As a band teacher, a lot of what I do TODAY depends on what happened YESTERDAY during class. If you asked me on Monday what the students will be working on today (Friday), I would only be guessing what my full lesson plan actually looks like.

However, most administrators are asking for "lesson plans for next week, due Friday" and for the most part we do the best we can to appease them. I'm just wondering if there is any actual research on the effectiveness of teachers who submit weekly lesson plans ahead of time versus teachers who only do daily lesson plans.

Any thoughts or anecdotes from the MusicEd crowd?

When they can't even get half the notes going under tempo? We're working on Washington Post March in one band, and trying to play at tempo (or close to it) means we fall apart after about 2 measures. However, they don't seem to be making the connection at all... They seem to think that "if we just try it over and over and over at full tempo, we'll get it!"

I've explained it to them, but I must be missing the part that makes it click. Anyone have better ideas about getting students to understand why we rehearse under tempo when we're still working on notes and rhythms?

If you had to vote on a majority consensus for each example below, what would you vote for?

I use the 1e&a system in my 5-12 band classes. It works really well in simple meter until you get into tuplets. I've heard some people switch to "1-is-uh" and others to "1-trip-let" and still others abandon numbers and go to "tri-pu-let"... For me, that's where a system "breaks down" - you get to essentially make up your own rules as long as they are logical. What about quarter note triplets or other tuplets?

Another place where it breaks down is when you get to 6/8 time. Some teachers teach the students "1-and-uh 2-and-uh (or 1-trip-let...)" focusing on the macrobeats, others teach "1 2 3 4 5 6" with emphasis on the 1 and the 4. But what happens when you get to 16th notes? What about when you get to duple tuplets?

I also taught the Gordon Syllables for at least a dozen years to elementary students and to choir students, but I am specifically asking about the counting system that uses numbers.

I’m evaluating my program's instrument policy and could really use some insight specifically from the band directors who are also percussionists.

Right now, I'm deciding whether to require all percussion students to own or rent a standard student bell kit (bell set + practice pad combo) for home practice, or if I can loosen the policy for kids who already have a piano or digital keyboard at home. For those of you with a percussion background, how do you view this trade-off?

Okay, I'm embarrassed to admit that I've taught band for 15 years, I have a master's degree in music education, and I've played trumpet since 5th grade band - and I thought legato meant "articulate gently, play each note full value". Apparently, this is actually the definition for tenuto! And when I saw the articulation of a short line underneath a note, I always said, "That means to play it legato." I thought tenuto meant something like legato, but putting more emphasis on the note, perhaps even stretching the time a little bit. Have I been wrong the entire time? Google says I'm wrong, Wikipedia says I'm wrong, but I swear someone taught me "staccato, legato, accent, and marcato" as the four main styles of articulation. Am I crazy?

I am planning to have my band sight-read more often, and the SRF option seems appealing. Last year, I tried it out once by projecting an easy Concert Band (Unison) exercise up on the screen at the front of the room, but it was too small for some of the students to read. My idea is to spend some time this month creating sight reading packets that I can print and hand out at the beginning of the year.

1. Has anyone successfully used SRF in their large ensembles? What did you do to make it work? Am I going about this the wrong way by trying to make paper packets out of it?

2. How much time did it take, and did you find any ways to make the process more efficient?

3. What were the limitations you experienced, and were there any unexpected problems?

4. Were there any ways in which the program/process exceeded your expectations?

Thank you for your responses, and I hope you all have a wonderful school year!

This has probably been asked before, but where are the main places to go for watching fireworks? Last year we pretty much just stayed home because the neighbors all around us were lighting them, but I am hoping to take my family to a professional fireworks show this time. I know there is one at Lakeside and one at Whitefish Lake, plus the fireworks at the baseball stadium. Which one should we go to, and is there anything to watch out for? Are there any others in the Flathead that I don't know about? TIA!

Where do I go to buy a replacement bathroom fan for my mobile home? I'd rather not shop online because of shipping and wanting to be able to return parts easily and quickly if I order the wrong part.

Here's what some of the students wrote in their course evaluation last week:  ["he gets mad a lot", "often gets very mad and starts yelling or walks out", "gets mad a lot and will lose it really", "is very angry very easily", and "has random crash outs in the middle of class"] 

I care deeply about teaching kids to love music and to be good musicians. My life has also been pretty bumpy, and while most days are great there are times when I allow my frustration to show during class. For example, during our dress rehearsal the students were apathetic about the music, and I tried to give a quick pep talk ending with something like, "Now if you're committed to doing a great job on this last run through, turn to your neighbor and tell them 'I'm committed'." I think three kids actually did it, the other thirty just sat there with dead expressions, and so I just stood there for a second and then turned and walked to the edge of the stage and took a moment to collect myself. No yelling, just a stern, "Never mind, we can't do this if you're not committed, let's move on to the next piece."

That's one example. Another one would be any of the times during class where I've already been patient, given kind reminders of behavior expectations, even written names and strikes up on the board, and still they are talking while I'm teaching and not paying attention to instructions (or the whole band starts without them), and eventually I rub my forehead a little bit, take a deep breath, and explain, "One last time, we cannot rehearse with behavior like this. If you get another strike, you will get a detention." Yes, I am mad during class sometimes, but I don't lash out at the students. If I raise my voice, it is never to the point of yelling or shouting, but I speak with a stern and commanding tone.

I am a very honest person. If I'm having a rough day, I apologetically let people know that I am struggling with patience and ask them to help by giving me a little more grace. I'm not good at hiding it and pretending everything is okay when it's not. I know my limits and what triggers me and I do my best to operate within those limitations. But yes, I get frustrated at times and deal with it by taking a step back, bowing my head, having a moment of silence, taking a deep breath, and then do my best to move on with the rehearsal.

I've already sent my administration an explanation and a request to meet in person to go over this evaluation, but I can't help but feel a little heartbroken at what the students said. In one of my lessons this year I even asked them, "What do you think: does your teacher care more about the music or about each one of you?" and proceeded to explain how I do care a lot about the music, but that I care infinitely more about each of them. Sometimes I mess that up, but my desire is always to put them before the music.

Right now my response is sorrow and humility, acknowledging the truth that my frustration does show up from time to time in rehearsal, and I need to figure out a more positive way to deal with it.

Are there any directors here that have practiced enough on every instrument to feel comfortable at a high-school level on each one? That's a pretty broad description, so if I had to pin something down: all 12 major scales in 16ths at 50-60 bpm, control of articulations and dynamics in the full range (or at least 2 octaves), good tone and intonation in all ranges and dynamics, and able to decently sight-read most grade 3 pieces?

When I was in high school, I remember the director starting a "wall of fame" for students who could play all 12 major scales in under 60 seconds. I love the idea of challenging students and maybe even having a friendly competition of who can play their scales the fastest, but how do we handle the trombones? Are there any directors who are also trombone players that can shine some light on this for me? It seems like they are at a massive disadvantage to every other instrument when it comes to speed.

As I sit and grade the written final exam, I'm wondering how so many students got this far in the year without, for example, being able to put dynamics in order from loudest to quietest (even though we very frequently discussed and performed these dynamics), or can't correctly label articulations and other symbols found throughout their music, or even be able to name notes on a staff or write rhythm counts accurately, even though it was part of our classroom routine.

My solution for next year is to assign worksheets more regularly as homework so that I can catch these students early and help them figure out what they need to know, but in almost 15 years of teaching band, I've never given out worksheets. So, I'm asking here if anyone has advice (or wants to advise against this idea) on how to make homework meaningful and not let it consume too much time for either myself or the students.

Back in 2008 I played an offstage trumpet part on Verdi's Requiem, but it was in college and we had plenty of rehearsals to nail the timing and position and all of those little details. This time I'm playing with a professional orchestra, and we only get two rehearsals in the performance hall, plus some of the other offstage parts are imports and will only get one rehearsal.

Do you have any tips for helping me make this a success? I am normally a sub and I've played multiple times with the orchestra this year, so at least I'm used to the hall, the section, and the conductor. I'll talk to the principle player too, but I wanted to ask the community here first so I don't go in looking like a complete greenhorn.

One of the things I do when I'm handing out music is decide who gets to play what percussion part. I'm not a percussionist, but I always imagined that getting stuck with Bass Drum or Triangle or Suspended Cymbal ("boring" aux parts) on every song would make me want to quit band. I'd jump at the chance to play the snare or a complex aux part, but I don't want to hog it on every song.

As the director, I try to pass the parts around, give everyone a chance to play snare drum or something similar, and avoid having one person play the same instrument too many times on one concert. Sometimes that means doubling the snare part to allow a weaker player to try it without risking the success of the whole group. But sometimes I don't have a way to let everybody do it, and now it's the week of the concert and I'm realizing one kid is playing bass drum on 3 out of 4 songs, another is playing nothing but triangle and bass drum, and I wonder if anyone else has the same issues?

Am I overreacting? Do some percussionists not mind playing bass drum all the time? Is there a better way to hand out parts? Edit: I teach 5th-12th band in a small school, only one HS group, no marching band.