Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Russ Weaver on October 20, 2009 at 8:42pm

Allison,
Picture this, Tubas (get 'em from anywhere...HS, Pros, whomever) in shades playing a tuba trio of something really catchy. They make an entrance to the vamp at the beginning of the piece. Line up in front of your potential clients. (Because that's the way they roll...) Count the piece off out loud. Perform and have fun. What could be cooler than that?
Attached is a short arrangement that I used this year, worked great. (If you can find a marching snare player with a cymbal, that helps as well.) Let me know if this is helpful.

Attachments:

• I want Candy Tuba Trio.mus - Tuba 1.pdf, 20 KB
• I want Candy Tuba Trio.mus - Tuba 2.pdf, 19 KB
• I want Candy Tuba Trio.mus - Tuba 3.pdf, 20 KB

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Permalink Reply by Andrew B. Spang on November 4, 2009 at 11:29pm

Hello,
I'm a professional tuba player who plays and records with the Lyric Brass Quintet and has played with the Soulful Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Maryland Symphony, Eastman Wind Ensemble, and so on, and have played, demo-ed and begged kids to play tuba. Nothing has ever worked better for me than the following: ask the kids if they listen to music at home. Ask "does anyone turn up the stereo just a little more than normal when your parents aren't home?"

"What is cool about playing loud music?" [The thump of the bass! Feeling the music in your stomach!]

Meet the tuba! The BASS of the band! We need some tubas to make our band ROCK!

I usually get one to three kids to try the tuba based on that speech alone.
Good luck!
My best,
Andy Spang

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Permalink Reply by Donald L Hofmeister on October 19, 2010 at 9:00pm

Recruitment begins when the children are being asked if they are interested in playing a musical instrument. Usually they are started between fourth and fifth grade. That means the band director must formulate a plan to introduce all the instruments that will be taught. This is usually done in individual classrooms. Presenting the instruments to a class of no more than thirty is about right. I would break the presentation down into three segments and present only one group of instruments at a time. Brass, Woodwind, and Percussion. It is ideal if you can actually play the horns you demonstrate, if not a person who can demonstrate what you ask needs to be found and coached.

Do not sugar coat when recruiting. Be straightforward and let the instruments speak for themselves. Actually I used the guide I used for the first lesson on each horn. It can hardly get simpler than that, but that really is where the new student really is. They can "test" themselves in deciding whether they can follow and do the steps you present. Here are the steps for flute: ( I purposely did not choose trombone or tuba so that it is clear this needs to be done for all instruments equally)

1. Blow air against the palm of the hand. Slowly, moderately, and quickly.
2.Learn to place the sharp edge of the bottom teeth on top of the sharp edge of the top teeth. Check alignment by looking in a mirror.
3.Wet the lips and blow a gentle stream of air through the center of the lips.
4.In front of a mirror center the mouthpiece h*** from left to right. The wide side of the h*** will be placed against the bottom lip. It will be "tucked" in between the red and white flesh.
5. Blow an even centered stream of air so it devides on the opposite side of the blow h***.

6..While blowing a sound ( after they get one) rotate the headjoint in and out slowly.
7.Assemble headjoint to the body of the horn. Assemble foot joint to body of horn.
8.In front of a mirror, practice centering the blowhole and blowing a sound. This is done standing up.
9. Learn where to place left thumb and fingers.
10. Learn where to place the right thumb and fingers.
11. Practice holding the horn in front of a mirror. Adjust head, arms,and fingers until the postion looks correct and feels comfortable.

A sequence like this needs to be presented for every horn that will be available for the students to choose from. All the while you are doing this they will be deciding whether they could manage for themselves the steps you have presented and perhaps want to start on that instrument.Most kids will say to themselves,"ya I could do that, it's easy!" We know it's not really that easy but because we've done this many times it looks easy. The kids are also seeing that hey, the teacher is actually playing the horn and conclude you can teach it. Nice part about this is that they really have had The First Lesson though don't know it. The first lesson actually goes easier because of the demonstration process.

If this procedure is followed over a number of years, instrumentation for a full band will occur. Play no favorites to any particular horn in the process. Slant nothing in the hope of enticement.

As the elementary band gets better and plays for the student body, each year this process will get easier because some of the younger students are deciding in their heads, "I'm going to play--------."

Until the elelmentary program is viable, bring in older bands to play. Be straight forward about what is presented, celebrate it with them. I hope this helps with what you face Allison. It did work for me.

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Permalink Reply by Donald L Hofmeister on October 20, 2010 at 11:20am

This is a continuance of my first reply.
After the students have been briefed on all the instruments that will be taught, it will be time to hand out a form to get approval from parents, to find out what instrument they would perfer to start on, and what instruments are available from the school,and which instruments the student would be expected to provide. Usually some kind of rental program is available from music stores. Information about that needs to be provided.

On this take home form the students should be asked their first choice, their second choice and also if they are undecided about which horn to play. When the forms are returned, you will get a fair idea of the distribution of what the balance in the new group of starters is. It will not be balanced!

Over the course of thirty five years interesting things happened. Once ,out of 50 starters about 23 students wanted to play the flute. Why was that? Well a manufacturer of flutes decided to cover the case of the flute in a bright blue and white checked cloth with a nice strap that would make it easy for a girl to carry it like a purse.

Another case was the the effect rock and roll drummers had on the desire to play drums. One year about 25 wanted the drums.

When the president of the USA played sax on TV, it seemed we had a surge of those wanting to play sax.

This skewing will show up on the form that is returned. It will need to be addressed.

First look at the 2nd choices the kids put down on the form. Individually(not in a group) talk to the student and ask if they would consider going to their second choice. Some will, and some will be quite certain the only one they will really consider is the first choice. Always let them have their first choice if that's where they are. Some will even indicate anything is fine. Suggest what you see is needed most and ask if they would consider it.

You can lead them in this discussion by asking them what their favorite food is? Answer pizza. OK from now on I'll see to it you get pizza at every meal and for snacks too. They see quickly they will gag on pizza after a period of time and find this funny. Appeal to this sense by saying the band needs different flavors and that is provided for by different instruments. No band is made up of all flutes. Some have a good sense of serving the common good and indicate they would be willing to play almost any horn.

If you were to pull 10 ten students who wanted to play flute out from a class room in a group and attempt to get them to switch, it would probably fail and you'll have a stalemate. Almost instinctively they will bond together and
no amount of verbage will suffice to get anyone to change. Individually most will give consideration to your explanation of why the band needs balance.

The school horns come into play because some kids know full well there isn't enough money in the family to get a horn and they will chose one and are thankful for the opportunity. The bigger horns like Fr. Hn., Baritone, and Tuba present a problem because of transportation. We used repaired older horns for kids to keep at home.
The new horns were kept at school and it was pointed out that even though some were ten years old they were not dented and looked new. That expectation was covered early in the program by clarifying talks about the delicacy of instruments etc.

Suppose that after all this, the baritone and tuba are not much in the running. Well, most likely there will be small cup mouthpiece players who even though they practice and want to play the horn they chose won't get much out of it. Some you will notice,no matter how you taught or coached, allowed the mouthpiece to drift into a position which will ultimately need correction. At some point they will run into a playing barrier.These are the one's to suggest giving the baritone or tuba a try. I can remember one boy who desperately wanted to play the trumpet and practiced diligently. When I said, "it didn't appear to me much practicing was going on "he began to cry. He was practicing greatly. The lips just didn't vibrate well for him. I suggested giving the baitone a shot.At the lesson he tried the horn and immediately he got results. He turned out to be one of the best baritone players we ever had.

It is prudent ot think of balancing the instrumentation in a band as an evolutionary process. It takes time and no matter how it is done there will be stumbles along the way. As a teacher I evolved over the years too!

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