Under Lock and Key(and other stories): Midwest Day 1

     Wednesday morning, hordes of music devotees swarmed McCormick Place West to convene the 69th Annual Midwest Clinic. Greeting them was the usual assortment of Clinics, performances, and exhibits. One such exhibit was at the Hal Leonard booth, which featured concert band arrangements of different pop hits, such as: 

Take On Me,

and Hello

     
     However, the most attractive piece at that booth had a place of honor in the front corner: a score for Star Wars The Force Awakens. It is currently under lock and key, but on Friday they'll be able to start taking orders so that all band directors can have the latest Star Wars music. Also in the hall was something called the pTrumpet. Simply put, it is a Trumpet mad of plastic that sounds exactly like the real thing. This means that it is slightly more durable, which is a good thing if you give to children. Next up was a clinic about how to incorporate the Common Core standards into teaching music. The facilitator offered up several good tips to help out teachers.

     Passing by another booth devoted to selling different kinds of Australian music, the exhibitor was handing out pieces of Australian candy. And it had caramel in the middle! Yes! Another exhibitor was selling flavored reeds. These are exactly what they sound like, and are also quite interesting. Then I ran into another booth selling a program called Learning From The Legends. These videos feature an expert at an instrument giving what amounts to a videotaped private lesson on how to play a piece. They even go measure by measure through the piece and elaborate on how they like to perform it. You can find a link to their site here. All told, the first day of the Midwest Clinic went very well. We'll be back with more news from McCormick Place tomorrow.

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