast, but I really needed those breaks. GONE.
I got so worried about losing the interlude breaks that I forgot to get nervous about performing….. I always wondered if, knowing me, he did that on purpose just to see how I’d respond.
At the end of my performance, HE STOOD UP FOR ME …. and then gave me the highest rating of the three. Yay!
In the spirit of Forrest Gump who put out Gump-isms like, “Life is like a box of chocolates…..You never know what you’re gonna get”, I offer the following sayings that sometime happen in band rehearsals and private studio lessons.
“Good Grades Do Pay.”
We all hear about college paying for good athletes, but they will also pay for good intellectuals. Pick up a brochure from just about any college and you’ll find a place in there where they list things like 1) Average SAT/ACT score or 2) National Merit Scholars.
If your SAT/ACT score is higher than the college’s average, then they WANT YOU because you will raise their average. To many schools, both the average SAT/ACT scores and the number of National Merit Scholars they have represent “bragging rights”. But instead of accidentally stumbling into success, strategically plan for it, and then systematically execute your plan.
The first major test is one often ignored, the PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test). Sophomores and Juniors can take the PSAT, which gives colleges some early information they can use to recruit. The PSAT is also the NMSQT (National Merit Scholar Qualifying test). Colleges will pay for National Merit Scholars. They brag about how may NM Scholars they have in their community. This is a test worth practicing and preparing for. Treat your preparation as a part-time job.
How much money can you make at minimum wage?
The other test(s) worth studying and preparing for are the SAT, the ACT and the SAT II’s (specific subject tests required by some schools).
“Colleges Pay for those who Play – WELL!”
Don’t ignore the ARTS corner of the Triangle-A (Athletics, Academics, Arts). I remember a conversation I had with son #1 as we sat in the driveway of his trumpet teacher’s house and I was writing that check for an hour-long lesson:
“I am paying for your college education one week at a time.
By the time you get to college,
you need to be good enough
that colleges will pay for you.”
I did not pay for MY college education. As one of five children raised in a single parent household by a polio survivor mother, I knew there was no way my family could send me to college. I knew that the only way I would get to college was for a college to pay for me to come. I wasn’t going to qualify academically and was completely non-Athletic. But by 8th grade, I realized I could play the clarinet pretty well – and set off on a track to make that my way in to college. Some of the things I did related to that:
* When my friends were out cruising, I was practicing.
(Not much choice as I didn’t have a car.)
* When my friends were going to the movies, I was practicing.
(Not much choice as I didn’t have spending money.)
* I took clarinet lessons all through high school.
* I participated in Summer Music Camps. I spent three 4-week sessions at the Stephen Foster Music Camp at Eastern Kentucky University and two summers at the 2-week Summer Camp at Morehead State University. Colleges offer camps and clinics to recruit: to get to know prospects and to give them an opportunity to fall in love with the college. In those cases, I got to study for short times with the clarinet professors at both universities. When it came time to select a college, both of those were recruiting me because they already knew me. And, of course, having intense rehearsals and master classes all day for the summer makes one a much better musician.
* I auditioned for specialty and clinic bands. Northern Kentucky had a “Select Band” which rehearsed for 1-2 days and gave a concert. I also participated all 4 years in the Kentucky All-State Band. There was the Morehead State University Band Clinic.
* I participated in several ensembles and played a solo every year at Solo/Ensemble Festival. I received 1-II, 14-I’s and 1-I+. Both my sons surpassed that, with Son #2 achieving over 42 Gold Medal ratings in District and State in instrumental and vocal.
Son #1 did not pay for his college education. Do you notice anything similar about our paths and strategies?
* Trumpet Lessons starting in 7th grade.
* Honor Band
* Solo/Ensemble Festival – three trips to State
* Music Camp – (KY) twice
* Music Camp – (IN)
* Jazz Camp – (TN) * Youth Symphony
* All-State Band
* Summer Substitute with the Philharmonic Orchestra
* Everything Band in high school, including Marching (2yrs), Concert, Jazz, Varsity Brass (Show Choir Backup), Musicals.
In fact, there were some semesters when he would register for classes that the school would give HIM a check. That was because each year:
– $2500 each year from the Presidential Scholarship (National Merit Finalist)
– $2000 each year from the University to completely cover in-state-tuition
– $5000 from the Honors Program (ACT score, National Honor Society) to completely cover out of state tuition
– $3500 from the Music Department to completely cover housing
– $1000 from the Trumpet Studio
======
$14,000 … at a time when the total cost at TTU (Tennessee Tech) was about $10,500/yr.
He also received local scholarships. I recall that for one of those scholarships he called the person in charge because he missed the “postmark date” and wanted to see if he could drive it to her home (local). Her response was, “Please do, honey ….. your application will be the only one we have.” See scholarship -ism below.
Son #2 went to a Top Tier school for a state school price. That university’s current tuition is over $61,000/yr. He had the grades but not the money. An Admissions counselor made me a promise (which they kept),
“If we decide we want him, we will get him here.”
It is sad to see high school students who are pretty good in their local band go off to top-ranked music schools to face rejection because they settled for mediocrity in high school – because they could. Some of the students I teach at the university come in as music majors never having studied privately. It is really hard to make it at the college level without specialty instruction in high school. There is only so much that can be done in the large ensemble for which there is a “free” teacher. Assuming there is some talent/ability involved, you can almost look at the concept as a “Pay Now vs Pay Later”.
You can INVEST in your training and experiences throughout high school and go for the music scholarships in college, or PAY the sticker price.
“It doesn’t matter whether you win or lose — until you lose.”
I used to have a poster in front of my band room showing a rifle girl, her head down as she was dragging her rifle behind her…..featuring that quote.
“If the notes are on the paper, it is your job to play ALL of them.”
This was my response to a student who asked, “How much of it do we have to play?” I often tell students that it is my job as a director to help mold and blend the sound, and to correct errors…… not to teach notes. Learning the notes is the student’s job.
“If you’re going to play it, you might as well play it right.”
Why hurt the ensemble and waste valuable rehearsal time when it doesn’t take that much more effort to do it right the first time?
“The view from 1st chair is much better.”
“Private Lessons can be like paying for college — one week at a time.”
“Be prepared: Make sure your parents are getting their money’s worth.”
I have had students come to clarinet/sax lessons without their music, ….. and one, without his instrument. One college music major lesson started (and ended) like this:
Student: I don’t know how to tell you this, but I just didn’t have time to practice this week.
Me: This is your 3rd week in a row with excuses. This is your major instrument. This is your major. This is just as important as that English, Math or Psychology assignment. This affects your grade too. I heard you sight-read this music last week when it was supposed to be practiced to performance-grade. I don’t need to hear you sight-read it again. You take this time and practice. I’ll see you next week.
When I was paying for lessons, I wanted my money’s worth. And I tell my students to give their parents their money’s worth, i.e. don’t waste my time or their money.
“Santa isn’t the only one who knows whether you’ve been bad (no practice) or good.”
If you engage in systematic study, your teacher/coach will get to know you well enough to know when you’ve practiced for your lesson. Make sure your parents are getting their money’s worth.
“You can’t sight read in your lesson and get away with it. I’m better than that.”
“Like the ice skater who misses the quad, missing notes in public can hurt.”
Mistakes are going to happen. They just are. When you watch ice skating on TV, even at the world championship or Olympic level, there are mistakes. What I often explain in private lessons is that they probably hit that jump a high percentage of times in practice. Performance rarely goes better than practice. If you aren’t doing it in practice, what do you think will happen in performance?
“Anybody can be mediocre. Not you. Not with me. Don’t even think about it.”
Mediocre means average. Anybody can be average. When talking about the lukewarm (mediocre) church, Jesus said he would prefer that it had been hot or cold, but because it was lukewarm, he would spit it out of His mouth. The Star Wars Jedi Knight Yoda says, “Do, or do not, there is no TRY”.
“You can practice hard now and have fun at performance, or you can have fun now…”
High school life is so much about social life and relationships. The tendency is to bring that into the rehearsal. You can take it easy now, but then be disappointed with the results — or you can work hard, pay the price and enjoy the rewards and satisfaction of demonstrated excellence.
“Do you really want me to tell you it was good — if it wasn’t?”
Students usually know if it was good or bad. There is that balance between encouragement and improvement. When that balance is achieved, improvement happens. After a tough run of a marching band show, as we were ending the rehearsal, which we usually tried to do on a ‘high note’, after another staff member gave a critique, I asked the students; “Do you want the sugar-coated version, or do you want it straight?” They wanted it straight – which enabled us to end on a ‘good note’.
“Fix it — or I will find you!”
I’m decent with those “hearing eyes” and “seeing ears”, i.e. knowing whether what you’re hearing from the ensemble is what you are looking at in the score. There would be times I would hear something, stop the ensemble, look at the score — and then in the general direction the mistake came from. They know I could find them, and sometimes, by the time I would look up, there would already be a student with his/her hand up confessing, “It was me.”
There are surprises every year at Solo/Ensemble contest. I would spend the day encouraging, listening, supporting, congratulating, and consoling. Without question, the experience students gain from participation is strong.
Life is not always fair, and neither are judges. A high school principal once commented to me after a disappointing marching band result that…
“They should judge these things the way we do basketball; points happen when the ball goes through the basket.”
At the end of the day of a Solo/Ensemble festival a few years ago, when two directors were complaining to the site official about the same particular judge, the official response was that…
“…that score represents a personal, professional opinion. That is what we hire them to do.”
There are problematic (for me to justify) judges in solo/ensemble festivals: …
I was putting together a practice sheet for a student when I found I’d already done that. I may post that another time…..but at the end of it, I had some quotes….from me, my son’s trumpet professor and my clarinet professor. Oh, I may also do a more substantial post of my teacher’s comments, these were some of his rare positive ones.
“You should not have to tell someone you are good. BE good. PLAY good (well). And if you ARE good, others will tell you…. and that IS good.”
–me
“Always be modest and humble…..until you put that [trumpet] in your hand and step up to perform ….and then you become one mean, arrogant, confident, son of a [band parent]!” –Dr. CD, Professor of Trumpet at Tennessee Tech University (son’s teacher)
“Fast notes…! So what! NASA can teach monkeys how to wiggle fingers and push buttons. Fast notes deserve to be musical too!”
“Why do you insist on getting nervous when you perform? That is wasted energy and nerves make mistakes. Consider how many people in the audience could do what you are doing. Do what you know you can do and make them stand up.” –Dr. PM, Professor of Clarinet at University of Kentucky
Most participants in high school solo competitions are only in the performance room long enough for his/her performance and maybe for a couple friends’. They could learn so much by sitting and listening/observing for a while.
During some down time in between local student performances at a state level contest, I sat in a few performance rooms just to hear examples of what other students around the state are doing. I did not expect to see the wide range of performance quality given that I was at a STATE level contest and everyone participating had already received a GOLD (top) rating at district competition. If I had to summarize that experience, it would be with the conclusion that…
…not all music education results are created equal.
When our practice did not bring everyone to the proficient level, occasionally I had to tell someone (or some people) to simplify or not play a particularly tough passage.
I only recall one time that I actually, after exhaustive (I thought) time devoted to one piece with outrageous runs, that I actually gave the woodwinds a “cheat” run. It worked, as the judges either didn’t catch it, or chose not to ‘ding’ us for it, but I always regretted resorting to that.
I want to be careful and mindful posting this. As far as I know, no one was hurt. I’ve heard people say marching band is easy. If you say that, you should try it. I mean….out there on the field. For a few years, at the end of Band Camp, we would invite parents to learn a portion of drill with their student. Of course, we didn’t really give them time to learn it because that was not the point. It DID give those parents a new perspective on what their student was doing.
Most of these types of fails would not have happened (often) when I was marching…..but today’s complex drills, fast paces, close intervals and backward marching…. well….
Watch for a laugh……but it is marching season, and KUDOS to the way those in this video responded through their fail.
Go ahead. You can laugh out loud. Then go cheer on a marching band.
In the high school where I taught, we were just beginning to work on Africa: Ceremony, Song and Ritual. It was an incredible piece of music written to display some of the beauty and complexity of African music and drumming.
I have two “racist”-related stories to go with our preparation of this piece. The first happened several years ago when I invited (and then had to un-invite) an area African drumming group to come to our school to lead a Master Class for our students and open our concert. That will be for another post.
More recently, as part of our discussion and preparation, I spoke with the class about how African drums are considered “sacred” and that we would treat this music and our performance of it with that type of respect.
As part of that discussion, I spoke a little of my son’s study abroad experience during his undergraduate work at Duke University, when he spent a summer in Ghana. He was one source of telling me how reverently the Gananians treated the drumming instruments. He also told me the exceptional level of respect they gave “white people”, especially men.
He stepped over some local cultural norms when he insisted on helping with the food preparation and in washing his own clothes. It should be noted that the home where he stayed was considered one of a “nobleman” from the area.
Not comfortable with the female servants doing his laudry, David tried to do his own. The best he could get was for them to let him help them.
“Everyone wanted their picture taken with the white guy, and they wanted hugs. When I went to church, they would always set me on the front row, if not on the platform itself.” -David Gardner
What really sparked the shocked response was when I told this class (mostly white with a small hispanic component) about my son’s experience in a Drumming Circle, where several of the students from his trip participated. The comment that the drumming leader made (multiple times) was that….
“You all are playing like a bunch of WHITE PEOPLE.”
I got a noticeable gasp of disbelief and shock when I shared that quote. I explained that this was not something a white person said, but rather was a critical statement made by a Gananian African about how non-Africans were playing his instruments.
I was not trying to be or show any form of racial disrespect, but rather, to use a quote from someone who should know the instrument….. Incident averted.
I learned late today that May 20th is National Band Director’s Day. I’ve had several directors who have impacted me different ways.
ROBERT CROWDER took over some of the elementary school bands when my initial teacher (more, in a moment) worked out to stay at the high school. Mr. Crowder was the first black teacher I had any extended contact with. He was so nice and soft spoken. He taught me at 10th District in grades 6-7. I was in 8th grade, at the huge, inner-city @2500 student Jr/Sr high when MLK was killed. Racial tensions were sky high for a while, including daily walk-outs 10 minutes before school end by hundreds of black students. I didn’t experience it directly, but apparently Mr. Crowder did a lot to help restore a calmer atmosphere in the school.
SAMUEL SANDERS was my Jr High director in 8th grade. I was 1st chair, but always goofing off in rehearsal. He pulled me aside one day and said something like, “You’ve got a lot of potential, but you’re going to throw it all away if you’re not careful.” That impacted me and I changed.
JAMES COPENHAVER taught me in his and my first years. I was in 5th grade and he just got the job. He didn’t like the way I held my horn. He sat down next to me, quietly explained hand position while patting me on the top of my head with his college ring turned around. I have great hand position still. Freshman year, he pulled me aside to say, “I understand you want to be a band director. That means you will have to go to college and I know your family can’t send you. You have four years to work on that clarinet, so that, by the time you graduate, you’ll be good enough that schools will pay for you to come.” He was right. I have so many stories about him. To say he was a strict taskmaster might be an understatement, but he did so many things to help me along. He got me scholarships to summer camps and connected me to the best clarinet teacher (below) in the area. He left after my sophomore year. He taught me to always strive, not only for excellence but for the top spot. I tried to pay him forward when I taught. It was hard because his tactics would be problematic today….but I get enough notes and feedback from students and parents that I know I impacted some lives.
RICHARD FOUST moved up from the Asst position for my last two years of high school. He was a great jazz musician. Overall, he kept the band strong through my graduation.
ROBERT RODEN was my clarinet teacher throughout high school. He was also a band director. He had the first chair clarinetists from two other area high schools in his studio. (Senior year he gave the three of us the same solo for festival). Mr. Copenhaver convinced him to give me an ‘audition’. After listening from his living room lounge chair, he offered me lessons with a condition. “You’re pretty good. I can help you get better, but you can’t afford me. I have a bad heart and am not supposed to do much hard work, so if you will mow my lawn, shovel my snow and do whatever else I need around the house, I will give you lessons UNTIL the day you show up here unprepared.” I have tried to pass that forward, but it is hard to find that level of commitment in the lives of super-busy teens. Mr. Roden died in the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in 1976. There were @160 deaths. My dad was off duty, but at the fire helping fire fighters.
WM HARRY CLARKE was my college band director. The day I walked into the Fine Arts building for a visit, there was a music major at the door waiting for me, calling me by name and escorting me to meet Mr. Clarke. I learned a lot about conducting and rehearsal technique from him. One skill I never mastered was his ability to always remember names. We had a huge band and he knew everyone by name. That is powerful.
PHILLIP MILLER was my college orchestra director and clarinet professor. He was a good teacher, not such a good human. Other than telling me he had wasted four years of his life on me (when he found out I was an education vs performance major), the most memorable takeaway for me was that, just before I would walk on stage for a solo performance, his words to me were, “Make them stand up.”
“If the notes are on the paper, it is your job to play ALL of them.”-John Gardner
Too often, when I have heard high school (and college) students perform a piece, there are then inevitable technical passages. Rarely do I hear long technical passages played cleanly and correctly. The word ‘slop’ comes to mind. The reason the performance contains slop is because the practice contained slop.
Here’s how a typical high schooler practices:
Start at the beginning
Play to the technical passage
Slop
Stop
Go back to the beginning and start over.
Repeat the above steps.
Cleaning technical passages
Stop repeating what you CAN play and concentrate on what you can’t. I suggest circling those 3-5 most problematic spots in a solo. Then, when you start to play the piece, instead of starting at the beginning, start with the problem passages. Play them first — and last, twice as often as the rest of the piece. Don’t always start at the beginning just so you can sound good.
Always, ALWAYS stop and fix it.
Break longer passages into smaller pieces
Play the first 4 sixteenths plus the first note of the next beat.
Do that until you can play it PERFECTLY 3 times in a row.
Play the next set of 4 sixteenths plus one note. Get it perfect 3x.
Play beats one and two. Perfect.
Play beat 3.
Play beats 1-2-3.
etc.
Slow it down, get it right, and then speed it up GRADUALLY.
Use a metronome (free apps available for iPod, iPad.
Start with a tempo at which you can play it perfectly.
Increase the speed on the metronome no more than 5 beats per minute.
Don’t increase until you are consistently clean and correct.
Change the rhythm. What you are doing is practicing small groups of notes quickly without playing all of them quickly at the same time. By reversing and changing these rhythms, you are playing different groups of notes quickly.
Play 16ths as if you’re playing dotted eighth/sixteenth combination, exaggerating the quickness of the 16th.
REVERSE. Now play pairs of 16ths as sixteenth/dotted eighth. This is harder to do.
Then play them as three triplet sixteenths and an eighth note.
REVERSE to play eighth plus three triplet sixteenths.
Practice your performance, record yourself, critique your performance, mark your music and repeat the above cleaning steps.
A youth baseball quote I recall from years ago comes to mine;
I was putting together a practice sheet for a student when I found I’d already done that. I may post that another time…..but at the end of it, I had some quotes….from me, my son’s trumpet professor and my clarinet professor. Oh, I may also do a more substantial post of my teacher’s comments, these were some of his rare positive ones.
I spent much of my teaching career telling students that,
