Let Go of the Ball!

Let Go of the Ball!

Sometimes, directors and band leaders can get so comfortable with leading a group, that they never allow another band member to experience the thrill of leading an ensemble. I would often select one of the members to direct, while I grabbed in instrument or stood in the vocal ensemble. There are many benefits to adopting this in your rehearsal routine.

This gives your members a 'first hand" taste of what it's like to be the director. This might inspire a musician to explore the possibility of becoming a director someday. It also gives them a chance to see that directing a group isn't as easy is it may seem.

What it will do for you is to get a member's perspective on what they are actually seeing when they are watching you.

Another benefit to allowing someone else to lead your ensemble is that it will afford you to walk around the room or concert hall and actually hear what the audience will be hearing to adjust the musical balance.

good gigging!

Larry Marra

www.musicteachers911.com

quick fix for a tight sound.

Today I was asked to conduct the University of Dayton swing band.

Due to this deep Ohio snow, several members were absent. Many of the horn chairs were empty. The members sat in their usual seat and we began to rehearse.

Not a minute went my when I just HAD to stop them.

You aren't playing together!

(Then I got an idea)

"Everybody, pick up your music and slide towards the middle chairs" Then, I had the drummer get up from the extreme left of the stage and bring a maraca right in the middle of the horns.

At once, the band played together as one sound.

Then I remembered last December at the Officer's Club, when I had to play piano with am 18 piece big band on the tiniest stage you have ever seen. To make matters worse, (or better) I was playing a nine foot grand piano that took almost half the available space!

The result?

The band never sounded tighter! The horns literally had there arms overlapping each other, but boy, was it worth it!

so, next time your group isn't playing musically together, put them closer together.

good gigging!

Music education and child development

There are many positive health benefits for children to be actively involved in learning and playing music. In a recent major study from the U.S. Department of Education involving more than 25,000 secondary school students, researchers found that students who report consistent high levels of involvement in instrumental music over the middle and high school years show "significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by grade 12, regardless of students' socioeconomic status.

Music education also makes for better academic achievement in the area of science, as well as enhancing spatial intelligence. Numerous studies consistently state that involvement in an organized music program can be a compelling solution to teen violence. Medical research has discovered that music and language are processed in the same area of the brain. Children who develop playing an instrument often times have a greater language capacity to work out peaceful differences with their peers.

Music Education Online recently reports that: “students with coursework/experience in music performance and music appreciation scored higher on the SAT: students in music performance scored 57 points higher on the verbal and 41 points higher on the math, and students in music appreciation scored 63 points higher on verbal and 44 points higher on the math, than did students with no arts participation.”

So if you are looking for a fun way to improve you child’s academic and social skills, their school’s local music program is a great place to start.

How loud is loud?

Every ask yourself, "How loud is loud"?

The volume level for a passage marked, "Forte" depends on many factors. If the passage is the melody, I tend to play louder than if my passage is a supporting harmonic note or descant. Moving parts tend to be emphasized over the other parts to maintain the interest of the listener no matter what the arranger marked on the page. My "loud is louder if the ensemble is larger, the room is larger, the hall is crowded, the background level of the ambient noise is noticeable.

Case in point:

I was directing a local college jazz band last week. I was rehearsing the chart, "My Funny Valentine". One passage was a solo flugelhorn playing the melody over six saxophones playing a half-note harmonic background. The melody was in the lower range of the flugelhorn and was meant to be played breathy and smokey. The saxes really covered it up.

When I advised the saxes to lighten up, they informed me that their passage was marked forte. I informed them that the arranger had no idea what the size or skill level of the players would be and that the dynamic marking was his best estimate at a god overall balance. The chart is a "rough draft" of the finished performance with the director being the real-time editor for the best interpretation.

bottom line?

Constantly adjust your volume level to match what is happening musically around you. The composer or arranger isn't in the room with you to mark the proper volume of a passage to be played in that room with that ensemble.

So, How loud is loud?

It depends!

Good Gigging

Larry Marra

www.musicteachers911.com

Be sure to subscribe to the musicteachers podcast free from the iTunes store.

Get out of the Way!!

Today, I would like to challenge you to consider a fresh new perspective on how your music is created.

When a band or choir is improvising a song, they create an ever-evolving "real-time" energy that takes on a musical life of it's own. The way in which voices and instruments "discuss" and "dialogue" using various tone colors can become extremely intricate and , all too often, very busy.

Today, I would like to invite you to become more aware of your role in these "musical conversations".

Are you hogging the stage by overplaying? Are you allowing the other instruments to "have their say"? Remember that a conversation involves listening as much as speaking. Even if you are playing a solo, are you taking time to breathe and create effective pauses between your phrasings?

One glaring mistake I see with new musicians is that they tend to overplay as much as possible.

They either run over someone else's musical contribution, or emote such a flurry of notes during their own solos, that each individual note loses it's effectiveness.

Consider this the next time you are "sitting in" with a band or vocal ensemble". Will the entire stage go suddenly silent if you just stop playing to get out of their way? I seriously doubt it. Take time to listen so that your voice will enhance and not distract the overall message of the song.

Lately I have been making puzzles with my five year old daughter. Occasionally, I see her trying to force a puzzle piece into a space in which it was not designed. No amount of pressure will make the complete picture" unless each piece is placed where it was created. Make sure your music piece is competed with every voice being the right size and shape to make the finished product pleasing to the ear.

In kindergarten we are taught to to: listen when others are speaking.

This is good advice onstage as well as the classroom.

Tonight I am performing the piano in with a 10 piece jazz band which also includes a very accomplished guitarist. My goal is to enhance and uplift the other musicians so that the overall sound is the right texture and complexity. Since the guitar and piano have very similar roles the in band, I will encourage the guitarist to work with me to ebb and flow the rhythm duties in a conversation way.

Let's hope the guitarist learned this in Kindergarten as well.

Good Gigging!

Larry Marra

musicteachers911.com

A musical New Year's resolution

Good news about Singing

What if you could find a medical treatment that could enhance your feeling of well-being, reduce your pain, prolong your life, have no adverse side effects, yet is absolutely free? You’ll be happy to know that this miracle treatment does exist. It’s called singing.

The very act of singing lowers heart rate, decreases blood pressure, and reduces stress. One medical reason is that singing seems to block many neural pathways in which pain travels.

If you are self conscience about the quality of your voice, there is always the shower (or car) you can use as you very own private concert hall. Another viable solution is to join a choral group. This would not only involve all the the health benefits of singing, but also provide many emotional benefits such as belonging to a social network of caring and supportive people. There are many wonderful church and community choral groups around this area always looking for new members. Many studies have shown that belonging to a vocal choral group will result in fewer medical visits, better overall vision, and a need for less medication. Repetitive church songs often provide the same spiritual benefits as intense meditational prayer.

Learning how to sing under a skilled director will also increase brain function and stimulate many new neural pathways thus improving mental acuity. Some doctors even feel that this would be an excellent tool to lesson the gradual effects of dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.

Lastly, singing in a group will increase lung capacity, help relieve asthma symptoms, improve posture, and enhance confidence. So, the next time your favorite song comes on the radio, or you hear of a group that is looking for new recruits, how about doing something for your body mind and Spirit. SING! With this being the start of another year, it is a great time to make singing a part of your New Year's resolution.

Ten minutes till SHOW-TIME!

I have a quick, "ten minute 'till show-time" routine that I thought might be of interest for those of you who are directing or performing on stage.

1. Do I need to visit the restroom?

2. Is my cell phone on vibrate?

3. Is my music in order?

4. Are all the repeats, key and meter changes highlighted?

5. Can I see the director?

If you are directing, this might be a good idea to remind your performers of these.

good gigging!

Larry Marra

www.musicteachers911.com

(Be sure to listen to podcast, musicteachers911, available free from the iTunes store)

It was all the keyboard's deFAULT!

Last night, I went to a local jazz club to hear a friend play with his nine piece combo. I was also hoping that I could even get in a little swing dancing.

I had barely got through the door when I was warmly greeted by him and the band. OK, maybe a little TOO warmly. Seems that the pianist never showed up, and they were hoping that I would sit in with them on a keyboard that was kept at the club.

Since I was there anyway and genuinely love playing with good bands, I agreed. I had never heard of the brand or model of the keyboard, so I turned the volume down and touched a key.

Yup, sounds like a piano to me. Show time!

Everything was going smoothly for about the first 20 minutes. Then something happened.

I am not sure how, but I guess I must have been watching the music more than the keys. I am guessing that I overshot the keys and unintentionally touched a control button on the programming pad. All of the sudden, the keyboard sounded very strange. The best way to describe it is to say that it sounded like the background track of an old science fiction movie!

OK, we're in the middle of a song, I have a solo coming up in about 30 seconds and I need to get this puppy back to sounding like a piano ASAP!

Luckily, this was not my first rodeo. Years of experience has taught me that most keyboards default to a piano sound when they are first turned on. I frantically looked for a power button and pressed it twice.

After about three seconds, it was back to the default piano setting just in time for the piano solo.

Even though it was my fault, it was the keyboard's default that save me.

good gigging!

Larry Marra

www.musicteachers911.com

Got a minute?

This post is so bizarre, I still can't believe it even as I am writing.....

Yesterday, I was to play piano with an eight piece band for a live Christian Radio Show at our local Shopping Center. We were instructed by the band leader to arrive and be ready for a 30 minute rehearsal at 4 PM since we go "live" at 4:30.

I arrived at 3:50 with my keyboard. I play this show every month, so I was very confident that the radio engineer would get me up and running in about 2 minutes. (He did) Thank Heavens for qualified sound guys!

The bass player wasn't there at 4. I programed the keyboard to spilt keys. This makes the lower keys sound like an electric bass and the upper keys sound like a piano. Rehearsal went very nicely, and the bumper and spot music sounded great. The vocal soloist was very pleased. The sound guy boosted my bass EQ, so that the bass keys sounded nice and full.

When doing radio and TV, one eye is always on the music and director, the other is on the Radio Producer. When the producer holds up 10 fingers, it means that the show is going "live" in 10 minutes. Five fingers mean five minutes left, etc.

After the producer held up the "One minute until "live" signal, the bass player walks in! He plugs in, turns to me, and asks, "What did I miss?"

There is absolutely no way that I can tell him every cut and vamp for an hour show in less than a minute. I told him that I would do my best to walk him through the show. I de-selected the split keyboard function to make the entire keyboard a piano tone again.

The producer points to the show host and the director counts us off. It only took one note to discover that the bass guitar was horribly OUT OF TUNE! He also had the wrong song up. For the next hour, despite my coaching, I don't think he played a single line correctly.

Normally, I don't play the lower keys when a bass player is there. But extreme cases call for extreme measures. The special guest vocalist this month is a friend, so I decided to drown out the bass part and make sure that he had a good background in which to sing.

When the show was over, the drummer leaned over to me and said, "Nice Save". The director was also very pleased with the show. He never questioned why the piano was playing the lower keys with and bass player there. He also never asked me how the bass player did, so I didn't volunteer any observations concerning the bass parts.

As I started to pack up, the bass player turns to me and asks, "so when do we get paid?"

I smiled and said, "You'll have to take that up with the director".

good gigging!

Larry Marra

www.musicteachers911.com

Lights, camera, mixer mania!

Lights, camera, mixer mania!

While performing at a church as their musical guest Sunday morning,

our gospel group learned at the last minute that our sound engineer wasn't going to be there.

The music minister kindly offered the services of their light and video person to fill in on our 24 channel soundboard.

What seemed like a good idea at the time suddenly turned horribly wrong.

Here are the gruesome details...

Light and video people are used to constantly

changing the settings on the light board to keep the visual interest of the listeners.

They know that keeping a certain light setting on the stage too long can get boring quickly.

A good light technician will gradually change stage light settings about every three seconds.

(When I was playing larger venues, We also included a fog machine and flash pots.)

A sound technician does just the opposite. If the group is well balanced, the best thing to do is to

leave the board well enough alone. Adjusting the sound quality too often will distract from the song

and finally become annoying.

As you might have guessed, the performance was wrought with ear-splitting hums and squeals of feedback

constantly throughout the show.

Solos weren't heard, and lyrics were buried under backing instruments.

Solution?

1. Check with everyone the night before and make sure they can be there.

2. Sit out the first number and balance the sound myself as close as possible.

Then try and balance my instrument as best I can.

if you want something done right?

Larry Marra

www.musicteachers911.com