In the classroom - Varied Fundamentals: In a continued effort to embrace the chaos that the end of the year brings, I try to vary the fundamental activities multiple times a week to test out new concepts for possible future use and attempt to keep kids from ‘going on auto pilot.’  

Here are a couple I’ve used recently:

• Long tone exercises based around a new tonic - try Bb or Eb instead of F for a change

• Flow studies utilizing flutter articulation - flutter a flow study at the softest volume you can control a resonant sound then after a couple of reps, return to ‘straight’ tone and see if there is a more open/resonate core to their sound

• As & Bs / Odds & Evens: break the group into two segments and have them do call and response or handoffs of phrases

Behind the scenes - Sometimes I don’t want to…

In the classroom - shuffle the delivery, but still deliver:  as the school year winds to a close, it feels like every day is a new (and disruptive) adventure.  If it isn’t STAAR, it's AP testing, field trips, or assemblies.  Couple this with the myriad of different directions we’re being pulled in behind the scenes, and it seems futile to run a typical rehearsal in the face of constantly shifting, atypical situations. 

I'm committed to delivering high-quality experiences, but on some days, I can’t maintain my normal approach and still deliver.  The only way I’ve found to not lose my sanity is to embrace the disruption and add to it. 

In the classroom - A Synthesis of Skills: As our ensembles shift focus from UIL evaluations towards the Spring Concert, we coach that this concert cycle is an opportunity for students to showcase a synthesis of skills.  With the number of distractions (from AP testing to Student Faculty Volleyball Games and everything in between), there just isn’t enough available bandwidth for us to teach them every note, rhythm, and style marking they need for the Spring Concert.  In an attempt to maintain some level of musical integrity (and dignity 😂), I hype the idea that this chaotic and fragmented approach is intentional.  I explain that we’ve utilized the last seven months helping them gather the tools necessary to achieve without hands-on attention from the staff.  This concert cycle will land much closer to the professional world.  Performers need to attend rehearsal with every detail of their parts prepared in advance.  They need to assume we’ll only get one or two reps prior to performance.  In short, they should enjoy the autonomy of this time and take extreme ownership over being performance ready without the engagement of class splits, weeks of sectionals, masterclasses, passoffs, etc.

In the classroom - Never Trust a Conductor’s Tempo on Concert Day: While I know many of you are focused on spring concerts, our ensembles are headed to the UIL evaluation this week. Performing for UIL brings several reminders to mind, but the biggest for me is, “Never trust a conductor’s tempo on concert day!”

Performance days bring a myriad of emotions and countless logistical details to a head. We’re often excited, stressed, scattered. We may have spent months preparing and rehearsing, but that doesn’t mean we know what the tempo should be today. A heightened heart rate has more than once tricked me into making poor choices from the podium, and I’ve learned to outsource tempo control. 😂

In the classroom - Watson ABCs: While I know many of you have turned to the final spring concerts, my ensemble is still working on the last few rehearsals of our UIL evaluation literature.  At this point, there are so many things going well that it is easy to get stuck in a rut of ‘Run it again.  Good…run it again.’  To avoid this, we utilize a couple of different strategies to keep ears open and the ensemble growing.  

One of my favorites was brought to me by the great Bill Watson many years ago; we just call it

In the classroom - the cost of the final 5%: I’m a big James Clear fan - if you don’t know him, his book Atomic Habits is worth checking out.  In his weekly newsletter this week (read it here), he discussed the extreme cost of perfection. He asserts that “Perfection is expensive. The last 5 percent of quality almost always costs a disproportionate amount of time and money.”  As you might guess, he goes on to discuss that most things aren’t worth the added cost to get to the end.  While probably true when discussing the cost difference between a Rolex and a Timex (kids…these are watches), the final 5% of quality is where true musicianship lives.