Minute Clinic

Larry’s Top 10 Arranging Tips

By Larry Clark / February 6, 2019 / Comments Off on Larry’s Top 10 Arranging Tips

Whether you want to learn how to arrange for your ensemble or just want to improve your arranging skills, here are my top 10 arranging tips and tricks arranging. Of course, these can and should be considered when composing your own music as well.  All good arranging, in my opinion, is based upon the overtone…

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How Do You Select Quality Music?

By Larry Clark / January 16, 2019 / Comments Off on How Do You Select Quality Music?

The beauty of music is that there is something for everyone. What one person thinks is the greatest piece ever written could be the most annoying piece for someone else. As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that axiom is never more apparent than in the selection of literature for…

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Selecting Beginning Band Literature: Programming Music from A Beginner’s Point of View

By Chris Ferguson / November 21, 2018 / Comments Off on Selecting Beginning Band Literature: Programming Music from A Beginner’s Point of View

It’s the end of the year. I ask my beginners which piece was their favorite. I hope they name the piece that was the most challenging. I expect them to name the “Pops” piece or the piece that was “fast and loud”. Instead, many choose one of the easier pieces from earlier in the year. I am surprised and ask, “why?” Their responses…

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No questions, please: How to manage student expectations five minutes before rehearsal

By Peter Sciaino / November 14, 2018 / Comments Off on No questions, please: How to manage student expectations five minutes before rehearsal

I don’t need to write about the importance of every minute of rehearsal time. You know this. The fact that you are reading this post suggests that you are well past that stage in developing outstanding educational practices. However, if you regularly find yourself starting rehearsal with a French horn in your hands that needs…

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Interpretation from a Composer’s Perspective

By Larry Clark / October 17, 2018 / Comments Off on Interpretation from a Composer’s Perspective

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…

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Simple Steps to Cultivate Your Best Marching Band Sound

By Jon Bubbett / October 10, 2018 / Comments Off on Simple Steps to Cultivate Your Best Marching Band Sound

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…

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Cultivating Composers within your Ensembles

By Tyler Arcari / October 3, 2018 / Comments Off on Cultivating Composers within your Ensembles

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…

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Breathing Clinic

By Jon Bubbett / September 25, 2018 / Comments Off on Breathing Clinic

Have you worked on breathing lately? While it may sound simple, there’s nothing better than breathing exercises to help get your band ready for action. The following are some teaching concepts you can use to teach dynamics and concepts of crescendos and decrescendos. All exercises are to be done by blowing air through the instrument…

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Coming to Terms with Success

By Tyler Arcari / September 18, 2018 / Comments Off on Coming to Terms with Success

At some point in our lives most of us have pondered what makes us successful. Some people consider lavish lifestyles, big paychecks, large families, and/or important careers successful. However, if you want to be good at something you have to come to terms with a few things: 1: You can’t ever be “good enough”. The…

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Music Writing: Getting Started

By Carl Strommen / September 12, 2018 / Comments Off on Music Writing: Getting Started

You have a passion for music and an interest in the industry. You want to write music professionally…but how?  Take it from a seasoned professional, it takes time, knowledge, and hustle, but it is possible. Avenues are plentiful for writing music: film scoring, pre-recorded music for media, music libraries, and many more, but before you…

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An Eye for the Detail

By Chris Thompson

Rehearsing the ensemble, or smaller groups within the ensemble, can serve many ends. The…

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