If You Can Walk You Can Dance. If You Can Talk You Can Sing.

If You Can Walk You Can Dance. If You Can Talk You Can Sing.
~ Zimbabwe Proverb ~

At Hal Leonard, we’re very lucky to work with some really great material. For the past many years we have partnered with Music Theatre International to create and distribute the Broadway Junior Series* – classic Broadway shows like Annie, Guys and Dolls, or Fiddler on the Roof adapted for use in schools up through 9th grade.

Not long ago I saw a good local production of The Music Man Jr. After the show while I was congratulating the teacher on the excellent performance, a young, happy and very sweaty young actor came up to give her a big hug and he walked away beaming from ear to ear. After he left, the teacher told me he hadn’t wanted to audition (too scared to sing onstage, afraid he wouldn’t have any friends in the cast, etc.). She talked him into it by telling him that by being in the show he would have sixty NEW friends. This prediction came true as I watched him walk toward the dressing room laughing and joking around with his pals from the cast. This was a kid on Cloud 9!

Young people often struggle with who they are and what is their place in the world. Playing a role in a play or singing a song in a choir often helps them step outside the confusing world of “me” into the welcoming world of “us.” For one shining moment in the spotlight he can become the bumbling Mayor Shinn of River City, Iowa – and maybe, just maybe, he won’t feel as bumbling as he usually feels in real life. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll get the courage next time to try out for the part of Harold Hill and to actually get to KISS the girl (or at least think about it)!

These are the moments that make it all worthwhile!

-Emily Crocker

*For more information on Broadway Junior, visit our website: http://www.halleonard.com/broadwayjr

Five Goals for Musicians

Five Goals for Musicians
by Emily Crocker

I recently ran across five goals for musicians posted on a web site. Though no author was given, I thought they were worth passing along.

1. To become a skillful and acute listener

As conductors and teachers we are all superior listeners, right? Well, I don’t know about you, but I struggle with this constantly. I find that I hear what I want to hear and I have to challenge myself to aspire to improve in this area.

Some things I’ve been trying to do include:

• More a cappella singing improves confidence.
• Less singing from me helps strengthen the ensemble
• Recording the rehearsals and concerts helps us objectively analyze our performance.

I’ve also begun to ask the children to critique their own performance. After we sing a passage, I’ve been trying to remember to elicit their responses before I give my own.

We also have been singing in a circle to improve our intonation, blend, and precision.

2. To become a kind, caring, positive ensemble member

I was working with a middle school choir recently and noticed that when all the guys sang, one voice was consistently singing an octave below. In order to give them some exercises to fix this, I made some comment on “some voices are an octave too low.”

“Oh, that’s Jason,” called out a voice. Everyone laughed. Jason – a good-looking kid – blushed.

Ah-ha! That was my opening. I proceeded to give them a good-natured sermonette on the need to work together and support each other as a team especially with all the challenges related to changing voices. Did it do any good? Based on my observation of their eyes and faces, I think so. Time will tell, but when we are open to the emotional ups and downs of our fellow-singers, we are more connected as social group, and our music will surely show that.

3. To become a competent user of musical notation

When I had a classroom in a school, this was easier. Now, in a once-a-week choir rehearsal, it’s more difficult to monitor this directly. The best I can do is make sure that they are competent interpreters of musical notation.

In every rehearsal we sight-read something from top to bottom and we sight-read a part of every song we are preparing.

Why should music notation be a secret language only the music teacher can read?

4. To become a sensitive and spirited performer

You can always tell an inexperienced choir – they look just like the deer in the headlights. Either that or they look at their buddies down the row or behind them. Why? Because they haven’t had time to “practice the performance.”

Think about it, we rehearse and rehearse and rehearse, but when it comes time for the performance, usually we only get one shot! That’s why it’s so important to give your young musicians as many performance opportunities as possible. If there was something about your first concert that needed improvement (stage presence, focus on the director, etc.), use the second to measure their growth.

What a wonderful experience when you can move others and be moved yourself through the magic of a live performance.

5. To taste the feeling of being a part of great music

Not too long ago, I was involved in a clinic with a high school choir. They were very good – they knew their music thoroughly, they sang with excellent tone quality and in the appropriate style, they were courteous and well mannered. They were singing a well-known Bach fugue. After they had performed, I asked them if they knew what special kind of musical work this was. There was a long pause and finally one young man raised his hand and offered that the piece was a canon. Good observation, I told him, but not exactly right. Finally, I told them what a fugue was, had them sing the subject, and then asked them to sing the work again, raising their hand whenever their section had the subject.

Ah…what a great moment as the light bulbs went on! Suddenly, these young people connected personally with the genius of Bach – right then! Right there!

So, in these times of “educational accountability,” it’s nice to remember that the goals we strive for in performance can have such a powerful emotional connection on us as well as our listeners.