✦ TEACHER’S EDITION ✦ THE YOUNG MUSICIAN’S TEXTBOOK VOL.18 NO.5 MONTHLY 2021 b HOW TO PLAY THE PRETENDERS’ BEST “I’LL STAND BY YOU” SCHOOLS Part 2 TECHNIQUES THE FUNDAMENTALS OF ROCK & ROLL A Journey into the of JON BATISTE ✦ Insights for Music Teachers – from Music Teachers Every Music ✦ Student Needs Just Keep Singing to Get In Tune! ✦ To get subscriptions The Movie Soul According to Mickey Smith Jr. for your class, see ✦ Website and Subscription Information the back cover VOL.18, NO.5 intunemonthly.com Teachers can go to intunemonthly.com for full lesson plans and videos. This month, lesson plans are One Down, available for the following stories: Jon Batiste New Orleans native and jazz pianist Jon Batiste has spent One To Go his career working to bring his music to the people. Recording SO, WE SAID GOODBYE TO 2020, we turned the page and in subways and parading with his band in the streets, he sees began a glorious new year. All good now? No? (Sigh). music as connective tissue be- Unfortunately, this pandemic thing and everything it disrupts tween mankind’s diversity. He’s could be with us for another semester. Efforts are afoot to get us back also musical director for the Late Show with Steven Colbert and right away, however, Dr. Fauci and most other prognosticators are created much of the music for suggesting that everyone who wants to be vaccinated will be by the new Pixar movie Soul. summer, and that that will be enough to get us safely back to school in the fall. Rock & Roll So, what will “normal” look like then? Will we abandon all of the Rock & roll exploded into the musi- computers and tablets when we’re able to go back to the classroom full cal universe in the middle of the twentieth century as a high energy time? It would seem a shame to give up all of that computing power. synthesis of blues, rhythm and blues, So, while we may not be teaching from home next year, those who country, gospel, jazz, popular music, have acquired one-to-one devices will be able to use them going and other styles. The earliest rock & roll was simple and formulaic music forward. But for what? May we make a suggestion? that attracted musicians from a vari- Students can be taught to make music with digital audio ety of backgrounds and abilities. workstation software. There are ear training modules and sight- reading apps. 5G is going to wring the latency out of online How to Play collaboration, and there are hundreds of projects whereby students can “I’ll Stand By You” connect with other music makers. Try Soundhouse Artist Access The Pretenders’ hit is relatively (www.artistaccess.net) and bring a pro-musician in for a virtual clinic. easy to produce and relies on a simple keyboard part, guitars And of course, there’s the digital edition of In Tune Monthly. It’s not played through chorus pedals, too early to starting thinking about it. and the participation of all singers in the band…and the So, one semester down, one to go, in this extraordinarily difficult audience. school year. For us, New Year’s Eve is actually the last day of this semester. That’s when the page will be turned and the pandemic will hopefully be put to rest, at least for those teaching and going to school. A toast then, to September. ● 2021 Best Music Schools In Tune’s semi-annual feature on b “going to college for music” always emphasizes that there are no best BEST schools – only the best school for Student subscriptions available at you. This edition explores the role INTUNEMONTHLY.COM SCHOOLS that video auditions and “pre- Part 2 screening interviews” are playing in the admissions process, and how POP QUIZ ANSWERS: 1B,2A,3B,4C,5D,6A, 7D, 8C, 9C,10B MATCH QUIZ ANSWERS: 1H, 2G, 3F, 4E, 5A, 6B, 7C, 8D students can experience on-cam- pus life even before applying. CONTENT CAPSULES FOR TEACHERS The Tao of In Tune LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE, THE CONSUMER ELECTRONICs SHOW WAS VIRTUAL this year but especially bursting with innovation. Whether it’s just the moment in history, or that the pandemic has re-routed the jet stream, technology has seemingly taken a leap forward. Might be a good idea to bone up the advances; concerts shared on gaming platforms, music promotion beyond social networking, 5G’s impact on virtual collaboration, consumer software for “on the fl y” video editing and music integration… FRONTRUNNER This month’s Frontrunner/ Listening List features another collection of artists on the rise and noteworthy music. A profile of Tiana Major9, a young jazzy R&B singer mak- ing waves across the pond and now here, leads the Frontrun- ner pack surrounded by a listening list of songs starting MUSIC NEWS with a new tune from brilliant We report about the NAMM trade show going online, The GRAMMY winner Jacob GRAMMYS and GRAMMY In The Schools postponing Collier and songs by a host of until March, healthy piano cat videos, AI sheet music, hair musicians from around the bands, Chopin’s face and new/old Loretta Lynn music. world, or with international backgrounds. We didn’t plan it that way, either… WHAT DO YOU DO? Sami Posner is a music supervisor. She works with lm and TV directors, com- mercials directors, video game makers and other users of music to identify, select and obtain the sounds that will best accompany their visual presentations. CLASSIC ALBUM INFLUENCES COVERS We trace Chloe x Halle’s path of influences from Eryka The cover of the 1947 big band Badhu to Miles Davis to Charlie Parker, and profile a album Gene Krupa and his Orches- journey linking a pop/R&B act to “Yardbird,” connecting tra is a wild and wacky artistic genres over decades. interpretation of the wild and wacky drummer doing his MEDIA thing. Krupa was a force to be We highlight a new book about African American Women in reckoned with, and the rumble rock & roll, Wilco’s Je Tweedy’s paen to songwriting, sheet of his tom-toms opening Benny music for both the music of Sir Duke and Metallica, a podcast Goodman’s 1937 version of Louis Prima’s “Sing, Sing, Sing” about all things clarinet, a new Shawn Mendes documentary might as well have been a morse code warning that war was and more. coming to the world. 4 VOL.18, NO.5 • IN TUNE MONTHLY • TEACHER’S EDITION intunemonthly.com GAIN SKILLS TO INSPIRE YOUR STUDENTS IN TRADITIONAL AND REMOTE SETTINGS Experience a cutting-edge curriculum taught by Hybrid leaders in music education Summer M.A. Build connections with faculty and peers in No GRE required. Finish in two years Music and Music Education musiconlinehybrid.tc.columbia.edu This article is a companion piece to “Keep the Music Going,” which o ered strategies for how to sustain and nurture your instrumental music program during this most unusual school year. The story appeared in the January issue of In Tune Monthly’s Teachers Edition. The following article, “Just Keep Singing,” is intended for vocal music educators, and features guidance from two dynamic choral directors. JUSTBy Marjorie KEEP LoPresti Digital Content Manager, MusicFirst Photo courtesy of PHLS Choir SINGING Prior Lake High School Choir Director Randi Erlandson and a mixed ensemble sport their singers masks. 6 VOL.18, NO.5 • IN TUNE MONTHLY • TEACHER’S EDITION intunemonthly.com They are singing in the gym! At least part of the so- Adam plays the accompaniment track while singing. Students prano section is. For proper social distancing, only a few can rehearse at a are muted but encouraged to sing along. (Having students sing time wearing masks and standing really far apart. The echo in the gym is along live on Zoom is not recommended due to latency.) Adam both a blessing and a curse.Voices are ampli ed by the resonance, but the makes a point of recording and posting segments of these online reverb is making intonation more challenging than usual. rehearsals for students to practice independently, using “Mr. Singing in a mask while 6-10 feet apart can make students Good’s Karaoke.” Adam is creating an archive of resources feel like they are singing solo, which is NOT what they signed for students, and it’s not really a ton of extra work, since he is re- up for. At a distance, students may not hear others well enough, cording segments of regular instructional periods. Using audio and are unlikely to feel musically supported. For students whose tracks and video conferencing are fundamental technologies for schooling is online only, choir means singing at home, alone, to a most teachers now, so this strategy may work for most teachers computer. This is absolutely a solo endeavor - not a choral expe- regardless of which online classroom or web platform they use. rience. While many of the strategies for instrumental/band in- struction in the prior issue of the In Tune Monthly Teacher’s Edition FROM SHEET MUSIC TO PRACTICE TRACKS can be applied to general music and choral settings, group sing- During a recent MusicFirst “Pro les in Teaching Music” podcast, ing presents additional challenges. This month, we share suc- Jeremy Little described how he and his colleague/accompanist cessful strategies for hybrid and online vocal music instruction Heidi Joosten have transferred printed choral octavos into the with continuing commitment to engage students in meaningful notation program Musescore. Numerous methods for convert- music learning and music making, building stronger musician- ing printed music to notation software are available, including ship, and deepening their love of singing and music overall.