It Helps to Take a Village: Performing at Midwest

The Midwest Clinic is known the world over as a premier place for music. It is therefore an absolute honor to be accepted to perform here. This afternoon I sat in on a chat room with several directors who took bands to the Clinic this year. The first step in their Midwest journey was the audition itself. Midwest has very strict parameters for auditioning groups, and they must be adhered to exactly. Bands need to submit recordings on both audio and video of them performing two songs, one of which must be a march (which can only be chosen from a list of approved composers). Then the director must solicit letters of recommendation from 3 colleagues. All of this must then be uploaded to Midwest's website by the middle of March. Then they sit back and wait for Midwest to make their decision. The real work begins once a band is accepted though. First, accepted directors have to come to Chicago for a one day meeting in June. Then there are the requirements for the performance itself. Half the music on the program must be no older than 2 years, and nothing that has been played at Midwest for the last 3 years can be played. Difficult pieces have to be balanced with easier ones, the program has to be submitted 3 months in advance and cannot be changed, and did I mention that the performing group is responsible for all costs of traveling, lodging, and incidentals? That is where engaging the community is key. Each director shared stories of successfully doing just that. They each said that finding ways to 'take the community along' was a surefire way to give the program a shot in the arm. Even things as simple as getting some programs printed up and using them to solicit donations more than makes up for the costs of printing them up. Performing at Midwest is a worthwhile effort that will stick with students for a lifetime. Involving the community just makes it that much sweeter.

More Big Reeds!

Remember the big reed I posted about yesterday? Well, it has some company. This time I spied with my little eye a bigger-than-normal box of them. These may not belong to Godzilla, but they sure belong to someone big. Once again, you'd better find their rightful owner, cause Hell hath no fury like a musician whose reeds have gone missing.

Fundraising For the 21st Century

Gone are the days of boring old candy sales or useless gift wrap that ultimately gets tossed into the wastebin. The future of fundraising has arrived, and two exhibitors at Midwest are on the cutting edge of that future. The first company, smartcell, provides organizations with cellphone accessories that they can sell to raise money. The accessories are offered for very competitive prices, and the bundles easily come in at under market value. They are able to offer this because their operation involves very little overhead, allowing them to enable organizations to bring in large margins. The second company is Snap-Raise. This takes selling completely out of the hands of organizations by turning to online fundraising and texting campaigns. The average group raises roughly $11,000. These two companies succeed in offering innovative fundraising solutions.

So, You Wanna do Music in College?

Last night, The Skyline Ballroom at McCormick Place West was crawling with high school students and their parents all trying to figure out what their little darlings would do for themselves for the next 4 years. Ever since 1988, the Midwest Clinic has been helping out with that via its annual College Night. A litany of different schools that offer music degrees are in attendance and are ready and willing to help high schoolers with this most important of choices. Additionally, College Night has been held on the same day as the High School Institute ever since the latter started in 2011. This makes it even more convenient for those students to stop by and start planning their futures. For those interested in attending next year's edition, registration opens in October 2017.

Music to Midwest's Ears

As attendees were streaming out of the exhibit halls at McCormick Place West, they were greeted by the festive sounds of the season. For the 4th straight year, members of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia(a national Music Fraternity) gathered to perform a holiday Step Sing. For this affair, the Brothers sang selections from a holiday songbook, as well as a few other fraternity songs. The concert was well received by all, marking a fulfilling end to Day 2 of the Midwest Clinic.

Music For All, Hazing For None

One of the most frequent refrains that arises about the Music Education sphere is that it is a perpetually underfunded, disrespected, and neglected victim that only exists by the grace of God and after hard lobbying. Sometimes that is true, but one panel at Midwest addresses concerns that this humble mindset is becoming permanent. The panel was led by Robert Morrison, one of the most prolific music education advocates of our time. In addition to being the founder of Music For All and being the first CEO of the Save The Music Foundation, he helped create the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation during his time with NAMM. His lifetime of advocacy work has earned him an Emmy, a Peabody Award, and the gratitude of Music Educators everywhere. In his talk he shared a story of a particularly memorable experience at VH1's Concert of The Century in 1999. At one point he asked President Clinton to go onstage and say a few words. Without any script at all, he went on to tell an impassioned story about how much his music teachers helped him develop as a musician and as a person. It was a very compelling address. He then talked some about how students can feel more welcomed into programs. For those of you who don't know, the way school music programs work is a lot like a professional baseball team. Students are drafted into the program at a young age (typically 4th or 5th Grade), and then they advance up through the grades and ranks till they hit High School. Along the way, plenty leave the 'organization', but there isn't a really easy way for late-comers to get in the system and not feel out of place. And this is something I can attest to from personal experience. I started in 5th Grade, and though a lot of people quit band, fewer people came into it from the outside. Morrison advised making it easier for kids to enter later. He brought up many good points, but they all came back to one idea. How can Music Educators reach out to all kids and make them feel welcome? One way to not welcome new kids into the fold is Hazing, which brings us to the next panel: 'The Dark Side of Tradition: Strategies for Eliminating Hazing and Bullying in the School Band Program'  As you all doubtlessly know, hazing and bullying are only getting to be bigger problems, even in the Band Room. This panel shared some pointers on ways to detect hazing and how to stop it. You know the traditional signs, but there are more subtle ways of Hazing too. Anything that physically or mentally harms a person can be hazing, and that is a pretty broad definition. They recommended developing a supportive culture, one that resembles a family. The more the students care about each other, the less likely hazing is. The point of both of these sessions is to be vigilant, attend to your student's needs, and to advocate for your kids, yourself, and your program.

Music From a Galaxy Far, Far, Away.

Last year at Midwest, a fascinating spectacle was present at the Hal Leonard booth. A score for Star Wars: The Force Awakens sealed under lock and key till the movie came out. While I have not seen anything like that this year, I have seen a sign at that booth advertising the availability of music from Rogue One. Another year, another highly anticipated Star Wars release.

Master of The March

The unquestioned guru of the March is John Philip Sousa. And the unquestioned biggest appreciator of Sousa is the United States Marine Band, who has been playing Sousa marches since Sousa himself directed the ensemble over 130 years ago. Therefore it is only fitting that the Marine Band should be the featured ensemble in 'Making the March King: The Sousa March in Form, Style, and Performance'. The first thing that should be mentioned is that the Marine Band already performed 3 times yesterday, and here they were back in clinic at 8:30 in the morning. Clearly they're the real MVPs here. Onstage with the Band was Patrick Warfield, a Musicologist and biographer of Sousa. With the assistance of the ensemble, Mr. Warfield proceeded to take us though Sousa's history with marches. Early on, Sousa's marches were strictly functional, used while the Band was parading and utilizing a lot of repeats and looping back in the piece so that all of the spectators along the parade route would be able to hear a good majority of the pice being played. But eventually the Marine Band (as well as Sousa himself) because extremely busy and reduced the number of parades that they did. Sousa was now faced with a problem: how do you take a music form that is meant to be very functional and played in a parade setting and make that same piece fit into a concert setting? This quandry led Sousa to make several unique tweaks to the form of his marches over the next several years. The first and most prevalent of those was making several un-notated changes in his pieces,  making then sound different from their as-written counterparts (a difference then demonstrated by the Marine Band). Another innovation he put into play was the extended trio, making the light parts between the heavy brass sections longer and more dynamically contrasted. As you might imagine, this change captivated audiences. All of these changes culminated in 1896, when Sousa wrote The Stars and Stripes Forever (the greatest American March). Audiences loved it. One contemporary reviewer said that the song was "stirring enough to rouse the American Eagle from its crag, and send a shriek exaltedly while he hurls his arrow at the Aurora Borealis!" You may think that an overstatement, but get back to me after you've played the trumpet on the triumphant ending to the song. It is practically a religious experience. The current Marine Band is doing its part to preserve Sousa's legacy of marches. Since 2014 they have been on a mission to record every single Sousa march. The recordings are being released online free of charge on the Marine Band's website.

That's a Big Reed!

This year Midwest features 75,000 square feet of exhibit space, so you're sure to find some interesting stuff. Like this giant reed I saw at an exhibitor's booth. It's either part of an absolutely massive instrument, or part of their sales pitch. I'm not 100% sure, so if you see Godzilla running around Chicago in a panic, tell him he left his reed at Midwest.

The Football Team vs. The Band

It's the age old question that has flummoxed students, athletes, coaches, and directors: The Big Game is this weekend. Meanwhile, the biggest performance of the year is this weekend too(Maybe at Midwest). The first chair Trumpet player and the star of the team happen to be the same person. Just what do you do? That question is hopefully answered in Mike Morgan's presentation 'Tearing Down the Wall between Music and Athletics' Mr. Morgan comes from a small town in Washington state, where he is both the Band Director and the Head Football Coach. This gives him a unique perspective on the topic. In 2010, he wrote an article in the Music Educators Journal, which he has since parlayed into a presentation he has given to both music educators and coaches across the country. He lead off the talk by asking us to ponder stereotypes of both athletes and musicians. That lead into a comparison of different attributes that athletes and musicians both use in plying their trades. He even invoked Plato, referencing the great philosopher's belief that people needed to partake of athletics and the Fine Arts to be well-rounded. This in turn lead to statistics showing that athletes and musicians both finished in top percentiles in positive attributes that will help them later in life. The talk ended with an entreaty against the growing trend of over-specialization at younger ages. If Kenny Chesney, Doug Flutie, and Pete Carroll can excel in sports and music, so can our children.

'Fireside' Chats

The 70th Midwest Clinic features a lot of tried and true sessions, but also some new experiences. One of those new features is the Chat Room, designed to give attendees a more intimate experience with clinicians. It builds off a format that was used at Midwest in the 50s, but has been updated. The first such Chat this year just wrapped up 45 minutes ago, and featured composing great Frank Ticheli. For those of us knowledgeable in music, this is a "Randolph Scott" moment for us(see: Blazing Saddles). The chat was supposed to be capped at 20 people, but attendance far exceeded that number. Luckily, there was plenty of overflow space. Ticheli soon came in and started his chat, beginning with mentioning his forthcoming methods book, which is the product of two years of work. As opposed to other books, Ticheli's is divided into lessons, and at the end of each lesson there is an actual excerpt from a song, some of which are by Ticheli himself (hey, can't blame the guy for self-promotion). This provides a great way to apply the techniques learned in each lesson. Ticheli then offered some advice on composing and band-leading. When asked how aspiring composers could find their voices, he advised to not so much look for it, as to let it find you. He then gave tips for those emulating a role model in their compositions. The trick isn't so much to 'steal' from them, but to get yourself so you see like them. As for working with a group as a conductor, the most interesting tip he gave pertains to conducting oneself while leading. Specifically, ensuring your actions match the mood of the piece being played. He gave the example of not issuing an abrupt cutoff at the end of a slow, melodic piece so as to not disrupt the headspace of the students playing it. The first Chat Room of Midwest's modern era was a success, thanks to the knowledge of Frank Ticheli.

Winter Music Fun and Fellowship

Starting today, thousands of people will converge upon McCormick Place West to participate in the 70th Annual Midwest Clinic. This gathering of Band and Orchestra directors has been fostering the exchange of ideas since 1946. Over the years, the Clinic has expanded to multiple days, performance opportunities for ensembles the world over, and opportunities for High School students to get a taste of a day at the Clinic. Over the next 3 days, Chicago 365 will be here at Midwest, giving all of you a taste of things as they are here at McCormick Place West. Ready, Set...GO!