Audio Guides and the Value of Direct Input with NS Design Violins

 

As I begin to navigate the world of orchestra in a pandemic driven hybrid learning environment, I am developing some important strategies for keeping my students engaged and maintaining many of the values of the scholastic orchestra environment. I truly believe that it is our duty to keep and promote as many as possible, of the standard musical priorities we have always had in the orchestra classroom. Some of those values include: accurate rhythm, accurate intonation, intentional phrasing, bow placement, articulation, attacks and releases, the orchestra community, and many others. I learned quickly that the art of conducting is not super valuable when I have half of my class in person and the other half participating via Zoom with a significant delay. So, I have pivoted to selecting repertoire that is relatively metronomical and creating accompanying audio guides for use in rehearsal and the remote ensemble recording environment. 

These are recordings of all the string parts from the repertoire we are preparing with the addition of a click track or prominent metronome guide. I create these guides as part of my planning and use them to keep everyone playing together in rehearsal. Rather than conducting, I play my instrument and demonstrate freely throughout the rehearsal. As a result, I have needed to record string tracks quickly and cleanly in a very efficient way. I have found that the best way for me to do this is by using my NSDesign CR5 electric violin connected directly to my computer through a standard audio interface.  The 5-string violin through a direct input allows me to get a very clean signal with very little background noise, magnificent tone, extraordinarily stable tuning, and a consistent balanced audio recording product. The 5-string violin allows me to record viola parts without changing instruments or my finger spacing. I simply play cello parts an octave up and then lower the octave electronically after the fact. For the bass lines, I use a fretted NSDesign Radius bass. The frets provide nearly perfect intonation and help to guide a rhythmic performance with specific articulations. In other words, the bass guitar keeps things from getting tonally or rhythmically ambiguous.

For those of you that haven't recorded with a solid body electric violin in a direct input environment before, there are many benefits to this action. First, as I stated earlier, the NSDesign CR5 provides a smooth accurate tone quality. It truly sounds like an acoustic violin, even when there are no added effects. I can recording completely in headphones if I choose. Or, as I prefer, I can record though the sound of speakers, which I could not do if I was using a microphone and my acoustic instrument.  Second, during the recording process, a little bit of extraneous noise or talking will not bleed into the recording. This allows me to record at my home while other things are going on and even allows me to count rests out loud or shuffle about my studio during the recording process as necessary. I mentioned stable tuning earlier. One of the great benefits of the NSDesign electric bowed instruments is the proprietary tuning mechanism and the fact that once in tune, these instruments rarely slip or change open string intonation. This is a great benefit while recording. I check my tuning early in the recording session and can generally count on those open strings staying very stable for hours, if not days! And, when creating audio guides, we really do want the intonation to be very consistent.

What equipment do I need to make this happen? It is all pretty simple. I have the CR5 electric violin, a quarter inch phone plug connecting it to an audio interface. I use a Protools system with the Digi 003 interface. But, at school I frequently use the Lexicon Omega Studio interface system which is no longer produced. In the end, there are many audio interfaces available which are relatively inexpensive.  All you need is a mono, quarter inch input which connects to your computer by USB.  Today, most of these systems are pretty intuitive and your digital audio workstation software will find the hardware automatically.

While I use Avid Protools as my digital audio workstation, this works just as well with Garage Band on Mac and with Audacity, the free open source DAW used by millions. The CR5 sounds great though any interface and in any digital audio workstation environment.

Here is one I created quickly this week for a Chorale warm-up we are using.  It is the famous St. Anthony Chorale.

Anyway, I hope that this is helpful. Please keep an eye for another post in coming days which will go into more depth of my thoughts on hybrid teaching and learning as well as a bit more on our environment at NCSSM this fall.

For now, take care and stay healthy.

Peace.

Scott

tools in the tool belt

Over the past couple of weeks, I have had plenty of opportunity to think about this transition to remote learning that so many of us are endeavoring right now. I am completing my second week of the process today and have a few ideas to share.

It occurs to me that this process is quite similar to the process of doing odd jobs around the house. When it's time to get a job done, we head to our garage, grab our tool belt, and go to work on the project. The belt is is full of screwdrivers, wrenches, and probably a hammer. It doesn't have every tool we own, but it has the ones we use most commonly. We strap it on and go to work with a plan to get the jobs done in the most accurate and efficient way possible. This is much like the transition to daily remote learning. 

Every teacher has a tool belt full of tools. We have our skills as pedagogues, our technological tools that are housed within our laptop or phone, our basic routines, a prior relationship with our students, and a community of colleagues who are willing to help us learn how to do all of the jobs. We already have a very good feel for the job itself. Anyone who has been teaching for a little while nose how their students learn and what their general needs are for each class. In many ways, our course syllabus and course expectations define the job at hand.  Our problem is really choosing the right tool for the job.

Sometimes, we have exactly the right tools for the job. Perhaps a screw needs tightening. We grab our screwdriver, tighten the screw, and admire our work. For me, this was how things worked for my Music History class. I was already set up in Canvas. I had plenty of digital tools and resources prepared for my class. Moving to remote learning was pretty simple. We opened up Zoom and continued the class pretty much in the same fashion that we had been working prior to moving to remote learning.

Sometimes we encounter a job and we realize the tool we need is still out in the garage. We run out and grab the needed tool, perhaps a power drill or a circular saw, and get the job finished properly. We had the tool in our possession, we just didn't have it front and center. For me, this is how the transition went with my Guitar and Piano class. I already had all of the tools I needed to complete the job properly. But, my class was not yet set up in a Canvas course. I had to think about how I wanted to use my remote learning tools for teaching this specific class. It took a few minutes to set up, but the class is now running seamlessly with tools that I actually had in my possession.

Sometimes we encounter a job where we simply don't have the correct tools. In this scenario we either have to modify the job, or run to Lowes or Home Depot get some new tools and learn how to use them. There are a couple of good examples for this scenario. First, for my performance ensemble, Orchestra, I knew that I didn't have the proper tools to run a regular rehearsal. I was faced with a decision. Should I modify the job and change my syllabus, or should I go find a tool that would allow me to do the job as originally intended? I decided to change the job. I modified my syllabus and figured out a way to use the tools that I had at hand to provide my students a meaningful experience that is similar to a regular face-to-face experience. 

On the other hand, my wife who is a preschool music teacher, went the other route. She had never used Zoom before or any kind of video conferencing software. She decided to go get the new tool. She accessed Zoom and began experimenting with video conferencing for preschoolers and their parents. She had to access and learn how to use her new tool.  She sat in on several tutorials and leaned on me a bit to help get her up and running. After two weeks, she is feeling pretty good about the process. She is getting better at using Zoom and has really connected meaningfully with her students and their families. Everyone seems to really appreciate her efforts.

I have another colleague who took a look at his orchestra curriculum and decided to actually create a brand new project. He decided, rather than an ensemble experience, to provide more of a private lesson experience based on the tools he had at hand and the restrictions that his school place on video conferencing. After speaking with him earlier this week, I know that he is excited about his plan and feels that the students will really benefit from their time together individually.

As teachers, we are always adding tools to the tool belt. This is what professional development is all about. We are constantly seeking new ways to provide meaningful experiences and authentic instruction for our students. I believe that many of us view this unusual experience of the past few weeks and near future in that very way. It is our opportunity to add technology teaching tools to our tool belts. It is professional development in technology resources forced upon us, like it or not. That said, the process of learning to use these new tools should not be foreign to anyone in the teaching profession.  We do it all the time.

Sometimes, we see the need to invent a new tool to do a job properly. I recently had a wonderful conversation with my friend Jeremy Cohen. He and others are in the process of actually developing a new tool for remote teaching. It involves high definition audio and video in a web-based platform that is particularly useful for individual music instruction. I would encourage you to check it out at www.stringmasters.com. Like many other web resources right now, it is completely free during the COVID-19 crisis.  It provides capabilities that are unique and timely.  The technology is really wonderful!

In the end, we all have a job to do. Our job is to keep instruction going during this incredibly disruptive time in American society. We really need to decide what that should look like for each and every one of our individual classes. If you've read any of my other posts, you know that I believe our number one job is to care for kids. We must let them know that we care about them, we are concerned for their health and safety, and we are committed to keeping music in their lives during this of isolation.  Once that is accomplished, we get can get to the job at hand of teaching content. We all have a unique tool belt. We also all have a unique set of jobs to do. My hope is that in this time of crisis, we can all pull together and help each other approach our set of jobs with a well-stocked tool belt and an understanding of how to complete the job in the best way given our unique circumstances.

I hope this resonates with you. I certainly always welcome your feedback. I would love to hear how you are approaching your jobs and the tools that you find most useful for completing the tasks.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I encourage everyone to walk away from work for a couple of days. It will all be there on Monday morning. Get some exercise, breathe some fresh air, care for your family. We will attack our jobs with vigor and a full tool belt again on Monday!

Peace.

Scott

ASTA 2020

Hi Friends!
I am in the airport, heading home from the American String Teachers National Conference which was held in Orlando from March 4-7.  The conference was a huge success and, as always, included wonderful learning opportunities, renewal of old friendships, many new friendships, and a general spirit of community and love that many of us have grown to anticipate and appreciate on an annual basis at the conference.

I was thrilled to conduct the first National Conference Teacher Orchestra on Wednesday and want to thank all who participated.  It was so much fun and everyone seemed to really enjoy making music together. The performance at the opening reception was a blast! Special thanks to Jesus Florido for participating and soloing with us.  We learned so much from you in the rehearsal as well!

Congratulations to Jesus and all of the performers who brought the very first Electric Bowed String Concert to ASTA this year.  It was so much fun and we all appreciate the unbelievable musicianship that was on display on Thursday night.  I am so proud of my history in the electric violin community appreciate each of you!!  Jesus: your love and positive energy was the catalyst for this.  Thanks!!

I also wish to thank thank Brian Hellhake and the students of Freedom High School Orchestra for serving as a demonstration group for my session, along with Jim Palmer, on Sharing Our Secrets: Higher Order Thinking.  The students were magnificent and we really couldn't have asked for anything better.  Thanks, too, to Jim Palmer.  We have so much fun presenting together. We certainly missed Rebecca MacLeod this year.  She was judging the National Orchestra Festival this year, but I am sure our trio will reconvene soon!!

I want to extend a huge congratulations to the ASTA Staff for a magnificent conference.  Monika Schulz has really moved our organization to a new level of professionalism and prominence.  Susan Hoopes was invaluable in my preparation.  Tracey Kratt has been instrumental in forwarding our ASTA Connect social tool.   The whole staff is fantastic.  Also, the ASTA Ambassadors (volunteers from the profession) were such servant leaders. We all appreciate you so much!

I can't begin to name all the new friends and colleagues whom I connected with this week.  Please know that I value each and everyone of you.  The meals, coffee, and hallway conversations were all so valuable and perspective-changing.  Thank you all for your wisdom and encouragement!


And now we all go back our corner of the world to change string kids' lives one student at a time!! We are all filled up and ready to extend that energy to our individual communities.  I can't wait to hear the stories of success again next year!

Peace
Scott

WSFCS Professional Development Day - October 29, 2019

Hello to my friends from Winston Salem Forsyth County!

I am looking forward to sharing some of my ideas with you today!

Here are some resources for the day:

Finger Patterns:

Full Explanation and links

Handout

My Finger Pattern Documents (Sheet Music, Explanations, etc.)


Quick Link to Violin Finger Pattern Exercises on Youtube

NCSSM Finger Pattern Playlists: All Instruments and Major Scales


The Habit Loop

All Materials


I hope you find the professional development sessions useful today!

All my best.
Scott

Mountain Biking and Orchestra

Many of you know that I am really motivated by sports analogies when it comes to music and ensemble musicianship. I have written in this blog about parallels I find between coaching and conducting as well as parallels between baseball hitting technique and violin technique. There have been lots of other posts in the past that touch on approach and purpose as it relates to both sports and music.

Today, however, I am thinking about the act of playing in an ensemble as it relates to the sport of mountain biking. I was out for a ride recently on a beautiful trail single track trail at Brumley Forest in the Durham, North Carolina area and couldn't help but begin to count all of the parallels between playing ensemble music and mountain biking.

First, my students hear me talk about having active minds all the time. In order to really be a fine ensemble player (or soloist), one must always be fully immersed in the moment of music making. That can entail not only thinking about what you are doing at any given moment, but also thinking ahead. One must be prepared for what comes next, and next, and next. When mountain biking, if you are reacting the obstacle you are right on top of, you are doing it too late. The mountain biker has to look ahead and plan their approach to rocks, roots, twist and turns and other obstacles that they might encounter. This involves a complete connection between the trail, the bike, and the rider. Similarly, the violinist must have a complete connection between the repertoire, the instrument, and their mind and spirit.

In fact, aren't both activities of mind, body, and spirit?  There is nothing passive about navigating a great single-track trail.  The mind must be singularly focused.  In fact, I would say that any time my mind wanders when on the trail, I am destined to crash.  Similarly, when playing in an ensemble, one's mind must be singularly focused on the task at hand.  The musician's mind must be ready for all of the "roots, rocks, and twists and turns" of the piece and the performance.  If the mind wanders, bad things can happen!  

The body is the next step in the process; isn't it?  On the trail, as approaching an obstacle of loose rocks, I have to mentally prepare to keep my cadence going through the obstacle.  But that is just the first step. The body must commit to the experience.  It must flow with the trail and the upcoming obstacles.  The body must fight fatigue and stay in control with the unexpected happens.  Isn't it the same in music?  Your brain can tell you to play technical passages all day long, but if the hand isn't up to it, it won't happen.  Similarly, in slow passages, I can't tell you the number of times that the plan for tone and phrasing in my mind has been thwarted by some insecurity or inability of my left or right hand technique.

I mentioned pedal cadence in the previous paragraph.  This is critical to the cyclist.  It is critical to continue pedaling through obstacles.  It is less about the overall speed of the bike, and more about the steady cadence of the pedals through the obstacle.   Similarly, I find that young musicians tend to want to increase the tempo (cadence) through many difficult or "fast" passages when in reality, they call for steady even cadence.  The strength of the rhythm is much more evident when the tempo or cadence is consistent.  Approaching an obstacle slowly and accurately with a steady cadence is always better than approaching an obstacle in a fast, haphazard and sloppy manner.  So it is with music!

Here is one that non-cyclists might not think of: In both disciplines, one must listening carefully to the things that are happening around you.  First, it just makes the experience richer for the cyclist. The sounds of the forest are magnificent at all times of year!!  And, it really helps to know when you are approaching other bikers or animals (large or small) on the trail.   

Here's another one: Riding a trail for the first time is a lot like sight reading a new piece.  The first time through is a totally difference experience than, say, the fifth.  The first time, you have to figure out what is going on.  Perhaps stay a bit cautious.  Then, after you figure out the trail or the piece, you can be a bit more aggressive.  You have had to time plan out your approach, practice the hard passages, and prepare for the various aspects of the test ahead of you.  Practice and repetition change the way you ride and play.

Some others:

• Proper equipment makes a difference.  There is nothing like the feel of a great bike the first time you try one.  It feels different to ride: more reactive, lighter, faster, more controllable.  The same is true with an upgraded instrument or bow.  Better equipment is worth it!!

• Find joy and challenge in the obstacle. Both of these activities should inspire joy and satisfaction.  Oddly, I even find satisfaction in an occasional crash; both in riding and in music!

• Embrace the euphoria of the experience.  It is hard to put the mountain biking experience into words.  It is simply euphoric.  Those of us that play or conduct orchestras know that the music performance experience  is like a drug. We want more all the time.  There is simply nothing like it.  We are all chasing that euphoria!

• Embrace the dynamic nature of a trail and music. We all love to find that rise and fall in a trail and in music. Some mountain bikers may call this the "flow" of the trail.  It is dynamic and captivating.  And so it is with music.  There is always more to discover and find in a score or performance.  It keeps us coming back time after time!!

So there you have it.  These are the musings of a guy who can't get enough of either of these activities and they are so similar.  I hope you found some interest in this comparison.  What do you find parallels your musical experience?  Another sport?  Another activity?  I would love to hear from you.  As always, thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts!

Peace.

Scott

Florida Orchestra Directors - Friday Presentations

This post if for the folks that attended my sessions today at Florida Orchestra Directors Association.

First, thanks so much for coming to my session!  It was great to meet so many of you and really appreciate all of the interest and positive feedback!

I promised you a few resources.  So, here goes:

Presentations:

If you were in my Pedagogy from the Podium, I didn't get through all of the examples. If you are interested in more, here is link to the presentation

Here is the presentation from my Habits session

More on Finger Patterns as a vehicle to upper positions:

Link to Youtube Playlists

Link to Google Drive with written resources for Finger Patterns

Look over the materials on Youtube and in the Google Drive.  Handout on the Google Drive has more information. Also, be sure to read the text in the Finger Pattern Introduction Video.  It has even more information.  You will find backtracks for all of the Cycles of Finger Patterns in 3rd positions and Backtracks for 1 and 2 octave major scales. If you have more questions, just ask. My e-mail is laird@ncssm.edu

I hope this is all useful!
Again, thanks for your wonderful hospitality today.
Until next time,
Scott

The Value of Order

I have been thinking lately about how important it is to have order in our lives.  I believe that I am more productive, more settled, and happier when I feel like my life is orderly.  I enjoy my home more when it is neat and orderly.  Yesterday's clothes left on the floor doesn't feel as good to me as clothing on a hanger.  Knowing what I am going to eat for lunch as I leave for work feels better to me than figuring it out when I am hungry at 12:30 after a morning of classes.  Walking into school with strong lesson plans for the day is better than putting a plan together at the last minute or simply winging it.  I like to plan my daily and weekly schedule carefully.  Somehow all of this orderliness keeps me happy and settled. 

I believe that students need this as well.  For years, I have placed a strong priority on students walking in to an orderly, set up classroom.  I never hand out or collect music in class.  I prepare folders ahead of time, outside of class, and collect music the same way.  I think my students appreciate this.  I feel confident that they appreciate the effort that it takes to be orderly and efficient with class-time.  I also believe in strong classroom routines: introduction, warm up, content and related activity, closure.   These routines set up a safe and predictable learning environment.  

The new school year has begun at NCSSM and orchestra is off to a great start. I have truly enjoyed getting to know all of our new junior string players. Rehearsals have been vibrant and productive right out of the gate.  One thing that has stuck me again this year is the importance of seating in the orchestra and the order that seating facilitates.  Remember that my orchestra changes by just about 50% every year. We are a two-year school and when a class graduates, half of the orchestra departs.  Also, I really don't find out how many students will be in my orchestra or instrumentation until the first day of class. This year I am blessed with incredibly balanced sections: 24 violins, 10 violas, 15 celli, and 2 basses.  I hold auditions very early in the year for my students to introduce themselves to me musically, but for our first few rehearsals, I don't really have a seating order.  We sight-read music and students are permitted to sit anywhere they wish within their section.  This year we had three rehearsals before I could establish a seating chart and sections for the group. While those three rehearsals were fine, I must admit that they never really felt "good."  

By the 2nd week of classes, I had been able to review video auditions and begin to establish some sense of "who is in the room" in my mind.  I created a seating order and assigned violin students into violin I and II sections.  (I should say that I do my best to create "even" sections and rely heavily on assigning some of my top players to leadership positions in the 2nd violin violin section.  I also provide opportunities for some of my less experienced players to test themselves with the sometimes more challenging violin I parts.  And, I always have some students that are simply not ready for the upper positions presented in violin I parts.)   But here is the interesting fact:  once students received their section assignment, seating placement, and stand partner, the ensemble seemed to transform quickly. In fact, immediately. Things were more settled.  Students quickly became comfortable and began to dig into the task at hand in a different way.  It is hard for me to clearly articulate the transformation, but I would simply say that it felt more comfortable.  Every rehearsal since that time has had the same feel.  All I can attribute this to is the confidence that comes with order.  Everyone now knows where they will sit, what part they will play, who their stand partner is, and they are beginning to develop a sense of their role as part of the larger group.

This has been a good reminder for me.  Sometimes I forget the importance of routine and order.  Of course, alternately, sometimes it is good to shake up a routine and order. But, order has to, in fact, be established before it can be "shook up." We crave order as humans.  We respond well to predictability and comfort.  This has been a great reminder for me as we begin the new school year.

I wish you all the best as you begin to establish the order in your classroom and rehearsals to start the new year.

Peace.

Scott

NCDPI ArtsR4Life Conference

Yesterday, I had the pleasure and honor of speaking at the 5th Annual ArtsR4Life Conference on behalf of the NC Chapter of ASTA and came home inspired and renewed.  So, just a few words today about the event.

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction partnered with Meredith College, the NC Arts Education Leadership Coalition, and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources hosted the fifth annual “ARTS R4 Life” professional development conference for NC K-12 Arts Educators in Dance, Music, Theater Arts, and Visual Arts.

This was an opportunity for arts educators to develop personalized learning experiences and have cross-sector learning and collaboration around the 4R’s:

• Rekindle your artistic spirit by participating in hands’-on arts experiences
• Reflect on the profession through deepening your understanding of the standards to support student learning and growth
• Reconnect with colleagues and professional organizations
• Renew your body and mind through expressive, contemplative, and rejuvenating experiences designed to promote your well-being

The conference took place on Saturday, September 8, 2018, and was be preceded by Arts Education Think Tank, Arts Education Coordinators, and Arts Education Leadership Coalition meetings on Friday, September 7th, 2018.  Educators had a menu of options and selected a personalized learning plan for their time at the conference.

I gave my session, "Finding and Maintaining Fulfillment in your Career in Arts Education" during the morning.  In this session, participants consider their level of fulfillment with their work and career in arts education and related factors. I provide a variety of focus areas for consideration and models for identifying and assessing career fulfillment.  Attendees are asked to consider (and perhaps share) their roles as  artists/educators, motivations for embarking on a career in arts education, sense of mission in the school and community, complexity of their work, perspective on workload, busy schedules, and a balanced life. Participants (hopefully) walk away with strategies to find fulfillment in their careers while balancing their personal and professional life.

I gave the session during two different time slots and was thrilled to have over 30 attendees between the two sessions.  Feedback was excellent and I feel my message was well-received.  Some other highlights of the day, for me included connecting with friends, new and old; the Keynote interview with Lauren Kennedy Brady, Producing Artistic Director for Theater Raleigh; A fun kinesthetic opening exercise led by Shannon Gravelle, Director of Choral Activities and Music Education Coordinator for Meredith College; and an inspiring dance performance by the Rainbow Dance Company to open the day.  In addition, it was great to spend some time with my friend and NC ASTA colleague, Bill Slechta, who has been instrumental in establishing NC ASTA's involvement in this conference for the past 5 years.  I was also happy to spend some time with my friend and colleague, Pat Hall from NCMEA offices.

In all, this was a great event and I am so happy that I was able to attend and participate at such a deep level and represent NC ASTA.

The Creative Habit

I recently read The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. This was a great book with lots of applications to my life both as a teacher and as a musician. A model for transforming ideas into creativity is presented at one point in the book which I have thought about the great deal. I'd like to share that model and some of my thoughts about how it applies to my life as a teacher, conductor, and as a performing musician. I feel like this model points to the way many of my ideas have become something more. Of course, I didn't know this model until recently. But, when I think about the process I go through, this certainly clarifies the important steps.

From the book, page 94:
"Harvard psychologist Stephen Kosslyn says that ideas can be acted upon in fourways. First, you must generate the idea, usually from memory or experience or activity. Then you have to retain it—that is, hold it steady in your mind and keep it from disappearing. Then you have to inspect it—study it and make inferences about it. Finally, you have to be able to transform it—alter it in some way to suit your higher purposes."

Let's take a look at each of these four important steps: Idea, Retention, Inspection, and Transformation. Then, I will try to give some examples of their application in my creative process and in the specific areas of creativity in my professional life: music-making, pedagogy, and the rehearsal process. Perhaps you will find some similarities in yours.

IDEAS

I feel like we all have ideas. Some of them are good. Some of them are great. And some are better left undeveloped. The real trick is to retain them and ultimately transformed in into real creativity. This takes a great deal of mental effort and as well as physical effort.  But, I believe that we all have good ideas. String Pedagogue Jacqueline Dillon once told me that we all have ideas others are interested in.  The important next step is willingness to share them.  She suggested writing them down.  I took her words to heart and began a pattern of writing.  (This blog is an extension of that advice.) You have great ideas.  We all simply must commit to developing and sharing them.  The first step is to believe in the idea and the next is to retain it.

Examples:

• Pedagogy: "I should create a system for teaching upper positions."
• Music Making: "I am going to write a song for looped guitar and electric violin."
• Rehearsal Process: "I feel like this passage should be slower than the previous section to create anticipation."

RETENTION

I can't tell you how many times I have had a good idea while driving or engaged in some other activity and never came back to it.  How many great ideas in history have been left on the chopping block as a result of simply not following through.  I strongly believe in writing things down.  My e-mail inbox is littered with one-line notes to myself.  These include lists, ideas, and recommendations from others.  I have also become a fan of the voice notes apps for smartphone.  It is so easy to leave myself a voice note and come back to the idea later. 

I have shared this before, but it is worth mentioning again. The publication Goal Setting:  A Motivational Technique that Works, from the Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, NC explains a great model for getting goals and ideas to completion:

1. Setting Goal - 6-8%  likelihood of completion (have the idea)
2. Setting a Goal (idea) and Writing It Down - 25-30% likelihood of completion.
3. Setting a Goal (idea), Writing It Down, and Verbally Sharing It with Others - 55-60% likelihood of completion.
4. Setting a Goal, Writing It Down, Verbally Sharing It with Others, and  an ask a friend to hold you accountable - 85+% likelihood of completion.

We all have good ideas.  But, we must follow though and retain the idea.

Examples:

• Pedagogy: Start a lesson plan with a piece of paper and leave it front and center on your desk
• Music Making: Tell a friend about your idea for a song and ask them if they will listen when it is finished.
• Rehearsal Process: Mark the section in your score to come back to later

INSPECTION

This is another tricky aspect of the process.  We must always inspect our ideas and determine if they are valid and worth developing.  This is where the research comes in.  Is the idea really unique to you?  Is it a version of someone else's idea?  What do others have to say about the topic?  I once saw an interesting model of leadership that I have adapted to this topic.

• Ordinary ideas relate a traditional story as effectively as possible.  This is probably ~50% of ideas.  This could be a nice pop with traditional chord changes or a rock solid lesson plan for a class.  Traditional stuff presented effectively.
• Innovative ideas bring a fresh twist to a story that has been latent in the population.  (~10%of ideas) This could be a new and unique musical composition using a traditional orchestral instrumentation or a new and unique approach to teaching as playing technique such as  the Bornoff Cyclic Method.
• Visionary ideas create a new story (~2% of ideas) This might be the invention of the synthesizer or Schoenberg's rules of Serialism.

In the end, we must inspect our ideas and determine if they are worth pursuing.

Examples:

• Pedagogy: Learn all you can about the various systems and pedagogy for teaching upper positions.  Ask questions. Is my idea valid?  Is it efficient?  Is it sequential?  Am I providing context? 
• Music Making: Learn the chord structure songs that are similar that the one you want to write.  Listen to favorite artists and analyze their work.  Do you have the appropriate gear and experience?
• Rehearsal Process: Listen to multiple recordings of the work.  Can you  justify the tempo change?  Does your vision work from a historical perspective?

TRANSFORMATION

Once we have retained the idea and inspected it, we can then transform it into something concrete.  This is where our imagination meets our content knowledge, goals, background, and intuition.  We are compelled to take the fully inspected idea and let it become all that it can be. This requires thought and some dedicated quiet time.  I often find my quite and transformation time in the car with the radio off. Interestingly, I also find it in the early morning with a cup of coffee in the quiet and relative calm of the coming day.  In the end, however, this is where the idea develops into something I can ultimately use.

Examples:

• Pedagogy: Create your system and try it with students.  Is ti effective?  Make some changes or additions and try again.  This is a never-ending process.
• Music Making: Go to work.  Create a melody.  Put some chord changes together. Do you have a bass line or riff?  Do you still like it?  Try again.  
• Rehearsal Process: Give the idea a try and see how it lands for your players.  Does it create the desired effect?  Try is a little more or less subtle.  Is this better.  Again, this process is ongoing.  but, the idea has survived and has begun to take life!

Even this blog post went through this very process.  I read The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp.  I made a note of the Kosslyn quote on page 94 right when I first read it.  In my case, I made the note in my blog app and figured I  would come back to it later.  In fact, I made that note almost 1 year ago.  But, in that year, the idea didn't go away.  It was written down for me to stumble upon later. And, that certainly happened.  Next, I inspected it. I ran across the quote in my notes a couple of weeks ago and began to ponder the idea.  I made a few notes, put it away, and came back to it several times. I decided it was worth pursuing as a result of some of the teaching I have done this summer and began the task of transformation.  As I began to transform the idea, I decided to work with my three primary creative areas: pedagogy, conducting and rehearsals, and music-making.  These made sense to me and gave me a frame from which to build this post.  And, here we are.  My original idea for a blog entry has turned into creativity by using this very model.  By the way, I would classify this as an "Ordinary" idea.  It is (hopefully) simply an effective way to relate a traditional story.  The framework of this idea is not my own.  It is Kosslyn's.  I simply tell the story in my own words to my own audience from my perspective.

I am wondering if this resonates with any of you?  Have you ever with taking an idea from the earliest stages to completion?  Perhaps some of these thoughts will help you with the process.  I welcome your reaction and thoughts.

Peace.
Scott

By the way, I do recommend The Creative Habit.  I picked up a great deal from the book.  I mostly found it to be affirming of the way I have approached creativity for many years.  In the end, it provides a sequential system with great nomenclature and certainly a harmonic underpinning.  (For those of you that know my work, you will recognize this.  If not, check out this post.

Sharing Our Secrets: Phrasing and Expression, ASTA 2019

I am really pleased to have the opportunity to present today at ASTA 2019 with my dear friends Dr. Rebecca Macleod and Jim Palmer.  We will be in the Sandia/Santa Ana Room at 1:00 PM on Thursday, March 7. In our session, Sharing Our Secrets: Phrasing and Expression, we will share tips and secrets that promote musical expression and nuance with your school orchestra. Topics will include a variety of approaches to identifying phrase structure, playing with different tone colors, grouping notes with speech patterns, executing rubato, and engaging students in functional listening.  Exercises that promote musical sensitivity and student independence will be demonstrated. Attendees are certain to enjoy and gain from the panel interaction with students and each other.  We are pleased to be working with Rebecca Simons and the La Cueva High School Camerata from Albuquerque, New Mexico as our demo group.  There is nothing like working with kids to demonstrate the skills of working with kids!

As for my part of the session, I will be utilizing the string orchestra arrangement of Slane (Be Thou My Vision), arranged by Percy Hall.  It is not a super-difficult arrangement, but there are many opportunities for interesting phrasing and expression embedded within the piece.  I will be focusing some of the best tips and strategies for phrasing and expression that I have developed over the years.

These will include:

Approach Arrive Depart

Note Grouping and Speech Patterns

The Importance of a Unified Downbeat

Pick up your instrument and play

Standing rehearsal

Concepts growing from the word "Dynamic"

The Roller Coaster

Finding Your Unique Voice and Perspective as a Director: Push/Pull

Whisper

The Chorale and Breathing

and others

I will expand on these more in coming days. For now, I look forward to seeing you this afternoon!
Peace.
Scott

The Awakening, Todd Goodman

I am really excited to be conducting the world premier of a new work for orchestra this week.  It is The Awakening, by Todd Goodman.  This week I will be working with the top orchestra students in Western Pennsylvania as conductor of the PMEA Western Regional Orchestra.  I am particularly looking forward to this one because my sister, Stephanie Everett (Hollidaysburg High School) is co-hosting along with Kelly Detwiler (Altoona High School), and my other sister, Julianne Laird (Indiana (PA) High School), has students participating and will be there as well.  It is always a pleasure and honor to work with PMEA groups, but the family connection and the world premier makes it even more meaningful. 

I liked this work from the first time I set eyes on the score and heard the (albeit synthetic) recording straight from the the notation software.  There are magnificent sounds throughout and much for the orchestra (and conductor) to consider in preparing the piece.  Based on a 3-chord progression that eventually morphs in to a 4-note motif, the piece provides ample material for every section and is sure to be an audience favorite.  It follows an A-B-A'-B' form and features an unexpected ending.  It is always so exciting to program new music and discover my unique take on a work before anyone else has the opportunity.  I so look forward to sharing that sense of discovery with the students this weekend.  I have quickly become a fan of Todd Goodman's and I am pleased that he will be at the event this weekend to speak with the students and that I will have a chance to interact with the composer.

Goodman is no stranger to writing for this group.  The same event in 2018 featured another commission composed by Goodman entitled "The Precipice."

Other works programmed for this weekend include: 

The Cowboys Overture, John Williams

March to the Scaffold, Berlioz

Sinfonia No 2 in D Major,  Mvt I, Mendelssohn

and

Matinees Musicales: Second Suite of Five Movements from Rossini, Benjamin Britten

The liner notes are as follows:

"The Awakening is an orchestral tone poem commissioned by Kelly Detwiler and Stephanie Everett, hosts of the 2019 Western Region Orchestra of the Pennsylvania Music Educators’ Association.

When we set out to solve a difficult problem, we often go through a process of trial and error, which yields numerous moments of doubt. Although these moments can be quiet difficult, they can produce some of our most creative and productive work. As we work through our numerous solutions and
filter out the bad ideas, a wonderful moment happens in the process— when we realize that what we have created actually works. This piece is about that journey.

The Awakening is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, 3 percussionists, harp, piano, and strings."

This work lasts approximately five minutes.

For information about the composer and his other works,

please visit www.WrongNoteMedia.com.

Instrumentation

piccolo

2 flutes

2 oboes

2 clarinets in bi

2 bassoons

4 horns in f

3 trumpets

3 trombones

tuba

timpani

percussion 1

glockenspiel, claves, marimba, H/L toms

percussion 2

vibraphone, suspended cymbal

percussion 3

tamborine, bass drum

harp

piano

violin 1

violin 2

viola

cello

contrabass

A Culture of Grace

A couple of days ago, a longtime friend reached out to me and asked if there would be an opportunity for us to talk about my experience in arts administration.  He is a retired Arts Supervisor in PA and is now teaching arts admin classes at a couple of different institutions.  Later that morning, we connected by phone and had a great conversation.

I was happy to share some of my story of serving as Fine Arts Coordinator at NCSSM for much of my 18 year tenure here.  The Coordinator position is a unique one, because I really serve as a peer-advocate for my colleagues in the arts at a variety of levels.  I am not their supervisor, but I do have the opportunity to lead our discipline in many ways.  I promote our programs, provide feedback on events and activities, allocate foundation funding, provide feedback, lead interview and hiring efforts, and generally set philosophy and tone for the arts at our school.  All of this is in addition to my role as Music Instructor and Orchestra Conductor at the school.

During our conversation, I had the opportunity to articulate many of the core philosophies that have driven our success over the past 15 years or so.  I brought the seeds of many of these ideas to NCSSM in 2001, but others have been developed or refined as a result of my unique experiences here at this unique school.  I have been privileged to teach in a variety of circumstances over the years and certainly bring expectations and models from each to NCSSM.  I was reminded in the conversation of the stellar organizational structure that I witnessed during my student teaching at Williamsport School District in PA.  I also worked with and modeled much of my teaching after one of the most dynamic teachers I have encountered in my career, Walter Straiton.  Walt was always quick to remind me to develop my own style and to be ever mindful of my style/substance ratio.  One without the other is significantly less effective.  I was also reminded of the wonderful teachers and mentors I encountered in my first position in Palmyra PA.  The music instructors at the elementary, middle, and high schools were all top quality teachers and incredible mentors to me.  The community embraced me completely and my colleagues cared for me as I navigated the difficult early years of a career in music education.  They let me make my mistakes and always encouraged me to find my voice.  As I moved on to Eleanor Roosevelt High School, I encountered colleagues and leadership that expected excellence at every turn.  They were truly "world class" educators, musicians, and directors.  They provided models of stellar leadership and musical outreach that positioned me to significantly expand my sphere of influence, not to mention my confidence as a pedagogue and conductor.  All of these experiences came with me to NCSSM.  But, I had no idea how my perspectives would change as I got to know this new and unusual residential learning environment.

After a few years of introduction to NCSSM, it became clear that the traditional K-12 music program philosophies were not going to be sufficient at this place.  Students come here as basically math and science "majors."  They are here for this unique academic residential program - not exclusively (or primarily) for the orchestra.  The academic workload is heavy.  The expectations are high in every class and department.  The residential experience can be exhausting.  Student and parent goals and expectations are different than even the science and technology magnet school I had worked in for the previous decade.  I had to come up with some revised guiding principles if I was going to survive here and if the music and arts program was going to thrive in years to come.  I must admit, I thought about leaving more than a couple of times.  It would be much easier at a wealthy suburban high school.  I knew that scene.  I could kill it there.  But, there was something about NCSSM.  I knew I had a mission here.

During our conversation, my friend asked me to describe the arts culture at NCSSM today.  After thinking about it for a few minutes, I responded that I believe we have a "culture of grace."  I heard him typing.  He had never heard of that before.  I told him that many years earlier I had read a book called Love Works, by Joel Manby  The booked helped to shape some of the ways we look at student involvement and participation and faculty leadership in the arts now at NCSSM.  I also believe that in our arts hiring over the past several years, we have looked for folks that understand the complexity of life at NCSSM and embrace the challenges (and sometimes frustrations) that go with teaching in the arts here.  We have built and incredible team who all embrace the concept of "grace."   It is also important to note that for grace to occur, there must be a great deal of trust.  We have to trust colleagues (within and outside our discipline), administration, and students. Students have to trust us and the school.  As a residential school, our students' parents must have an incredible amount of trust in us as mentors and guides for their kids in order to send them here for the last two years of high school. And, our administration must trust us to make good calls at every turn.  Yes - trust and grace go hand in hand.

Last Saturday, my orchestra performed Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in C minor. The students did a wonderful job and I could not have been more proud of their performance.  One of my cellists was at the state swimming championships earlier that day and made the finals.  She had not expected to go that far and fully expected to be back in time for the concert.  She e-mailed me about the situation and I encouraged her to swim and miss the concert.  Grace.  I dropped her a quick note after the concert to see how she did.  I received this note in response:

"I actually did really well! I hate that I couldn’t be there and my mom was planning on coming to see the concert and then I realized that we were going to make finals and I was honestly crushed and stuck between two very hard decisions. I ended choosing finals because I knew my team was counting on me to be in our two women’s relays and I didn’t want to let them down. Thank you for understanding and I am looking forward to Trimester 3 :)"

I can't tell you how happy this note made me. She trusted me.  I trusted her.  Love works and a "culture of grace" works.

There are other guiding principles and philosophies that I haven't touched on here.  We try to consider the individual before the ensemble.  I try to always find a way to say "yes." We believe in mastery based learning.  I believe the concepts of "essence" and "functional musicianship" are key to great ensemble success - musical and otherwise.  I could go on.

But for now, I am so appreciative of that conversation.  It inspired me to reflect on how the heck I got to this point.  There are many new hurdles to clear in coming months and years at NCSSM.  My close colleague and friend, Phillip Riggs recently retired and I am trying to re-imagine what life and work here will look like without him here with me on a regular basis.  Another long-time colleague and musical collaborator is looking at retirement in the very near future. We are opening a new campus in Morganton, NC and there are many decisions to be made regarding curriculum, staffing, etc.   Technology keeps marching on.  We have to keep up!  New students, programs, and opportunities continue to show up in Durham and we will work to stay in front of all of it.  But, I am certain that I will continue to believe in and promote a "culture of grace."  This we need.  This, we ALL need.

Peace.
Scott

All of the Possibilities Sixteen

These are my notes and ideas from the introduction for:

Opening Reception for Vernon Pratt—All the Possibilities of Sixteen. Scott Laird, music director at NC School of Science and Math, introduces.
October 11 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Free
https://design.ncsu.edu/event/opening-reception/

 WELCOME all

 Trinity Pratt Findlay and John Pratt
Meth through Mother: Debbie Pratt
Thank Roger Manley and Zoe Starling
Acknowledge William Dodge - recently introduced me as “One of the two biggest Vernon Pratt Artwork Geeks in the world.”  (He is the other)

 My notes from this evening and some musical samples are posted on my blog, Thoughts of A String Educator.  I would encourage you to check it out when you get home tonight for a more in-depth understanding of the ideas presented here.

My History with Pratt family and Vernon Pratts artwork:

I am Fine Arts Coordinator and Music Instructor at NCSSM

2013

• John Morrison
• Introduced me to Debbie
• Trip to warehouse

2014 exhibit - Geometric

2015 Exhibit - Coltrane -fall curriculum

2016 - Gregg exhibit and my lecture on his work and my perception of its relationship to music

As part of the research for this lecture, I spoke with a number of friends and colleagues of Vernon.

Thrilled when Roger invited me to make some remarks tonight on my perception of All of the Possibilities of Filling in 16ths to Music

This work immediately reminded me of:

• Steven Malinowski - Inventor Musician and Software engineer.  
• Music Animation machine - - which produces animated graphical musical scores. That permit the listener to visualize music using a system of colored shapes, taking information from a MIDI file.
• This is all over Youtube and I encourage you to look for it as a way to further understand music and form of music composition.
• The Fugue
• A Motive and Finding “All of the possibilities of counterpoint on that Motive”
• a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the course of the composition. A fugue usually has three main sections: an exposition, a development and a final entry that contains the return of the subject in the fugue's tonic key. 
• Bach's Little Fugue in G Minor, BWV 578

2. Minimalism 

Defined: it is marked by a non-narrative, non-teleological, and non-representational conception of a work in progress, Prominent features of the technique include consonant harmony, steady pulse (if not immobile drones), stasis or gradual transformation, and often reiteration of musical phrases or smaller units such as figures, motifs, and cells. It may include features such as additive process and phase shifting which leads to what has been termed phase music. Minimal compositions that rely heavily on process techniques that follow strict rules are usually described using the term process music.

I was reminded of John Adams : rather than set up small engines of motivic materials and let them run free in a kind of random play of counterpoint, he used the fabric of continually repeating cells to forge large architectonic shapes, creating a web of activity that, even within the course of a single movement, was more detailed, more varied, and knew both light and dark, serenity and turbulence

John Adams Piano Concerto, Century Rolls

Slonimsky's Earbox, John Adams

Lollapaalooza, John Adams

No remarks about the relationship of Vernon Pratt’s Artwork to music would be complete without some reference to John Coltrane.  

I am by no means a John Coltrane Scholar.

So, I googled “Johns Coltrane” and “All of the Possibilities"

3. John Coltrane

 Sheets of Sound Technique: The term ‘Sheets of Sound‘ was coined by music critic Ira Gitler in the liner notes of the Coltrane album Soultrane (1958). He used it to describe the Coltrane’s improvisational style at the time.

the Sheets of Sound technique is a vertical improvisation technique; that is, it uses arpeggios, patterns, licks and scales that trace out each chord in a progression.

So let’s say one is playing a song, and we have the chord G7 for a full bar. Now, let’s just list a few scales and arpeggios that you could plausibly use to improvise over this chord:

• G7 arpeggio
• G13♭9 arpeggio (extension)
• D♭7 arpeggio (tritone substitution)
• D♭13♭9 arpeggio (tritone substitution with extension)
• Am7 | D7 (II-V)
• G Mixolydian (C Major)
• G Wholetone
• G H/W Diminished Scale
• G Lydian Dominant (D melodic minor)
• G Altered Scale (A♭ melodic minor)
• G Blues Scale
• G Major Pentatonic
• We could keep going, but let’s stop there…

If you play all of these scales/arpeggios in their entirety over those 4 beats of G7, you are playing Sheets of Sound. Now, obviously, this is impossible so you just try squeeze in as much as you can.

It is, in fact, all of the vertical possibilities over G7

Blue Trane

Soultrane

What matters here, in my opinion, is the large impression. The Big Picture. Taking it all in. 

And that is the case the three musical forms that I referenced, the overall impression is what matters. 

With all these musical forms as with this piece, there is  microscopic precision and they are numerically complex. We can certainly marvel at the microscopic.  

But to truly appreciate it, we must really step back and drink in the big picture while appreciating the complexity of thought that went into the minutia.

Thank you so much and enjoy All of the Possibilities of Filling in 16!

Do Ensembles ALWAYS Need a Conductor?

Do large ensembles always need a conductor?

Or, to be clear, do they always need someone beating time?  Of course they don't.  But, so many  music educators who are leading school ensembles make the mistake of beating time, all the time.  Let me provide a bit of perspective.

I was recently at a public school concert where an ensemble of terrific young string players were being accompanied by a bluegrass band on 2 fiddle tunes.  The conductor of the group, who is a fantastic musician and teacher, was beating 4/4 time throughout the entire performance. It really seemed out of place and even detrimental to the success of the performance.  He would have been so much better served to get the pulse out of the way visually, and to give some other meaningful information from the podium. This might include musical cues or appropriate style and/or dynamic information.  Instead, he was waving his arms (almost furiously) and not really providing any real visual information that could be used by the young musicians.   Ultimately, the pulse driving the ensemble was coming from the professional bass player that was accompanying the group, not from the visual information the conductor was providing.  It was a shame that the kids weren't informed of this and encouraged to direct their listening skills in the bass player's direction for the pulse-portion of needed information.

So, when exactly does a conductor discontinue giving pulse and allow the musicians to find that information from a different source?  Here are some examples from my experience.

Drum set:  Any time a drum set is involved in an orchestral performance, I believe the conductor need not beat time.  So many of us string educators are programming eclectic styles repertoire nowadays and a drum set is often part of that instrumentation.  In my experience, encouraging the players to use the pulse generated by the drums as their tempo and rhythmic guide tightens up the performance.  I look at it this way: if the best rock bands in the world can stay together with a solid drummer, so can my ensemble. The conductor can get out of the way here and give other appropriate cues and style information.

Groove section:   If a section of the orchestra is providing a clear groove - perhaps repeated, regular notes, they are essentially providing the information that a conductor would provide with the stick.  This can happen in repertoire from Mozart to Beethoven to modern stuff. There is something about repeated eighth or sixteenth notes that can be a great groove for an ensemble to "lock-in" on rhythmically.   I refer to this as "the engine" in my conducting work with student groups . I find that if I can get all sections referring to the engine for rhythmic subdivision and tempo information, it makes the performance much tighter.

Pieces that are imitating alt styles that would not normally use a conductor.  (ie: bluegrass, jazz, rock)  Here, I just find it odd to conduct these styles in the same way I would conduct a more classical piece.  Again, if it wouldn't happen in the original concert hall setting, I wouldn't do it in the orchestral setting when we are imitating the other style.  At least not continuously.

Music with a heavy back-beat: The idea here is that if a section of the ensemble is providing back-beat, then I would encourage the ensemble to listen to and react to that for tempo and pulse.  No, to be clear, I (the conductor) might be working to be sure that the section providing the back-beat is together and steady.  But, that probably doesn't involve simply beating time.

Music that is essentially chamber music:  This again gets to the idea of being authentic with your performance.  If a string ensemble is playing a work that was originally a string quartet or trio, perhaps it doesn't need a conductor beating time throughout the performance.  Is this an opportunity for you (the conductor) to pick up and instrument and lead with an instrument in your hands?

Think: Authentic.   If the style would not use a conductor in it's original form, it probably doesn't need a conductor in the orchestral form.   It also comes down to listening purposefully. Musicians need to know when to look to the conductor for meaningful information as opposed to when to listen for meaningful information from other members of the ensemble . Similarly, they need to know when they are giving them information as well.   I sometimes called this knowing when you are the teacher or when you are the student. Everyone plays the role of teacher at some point in a performance. Sometimes it's the conductor. Sometimes it's the first violins. Sometimes it's the celli. Sometimes it's the violas or 2nd violins.  It is a very empowering concept.

I took a minute to look up "conductorless orchestra" on the web and really didn't find too much.  Here is the Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conductorless_orchestra
Also, here is a great conductorless ensemble: http://afarcry.org/



In the end, it comes down to the condutor providing meaningful information at all times.  If the information that you are giving isn't needed, then find something to give that IS needed. Always think about what you are doing and how that visual information is enhancing the ensemble's task and performance.

Peace.

Scott

Immersive Experience

This past weekend was a busy one at the North Carolina School of Science and Math. We had a number of performances and the weekend finished up with the magnificent lecture by our current featured guest visual artist, Heather Gordon.

Heather Gordon is a magnificent, scholarly visual artist who's work centers around complex origami patterns based on a variety of data sets. Her lecture last night served to explain her current installation at NCSSM entitled "Elements." Her work centers around the concept of alchemy and features 4 large works which are made out of tape on two dimensional wall surfaces. They are titled, "Sun," "Moon," "Sulfur," and "Mercury." She explained the significance of these 4  "elements" as part of her lecture and went on to describe her creative process and the highly sophisticated mathematical equations that are required to complete this type of work.  The artwork is simply magnificent and inspires me every day when I walked into the building at the school. 

As part of her lecture, she introduced a couple of concepts that I can't stop thinking about today.  One is that "ideas + material =  transformation." The other is her commitment to what she referred to as "Immersive  Installation."  That is, that the consumer of her art is immersed in art. They are literally inside the art. This is achieved by creating an actual space that the consumer walks into. Obviously this requires large spaces and large artwork. The installation at ncssm is an example of this very thing. When viewing this exhibit, the consumer is literally in the middle of Sulphur, Mercury, Sun, and Moon.  The experience of being immersed in this exhibit is quite powerful. I was moved by her explanation and commitment to the immersive art experience.  (There is a great deal more to the implied metaphor here. I will stop short of explaining all of it now. But, if you are interested in it, there is much to learn about alchemy on the all powerful Google machine.)

Stay with me now as I draw a strong connection between these ideas and my experience of preparing for an orchestra performance and performing as part of an orchestra.

This past weekend, my Orchestra performed Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony, No. 41. As we came to the end of the final movement, I found myself disappointed that the process was over. My students had been immersed in and in preparation for this performance for the past 3 months. To see it come to an end is certainly part of the process. Albeit, a somewhat melancholy aspect of the process.

As part of her lecture, Heather talked about the process of taking down her installations. She pulls this copious amount of tape off the walls of the exhibit space. Someone asked her what that process of tearing down the exhibit is like. Her response was,  "Well, at the end I have a big ball of tape." And that too is part of the artwork. It's part of the immersive experience.

This is not unlike the final release of the final note of a great musical work. In the end we have our memory of the experience. We have a "huge ball of tape," one that will last and stay with us forever in our memory and in our heart.

Another event of the past weekend was the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Southeast Honors String Festival. My youngest son, who is 15, participated in the ensemble as a string bassist. Now, it is important to know that his primary passion is not the string bass. Nor is it orchestra music. His primary passion is baseball. Given the opportunity to choose to do anything with his day, he would prefer to be on the baseball field. I love that about him. He is passionate about his sport and all of his activities. But, this weekend he was a bassist in a wonderful Honors Orchestra conducted by my dear friend Alex Jimenez from Florida State University. The concert was magnificent. They played works by Hovhaness, Kirk Mosier, and C. Armstrong Gibbs. On our way home from the performance, I was able to articulate to my son how important it is that he participate in this kind of activity. He, in fact, had the opportunity to be immersed in an artistic work. As a bassist he was part of the ensemble that created this incredibly beautiful sound. Sometimes that is lost on our students. The aesthetic opportunity to be immersed in a large ensemble making beautiful sounds is rare. Not everyone gets the opportunity to do this. I'm so happy that he has been exposed to these ideas and the materials and has this opportunity for transformation.  He will be a more complete human (husband, father, partner, teammate, friend) for having experienced this.

Which brings me back to that phrase, "Ideas + Materials = Transformation." Many of you know that I've been involved in KidzNotes, an El Sistema USA program in Durham, NC. This is a classic example of this concept of ideas plus materials equal transformation. Through the generous support of individual donors, kids notes provides both the materials and the ideas for underserved children in the area to be transformed. We have seen over and over that families and individuals, through the infusion of classical music and opportunities to experience and create art, are transformed.

Teachers do this every day. I think of my many colleagues around the United States who are providing ideas and materials to so many students who would otherwise not have the opportunity to participate in ensemble music. They are all experiencing the immersive art of the orchestral experience on a daily basis. They don't always realize this rare opportunity in the moment. But, as they move on to various careers, cities, family obligations, and environments, they will look back on their school orchestral experience as a transformative time in their life. I have seen it time and time again.

So today, I share with you these two phrases: the concept of "Immersive Installations and "Ideas + Materials = Transformation." I encourage you to consider these today and never lose sight of the fact that we are instruments of transformation in the lives of our students.

Peace.

Scott

Functional String Improvisation

Several months ago, my friend Chris Selby, at the Charleston County School for the Arts in Charleston South Carolina, invited me to come to his school to give a weekend seminar on string improvisation. I was hesitant to accept his invitation at first because, as many of you know , I am not really a jazz educator in any way. I am an improvising violinist and a string educator. But, I really haven't taught a great deal of improvisation over the years. Nor, am I an expert in jazz or even formally trained in improv.  My improvising skill and style is much more self-taught and from the school of hard knocks.  So, I really wasn't sure if I wanted to tackle the daunting task of a weekend seminar explaining and teaching my approach to improvisation.

With that in mind, I thought for a while about my values in teaching and decided that if I could come up with a systematic, sequential system that outlined my journey as an improviser, I may be able to give the students something that would be useful and practical. I began putting my thoughts together and as a result of some discussions with Chris and with my wife I came up with the title, "Functional String Improvisation" for the weekend. This notion of being functional is very important to me. I am so aware that I am not a jazz performer nor an expert improviser. But, I am a functional violinist. I am able to go into almost any performing situation and provide something that is interesting, stylistically appropriate, musical, and enjoyable. I am as comfortable playing over chord changes in a recording studio as I am playing in the middle of a violin section of an orchestra.

So, here is the system that I articulated that weekend.  It is my approach.  It is an articulation of my journey and experience.  I don't hold it up as the gold standard, but I know that it has worked for me.  Working on and developing these concepts and skills has helped me to become the improviser that I am today.  This is all built on time, practice and experience.  The system is effective, but practice and repetition is the key.

I am providing my outline and annotations here.  My hope is that other string teachers may find something here that resonates with them and begin the journey for themselves.  Or, if already on that journey, find a different twist or approach.

FUNCTIONAL STRING IMPROVISATION
with
SCOTT LAIRD

Basics of Functional Musicianship

• There is no substitute for core technique and tone
• Functional String improvisation is a combination of the following:
• Functional/Applied Music Theory
• Internalized concepts of harmony, chord tones, and voice leading
• Listening
• Understanding the function or role you are playing at any given moment in the tune
• Imagination
• Practice!

Skills to Develop:

Free Improv and musical conversation

• Listen and respond/react
• “Yes, and…”

This skill encourages the musician to play without fear of wrong notes. There ARE no wrong notes in free improv.  This is an opportunity to take chances, listen and respond at any level. Players can be rhythmic or a-rhythmic, tonal or atonal, the same or different, and the list goes on. This is the time to get comfortable without the notes in front of you.  I also like to discuss that idea of "Yes, and.." from the improv world of theater.  The idea is that you never deny an idea. Rather the only response is, "Yes, and..."

Imitation (learning by ear) and playing with radio (15 minutes)

• Listen to the tune. Identify and imitate the various voices
• How do you imitate guitar, snare, bass, vocals, lead guitar

This, too, is an opportunity to get away from the written page.  I loved listening to my son spend hours in my studio with Pandora on and just playing along on his bass guitar.  That is how it is done.  You just have to be willing to spend the time.   This is a great way to learn keys, hand positions, cool licks, and ideas in songs.  The player can imitate all of the instruments (drums included).  When I was a kid, my parents would get mad at me when I was in my room "practicing" and playing with the radio.  I was supposed to be playing my classical rep.  Little did they know that this was a really good use of my time!!  Oh how times have changed!

Major and Minor scales in first position,

• scale patterns 3rds, 4ths, etc
• Alternate ideas on scales, jumps
• Pentatonic scale
• Shapes (finger patterns) - thinking like a guitar player

I really believe in making etudes out of scales.  Put on a drum beat and make them fun.  I also strongly believe in playing all of the major and minor scales in first position - all the way from the lowest possible not in the key to the highest possible note without changing positions.  This really establishes all of the possible scale "patterns" that are necessary for quickly and functionally performing in all keys.

Diatonic Harmony

• Triads - know your 3rds and 5ths (7ths too!)
• Patterns
• Key
• Playing pads (whole notes)
• (Extreme ranges)
• 3rds and 7ths

This is  where the hard work begins.  It is where your functional understanding of music theory and harmony intersects with your playing.  The player must develop the skill of thinking on their toes.  Can they name and play the triads?  Can they find the 3rd and 7th for any chord?  I think this where many would-be improvisers get hung up.  It is easier to think melodically as a string player.  We do THAT all the time.  Be persistent and don't give up.

Bass lines -

• Roots
• Riffs

I played bass in bands as a kid.  I feel like this skill has served me well over the years.  Playing bass lines is a whole different feel and idea than focusing on melody.  Listen to bass lines on the radio.  Imitate them. Practice playing them on violin, viola or cello.  It is really fun.  And, it takes you another step in the journey to becoming a functional improviser.

Melody vs Off melody

• Does the range blend with or cut through ensemble appropriately?

This is really important in my opinion.  Where is there space for notes in the tune?  Are you the primary melodic voice?  Or are you a secondary voice?  Listen to songs you like. Listen for the melody and for other voices that are responding to the melody.  Then, play over songs where you are the melody, then respond to the melody instead.  I use this skill all the time when accompanying in church and creating parts for singer/songwriters.

Rhythm

• Importance of 2 and 4
• Chops
• Chords
• Strum bowing

This is where classically trained players can be a little square.  Listen to popular music.  Listen to the snare drum.  Where is the weight of the pulse?  Usually on 2 and 4.  We need to get aware of this and try to imitate it.  There are numerous times that the string player provides a rhythmic role in a band.  What should you do?  

Blues patterns

• Check out Blues back-tracks in various on Youtube.
• Listen to blues artists and imitate them.  Play along a ton!

Every kid that learns the guitar in the garage starts here.  We need to spend some time on it. Listen. Imitate. Repeat.

Interpreting a lead sheet (the thought process)

• Slightly modify the melody 
• Think “Theme and Variations”
• Build the piece dynamically

This is a skill that must be developed. It takes time. But all of the above skills will get you into the right ballpark.

The Art of Listening

There is no substitute for listening with purpose.  Think about the things you are hearing.  Think about the function of every voice that you hear in the tune.  

So, there you have it.  Let me know what you think.  And, good luck with your journey to improvisation.  It is so much fun to be able to express yourself without notes in front of you.  But, remember, it takes time.  So, get to work!

Peace.
Scott

By the way, if you are really ready to dive into the world of creative strings and improvisation and want some individualized training, I highly recommend attending Christian Howes' Creative Strings Workshop as part of your summer professional development.  He's the best.  Hands down.  My son will be attending this summer.  I don't give a higher endorsement.

Harmonic Underpinning

Those of you that know me and my pedagogy, are aware that I'm a firm believer in utilizing harmonic underpinning while teaching melodic instruments and concepts. That is, providing some context for melodic line when teaching parts in the orchestra or in private lessons. I really believe that everything makes more sense when there is a chord progression behind or underneath the melodic line.

This week in Interlochen's Intermediate Concert Orchestra, we do not have the privilege of having a student bass player.  We will have a faculty and staff bassist for the concert, but not until the dress rehearsal.  So, we are working with an incomplete voicing in the orchestra and I have noticed that there has been a great deal of difficulty in truly tuning from bottom to top in all of our repertoire. So, today I asked my stage services staff member to set up a piano in the front of the orchestra. Throughout today's rehearsal I played bass lines and chord progressions as best I could, accompanying all of the pieces that we are working on.

Wow! What a transformation in the orchestra. I was reminded yet again that harmonic underpinning is so important for true musical understanding and learning. Quickly, everyone in the orchestra was tuning in a much more meaningful, informed manner. I had to step back and asked myself, "Would we be better off having this harmonic reference right from the beginning of the rehearsal process?" I am sure that many orchestras use an accompanist throughout a concert cycle to help with this very issue. That is not something that I typically do, but today I am really convinced that it paid huge dividends in this orchestra.

This can be done either by realizing chord progressions on the piano or on another chord playing instrument like guitar, mandolin, and others. I realize that this isn't rocket science. But, it is always good to be reminded. I'm reminded of when my children were younger and studying violin repertoire. I would frequently play piano or pick up my guitar and play along with them. Or, other days I would pick up the bass and create a bass line while they were playing the melodies of the pieces . I have particularly fond memories of performing the Monti Czardas with my oldest son, Matt. I played guitar and he played violin. We did something similar with both of the Vivaldi A minor Concerto movements that are found in the Suzuki Book 4.

All of this goes to encouraging the student to hear the function of every note of a melody. Is the note a chord tone? Is the note a passing tone? Is the cord a tonic? Is it a dominant? Or is it something else? When a student hears a secondary dominant progression on the guitar or piano common, suddenly those accidentals make a lot more sense.

I know this is a quick one but I just had to get this off my chest tonight. It was a great rehearsal and I can't wait for tomorrow!

Peace.

Scott