Jeff Girard and M-R Music present

The Wind Band Report 2014

Issue 2 - Middle, Junior and

High School materials

Vol. 2, No. 2 January 2014

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I hope your winter break was relaxing and enjoyable for you. If this is your first issue from me from our meeting at Midwest, welcome! I'm here to help you any way I can.

As I promised, there will be two issues released in the next few days. This one is for the Middle School to High School directors. The other one covered much more advanced repertoire. If you get one but not the other and want to be included in those newsletters, update your profile settings on the link at the bottom of this email.

I have a wide variety of new educational resources to share with you. I tried to find items that either have a definite educational purpose or that could fill a specific need for your particular ensemble. In most cases you can click on the icon's image to either hear a sound file of the piece or to find out more information about it.

In future issues I'll cover topics such as beginning band, pops concert music, and lesser known publishers. If you have a topic you'd like me to address some day, let me know and I'll work it in. Until then, stay inside and stay warm - brrrrr!!!!

Click the images to listen or find out more.

The Beatles - Essential Elements Band Collection Arrangements

Arr. Longfield, Vinson, and Moss

Hal Leonard's Essential Elements band method has now become a staple at many schools. In addition to publishing their method though, they also publish a series of song books designed to be playable as either a solo setting with piano or CD accompaniment, or as part of a full band ensemble. Each version is printed on

Their newest collection, The Beatles, includes 15 songs by the groundbreaking British pop group. The songs are grouped progressively to correlates with a lesson in the Essential Elements method series, so you can include them as part of your lesson plan if you wish. Or, they can just have some fun playing songs on their own by playing the solo version of each number.

Score w/CD - $24.99

Part books - $6.99

Piano Accompaniment -$11.99

Accent on Performance Concert Favorites Collection

John O'Reilly, Mark Williams

The Accent on Achievement series is another band method, this one published by Alfred Music. Over the years series editors John O'Reilly and Mark Williams have written over a hundred pieces that correlate with this method. Now many of these works have been collected into a booklet format to play.

Each book contains 22 charts from this beginning level series, varying between grades 1 and 2. By buying one complete set for your band, you'll have enough tunes to choose from for years without recycling any of them with the same students.

There are also 4 other collections in the Accent on Performance series, set up in the same format: Light Concert Favorites, Marches, Classical, and Holiday. All are available, so you can choose the collection that's right for your ensemble.

Score - $24.99

Part Books - $6.99

Belah Sun Woman

Jodie Blackshaw

Belah Sun Woman is something new for developing bands. It is not just a five movement suite for young bands, it is an interactive project piece, complete with DVD, lesson plans, activities, web links, and teaching techniques and assesment tools.

The movements are in progressive order of difficulty and techniques, so you can spread the entire work out over the course of a semester or year. Blackshaw takes students step by step through a series of sequential lesson plans, activities, and games to build the musical skills necessary to perform each of the five movements. Though the progression, performers will play by ear, learn balance and tone, become aware of their own musicianship in the context of other players, and better understand the role of the conductor.

Belah Sun Woman tells the story of how night and day came to be in the stories of the indigenous peoples of her home country of Australia. As part of the curriculum, she encourages teachers and students to connect with the indigenous peoples of their own area and compare this story with that of their own culture.

This has the potential to be a real game changer in the way music can be be taught to young players. Take some time to explore this groundbreaking project piece, it will be worth the investment.

#G-8605

Set - $125

Music from the Inside Out DVD

Daniel Anker

Filmaker Daniel Anker spent 5 years with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra to craft this fascinating feature-length documentary uncovering the human side to the magic of making music.

This film sets out to reveal the individuals hidden behind the stern expressions and formal attire worn by the orchestra's more than 100 musicians, who tend to blend together when sharing a stage. Through one-on-one interviews and larger discussions, distinctive personalities emerge, one more articulate and charming than the next. The musicians relate intimate, insightful stories, some heartening, some bittersweet, and candidly discuss the origins of their passion for music and what continues to motivate them to pursue their dreams, provoking audiences to ponder the same issues.

This film is useful for both self-fulfillment and as a teaching tool for students. There are classroom posters and a matching curriculum available that engages students in reading, writing, listening and talking about music and offers students the opportunity to compose their own works. This is another way to get students involved in more than just "the notes" of music.

DVD - $24.95

Posters - $9.99

Deluxe Kit (Book, CD, Theatrical and Teacher's DVD) - $99.95

*** Click on the images to hear or find out more about each work. ***

Fantasia on the "Dargason"

for Flexible Band Instrumentation

arr. Scott Stanton

There are numerous band programs out there that aren't fortunate enough to have a complete contingent of instruments available, for whatever reason. For a long time teachers had to get creative with how they choose their music, either rewriting parts or sacrificing important harmonic lines in their performance.

Fortunately, several companies in the last few years have begun publishing "flexible band" works that sound complete with as little as 4 or 5 players, one for each part (SAT(B)B), with percussion available but all optional. Most of these works are purposely scored for a beginning level ensemble, but Barnhouse's series of fliex band works pushes into grade 3 territory, which is great for smaller high schools with talented players but incomplete instrumentation.

Barnhouse has about 20 pieces in their "Build-a-Band" library now, and I really liked this one from this year's releases.The sound recording is only a MIDI track, but don't let that dissuade you from this or any of the other works in this series. You can find out more about the "Build-a-Band" series here.

#026-4223-00

Set - $50

Tight Squeeze

Alex Shapiro

Some of you may have been introduced to Alex Shapiro last year with her Paper Cutfrom Hal Leonard's Bandquest series. Alex will be talking about her next work, Tight Squeeze, at one of the clinics at Midwest (The e-Frontier: Music, Multimedia, Education, and Audiences in the Digital World)

Alex describes this high energy work in the following way: imagine Arnold Schoenberg, Henry Mancini, and Charlie Parker walking into a dance club in Havana, and staying for three minutes. Tight Squeeze ventures into new territory as it explores chromaticism and syncopation against a prerecorded percussion groove.

You can download the prerecorded groove at the web address listed in the score. You'll need an audio system capable of playing the prerecorded audio tracks from a laptop computer or other electronic audio device.

I suppose you could describe this piece as an electroacoustic twelve-tone techno Latin bebop band piece (Alex does). It's great fun for your students and can make a memorable closer to a concert. I'd also consider using it as a possible recruiting tool for high schools or even touring university bands.

#04003588

Set - $80

Hunting Scenes

Satoshi Yagisawa

Hunting Scenes is an epic tone poem based on Taiwanese Traditional Melodies. It's a grade 3 work about 7 minutes long, though an optional cut can take it down to 5 minutes.

Every spring, a series of concerts, workshops and competitions known as the 'Taiwan Clinic' is held in Taipei, Taiwan. In 2013 composer Satoshi Yagisawa was commissioned to compose a new piece based on traditional hunting songs of the Taroko people native to eastern Taiwan. The optional cut was inserted in order to meet the time requirements for being the set piece for the 2013 All Chinese Wind Band Competition.

There are several teaching opportunities here both musical and cross-curricular. There's plenty of unique percussion parts to keep them occupied and involved, and the music is engaging and fun to listen to.

#44011905

Set - $95

Musicians' Strike

Philipp Fahrbach/arr. M.C. Meyrelles

Want to do something a little different to end the first half of your concert? Here's a number which you can use to add a little light hearted fun to your concert program.

Philipp Fahrbach and his father (also Philipp) were important and famous musicians in Vienna during the 19th century. They played in orchestras, formed their own orchestras, and between the two of them composed over 1000 works which rivaled those of the Strauss' in popularity at the time.

Musician's Strike is a charming example of the Viennese style of music, despite the obvious misuse of repetition that brings about the inevitable "revolt" from the musicians. In similar form to Haydn's Farewell Symphony, the sections of the band drop out of the texture one by one and leave the ensemble until at the end only the percussion are left.

There are a lot of ways you can realize the aspects of the "strike", limited only by your imagination.

#50100094

Set - $75

I'm heading to Tampa, Florida for the FMEA convention - and just in time, considering the weather in the Midwest right now. I'll be out of the office all week, but I can still monitor email occasionally and take care of some of your orders. If you have a true emergency this week, call the main store line at 314-291-4686 instead of my direct line. I'll deal with as many orders as I can while in Tampa, then cover the rest on Sunday and Monday when I return.

I'm still open to suggestions from you. Tell me about a topic you'd like me to research and present. Email me at instrumental@mrmusicinc.com with your thoughts and I'll look for an opportunity to incorporate it into a Report issue.