Secondary VP’s Message Continued
If something isn’t coming together in your rehearsal, go back to see if there is something you missed teaching thoroughly in the fundamentals.
Sometimes we need to take a step back and see where our missing puzzle piece lies. Striving for musical independence and literacy is the end goal. Teaching the fundamentals diligently will help get us there. Once our fundamentals are solid and festival/ concert season rolls around, we can focus on other aspects of our music that will help take us to the next level.
It’s one thing to talk about teaching fundamentals. It’s completely another to implement it. It’s the beginning of the school year. The time to implement fundamentals is now. To introduce one aspect of fundamentals, once, and never address them again, is a waste of time for everyone. Find engaging ways to review and repeat these things daily. It will pay dividends.
Going back to the basics and really working on fundamentals daily, has really helped my program be more successful. No matter what level of musician you are teaching, you can’t go
wrong with reviewing these things. When in doubt, follow the steps below. Step 1. “Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals.” And when you’ve done that…
Step 2. “Repeat, repeat, repeat.” Step 3. Repeat steps 1 and 2.
Cara Sommers teaches 6–12 band and 9–12 choir at Rocky Mountain Middle and High School in Cowley, where she is the President-Elect of the North Big Horn Basin Music District. She attended Casper College and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where she played in the UNLV Symphony Orchestra, and The Star of Nevada Marching Band. She began teaching middle school band at Rocky Mountain Middle School in Idaho Falls, Idaho. While in Idaho, she played in the Idaho Falls Symphony Orchestra, The Idaho Falls Community Band, and the Jazz House Big Band. She also made an album as a back up singer with country artist, Brian Morris, and performed radio jingles for local radio stations. During her time teaching at RMMHS, her groups have received superior and excellent ratings at festivals and her high school band has doubled in size.
Did you know . . . the best selling instrument in the world is . . . the harmonica?! Harmonica concert, anyone?
Marching Band Chair H Aric Hageman Marching Band Chair
ello everyone. As I am writing this article, all
the band directors are putting together the final touches on their band camp preparations; busses, equipment, anyone charge the speaker?...... Some are heading out of town and some are hosting their camp at their schools.
Either way, band directors hope to have a great jumpstart to the season and get as much accomplished as possible while having all students in attendance with minimal distractions. This might be the time when there is the largest percentage of the band in attendance.
When I was thinking about the theme of this article as it relates to marching band, I thought of all the obstacles that we have to bust through so that our students can be successful at State Marching Band Festival. Success will look different for all of you. It
Fall 2018 |
www.wyomea.org
could be the rating and how many captions your band receives or the growth that your program was able to achieve this season. Motivating students to do the best they can for themselves and their classmates should be in your daily routine.
As the marching band chair, I hope that we can continue to build a supportive and positive festival for our students that will strengthen our programs and build a strong sense of pride in our bands.
Good luck on your fall preparations and see you in Casper!!
Aric Hageman is the Guitar teacher at East and Central High Schools and McCormick Junior High in Cheyenne. Previously, Aric was the band director at Riverton High School and percussion instructor at Riverton Middle School for 12 years. He has been the Drumline Instructor for the Wyoming All State Marching Band for 5 tours. Those tours include the Thanksgiving Parades in Hawaii, the Macy’s Parade in New York, the Pasadena Rose Parade (twice) and the Philadelphia Thanksgiving Parade. Aric was the WMEA Band Vice President for four years and was honored as the Wyoming Bandmaster of the Year in 2011.
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