WEBVTT

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Hey band BFFs, this is Katie here. I wanted to

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let you know that this week is going to be a

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special episode just for you. Recently, Laura

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and I met with Kyle Smith, who is in charge of

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the growing band director podcast, and we got

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a chance to speak with him about all kinds of

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great things like our our band BFFs podcast,

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but also getting some advice from him and how

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he chooses music. We got to talk about some of

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our very favorite pieces and advice that we have

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for lots of different age levels of band directors.

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So we hope that you enjoy this crossover episode

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of band BFFs and the growing band director podcast.

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Welcome back to the Growing Band Director podcast.

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This is episode number 299. I'm here with Katie

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and Laura from Band BFF's podcast. Hello. Beautiful.

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Thanks for being here. Appreciate it. Of course.

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We're here on a Friday after school. Yes. So

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we're all working at probably max 50 % right

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now. That's fair. We're going to fake it till

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we make it, man. Story of our careers. That's

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right. I would think. Yep. So nice to meet you

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guys. I got kind of hooked up with you guys through

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Mark Kaspersen of TuneOcaddy. He kind of mentioned

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that he loves listening to your podcast. And

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we love Mark. He's the best. He's awesome. So

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what I love about the episodes I've listened

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to of yours is that your mission of helping people

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with programming, right, is like just a huge.

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And if we talk about like the big things about

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being a band director, like programming's up

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there. It's such a huge. So I'm just curious,

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how did you guys kind of stumble upon this platform

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and how to do it and your mission and all that?

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Absolutely. So Laura and I were best friends.

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And so a long time ago, we're in a book club

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together. Probably about three or four years

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ago, we read a book called Office BFFs. And it's

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from the two ladies that are on the office. Which

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I feel terrible. I can't think of the actress's

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name right now. You mean Poehler? No, no, no.

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Sorry. I can't remember. So Jenna Fisher, Jenna

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Fisher. And what's the lady's name? Dwight and?

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the pan up Yeah. It's bad that we don't know.

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That one, that one. Something Kinsey, Angela

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Kinsey, that's it. That's it, that's it. Pam

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and Angela, Pam and Angela. Yes. So anyways,

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they wrote a book that we read in, in book club.

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And it was about how they met professionally

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through the office, but through, you know, recording

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the episodes and hanging out and everything,

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they became real life best friends. And then

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they stayed that way for the rest of their life.

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They, they brought up their children together

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and all that good stuff. So Laura and I had,

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like gotten together after we read that, and

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we really wanted to start a podcast that would

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be focused on helping young band directors in

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some way as a way for us to mentor and give back

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to other people. Well, and I'll interject for

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just a second. Katie is the one who came up with

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the idea of doing a podcast, and she was, she

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was, I mean, for. over a year, she would be like,

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I still have that thing about doing a podcast,

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and I'm on board, we just have to have a, it

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has to be something that's different than what

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anyone else does. There's a ton of band director

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podcasts out there, and we don't want to reinvent

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the wheel. And it just took us a little while

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to kind of find what we thought the right niche

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for us was going to be. Right. And so we decided

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that something both of us felt really good and

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passionate about was programming. Like you mentioned,

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it's something that a lot of young directors

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and even like season directors like us struggle

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with at times, especially if the instrumentation

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of your group is not always like what is more

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traditional for other people. So we kind of come

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at it from the perspective of we've both had

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small bands, big bands, bands with no trumpets,

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bands with trumpets. So we kind of use that experience

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to help other younger directors. throughout the

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whole United States. And you know to be honest

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I and Katie and I've talked a lot about this

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late now in the you know uh and towards the end

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of uh the career um I am feeling certainly more

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compelled to help younger teachers like moving

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from the student realm to the teacher realm and

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this was a great way for us to kind of you know

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shift into that uh that territory. I mean, it's

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such a need for all teachers, but especially

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if you go to college students and you say, name

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grade two pieces. They, you know, they just don't

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know. And no matter what colleges do, they're

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not going to get enough. So that's why I try

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to put out a lot of pieces. I like to talk about

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all the pieces. You do it definitely a different

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way how you really get in depth with every single

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piece. Also, you mentioned the country, the world.

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I mean, when you're doing a podcast, it's it's

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everywhere. Like you would say, yeah, I don't

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know if you've heard from but like I get messages,

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hey, we're in New Zealand and there's no professional

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development. And this podcast you listen to is

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like it. So. which is amazing right because then

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you know you're having an impact on anybody that

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just needs it you know not everybody can have

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access to a mentor or somebody to help them so

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if and we have had a lot of people reach out

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and like oh my gosh your episode on whatever

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piece was so helpful to me because i just didn't

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really know where to start or what to do or if

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it would fit my band so yeah it's awesome and

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it's rewarding to hear that from other people

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absolutely yeah it's also nice to hear that somebody

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listened because you do it and you put it out

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and you're like, well, it's out there. Hopefully

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somebody is going to listen. Hopefully we're

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helping someone. Mark is one of our biggest fans.

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I'm going to give him another shout out because

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he loves the episodes and he says that they help

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him pick his music every year with his coworkers

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as well. Just as a side note, I was telling you

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off air, but I'll tell people too. Terry White

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is one of my family's good friends and one of

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your things was Mystery Ride. We love that piece.

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And he actually mentioned, he said, I think they

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know more about the piece than I know as as the

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band director, as the the composer. So both of

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your middle school teachers, just like a side

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thought here for a second. My wife, when she

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was in college, thought she was going to be a

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high school teacher. And then she got a sniff

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of middle school and she's like, this is it.

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I don't want to go anywhere else. So for people

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who are maybe in college and thinking like, how

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do I know if I'm like set out for middle school?

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And some people can do multiple. It's not like

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you have to do one. So like, what do you think?

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it helps people know if middle school is kind

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of the track for them. I love that question.

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Well, for me personally, like your wife, I 100

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% intended to teach high school. And we haven't

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even talked about, I don't know what your story

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is, but I intended to teach high school. And

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it was not until I student taught, like the very

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end of college, I student taught and I was student

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teaching in a very well respected high school

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band program and middle school feeder pattern,

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Marcus High School and Lamar Middle School that

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was feeding. them and I had an incredible student

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teaching experience but I fell in love with the

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middle school kids. I just they were so awkward

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and still adorable and elementary minded and

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they smell bad and they needed me. And I loved

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it. I absolutely loved it. I ended, I mean within

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a month of student teaching I was like this is

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where I'm supposed to be. And then certainly

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I realized after student teaching or through

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student teaching the impact you can have. teaching

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beginners, like that was huge for me. And I'm,

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Katie and I both are a little bit of control

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freaks. And so the idea of just like I get to

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have my hands in that very early stage and you

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can't blame anybody else for something being

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wrong, you know, teaching those beginners. So

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I just, I fell in love with them. I don't know.

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I think it was somewhere near year six or seven.

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Oh, no. I had to do it. Cancel. But I realized

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that my personality was better suited for middle

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school because I like to be goofy and fun and

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talk to kids just like... Like just have a good

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time. Yeah, I really did know in eighth grade

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that I was gonna be a middle school band director

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So I didn't really ever want to do high school

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for the reason Lara just said I always thought

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it was it was just so cool to watch you yourself

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or kids or whoever learn how to do Thing like

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learn an instrument in one year like I learned

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how to play the trumpet when I was in college

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And I was like this is so cool that like at the

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beginning of the year I just like started renting

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a trumpet open the case didn't know how to do

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anything and then by the end of my college career

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I could play the trumpet super well. So that's

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a really neat thing that we, a gift that we have

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to give to others. And of course it's great to

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craft a musician as they go into high school

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and do all the nitty gritty and little detail

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work. But I don't think there's anything cooler

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than going from nothing to I can now play songs

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all by myself and read music and sound like a

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real human. I just think that's the coolest thing.

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I also really like that we get a connection with

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I think in a different way than a high school

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director does for seven years Even if you have

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a high school director come down to your campus

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and is visible on your campus or sees the kids

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I mean we they know us from the get -go and That

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that feeling of walking in the high school band

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hall and the kids going cray. Oh miss bow miss

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Lewis They love that. I like that that we get

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that connection truly over the course of that

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seven year time period and instead of just being

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limited to a small time frame. Middle school

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is where it's at. As a high school teacher, I

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can tell you, I mean, I teach with my wife who

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is a middle school teacher at where we're at.

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So I just I get her students and I know what

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it's like to have a great middle school teacher

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and then teach those students afterwards. I mean,

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if I didn't do my job, things would go poorly.

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But, you know, the middle school teacher is the

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one who who sets that, whether it's beginners.

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and all the way through. I love that. If people

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have not checked out the podcast, I think at

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this airing, if there's something like 76 episodes

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or something like that, what can they expect

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for length and pacing and how you go through

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it and all that? Absolutely. So we try our best

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to make every episode be around 20 to 25 minutes,

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sometimes a little less, sometimes a little bit

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more. And we try to put out a new podcast episode

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weekly. Sometimes we get too busy and we're always

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like, sorry, it's the middle of the summer and

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we're both on vacation or what have whatever

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it is. We do have to get together. We told Kyle

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before he started, we have to get together to

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do the podcast. And so sometimes we're both very

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busy but we try our best to do that so that that

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way we can have as much material out there as

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possible so that directors can go back and listen

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and find what might fit their group for that

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year. I think one of the cool things is that

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we're we're trying to you know amass a collection

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of resources so it's not time -specific, right?

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So, I mean, they can go back at any time. That,

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I think, is kind of something that makes this

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type of podcast a little bit unique. And Katie

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mentioned the timing of it. Our goal initially

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was we were like, if someone can listen in the

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car on the way to work, you know, and get an

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episode in on the way to work or on the way home

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from work or on their lunch. I'm sitting here

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at lunch and I have a score in front of me and

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I'm not sure, so I'll just throw the podcast

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on and follow the score. You know, it was meant

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to be in kind of chunks like that that were gonna

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be easily digestible, not something that you

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have to sit down and carve out an hour of time

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for. Yep. And then our episodes also just go

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through a piece of music that we're featuring

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that week. Sometimes we do special episodes where

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we might do like three pieces on a theme. Like

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we've done a fall concert programming type of

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episode where we'll talk about three pieces,

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but not as much in depth. But typically we try

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to go in depth about like scoring issues if there

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are any present. Rehearsal strategies, tuning

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things. percussion issues or how to deal if you

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don't have enough percussion or too many percussion.

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We just give band directors just all the little

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tiny things that they may need to figure out,

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is this a piece that we can play or maybe not.

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One thing that I've done on a number of episodes

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for the growing band director is actually hosted

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the composer and done a one -on -one with the

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composer, and then they'll talk about the piece

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and then afterwards we'll actually. play a snippet

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of the piece for people to listen to from the

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composer. I love hearing from a composer about

00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:53.820
their thoughts behind the piece, because you

00:12:53.820 --> 00:12:55.440
know the program notes, but to physically see

00:12:55.440 --> 00:12:58.080
the person and then hear them talk about it has

00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:01.240
been a lot of fun. Yeah, that is so cool. As

00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:03.259
people who do score study all the time, I think

00:13:03.259 --> 00:13:04.720
there's a difference between doing score study

00:13:04.720 --> 00:13:08.240
for a music theory class and a score study to

00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:10.659
know what's going on, but also all the instrument

00:13:10.659 --> 00:13:12.519
pedagogy things. And that's something that I

00:13:12.519 --> 00:13:15.720
think comes with time. It's like you and I, the

00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:17.909
three of us could look at a score and point out

00:13:17.909 --> 00:13:20.929
issues that we would find. Yeah. And they may

00:13:20.929 --> 00:13:22.649
not be issues, but like knowing your kids, you

00:13:22.649 --> 00:13:23.830
already know what they're going to miss in measure

00:13:23.830 --> 00:13:25.889
40. I mean, it just is. That's exactly right.

00:13:26.110 --> 00:13:28.370
Yep. Yep. And that's that's a great point. And

00:13:28.370 --> 00:13:30.809
that's why we wanted to do this podcast is for

00:13:30.809 --> 00:13:33.429
people who maybe can't do what we can do. We

00:13:33.429 --> 00:13:36.610
can do it pretty quick. And even if it's a piece

00:13:36.610 --> 00:13:38.789
neither of us have ever played, we can sit down

00:13:38.789 --> 00:13:40.710
with a score and quickly kind of go through it

00:13:40.710 --> 00:13:43.960
and decide what we want to talk about. But. younger

00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:46.960
band directors, more inexperienced band directors

00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:50.360
just may not be able to do that. And so our podcast

00:13:50.360 --> 00:13:53.159
hopefully is helping them with going, OK, I see

00:13:53.159 --> 00:13:54.879
what they're saying. They said I have to have

00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:57.899
really good French horns and I don't. So this

00:13:57.899 --> 00:14:00.279
is not the piece for me or whatever it might

00:14:00.279 --> 00:14:04.889
be. So score study help. So how do you advise

00:14:04.889 --> 00:14:06.590
somebody who knows how to look at a score and

00:14:06.590 --> 00:14:08.529
say this is D minor and that's the one and the

00:14:08.529 --> 00:14:11.669
four, five and all that? How do you go next to

00:14:11.669 --> 00:14:13.350
help them towards their own journey of score

00:14:13.350 --> 00:14:16.870
study? Absolutely you want to yeah sure so I

00:14:16.870 --> 00:14:20.490
I think the key is identifying first of all you

00:14:20.490 --> 00:14:23.730
know listening to it not just looking at it but

00:14:23.730 --> 00:14:28.070
listening to it and then identifying like your

00:14:28.070 --> 00:14:30.870
priorities this is going to be melody here this

00:14:30.870 --> 00:14:32.950
is counter melody this is whatever blah blah

00:14:32.950 --> 00:14:37.690
blah and then approaching it from that from that

00:14:37.690 --> 00:14:41.129
aspect of it so I think you have to be really

00:14:41.289 --> 00:14:44.450
familiar with the piece, I think you have to

00:14:44.450 --> 00:14:46.669
understand, and I know what you're saying about

00:14:46.669 --> 00:14:49.230
like they could analyze the score, but also is

00:14:49.230 --> 00:14:53.450
that key center really band friendly for a young

00:14:53.450 --> 00:14:55.889
band or if you're playing something in the key

00:14:55.889 --> 00:15:00.409
of D flat, that's not which I've done, wouldn't

00:15:00.409 --> 00:15:03.070
do again, but not with middle school kids, but

00:15:03.070 --> 00:15:05.409
that's not a happy key center. As long as the

00:15:05.409 --> 00:15:08.309
trombones don't play D flat. That's right. Which

00:15:08.309 --> 00:15:12.259
they're going to. Yeah, but that is that's something

00:15:12.259 --> 00:15:14.220
that you know, we've even talked about on our

00:15:14.220 --> 00:15:17.600
podcast some of the pieces we have reviewed they

00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:21.399
aren't always in Friendly keys or they're in

00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:23.779
a different key center But that's what we're

00:15:23.779 --> 00:15:25.659
trying to do is say even though you might want

00:15:25.659 --> 00:15:27.559
to do this piece with your kids Here are some

00:15:27.559 --> 00:15:30.899
strategies for how you can rewrite the chord

00:15:30.899 --> 00:15:35.000
like if this chord has Half the band because

00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:37.299
of what your instrumentation looks like for your

00:15:37.299 --> 00:15:40.000
kids. You have billions of flutes and trumpets

00:15:39.529 --> 00:15:42.509
and they're all on the fifth of the chord, right?

00:15:42.750 --> 00:15:45.409
You can rewrite it and say, well, just take this

00:15:45.409 --> 00:15:48.450
and change it up. So we try to give people strategies.

00:15:48.929 --> 00:15:53.110
And also, I guess, one person came up to us at

00:15:53.110 --> 00:15:55.649
one of the conventions we presented at, and they

00:15:55.649 --> 00:15:58.600
said, I love that you give me permission. through

00:15:58.600 --> 00:16:02.039
your podcast to do something as a director. And

00:16:02.039 --> 00:16:04.000
so we're kind of giving people permission to

00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.500
say, oh, well, you know, Katie and Laura said

00:16:06.500 --> 00:16:09.639
it's okay for me to rewrite this one chord. So

00:16:09.639 --> 00:16:12.419
it's more, it's more friendly for my band. So

00:16:12.419 --> 00:16:14.620
we're trying to give people strategies and I

00:16:14.620 --> 00:16:17.220
guess the ownership to say it doesn't have to

00:16:17.220 --> 00:16:19.779
be exactly what's on the paper. Although what's

00:16:19.779 --> 00:16:22.440
on the paper sometimes is great, but sometimes

00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:24.179
it might not be the best for your group. That's

00:16:24.179 --> 00:16:26.860
right. I think it's also important to like figure

00:16:26.860 --> 00:16:28.600
out what are you trying to get out of the piece?

00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:32.039
What is the goal? Are we trying to teach phrasing?

00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:34.419
Are we trying to use this piece to really help

00:16:34.419 --> 00:16:36.899
the kids grow with phrasing? Are we trying to

00:16:36.899 --> 00:16:39.600
improve their technique? I think that's really

00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:41.940
important when you're studying a score. I think

00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:44.700
you need to identify that. What is our goal?

00:16:45.019 --> 00:16:47.059
What is our goal? What do we hope to get out

00:16:47.059 --> 00:16:50.990
of this? Is it meeting that need? So I think

00:16:50.990 --> 00:16:52.950
all that's important when you're analyzing. And

00:16:52.950 --> 00:16:54.610
I don't know about you, Kyle, but when I was

00:16:54.610 --> 00:16:56.850
a young director, I didn't think about any of

00:16:56.850 --> 00:16:58.809
that. Yeah. I was just like, I like this piece.

00:16:58.990 --> 00:17:00.710
I was like, hey, head director, what should I

00:17:00.710 --> 00:17:03.490
do? Or yeah. Oh, I love this piece. It sounds

00:17:03.490 --> 00:17:05.730
so great. And I always tell my kids one of my

00:17:05.730 --> 00:17:08.650
favorite pieces to listen to is October by Whitaker.

00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:11.859
I'm never going to get to play October with my

00:17:11.859 --> 00:17:14.839
band because it's in an awful key signature for

00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:17.940
middle school kids. And it's too mature for them

00:17:17.940 --> 00:17:20.960
to play with the kind of maturity that I would

00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:24.700
expect. So, you know, it's hard sometimes they're

00:17:24.700 --> 00:17:27.200
like, oh, this sounds cool. But then it's like,

00:17:27.259 --> 00:17:29.440
well, this may not fit your group. So that's

00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:32.160
what we're trying to help with. Is it OK for

00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:35.519
me to give a specific piece example? Do it. Okay,

00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:38.839
so here is a great example, I think, for young

00:17:38.839 --> 00:17:41.839
band directors sometimes. I love the piece Fortis

00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:46.079
by Gasley, but if your band is not good at articulation,

00:17:46.660 --> 00:17:49.599
then you are gonna be in big trouble. You're

00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:52.240
gonna be in big trouble. So it is a great...

00:17:52.220 --> 00:17:55.220
It's a great piece of music and kids love it.

00:17:55.240 --> 00:17:57.940
It's got a catchy melody to it, but you've got

00:17:57.940 --> 00:17:59.759
to be able to look at the score and say, wow,

00:17:59.980 --> 00:18:02.740
my kids need to be able to, and maybe you want

00:18:02.740 --> 00:18:05.960
to use it, like I said, as a teaching tool, as

00:18:05.960 --> 00:18:08.279
a performance aspect from teaching their articulation

00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:10.799
separately. But I think all those things are,

00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:12.680
you know, not just, we've talked a lot about

00:18:12.680 --> 00:18:14.539
keys, which I do think is important, but you've

00:18:14.539 --> 00:18:17.750
got to look at. all of the aspects of the piece.

00:18:17.809 --> 00:18:19.950
Are the rhythms too challenging? What is the

00:18:19.950 --> 00:18:23.009
style considerations? Can they count it? Can

00:18:23.009 --> 00:18:24.950
they play all the rhythms that are in there?

00:18:25.230 --> 00:18:27.349
Yeah, it's funny. You talk a little bit about

00:18:27.349 --> 00:18:30.490
rewriting every composer that I talk to. I try

00:18:30.490 --> 00:18:33.670
to question them about when is it OK to rewrite

00:18:33.670 --> 00:18:37.210
some of your music and literally every single

00:18:37.210 --> 00:18:39.730
one of them says, make it work for your band

00:18:39.730 --> 00:18:42.230
as long as it as long as it stays within the

00:18:42.230 --> 00:18:45.250
intent of the composition. you're free to do

00:18:45.250 --> 00:18:48.970
whatever. I haven't had one composer say anything

00:18:48.970 --> 00:18:54.069
different. Which is great. I played our Kingsland

00:18:54.069 --> 00:18:57.210
Spring a long time ago and it was like right

00:18:57.210 --> 00:18:59.650
when it first came out and there's this like

00:18:59.650 --> 00:19:01.650
high G at the top of the staff and the first

00:19:01.650 --> 00:19:05.130
trumpet part and I was like I don't know that

00:19:05.130 --> 00:19:07.789
my second band can like do that very well at

00:19:07.789 --> 00:19:10.289
the end of a piece so I actually emailed Mr.

00:19:10.509 --> 00:19:13.690
Hazo and asked like is it okay and this was like

00:19:13.690 --> 00:19:15.569
literally my second year as a band director and

00:19:15.569 --> 00:19:17.309
he was like of course do whatever you need to

00:19:17.309 --> 00:19:20.240
do but it's nice to just know that like, you

00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:22.640
know, composers are cool with it, too. They want

00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:24.859
to see kids be successful and have fun playing

00:19:24.859 --> 00:19:27.660
their music, I'm sure. So that's our goal, too,

00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:29.420
right? We want to make sure they're successful

00:19:29.420 --> 00:19:32.099
and they're having fun. They can't be successful

00:19:32.099 --> 00:19:34.720
and have fun playing if it's above their level.

00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:37.140
You're talking about weird keys, quote unquote,

00:19:37.380 --> 00:19:39.500
for for bands. So one of the best pieces ever.

00:19:39.700 --> 00:19:41.519
I don't know if you agree. But for me, grade

00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:43.480
three on Hymn Song and Phillip Bliss, I mean,

00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:45.440
there's very few pieces that are so much. That's

00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:48.190
the one I was referring to. She played it. And

00:19:48.190 --> 00:19:50.250
she's like, I'm not going to do it again. So

00:19:50.250 --> 00:19:52.970
that piece, I mean, it's so fabulous for so many

00:19:52.970 --> 00:19:55.589
reasons, but it is a grade three for a reason.

00:19:55.769 --> 00:19:59.150
Right. Yes. And I never knew why it was in D

00:19:59.150 --> 00:20:00.789
flat major. I can't think you could put it in

00:20:00.789 --> 00:20:02.589
E flat. Right. I don't know if you know the story.

00:20:02.789 --> 00:20:04.490
But then I was talking to somebody who said,

00:20:04.529 --> 00:20:07.049
oh, yeah, I know why it's in D flat. So Holsinger,

00:20:07.190 --> 00:20:09.109
apparently, when he wrote it, the top note that

00:20:09.109 --> 00:20:11.250
the band he could write was for G for trumpet.

00:20:11.910 --> 00:20:15.490
And there's the chord near the end where the

00:20:15.490 --> 00:20:17.269
third is on the top and it's a trumpet. So it

00:20:17.269 --> 00:20:18.849
had to be the key of B flat for trumpet. That

00:20:18.849 --> 00:20:20.950
was why I thought it was because of the pinkies

00:20:20.950 --> 00:20:22.690
and like how it fits so well. I'm like, nope.

00:20:23.170 --> 00:20:25.869
It was like all centered around that. That is

00:20:25.869 --> 00:20:29.869
really funny. Well, dang, that kid, they can

00:20:29.869 --> 00:20:32.210
only play up to G that that is like, I mean,

00:20:32.349 --> 00:20:34.130
that, yeah, that's pretty cool that he wrote

00:20:34.130 --> 00:20:37.009
the piece for that group and made sure that it

00:20:37.009 --> 00:20:39.710
like hit the parameters and everything. So, yeah,

00:20:39.869 --> 00:20:43.069
yeah, it is a hard, it is a hard piece with middle

00:20:43.069 --> 00:20:45.519
school. Yeah. Even if they press the right buttons,

00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:48.299
it is a hard key to make sound. There's a sense

00:20:48.299 --> 00:20:51.480
of maturity that you need. Oh, for real. Absolutely.

00:20:51.539 --> 00:20:53.319
And we know there are those middle school bands

00:20:53.319 --> 00:20:55.640
that you hear and you're like, wow, OK, they

00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:59.500
sound, yes. Amen. They can do that. Yeah. And

00:20:59.500 --> 00:21:01.960
Laura's band sounded great on it. I mean, no,

00:21:01.960 --> 00:21:04.079
no dig. Like she did great. I heard her band

00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:07.380
played at UIL. So it's just a hard, a hard piece

00:21:07.380 --> 00:21:11.240
overall. So as you guys are kind of choosing

00:21:11.240 --> 00:21:12.779
pieces, I assume right now you have like a lineup.

00:21:13.190 --> 00:21:14.789
You're like, all right, the next five we're doing

00:21:14.789 --> 00:21:18.390
or whatever. So how long are you studying the

00:21:18.390 --> 00:21:20.250
score? Is it sometimes that you're doing the

00:21:20.250 --> 00:21:21.609
piece already, or you're like, no, we just got

00:21:21.609 --> 00:21:24.309
to put in an hour or two on this? And how do

00:21:24.309 --> 00:21:26.269
you cross over? You do the form, and I'll do

00:21:26.269 --> 00:21:27.990
the this? Or you just both do it, and then talk

00:21:27.990 --> 00:21:31.539
about it? Or how does that prep go? So we have

00:21:31.539 --> 00:21:34.559
a running list of podcast episodes that we'd

00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:37.339
like to do in the future we were able to populate

00:21:37.339 --> 00:21:41.180
that list from we presented at Texas Music Educators

00:21:41.180 --> 00:21:44.380
Association in February and we talked about some

00:21:44.380 --> 00:21:46.359
grade twos that we had already done episodes

00:21:46.359 --> 00:21:49.559
on and some new ones and we also asked the audience

00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:51.740
to get involved and participate so they filled

00:21:51.740 --> 00:21:54.440
out a Google form and told us if there was like

00:21:54.440 --> 00:21:56.720
an episode they wanted us to do in the future

00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:59.589
so that was great because we got like like 50

00:21:59.589 --> 00:22:02.710
pieces right there that were pieces maybe that

00:22:02.710 --> 00:22:04.710
we weren't familiar with, but that other people

00:22:04.710 --> 00:22:07.509
wanted to hear, or pieces that we were planning

00:22:07.509 --> 00:22:09.069
to do in the future. And we're like, oh, well,

00:22:09.069 --> 00:22:11.069
good. I guess they want us to do an episode on

00:22:11.069 --> 00:22:15.049
that piece. So we try to make sure that we also,

00:22:15.609 --> 00:22:18.549
when we release the episodes, that we do it not

00:22:18.549 --> 00:22:21.829
like all grade ones, like for two months. So

00:22:21.829 --> 00:22:24.329
we try to mix it up and do a grade one and then

00:22:24.329 --> 00:22:26.490
a March and then a grade two and then maybe a

00:22:26.490 --> 00:22:28.890
grade three and then a special episode. So we

00:22:28.890 --> 00:22:31.269
try to mix it up a little bit just so that people

00:22:31.269 --> 00:22:33.869
who... maybe they're listening for a specific

00:22:33.869 --> 00:22:35.650
grade level, they really want a bunch of grade

00:22:35.650 --> 00:22:39.789
ones, we can keep the other people coming back

00:22:39.789 --> 00:22:44.309
for more too. How do we do the planning? Well,

00:22:44.309 --> 00:22:47.670
we sit down together here and we talk about the

00:22:47.670 --> 00:22:51.130
score before we do the podcast episode. As you

00:22:51.130 --> 00:22:54.529
mentioned, with us having more experience than

00:22:54.529 --> 00:22:57.430
younger band directors, it's not too difficult

00:22:57.430 --> 00:23:01.029
for us to sit down with the iPad and writing

00:23:01.029 --> 00:23:03.809
in. notes of things we want to say or ooh this

00:23:03.809 --> 00:23:05.890
is like maybe a little out of the range of a

00:23:05.890 --> 00:23:09.549
euphonium for most bands or whatever. So we'll

00:23:09.549 --> 00:23:11.849
sit down and we'll talk through it. and then

00:23:11.849 --> 00:23:15.509
we'll record the episode. Usually Laura and I,

00:23:15.509 --> 00:23:17.410
one of us will have played the piece. That's

00:23:17.410 --> 00:23:20.089
what I was gonna say. But not always, you know,

00:23:20.369 --> 00:23:23.029
there's sometimes someone will say, I really

00:23:23.029 --> 00:23:25.349
want you guys to do an episode on this brand

00:23:25.349 --> 00:23:28.710
new piece to the PML. So, and we're super happy

00:23:28.710 --> 00:23:30.509
to do that. We may not have played it with one

00:23:30.509 --> 00:23:33.369
of our bands, but I mean, we love to hear new

00:23:33.369 --> 00:23:37.369
music and review anything that's out there that's

00:23:37.369 --> 00:23:41.430
of great quality, so. We always start by listening

00:23:41.430 --> 00:23:45.390
together with the score in front of us. And 90

00:23:45.390 --> 00:23:48.109
% of the time, one or both of us has played the

00:23:48.109 --> 00:23:51.849
piece. So we already know what pitfalls we encountered

00:23:51.849 --> 00:23:55.849
at the time. And if it is a piece that we have

00:23:55.849 --> 00:23:58.650
not played, listening to it, and like, you know,

00:23:58.750 --> 00:24:01.289
we focus on grade one, twos and threes. So for

00:24:01.289 --> 00:24:04.190
the most part, we can listen and look at a score

00:24:04.190 --> 00:24:08.460
at the same time. tell pretty quickly. Certainly,

00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:11.099
if you're playing a piece, you may discover some

00:24:11.099 --> 00:24:13.539
other little things as you get into the nitty

00:24:13.539 --> 00:24:17.819
-gritty, but it doesn't usually take us very

00:24:17.819 --> 00:24:20.160
long. A grade three piece may take us a little

00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:22.720
bit longer to score, study, and prep beforehand,

00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:25.240
but generally, it doesn't take us long. We listen

00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:27.680
to it, we talk about it, this is what I did,

00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:30.259
this is what you did, this worked for me, this

00:24:30.259 --> 00:24:31.819
worked for you, okay, great, let's say that,

00:24:31.920 --> 00:24:34.609
go. And that's the cool thing about doing a podcast

00:24:34.609 --> 00:24:37.630
with your best friend is like, she may have done

00:24:37.630 --> 00:24:40.029
something with her band. I may have done something

00:24:40.029 --> 00:24:42.549
different. We can talk about both ways that we

00:24:42.549 --> 00:24:45.329
taught something because you can always learn

00:24:45.329 --> 00:24:48.490
from anybody, you know, it might not might her

00:24:48.490 --> 00:24:50.650
way might work for someone. My way might work

00:24:50.650 --> 00:24:53.349
for someone who cares as long as, you know, they

00:24:53.349 --> 00:24:55.250
get the information and they get to try something

00:24:55.250 --> 00:24:57.049
new. That's right. So you do a piece for the

00:24:57.049 --> 00:24:59.130
first time and then a few years later, a couple

00:24:59.130 --> 00:25:00.369
of years, whatever it is, you go back and do

00:25:00.369 --> 00:25:03.420
it again. The experience of this is a great piece.

00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:05.079
I'm gonna do this again But then the second time

00:25:05.079 --> 00:25:07.039
it didn't hit the same way that you thought it

00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:09.160
was gonna be the first time So like this whole

00:25:09.160 --> 00:25:11.799
like reusing music, you know, it's fine Like

00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:13.259
you don't want to do the same piece every year

00:25:13.259 --> 00:25:16.619
for forever, right? But like how do people know

00:25:16.619 --> 00:25:18.299
if they should do the piece again or if they're

00:25:18.299 --> 00:25:19.640
like, I should probably should leave that one

00:25:19.640 --> 00:25:25.279
forever. Oh Man, so I personally try really hard

00:25:25.279 --> 00:25:32.549
to not recycle UIL pieces. So UIL in Texas is

00:25:32.549 --> 00:25:36.789
like our big band contest for the year. It's

00:25:36.789 --> 00:25:38.990
a statewide contest where we're being judged

00:25:38.990 --> 00:25:42.849
on a rubric and we get a rating one to five and

00:25:42.849 --> 00:25:45.950
one is the best. So we're hoping to get ones

00:25:45.950 --> 00:25:49.930
from the judges. And so I have a list of my personal

00:25:49.930 --> 00:25:53.009
programming for my whole career. And so I try

00:25:53.009 --> 00:25:57.849
not to recycle a piece for that contest, although

00:25:57.930 --> 00:26:00.630
it can happen. If there's a beat like you mentioned,

00:26:00.730 --> 00:26:03.630
if there's a great piece that you're like, Oh

00:26:03.630 --> 00:26:07.490
man, that would fit my band again. Um, then like

00:26:07.490 --> 00:26:09.809
do it, you know, as long as it's been in Texas,

00:26:10.029 --> 00:26:13.150
the rule is you can't do it, um, every two years.

00:26:13.150 --> 00:26:15.230
So you have to wait and then you can recycle

00:26:15.230 --> 00:26:17.809
it or three. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, but if you're

00:26:17.809 --> 00:26:20.680
at a school concert, Yeah. Then I mean, whatever.

00:26:21.140 --> 00:26:24.380
Yeah. Like I, every single year at my beginner

00:26:24.380 --> 00:26:27.599
concert in the winter time in December, we play,

00:26:27.819 --> 00:26:30.279
we will rock you because like, Hey, why not?

00:26:30.339 --> 00:26:33.000
That's fun. Kids love it. Parents love it. Everybody's

00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:36.200
stomping and clapping along. So yes, I recycle

00:26:36.200 --> 00:26:40.059
that because it's a tried and true, um, beginner

00:26:40.059 --> 00:26:42.680
piece that all of the kids and the parents love

00:26:42.680 --> 00:26:45.460
to play. And what's the new piece that's the

00:26:45.460 --> 00:26:48.450
big hit that Mechanical Monsters. Yes, that's

00:26:48.450 --> 00:26:53.519
a different one. Is it band rocks? There's so

00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:55.680
many pieces though. That's the cool thing is

00:26:55.680 --> 00:26:59.299
the composers are starting to understand that

00:26:59.299 --> 00:27:03.359
you can make a lot of money if you cater to middle

00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:06.420
school bands because we're gonna pick cool new

00:27:06.420 --> 00:27:09.279
pieces that other people haven't heard. And grade

00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:11.819
ones are so much fun when you can find a good

00:27:11.819 --> 00:27:14.579
one that the kids love and that you can also

00:27:14.579 --> 00:27:21.089
find enjoyment out of teaching. regards to repeating

00:27:21.089 --> 00:27:23.950
pieces. So I think a lot of that depends, like

00:27:23.950 --> 00:27:26.390
Katie mentioned, of course, if it fits your band.

00:27:26.630 --> 00:27:29.190
For me, a lot of it depends on the level of the

00:27:29.190 --> 00:27:33.440
band. So like for beginners, I repeat. like my

00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:35.900
winter concert, we have one piece that we will

00:27:35.900 --> 00:27:38.460
change a year and the other two we do the same

00:27:38.460 --> 00:27:41.319
two pieces. Spring concert, kind of the same

00:27:41.319 --> 00:27:44.180
deal, we've got four or five pieces and we go

00:27:44.180 --> 00:27:46.779
through those and I use those and at the beginner

00:27:46.779 --> 00:27:50.539
level it's because our learning process is happening

00:27:50.539 --> 00:27:53.819
at the same pace consistently year after year

00:27:53.819 --> 00:27:56.980
for the most part. So those work and I know these

00:27:56.980 --> 00:28:00.099
pieces are good for reinforcing a skill set.

00:28:01.029 --> 00:28:03.509
And I think you have to keep all of that in mind

00:28:03.509 --> 00:28:05.630
when you're talking about programming for an

00:28:05.630 --> 00:28:09.009
older band as well. It all comes down to what

00:28:09.009 --> 00:28:10.990
does my band need to learn? Where do we need

00:28:10.990 --> 00:28:13.809
to grow? And if we need to grow in this area,

00:28:14.730 --> 00:28:18.130
if we need to grow tonally, then I'm gonna find

00:28:18.130 --> 00:28:21.529
something that really helps us. Stay in a in

00:28:21.529 --> 00:28:24.609
a range that is gonna showcase our beautiful

00:28:24.609 --> 00:28:28.569
tones or or stretch us a little bit This way

00:28:28.569 --> 00:28:32.329
or that way but using it to using it as a teaching

00:28:32.329 --> 00:28:35.009
tool Sometimes you can find I mean often you

00:28:35.009 --> 00:28:38.710
can find that the same piece may be a great teaching

00:28:38.710 --> 00:28:40.990
tool Yeah, I mean I definitely have repeated

00:28:40.990 --> 00:28:44.150
pieces for I've not been as good as Katie. I

00:28:44.150 --> 00:28:46.049
don't there's not been a piece I've ever played

00:28:46.049 --> 00:28:49.460
three times, but There definitely there are pieces

00:28:49.460 --> 00:28:51.880
I'll repeat. Okay, I did this eight years ago

00:28:51.880 --> 00:28:53.819
and I really loved it. You know, it was great

00:28:53.819 --> 00:28:56.460
for this. So I think I think you just have to

00:28:56.460 --> 00:28:58.119
start with again. What is your goal? What are

00:28:58.119 --> 00:29:00.640
you? Where are you trying to teach and stretch

00:29:00.640 --> 00:29:05.140
your kids? And does this fit? And like both of

00:29:05.140 --> 00:29:07.640
us last year played a Longford legend. It's a

00:29:07.640 --> 00:29:10.140
wonderful piece and I had already previously

00:29:10.140 --> 00:29:12.500
played it in my career. I don't know if I had

00:29:12.500 --> 00:29:14.259
not his first time. So she had a great piece

00:29:14.259 --> 00:29:17.599
I had. Say that again. Great piece. I know. One

00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:20.700
of my all times. Yeah. And like, honestly, Laura

00:29:20.700 --> 00:29:23.319
said first, I'm going to play long for legend

00:29:23.319 --> 00:29:27.599
with my band. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, you

00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:30.400
know what? That would really fit my band well

00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:32.420
this year, too. So we ended up playing the same

00:29:32.420 --> 00:29:34.720
piece, which is layers. And so did many other

00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:36.819
bands in our region. But that's beside the fact.

00:29:36.819 --> 00:29:39.000
But like, you know, if you have a great alto

00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:41.700
sax player, that's a great piece for it. Right.

00:29:41.900 --> 00:29:44.799
And so you just have to like Laura. said not

00:29:44.799 --> 00:29:46.460
only think about what's your goal how do you

00:29:46.460 --> 00:29:48.539
want to grow your band but also look at what's

00:29:48.539 --> 00:29:51.380
in front of you and if you happen to have the

00:29:51.380 --> 00:29:54.500
right soloist for a piece or you know there's

00:29:54.500 --> 00:29:56.619
a clarinet feature in a piece and you've got

00:29:56.619 --> 00:30:00.059
a really big great clarinet section then that

00:30:00.059 --> 00:30:02.559
might be one to repeat but you don't want to

00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:04.619
just repeat it because you loved it you know

00:30:04.619 --> 00:30:06.960
it may not fit your group for that year and you

00:30:06.960 --> 00:30:10.380
don't want to set the kids up for you know not

00:30:10.380 --> 00:30:12.200
failure but you don't want to set them up to

00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:14.460
where they're having to struggle to get that

00:30:14.460 --> 00:30:16.880
piece under their fingers. I think that's a young

00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:18.819
band director thing. I mean, it's certainly,

00:30:18.940 --> 00:30:22.339
I know I did this. My literature knowledge was

00:30:22.339 --> 00:30:26.460
nil when I started teaching. Me too. And it was

00:30:26.460 --> 00:30:28.900
often a, I like that. I listen to a crew. Ooh,

00:30:28.940 --> 00:30:30.559
I like the way that sounds. I want to play that

00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:32.599
with my band. And then you start working on it

00:30:32.599 --> 00:30:34.779
and you're pulling your hair out. It was such

00:30:34.779 --> 00:30:38.240
a mistake. So yeah, I think just, again, finding

00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:41.339
- Know your limit. No, that's it. Yes. Yeah.

00:30:41.700 --> 00:30:44.099
The advice you're giving is also great when choosing

00:30:44.099 --> 00:30:46.180
music for your band regarding grade level, because

00:30:46.180 --> 00:30:48.579
you might say we're a grade two band, but maybe

00:30:48.579 --> 00:30:50.660
this grade one is perfect for you guys. And that's

00:30:50.660 --> 00:30:52.640
right. And on the same side, it's like one of

00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:54.140
the pieces you did was blue and green music,

00:30:54.700 --> 00:30:57.539
which is an air quotes a three. Right. Like we'll

00:30:57.539 --> 00:30:59.420
call that three. But I was talking with forgetting

00:30:59.420 --> 00:31:04.519
his name. Beyond Artless podcast. Anyway, he

00:31:04.519 --> 00:31:07.430
was part of the commission. for Blue and Green

00:31:07.430 --> 00:31:09.809
Music with Hazel. Oh, cool. They did it through

00:31:09.809 --> 00:31:12.109
his school. Right. How can I remember his name

00:31:12.109 --> 00:31:15.230
anyway? He said, yeah, that's it was like too

00:31:15.230 --> 00:31:16.750
hard for them. It's just the way that it worked

00:31:16.750 --> 00:31:20.410
out was not. So it's like that's a three. But

00:31:20.410 --> 00:31:22.410
that's not on the same level of difficulty as

00:31:22.410 --> 00:31:24.690
the Bach Prelude and Fugue and B flat major.

00:31:25.009 --> 00:31:27.769
Like right. Different. Right. So right. Know

00:31:27.769 --> 00:31:30.230
your kids match what they're being asked to do

00:31:30.230 --> 00:31:32.970
with what they can do, not this is a great three.

00:31:33.049 --> 00:31:35.789
Let's play it. Well, and Katie and I talk a lot

00:31:35.789 --> 00:31:39.420
like I think sometimes in in in Texas band directors,

00:31:39.420 --> 00:31:41.720
especially in Texas I feel like band directors

00:31:41.720 --> 00:31:44.759
can get really caught up in the grade level of

00:31:44.759 --> 00:31:48.220
the piece You know and like you said well, we

00:31:48.220 --> 00:31:50.380
want to be we want to be really competitive I

00:31:50.380 --> 00:31:53.460
have to play a grade four I have to play what

00:31:53.460 --> 00:31:56.380
you have to do is you have to sound really good

00:31:56.380 --> 00:31:59.319
on whatever it is that you select that needs

00:31:59.319 --> 00:32:02.940
to be your priority get out of your own way and

00:32:02.940 --> 00:32:05.980
Thinking that that that grade level matters.

00:32:05.980 --> 00:32:08.900
What matters is can and your kids sound really

00:32:08.900 --> 00:32:11.460
good. That's what matters. Absolutely. Chris

00:32:11.460 --> 00:32:13.400
Gleason was the name I was looking for. Oh, there

00:32:13.400 --> 00:32:15.359
it is. OK. I was trying to look up my score for

00:32:15.359 --> 00:32:16.880
blue and green to see if I could figure it out.

00:32:17.279 --> 00:32:21.500
Yeah. Another sort of off the topic question

00:32:21.500 --> 00:32:24.039
that we haven't prepared you for. I'd like to

00:32:24.039 --> 00:32:28.019
know on your main instrument, what is a tip that

00:32:28.019 --> 00:32:29.779
band directors you wish that they knew that a

00:32:29.779 --> 00:32:35.509
lot of them don't? OK, good. So. First, I'm gonna

00:32:35.509 --> 00:32:39.170
plug ourselves real quick. We are presenting

00:32:39.170 --> 00:32:42.710
at Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in December.

00:32:43.670 --> 00:32:46.190
So we hope some of you guys will check us out

00:32:46.190 --> 00:32:50.069
there. And our clinic is about pedagogy and how

00:32:50.069 --> 00:32:53.730
to teach. quickly from the podium and like rehearsal

00:32:53.730 --> 00:32:57.130
strategies for teaching pedagogy, not only to

00:32:57.130 --> 00:33:00.349
beginners, but even more in the band setting

00:33:00.349 --> 00:33:03.309
when you have all the instruments in front of

00:33:03.309 --> 00:33:05.849
you. What are some quick things that you can

00:33:05.849 --> 00:33:10.150
say and help your band to sound their best individually

00:33:10.150 --> 00:33:13.490
so that everybody sounds good together? So we're

00:33:13.490 --> 00:33:15.930
very passionate about this topic as well. So

00:33:15.930 --> 00:33:19.380
I'm excited you asked. Well, I am a flute player

00:33:19.380 --> 00:33:23.440
and one thing that I don't like that people sometimes

00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:26.700
say about flute is that you just need to blow

00:33:26.700 --> 00:33:30.380
harder or blow less because that actually has

00:33:30.380 --> 00:33:33.240
nothing to do with how to sound good on the flute

00:33:33.240 --> 00:33:37.019
and in fact flute playing is very similar to

00:33:37.019 --> 00:33:39.940
brass playing and I think a lot of times people

00:33:39.940 --> 00:33:42.880
don't Understand that they have a lot of crossover

00:33:42.880 --> 00:33:46.220
like air direction that matters when you play

00:33:46.220 --> 00:33:49.400
the flute like your aperture size that matters

00:33:49.400 --> 00:33:52.460
a lot when you play the flute and I think sometimes

00:33:52.460 --> 00:33:55.359
people just go oh well it's it's a high B flat

00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:58.799
so we don't have an octave key like the sax we

00:33:58.799 --> 00:34:02.140
don't have a register key so just blow harder

00:34:02.140 --> 00:34:04.660
and the high B flat will come out well you will

00:34:04.660 --> 00:34:07.500
sound very sharp and aerial and nasty nobody

00:34:07.500 --> 00:34:10.820
will want to listen to that so that's my little

00:34:10.820 --> 00:34:13.139
thing that sometimes I hear people say just use

00:34:13.139 --> 00:34:16.889
more air or just use less air. And I'm like,

00:34:16.889 --> 00:34:19.369
no, no, that's actually not how you use that.

00:34:19.469 --> 00:34:21.630
Do you use the head joint only for the low and

00:34:21.630 --> 00:34:24.230
high sounds and all that? Absolutely. So like

00:34:24.230 --> 00:34:26.630
my beginner class right now, we're still working

00:34:26.630 --> 00:34:28.670
on that. A little plug, I guess, for musical

00:34:28.670 --> 00:34:30.989
mastery. That's the book that I use to start

00:34:30.989 --> 00:34:34.710
my classes. And there's a whole thing about head

00:34:34.710 --> 00:34:37.710
joint playing. So they'll use, and we use Pneumopros

00:34:37.710 --> 00:34:40.730
as well so that they can see their air direction

00:34:40.730 --> 00:34:45.369
when they play. Shout out to a brand new product,

00:34:45.530 --> 00:34:48.929
it's called the Vizier, created by Tony Bianchetta,

00:34:49.070 --> 00:34:51.829
my trombone private lesson teacher. And it's

00:34:51.829 --> 00:34:54.710
literally a pneumo pro, but for brass instruments.

00:34:54.809 --> 00:34:56.909
So if you've never heard of it, I would go and

00:34:56.909 --> 00:34:59.409
look that up because our beginners have been

00:34:59.409 --> 00:35:02.690
using it and it's awesome. Because they can say,

00:35:03.730 --> 00:35:07.150
like my co - Mr. Brink he can say we're gonna

00:35:07.150 --> 00:35:09.489
play an F on the trombone and they won't accidentally

00:35:09.489 --> 00:35:12.110
play a B -flat because they've practiced on their

00:35:12.110 --> 00:35:14.110
busy air making sure that they know what their

00:35:14.110 --> 00:35:16.590
air is supposed to look like for an upper note.

00:35:16.789 --> 00:35:18.969
Same thing for the flute on a pneumo pro you

00:35:18.969 --> 00:35:20.889
can see where you're supposed to direction your

00:35:20.889 --> 00:35:23.409
air you can look in the mirror to see what your

00:35:23.409 --> 00:35:25.289
aperture should look like to play the high note

00:35:25.289 --> 00:35:27.750
or the low note on a head joint and that's the

00:35:27.750 --> 00:35:29.750
same thing you just put it on a flute and you

00:35:29.750 --> 00:35:32.429
just sound good instead of well let's just shove

00:35:32.429 --> 00:35:34.989
our flute together and Just play and see how

00:35:34.989 --> 00:35:37.570
it goes. You know prayer. Yeah, so that's a big

00:35:37.570 --> 00:35:39.530
thing and I know a lot of people say flute is

00:35:39.530 --> 00:35:43.190
really hard to teach so We'll probably spend

00:35:43.190 --> 00:35:44.869
quite a bit of time on flute because Laura is

00:35:44.869 --> 00:35:48.090
a great flute teacher, too I'm a percussionist,

00:35:48.210 --> 00:35:51.469
right? So for me, I think I have a couple of

00:35:51.469 --> 00:35:57.849
things so I It frustrates me when band directors

00:35:57.849 --> 00:36:02.949
who are Don't appreciate percussionists when

00:36:02.949 --> 00:36:06.170
you Put all the responsibility for pulse and

00:36:06.170 --> 00:36:09.190
timing on your percussion section when that is

00:36:09.190 --> 00:36:11.969
absolutely unfair and false. Every individual

00:36:11.969 --> 00:36:14.210
in the ensemble is responsible for pulse and

00:36:14.210 --> 00:36:17.920
timing. But I think band directors, one of the

00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:20.920
biggest things in terms of percussion is you

00:36:20.920 --> 00:36:24.980
need to be knowledgeable about what sound you

00:36:24.980 --> 00:36:29.960
want. So if you don't like, experiment with different

00:36:29.960 --> 00:36:33.460
implements and understand the difference between

00:36:33.460 --> 00:36:36.500
what a rubber mallet sounds like on the xylophone

00:36:36.500 --> 00:36:40.920
and what a brass mallet sounds like on the bells,

00:36:41.019 --> 00:36:44.820
what an acrylic mallet sounds like. understand

00:36:44.820 --> 00:36:48.500
the color and texture difference of those sounds

00:36:48.500 --> 00:36:53.400
and be able to verbalize that. or you know especially

00:36:53.400 --> 00:36:56.380
if you don't have a percussion director or someone

00:36:56.380 --> 00:36:59.679
like that in your rehearsal or near for you to

00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:03.619
ask for help but it's easy to I mean it's just

00:37:03.619 --> 00:37:06.219
experimentation I don't really like that can

00:37:06.219 --> 00:37:09.280
we play the woodblock with this instead or no

00:37:09.280 --> 00:37:11.880
I didn't like the way that symbol you know that

00:37:11.880 --> 00:37:13.920
symbol was too there's too many overtones and

00:37:13.920 --> 00:37:16.840
that symbol crash let's hear something so I think

00:37:16.840 --> 00:37:19.820
that is huge. So and on that note real quick.

00:37:20.159 --> 00:37:23.300
So you brought up earlier that it's really important

00:37:23.300 --> 00:37:26.619
to score study. Laura is saying it's really important

00:37:26.619 --> 00:37:29.739
to not only score study, but to also like percussion

00:37:29.739 --> 00:37:32.500
study so that that way you're not in the rehearsal

00:37:32.500 --> 00:37:36.159
and going, oh, there's a There's a wind chimes

00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:38.179
part and I didn't even notice that I got to set

00:37:38.179 --> 00:37:40.960
it up. Right. I got to have the different implements

00:37:40.960 --> 00:37:44.519
and mallets ready for the kids so they can try

00:37:44.519 --> 00:37:46.500
different. You have to own it too. If you don't

00:37:46.500 --> 00:37:48.960
have wind chimes and it says wind chimes. Yeah,

00:37:49.360 --> 00:37:53.699
exactly. I also think with percussion specifically,

00:37:54.099 --> 00:37:57.119
extending a little grace and understanding that

00:37:57.119 --> 00:38:00.719
like if you are, you're the snare drummer on

00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:04.119
the march, right? If you're sitting in a section

00:38:04.119 --> 00:38:07.500
of flutes, there are probably five, six, seven,

00:38:07.500 --> 00:38:10.079
eight flutes that are playing the same part as

00:38:10.079 --> 00:38:13.840
you. So if you flub a measure or, hey, we've

00:38:13.840 --> 00:38:16.099
tried this 10 times and we've tried these practice

00:38:16.099 --> 00:38:17.780
techniques and you're really struggling with

00:38:17.780 --> 00:38:19.570
these three beats, we're gonna go ahead and edit

00:38:19.570 --> 00:38:22.110
this or modify this to fit you. When you have

00:38:22.110 --> 00:38:25.150
one snare drummer, there is no editing or modification.

00:38:25.610 --> 00:38:28.170
So I think extending grace to the percussion

00:38:28.170 --> 00:38:31.369
and understanding they're on an island back there

00:38:31.369 --> 00:38:35.570
and often it is one person covering a part and

00:38:35.570 --> 00:38:39.329
you know, it's more like a... piccolo or a berry

00:38:39.329 --> 00:38:43.650
sax. But even with that, the berry sax is covered

00:38:43.650 --> 00:38:46.750
in the tuba. There's nobody else playing the

00:38:46.750 --> 00:38:48.869
triangle part. There's nobody else playing that

00:38:48.869 --> 00:38:52.530
suspended cymbal roll. So I think extending the

00:38:52.530 --> 00:38:54.869
kids a little bit of grace, not that your percussionist

00:38:54.869 --> 00:38:57.949
shouldn't be prepared, but just cut them some

00:38:57.949 --> 00:39:00.510
slack. How about some tips for doubling when

00:39:00.510 --> 00:39:01.949
you have a piece that you really want to do for

00:39:01.949 --> 00:39:04.090
the band, but you got four more kids in the percussion

00:39:04.090 --> 00:39:05.929
section than you need. So as a percussionist,

00:39:06.289 --> 00:39:07.429
what are some things you do to hide them? We

00:39:07.429 --> 00:39:09.889
do talk about that some on our podcast and more

00:39:09.889 --> 00:39:13.230
and more on our end. We also talk about what

00:39:13.230 --> 00:39:16.429
parts you may want to actually use if you don't

00:39:16.429 --> 00:39:19.550
have enough kids. So in terms of doubling, it

00:39:19.550 --> 00:39:21.809
is if you have the equipment for it, I think

00:39:21.809 --> 00:39:25.929
it is always okay to, depending on how large

00:39:25.929 --> 00:39:28.800
the section is, to take an oboe. and put it in

00:39:28.800 --> 00:39:32.139
marimba, right? You can also get really creative.

00:39:32.320 --> 00:39:35.659
We will often, like, I had nine percussionists

00:39:35.659 --> 00:39:38.780
in my top ensemble last year. That was a lot.

00:39:39.699 --> 00:39:42.860
But we can do, okay, we are going to, we're gonna

00:39:42.860 --> 00:39:46.039
assign two of you to snare and we are rotating

00:39:46.039 --> 00:39:48.340
daily. One of you's on pad, one of you's on snare,

00:39:48.420 --> 00:39:50.179
one of you's on pad, one of you's on snare. The

00:39:50.179 --> 00:39:52.659
nice thing about that is you have a backup. There's

00:39:52.659 --> 00:39:55.739
not that fear of, okay, it's concert day and

00:39:55.739 --> 00:39:57.579
the snare drummer broke his wrist. you know,

00:39:57.699 --> 00:39:59.519
what are we gonna do? You have a backup. So I

00:39:59.519 --> 00:40:03.559
think that's smart. Doing that, it's okay to

00:40:03.559 --> 00:40:06.420
put more kids on mallet stuff. It's also okay,

00:40:06.480 --> 00:40:09.900
I've done this, where you go, all right, so this

00:40:09.900 --> 00:40:13.500
kid is a talented percussionist and I wanna extend

00:40:13.500 --> 00:40:17.219
their knowledge, so I'm gonna take the tube apart

00:40:17.219 --> 00:40:20.500
and you're gonna... read marimba and you're gonna

00:40:20.500 --> 00:40:23.619
do this on bass clef and do this on marimba so

00:40:23.619 --> 00:40:26.000
you can even kind of help kids out help stretch

00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:29.980
themselves and grow them in other ways um but

00:40:29.980 --> 00:40:33.599
uh i would not i think sometimes people just

00:40:33.599 --> 00:40:36.219
go oh i'll just put two people on snare drum

00:40:36.219 --> 00:40:39.610
or i'll put three people on snare drum or eight

00:40:39.610 --> 00:40:42.889
people on bells or whatever that I don't think

00:40:42.889 --> 00:40:45.289
I think you have to be a little bit more creative

00:40:45.289 --> 00:40:48.849
than that and making sure that it doesn't end

00:40:48.849 --> 00:40:53.250
up balance over balancing the wind section. But

00:40:53.250 --> 00:40:55.510
lots of things like that that you can do to help

00:40:55.510 --> 00:40:57.849
your percussionist couple of thoughts the things

00:40:57.849 --> 00:41:00.030
similar to that that I do so sometimes if I have

00:41:00.030 --> 00:41:02.170
an extra kid who's really weak. I might have

00:41:02.170 --> 00:41:03.949
them play the bass drum part with the bass drum

00:41:03.949 --> 00:41:07.030
player. But on like we have tons of toms and

00:41:07.030 --> 00:41:09.170
whatever. So like on a on a big floor, Tom, right.

00:41:09.230 --> 00:41:11.230
With maybe maybe a timpani mallet. So it's not

00:41:11.230 --> 00:41:13.969
super loud. What I do a lot if I have two kids

00:41:13.969 --> 00:41:15.650
who are going to play a snare drum, I'll actually

00:41:15.650 --> 00:41:17.210
do. And again, I teach high school, so it might

00:41:17.210 --> 00:41:19.170
be a little bit different, but snares on snares

00:41:19.170 --> 00:41:22.070
off. And I've done that a lot. And they all they

00:41:22.070 --> 00:41:24.409
both have to play it like half volume. So like

00:41:24.409 --> 00:41:26.369
kind of forces them to. And, you know, we're

00:41:26.369 --> 00:41:27.989
in a marching program, too. So our kids like

00:41:27.989 --> 00:41:29.920
to overplay. You know, if they're drumline kids,

00:41:30.500 --> 00:41:32.260
like the forte on this is different from the

00:41:32.260 --> 00:41:34.139
forte on the field. Yeah. And that's good that

00:41:34.139 --> 00:41:36.079
you give them that distinction because that's

00:41:36.079 --> 00:41:38.659
really important. Yeah. So so people need to

00:41:38.659 --> 00:41:42.320
check out your your clinic at Midwest. Yes. Hope

00:41:42.320 --> 00:41:45.019
to see you there. Can you give us like another

00:41:45.019 --> 00:41:47.039
non instrument specific thing? Like what's something

00:41:47.039 --> 00:41:48.679
somebody who's not going to be able to be there

00:41:48.679 --> 00:41:51.780
is going to get out of it. We're going to talk

00:41:51.780 --> 00:41:54.880
about all the instruments basically, but also

00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:58.039
like we're both very passionate about continuing

00:41:58.039 --> 00:42:01.860
to talk about what you can say to kids on the

00:42:01.860 --> 00:42:05.599
podium quickly to fix them. A lot of times younger

00:42:05.599 --> 00:42:07.980
directors might be on the podium and they're

00:42:07.980 --> 00:42:10.500
just like their hairs on fire because they're

00:42:10.500 --> 00:42:13.019
trying to look at their score and know what they're

00:42:13.019 --> 00:42:15.340
going to say. But they're also trying to listen

00:42:15.340 --> 00:42:17.699
and react to what's happening in the band hall.

00:42:17.920 --> 00:42:20.159
So we're going to give them some ideas about

00:42:20.159 --> 00:42:23.260
like okay let's say you finished a rep and you're

00:42:23.260 --> 00:42:26.019
just not sure exactly what happened here are

00:42:26.019 --> 00:42:28.840
some things you can do you can isolate the melody

00:42:28.840 --> 00:42:31.119
line and then here are things you can tell flutes

00:42:31.119 --> 00:42:33.780
flutes you're sounding a little eerie why don't

00:42:33.780 --> 00:42:37.099
you pull the bunny muscle down more clarinets

00:42:37.099 --> 00:42:39.360
you're a little flat you need to make sure you

00:42:39.360 --> 00:42:41.400
click in by pushing up with your right -handed

00:42:41.400 --> 00:42:44.420
thumb into your top teeth so we're gonna try

00:42:44.420 --> 00:42:47.320
to give like little things that people can say

00:42:47.320 --> 00:42:50.099
and maybe even like a little menu where they

00:42:50.099 --> 00:42:52.800
can like look at it on the podium and go well

00:42:52.800 --> 00:42:55.199
I'm not sure so let me say this to my oboes and

00:42:55.199 --> 00:42:57.699
see if that fixes it so we're trying to give

00:42:57.699 --> 00:43:01.500
like practical ways that the pedagogy can continue

00:43:01.500 --> 00:43:05.539
to be you know just practiced and grown when

00:43:05.539 --> 00:43:09.730
they're in like a full ensemble I think non instrument

00:43:09.730 --> 00:43:13.210
specific stuff, we have a ton of instrument specific

00:43:13.210 --> 00:43:15.889
things, but non instrument specific stuff, I

00:43:15.889 --> 00:43:20.329
think the importance of, we talk a lot on our

00:43:20.329 --> 00:43:25.179
podcast about... like creating melody sheets

00:43:25.179 --> 00:43:27.320
and things like that where you essentially turn

00:43:27.320 --> 00:43:30.119
a piece of music into a flex band piece right

00:43:30.119 --> 00:43:33.260
and that makes the the teaching process so much

00:43:33.260 --> 00:43:38.019
easier so much or yes or tricks like okay the

00:43:38.019 --> 00:43:41.159
the rhythm is what's giving us an issue okay

00:43:41.159 --> 00:43:43.679
we'll take the notes out of the equation and

00:43:43.679 --> 00:43:46.730
count the rhythm Play it on a concert F, right?

00:43:46.789 --> 00:43:49.110
Those are just from the podium tricks, things

00:43:49.110 --> 00:43:51.809
like that. Or the opposite, it's not the rhythm

00:43:51.809 --> 00:43:54.030
that's giving us issues, it's the notes that's

00:43:54.030 --> 00:43:55.789
giving us issues. Okay, we're gonna play every

00:43:55.789 --> 00:43:58.789
note in measure 17 like a half note. Ready, here

00:43:58.789 --> 00:44:03.530
we go. So I think little tricks like that can

00:44:03.530 --> 00:44:06.989
help refine the teaching process and make it

00:44:06.989 --> 00:44:09.550
more efficient, which is ultimately what it's

00:44:09.550 --> 00:44:11.449
about. It's about efficiency from the podium,

00:44:11.670 --> 00:44:15.579
right? make as much better in as short amount

00:44:15.579 --> 00:44:17.659
of time as you can. And Laura and I are both

00:44:17.659 --> 00:44:20.420
really passionate. We talk about... this pretty

00:44:20.420 --> 00:44:23.380
much every single episode, we like to mark our

00:44:23.380 --> 00:44:25.639
students' parts ahead of time before we give

00:44:25.639 --> 00:44:28.639
them out. So that way we're literally studying

00:44:28.639 --> 00:44:31.920
every single part and we'll talk about that at

00:44:31.920 --> 00:44:34.199
Midwest too, like what we look for, what we mark

00:44:34.199 --> 00:44:37.619
on the parts. Independent from the score. Independent

00:44:37.619 --> 00:44:40.119
from the score. So we're looking at a clarinet

00:44:40.119 --> 00:44:43.079
part and we're saying, okay you've got to use

00:44:43.079 --> 00:44:46.400
alternate C here or hey you're gonna have to

00:44:46.400 --> 00:44:49.170
do left here and right here or clarinet We've

00:44:49.170 --> 00:44:51.789
got an A you're gonna have to use resonance fingering

00:44:51.789 --> 00:44:54.590
and we write it in their part So that way again

00:44:54.590 --> 00:44:56.789
like Laura just said we're more efficient on

00:44:56.789 --> 00:44:59.489
the podium Where we don't have to tell the clarinets

00:44:59.489 --> 00:45:01.570
how to do that or figure it out while you're

00:45:01.570 --> 00:45:04.510
in rehearsal You've already figured it out. You've

00:45:04.510 --> 00:45:06.829
already told them and you've already put it on

00:45:06.829 --> 00:45:08.849
their music So that way when you're teaching

00:45:08.849 --> 00:45:10.909
the piece, they're not going I don't know how

00:45:10.909 --> 00:45:13.730
to play that they go Oh, miss Lewis already told

00:45:13.730 --> 00:45:16.030
me it's right and it's left. Okay, I'm good to

00:45:16.030 --> 00:45:19.400
go and I I think there is score study at the

00:45:19.400 --> 00:45:21.000
middle school level. Now, certainly I know at

00:45:21.000 --> 00:45:22.559
high school this is different, but at the middle

00:45:22.559 --> 00:45:25.579
school level, for me, score study is more macro.

00:45:25.900 --> 00:45:29.059
So what is the overall big picture? Where is

00:45:29.059 --> 00:45:31.820
our peak? What is phrasing like? Where's the

00:45:31.820 --> 00:45:33.639
melody balance, accompaniment, blah, blah, blah.

00:45:34.000 --> 00:45:35.960
And when I go through those individual parts,

00:45:36.000 --> 00:45:38.679
that's instrument specific. That is, what is

00:45:38.679 --> 00:45:41.300
this kid seeing? You will sometimes see, like

00:45:41.300 --> 00:45:43.639
it can be frustrating. You can be on the podium

00:45:43.639 --> 00:45:47.579
and kids keep missing a repeat or. you know,

00:45:47.719 --> 00:45:49.659
something weird like that. And it's not until

00:45:49.659 --> 00:45:52.719
you look at the individual part that you see,

00:45:52.960 --> 00:45:55.820
oh my gosh, that was in a really weird place.

00:45:55.980 --> 00:45:59.079
Or they had to look, that was strange how that

00:45:59.079 --> 00:46:01.820
worked. It makes a little bit more sense. So

00:46:01.820 --> 00:46:05.659
it is a great way for us to see it from the kid's

00:46:05.659 --> 00:46:08.440
perspective. It doesn't take away from score

00:46:08.440 --> 00:46:10.860
study, but again, just seeing it from the kid's

00:46:10.860 --> 00:46:12.900
perspective I think makes a big difference. And

00:46:12.900 --> 00:46:15.239
there are a lot of people that, I think it's

00:46:15.239 --> 00:46:19.039
kind of a, controversial topic of is it okay

00:46:19.039 --> 00:46:22.639
to pre -mark your kids parts? We feel so strongly

00:46:22.639 --> 00:46:26.579
about it because of efficiency. It is not about,

00:46:27.340 --> 00:46:31.389
like the kid, we write, you know, write. right

00:46:31.389 --> 00:46:33.949
to left or left to right, the kids know what

00:46:33.949 --> 00:46:36.710
buttons to press. We are just catching it in

00:46:36.710 --> 00:46:38.949
the moment for them faster than they would catch

00:46:38.949 --> 00:46:40.750
it. We're not writing note names. We're not writing

00:46:40.750 --> 00:46:42.309
note names. We're not doing anything like that.

00:46:42.489 --> 00:46:45.949
We're just helping with problems that we already

00:46:45.949 --> 00:46:49.389
foresee in the... in the piece, not problems,

00:46:49.469 --> 00:46:51.769
but just rehearsal things that we're going to

00:46:51.769 --> 00:46:54.309
have to deal with. So instead of us from the

00:46:54.309 --> 00:46:56.630
podium going, OK, everybody, so look at this

00:46:56.630 --> 00:46:58.170
measure. It's a dotted quarter note. Here's how

00:46:58.170 --> 00:47:00.929
it goes. You write in one and two with a down,

00:47:00.989 --> 00:47:03.170
up, down arrow, up arrow, down arrow. And that

00:47:03.170 --> 00:47:05.130
way the kids go, oh, yeah, that's a dotted quarter

00:47:05.130 --> 00:47:07.610
note. I know how to do that. And we typically

00:47:07.610 --> 00:47:10.090
do this more with our sub non -varsity bands

00:47:10.090 --> 00:47:13.190
and a little bit less maybe with non -varsity

00:47:13.190 --> 00:47:15.349
and even less with the varsity. And especially

00:47:15.349 --> 00:47:18.320
through the year, we start with more and then

00:47:18.320 --> 00:47:20.480
as you go through the year, the kids are starting

00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:23.260
to learn like what to look for based on what

00:47:23.260 --> 00:47:25.699
we have marked earlier in the year. And it trains

00:47:25.699 --> 00:47:27.880
them and how we want the music marked. Yeah,

00:47:28.199 --> 00:47:29.519
I forget who it was, but I was meeting with a

00:47:29.519 --> 00:47:30.719
middle school band director a little a couple

00:47:30.719 --> 00:47:33.219
of years ago and they said they actually sometimes

00:47:33.219 --> 00:47:36.159
give the part in two sided and like it's the

00:47:36.159 --> 00:47:38.679
same thing on both sides and one side has some

00:47:38.679 --> 00:47:40.260
note names written in for notes that they're

00:47:40.260 --> 00:47:41.960
working on or whatever and they're allowed to

00:47:41.960 --> 00:47:44.079
use that page when they need to. but the goal

00:47:44.079 --> 00:47:45.719
is that they're flipping it over and using the

00:47:45.719 --> 00:47:47.539
page that doesn't have it. I hadn't heard that

00:47:47.539 --> 00:47:49.280
before. Yeah, that's a great idea. I mean, we

00:47:49.280 --> 00:47:52.099
could even do that with a blank and a marked

00:47:52.099 --> 00:47:56.840
up part. The presentation seems, if it's all

00:47:56.840 --> 00:47:58.860
about pacing, then that's going to directly impact

00:47:58.860 --> 00:48:02.139
the culture of your band. Because if your pacing

00:48:02.139 --> 00:48:03.920
is good, kids love being in rehearsal, things

00:48:03.920 --> 00:48:06.420
are good. If it's too slow, too fast, it's too

00:48:06.420 --> 00:48:08.739
hard, too easy. I mean, this is like huge when

00:48:08.739 --> 00:48:11.000
it comes to the overall dynamic of where you

00:48:11.000 --> 00:48:13.849
teach. Agreed. Yes. And the fact that the fact

00:48:13.849 --> 00:48:16.690
that you have control over that, it's like kind

00:48:16.690 --> 00:48:18.630
of scary, you know, but once people recognize

00:48:18.630 --> 00:48:21.510
that, keep their pacing up to a good level, it

00:48:21.510 --> 00:48:24.409
changes everything. And not and also like not

00:48:24.409 --> 00:48:27.010
just keeping pacing up, but also you have to

00:48:27.010 --> 00:48:28.690
have the knowledge of what you're going to say

00:48:28.690 --> 00:48:31.369
every day. So that's not just score study. That's

00:48:31.369 --> 00:48:33.869
lesson planning. And that's not just lesson planning.

00:48:34.030 --> 00:48:36.349
That's, again, having deep knowledge of each

00:48:36.349 --> 00:48:39.849
part so that when a kid asks you, hey, Miss Lewis,

00:48:39.889 --> 00:48:42.309
I have a trill in this measure. How do I do that?

00:48:42.530 --> 00:48:44.809
Then you go, Oh, I've already planned that out.

00:48:44.889 --> 00:48:47.909
Here's how you do it. Or, or if you don't know,

00:48:48.130 --> 00:48:49.969
well, let me ask my private lesson teacher and

00:48:49.969 --> 00:48:51.789
get back to you. Or let me ask my colleague.

00:48:52.130 --> 00:48:54.110
So there's nothing wrong with telling a student

00:48:54.110 --> 00:48:56.530
to, if you're unsure of something like, Hey,

00:48:56.650 --> 00:48:58.250
I'll get back to you tomorrow. And that hadn't

00:48:58.250 --> 00:49:00.469
thought about that. But most of the time, if

00:49:00.469 --> 00:49:02.670
you've done your, you know, due diligence ahead

00:49:02.670 --> 00:49:04.929
of time, you've already come through each of

00:49:04.929 --> 00:49:06.849
those little things and you can tell them ahead

00:49:06.849 --> 00:49:11.250
of time how to do the drill. I also think. understanding

00:49:11.250 --> 00:49:17.130
what is practical to be accomplished in a time

00:49:17.130 --> 00:49:20.429
set. So you may have had a plan like okay this

00:49:20.429 --> 00:49:22.090
is what I want to accomplish in this rehearsal

00:49:22.090 --> 00:49:25.030
and then we arrive at a section that's given

00:49:25.030 --> 00:49:27.599
the kids more trouble than you've... prepared

00:49:27.599 --> 00:49:29.880
for you than you thought it was going to give

00:49:29.880 --> 00:49:32.719
them. I think being able in the moment to go,

00:49:33.079 --> 00:49:35.699
okay, I can stop and work on this for 15 minutes

00:49:35.699 --> 00:49:38.639
with my saxes and clarinets, but everybody else

00:49:38.639 --> 00:49:40.460
is gonna be sitting there twiddling their thumbs

00:49:40.460 --> 00:49:42.940
and throwing spitballs, then okay, that's not

00:49:42.940 --> 00:49:45.000
an efficient use of my time right now. Table

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:47.639
that, come back later. But that's something that

00:49:47.639 --> 00:49:50.559
comes with age and experience. I call it cut

00:49:50.559 --> 00:49:53.239
bait. It's time to cut bait. We're not working

00:49:53.239 --> 00:49:55.340
on that anymore. You have to work on that at

00:49:55.340 --> 00:49:57.360
home and I will hear you play it in five more

00:49:57.360 --> 00:50:00.699
days or whatever. But that's something sometimes

00:50:00.699 --> 00:50:02.840
younger directors just go, I'm going to start

00:50:02.840 --> 00:50:04.920
at the beginning and we're just going to play

00:50:04.920 --> 00:50:06.480
and we're going to see how it goes. Sometimes

00:50:06.480 --> 00:50:08.079
you don't need to start a piece at the beginning.

00:50:08.280 --> 00:50:10.760
Sometimes you need to start in the middle where

00:50:10.760 --> 00:50:13.659
there's a different key signature, a different

00:50:13.659 --> 00:50:15.860
tempo. To the band. It starts with some solos.

00:50:15.820 --> 00:50:17.780
and you need to start it. And that's OK. Right.

00:50:17.880 --> 00:50:19.340
Like you just got to figure out what's going

00:50:19.340 --> 00:50:21.460
to work best for your group. One year I put two

00:50:21.460 --> 00:50:23.019
and two together. The way you rehearse a marching

00:50:23.019 --> 00:50:25.260
band show over weeks is similar to how you can

00:50:25.260 --> 00:50:27.139
rehearse a concert band piece. So, for example,

00:50:27.400 --> 00:50:29.280
we know we have to work our closer this week.

00:50:29.500 --> 00:50:31.460
Whatever. Fine. Well, then in the concert band

00:50:31.460 --> 00:50:33.400
piece, I put you work the last page of the piece

00:50:33.400 --> 00:50:36.139
or whatever, you know, work. It's just a puzzle.

00:50:36.380 --> 00:50:38.860
And over time, you put it together. Yeah. Yeah.

00:50:39.039 --> 00:50:41.179
Exactly right. It's all a journey. All right.

00:50:41.239 --> 00:50:44.050
Some of your favorite pieces that you've. um

00:50:44.050 --> 00:50:46.429
experience in the podcast and a side thought

00:50:46.429 --> 00:50:48.090
have you actually fallen in love more with the

00:50:48.090 --> 00:50:50.769
piece after you've worked on it more like talked

00:50:50.769 --> 00:50:54.409
about it yes yeah um not only that but also we

00:50:54.409 --> 00:50:57.349
learned from each other so like last year we

00:50:57.349 --> 00:51:01.530
did an episode in season two call about pit in

00:51:01.530 --> 00:51:04.559
the tangible The pit in the pendulum, sorry.

00:51:05.019 --> 00:51:07.219
And we actually just included it, like Laura

00:51:07.219 --> 00:51:09.099
had played it with her band. I've played it a

00:51:09.099 --> 00:51:11.059
million times. Yeah, and it was like a small

00:51:11.059 --> 00:51:13.659
portion of an episode. It was about like some

00:51:13.659 --> 00:51:17.059
things you could program for like a spooky Halloween

00:51:17.059 --> 00:51:20.079
theme concert in the fall. And I was like, oh,

00:51:20.139 --> 00:51:22.639
that sounds fun. And then the piece was added

00:51:22.639 --> 00:51:25.699
to the PML this past year. And so we were like,

00:51:26.210 --> 00:51:28.610
Amazing. And I remembered that she had said how

00:51:28.610 --> 00:51:31.230
much she loved it. And it's like a 15 year old.

00:51:31.389 --> 00:51:33.750
I use it with region bands all the time. I can't

00:51:33.750 --> 00:51:35.889
now that it's on the PM because other people

00:51:35.889 --> 00:51:39.190
will play it. But but like I said, I love that

00:51:39.190 --> 00:51:42.269
piece. And so my my non varsity band played it

00:51:42.269 --> 00:51:45.230
last year. And it was because Laura had just

00:51:45.230 --> 00:51:47.449
played it and said we should review this piece.

00:51:47.449 --> 00:51:50.309
And I was like, well, I love it now. And it's

00:51:50.309 --> 00:51:52.389
a piece probably that will play again because

00:51:52.389 --> 00:51:56.289
it's great. And the kids loved it. So That sort

00:51:56.289 --> 00:51:59.889
of thing happens all the time. Do we fall more

00:51:59.889 --> 00:52:03.010
in love with the piece once we've reviewed it?

00:52:03.250 --> 00:52:07.570
Kind of, sometimes. We just did an episode this

00:52:07.570 --> 00:52:11.050
season on Danza Zanzari. It's a brand new piece

00:52:11.050 --> 00:52:17.000
that came out in 2025. I loved listening to it.

00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:20.480
We played it at TBA, which is a convention in

00:52:20.480 --> 00:52:23.760
the summer for band directors and I love it.

00:52:23.760 --> 00:52:26.079
I've been playing it with my band and I'm becoming

00:52:26.079 --> 00:52:28.519
more and more excited about the piece and my

00:52:28.519 --> 00:52:32.260
students love it too. So that definitely is a

00:52:32.260 --> 00:52:36.000
good like side effect of doing the podcast. I

00:52:36.000 --> 00:52:38.980
think a piece that comes to mind for me, I love

00:52:38.980 --> 00:52:43.260
Appalachian Morning and you know... played it

00:52:43.260 --> 00:52:47.300
years ago and when we did an episode on it we

00:52:47.300 --> 00:52:49.980
both talked about it as we were going through

00:52:49.980 --> 00:52:52.539
the score you know it was like bringing back

00:52:52.539 --> 00:52:54.699
all these memories and going oh I remember that

00:52:54.699 --> 00:52:59.599
and oh god this is so good this piece is so good

00:52:59.599 --> 00:53:03.199
it's so well written yeah you know so definitely

00:53:03.199 --> 00:53:07.039
and in fact i just recommended that i was talking

00:53:07.039 --> 00:53:09.039
to another band director yesterday who was like

00:53:09.039 --> 00:53:12.099
okay i have a really good solo trumpet and a

00:53:12.099 --> 00:53:14.420
really good solo clarinet and a really good solo

00:53:14.420 --> 00:53:16.239
flute and i was like have you listened to Appalachian

00:53:16.239 --> 00:53:20.920
Morning so uh you know i i think the deeper dive

00:53:20.920 --> 00:53:23.940
you go into a piece if you've already played

00:53:23.940 --> 00:53:25.860
it, like we have with many of ours. Yeah, I think

00:53:25.860 --> 00:53:28.219
it's easy to look at it and reflect. We've also

00:53:28.219 --> 00:53:30.119
had the opposite, where we've looked at it and

00:53:30.119 --> 00:53:32.099
we've gone, I can't believe we were crazy enough

00:53:32.099 --> 00:53:35.139
to do this. What were we thinking? This is hard.

00:53:35.800 --> 00:53:37.340
And sometimes you hear a piece on a day and you

00:53:37.340 --> 00:53:39.760
love it. You hear it again and you're like, yeah,

00:53:39.980 --> 00:53:42.210
yeah, yeah, just to hit you differently. Yeah.

00:53:42.750 --> 00:53:45.389
Or your children can't perform it to the level

00:53:45.389 --> 00:53:47.329
you want them to perform it at. And you're like,

00:53:47.409 --> 00:53:48.989
well, we're not going to play that. Sometimes

00:53:48.989 --> 00:53:51.070
you also know a piece is right for them and you

00:53:51.070 --> 00:53:52.670
pass it out and you start working on it. And

00:53:52.670 --> 00:53:55.369
then you realize this is not vibing with like,

00:53:55.750 --> 00:53:57.769
and it's not that they shouldn't be able to play

00:53:57.769 --> 00:54:00.510
it, but it's like, is this worth, you know, so

00:54:00.510 --> 00:54:02.130
sometimes what I'll do is I'll have another piece

00:54:02.130 --> 00:54:04.630
in mind someday and I'll like put it on as they're

00:54:04.630 --> 00:54:06.190
walking in and I'll just see how they react.

00:54:06.539 --> 00:54:08.960
and if they seem to love that piece then I'll

00:54:08.960 --> 00:54:10.800
say in my mind I'll say okay we're gonna pass

00:54:10.800 --> 00:54:12.800
that one out in a week and we're done with this

00:54:12.800 --> 00:54:15.059
one now and I won't even tell them just be like

00:54:15.059 --> 00:54:17.039
oh we're gonna try this and they love it you

00:54:17.039 --> 00:54:18.900
know it's just like sensing whether or not the

00:54:18.900 --> 00:54:20.960
piece is working for them I don't know how to

00:54:20.960 --> 00:54:23.780
do that. It's like, they have to like the piece.

00:54:24.420 --> 00:54:27.219
Yes. And I have done something similar to that

00:54:27.219 --> 00:54:28.940
too, where I'm like, I'm thinking about this

00:54:28.940 --> 00:54:31.000
piece. Let's listen to it. And then the kids,

00:54:31.000 --> 00:54:33.400
if they're like, yeah, that piece is awesome.

00:54:33.480 --> 00:54:35.019
Then I'm like, okay, great. If they're like,

00:54:35.300 --> 00:54:37.900
oh yeah, that's pretty nice. I'm like, okay.

00:54:38.099 --> 00:54:39.360
So you're not actually going to work on it. I

00:54:39.360 --> 00:54:41.519
want to throw a piece out there. And I love traditional

00:54:41.519 --> 00:54:43.460
band works. I love standard band rep. Like I

00:54:43.460 --> 00:54:46.139
love all the types. I'm not like a pop only kind

00:54:46.139 --> 00:54:48.599
of teacher. Like I love the traditional stuff.

00:54:48.800 --> 00:54:51.880
There's a grade two, I almost said chart, piece

00:54:51.880 --> 00:54:54.900
by Paul Murtha on A Thousand Years from Twilight.

00:54:54.900 --> 00:54:57.440
I don't know if you've heard it. I haven't, but

00:54:57.440 --> 00:55:00.539
I love Paul Murtha. It's legit, gorgeous, and

00:55:00.539 --> 00:55:02.940
kids love it, and it's like a ballad for a band

00:55:02.940 --> 00:55:06.380
that really struggles with a ballad. I know it's

00:55:06.380 --> 00:55:10.750
like this movie tune, but it's great. Well, we

00:55:10.750 --> 00:55:13.750
love getting like recommendations to pieces that

00:55:13.750 --> 00:55:17.570
we can put on the podcast and review. And so

00:55:17.570 --> 00:55:20.010
yeah, we're writing it down right now. So that's

00:55:20.010 --> 00:55:23.809
awesome. It's a good one. OK, so other helpful

00:55:23.809 --> 00:55:26.809
resources that you like, you know, to learn from

00:55:26.809 --> 00:55:28.070
that you might want to share with other people.

00:55:28.889 --> 00:55:32.389
Absolutely, so we love to talk, like we love

00:55:32.389 --> 00:55:35.289
to just talk to other band directors, similarly

00:55:35.289 --> 00:55:39.369
to what we're doing right now. We have a wonderful

00:55:39.369 --> 00:55:42.889
district that we work in where we have like 30

00:55:42.889 --> 00:55:45.090
other middle school band directors that we can

00:55:45.090 --> 00:55:50.090
bounce ideas off of. I'm struggling with this.

00:55:50.210 --> 00:55:52.530
What would you do? Or I'm having this problem

00:55:52.530 --> 00:55:55.489
or hey, I just wanted to celebrate like this

00:55:55.489 --> 00:55:57.730
win everybody brought their clarinet today or

00:55:57.730 --> 00:56:01.769
whatever. And so I think that communal just like

00:56:01.769 --> 00:56:04.409
uplifting and also place to go. That's a safe

00:56:04.409 --> 00:56:08.969
space to ask questions is so important and not

00:56:08.969 --> 00:56:11.630
something that everybody has and and we know

00:56:11.630 --> 00:56:14.510
that so that's kind of why we like doing our

00:56:14.510 --> 00:56:17.230
podcast so we can help mentor people even if

00:56:17.230 --> 00:56:20.500
we never meet them. we hope it's helping them

00:56:20.500 --> 00:56:24.460
pick their music in a way. That's something that

00:56:24.460 --> 00:56:27.900
I think is so important to me. If I have a question

00:56:27.900 --> 00:56:30.619
about a piece, my first person to ask is Laura

00:56:30.619 --> 00:56:33.119
and her husband, who's also a band director.

00:56:33.920 --> 00:56:37.340
But that's like something really neat that we

00:56:37.340 --> 00:56:40.139
have that maybe other people don't have. I also

00:56:40.139 --> 00:56:42.840
think here in Texas we have an inc... I mean,

00:56:43.000 --> 00:56:47.659
our music conventions are next level. And I think

00:56:47.659 --> 00:56:52.679
it is so important for teachers of all ages to

00:56:52.679 --> 00:56:55.460
attend and soak up the knowledge from all the

00:56:55.460 --> 00:56:59.320
people around us. So we are, I mean, obviously

00:56:59.320 --> 00:57:03.320
diligent about attending conferences and it's

00:57:03.320 --> 00:57:07.659
not. You can always learn something. It's not

00:57:07.659 --> 00:57:10.840
just about going in the social aspect or the

00:57:10.840 --> 00:57:14.320
networking aspect. Sitting down in sessions with

00:57:14.320 --> 00:57:16.960
other band directors that you respect and learning

00:57:16.960 --> 00:57:21.230
from them I think is just... I love podcasts.

00:57:21.909 --> 00:57:28.050
So I am all about maximizing my time. And so

00:57:28.050 --> 00:57:30.949
I love the ability to plug in and listen to a

00:57:30.949 --> 00:57:34.389
podcast while I'm driving to work, while I'm

00:57:34.389 --> 00:57:38.610
exercising. I think if I can multitask, then

00:57:38.610 --> 00:57:41.829
I feel like I'm taking care of business. So I

00:57:41.829 --> 00:57:44.769
like professional development or getting better

00:57:44.769 --> 00:57:47.619
at my craft. while also doing something else.

00:57:48.079 --> 00:57:51.099
Yeah. And I think that just the role of a mentor

00:57:51.099 --> 00:57:53.880
is so important and critical. We talk about that

00:57:53.880 --> 00:57:56.940
a lot. Um, and you know, our district even like

00:57:56.940 --> 00:58:00.159
assigns a mentor to new teachers so that way

00:58:00.159 --> 00:58:02.599
they can kind of learn the ropes. But like we

00:58:02.599 --> 00:58:05.599
talk about that a lot at convention, like go

00:58:05.599 --> 00:58:08.139
find a mentor. People will do it for free. They

00:58:08.139 --> 00:58:11.219
care about you. You know, I have A lot of people

00:58:11.219 --> 00:58:13.860
that love to send me recordings of their band

00:58:13.860 --> 00:58:16.659
before they go to UIL and like, hey, Katie, will

00:58:16.659 --> 00:58:19.219
you just take a listen and write me some notes

00:58:19.219 --> 00:58:21.659
on a score and send it to me? Yes, of course.

00:58:22.099 --> 00:58:24.719
I'm more than happy to help people. And I just

00:58:24.719 --> 00:58:28.820
think that giving back to people is so important

00:58:28.820 --> 00:58:31.260
as you, like Laura said, as we're getting older

00:58:31.260 --> 00:58:36.000
in our educational years. I just think finding

00:58:36.000 --> 00:58:38.860
a mentor and then asking for help and not being

00:58:38.860 --> 00:58:41.019
afraid to ask. There's a lot of people who are

00:58:41.019 --> 00:58:42.659
like, I don't wanna look like I don't know what

00:58:42.659 --> 00:58:45.579
I'm doing. Nobody cares that you don't know what

00:58:45.579 --> 00:58:48.019
you're doing. What you're doing is asking for

00:58:48.019 --> 00:58:50.920
help so that your kids can have the best experience.

00:58:51.659 --> 00:58:54.400
That's all it is, as simple as that. Whatever

00:58:54.400 --> 00:58:57.780
you need to ask, ask it because you want to do

00:58:57.780 --> 00:59:04.250
what's best for your kids. I'm not a TikTok person,

00:59:04.429 --> 00:59:07.610
but I think there is an assortment of resources

00:59:07.610 --> 00:59:11.849
out, even on the web. As long as you just find

00:59:11.849 --> 00:59:15.469
that you are following smart people, you know,

00:59:15.469 --> 00:59:17.630
just make sure that they know what they're doing.

00:59:17.949 --> 00:59:20.809
But God, I think you can, there are all kinds

00:59:20.809 --> 00:59:23.190
of resources to get information. The world is

00:59:23.190 --> 00:59:26.650
so small right now, you know, with technology

00:59:26.650 --> 00:59:29.989
being what it is. Facebook groups, Instagram

00:59:29.989 --> 00:59:32.929
groups. I mean, look at us. you're connected,

00:59:33.389 --> 00:59:35.570
you're in New York, aren't you in New York? Maine.

00:59:36.550 --> 00:59:40.380
The way life should be is our motto. Yeah. Definitely

00:59:40.380 --> 00:59:43.119
not in Texas in October. It's so hot here right

00:59:43.119 --> 00:59:45.440
now. You're mentioning mentorship. I just want

00:59:45.440 --> 00:59:48.179
to mention recently I met with Vanessa, Megan

00:59:48.179 --> 00:59:50.320
and Phil from Idaho who were three band directors

00:59:50.320 --> 00:59:52.219
and it was all about mentorship. They run a big

00:59:52.219 --> 00:59:54.579
mentorship program there. So anybody who's like

00:59:54.579 --> 00:59:56.320
is into the mentorship thing, mentorship thing,

00:59:56.400 --> 00:59:59.159
it was episode 280. I also wanted to mention

00:59:59.159 --> 01:00:01.039
another great way to learn at conventions is

01:00:01.039 --> 01:00:03.059
there's an honor band there. Go watch the honor

01:00:03.059 --> 01:00:04.500
band conductor. I mean, the amount of time there's

01:00:04.500 --> 01:00:06.800
a great honor band conductor and people are like

01:00:06.800 --> 01:00:08.420
having donuts in the other room. It's like check

01:00:08.420 --> 01:00:11.159
out the rehearsal. even if it's one phrase that

01:00:11.159 --> 01:00:14.380
they use, get that? Okay, so to close, and again,

01:00:14.400 --> 01:00:15.480
I haven't prepared you for this, so let me know

01:00:15.480 --> 01:00:17.519
if we need to pause the recording or not. I'm

01:00:17.519 --> 01:00:20.199
going to ask you to name a piece that is one

01:00:20.199 --> 01:00:23.019
of your all -time favorites, not for your band

01:00:23.019 --> 01:00:28.460
to play, but just to experience a piece. I'm

01:00:28.460 --> 01:00:30.000
going to say one that I've done with my band

01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:32.900
a few times, but that I love. It's the Shostakovich

01:00:32.900 --> 01:00:35.219
Prelude in E flat minor, which is just such an

01:00:35.219 --> 01:00:37.860
amazing piece. uh i love that super dark and

01:00:37.860 --> 01:00:39.480
and super emotional and like two minutes long

01:00:39.480 --> 01:00:44.519
so um yeah for me mine would be and We have not

01:00:44.519 --> 01:00:45.460
talked about this. You're going to die because

01:00:45.460 --> 01:00:47.760
it's the same composer. But mine would be Luke

01:00:47.760 --> 01:00:52.500
Sarumkwe by Eric Whittaker. And I heard the choral

01:00:52.500 --> 01:00:55.139
version first. And the choral version brought

01:00:55.139 --> 01:00:56.940
me to my knees when I heard it for the first

01:00:56.940 --> 01:01:00.019
time. And we were at, this was a million years

01:01:00.019 --> 01:01:03.800
ago, at our TMEA convention. And one of the Allstate

01:01:03.800 --> 01:01:06.699
bands played, it was just after the band arrangement

01:01:06.699 --> 01:01:08.960
came out. And it brought me to tears. I mean,

01:01:09.039 --> 01:01:12.760
it was just breathtakingly beautiful. And I couldn't

01:01:12.760 --> 01:01:16.289
believe that orchestration and how it sounded

01:01:16.289 --> 01:01:19.389
like it it wasn't it wasn't all that different

01:01:19.389 --> 01:01:22.630
from the the choral version I mean I was just

01:01:22.630 --> 01:01:25.869
absolutely blown away so that that is a piece

01:01:25.869 --> 01:01:29.530
that impacts me every time I hear it I've already

01:01:29.530 --> 01:01:32.710
said mine, but it's October. I just love that

01:01:32.710 --> 01:01:36.210
piece. It's beautiful It's moving like Laura

01:01:36.210 --> 01:01:38.409
said I will never be able to play it with my

01:01:38.409 --> 01:01:42.289
band But this is a true story and it's so sweet.

01:01:42.289 --> 01:01:44.889
It makes my heart happy I have a former student

01:01:44.889 --> 01:01:47.789
who is now studying to be a band director She's

01:01:47.789 --> 01:01:50.469
a music education major at a college in Texas

01:01:50.469 --> 01:01:54.730
called Texas Christian University and she is

01:01:54.730 --> 01:01:58.230
They are playing October right now in her college

01:01:58.119 --> 01:02:00.980
band, and she reached out to me to be like, Miss

01:02:00.980 --> 01:02:03.880
Lewis used to always say you wished we could

01:02:03.880 --> 01:02:06.139
play October because you love that piece so much.

01:02:06.300 --> 01:02:08.679
And guess what? Now I'm going to play it. So

01:02:08.679 --> 01:02:10.699
I'm going to get her live stream link and get

01:02:10.699 --> 01:02:14.599
to watch her play this piece that she knows that

01:02:14.599 --> 01:02:17.340
I connect with. I just thought that was so sweet.

01:02:17.380 --> 01:02:19.119
And that literally just happened like two days

01:02:19.119 --> 01:02:21.699
ago that she sent me the message about them playing

01:02:21.699 --> 01:02:24.559
it. So it's just the best piece. It's so pretty.

01:02:24.719 --> 01:02:26.559
That's great. You both said Eric Whitaker. I

01:02:26.559 --> 01:02:28.179
wonder if it's possible. Eric Whitaker write

01:02:28.179 --> 01:02:30.679
a piece at the grade one and a half level. Like,

01:02:30.679 --> 01:02:34.639
is that possible? Feel Lullaby is a great piece.

01:02:35.099 --> 01:02:37.599
It's gorgeous. I have played that and that I

01:02:37.599 --> 01:02:39.989
mean, it was It was gorgeous. But I like your

01:02:39.989 --> 01:02:42.869
idea of even like a like a one and a half or

01:02:42.869 --> 01:02:45.909
something. Yeah, I mean, there's plenty of beautiful

01:02:45.909 --> 01:02:48.110
grade ones out there. Whispers in the Wind by

01:02:48.110 --> 01:02:51.690
Robert Sheldon, Falling Rain. I can't remember

01:02:51.690 --> 01:02:54.230
who that's by right now. But all these pieces,

01:02:54.429 --> 01:02:56.570
you know, there's a swear engine, I think there's

01:02:56.570 --> 01:03:00.510
all these really wonderful younger band lyrical

01:03:00.510 --> 01:03:04.050
pieces that we can still teach musicianship to

01:03:04.050 --> 01:03:07.349
seventh and eighth graders without it being overwhelming.

01:03:08.189 --> 01:03:10.869
and something where they're going, I can't make

01:03:10.869 --> 01:03:12.809
this sound beautiful, or where they're going,

01:03:12.949 --> 01:03:15.170
it's just whole notes. I don't wanna play this.

01:03:15.769 --> 01:03:18.050
It's all how you approach it too as the director.

01:03:18.170 --> 01:03:20.110
If you're excited about it, they're gonna be

01:03:20.110 --> 01:03:21.889
excited about it. Did you know, I assume you

01:03:21.889 --> 01:03:24.909
know, but some people don't know like the age

01:03:24.909 --> 01:03:26.909
of the kid has to do with their heart rate, like

01:03:26.909 --> 01:03:28.909
the younger kids have a higher heart rate, and

01:03:28.909 --> 01:03:30.849
that your heart rate has to do with the pulse

01:03:30.849 --> 01:03:32.329
that you're comfortable playing music, right?

01:03:32.730 --> 01:03:35.269
I believe it. So like, that's why my wife's like,

01:03:35.269 --> 01:03:37.250
yeah, ballot at whatever age, like I'm not even

01:03:37.250 --> 01:03:39.210
trying it because they're not, you know, and

01:03:39.210 --> 01:03:42.429
it's like not just not going to work. Yeah. Yeah.

01:03:42.730 --> 01:03:44.690
That's funny. No, I didn't actually know that

01:03:44.690 --> 01:03:46.670
scientific little tidbit. I mean, it makes a

01:03:46.670 --> 01:03:48.989
lot of sense. It makes perfect sense. Yeah. Well,

01:03:49.110 --> 01:03:51.269
Katie and Laura from Banned BFFs podcast. Thank

01:03:51.269 --> 01:03:53.030
you so much for being here and everybody, if

01:03:53.030 --> 01:03:54.730
you have not listened to it, you should check

01:03:54.730 --> 01:03:56.429
it out and learn from them. Thanks so much for

01:03:56.429 --> 01:03:59.329
being here. Thank you so much for having us.

01:04:00.859 --> 01:04:03.179
We sincerely appreciate you taking your valuable

01:04:03.179 --> 01:04:04.860
time and listening to the growing band director

01:04:04.860 --> 01:04:06.960
podcast. Your students are very lucky to have

01:04:06.960 --> 01:04:09.659
a band director like you. If you have any suggestions

01:04:09.659 --> 01:04:11.599
for episode topics or think you have an area

01:04:11.599 --> 01:04:13.900
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01:04:13.900 --> 01:04:16.280
reach out. If you enjoyed this episode, don't

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01:04:26.260 --> 01:04:28.789
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01:04:28.789 --> 01:04:30.409
Band Director. See you next week.