Month: October 2018

As a composer, I am often asked how to interpret one of my pieces and to give specifics on different aspects of it.  This can range from as general as tempo to more specific things like phrasing or what exactly I had in mind with a specific marking. I appreciate that these questions come from…

A colleague of mine once asked, “Do our bands start sounding bad right before a contest or did we finally start listening?”  The earlier we start to really listen, the better our marching bands will be. As with concert band, jazz band and chamber ensembles, it takes daily cultivation and development over a long period…

Any of us who have spent time in the classroom know that at some point a student will come up to you and want you to look at a piece that they wrote. If you are not yourself a composer/arranger don’t sweat it, there are things you can do that will help to cultivate a…