Where there's smoke there's FIRE

My buddy is a fireman and not just ANY fireman. He is a Battalion Chief for a major city fire department. In other words, when it comes to knowing about stuff that burns and what to do about it, he is as good of a source as there is. Well, him and Wikipedia. But Wikipedia won’t have a frosty beverage with me, so I went to him with my question.

So I asked, "What are the three most important things for a fireman to know to keep from getting burned?"

His response was eloquent in its simplicity and brevity.

"Stay low. Remember that you and your gear are not fireproof. And don't let fire get behind you.”
 
When he asked why I wanted to know, I explained that lately I have been talking to a lot of teachers who are getting burned out and I wanted to know how the professionals handled it. I was curious if there would be any correlation with how a fireman might keep from getting burned and how a music teacher might keep from getting burned out. And, I think there is. Let’s look at his advice.

Stay low: Some things are worth fighting for and some things are not worth the fight. I remember him once saying to me, “We will do what is extraordinary to save a person, what’s possible to save an animal, and what’s reasonable to save a thing.”  I think the standard should be similar for music teachers. Be extraordinary for students, do what’s possible for the drummers (see what I did there?) and do what’s reasonable for your building and belongings.   

Remember that you and your gear are not fireproof: Whether you are a first year teacher or a thirty year vet, you are susceptible to burn out. A seemingly perfect year can be followed by a four alarm crisis of a year. Getting burned out is an occupational hazard and you’re not Superman.  In order to save yourself in this profession you have to wear the right gear (have thicker skin), work as a team (connect with your colleagues), and understand that NOTHING is more important than your physical and emotional health.

Don’t let the fire get behind you: By the time you see and feel the effects of burnout, you are already in some serious trouble. Look for warning signs before they erupt into something bigger. Angst, anger, and irritability are signs that the burnout fire is close, so be cautious and respond immediately: take a day off, eat lunch off campus, call a friend, put on your favorite song, go home early, start rehearsal with a joke, bring your dog to work, etc.  When danger is close, it’s time to change course or run the risk of getting burned.

Keep in mind that by and large, your worst day on a podium is better than your best day in a cubicle, so be diligent in maintaining your personal and professional health. Don’t take my word for it, take my buddy's because he is an expert! Heck, if you asked me for my advice it would be something like this…  RRRRRUUUUNNNNNN!

Yes, its true that twelve years ago I ran from MY burning building… But I have been trying to run back into YOURS ever since.

Maybe I should have been a fireman.
 
Have a GREAT week and good luck at your competitions this week.

Crescendo through it!

Based on the flood of email in my inbox and my full voicemail box, it is THAT time of year.

October is the hardest part of the marching band season! It’s when most groups plateau and cease to improve. Sure, they may learn more drill and music but it rarely is cleaner or better executed than it was in September. Keep in mind, more does not necessarily mean better.
 
The problem is not the music or drill, it’s the rehearsal behaviors used to learn them. By now, many groups have settled into rehearsal attitudes that place comfort and convenience ahead of commitment and character. The students are present each and every day but not FULLY engaged or committed to the rehearsal process. The rehearsals are more of a “walk-through” than a “run-through.”

You can’t really blame the kids. After almost four months of grinding it out, the magic is gone.
To that end, I would always talk to my students about the October plateau and "crescendoing" through whatever they do. I explained that with each and every passing minute we needed to raise our expectations for excellence and match it with our level of effort and energy. We called October our crescendo month in which we would:

• Expect to work harder at the end of the rehearsal rather than the beginning
• Expect to work harder on Wednesday than on Tuesday
• Expect to work harder in the second week of the month than the first
• Expect to work harder in November than they did in October

The process of teaching students to push through discomfort and fatigue is not an easy one.  May I suggest breaking rehearsals into thirds and take just a few seconds at the end of each third to ask them to rate their individual/ensemble rehearsal work ethic? Ask them to set a goal for the next third. Repeat this activity at the end of each third of rehearsal. Slowly but surely they will come to understand that the greatest opportunity for growth comes when it is least convenient. This is a lesson that does not end on the practice field and will continue to serve them throughout life.

Many of my former students still remind me that they are "crescendoing" through life.

That's a wrap!

Speaking of crescendoing through things… Right on the heels of our release of Be Part of the Orchestra we went right back to work with the intent of “raising the bar” ourselves. This past week we spent three days at Broken Arrow High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma shooting video for Stay in Music!, which aims to retain middle school students in music (band/choir/orchestra) as they transition to high school.
 
With three light kits, two HDR cameras, wired and wireless sound packs, a motion stabilizer rig, and a drone, we may have exceeded our luggage limit BUT IT WAS WORTH IT! We could not have been more pleased with what we were able to accomplish and capture on film.
 
Now the real work begins as we begin the post production work of editing, document prep, graphics development, packaging, duplication, and distribution. We are well under way and on target for a December release, just in time for your January recruiting blitz.

Our deepest thanks to our friends at Broken Arrow High School and our sponsors (listed below) for helping to make this project possible.

Have a great week everyone!
 

Playing hookey in NYC!

Look, were friends right?  I can be honest with you and you won’t judge me, right?

Okay, then I can tell you that it’s Tuesday night, and I have not give this week's newsletter one tiny thought. No, really, I haven't.

WAIT… Don’t get mad! You know you’re important to me. I mean, I am there for you every week... right?  Good times and bad, happy times and sad, Friday night games and… well, no, I’m not there for you then.
 
This week I had to make a multi-day trip to New York City for some workshops and meetings. It just so happened to coincide with my kids' fall break. My wife, in all her wisdom said, “You should take Brayden (my 10 year old son) with you."

What has ensued has been five of the most fun days of my life. Truly, it has been spectacular!

At times, my job requires me to be with all of you when Brayden would like me to be with him. So I think you can understand when I say that today, when I am supposed to be with you, I am going to spend it with him.

I promise to be back next week with something extra pithy and poignant, but for now, we’re going to go jump the subway to Times Square and catch Finding Neverland.

Who knew playing hookey would be so much fun?!

Have a great week!

Commas and the Punctuation Police

My name is Scott... (awkward pause)

(support group responds HI SCOTT!)

It’s been two seconds since I used my last comma… I think I have a problem.

Whew, that felt good to get off my chest.

My editor calls me the "Comma King." She accuses me of throwing more commas around than Trump's throws insults towards women. In fact, she has rationed my comma allotment for this newsletter and says she will only raise it when I learn to use them responsibly.

Apparently, I am a repeat comma offender and I am headed for punctuation prison! I can live with this as long as they keep me far away from the emoji users… those people are just weird. 

Yes, I am a “commie,” (a phrase us comma people use). It's a badge I wear proudly.

I embrace my comma-ness and encourage others to join me in all things comma related. In fact, I may start a comma support group! Why not? After all, commas are free and serve an important purpose. They remind us to pause, take a breath and reflect. They serve notice that something important has been said and must be understood before moving on. The comma helps us to know that what has been said previously, might differ from what is being said down the road.

The comma does not yell like the exclamation point and has far more conviction than the questions mark. The semi-colon?  Please... no one even knows what that little twerp does. We all know the semi-colon eats lunch alone in the punctuation cafeteria, while it’s older brother the colon, pretends it doesn’t even exist.

Yes, as far as I can tell, the comma is king! Not convinced, well then, check this out!

As a music teacher, from the moment you wake (far too early), to the moment your head hits the pillow (far too late), your day is PACKED with demands that few people outside of music education will understand. You have 53 minutes of every hour accounted for and the unparalleled pressures of being responsible for hundreds of kids and hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment. With each additional year, the demands grow greater while the time allotment remains stagnant at best and dwindling at worst. Through it all, there is rarely time for anything other than work, work, work!

Consider my Wednesday missives as your weekly comma, a reminder to pause and reflect before moving on. These emails are a chance to talk about something important and understand that what I share next week might differ from and have no connection to what I share this week. If nothing else, let this invasion into your inbox remind you to stop and pause for just one moment.

So before you delete this email (most of you already have), take a minute to stop, think, and breathe. Then forward this on to someone who needs to join our support group.

This is my mission. This is my purpose. This is my role, and I enjoy doing it, because I am a commie!

Thanks for what YOU do!

p.s. Our support meetings are every Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. E.S.T.  Feel free to join us, any time.

*  This newsletter has not been edited for commas at the request of the Comma King.

True Colors and your True Conductor

Listen, I know that all of you are still struggling with the Google font change and Kanye West jumping into the 2020 Presidential Campaign, but let’s see if we can set that aside and talk about something really important… YOU!

For any of you who have taken a “personality test” (Meyers/Briggs, True Colors, etc.) you know that they can be almost as much fun as they are informative. They help to provide you, and the people you share the information with, a window into the way your mind thinks and why you act and operate the way you do.
 
My wife was a guidance counselor and FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) teacher for twenty years and regularly used the True Colors test as a way of getting to know her students and helping them to get to know themselves. We all possess some element of all of the colors but have dominant colors that play a greater role in the way we work and play.
 
If you are interested in taking the test, click here, but if you are just interested in the synopsis, read below. Just for fun (having done no empirical research) I added some composers to the color spectrum to make it more musically interesting. The color analysis is based on materials from the True Colors website.

Leonard Bernstein (Orange): Bernstein was ACTIVE, DARING and EXCITING! Anyone who ever saw him conduct or heard one of his compositions would be hard pressed to come to any other conclusion. He represented energy, potency, power, and strength. Bernstein was the expression of vital force and nervous activity. He needed to achieve results, to win, and to be successful. He desired all things that offer intense living and full experience.

John Phillip Sousa (Gold): Sousa was RESPONSIBLE, LOYAL, and CONVENTIONAL. The structure of his music and years of service as the conductor of The Marine Band speaks to a sensibility appreciated structure and organization. Sousa fulfilled duties and obligations and enjoy being organized, structured, and having things put together. As a composer and business man he was practical, sensible, and always prepared. A “Sousa” believesthat people should earn their way in life through work and service to others.    

William Revelli (Green): Revelli was INVENTIVE, CONCEPTUAL and COMPLEX! He was brilliant and demanding and had little time for those who did not understand the importance of music and excellence. He operated with persistence and determination unlike any other. He valued intellect and musical capabilities above other attributes.  He was smart, capable, and valued being challenged intellectually. He understood both the theory behind a contract and the musical pedagogy required to achieve it.

Frederick Fennell (Blue): Fennell was COMPASSIONATE, POETIC, and DRAMATIC. Fennell packed as much intuitive feeling into each phrase as there was energy packed into his diminutive frame. In rehearsal, he was exciting but represented calm, tranquility, and contentment. He understood and valued balance and harmony both in music and in life. He was loyal, musically vulnerable, and understood the importance of belonging. He had a depth of feeling and a relaxed sensitivity that allowed him to create musical experiences that were exceptional.

Now that you have read about the four colors/composers, rank them in order of how closely they resemble you. As you sit back and reflect on your colors/composers, it might be interesting to note how your teaching style affects your ensemble, both musically and otherwise.

Despite our shared mission and similar goals of musical and personal excellence, we all set about achieving it in very different ways. This is but one of the many things that makes this profession so special. So I ask… what is your True Color and who is your True Conductor?

Have a great week!

Fantasy Football and the San Francisco Symphony

Duh Dunt Dun Duhnnnnnnnn (imagine that was the music into to Thursday Night Football). Can you see the logo? Can you smell the barbeque? Can you hear the drone of Howard Cosell’s voice? Do you remember Howard? Well, he may be gone but football is BACK!
 
Yes, the gods of the gridiron are here once more and thank goodness! The six month void of football after the Super Bowl has been torture. Seriously, if nothing else, we can finally talk about something other than “deflate gate.” Yeah, yeah… I know about baseball, but honestly, baseball only interests me in April and October, the other 135 games are lost on me.
 
Yes, I am a football fan. Flag, high school, college, NFL, I don’t care. I love it all! Heck, if anyone wants to play a little two-hand touch in the parking lot before a workshop, I’m in.

I love everything about football: the crowds, the energy, the passion, the pageantry, the big screen bliss, and most of all, THE HALFTIME SHOW! We could argue which came first, football or halftime, but that would be like arguing over which is more important, the ice cream or the cone. I love them both.

Two years ago, to up my football “fix,” I joined a fantasy league. This added a whole new dimension to my Sunday mornings as I was forced to look at player stats and individual accomplishments more than team records.

Last night was our annual draft and the room was full of bravado and trash talking. As I was contemplating my seventh round selection (defense vs. back up running back) I thought, "What if we did this for music?"  What if we had to draft a fantasy team of musicians to create an ensemble?

Who would you pick as your QB (conductor): Dudemel, Cramer, Corpron? Who would you pick as your starting running back (soloist): Marsalis, Martin, Sandoval? Who would be your defense (Brass): the CSO, SFO, or Canadian Brass? Who would you choose for offense (Woodwinds): San Francisco, London Philharmonic, New York Met? Who would call your plays (composer): Holst, Saucedo, Mackey, McBeth? Where would your stadium be: Carnegie, Kennedy, Disney? And perhaps most important, would all of these “players” translate into a team?
 
Yes, your job is to teach the woodwinds and coach the brass. Yes, your job is to clean the drill and shape the phrase. More than anything though, your job is to take the players you have and build a team. Team’s win championships. Superstars? Well, they only count in fantasy land.

Have a great week and Go Bills! This is going to be our year!

Power, influence, and thought leaders...

Long late night flights and my inability to sleep in moving vehicles gives me ample opportunity for my mind to wander and ponder about all things music education. There is something special about traveling at night.  Seeing the lights below and moon lit clouds above puts me in a reflective and thoughtful mood. Last night was one such night.

While crossing over the plains of Texas and Oklahoma (at least that’s what the pilot said), I engaged myself in an internal discussion about where music education would be in the next 25 years. To that end, I made a list of the people I felt were most important in music education. It didn’t take long for me to realize that “important” was too broad, so I broke the list down to three sub categories: the powerful, the influential, and the thought leaders. It was interesting to think through all of the different areas associated with music education (instruction, industry, non-profit, advocacy, events, etc.) and curricular areas (band, choir, orchestra, general music).
 
I know that if you had asked me twelve months ago my list would be very different than it is today and I suspect it will continue to change over time.
 
My question is, who is on your list? If you are so inclined and willing, I would love it would hit “reply” or click here and share your thoughts.  Perhaps one or two names for each area?  I know you are too busy for this, but I have another long plane flight tomorrow and I need something to think about.

Like the Swallows of San Juan Capistrano…

It’s hard to believe that is has been five years since I wrote the book Leader of the Band.  Since then some things have changed for both myself and my friends that I wrote about. The one constant is my profound respect for the teachers I profiled and the impact they have had on the lives of countless children. I still consider them dear friends and continue to work with those who remain in the classroom.

This past week I was back visiting with the Saratoga orchestras and bands and their teacher extraordinaire, Michael Boitz.  What a treat it was! When it comes to being an amazing teacher and all around good guy, few people are his equal. For those of you who read the book (and those of you that did not) I thought you might enjoy meeting him in person and hearing a little bit about how he created these giant programs in the sleepy little suburb of San Jose.

 

Everything I need to know about stocks I learned in music

Yesterday’s eleven hundred point free fall of the Dow sent ripples through corporate boardrooms across America as CEOs made crucial decisions about whether to buy or sell their summer homes in the Hamptons. Uber seized the moment and decided to start up a division of ride sharing among yacht owners. Disneyland renamed Space Mountain "The Dow" and now no one will ride it.  
 
I’m no Jim Cramer, but I’m just saying, things got real yesterday.
 
Keep in mind that nothing significant happened on Sunday to trigger the events of Monday. There were no cataclysmic events or country wide collapses. Greece remained solvent while Karl Icahn and Warren Buffett took the day off. In fact, absent any other information, I can only assume it had something to do with the launch of Be Part of the Music. I promise to tell you next time before I launch a major initiative so you can clear out your 401K before I involuntarily extend your teaching career.

Through it all, unfounded fact and speculative innuendo pundits, pontificators, and Chicken Little imitators ran around screaming sell, SELL, SELL! when in fact, we know that panicking only makes it worse and further increases the free fall. In situations like these, it is best to stay the course and look for the horizon far ahead.

I’m not trying to oversimplify a complex issue but a friend of mine who works in finance always says, “It’s not about the timing in the market, it’s about the time in the market!" I feel the same way about rehearsals, it's not about your students timing, it's about them putting time in!

If today was a good day, it’s just one day.
If today was a bad day, it’s just one day.
Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are just one day!

For you and your students sake, remember, that each and every rehearsal are just one step in the long journey of a season and that each and every day are just one step in a long journey towards excellence. After all, your portfolio and your season is not defined by just one day!