Discussion Questions for "The Storm," Ep. 6 "Questions About Suffering" (City on a Hill Productions)

The Storm, City on a Hill Productions, featuring Kyle Idleman

Here are some discussion questions that can accompany The Storm, Episode 6, "Questions About Suffering."

1. What one or two things stood out to you about this video?

2. When has suffering or pain caused you to question the goodness of God? What about the existence of God?

3. Why is it hard for us to understand that God often does not intervene in the laws of nature?

4. What is a good response to those who raise questions about God not being powerful enough to counterbalance (or prevent) suffering, or who think He is indifferent? What do you say to people who think that God causes suffering?

5. What comfort can we take from Job's question of God, "Why me?" (Job 38:12-21) 

6. Reassurance for those who are suffering: "You are not alone," "I know how you feel," "God knows how you feel," "Pain has purpose," and "The pain will soon be over."   

7. What is the greatest comfort to those who are suffering? What is our response to those around us when they experience suffering?"

8. What questions about suffering do you still have?

Verses to keep in mind: 2 Corinthians 7:10, Romans 8:28-29, 2 Samuel 12:16-20, 1 Corinthians 2:9, Revelation 21:3-4.

Next week: Episode 7: Questions About Prayer

Discussion Questions for "The Storm, Ep. 5 "Questions About Jesus (Part 2)" (City on a Hill Productions)

The Storm, City on a Hill Productions, featuring Kyle Idleman

Here are some discussion questions that can accompany The Storm, Episode 5, "Questions About Jesus (Part 2)."

1. At any point in your life have you wrestled with Jesus' statement from John 14:6 ("I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to Father except through me.")?

2. Did you ever believe that there were "many ways to God?" What would you say to someone who claimed this?

3. Did you ever find yourself facing the "Wrong Way" sign? When did you know that you were on the "One Way" sign?

4. Why are Jesus' claims not arrogant, but authoritative?

5. Read Ephesians 2:8-9. Now read James 2:14-17 and verse 26. Why do we feel as we must do something of our own accord and will to gain our salvation?

6. Read Acts 2:27-38, then 8:35-38. What are we supposed to do if we want to become a Christian? Is baptizing "doing?" (Luke 23:39-43)

7. What did you think about Kyle's analogy about being invited to a party at the White House? Have you ever thought about finding a different way to "get to God?" Why is it acceptable that there only be one way (or road) to God?

8. What questions about Jesus do you still have?


Next week: Episode 6: Questions About Jesus, Part 2

Discussion Questions for "The Storm, Ep. 4 "Questions About Jesus (Part 1)" (City on a Hill Productions)

The Storm, City on a Hill Productions, featuring Kyle Idleman

Here are some discussion questions that can accompany The Storm, Episode 4, "Questions About Jesus (Part 1)."

1. What one or two things about this video stood out to you?

2. How do the historical accounts of the deaths of the Apostles strengthen the argument that Jesus was the one true Messiah?

3. How does the extremely violent nature in which Christ died strengthen the argument that Jesus was the one true Messiah?

4. Who did you think Jesus was before you came to accept him as Lord: Liar, Lunatic or Legend? 

5. What would you say to someone who sees Jesus as Liar, Lunatic or Legend? What scriptures and facts might you point them to?

6. Have you ever thought about the "swoon theory" or "wrong tomb theory" before? What about the "stolen body" theory? What would you say to someone who thinks one of these is correct?

7. Have you struggled with any of the other aspects of Jesus' historicity? What doubts have you had when accepting Jesus as who He said He was?

8. What questions about Jesus do you still have?


Next week: Episode 5: Questions About the Jesus, Part 2

Discussion Questions for "The Storm, Ep. 3 "Questions About the Bible" (City on a Hill Productions)

The Storm, by City on a Hill Productions, featuring Kyle Idleman

Here are some discussion questions that can accompany The Storm, Episode 3, "Questions About Bible."

1. What one or two things about this video stood out to you?

2. Have you ever questioned the authority of the Bible? Was there a certain part that you grappled with?

3. Why does the authenticity or historicity of the Bible matter?

4. Why is it important that all scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit? (2 Tim. 3:16)

5. How does the evidence of the Bible changing people's lives add weight to its legitimacy?

6. Why is it important for Christians to read their bibles regularly/daily and systematically?

7. Why do you think some people would rather read books about the Bible, rather than the Bible itself?

8. What questions about the Bible do you still have?

Next week: Episode 4: Questions About the Jesus, Part 1

Discussion Questions for "The Storm, Ep. 2: "Questions About Creation" (City on a Hill Productions)

The Storm, by City on a Hill Productions, featuring Kyle Idleman

Here are some discussion questions that can accompany The Storm, Episode 2, "Questions About Creation."

1. What one or two things about this video stood out to you?

2. How has the debate between Creationism and Evolution challenged or strengthened your personal faith in God?

3. Why is it important that Christians hold steadfast to the Bible's account of Creation?

4. What are some things you might say to a diehard Evolutionist to defend Creationism?

5. What has been the greatest indication of Creation you have personally witnessed?

6. Are there are any arguments made by Evolutionists that you struggle with? What are they?

7. C.S. Lewis famously argued in his book Mere Christianity that "conscience reveals to us a moral law whose source cannot be found in the natural world, thus pointing to a supernatural Lawgiver." How does the presence of a common moral code strengthen the Creationist's case?

8. What questions about Creation do you still have?

Next week: Episode 3: Questions About the Bible

The Beginning Percussion Balancing Act

In this blog post, I have recreated several emails I have received over the years that are essentially asking for advice for the same problem: beginner percussionists often only want to drum and are uninterested in playing keyboard instruments.


          Help! I'm having trouble getting my beginner percussionists to enjoy playing mallets whatsoever. They only want to play on their practice pads. They complain every day when we get out the bell kits. I have found it impossible to keep them engaged or interested without complaining.

          I've tried a number of things on bells to help increase the "fun factor." We play easy tunes and work on simple scale patterns and arpeggios. Even though they are more engaged, they still tell me they'd rather not play keyboard and would rather just "hit stuff."

          I refuse to lower my standards for them, and I've started testing them over bells more, but that doesn't even work. It's just making all of us frustrated!

          -- Ticked off in Texas



Everyone who has taught Beginning Percussion has had this problem, and it's one that we will probably face regularly throughout our careers. Having some solid strategies in the classroom certainly makes a big difference, but so does selecting the right student for Beginning Percussion. That, however, warrants its own separate blog post.

One thing I've seen advised is to start your percussion class on keyboard and only once the class has reached a certain baseline of ability do you move on to snare pad. In theory, this takes students at the beginning of the year when they are most excited about playing and puts their focus on something they might normally dread. I can see where this might work for some educators, but when I tried it, it was a colossal failure and I felt like I spent the rest of the year trying to salvage that class.

Here's why: the fundamentals of snare drum carry over in so many ways to keyboard playing (grip, stroke, principals of rebound even though it's minimal). When you target keyboards first, you have to address all of those fundamentals, but you also have to do all of the theory work that is necessary for them to be able to get started. For even the above average middle school student it can be completely overwhelming.

Consider what it's like to start a wind student: you have to work on putting the instrument together, breathing, forming an embochure and getting a good sound. You have more time to gradually introduce theory concepts along the way. By contrast, percussionists are ready to go, right away and don't struggle with getting a good sound -- just a good grip and stroke.

The most successful classes I've taught have followed this format: the first 6 weeks of school are spent on snare pad only. In the 7th week, we do a week of keyboard only to help introduce the instrument and form a foundation of simple playing. Then in the 8th week and beyond, we start each day on keyboard and after half of our time has elapsed, we switch to snare pad.

The reason this has seemed to work so well is that in addition to creating a solid set of physical fundamentals, students have also learned a good deal of rhythmic vocabulary and basic, non-pitched theory along the way. Then when you introduce the keyboards, they are only having to learn where the notes are on the staff and on the keyboard. While that can still be an uphill trek, it's a far lower grade of learning curve. As a bonus, we also know that the best percussion method books start with only a few notes to learn on keyboard, so students are still "starting small" when they are introduced to keyboard.

It's worth mentioning that during the first 6 weeks of school, even while we are working only on snare pad, I try to "hype" keyboard instruments as much as possible. You can show your students some videos of some DCI front ensembles or maybe some jazz vibraphone. I've shown kids high-end stuff like "Velocities" before and they've watched in wonderment (of course, so do I!). Also, if there's an opportunity to bring up keyboard playing I'll mention how cool it is and how much fun they are going to have doing it. Yes, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy!

My final thought is this: I would caution you to not approach keyboard playing as a gateway back to snare drum. Playing keyboards well should be the goal, not just passing it off, so you can do something different. Think about piano class in college. No one wanted to be there, they just wanted to pass it off and get on with their lives. When kids see something as just a barrier to get to something else, they won't enjoy the barrier. Keyboard playing is not a barrier, it's a joy and a wonderful part of being a percussionist. Playing music is always the goal. Getting through keyboards just so you can play snare again is a cue to your students that you don't value keyboard playing, either.

Those might be stern words, but we need to remember that our students will take on our attitude about playing percussion. If our attitude is to truly embrace percussion as a whole, we need to make sure that our words and actions follow that belief. Our enthusiasm for keyboard playing should be infectious!

Discussion Questions for "The Storm, Ep. 1: "Questions About God" (City on a Hill Productions)

The Storm, by City on a Hill Productions, featuring Kyle Idleman

Here are some discussion questions that can accompany the first episode of The Storm, Episode 1, "Questions About God."

1. What one or two things from this video stood out to you?

2. How has what you've learned in the Bible changed your view and understanding of God?

3. In Psalm 19:1-4, scripture tells us that God has revealed himself through nature. How have you felt God's presence and witnessed His design in nature?

4. While God has revealed himself in His scripture and in nature, we still have difficulty fully grasping His entirety. How does not knowing His entirety discourage us? How can not knowing God's entirety be an encouragement?

5. Let's talk about Free Will. On the extremes are Causation and Open-Theism. Causation states that every thing that can possibly be chosen is fully ordained by God -- that we effectively have no Free Will. Open-Theism says that God created the world, set everything into motion and is now powerless to control any of it. Which side do you think you are closer to? Why?

6. When have you felt strongly about needing to know God's Will in a decision you had to make? How did you come to the point at which you could make the decision?

7. How does knowing more about the revealed nature of God help us shift our attention away from ourselves and begin to focus more on Him?

8. What questions about God do you still have?

Oboe & Percussion Duo Recital Performance this August in Tokyo!

My father, Richard Rath, and I have a background of performing together. He is an oboist, but started on alto saxophone and then eventually learned to double professionally on all of the woodwind instruments. He is one of those guys who has so much talent that honestly, it can be pretty sickening.

As I neared the end of my college days, we looked for some duets that we might be able to perform on my Junior and Senior recitals. We found a few really good ones and later, when we wanted another excuse to perform together, I wrote one for us.

As a charter member of the International Double Reed Society, my father has been fairly involved at previous conventions, as a lecturer and attender. But, about two years ago he approached me about performing a duo recital at the 2015 convention being held in Tokyo, Japan. My reaction was reminiscent of my teenage days when I tended to be somewhat dismissive towards my parents: "Yeah sure. Whatever you want to do, Dad." (I always was a little bit of a people-pleaser.)

Steadily over the course of the next couple of years, we sifted through an enormous amount of literature for Oboe and any number of Percussion instruments. I was rather shocked at just how much music there is that I had never heard of by wonderful composers whose names I was not yet familiar with. This past December, we had to nail down a few of those pieces and submit them along with our proposal. Dad sent off the proposal and waited anxiously. I completely forgot about it.

At the beginning of this past March, he forwarded me the acceptance email he had received. Startled, I called him immediately only to find him as cool as a cucumber, speaking nonchalantly about performing in Japan. You know. No big deal.

No big deal? Yes: BIG DEAL.

Once I realized we were good to go, I had to ask for special permission to miss the week before school starts. The convention is August from the 15th-21st. For more info, the convention's website is idrs2015.org/

So, we are making preparations left and right to get travel and accommodations nailed down as well as obtain all of the music we'll be performing and start to work out those details. It's all very exciting and not only is the performance going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but this will be the first time I will have traveled off the continent!

More news to follow! Stay tuned!

I'll be making some updates through my Go Fund Me page and if you are even slightly interested in supporting our performance in Japan, you can go to GoFundMe.com



 

Oracle Errata Explained

Since my concert band piece Oracle was written and premiered in late 2010, it has come to my attention that there are several errata present between the Score and the Parts.

The short story is that the score has never been in question, has always appeared to be correct and free from errata. This should help the situation as there shouldn’t be any concern about the score a judge is given having incorrect parts.

The long(er) story is that Oracle was written for two premieres: one at Midwest in 2010 and the other for TMEA 2011 a few months later. The piece was commissioned by Andy Sealy and the Hebron High School Wind Symphony (Carrolton, TX).

There was a rehearsal in Chicago the night before the first premiere. While waiting to get into the rehearsal room, I had a conversation about the piece with Andy and guest conductor, Tom Bennett. They felt that the piece worked well and that the percussion was appropriately difficult for the occasion. The suggestion was made, however, that the percussion parts, while being performed flawlessly by the Hebron Percussion section, were probably “overly” difficult for what you would expect to accompany the level of difficulty of the wind parts. This caused me to do some “watering down” of those parts for the TMEA performance and for the official published edition.

There was also another spot in particular where the balance of the writing didn’t quite work and it seemed that that spot was “overwritten.” Where an ascending octatonic scale is clearly the focus of the piece, the brass were scored in too high of a tessitura to allow the balance to work in the woodwind’s favor. (It’s in measures 55-60, then similarly at 180).

After the performance at Midwest, I made some tweaks to change the orchestration to help the balance. This proved to be a marked improvement over the original edition. The percussion part’s difficulty were also reduced and this made for a little less jumbled score.

The catch was that the publisher, TRN Music, had worked diligently to ensure that the piece would be available at their booth at Midwest. Then I made a number of changes after they had printed the piece and made it available. Somewhere along the way, when I sent the corrected parts not all were included. This is how there have been some errata along the way. (Again, all of the scores I’ve seen have been correct and provide the definitive version of the piece.)

Lately, TRN and I have been working to make sure that what is printed in the next run of Oracle will be 100% accurate.

In the meantime, please feel free to email me at ericrathmusic (at) gmail (dot) com for updated parts or for any questions you may have.

www.ericrathmusic.com

Link directly to Oracle (JW Pepper)

When did you know?

When did you know?

With the new year comes time for pause, reflection and evaluation. What have I accomplished and what would I like to accomplish? It has motivated me to be a better father and husband. A better teacher. It has motivated me to spend more time reading and in reflection and prayer.

And, it has made me think about the time I knew that music would be my "it" thing.

Recently, I asked this question on my Facebook page. I loved some of the responses:

"After I taught my first private lesson."

"When I asked myself if I could live without playing my instrument."

"When I student taught."

One response even cited the importance of one pivotal teacher in that person's life. That's powerful affirmation to those of us who teach music!

For me (and for many others who responded), it was when I was in middle school and we had a speaker come discuss career choices with us. The experience is pretty well burned into my mind: it was in our science classroom at Nimitz JH in Tulsa, OK. The speaker was a local professional who was tasked with speaking objectively about what possible careers we could endeavor in.

At the end, we were allowed to ask questions. One of my classmates asked "What's the best job? Doctor or lawyer?" Yes, we all had wanted to know the answer to that question! In fact, it had been our lunchtime debate when we knew that that day was "career day."

His response literally changed my life: "The best job is the one that doesn't seem like work. If you can find that one thing that you love to do more than anything else and figure out how to get paid for it, you'll never feel like you're even working."

I know for a fact that his answer disappointed several of my friends. They really wanted him to settle that bet between doctors and lawyers! But for me, it was that watershed moment when I knew that music would always be a part of my DNA.

What I spoke in my mind is still vividly planted there: "I love Band. I love hanging out in the Band Hall. I should probably just find a way to do Band for the rest of my life because I love it so much." From that point on, I knew that I would go to school for a Music Ed degree, become a Band Director, teach and yes, hang out a LOT in the Band Hall.

Of course, my life's trajectory has included performing, composing & arranging, conducting and involvement in music well beyond just Band. But the essence of my career existence still can be traced back to that moment in middle school, when that socially-awkward 7th grader realized that everything I'd ever want to do with my life would be based around Music.

In fact it sounds so good, I think I'll go hang out at the Band Hall today.

Kid-Safe iMessage & FaceTime

This Christmas, our oldest two kiddos got refurbished iPod Touches. They were excited with all of the normal uses for an iPod Touch: games/apps, music, taking pictures/videos. But they realized pretty quick that they wanted to iMessage and FaceTime.

Truthfully, I was hesitant to even allow these functions on their phone, but given the few family members that we are going to make available to them, I think we can monitor it pretty efficiently.

There was a pretty big hurdle in getting it set up though, as it was my desire to have everyone's iDevices (including our iPhones, iPad, MacBook and iMac) on the same Apple ID. Maybe that makes me a control freak, but I wanted to be responsible for all purchases and uses of the ID.

There's surprisingly little info on the internet showing how to accomplish this, so I'm blogging the steps I took to get it to work:

1. Create an email address for your child. Go ahead and store the password info in a new contact on your iDevice. You'll forget it. Don't ask me how I know...

2. Go into your child's device in Settings>General>Restrictions to be sure that FaceTime is allowed. (You should definitely spend some time working through the other Restrictions to ensure kid-safe content.)

3. Still under Settings, go to Messages>Send & Receive (it will display all email accounts associated with your Apple ID). At this point, you'll need to add your child's email address (Add Another Email...). It will ask for your Apple ID Password. Then your child's email address will be emailed by Apple to verify that the email address is legitimate for your Apple ID. 

4. At this point, your child's email address will come up as an option you can check for iMessage to be reached by. Uncheck all but your child's email addresses unless you want all of the iMessages to be duplicated on other devices.

5. In Settings, go into FaceTime and add the new child email there also. You shouldn't have to verify the address again, just list it.

6. At this point, you should be able make FaceTime calls and send iMessages (to other iDevice users). You can manage Contacts easily through FaceTime. 

I feel compelled to say something about safe use of these devices by kids: we take our kid's devices from them each evening and control when they are allowed to have them the next day. Of course, we snoop around on their devices to make sure everything looks respectable, too.

Good parents snoop, right?

Sight-Reading Contest Success and the Percussion Section

One of the most daunting aspects of getting your band ready for contest is preparing them for the Sight-Reading Room. With so much to consider -- from the actual music to your preferred procedure for how your band should approach the experience -- the percussion section can get lost in the mix. On a good day, the percussion may hardly even be noticed. On a bad day, the percussion section can be a real liability and can potentially create pitfalls that the rest of the band will fall treacherously fall into.

Fortunately this can be prevented when successful band programs actively apply the saying "plan your work and work your plan." This is no different when it comes to preparing your percussion section for success on the day of your contest.

Here are eight strategies that will make sure everyone knows their role, has a job to do and can reasonably understand what to expect when they set foot in the Sight-Reading room:

(Being from Texas, this is written from my experiences at UIL Sight-Reading Contest as a Band Director and as a Percussion Specialist. It can be expected, however, that many of these strategies will work in other Sight-Reading Contest formats.)

1. Make Percussion Assignments: Each year, the UIL Office publishes the percussion instrumentation needed for each level of Sight-Reading so you can be prepared for what parts/instruments are required. Take that list and go ahead and assign your percussion section to it. Don't wait until the contest is getting close or even the day of. As soon as the list is released, post the assignment chart for your students to see.

2. Assign Parts Based on Ability/Stability and Seniority: Generally, I stray away from viewing the snare drum as the most important percussion instrument and also from giving special preference to older players -- all percussion instruments are important and have their specific purpose and I've always considered someone's playing ability more important than their age, but this is the only case in which I fully embrace those views.

In most Sight-Reading pieces, the snare drum functions as the main/most active percussion instrument and should be played by your single most competent snare drummer. And when it comes to understanding how the Sight-Reading room works, your older players simply have more experience and are innately better prepared for what is going to be required of them.

The other standard percussion instruments are certainly important in the Sight-Reading room, but all too often, a tempo change, ritardando, accelarando or ending of the piece will hinge on your snare drummer being the catalyst and responding seemlesly with what you conduct.

3. Have a Plan for "Extra" Players: Often we will have more players in the section than is required in the sight-reading piece. Some directors prefer to double parts like the snare drum or one of the keyboard parts, but it has been my experience (from having hosted many band contests) that this can really open up a huge can of worms. When you double a part as crucial as the snare drum, you will inevitably get two interpretations of what you are conducting. What are your wind players supposed to do? Follow the student who is right with you or the one who is louder, gets nervous and begins to rush? It's too much to chance. Trust your assignments and trust your students to perform well.

So, what should you do with extra players? Everyone should have a job, so you can take additional players and make them "assistants" and "equipment managers." "Assistants" silently help students count rests or point out important functions of the music like accidentals or tempo or dynamic changes. "Equipment Managers" are those students who can contribute by making sure equipment is carried from the stage to the Sight-Reading room and can also be in charge of sticks, mallets, accessories or anything else you can foresee. Regardless of a student's role, be sure that everyone is fully engaged in the process -- especially during any judge's instructions or conductor's explanation periods.

No one needs to sit down, and everyone needs to have as professional demeanor as possible.

With all of that about assignments being said, this is what your assignment chart might look like:

Snare Drum: John (single best player, most reliable, straight-A student)
Bells: George (best keyboard player, doesn't miss the key, etc.)
Timpani: Ringo (a strong snare drummer, but might be a younger student)
Crash Cymbals: Paul (not the strongest player, but won't cave if there are exposed crashes)
Bass Drum: Eddie (keeps a solid pulse and will follow the snare drummer's lead)
Triangle: Mary (greater counter, and takes the instrument seriously)
Esther: Assist John (younger student)
Tabitha: Assist George (younger student)
Rufus: Equipment Manager (potential eligibility risk?)

4. Use Your Percussion Assignments in Rehearsal: Each time you sight-read in class, be sure that your percussionists are playing their assigned part. There is something to be said for rotating parts in other situations, but the routine of each student playing the same part in sight-reading practice and in the Sight-Reading Room will help to bolster their confidence on the day of contest and helps students to be best prepared for the type of writing they can expect to see for that part.

There will be some differences in instrumentation from the old Sight-Reading pieces you use to practice with and the actual newly-written piece you'll see in the actual Sight-Reading room. In those cases, be sure to take an extra two minutes and "call an audible" so that your percussionists are playing as similar an instrument as possible. (If Jimmy usually plays tambourine, but there's only a triangle part, then that's the part Jimmy plays -- on tambourine. The same could be said for any number of keyboard instruments.)

Suppose there is an unusual instrument required for Sight-Reading one year (Spring 2013, Level One Maracas... I'm looking at YOU!). The best thing you could do is to have the unusual instrument play an unused instrument part. For instance, play the triangle part or double the tambourine part on maracas. If you are super concerned about the maraca part, have the maraca player play alternating 8th notes each time the snare drum is playing (they need to look off the snare drum part not just start playing whenever they hear snare drum!).

5. Use a Director to Tune Timpani: A director is allowed to tune the timpani, so unless you have a very mature student who can tune timpani correctly every time, you or an assistant director should be in charge of tuning.

6. Respond Quickly to Eligibility Problems: If any of your percussionists fails, update the percussion assignments immediately (which can also be said of your concert pieces as well). Make sure the students feel comfortable with their new assignments and make the ineligible player responsible for getting the new student caught up to speed.

7. Students should "Air Drum" but not with Sticks!: In the same way that you want your wind students to "pop" their fingers and move their slides during the explanation period, you want your percussionists to be physically involved in "air drumming" their parts. Tell your students to "air drum" their parts as realistically as possible but also in a way in which they cannot possibly make an accidental sound. If a student has sticks or mallets in their hands, they are likely to drop a stick or accidentally play their instrument and that can be disastrous.

Have your snare drummer "air drum" up high so you can look back and easily see if his hands are moving at the right time and even the right rhythms.

8. Think Like a Sight-Reading Judge: In most cases, the music that your percussionists play in the Sight-Reading room will be significantly easier than what they just performed on stage. Your students can be lulled into a sense of boredom if they're not careful. But, if you and they think like a Sight-Reading Judge does, they will be more alert.

Most Sight-Reading Judges are not terribly concerned with the percussion section. They are generally looking to see if the band plays in the key signature well, with the correct rhythms and can demonstrate dynamics. In terms of the percussion section, the items that will be most on a judge's radar are things like tempo as set by the conductor and snare drummer, notes that are solos (a big crash or a triangle note on count '4' while everyone else is silent) and when the bells play, do they play in the key signature.

If you and your students are on the look out for those specific items, you are much more likely to perform them well. Be sure that you point them out to your students, too. You might have the percussion section from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra who need no instruction whatsoever, but it's important for the judges to hear you address those items specifically. (And let's face it, no matter how good your percussion section is, they still need to be "instructed" and involved in the explanation process because they are as important as the wind musicians in your ensemble.)

In closing, having a plan of action when preparing your percussion section for Sight-Reading is the single most important thing you could do to ensure their success. I've often said that I'd rather have a plan that had to be changed, than no plan at all. At the very least, putting even a preliminary plan in place will provide peace of mind for everyone involved.

Good luck!

Junior High Percussion Clinic

Originally Posted on April 5th, 2012

Last year, Ralph Hicks and I released a book through Tapspace Publications called “Beyond Basic Percussion.” The book contains 10 percussion ensembles for the percussion student who has finished their beginning percussion year. Each ensemble is geared to teach a certain concept to better familiarize the students with information that is important to know beyond simply being able to play snare drum and keyboard well.

Some of those concepts include: playing accessory percussion instruments, using a trap table, switching mallets or sticks, basic multi-percussion set-ups as well as ensembles for chromatic passages, 16th note syncopation/timing and even Latin Percussion.

One thing Ralph and I agreed on was that the information we put in the book would make a great TMEA clinic. So, in May of 2011, we applied to give a clinic at TMEA. Part of our proposal relied heavily on the performances of our students. A clinic with great information is one thing, but when you can see the lessons pragmatically applied, it often has a greater impact on the clinic attendee.

Our clinic was accepted. We were overjoyed to have the opportunity (not to mention terrified to put together something of the scope of such a clinic!). Planning began immediately as we spread the news to our students and notified industry sponsors who we hoped would be willing to provide equipment for the clinic.

Ralph and I tried as much as possible to stay conscious of not letting the clinic be a “bait and switch” sort of ordeal where the clinic was touted as a way to learn a number of these concepts, but upon arriving, having a product beaten over your head in hopes that you’ll buy it. We’d both been to such clinics and were incredibly disappointed to have wasted our time on an hour-long commercial. 

This awareness effected a lot of the way we approached the clinic. Yes, I’ll be the first to admit: we were hoping that people would buy our book having seen the information in action. But more importantly, we were hoping that people would learn a lot from the clinic and be inspired that these concepts could be taught in their band halls back home.

We not only set out to cover a number of the topics that we engaged in in the book, but also added some additional teaching/playing strategies. From the book we focused in on the topics that we thought would have the most immediate impression on the average convention-goer: the importance of playing accessory percussion well, the use of a trap table and navigating a multiple percussion part. For material that was not a part of the book, we discussed utilizing student’s band warm-up time either being able to do “five minute drills” on snare drum or keyboard in a separate room, or having your percussion section be a part of the band warm-up using various parts that are “retro-fitted” to the existing band warm-up. For each segment throughout the clinic, we used students to demonstrate.

We capped off the performance with something that we thought would just be fun: a performance of my percussion ensemble Clave and Sons. Clave and Sons is a latin percussion primer intended to not only teach students about all of the different latin percussion instruments, their rhythms and their techniques, but also to put it all together to form an authentic latin piece. The students really had a blast with it and it turned out to be the perfect way to finish out the clinic!

In the future, I’ll be writing about this clinic from the student’s perspective and what it took for them to get ready for that day!

In the meantime, if you’re interested, the clinic is on YouTube in seven parts. The link to the first part is below.

http://youtu.be/-NHeEJG51jU

Parenting, A Sports Analogy

Originally Posted on March 5th, 2012

So, I’m big on sport’s analogies. I find that basketball and football make for the best ones and I’m almost always able to find a better way to describe something to my band through a good one. 

Some friends of ours at our church had their third child in the fall. We also have three children, so this came up in conversation one day.

“Is having three children all that different from having two?”

My response was, “Well the way I see it, parenting is like playing defense. When you have one child, the parents can double-team the child. When you have two children, you move to a man-to-man defense. And when you have three, you’re outnumbered, so you have to do your best zone defense.”

Then I remembered the scenario in hockey where you can actually have a team member in the penalty box while the rest of your team is down a man. That’s what having three children seems like. Only, who’s in the penalty box? And what did they do?

To my friends with three or more children, here’s to hoping you have a solid bluff and a killer zone defense!

Buying Brand Names vs. Store Brand

Originally Posted on September 10, 2011

Ready for a completely unscientific and thoroughly opinionated post? Great!

So, I had a friend in college who upon moving in with a new roommate, complained about her new roommate’s shopping habits:

“We spent so much money today! She doesn’t buy a single thing in the store brand version!”

Point well taken. If you buy only name brands, are you going to break the bank? She seemed to think so. Plus, it wasn’t exactly a good first step towards building that oh-so-important roommate bond. (Now, I think they turned out fine, but there may have been a serious “talking-to” about how not every purchase needs to be brand name.)

I realize that you didn’t really ask for this, but won’t this be kinda fun? Yes, most definitely! That’s the spirit!

Here’s a list of items I regularly purchase and whether I buy strictly “store brand” (SB) or “brand name” (BN).

Sunglasses - store brand (I lose sunglasses, don’t think I look cool in them and am generally hard on them. So, why pay top dollar for something I’m going to sit on anyways!?)

Sunscreen - brand name (Have you seen how light complected I am? We do NOT mess around with sunburns people!)

Cereal - SB (Avast ye Marshmallow Maties!)

Soda/Pop/Cokes - BN (Diet Dr. Thunder? Not so much...)

Canned Fruits/Veggies - SB

Ketchup/Mustard - SB

Barbeque Sauce - BN (and only Head Country is acceptable.)

Over-the-counter-drugs/Vitamins - SB (in most cases, it is literally the SAME product and you are only paying for the “claritin” -type name.)

Eggs/Milk/Bread - SB

Napkins/Paper Towels - SB (unless the BN version’s price is pretty close.)

Toilet Paper - BN (The more dogs/clouds/babies/cherubs on the packaging, the better.)

Ice Cream - BN (Pretty much only Blue Bell, at that.)

Honey - SB

Salsa - Local BN (the stuff made in your backyard is the best! Or the stuff I make when I get the motivation about every three years...)

Coffee - BN 

Coffee Filters - SB

Cookies/Pastries/Cakes - out of the store’s own bakery

Deodorant/Toothpaste/Razors - BN (I think the advertising is working here...)

Aluminum Foil - BN (I will NOT make that mistake again!)

And...

Printer Paper - SB (But who prints anything out anymore???)

Summer's Over... Fire Up the Band!

Originally Posted on August 12, 2011

Well, it kinda felt like it came out of nowhere... August! I was so busy writing this summer, that even though I was aware of what day it was, it just felt like summer flew by. 

We’ve been working through our summer band and it has been going well. Each year I try to think about the sacrifice our students are making to be at summer band. It’s still their summer and yet they give a piece of it up every day so they can come to school a few weeks early. It’s truly remarkable. 

The toughest part of our summer band schedule is that everything is at night. I’m used to being home at night and being able to play with the kids. It’s just a weird flip-flop to see them in the morning for a while, then not again until the next day. (Well, Kayla has been bringing them to the band hall for dinner, so that’s saying something!)

While I like how much we get to focus on band and only band, I am ready for school to start. Mainly, I think I’m ready to settle into a routine and get to work with a new crop of beginners. Man, isn’t teaching beginners great?! 

There are a few other possible things coming down the pipeline that I don’t want to jinx, so I’ll just say that if they happen, you’ll surely hear about them here.

It was an otherwise quiet summer. 

Now, when can we expect cooler weather???

Summer!

Originally Posted on July 29th, 2011

Well, it’s been quite a summer! As you can see, our kids are growing up!

Here are some of the highlights, without going into too much detail:

My first year at Panhandle HS concluded! 

My private percussion students and I gave a recital at Amarillo College in May.

We took our HS Band Trip to Southern California! It was a BLAST!

Our family was officially “homeless” while we waited to close on our new house (don’t worry, we stayed with Kayla’s parents!).

We moved to Panhandle! (I am so class to the band hall that I plan on walking or riding my bike to school.)

We took a family trip to Breckenridge, CO. (Just in time for record highs in the Panhandle of Texas. It was only 70 degrees there. That family trip will probably be it’s own blog post. It totally kicked butt!)

I wrote marching band music like a mad man! (Over the last few months, I wrote 8 shows! Man, I’m kinda tired...)

Our kids attended our church’s Vacation Bible School Program. Kayla was a volunteer and they all had a great time.

I played in a 4th of July Concert with the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra. It was a lot of snare drum. A lot.

Our youngest, McKinley, had to spend a couple of days in the hospital because she wasn’t getting over her Strep fast enough. I don’t think she enjoyed it one bit, but she’s great now and is starting to walk!

I taught at WTAMU Band Camp for two weeks!

I rode my bike for the first time in about 7 years! (Fortunately, it was like, um, riding a bike.)

Then, instead of going to TBA (Texas Bandmaster’s Association Convention), I stayed home to write. Did I mention that I kept really busy writing all summer???

That’s it for now. Now that I’m not commuting from Amarillo to Panhandle, I hope to have more time to blog. (Empty promises.... Ready... Go!)

Thoughts on "The Shack" Part 2

Originally Posted on April 24th, 2011

Heresy?

That seemed a bit strong for this particular book. Unfortunately, that word appears to get thrown around too often and I wonder if that cheapens its usage and in doing so, means that we lose the impact and true definition of the word.

So, is it Heresy? 

In my opinion, it is not.

I will say that there were some things that bothered me about the book. In “The Shack,” the author paints a picture of the Holy Trinity as three separate individuals: God, the Father is an overweight black woman who is awkwardly referred to as ‘Papa.’ The mental image I kept getting was of the “Oracle” from “The Matrix” Trilogy of movies. She cooks and is whimsical and is probably modeled after a strong southern woman who’s lived a long life and is a bit tired. 

Jesus, is well, Jesus. But in this regard, he’s described as a sort of Arab auto mechanic. He’s good with tools. He’s a nuts and bolts sort of guy. He’s a carpenter (go figure). He comes across as very human. I actually didn’t have much of a problem with His portrayal. (It also wasn’t much of a stretch...)

The Holy Spirit is ‘Sarayu’ who is almost an apparition in the way She is described as moving about. Truthfully, She comes across as a sort of ditsy type of japanese anime character. Like if Bjork was a Pokemon character. 

Now, I understand that the author had to make these Parts “writable,” but I think that’s where a fatal flaw occurs. In making them “writable,” the author created them in his image. They aren’t all that biblically based and I fear that that will give an unstudied person the wrong idea about the nature of God. 

Plus, the biggest concern I have about these “human” figures is that they don’t behave the way you might expect God to behave. For instance, the most troubling aspect of all of this is that God is not most interested in His Holiness and His Glory. Rather, the story is far too man-centered to be fully credible. ‘Papa’ admits to “not intervening” or watching human events unfold as if He is powerless to effect them. This, to me, is a dangerous view of God’s sovereignty. The God of the bible is all-knowing and all-powerful and is not relegated to merely setting events into motion and crossing His fingers that they play out the way He wants.

Like watching someone spinning plates. (Cue Sabre Dance)

The other thing that I thought was troublesome was the notion the book flirts with that there is no punishment in a real place called Hell. Eternal punishment is never really “locked down” within discussions in the book. The best line that illustrates this is, “Sin is its own punishment.”

Really?

But, the thing that really jumped out at me was the absolute and complete lack of an scripture reference anywhere in the book. Now, I realize that it’s a work of fiction and that the author may have had his own ideas about whether to include a lot of scripture, but the absolute lack of it is appalling. 

Never once does any of the characters refer to scripture in a way that would further prove their point. Wouldn’t it have made sense and been impactful if one of the characters had used scripture to further illustrate? “Isn’t it written in [a particular book, chapter and verse] that it would be this way?” Or “I said in [book, chapter and verse] that this is the way such-and-such is. I wanted you to know that, which is why it’s in my Holy Book.”

But nothing of the sort. 

So while there are some very nice moments within the book, I don’t think I would recommend it as something worth your time. Keep in mind that I’m not saying “don’t read it.” If you want to read it, go right ahead. I’d be curious to know what your take on the book is, but I just don’t think it’s something you have to read. If you skip it, I don’t think you’re skipping much. 

Overall, it’s a good concept but it’s executed poorly and it leaves enough wiggle room that the reader without a strong bible background may be easily confused or mis-guided. I wouldn’t necessarily say that I have a strong bible background, but my background was strong enough to see the apparent inconsistencies between “The Shack” and God’s inerrant Word.