MusTech.Net!

You went to school to be a “band director” not a “performer.”  You mean I have to do both?  Well, yes you do. Well first and foremost, you went to college to become a music educator. 

A few months back someone asked about how they will stay active as a performer once they start to teach.  Well, its difficult at times, but it is possible.  For me, I arrive at school an hour early, just to do my daily trumpet warm-ups.  It does seem to make for a better day, as I really do enjoy playing.  After my hour warm-up, students are already in my room ready for first period.  So I get a solid warm-up daily.  I play every lesson period that I can (keeps the endurance going) and then try to work on something everyday after school.  I try to get a good two hours of practice a day, most days I can do this, but sometimes its not possible.

I’m active in my area as a musician, but where I am located……..there’s not always many playing opportunities.  I take everyone performance opportunity that comes my way.  I’ve played lead trumpet in the Clarion University Jazz Band, many musicals, a brass quintet, and I’m also a sub for one of the local church praise bands.  The church praise band has been one of the most exposing gigs that I get.  (Many of my students attend this church, so its been great getting critiqued for Monday mornings.)  YES - It is possible to continue performing once you start teaching.  The great thing is that some of your students will see you and ask when you are playing/singing again.  They really do like to see their teachers in action, not only do we “preach” it to them everyday, but we get to apply it as well.

(more…)

Note: If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed for the latest news and information. Not Sure What RSS is or how to Subscribe? Click Here!

Since there was so much interest in my post about August Rush, I decided to interview two of my best students in the “Alternative Music” class using Pod-o-Matic, the same service that Joe and Darren use for their excellent podcast.  I hope that you enjoy the podcast as much as I enjoyed making it- a truly remarkable, real “moment” with my students.  The podcast also features the song that they are working on as a project in the class.  If you are so inclined, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the episode, their music, or the idea in general of a class of this sort.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking the link below:

http://nphsperformingarts.podOmatic.com

Powered by ScribeFire.

I asked our current marching band president, Brad Volek, to write a little bit about his experience this year as the college band president.  One thing you will notice while reading this article is that Brad doesn’t let any “grass grow under his feet”…   -J. Pisano

**************************

…It’s the middle of May at the end of my sophomore year at Grove City College. I walk into band rehearsal a little nervous this day because the band is electing officers for next year and I’m in the running for president. The election results are read at the end of rehearsal and I have been elected. I’m ecstatic at the thought of this opportunity. Then it hits me – I’m band president, I’m in charge of 200 people…..now what?

The first thing I had to do was to figure out what exactly the Grove City College Band President actually does. The band president is charged with coming up with the schedule for all four days of band camp which include a band-wide after rehearsal activity in the evening. Our activities this year ranged from playing basketball, to serving Chinese food, watching a movie and our ever popular GCC Band Talent Show. It was also my responsibility to welcome all of the freshmen to band camp as they arrived individually and then welcome them again as a group in a freshmen only meeting. A few other responsibilities are to decide on theme days, such as crazy hair or twin day for band camp, as well as organizing a campus wide church service that the band holds on the Sunday of band camp.

All of the planning and organizing had to be done in a day and a half of officer camp, and that seemed to be a pretty daunting task to take on myself. I took it upon myself to stay in contact with last year’s band president so I could work on things ahead of time over the summer. This paid off more than I ever thought it would. Because of my consistent work, I was able to stay two steps ahead of the game all the way through band camp.
It was a good thing that I was two steps ahead, because band camp certainly had a few ”bumps” in the road in store. The biggest of which came in the form of rain, lots and lots of rain. The rain became so bad that the mud in the middle of our practice field was ankle deep –no exaggeration. We spent all four days of band camp watching the radar online eager to steal 15 min of sunshine whenever we could. It made camp that much more tiring but the band didn’t miss a beat…..almost literally.

(more…)

Live Band Monitor Mixes And Sound Reinforcement, Podcast E8

Joseph and Darren bring their technical expertise to bear on the subject of audio sound reinforcement and monitor mixes. If you are an aspiring audio engineer, performer, conductor or director, DO NOT MISS THIS PODCAST!

Original Air Date: 5/31/2007

Podcasting Site: http://mustech.podomatic.com

Website: http://www.mustech.net

Podcasters: Joseph Pisano and Darren Morton

Episode 8’s Show:

Monitor Mixes
Vocal Miking
Hous Mixing
Compressing Vocals
Sound Reinforcement
Drums, Bass, Soloist Mixing
Direct Boxes
Good Acoustic Blends

[RSS] Subscribe to our Podcasts with Feedburner
[RSS] Subscribe to  our Podcasts with Pod-O-Matic

Music provided with permission by Jason Davis:
http://jasondavismusic.com

[tags] mustech.net, sound, reinforcment, sound reinforcement, audio, micing, miking, drum, bass, monitor mixes, direct boxes, rhythm section, podcast[/tags]

PLAY IT NOW!