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The following article is by Scott Ditullio.  Scott has written a couple of articles for us before and I have asked him to become a contributing author here at mustech.net!  I welcome him into our fold and into our global conversation about music, education and technology, and look forward to many great insights and posts from Scott in the future.   The first portion of this article was originally written in June of 2007.

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Where has the time gone?  As I look back over the past twelve years, I have to stop and ask, where have all the hours gone.  The summer of 2007 marked the first true summer vacation for me.  Sounds crazy, I know, but very true!  As a high school band director, my former school was committed to participating in a summer parade (like many of you are doing), that meant teaching through June to be ready for the July 4^th Parade.  I would run rehearsals, like everyone else, a couple of times a week and then a few sectionals.  I always had the full band there, some great dedication from the kids; maybe that’s why I never worried about who was not going to be there.  The kids made everything worth it, as we have all stated it’s always about the kids and how they benefit from the programs we offer.  Not about the time we are putting in.  I remember saying many times, “Do I ever get a break?”

I’ve found many other things to occupy my time for those first years as well.  I completed a Masters of Education in 2002 (my daughter being born (2000) and then my son (2003)) and most recently the completion of my principals’ certification in the summer of 2006.  No, I guess I really do know where the time has gone!  I have also spent every summer on the baseball field, from coaching t-ball and legion baseball and umpiring baseball.  Oh yes, and don’t forget about all of the preparations for the upcoming marching band season.  (I’m still one of those crazy directors that continue to write my own shows!)  I played with a great concert band for a few summers, but at some point I realized that I just needed to be able to clear my head of music.  So baseball has been my answer.  I never realized how busy my summers have been!

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I thought I would share one of the web resources that I use to keep track of the many music related blogs that I follow.  It’s called a pagecast and it’s from http://pageflakes.com. 

You can create your own if you would like by visiting their site and signing up for a free account.  The Music, Technology and Education Pagecast is brought to you courtesy of mustech.net and has a number of great blogging and RSS resources aggregated into one web location for ease of access.

Here is a screen shot of the Music, Technology and Education Pagecast:

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On Monday we took the Grove City College Marching Wolverine Band to one of the many festivals that we attend each year.  This was not a festival that we have attended in the past.  Typically, the band heads south from GCC and attends many of the bigger Pittsburgh area festivals and marching shows.  On Monday, we headed east to the Allegheny-Clarion Valley school district.

It was great to arrive at Allegheny-Clarion High school and see the rural school setting.  It’s nestled in a valley between and among the many hills of the area.   The football field laid un-surrounded by fences, open and directly in front of the school.   As a matter of fact there weren’t any bleachers.  But, there were hundreds of people who brought their lawn chairs and sprawled out over every inch of the low rise hill on the home side of the field.

There were a number of high school bands at the festival that ranged in size from just over twenty to a little less than a hundred.  They were smaller sized bands most likely due to the location and population of their school districts.  They played their hearts out and did a fine job that night.

When our band played, “we brought the house down”.   It was great to be appreciated that night by all that were involved and attending the show but, the thing that impressed me most was afterward, when we began to receive emails about our performance. These came not only from the host of the show but also from the people in attendance…the emails arrived that very night. 

It was extremely encouraging to receive such an onslaught of emails.  I’m not sure who or what caused this to happen, but we’ve never had such a “day after response” of feedback.  This made me think a little bit more about how much great events like this are “taken for granted” and can be quickly forgotten and under-appreciated the moment they are finished…

When you stop to think about the magnitude of what must be accomplished to have a band festival -the logistics are staggering.  By the time the host gets the facility scheduled and staffed on the day of the event, has the ticket and concession stand stocked and operating, deploys the traffic control measures, sets up the sound system, procures the seating assignments, prepares the award ceremonies, readies the restrooms and discovers  the ”nack” of being a meteorologist, they might have al little time to prepare their own band!  This list doesn’t even account for the amount of prepartions that the attending directors and band members must make in order to even be at the event (think about the time it takes to simply coordinate and acquire the 20+ buses that will be converging at the event). 

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Of all the great music industry sites that are available on the web, very few can compare to what Vic Firth offers in the way of educating those who use their products (and for that matter -those that use their competitor’s products as well!).  If you are a budding percussionist or a professional, Vic Firth offers free educational materials that will make you better.  

Sure they want you to buy their products, but they want you to be able to use them right as well!  Vic Firth offers a “second to none” array of free materials to be used by students, performers and educators alike.  I’ve used their free materials for years in my percussion methods course at the college and can tell you they are top rate, first class and indispensable.

With regard to the realm of Snare Drum Studies, they offer an excellent guide to learning the 40 rudiments.  Norm Weinberg’s WebRhythms not only boast a progressive way to learn rhythms, but also include online metronome goals and midi enhancements to help you learn them faster.

Percussion giants Jeff Queen and Mark Wessels offer free online video lessons to learn sticking techniques and rudimental techniques.  These come complete with PDF guides and lesson sheets.

Tom Igoe breaks down rhythms to their essential forms and has a selection of his DVD rhythms online for exploration. You can even download a chart with play-along tracks to learn how to better play the drumset.

Concert and chromatic percussionist can also find an incredible array of free help in the form of video lessons by Giff Howarth, Victor Mendoza and Tom Guaguer. There’s even marching and world percussion help and videos available for free.

To round out their educational offerings, there are over 2 dozen, extremely well written and timely articles from the best percussionists in the field today.   For example, have you ever wanted to learn how to improve your single stroke rolls to 1200 bpm?  Let Peter Madadini guide you with his article: “The Speed Rating Chart”.

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