Friday, November 13, 2009

A Few Weeks Later... and Coffs’ Big Verdict

In my last entry, I was discussing music practice and the approach taken to treat and utilise this aspect of music preparation. The results so far have been quite surprising.

In the last few weeks a good amount of students have been attempting the form of practising every day, even if they could only squeeze five minutes in. Students that have done this have come to their lessons exhibiting...

- a much more positive attitude
- greater quality in tone
- greater strength in tone
- greater preparation and understanding of pieces and musical tasks

For their first lesson in term four I spoke with students for 10-15 minutes (nearly half of the lesson) discussing practice. In the past I have had some people criticise me for talking too much, but I would like to respond now by saying perhaps there are some teachers/tutors out there that are not talking enough. It’s important that practice is discussed with students so they realise the purpose, and attempt the regime stated of trying to play everyday instead of trying to fixate a schedule onto them. You will see a student light up as soon as they understand the purpose of practice in order to retain information, instead of treating it as a function of “becoming better”.

Coffs’ Big Verdict

The results of a poll in the Coffs Coast Advocate over a week ago exhibited an interesting vote for a signature even in the region. To quickly explain why a poll was conducted, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey visited Coffs Harbour and declared that if the town was going to put its name on the national tourist map it would need a “big event”.

Unfortunately a music/arts event did not top the polling list, although it did finish a very impressive third ahead of sporting events and ocean related activities. Second was a cartoon festival, which would coincide very well with the existing Bunker Cartoon Gallery.

The number one choice was a Gaming Expo, and by this we mean console/computer games (not to do with any form of gambling). For anyone not involved with computer gaming, this would seem like an absolute joke. Rest assured though, no hacks were used to swing this poll. The computer gaming community and culture is larger than you think in the Coffs Harbour and mid-north coast region. It’s not exactly a community or culture that throws itself out there like the sports and arts communities, but given the chance it can prove to be quite prosperous.

But why would I be discussing this in relation to music?

Just recently the PAA released their program for their next concert in May next year. It has been entitled “French Connection” with the “Can Can” from Offenbach’s Orpehus of the Underworld, Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals, and Faure’s Requiem, along with some other works that are awaiting selection. While it is a very nice program, it is full of known works (currently) that people have heard before. The more I have travelled around NSW and been involved with performances home and abroad, more people from the audience have come up afterwards and commented on works they never would have heard before or been unfamiliar with. A terrific example would be the works “Pictures at an Exhibition” and “Flashpoint” for concert band from the assorted band camps and tour. A lot more people have heard of “Pictures” than “Flashpoint”, but more praise was given for “Flashpoint” being labelled as a unique work and a genuine piece of music for concert/wind band.

To tie this in with an electronic entertainment event, a proper concert performing music from assorted video games would have the potential to draw in a huge crowd. Don’t believe me? Check out the video below of an event held in Europe, an event that is held every year and draws in a massive popular crowd. By no means is this a throw-together performance. This is a well thought out and delivered arrangement of a classic video game work that the audience appreciates and would pay very good money to see performed several times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBmZAg8HxfY

For something a little different I decided to throw in a recent title that makes very good use of the orchestra, in particular the brass lines and sections.



Even when video game music was the ditsy, tinny sounding background noise for hand held and television consoles, the harmony was at times quite complex. Today you can expect music to be fully orchestrated, and even more complex, delivered with true instruments to create the tension and drama that is of the high expectations of video game developers and producers. A lot of music composed that we listen to is normally in 4/4, or maybe the occasional 6/8. However, who on earth in their right mind would compose music in 7/8? Why would anyone listen to it? Ask Blizzard Entertainment and they can tell you that 11 million people subscribed worldwide to play one of their games will more than likely hear the tune whenever they go to log in. Blizzard Entertainment isn’t the only group to use an irregular time signature as their theme tune. “The Bill” on TV uses a 7/4 time signature for their theme, as did Yoko Kanno in one of her pieces for the “Cowboy Bebop” movie. I’m sure there would be more tunes out there people could name from video games that steer away from the simple and compound time signatures. Time signatures aside, music is becoming a lot more prominent in setting the tone and influencing consumers to buy games these days, along with gameplay.

There are people learning music that will go ahead and either search for the music of video games, popular or animated movies and learn how to play the tunes. If they cannot do this, then they will listen and learn to play it by ear.

At the end of the day, this suggestion would possibly have one of the most unpredictable outcomes. It has the potential to be an incredible success, but it is very capable of falling on its on sword. If there really is a very strong computer gaming crowd in Coffs Harbour, would they respond to an event such as this? Or could there be the potential to tie a musical aspect to a computer gaming expo such as the video shown above?

Might be crazy, but who knows? It may just work.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Practice… makes what?

It may have been the first week of the last term for 2009, but it was no surprise to find that the majority of students I teach hardly completed any practice during the two week break.

I’m sure a lot of other instrumental teachers would be echoing the same sentiments too. After all, students are getting at least 30 hours back per week when education takes a rest. Another way to think of it is you are getting 1800 minutes back, especially when you have a lot of younger students that would not be prepared to work, or focus, in hourly blocks of practice. This current break, students have received about 60 hours, or 3600 minutes, back and have used it for what? Of course when you travel away it can make things a little difficult, but what about those that have stayed at home?

Even when you explain to students that there are 10080 minutes in a week (and if they say they need to spend some of it sleeping, which is roughly a third of the week, they are quickly informed they have 6720 minutes remaining) and all they need to do is spend 15 minutes a day practising (giving a grand total of 105 minutes out of the week) the message still seems to fall on deaf ears.

For a lot of students this week, about half of their lessons were spent discussing practice. I believe this is something other instrumental teachers should consider doing with students that are not getting the message. The discussion was broken up into two sections; “What is the purpose of practice?”, and “Scenarios of practice.”

What is the purpose of practice?

This is a question I don’t think is ever asked enough by instrumental teachers. In fact, if I asked some teachers for an answer to this question I would be very interested to find out their response. When I was younger, none of my teachers asked me this question or even went into explaining the purpose of practice. And to be honest, I could be lazy at times when I was younger when it came to practice.

The most common answers I received to this question were…

- a shrug of the shoulders
- to get better at playing the instrument
- to be able to practice longer (i.e. build stamina)

Instead of giving the answer, I went straight to the “Scenarios of practice”.

Scenarios of practice.

My students would now be placed in my shoes. Suddenly they have all become clarinet/saxophone teachers. Everyone has two students each.

Student one is dedicated to practising for 30 minute blocks, a decent amount of time. This student only practices for 2 days a week.

Student two is dedicated to practising every day of the week, but they only practice 5 minutes a day.

Which student would most likely be doing better, and why? The most popular response was that the first student would be doing better because they are completing 60 minutes of practice per week, compared to the second student completing 35 minutes of practice.

The amount of students that went with the second student could be counted on one hand. To give you an idea of how many students I currently teach, it would be close to fifty students. Those that gave the correct response as to why the second student would most likely be doing better were even less.

What is the purpose of practice? Could it be that practice helps us remember what we have learnt from our lessons and rehearsals? The concept of PRACTICE = REMEMBERING is something I don’t think is drilled enough into students. There is still a belief today that you have to practice in set blocks of time, from the beginner through to the emerging experienced student. Even telling students to practice one day on and one day off is not proving beneficial, and I will be the first to admit I tried to use this as a teaching strategy.

The belief is that “quantity” determines the skill and ability of a musician. My response to this is that it is not of “quantity” or “quality”, but of “consistency”. I have had students of beginner to intermediate standard, regardless if they were mine or someone else’s, come up and say they practiced for anywhere from one hour to four hours a day. Then when they go to play they forget basic things in their music or do not understand the technique they are to use whether it is in the air, the embouchure, or the fingers. Either they are seriously burning themselves out physically and/or mentally with their practice, or they are lying. Simple as that.

If a student is consistent in their practice, the quality of their practice and playing will emerge. Why is this? Because they are remembering what they have learnt! As soon as a student decides to take a day off after a good solid practice session the previous day, the information they were remembering from their last session will start to leave their brain. Take two days off, and the information is essentially gone. Three days, it’s been flushed away. We want information that has been given to us not to float around in our head, but to be engraved in our memory. This includes technique and performance practice of pieces (despite whether we perform from memory or not). We want the information to transform from floating around to becoming more solid and remaining firm in our memory. Once the information is engraved, we have succeeded in practice.

If I was to ever refer to “quantity” in practice it would not be in minutes and/or hours, but frequency in days. The consistency of even just a little bit of playing squeezed in on the “off day” will help a lot more than not doing anything at all. We do not need to burn ourselves out physically or mentally with constant set blocks of practice. Some people are capable and have the stamina to be able to do this, but not everyone will be able to do it. You push yourself to your own boundaries, and not to someone else’s who may be well behind or beyond yours.

I’m going to close with a quote from a translation of The Art of War by Sun-Tzu. An excerpt of this quote was brought to my attention earlier this year, but when it was brought into context with the rest of the quote it became so much clearer. If there ever was a personal battle with instrumental practice and its results, this phrase from the chapter Making Plans would sum it up nicely.

“Victory belongs to the side that scores most in the temple calculations before battle. Defeat belongs to the side that scores least in the temple calculations before battle. Most spells victory; least spells defeat; none, surer defeat. I see it in this way, and the outcome is apparent.”

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Riverina Tour 2009

After being away for ten days, and travelling 3063.8 kilometres, I finally have the chance to sit down and put in yet another late update. Term three was ending as I toured with a select group of 41 students from the Riverina region as part of the combined schools regional touring group for 2009. The last time I was part of a touring group was four years ago as part of the University of Newcastle Wind Orchestra program.

Before I go into detail about the tour, my own journey has been amazing travelling through four DET regions, completing over 3000 kms in one event alone (I've lost track of how many kms I've completed this year for the camps, but it would be close to 5,500 kms), being in two states, and visiting many regional towns and areas people would not normally encounter. This year alone I have been to Lake Keepit, Borambola, and Burrendong as part of the regional camps for New England, Riverina and Western regions and now tour. The only region missing is North Coast. Until some of their tutors visit these other camps, or even bring tutors from these other camps on board, the region will still be dwindling. After having three students selected to represent the region that did not attend the regional camp, and the camp's nominations of students were denied, perhaps a change of mindset and approach could be in order. They're my thoughts anyway.

Back to the tour!

The Riverina students were selected after the regional camp was held earlier this year. From the clarinet section, all students were invited with only one student being unable to attend. The selection of students enabled us to assemble a strong ensemble performing charts of up to 4.5 stars.

The first three days were spent on repertoire previously played at the camp, combined with a few new pieces including an arrangement from "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", and a medley of Australian folk tunes entitled "Down Under". The funny thing about "Down Under" is that the piece was first introduced to the conductor, Di Hall, by a German wind band that visited earlier this year. The pieces, ensemble, and even individual technique was refined in the first three days at the Lake Hume Resort in Albury. And there was even time to spare for the male tutors to duck away after a rehearsal to briefly visit the other side of the fence (for about 5 minutes) before complaining about how cold Victoria was and returning to New South Wales.

After the three days were up, it was time to take the tour on the road playing Albury, Wagga Wagga, Collingullie, Narrandera, Leeton, Griffith, Ardlethan, Young, Cootamundra, then a final concert in Wagga Wagga again. Performances varied from one location to the next, but probably not to the same degree of quality as the accommodation. From the plasma widescreens and surround sound systems of Wagga Wagga to the doors that wouldn't lock in Young, there was many an experience for students to enjoy and perhaps even cherish less.

The school performances enticed appreciation from both primary and secondary students. Primary students had the delight of seeing and hearing instruments they wouldn't normally know about, as well as hearing some popular tunes including those from "High School Musical 2" and "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray. Secondary students on the other hand were able to listen to and appreciate the arrangements and compositions of pieces that caused them to think about the music and even paint a picture in their heads. Selections from "Pictures at an Exhibition", "Fantasia", and wind band composition "Flashpoint" were the best examples of drawing audiences young and old into the concert band world of music.

I don't think I could have asked for a more enjoyable group of students and teachers to join for this experience. There were the shades from "Top Gun", with some singing to Smash Mouth, Queen, and Art vs. Science, plus the tour chant (which sounds remarkably similarly to the "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" chant... hmm...), plus the mini-wars between students and tutors whether it was through tennis, or glad-wrapping each other's doors.

The next challenge is to start finding more music to work on for this group.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

A First For Everything

(This entry was started two weeks ago, so some information may already be known in previous entries)

It’s been a while, again, since I last updated my blog. Since Western band camp things have been quite busy in the world of music for myself, and for other people I am currently working with. With the free moment that I do have, I decided I would recap what has occurred and also reveal what plans I have in mind.
I decided to call this entry “A First For Everything” because there have been several things happening that have been a first in different areas of music. This period of time has been quite exciting, and I am looking forward to see how things do pan out.

AMEB Examinations

The AMEB examinations commenced late last month for the North Coast series. While my Coffs Harbour and Bellingen candidates are still putting on the finalisations for their preparations, my candidates from the Clarence Valley Con in Grafton were the first students to complete their exams. There were four candidates all sitting clarinet exams ranging from first through to third grade. Before my candidates took their exams, the examiner had not awarded any As to students the whole day. With all the students completing 12 month preparations, I was confident all of them would walk out with at least a B. The end results were two As and two Bs from my candidates. It was the first time I had a student awarded an A for an AMEB exam, despite it being only my second year of entering candidates. All of the students were thoroughly pleased with their results, and the confidence in all of their playing has skyrocketed as questions were immediately asked for their next collection of works for 2010. While new repertoire is being sorted out, all of the students continue to take part in the Clarence Valley Con Clarinet Choir.

Composition Corner

For the first time since November 2005, I have finally finished composing a work. Surprisingly it is not one of my works I have been writing for the last few years, but one that was part of a request by a fellow regional band camp tutor and conservatorium student. The work is “Poco Fantasie – for Flutes and Marimba”, a piece that goes for about three minutes demonstrating the ability of the marimba performer and how the instrument sounds along with the tone and range of the flute family as a flautist performs on C flute, but then changes to alto flute towards the end. Originally the request was for a 3-4 minute work using marimba and flute, but after completing this short work I am planning on revisiting it at some point to turn it into a small suite.

UPDATE: Commenced working on a second movement, shifting up from the E tonal centre to F. A lot more jazz harmonies are being encountered in this at the moment. Feature section will be when the flute is in the 3/4 and the marimba in 12/16. Yes, I do realise they are virtually the same key signature but rhythmically the parts are going to be very different.

A second composition is currently in the works and nearing completion as well. “Conglomerate” is the title of the work, a piece for clarinet, bass clarinet and piano. I’ve already started showing the piece to a couple of clarinettists from Newcastle Con, and the feedback has been very positive. I am hoping this piece will be performed before the end of the year at some point (in some location).

UPDATE: The work is essentially complete now. There have been a couple of suggestions from some comrades in terms of modifying sections, and those suggestions have worked very nicely. Articulation and dynamic markings need to be addressed, as well as some proofreading to make sure fingerings and technique are feasible, but this piece is pretty much finished.

Music Performance in Shakespeare

We’ve had a local production of the Shakespeare work “Hamlet”, thanks to the CHATS team. I was rather fortunate to see the show on opening night, and the local team did not disappoint. The services of Beckley Vincent in the lead role were tremendous, delivering a performance of poise and with intensity exhibiting the strong restlessness and hunger of his character.

Why would I mention a drama production in my blog? One of my students, that I normally teach clarinet, was asked if she could play recorder in the production. This was about three months before the first show. The first month or so we did a quick crash course on the recorder, then I brought out the piece of music that I deemed to be periodically suitable. To my student’s disappointment, it was not the theme from the TV series “Spiderman”. Instead it was an old traditional called “It’s A Rosebud in June”, condensed to 24 bars. It was until there was about a month before the first show my student really bit the bullet and learnt the whole piece. After showing she could play it from memory, the director asked if she could play just the first eight bars. I was informed that at every performance she never missed a note or beat. Well done!

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BIG UPDATE!!!

To complete this entry, even though this isn’t a first, I would like to pass on my congratulations to Adam Herd who won the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition at the QPAC in Brisbane. This would actually be a first in winning this particular competition for himself, so I guess we can throw it into this category :-P.

Adam is a pianist, who was also a saxophonist, from Coffs Harbour but moved to Queensland for further studies some years ago (sorry, Adam, I can’t remember when you commenced your studies! :-( ). There were very few times where we competed against each other. The last time we did was in 2001 as part of a concerto competition on the coast, and even then it wasn’t a competition but more-or-less an audition (that everyone present passed).

Recently Adam gave a performance in Coffs Harbour, which I unfortunately could not make due to work commitments in Grafton, and it left people raving about the tremendous talent and how far he has come. I do sincerely hope Adam does grace the stage of Coffs Harbour some time again in the future.

If Adam reads this, I found something quite interesting at the piano workshop this week (of course, being Reuben’s). Back in 1993, Reuben Fox composed a piece of music for you. He left a copy lying around on a piano at the workshop. Do you remember this piece, and the title of it? (HINT: It was quite “colourful”).

Until next time, happy musicking!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

AMEB Exam Results 2009

Again, I have become slack when it comes to updating my blog. I had an update ready to post earlier this week, but unfortunately I only saved it on my wife's (Emelia's) laptop and didn't transfer it to my memory stick. I will still upload that entry when I get the chance to.

Yesterday brought to a close my candidates for the 2009 AMEB exams. In all, I had nine candidates this year sitting ten practical exams along the North Coast.

Last month I had four candidates from Grafton. These candidates I currently teach through the Clarence Valley Conservatorium music and schools programs. All of them being clarinet candidates, I had two sitting their 1st grade, and one each on 2nd and 3rd grade exams. Leading up to their exams in the afternoon, the examiner had not awarded an A to any candidate. When I was asked how I thought my students would fare, my response was "Well, I know they are all going to walk out with at least a B." The first grade candidates completed their exams one after another, and both returned marks of As. The front office was elated with the results. The 2nd and 3rd grade candidates came out with a B each after the first grade candidates, two very pleasing results to go with the As. Big thank you to Sarah Westman and Robert Eather for accompanying these candidates.

Yesterday (Saturday 22/8) saw my students that I teach as part of my private music studio from Coffs and Bellingen. Five candidates, down from eight, sitting six exams. One of the candidate withdrawals was due to school studies, but the other two were taking part in state sport championships in Sydney! When these things come up, unfortunately there isn't anything that can be done about it. You have to choose from one or the other.

In the last week leading up to the exams the location was almost a real shemozzle. Three days out from the exam the accompanist for the Bellingen students, Mei Wei Lim, gave me a call stating that the director of the Coffs conservatorium knew nothing of my candidates sitting their exams at their establishment. Even though the paperwork had been released by the AMEB two months before, somehow it had never reached the conservatorium. If I hadn't felt what it was like to really panic with students still working on technical preparations, then I knew what it was really like to be worried and in some distress. As of Wednesday evening, we did not have a location for the exams. On the way to Grafton that evening I was on the phone texting and calling family and friends for suggestions, and if not that then a bit of prayer for the situation.

Thursday morning I was on the phone to my dad when he suggested a couple of the churches. For those people that do know, I do teach at the Coffs Family Church (formerly known as Bethel Christian Centre) but there were a couple of factors why I decided against this location. First of all, it can be quite boomy with the acoustics and the sound does linger in the room (especially for saxophone). Second, the piano is in storage and not being used at all. It would need to be tuned, which wouldn't be a problem, but the touch on the instrument is known for being heavy and it can be difficult to deliver a soft touch to the instrument. In the end I was able to book St John's Anglican Church in Coffs, with many thanks to Lenore. All of this was before 9 AM, which was when I rang the AMEB and explained the situation. After spending 15 minutes talking to them, I was told I would be contacted after they spoke with the Coffs con to find out the situation. It wasn't until nearly 11 o'clock I received a phone call back. The end result was I told the person in control of the region that I had a location, and would inform everyone immediately (and the AMEB would inform the examiner).

The lesson I learnt from this experience; if you do not have a suitable location and ask the AMEB for one, make sure you ring the location where you are going to as soon as you receive your paperwork to make sure they've received theirs. At least you are checking then to make sure it has been sent, it has been received, and that it hasn't been thrown out.

After all of that, we had an assortment of clarinet and alto saxophone candidates sitting exams for 2nd grade (two), 5th grade, 6th grade (two), and 7th grade. The final results were 5 As, and 1 B. Everyone received an A that completed their exam. The only B we had was the result of a candidate completing their second exam on the same day. When I asked him how he could avoid this fatigue in the future, since you could hear it in his playing, his response was "A bigger break between exams next time?". My response; "More practice". Even his mother backed me on that one!

In general, the main aspects that stood out in everyone's playing were tone and musicality. The youngest candidate I had is only ten, but he covered the basic ensemble skills of leading and cutting off, giving direction to the accompanist. Everyone delivered terrific performances with standout moments, even to the point of having eagerly waiting parents shed a tear at the tone and maturity of what their children were doing in their performance. The passion of Ravel, the sneaking around like Mancini, the "nun-like" (heavenly) qualities of Tartini, the pleading of Puccini, and the funk of Cockroft.

I was quite satisfied with the results of the technical work overall, but there is still more to be accomplished in this area. I am currently drawing up technical workbooks for clarinet and saxophone myself that will not only cover what the AMEB requires but beyond exploring further harmonic and scale patterns. I have my own strategies for teaching technical work these days, and a lot more students are adopting these strategies now as part of their practice.

The challenge has been set now by some of the parents for next year's exams; aim to achieve an A+. I think this is very much possible, especially with the high standard already set by not only myself but the students as well. For a six month preparation for the Bellingen students, as opposed to twelve months, these candidates have achieved a lot and will hopefully encourage their peers as well to get in on the act.

From here, a lot of the students will be focusing on upcoming recitals and ensemble performances in the next month. For myself, the next lot of performances, audition opportunities and exams for 2010 start to be organised now.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Prior to, and Western Band Camp

I didn't get a chance to update before leaving for Lake Burrendong last weekend. All of my attempts of accessing the feature to write up a new entry were thwarted by the website, somewhat bizarre. While I recover from my bad dose of camp flu I will update my latest movements.

Clarence Valley Con Concert a Big Success

The Clarence Valley Conservatorium held their celebrations for the town of Grafton's 150th anniversary late last month displaying the assorted talent studying and emerging from the local conservatorium program. This was held at the Anglican cathedral in town. The first half of the program was an exhibition of soloists and small ensembles, including the clarinet choir I run at the con. The second half brought out the large ensembles including the big band, concert band, youth and adult choirs. To cap off the evening, the concert and big band joined forces with the two choirs as they performed Bridge Over Troubled Waters and The Rhythm of Life. Everyone present thoroughly enjoyed the concert, with many smiles on the faces of children, parents and friends.

Western Band Camp 2009

Prior to Western Band Camp there was a local advertisement for the local city orchestra performing with guest soloist Jai Farrell; oboist and former student of Bishop Druitt. Unfortunately I was not going to be in attendance due to the camp starting on the same day as the concert was being held. I have not heard any further from the concert but I hope it was a success.

From Sunday 5th to Friday 10th of July the Western Band Camp was held. For this year this was camp number three for myself, and for some others too. Also, we had the pleasure of working with a third "Di" as director of the arts for the region; Di Reichell.

This was the second consecutive year the program had been conducted, and the numbers did increase from last year. This was truly a very testing, and at times frustrating, experience of working for this regional camp (and the second half of the week this was while I was under the influence of the flu). More importantly, it was rewarding for the children in the long run. If I thought this year's camp was frustrating, I was soon told that last year's camp was in a league of its own.

The children were really great to work with. You did have to toil hard in order to get results, but by the end of the week the ensemble skills improved immensely compared to the first day when it was essentially "every man for himself". By the public rehearsal on Friday the students were beginning to do things they wouldn't normally have done before; watching and following the conductor, listening out for other parts including the melody, working together in sections, playing irregular time signatures, and learning to breathe and utilise their air properly.

The discipline is beginning to become established, and I only hope more students can be encouraged to participate in this camp next year. There is a lot of talent in this region, and I sincerely hope everything is being done to help develop and establish this in the area of music. I would certainly like to be back next year to continue working with and help establish and firm up the clarinet section for this region. We do need a few more clarinettists, which brings me to another point.

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About halfway through the week, myself and the other clarinet tutor were informed that a clarinet teacher from a conservatorium within the region was warning and cautioning their students that if they attended this band camp they might be taught how to incorrectly hold their instrument or use incorrect technique. After hearing about this, the other clarinet tutor and I would love to know why the students, who all had been learning for at least 12 months, in our section...

- have not been taught about compound time signatures
- have not been taught to count properly
- have been taught to substitute subdivided counting by using fruits (e.g. "watermelon" for 4 semiquavers, "apple" for a pair of quavers, and other assorted fruits for mixtures of semiquavers and quavers)
- could not follow a pulse or beat

By the end of the week we sincerely hope these students have learnt more about these different aspects and basics of music and can take these skills back home with them.

To say the least, I am sick and tired of the pathetic and petty politics being dredged up by some of these sorts of teachers- it is at times a poor reflection on conservatoriums making them out to be snobby, elitist establishments. Let's get one thing straight; regional conservatoriums and these regional band camps, as part of the state band program, both function under the DET. We are all under the same banner so instead of being so precious about our students we should be encouraging them to be working with other teachers, especially when these teachers travel from all different parts of NSW to help with these camps.

I am quite fortunate to be able to experience both worlds, and there is only one other teacher I know that has this opportunity as well in terms of the regional areas/programs. If the arts programs are meant to be windows of opportunity for these students, then shouldn't these be presented more readily for our students? Quite honestly the music programs of conservatoriums and the regional band camp programs are meant to work hand-in-hand together. If regional conservatoriums could put their hand up to say that they offer more challenging concert band music (plus a complete ensemble) than the regional band camp programs around NSW, then there might be a case for the program being futile. I'd actually like to see some of these teachers, and even directors, from regional conservatoriums actually attend the public rehearsal that is given at the end of camp to see what we actually do and achieve with the kids.

Students are not being poached through the band camp programs, and because they are working with instrumental specialists there should be no feelings of incorrect technique being taught but rather improvements, or an alternative for the advanced, in their student's playing. I had a student of mine go away on a camp this year and she came back knowing how to play C# major, and her sound had improved from the time I last taught her. Sometimes it takes another tutor/teacher to offer another point of perspective or approach in order for a student to understand.

A bit less "precious" paranoia, and a bit more of a push for performance would be appreciated.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Last Month or so Wrap

It's been a while since I last provided a blog entry, and with some spare time up my sleeve I might as well recap the different happenings, occurances, and upcoming events.

North Coast Regional Band Camp

North Coast had their regional band camp last month, and the feedback from students from the Clarence area has been really positive. As mentioned previously, last year was an incredible low for the band camp showing how dire the situation was in terms of employing specialist tutors and having staff encourage and relate to the children partaking. It was guaranteed that the camp could not get any worse than last year, but it was a question of how well the North Coast could bounce back. Staff selections were exceptional, selecting studying musicians from Newcastle combined with tutors based in the region. The standard of pieces selected was not only higher, but thoroughly enjoyed by the campers taking part. We will be hoping for some bigger and better things for this regional camp next year.

Performing Arts Submission

A member of the music community has put forward a submission for a performing arts space in Coffs Harbour. I was quite interested in this submission that was put forward, because Coffs Harbour doesn't really have a professional level performing arts space. We do have assorted performance buildings, but it seems there is something that is not right with each location. The big factors are usually either seating or acoustics, although it does appear religious values want to be cast into the fray as well now.

The submission is fairly thorough detailing why "Coffs Harbour urgently needs and deserves a proper venue for performing arts". The comparison with other towns caught my attention, especially when Port Macquarie was mentioned with their new "Glasshouse Theatre" costing the local council 50 million dollars. I'm interested to find out if Coffs Harbour council would be prepared to spend that much money on a new auditorium. And the whole business of Coffs Harbour "needing" and "deserving" this building certainly had me reflecting on the current music programs offered and the amount of musicians emerging from these programs. To cut the long story short, unless we have more students being encouraged to partake, be trained up, have more ensembles and members of these groups established it would be completely foolish and embarassing to have such a building constructed that would either be hardly used locally or filled with very few numbers. Constructions don't build musicians and ensembles, people do. This thinking has been shared by the local conservatorium this year and there are several locals that are opposed to this.

AMEB Examinations

Preparations are all falling into place within the three camps of Grafton, Coffs and Bellingen. The candidates from Coffs and Grafton are fairly relaxed, all knowing their pieces quite well and feeling settled with their performances. The Bellingen preparations have been slightly stressful working with only six months to get ready, but I am feeling confident that we will still be achieving some terrific results. After conducting extra lessons with students this afternoon in Bellingen, I am already amazed at the change in some of these students in terms of performance practice and their approach to music. A lot more character is being added to several students and their playing, bringing out personality. The quiet ones are speaking up and playing out more now, huzzah!!! We still have about six weeks on average, which should be enough time for finalising touches on pieces AND memorising technical work (a common feature across the board).

It still amazes me that there are music tutors and teachers that are of the opinion that scales, arpeggios and technical work can be of little relevance. Sure they might be boring, but hello?! Music is made up of sections of scales, arpeggios and technical work. If anything, technical work should be easy to play straight up and down since it all follows the same line. Therefore, the technical work should be easy and pieces of music difficult. With students, this trend somehow flips itself the other way around. What a bizarre phenomenon.

PAA Announce Next Program

The next program has been announced for September, and my goodness it is quite a program.

William Tell Overture - Rossini
Waltz from Der Fledermaus - Strauss
3rd movement Trumpet Concerto - Haydn
Slow movement 7th Symphony - Beethoven
Carmina Burana - Orff

Instead of my jaw dropping at the program, I was left scratching my head. This was in particular with the Carmina Burana. To put it bluntly, it's a bloody big work and I don't know how we are going to have the numbers for it. There is talk of a choir (obviously) accompanied by full orchestra and two pianists. What I'd like to know is where are we going to find the following...

* Flutes (especially those that can double piccolo)
* Eight clarinets amongst three players (everyone doubles with B flat and A, plus 2nd uses an E flat and 3rd a bass)
* A contrabasson (some people would be saying a "contrawhat"?)
* French Horns (there might be one available just outside of the region, but no others within. We need four)
* A tuba (no one jump up straight away)
* Five timpani
* A bass drum (no, the "kick" off a drum kit doesn't count)
* Tubular bells (no, we can't steal church bells from around town)
* A celesta (where? And how much do you want for it?)
* A full string section (and I do mean a FULL string section from top to bottom)

Logically, I cannot see this working or being done justice. The program, and Carmina alone, is going to be way too much. At the moment we just don't have the orchestra for it. Why do we need to target the big popular works? Why can't we simply accommodate for smaller sized ensembles or the musicians we readily have available in the area? Ignorance is... meh... I don't mean to sound like a stick in the mud, but we honestly don't have the resources to pull a big project like this off successfully.


With that all said and done, it's time to get back to composing. I'm hoping to complete three compositions before the next band camp, something I haven't done since 2005. It will be a massive relief.

Until next time! :-)

Sunday, May 24, 2009

The Floodwater Eisteddfod

A local event has been left in ruins by a natural force. You would never think it be possible for something such as a musical competition, traditionally being a festival, to be declared a washout. Of course you would understand if the eisteddfod was held outdoors, which would never occur. With the heavy weather of wind and rain wreaking havoc on the mid-north and far-north coast it could even be possible to waterlog a venue or prevent access from entering the building. This did not happen. So how could a six session instrumental eisteddfod in Coffs Harbour be rendered a great disappointment?

Before I present my thoughts on the eisteddfod, I want to throw in quick congratulations to my students from Coffs that took part. There were tremendous achievements made with two seconds, one first in sections and the major award of the Julie Lindsay best woodwind player 13 years and under for one of my students. Beyond the trophies, and what I feel is a greater prize, were the teachers that came forth and recognised the potential that these students do have. This was said especially for the students that did not win anything (personally I felt they did at least deserve something). From a teaching perspective these students, and I think the same can be said for the many other students taking part, have taken a massive step delivering performances in front of a public audience and being taken outside of their comfort zone. A big thank you to Ajla Hajdic for being able to take the time to accompany and work with the students and to help encourage and support them in their performances.

There were a couple of issues that arose from the eisteddfod. The first thing that came to mind immediately from session one to session six was the adjudication, and the role of the adjudicator. I’m going to leave this point of discussion for another time, but needless to say I was not impressed by the adjudication and felt the adjudicator skimmed details of feedback both verbally and on paper. Students want ideas and opinions, as well as the encouragement, on how they could improve their performance, and you will never be able to provide that in writing one sentence in what appears to be size 24 Times New Kindergarten scrawl.

The other issue that came to mind were the entrants that took part. The only sessions that essentially ran as “complete” with sufficient competitors were the Thursday evening and Sunday morning time blocks.

The secondary schools day session was the first to be axed with the majority of entrants from Bellingen. Three out of ten high schools in the mid-north coast region providing entries, with two of those schools providing one entry each. The lack of participation from schools in this local event is something of concern, and has failed to be addressed for many years. I’m sure this decade would have seen the lowest amount of participation in the history of the eisteddfod. Music and the community in general miss out greatly. We have some tutors outside of school music programs, both primary and secondary, coming in and giving music tuition to students on either an individual and/or group basis but won’t provide any opportunities of performance or even making music with other young musicians. It is a terrific opportunity being squandered.

Friday evening was the second session to be axed completely from the program. The Saturday afternoon session I didn’t bother to attend, with many students and ensembles from Bellingen absent. Saturday evening was an absolute shambles to end the eisteddfod. Of the eight sections in this last session, three were cut with no entrants. Of the twenty-four entries in all of these sections, only six entries were completed. This included three entries out of a potential ten for the Junior and Open Championships combined, with one entrant forced to play without her accompanist due to him being trapped in Bellingen. It was a real disappointing way to end the eisteddfod with two championships offering potential as listed in the program. It was a massive fall from grace compared to the eisteddfod of last year, which delivered a high standard of performance from the entrants.

One massive positive I noticed from the junior sessions were peers, classmates and friends visiting each other after performances in amazement, delight, or simply to encourage. There were no boundaries or barriers set regardless of what school you went to or who your teacher was. All the children were supportive of one another. Even tutors present got in on the act congratulating other students and their teachers for the work they have put in.

With the instrumental eisteddfod left crippled this year due to the flooding situations, it has revealed a nasty truth that our music tuition programs inside and outside of schools in Coffs Harbour; we are not doing enough to provide music students with opportunities to perform and develop as musicians regardless of solo or ensemble playing. Even when the Bellingen students were taken out of the equation, the greater majority of students left were those from the tuition programs of Bishop Druitt. When parents and tutors from regional NSW enquire about which schools offer the best music programs on the Coffs Coast, I am forced to tell them they have the choice of two schools these days because they are the only ones with evidence of encouraging and producing proactive musicians.

We need our tutors to start putting heads together and coming up with ideas for establishment and development of music in the community. If we continue to function as single entities we will ultimately be doing nothing for the community as a whole. After this eisteddfod I have a feeling that some of the tutors present will be aiming to establish some quality music projects.
We need new and fresh ideas instead of trying to build or dwell on the failures of the past. Bellingen have taken that initiative and it is taking the results of the programs to different places and rewarding them with many opportunities. In the past Bishop Druitt established great music programs and are re-establishing those now. If you want to go back further, Toormina High School used to be the most feared and revered high school for their concert band and big band programs and this was for many years. Today I look back at their program and concerts given in awe since it was built on discipline, commitment, and enjoyment in music making. I would love to see another music program established similar to the one at Toormina High School from the ‘90s.
We need to feature music more prominently in our community and provide more adequate opportunities. We also need to show that playing music provides many windows of opportunity for a music-related career.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Coffs Instrumentals Commence

The instrumental sections of the Coffs Harbour Eisteddfod have arrived for this year. I am really looking forward to this year’s eisteddfod since it will be the first time I have students taking part. Students of mine from Coffs and Bellingen will be competing, and I am quite curious to see the results obtained.

Personally, I see this is a stepping stone and a great opportunity for students to perform in front of not only a panel similar to an AMEB examination, but an audience as well. Regardless of whether students win or not, the real crunch will occur in August when even more students I am teaching will sit their AMEB exams in clarinet and saxophone. In general the preparation has been really good, taking advantage of the full 12 months. The only exception has been with Bellingen students since I began teaching them Week 2 of Term 1 this year, but I will be looking at altering and modifying practice routines and programs previously set. The aim will be to bring a greater discipline, work ethic, and most importantly enjoyment out of the instrument and the music performed for as many students possible.

I have found that the new music year works similar to that of a financial year; everything ends and begins anew at the beginning of July. Being the mid-point of the year students are thought to be set in homework and study routines through their schooling education. Music examinations in the region occur around this time, and the start does feel very fresh for teachers and students as repertoire is organised and handed out immediately towards the end of Term 2, or at the beginning of Term 3. Something to do with organisation and already knowing what will occur. Ah yes, being prepared feels so good.

Getting back to the eisteddfod, I am very keen to see how my Coffs-based students do perform. Normally one would feel quite nervous, and I have a feeling the nerves will hit the students later today, but there is a supreme confidence going through these kids. They’re only in primary school, but they are not going to back down. If anything they are feeling relaxed because they know they can play the music, and regardless of whether they win or lose they know they are in for better things to come. It’s like the old saying of “you’ve got nothing to lose”, but in a more optimistic fashion. You trust in your own skills and abilities and let nothing else trouble you regardless of other people and their actions or abilities.

Saturday evening or during Sunday I’ll compile a list of results, and give a wrap of the instrumental eisteddfod. With all of the rain we are receiving, and what is forecast ahead, I sincerely hope this does not become a flooded out event.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Coffs Con Concert (CCC): An Afternoon of Song

On the afternoon of the 9th of May I went to the Coffs Art Gallery to see a concert, presented by the Coffs Harbour Regional Conservatorium, showcasing some of the upcoming talent in the area. This program comprised mainly of choral and vocal music, with a couple of piano works thrown into the mix.

I was slightly surprised at the choice of location, due to the nature of the gallery’s size. However, there was still quite a good response from the public with the amount of people present. The response was that good that I was asked to vacate my seat, one minute before the concert commenced, for an elderly needs person. Of course I have no arguments with such a cause, since we would accommodate for the same cause on public transport, and other public entertainment venues. At the same time I was quite disappointed because there were about thirty other people without a seat as well. It wasn’t until after the first bracket of choral performers that the children were asked to bring seats to the back of the audience area in between numbers of the next set (and even during the beginning of some of the songs). Even when the chairs were brought out, there were still five to ten of us left still standing. Hopefully this issue does not arise in the future.

The performances given were good. I wouldn’t have said there was anything overly exceptional since it was more of a showcase of the upcoming talent. The Sounds Fine! Youth Choir delivered some interesting numbers in their sets of music. A combination of traditional music of Middle Eastern and African countries, along with some past and current choral numbers. I had to raise my eyebrow at the ironic choice of Money, Money, Money by ABBA with the current financial situation of the conservatorium. But then again, there were some other selections where it felt like the palm of my hand would meet the front of my face.

Hearing popular tunes and modern musical numbers in an art gallery with artwork nudes on canvas and some obscure art pieces just didn’t settle with me. Even if the performances were delivered with finesse, confidence and thought, the environment of the performance area would do it justice like vegemite on ice cream; it looks like chocolate and it appears to sit right, but at the same time we just know that the experience of consuming it will be tremendously unsettling. I have never tried vegemite on ice cream, but I am sure there would be someone out there willing to give it a go.

Program notes were very scarce. One piece of folded cardboard with a single sheet of A4 paper folded on the inside, along with a 25 year celebration sticker, was given to everyone in attendance. Page one was the title, page two a message from the director, page three the program, and page four advertising two upcoming events along with the conservatorium board. BORING! Instead of having the people talk about their pieces, when they went to perform, why didn’t they write up their own program notes? Even when people discussed the pieces they were about to perform I wasn’t convinced they even knew what they were talking about, and some of these people are approaching their HSC! I look back at the program now and can’t remember much about each of the pieces or what they were meant to be about.

Time and time again I have found that if you deliver more professional standards, then you will deliver a more professional product. This isn’t just in music, but in a lot of other industries and lines of work too. The staff at the Coffs conservatorium should know all about this with some of their backgrounds.

Just to recap, I thought the performances delivered were of a satisfactory standard that I hope the tutors of students and ensembles will be looking at expanding upon. The lack of professionalism and organisation of these concerts is still something left to be somewhat desired and I sincerely hope will be improved upon greatly with the other concerts held throughout the rest of this year.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Riverina Band Camp (Part Two): The camp itself

The first part was typed from the futon in my lounge room, but this second part will be typed from the bedroom today as I am sitting in bed sick. There was a flu flying around to staff from the Riverina camp and it looks like it has caught me. No, it's not swine flu so I should be alright. The weather wasn't the best with it being cold and wet, but this did not dampen anyone's spirits.

With 55 students in attendance, slightly down on numbers, and some of the senior students absent, the general thoughts from all of the staff was that this was a very successful camp. And if you don't believe the staff, then perhaps you could ask the parents of the students that attended the rehearsal given or even the regional director who was noticeably pleased and full of praise for the program.

Essentially the same repertoire was brought from New England to Riverina, although a couple of other charts were taken out and replace by others. An advanced ensemble was formed with several representatives for the state wind bands next month. There was a mentioning from the director that in the 65 person senior ensemble, there were 13 representatives from Riverina. This is a fantastic achievement.

I don't think you could have asked for a better group of students than what we had. I was very impressed with the students we had last year, but this year everyone took their discipline, ensemble skills, and performance skills to a new level. The staff didn't even have to patrol the rooms in the freezing cold past midnight to make sure everyone was going to sleep.

The clarinet section I was given was well balanced and supportive of each other. We had students ranging from year four through to eleven with different levels of ability. Normally there is a saying that your group/team is as strong as its weakest participant; the weakest link effect. However, ability was no boundary to the students that took part as it became more about a question of commitment and effort over effort. We had some little clarinets in the third row, but they kept giving their parts a real good go and achieved a lot of aspects about their playing by the end of the week. Who would've thought that the third row of young ones would be playing 3-5 star charts with the rest of the band by the end of the week?! Two bass clarinets went from sounding like one thin instrument to a section of four by the end of the week. The only disappointment I had was that I didn't really get to work with the first clarinets as much as I would have liked to. With that said, the first clarinets did take on some responsibility of their own learning about leadership within a section and overseeing a whole ensemble (i.e. the concert band). If we can get more clarinets next year then I would be all for a second clarinet tutor to come along in attendance.

Another great selection of staff. Everyone worked really with their sections, and even unearthed some new talents and abilities of their own. No, I'm not referring to the students within sections. The Riverina camp would have to have the best table tennis players you have ever come across. Two of the DET staff emerged victorious over two of the travelling tutorial staff in high level competition using budget paddles and a stiff wooden net. Over twenty games were played with the DET staff winning by 2-3 games. There are currently discussions about hosting a table tennis camp next year with concert band for sport and rec.

The Riverina touring ensemble has been selected, and the state nominations will be made based on the students attending the tour. Good luck to all the students that will be taking part in the tour later this year.

As the Riverina camp came to a close, the North Coast camp started two days later on the 3rd of May. With students attending from the Clarence Valley, I will be very interested to hear what they have achieved and what the current program is like. They will be holding their recital tonight at Lake Ainsworth giving a concert to the parents. Last year was an incredibly low point in the North Coast program, so hopefully there will be some improvement.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Riverina Band Camp (Part One): NSW State Bands Selected

I am currently sitting on the futon at home typing up this entry on Emelia's, my wife, laptop. After approximately 1300 kilometres of driving, the commencement of rep indoor cricket for 2009, and recovering on sleep, I am feeling a little spaced out and sore.

Last Saturday afternoon I departed from Coffs in the big red car (also known as the "little red banger", the Daihatsu Mira) and made my way across to Tamworth. Unfortunately I forgot to pack my camera in, so I wouldn't be able to take any photos when we travelled from Tamworth, through regional NSW, to Borambola (south of Wagga Wagga). On the Saturday night a few of us stayed together in Tamworth so then we could all leave together Sunday morning at 6AM. We had a few drinks together, had some dinner, watched some cooking on TV, and I was even shown the band lists for Junior and Senior NSW Public Schools ensembles.

NSW Public Schools Wind Ensembles

The repertoire for the NSW Senior (years 9-12) wind ensemble is going to be quite challenging. For the students that have received their music, I hope they have started practicing and grinding away at the music. Rhythmic, technical, and fast are three basic words I would use to describe the music after seeing it and working on some parts with students at the Riverina camp. If these pieces are pulled off by the senior wind ensemble it is going to be a fantastic achievement. All the best to Steve Williams and the ensemble for these works.

Selections and ensemble formation was interesting, but the balance should be exceptional. In ensembles, we use what is called a "pyramid" of sound. The higher/treble/soprano instruments are at the top of the pyramid running down to bass instruments that have a lot more sound to fill with. Not only does this occur within the whole ensemble, but throughout sections as well. The clarinets and saxophones are perfect examples of this since both sections cover a wide range of pitch. Being a clarinet tutor for several regional band camps now, I was very pleased with the selection of clarinettists and the formation with four 1st clarinets, six 2nd clarinets, eight 3rd clarinets, and if I remember correctly 3-4 bass clarinets. Normally I don't think this amount of clarinets would be selected for the ensemble, but this should be an exceptional section for 2009 and hopefully for years to come.

So how do my ravings about sound balance and clarinet selections have anything to do with my home region? Every region in NSW, as listed by the DET, have at least 5 nominations accepted to take part in the state wind ensemble. For the last few years the comment has been made that submissions made by the North Coast have not been up to scratch or matching the sufficient standard required. This time around the evidence was set out plain in front of me, and it is quite concerning.

From the North Coast band camp held at Lake Ainsworth only four people submitted nomination forms. Two were accepted, with one nomination only just fulfilling the accepted standard required. From Bellingen alone, three people submitted nominations and everyone was accepted. None of those people attended the band camp, yet they easily fulfilled the required standard to be involved. Again, I refer to the "Broken Catch 22" scenario listed in my previous entry.

We've had people invited to help and assist with the concert band (including myself), but politics were involved resulting in rejection of what was successful assistance to improve and educate students. For this year and last year I have had students ask me if myself or any of the tutors involved with the 2007 North Coast band camp were going to be back to tutor. Last year students were telling me, face to face, that even though the 2008 camp was "good" it was not as great as the 2007 program. A lot of questions should, and hopefully will, arise from the data of nominations and participants involved from the assorted regions in relation to the state wind ensemble and the feedback given by students involved with the regional program.

It really cuts me up inside that not much is being done to improve the concert band camp program in the North Coast region. I can be incredibly passionate about the musical development of students and tutorial development of instrumental teachers, and hopefully it does show through what I have posted. The truth is the North Coast concert band has fallen way behind that of its regional counterparts and all other regions of NSW. It may not be the "be all and end all" of music education on the North Coast, but it is part of a program providing students with so many performance opportunities for education and experience. We need to start putting more heads together to look at modifying the current, or producing a more successful, program in order to better equip and set up students for greater opportunities.

Part Two will be coming soon with the review of the Riverina Regional Band Camp for 2009.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Off to Riverina, NSW State Band Nominations Released

A couple of things that are happening today. First, and most importantly, it is Anzac Day. Hopefully many people can enjoy this day and reflect on the occasion without drinking too much or losing too much money on two-up.

The second is I’ll be on my way to Tamworth for tonight, then down to Borambola the next day for the second regional band camp of the year; Riverina Band Camp. A lot of us are excited for the camp, especially after what the kids produced from last year. So the blog updates I said I would put up will have to wait, if I can remember them when I get back. Even if I forget the updates there will still be the report from the camp and the journey taken.

Students involved with the NSW State Band were announced earlier this week with letters being sent out in the post. Congratulations to the students selected in the junior and senior bands for this year. Hopefully I will see the lists tonight of who was selected, and I will be quite interested to compare the nominations from the regional areas. In the last few years of the program run, nominations from the North Coast have been an interesting case. It’s been a bit of a “broken Catch 22” situation; you must attend the North Coast camp to be nominated, and to be successfully nominated you must be of a high enough standard to fulfil the criteria. Reluctant nominations have been accepted since the kids attended the camp and numbers needed to be filled, and there have been exceptional children nominated and accepted where they did not attend the camp due to being well above the standard of the camp, offering nothing to take them further (hence why I refer to this Catch 22 as broken, or perhaps loose).

Almost straight after the Riverina camp will be the North Coast camp held in the second week of May. I have not been selected to go on staff for this North Coast, which is probably a good thing since my work would probably not appreciate me taking two weeks off in a row for these camps while students miss out on tuition.

All the best to everyone for the weekend and the week to come!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Brisbane Trip (Part One): Keeping it Local

I’ve just arrived home from a four day holiday in Brisbane with my wife. To be more precise, I’ve just arrived home from the physiotherapist this morning to have my back and shoulder looked at but that might be story in itself for another time. I thought I might discuss a couple of issues associated with my trip away, and I will do this in two parts. One of those issues had intentions with travelling away, and the other was a bit of a surprise tour on my sister-in-law and her husband’s part.

Keeping it Local

The main purpose of the trip away was to give my wife some holiday time. While she had the opportunity to go shopping, relax, and catch up with family, I was able to duck into the brass and woodwind store located in Brisbane. The intentions were to try out and maybe pick up some crystal mouthpieces for my clarinet and alto sax. They are a nice little feature to have with an instrument, and from reviews I had read apparently they do allow for a very nice sound. When I arrived at the store I was quite surprised to learn that there were none in stock and that they would have to be ordered in. I was determined to purchase some new mouthpieces, especially for the alto sax, so for the next two hours I was testing and comparing clarinet mouthpieces, alto sax mouthpieces, and alto sax ligatures. I eventually made my choice picking out a Van Doren B45 Lyre mouthpiece for the clarinet, the Selmer C** (no, that is not an expletive) mouthpiece for the alto sax, and the BG L10 gold lacquer ligature to go with the alto sax mouthpiece. I was a bit surprised at the ligature choice, since these days it would normally be the Van Doren Optimum as first option, but I personally found the two I picked out worked really well together.

Afterwards, the choice had me thinking about a common issue with musicians on the local scene. For quite some time there has been the unwritten code of trying to keep any music business around the local area as much as possible. And for good reason too since keeping the business within the community can earn yourself, and the company you go through, a good rapport with people on a friendly and business basis. The old “you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours”. These days it is becoming increasingly more difficult for teachers and local music businesses to do this. But this isn’t necessarily true for all instruments or families of instruments. I could safely say in the case for woodwind, and most likely for brass too, that resources and equipment is a little more difficult to come by at a local level but so much easier from outside of the town. The internet, for starters, is a massive promoter for businesses within NSW and companies outside of Australia. Online stores and access to music stores in capital cities could never be easier. Music or items ordered from these stores will arrive on our doorstep a lot quicker than that of ordering through a local business. I have had proof of this after ordering items from a Sydney store, and ordering items from local businesses on the North Coast. I have for over two weeks from local businesses for music to arrive, yet if I order at the beginning of the week from Sydney it will arrive on my doorstep in 2-3 days. The price difference varies little, except maybe paying a little more for postage.
        Then I have had the issue of a lack of quality items, instruments and accessories arise. Obviously at a more professional level it is accepted that you will need to visit a specialist store to test various models of instruments and accessories to find what combinations suit you best. At a student level, I try to encourage students to use more “quality” items straight away. For example, I try to steer students away from using lower quality reeds and having families purchase better quality reeds. Not only do the quality reeds last longer, but students get a much better sound and have the feeling of greater responsibility placed on them. A much improved attitude from students is evident in terms of playing their instrument and taking care of it, compared to others that have either ignored or forgotten the advice given. I’ve made suggestions to some music stores of stocking some of these items and some better tutorial and fun music books for students to play from, but the fear of spending money and not successfully selling the product always comes up.

For the teacher it’s a bit of a stifling situation; do we still order through the local business despite the cons, or do we take it upon ourselves to get the resources from alternate businesses outside of the local scene that can be more efficient and reliable? I would be very interested to hear some other thoughts on this issue. Part two will come later this week.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

New England Band Camp 2009: Major Success!

It's been just over a week since the New England band camp for 2009 ended, but with the recent floods and the last week of term winding up things have been a little hectic. I didn't realise, but there have been some other comments placed along the way that I have missed. My apologies, but I have gone back and read them and really value and appreciate the input that has gone in. I've set up the blog to notify me when feedback does come through from now on. Anyhow, my place survived the floods with only a little stream flowing from the back door to the garage door, which is a relief since my computer is downstairs on the other side of the room. The water flowed on the cement and came nowhere near the carpet.

As I said in my last post, I took my camera with me and took photos of my journey. What I really wanted to do was take some video shots as well, but I will need a much bigger memory card or a video camera to do this. I had planned on video taping some sections of the drive including Dorrigo mountain, Waterfall Way, and sections of the drive through some of the smaller towns on the way to Lake Keepit. I'll talk about the journey another time when I have the photos sorted out from the camera.

The band camp itself was a huge success. We thought nothing could rival the camp of 2007 at Echidna Gully when a lot of top musicians were finishing up being in their HSC year. The standard set for 2009 may not have quite surpassed that of 2007, but it has aimed to set 2010 up for a bumper year with the talent being produced. The average school year would be around 8 1/2 to 9, with a spread of students from year 4 through to year 12. Very few students were in years 11 and 12 at this camp, yet the average standard or charts being played was about 3 1/2 out of 5 stars across the full concert band and advanced ensembles.

Congrats is due to the director, Di Hall, for selecting a terrific set of repertoire that challenged and brought about a new world of music to the students; concert band repertoire. No longer was all of the music arrangements of operas, musicals, movie scores, and pop songs. Music was being performed that was specifically composed for concert band. Flashpoint by John Moss was performed by the full concert band to a very good standard. The best way I can describe this piece is that it is similar in its sound and harmony to that of Steve Reich's first movement of City Life called "Check it out", minus the minimalism and synthesizers of course. This piece was composed specifically for concert band, and a lot of the students really enjoyed it. The feeling that they were performing "real music", is what we feel inspired them according to their reactions. I hope the majority of this music will be taken to the next camp in the series; Riverina.

The clarinet section was fantastic by the end of the week. We had two tutors for the clarinets; myself and Andre Vikas. Andre took the firsts, seconds and basses while I worked with the thirds. It was a bit of a change for myself, but I really enjoyed working with the thirds for the week. The challenge at the beginning of the week was getting the clarinets to come out of their shells and open up their sound when they played. This was especially true with the first clarinets, since they need to not only lead their section but essentially the concert band. Andre's work with his clarinetists ensured that they brought out more sound and played together as a section, rather than as individuals. While ensemble playing can be targeted with these rows, it's a bit more challenging to do the same thing with the third row. The work that I did with the third clarinets included learning new notes, attacking rhythms, and trying to make sections look less fearful than they first appear. One really big positive about the section I took was that everyone could play across that break of the instrument, and this is a massive achievement (and an absolute dream as a tutor). A "never say die" attitude was always present, and there was always the determination to learn more or get to the end of a piece of music.

It was evident after the last performance that there are a lot of emerging musicians to come through from this camp, both from the junior (years 4-8) and senior (years 9-12) sections. A standing ovation from the audience of parents, relatives and friends was given to the students as they finished their last piece in the concert. While a standing ovation is something you would normally acknowledge and appreciate as a professional musician, it was jaw-dropping and surprising to see this for a combined group of primary and secondary students. Even reflecting on it now I still get tingles and goose-bumps. While the staff brought the standard and "set the bar", ultimately it was up to the students to embrace and take on the challenge themselves and to have us, the tutors, assist them along the way.

For people living in the DET's "New England" region, be sure to keep an eye out for the regional tour band later this year. You will not want to miss this sensational ensemble!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

New England Band Camp Starts Tomorrow!

It's close to 10 o'clock at night, and I should be asleep. I'm sure scores of students from out west should be asleep as well, but I wonder how many will still be up? Band camp starts tomorrow, a whole week off school. For several of us it will be a week off work, even though this will be a lot more work for us completing fourteen hour days instead of a standard 9 till 5 job. It will be busy enough as it is, especially factoring in travel. Coffs Harbour to Lake Keepit tomorrow, then Lake Keepit to Grafton on Friday afternoon to attend the first indoor cricket training session of the season, and then travel home to Coffs. Sleep and rest will be valued greatly.

It wasn't until a couple of hours ago I realised how lucky I can be in my line of work. I haven't thought about it much over the last four years, but I have travelled to some very nice locations throughout NSW in relation to music tutoring. This is especially true when it comes to the regional areas. What I have decided to do is take my camera with me and take photos and video footage of my trips for the band camps I am attending this year. I am on course for three band camps unless the admin decide otherwise, and unfortunately I have been denied my home region's camp of the North Coast. The scenery and towns you pass through are quite beautiful, as well as the final destination of course, but I am interested to see what it will look compiled together as a montage. I'll be looking at making ten minute videos of each of the band camp car trips with a select music track in mind that, in my opinion, would accentuate the beauty of the regional areas of NSW. I can't wait to put these together to share with everyone.

Time to finish packing the bags and get some sleep.

Friday, March 20, 2009

AMEB Exams and the Coffs Eisteddfod

Well, I'm glad this week is over. I just noticed I haven't posted anything for a couple of weeks. A little bit slack on my part, but I have had to keep up with things occurring with work. The tuition work is still busy with a lot of travel involved, and there will be even more coming up in a couple of weeks time with the New England Regional Band Camp at Lake Keepit. Even though it is a further distance to travel, it will seem like a holiday remaining put in the one place for a week while still working.

I finished submitting my students for exams. All up I will have 12 students completing 13 AMEB exams in clarinet and saxophone ranging from 1st Grade through to the new Certificate of Performance. It's a massive difference from having one student take the exam, which happened last year. It will be a challenge to not only provide the material for the students, but to make sure they keep up the practice and commitment. Plus, we can't forget the extra tasks involved including general knowledge and aural exercises.

In Grafton, a combined schools concert band has been formed to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the town. Several students of mine (most from primary school) have been selected to play in the band. I'm really pleased for them, not only for selection but having the determination to be involved in making music for a rare occasion. Even though none of them have been selected for front desk (1st clarinet) parts, the work they will put in for the other desks (2nd and 3rd) will reinforce and make the ensemble quite strong. They have their work cut out for them but they are prepared to put in the practice.

With some other news from Grafton, for the last few weeks I have two students make the second page of their local newspaper for activities in general, associated with or directly related to music. The conservatorium clarinet choir, that I run, even got a small plug from one of the students. The little group is doing well, but it does have its difficulties with a large age difference and some small restraints on ability. The age difference I cannot control, but the musical ability amongst all of the players is improving as individuals and as ensemble players.

The AMEB exams will be held between late July and late August for our series, so it would make sense to get some performance practice in for preparation. Several students will be taking part in the Coffs Eisteddfod, including some for the Open and Junior Championship sections. Last year's competition proved to be the most interesting in quite some years, and hopefully the same standard can be produced this year.

It's really disappointing to see the program for the Coffs Eisteddfod downsized so much in comparison to what it was ten years ago. To start with, there are fewer age divisions causing a wider difference in age between competitors. In the instrumental sections there will be age differences of up to three years, potentially having people aged 12 competing against people aged 15. If anything, this will really hurt the numbers taking part since the younger children will feel intimidated and fear taking part.
        It would be nice to see the section "Instrument Solo" reintroduced, but not as an open section like it used to be. "Instrumental Solo - Unaccompanied Work" would be a tremendous section, seeing pieces or studies performed on solo instruments (except for piano and voice since they have separate programs). No longer would studies be treated as "technical works", but would force the performer to bring out the musicality of the work. There is so much repertoire out there for solo instrument alone, and I think it is something all eisteddfods should consider doing.
        A couple of years ago I e-mailed the eisteddfod committee about their large ensemble sections, stating that they were willing to allow orchestras to compete but had no section for concert and symphonic wind bands. Also, the lack of sufficient wording to determine what ensembles are allowed to compete is left open to much controversy. The section "Orchestral Instrumental Group" has immediately after it in brackets "must include strings". If anything, this is left open to a lot of interpretation. A concert band can have a bass guitar or a double bass, which would fulfill the criteria. The clarinet and saxophone sections of a concert band are essentially the "strings" of the ensemble, replacing violins, violas and cellos with the range of their instruments providing a different colour of sound. The committee should just scrap these separate sections and just have one section called "Orchestral Instrumental Group", just like it used to be, with no strings attached (pardon the pun).
        The smaller ensemble group sections are much fewer than what they used to be. We used to have duets and trios with and without piano accompaniment, having several age divisions for each section. Now we only have duets and trios with a total of six age sections, with the removal of the open age division for the duets section (a section that my duet partner and I won three out of four years running, something of some sentimental value). Why can't there be a 12, 14, 16 and Open age division for duets and trios? Straight away you have eight sections. Then instead of having an "Ensemble (4-8 players)" section you could have "Quartets" for 15 years and under and an Open division, followed by "Ensemble (5-12 players)" allowing for more ensembles to take part. There is plenty of scope for the program to expand and to encourage more ensembles and nearby towns to take part.

Next Sunday I will be leaving for Lake Keepit, and I will definitely be reporting of the band camp for the New England region. After a bit of a dip, due to many senior musicians moving on, the standard is lifting as we bring the next generation of musicians and leaders through. I think it is safe to say the students and tutors will all be looking forward to the week that is ahead of us.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Coffs Harbour Copacabana Conservatorium!

The final location has been revealed for the relocation of our local conservatorium (Coffs Coast Advocate, 07/03/2009). Of all the places, I don’t think as many people would have expected the Copacabana nightclub location to be infiltrated by local music teachers and students. So yes, time to crack out the Barry Manilow and party like it’s 1978!

With the other locations being mentioned like the “cultural precinct” at Brelsford Park and possibly taking over some space of the local university, I think the Coffs Con has a much better chance of forging an identity now and begin revealing itself to the public a lot more. Previously being located at the very back of the Home Base area opposite Park Beach Plaza, you couldn’t blame people for not knowing where the local conservatorium was. A search and rescue squad would normally be deployed to locate people trying to locate the conservatorium. And even if they did find the conservatorium, parents would usually drop off their child while still clutching to furniture bought from all of the surrounding stores while trying not to spill their coffee from the café immediately in front of the entrance.

While I am usually quick to point out the hidden facts of the conservatorium with lack of staff resulting in the lack of students and music programs, I will admit that I am very pleased that the conservatorium can relocate in the place of a nightclub. To me, it is very iconic. The big title on Wednesday’s Coffs Coast Advocate was “BLAME BOOZE!”, referring to the high local crime figures in reference to alcohol related misdemeanours. These included alcohol-fuelled assaults, drink driving, and high-risk drinking (binge drinking). Within the last couple of weeks a drug ring had been busted in the Park Beach area with a lot of drugs seized in high value. Could this be the start of turning some of the abusive traits of society around?

Parents have shared with me stories of their children not having an involvement with the nightlife, drinking and drugs of the area but rather taking an interest in other more productive activities. These children have benefited a lot more, unlike some of their counterparts having been caught up in what can be the unpleasant social nightlife experiences. I still remember one story of a young woman inviting friends of hers from school to go out to the botanical gardens for lunch. Her friends didn’t even know that there was such a location in Coffs Harbour, since the places they would normally frequent for socialising would either be the shopping centres or the pubs and nightclubs.

While the conservatorium won’t be the solution to solve all of these problems of replacing the red hot fury of alcohol abuse with the frenetic playing of the next Paganini, I certainly hope it is another avenue of social interest for people to explore regardless of age (especially for the younger ones!). It’s very special to be able to share your talents and craft with other people from a similar avenue or with similar interests. Not even sport in this region has successfully done this, although this coming Wednesday might be a different story with the gathering of local cricketers in the region for a local representative Twenty20 bash. As the door is being closed on a nightspot, let’s hope an even wider door can be open to the music and arts communities. The words of Pakistani captain, Younus Khan, would ring here just as much as they have in his country after the recent terror attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team. “Our future as a nation (or in our case, a town - PM) is in our youngsters’ hands. ... If the sport is not there, there would be distractions. We have to be very careful about that. We must not allow kids to become terrorists. We all must do something to stop that happening.”

It might appear quite extreme to compare a terrorist attack with a society that is described as being high in crime in relation to alcohol, but both do have the same result; they take away. Let’s see what more we can do for the young and all of society and start to provide more opportunities and enjoyment through the activities that do give something, rather than bow to the pressure of those that steal in the night.

Better find Lola and her yellow feathers now...

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Music, Cricket, and Rock 'n' Roll.

Thursday

It’s only been early days in the year, and some interesting things have been occurring in relation to music. What was even more surprising was that these things were brought to light yesterday (25/2/09).

Musicorp, it seems, have lost their hold somewhat to be a force within the Coffs Coast and the mid-north coast. With a lot of their teaching work hanging upon one staff member in the region, time would only tell if the amount of work was going to become a strain. The one massive criticism I have of the company is the fact that they do employ instrumental teachers that teach everything, making them quite questionable in terms of whether they do specialise in instruments or not. I am all for music education being made available and accessible for all students, but the questions of quality and the ongoing education do have to be raised.

The school I attended for most of my primary years, Boambee Primary School, decided in a meeting yesterday afternoon that Musicorp would indeed be dropped from their program. It seems the issues of lack of communication with staff and students took its toll, and enough was enough. Students missed out on a combined schools opportunity last year as part of a Musicorp workshop, and it wasn’t one or two either. All of the students involved with the school program missed out, resulting in a lot of unhappy children and, in particular, parents. Even the staff member stationed knew nothing about the workshop. I can confirm that I was contacted by the Queensland branch of Musicorp last week and was offered to work in Boambee Primary School as part of their program. I politely rejected the offer, informing them that I had been rejected by their company in the first place for being a specialist tutor and not someone that could teach all instruments (including brass and strings).

At the end of last year, a couple of the schools under Musicorp control were dropped and taken on by private tutor Natalie Keft. After Natalie’s work with some of the Coffs Coast schools last year, culminating in a combined performance with the Coffs City Orchestra, I am quite interested to see what will be planned for 2009. One of the rumours I have heard is that only the schools taken on by Keft will be combined to form a large ensemble. If this is the case, there will be a division of the public schools all along the coast. If anything, we should be looking at giving as many of the public schools along the coast the chance to combine their efforts to form a mixed school ensemble that we can proudly state belongs to and is produced by the talented teachers and students of the mid-north coast. I said it last year in a Facebook note that realistically, the mid-north coast has the talent to put together two orchestras and two symphonic wind bands (both a junior/emerging and a main ensemble). I am still adamant that this can be achieved.

If this is going to be realistically achievable, we need to start having the tutors in the region network and communicate with each other. If there is to be any chance or opportunity to have the schools combine to form a regional ensemble it needs to be taken up now. I don’t believe there is one public school alone in the region that could raise its hand and state it could produce a concert band of sufficient quality independently. I think it is difficult for any primary school in general, except maybe for performing arts or metropolitan schools. However, combine the talent into a sixty-piece ensemble and you would have a powerhouse primary schools ensemble on the mid-north coast. I would even say it could rival the annual North Coast primary band camp ensemble held at Lake Ainsworth each year.

While on the topic of North Coast band camp ensembles being rivalled, I had the pleasure of observing the Bellingen High School concert band yesterday morning. I mentioned in an earlier blog entry my criticisms of the North Coast regional band camp for applying a lowering standard of their charts and not challenging the kids musically. Because Bellingen are willing to challenge and increase the standard of their students, the school is able to take on charts including Acclamation, In Flight by Hazo, and a highlights package of Lord of the Rings by de Meij. Not an easy feat by any means, especially with some bass instruments lacking. These students are embracing the opportunity and are refusing to back down from it. This ensemble could go so much further, and not just the standout individual musicians, but the support from the North Coast region is found wanting unfortunately. Hopefully this is something that can be turned around for the present and future musicians emerging in a “dead sub-region” of the North Coast. This is a glimmer of hope yet for the Mid-North Coast, we just need some of the higher powers that run this region to realise it as well. The people out west can, but for some reason there are some people along the coast that refuse to acknowledge the talent.

Friday

It is the end of another busy work week, and the weekend is to arrive. In fact, it is Saturday morning as I write this. I’ve only had six hours of sleep, but it was worth it. Apart from music being one of my first loves, sport would almost have to go hand in hand with it. Being a cricket tragic, I received a good 8.5 hour hit last night. I’ll discuss this in a moment.

Prior to the cricket I had teaching in the afternoon at the Clarence Valley Con. The clarinet ensemble that I am taking has started to grow. We had five clarinettists, with three primary and two secondary students. Age diversity, big difference. The skill level between the players is a bit spread out, especially in ensemble playing. At the end of forty-five minutes I was rather pleased with how the students performed. We had played through four short pieces, and sight read a Menuetto by Mozart. The Menuetto was fairly challenging ensemble-wise, being slowed down to about half the tempo of what it should be. I’m feeling excited for this ensemble, and I think the musicians playing are enjoying playing in a small group dedicated to the instrument they play. It would be nice to have a few more clarinets, especially a bass clarinet. We really need the bass instrument to round out the ensemble.

Just quickly, there are schools these days that talk about balance between education and activities outside of school. Schools keep this in focus, but I do wonder about some of the schools that are heavily “pro-education” with little regard for activities or even professions outside of school. I had one student that has six assignments on the run, including one that is meant to be three assignments rolled into one. Potentially, this student has up to eight assignments! This student is not lazy. In fact I would say they are quite diligent in staying on top of school work, completing music practice, and still having time to do as they please. This student missed their lesson earlier in the week, but when they came for their catch up lesson at the end of the week they were burnt out, exhausted and felt sick. Their music practice for the week suffered, but not as much as their health. What school in their right mind would heap eight assignments within a week onto their students?! I don’t think university even does that with any of their degrees or courses. If schools are going to talk about “balance”, perhaps they could address the issue as well and enforce a fair balance between study and extracurricular activities.

After the music teaching was completed for the week, I went over to watch the Thirty30 cricket while I was still in Grafton. It was the final between the local Brothers side against the visiting Coffs Colts. It was the first time a Coffs Harbour side entered this competition run by the Clarence River Cricket Association (CRCA), and I think it brought a new flavour to the comp. Some of the players from the Colts side are still in high school or their late teens, so to have the experience of playing night cricket under lights would have been special. The fielding and discipline presented by both of the sides was quite exceptional, especially from the younger talent. The bowling from both sides was tight, but the batting was the real highlight with brilliant ground strokes and terrific shots through the air keeping the crowd entertained and at times captivated (especially for the home side). It was a tight game with the Colts winning by eight runs with three balls to spare.

However, the event was soured much to several people’s disdain. The issue of alcohol, yet again, comes up in sport. Abuse from drunken spectators was hurled at the winning players as they went into their dressing room. Other spectators and even the umpires had to hold drunk louts back from trying to get into physical confrontations with players. I do realise there is a little bit of history between some certain people in Grafton, but for heaven’s sake why does it have to be brought up at a local event where families are in attendance? What sickens me even further is the fact that a group of these drunken clowns tried to incite violence against a family from Coffs by threatening to sexually abuse the wife of a husband in attendance. And yes, both were in attendance to watch their son play while they had to endure this. Suffice to say, the family was quite distressed afterwards. And what is just as appalling is seeing a father, a grown man, carrying on with drunken ranting and raving about Colts players and how they don’t belong in the competition with his son (I assume in his mid-late teenage years) carrying on in a similar manner as well. And yes, people had to hold this grown man displaying childish antics back as well, including someone who could have been his daughter of about late primary school age. There was no chance that I could leave until the drunks had left, or the police arrived. The drunks did indeed leave, and the police arrived about five minutes later (including detectives in hand).

The Clarence River and Coffs Harbour representative sides are meant to be playing in the final of an inter-district competition this Sunday in Grafton. Already, some of the players from Coffs Harbour have said they refuse to play after the uncivilised scenes of Friday night. It didn’t help on the night having the person on the PA system, someone from the CRCA, continually refer to the Coffs Colts side as “Coffs Harbour” throughout the game. They could address the Brothers side obviously as they were, but why couldn’t they call the Coffs side “Colts” or “Coffs Colts”? They weren’t representing the district of Coffs Harbour, they were representing their own cricket club. It didn’t help either with the local paper essentially stating that local pride was on the line with a Grafton club trying to keep the shield within the district. These polarisations, in my opinion, did play a role in affecting crowd behaviour by subliminally inciting anti-social behaviour.

Afterwards, I had the one hour drive back home again. I listened to the second day of the first test between Australia and South Africa, then listened to it until 2:30 the next morning on the computer at home. The test is certainly quite gripping and exciting from an Australian perspective, with North making a hundred on debut, and Johnson not quite getting his ton falling four runs short.

Summer ends at midnight, and Autumn will arrive. May the weather cool down and remain consistent, and the band camps that commence become successes.