News & Views Thursday, June 20, 2013

Copyright law and its implications affect musicians and educators every day, yet most of us have little to no understanding of it.  Whether majoring in performance or education, undergraduate courses of study rarely present an introduction to the subject, let alone offer any courses that study it in detail.  It is challenging to know what is permissible under the law, and what exactly is allowed under the doctrine of ‘fair use.’  Violations of copyright occur frequently in our schools mostly due to the lack of education on the subject, and, like it or not, use in an educational setting alone does not necessarily constitute compliance with the ‘fair use’ provision of the law.  With increased scrutiny and debate over copyright infringement on the internet, the staff at Stanton’s would like to recommend the following resources to shed light on the subject for musicians and educators alike.  They are presented in order of increasing detail, and we highly recommend The Teacher’s Guide to Music, Media, and Copyright Law for music educators.  In addition, YouTube in Music Education is a great resource for those looking to use this technology to enhance their programs, but have concerns about how to do so appropriately.

Music Copyright Basics – Joel Leach
What is copyright?  This seemingly simple question often causes confusion with its complex answers.  In Music Copyright Basics, professor and expert copyright witness Joel Leach answers frequent questions in a straightforward, easy-to-use format.  Whether you are searching for a simple answer to a common question or want a general knowledge of the copyright procedure, this book will quickly provide you with the information you want.  Music Copyright Basics features: a convenient question-and-answer format; easy-to-understand answers to all your copyright questions; coverage of copyright basics, copyright submission process, copyright ownership, copyright and earnings potential, and international copyright; and a compact, portable design that keeps information easily at hand. (2003)

The Teacher’s Guide to Music, Media, and Copyright Law – James Frankel
The easy-to-understand guide for teachers using copyrighted music and media in the classroom.  In this era of unprecedented access to information, teachers have a wealth of readily available resources for lesson planning, but determining what you can and can’t use legally in the classroom is a difficult task.  Written by a 15-year veteran of the New Jerseypublic schools, The Teacher’s Guide to Music, Media, and Copyright Law helps explain just how information, images, video, and music can be incorporated into any kind of lesson plan without running afoul of copyright laws.  This resource includes: what resources you can use without obtaining permission, how to obtain and license the works you need permission to use, how to check the copyright status of any media item, and how to apply copyright legality examples to real classroom situations. (2009)

Music Copyright Law – Moser & Slay
Music Copyright Law will help you gain an in-depth understanding of a topic that is vital to the success of anyone in or entering the music industry.  From songwriters and performers to managers, producers, and agents, everyone is affected by the issues covered in this book.  Avoiding the technical jargon and “legalese” that bogs down other books on the subject, this book explores the world of copyright law and homes in on how it applies to music.  It begins by building a foundational knowledge of the fundamentals of copyright law – what it protects, the benefits of registering a copyright, and what to do when copyright has been infringed.  Once the fundamentals are established, coverage expands to include controversies involving copyright and music in the digital age and the debates over online music.  Packed with practical examples that bring complex concepts to life, this book is a must-have for any professional in or entering the music business. (2012)

We’re always talking about our knowledgeable staff—you’ll find that very phrase on much of our printed advertising, as well as on our website. Stanton’s sales staff is separated into departments to ensure that each staff member is well informed about a specific area of the wide variety of music that we carry. So when you call and ask about music for trumpet, you’ll be speaking with someone who has first-hand knowledge of repertoire, not just a phone operator with no musical experience. Here’s what you’ll find in each department:

CHORAL DEPARTMENT (ex. 1)
Church Choral Music
School Choral Music
Elementary Classroom Music
Classical Solo Vocal
Handbell

BAND DEPARTMENT (ex. 2)
Concert Band
Marching Band
Jazz Ensemble
Orchestra
Solos for all concert instruments
Instrumental Method Books
Music Software/Technology

POP/KEYBOARD (ex. 3)
Sacred & Secular Piano
Organ
Piano Method Books
Popular/Broadway Solo Vocal
Contemporary Christian Vocal
Guitar Solos and Methods
Music for Folk Instruments

BILLING AND ACCOUNTS (ex. 4)

You can direct emails to the exact department you need by clicking the links above, or press the appropriate extension when you call 1-800-42-MUSIC (1-800-426-8742). If you’re unsure of which department to choose, we’re always happy to direct you to whoever can best address your needs; press “0″ to have your call directed, or send a general email. At Stanton’s, it is important to us that you receive the most educated answers to your questions and the finest music recommendations.

We’re now halfway (!) through January and here in Ohio, thoughts are turning to OMEA Adjudicated Events! Solo & Ensemble events begin January 28th, and High School Large Group events are in March, followed by Junior High events later in the spring. While many of you have been planning since August, our biggest sales for contest music are in January.

Stanton’s strongly suggests that when you order your music for Adjudicated Events, you order the copies or scores for your judges at the same time. Solo & Ensemble events have one adjudicator, and Large Group events have three – each adjudicator needs their own copy of each score. Please do not wait until the week of (or the DAY of) your event to order – every year we get many panicked calls from directors at the last minute! If we don’t have the piece you need in stock it may take as long as two weeks to order it in, and if it is Permanently Out-of-Print, receiving photocopy permission may take even longer.

Still searching for the perfect contest piece? Our website is up-to-date with this year’s Large Group required lists for high school choir, concert band, and orchestra, junior high choir, concert band, and orchestra, and Solo & Ensemble lists for high school instumental and vocal ensembles

Adjudicated Events can be an exciting and rewarding time for you and your students. Let Stanton’s help you by placing your orders early!

Celebrating the 2007 launch of the Vandojazz line, reed and saxophone accessory manufacturer Vandoren teamed up with music publisher Carl Fischer and ten of the finest jazz saxophonists in the world who use and endorse Vandoren products to produce a one-of-a-kind jazz etude and exercise book.  In the manner of the Vandojazz Etude and Exercise Book for Saxophone, Vandoren and Carl Fischer have joined forces once again along with ten Vandoren endorsed classical saxophonists to produce another unique etude and exercise book, this time from the classical point-of-view.  Each of these master saxophonists shares their own specific approach to playing the saxophone.

The Vandojazz Etude and Exercise Book for Saxophone features etudes to improve improvisation, technique, lyricism, and overall musicianship on the horn, and includes descriptions of the exercises, as well as philosophical explanations from world-renowned players including Don Aliquo, Frank Catalano, Jeff Coffin (Dave Matthews Band; Bela Fleck and the Flecktones), Denis DiBlasio, Gary Foster, and more. 

The Vandoren Etude and Exercise Book for Saxophone features specific approaches and exercises to develop tone, technique, and overall mastery of the saxophone from world-renowned classical saxophonists including James Bunte, Claude Delangle, Otis Murphy, Neal Ramsey, and more. 

Valuable for their individual insights alone, these once-in-a-lifetime collections will be great additions to your library, and make great holiday gifts.  They are available for order via Stantons.com, or add them to your wish list!

The selection of Christmas jazz play-alongs is better than ever!  They make great gifts for the instrumental ‘jazz head' in your family, are a fun approach to Christmas songs for people who play for recreation, and work really well for Christmas jazz gigs and social events this time of year.

Two new Christmas play-alongs are available.  A Jazzy Christmas is the third Christmas volume from jazz play-along originator, Jamey Aebersold.  It features many popular Christmas songs including Frosty the Snowman, Here Comes Santa Claus, Over the River and Through the Woods, Snowfall, and more.  The other, from Hal Leonard, is the Big Christmas Collection featuring 2 play-along CDs and 16 popular titles including Baby It's Cold Outside, Holly Jolly Christmas, It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, and more.

Other fantastic options include Jazz Holiday Classics and Christmas Carol Classics from Jamey Aebersold, and A Charlie Brown Christmas, Christmas Jazz, and Yuletide Jazz from Hal Leonard.  Ideal for the jazz gig and loaded with lead sheets for 150 Christmas tunes is the Real Christmas Book.  Published in the format and style of the original Real Books, the Real Christmas Book is now available in transposed editions for Bb, Eb, and Bass Clef, and 3 volumes of play-along CDs are also available separately.

You can order these titles via Stantons.com, or by phone.  The Stanton's Staff wishes you a Jazz-filled Christmas, and a Swingin' New Year!!

Christmas time is here, or so the song goes, and now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, a few of the Stanton's staff would like to share some of our favorite Christmas albums with you.  Hopefully you'll find something new and different to add to your holiday playlist.  Feel free to share your favorites in the comments section below - we're always looking for something new to listen to, and Merry Christmas!

Caryn - Pop & Keyboard Dept.
A Charlie Brown Christmas - Vince Guaraldi Trio
Christmas Collection - Michael W. Smith
Christmas Night: Carols of the Nativity and Christmas with the Cambridge Singers - The Cambridge Singers; London Sinfonia; John Rutter
O Holy Night - Jackie Evancho
December Piano Solos: 20th Anniversary Edition - George Winston
Indigo Christmas: Retro Jazz Swing – (no specific artist)
Carol - The American Boychoir
And Winter Came - Enya

Jen - Choral Music Specialist
Angels on High - Robert Shaw Singers
Holiday Spirits - Straight No Chaser
Elf Movie Soundtrack
Christmas Together - John Denver and The Muppets

Ken - Band/Instrumental Dept.
A Charlie Brown Christmas – Vince Guaraldi Trio
Christmas Songs – Diana Krall & the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra
Jingle All the Way – Bela Fleck & the Flecktones
The Christmas Song – Nat King Cole
Christmas Jazz Jam – Wynton Marsalis
Christmas in the Morning: A Celebration in Brass – Canadian Brass; Michael Laird & Philip Jones Brass Ensembles
A Night Before Christmas – Spyro Gyra
Christmas Greetings – The Festival Chorale, conducted by H. Royce Saltzman
White Christmas – Bing Crosby

Are you looking for ways to keep your students motivated and get them playing more.  Based on the number of parents and students that stop by our store looking for ‘fun music' to supplement their school materials and remain enthused, we know you are.  To that end, two new pop music instrumental play-alongs have been released by Hal Leonard. 

The first features 15 hits from country crossover star Taylor Swift.  The song list includes Back to December, Fearless, Love Story, Our Song, Today Was a Fairytale, and White Horse.  The other collection features 10 well-known songs from Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's ever-popular Broadway show West Side Story, which will be playing Columbus' historic Ohio Theatre April 17-22, 2012.  Songs in this collection include America, I Feel Pretty, Maria, Somewhere, and Tonight. 

Both collections feature play-along CDs with recorded accompaniments and are available for flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, trumpet, f horn, trombone, violin, viola, and cello.  They retail for $12.99 (CD included), and are a great way to keep students playing and experiencing different types of music on their instruments.

The 2011-2012 school year marks the first changes to the Ohio Solo & Ensemble Adjudicated Music List since the publication of the 11^th Edition in 2006, and the start of the new ‘rolling revision' process.  This process will allow the music lists to be regularly updated and remain fairly current without the monstrous task of completely reviewing and updating the entire list all at once. 

Beginning this year (Winter 2012) with woodwind ensembles, the S&E list is slated undergo the following future revisions effective on the years listed:  Piano Solos, Vocal Ensembles, and Brass Ensembles - Winter 2013; Percussion Ensembles and String Ensembles - Winter 2014; Woodwind Solos and Vocal Solos - Winter 2015; and Percussion Solos, Brass Solos, and String Solos - Winter 2016.

The woodwind ensembles lists that have undergone revision this year are: all Clarinet Ensembles; all Saxophone Ensembles; Bassoon Trios; Flute/Oboe/Clarinet Trios; Miscellaneous Woodwind Trios; and Woodwind Choirs.  Please note that any music lists not listed have not received any revisions for this year. 

Changes to the music in these categories are reflected in the listings of music available for purchase in the OMEA Categories on the Instrumental Solos & Ensembles section of Stantons.com.  Please be aware that these updated lists only reflect items currently available for purchase - music known to be permanently out-of-print at the time of revision has been left out of the categories.  For a complete listing of titles for OMEA Solo and Ensemble, please visit https://www.omea-ohio2.org/AE/AE/AE/SE_RequiredList.html and utilize the drop-down menus to view the full lists (including out-of-print music), as well as any cuts, required movements, etc.

Don't hesitate to utilize the OMEA website as a reference, visit Stantons.com for reference and ordering, and keep following our blog.  We will do our best to keep you up-to-date on any changes, and will continue to work to provide the smoothest OMEA Solo & Ensemble purchasing experience.

Just in time for the new school year, renowned band education publisher, C.L. Barnhouse has released a new grade 2 solo collection, Solos for the Rising Band Musician.  Titled in correlation to their Rising Band series of arrangements, this collection features 10 original solos in various concert styles from respected composers James Swearingen, Robert W. Smith, David Shaffer, Ed Huckeby, and Rob Grice. Â 

A piano accompaniment CD is included with each solo book, in addition to a published piano accompaniment for performance purposes. Â Designed with the young musician in mind, a second set of CD tracks and accompaniment book in alternate keys have been created to properly accomodate the comfort levels and ranges of developing oboists and hornists.  These collections are affordable ($12.95/solo book; $14.95 piano accomp.), and are perfect for junior high solo contest, or for private studio teachers looking for new repertoire for their younger students.

There are literally hundreds of pieces written and published for flute that could be considered standard repertoire, but in order to keep this article at a reasonable length, we will begin by featuring only a few pieces.

As young flute students mature in their abilities to handle more and more difficult music, many may have played through standard pieces such as Mozart's Concerto # 2, Poulenc's “Sonata,” Hindemith's “Sonata,” and of course Telemann's “Suite in A minor.” All of these pieces have a substantial place on the list of “standard repertoire,” but there are other pieces that bring a certain difficulty level found in more modern composition: Chaminade's “Concertino,” Vaughan Williams' “Suite de Ballet,” Prokofiev's “Sonata in D major,” Muczynski's “Sonata for Flute,” and Rutter's “Suite Antique.”

Mastering standard repertoire pieces helps young students to build knowledge of the literature itself. Each piece aids students in developing style, expression, phrasing, tone and technique as they study and gain more abilities on their instrument. Other pieces such as Mozart's Concerto in D major, Handel's “Seven Sonata and Famous Largo,” and Telemann's “Suite in A minor” add to a student's ability to perform with a sense of period-appropriate style.

As high school students prepare for college auditions and continue on as music majors, they will likely have a chance to prepare many of these pieces. Encouraging your students to become familiar with these standards as soon as they are able will give them a “head-start” in their musical career!

So what’s new in the world of Violin music? Well…how about G. Schirmer reproducing all 3 volumes of Mazas' “Seventy-five Melodious and Progressive Studies, op 36” in one volume! Each volume challenges students to develop new techniques.  In the first volume, students will practice trill techniques, exercises in crescendo and decrescendo, crossing strings, short staccato strokes, pizzicato with the left hand and much more. Volume two helps develop a student's sense of legato, arpeggios, various bowing techniques, melody on the G-string, finger exercises and many other valuable lessons. The third volume introduces tremolo bowing technique, arpeggio exercises and many adagio, andante, allegro, legato exercises. All of these volumes are now available in one collection for one low price at Stanton’s Sheet Music.

So who was Mazas? Mazas was a brilliant pupil of Pierre Baillot at the Paris Conservatoire, from which he received the first prize in 1805. In 1808, he played a violin concerto dedicated to him by Auber. He then performed widely across Europe. In 1831, he accepted the post of first violin at the Theatre du Palais-Royal. A short time later, he was appointed directeur des concerts in Orleans, where he directed that city’s Opéra Comique theater. From 1837 to 1841, he was director of the conservatoire in Cambrai.  His compositions for violin are, for the most part, studies and duets for young string players of all abilities that constitute methods for both violin and viola.

Stanton’s was sorry to learn last week that flute/woodwind publisher Alry Publications will be closing their doors in 2012.  All of their catalog is in-stock with needed reprints completed, however as they run out of items they will not be restocked.  Stanton’s will be taking this opportunity to stock up on titles for the OMEA solo and ensemble list, and decided to share this information so that you can acquire any needed (or wishlisted) works for your personal or teaching libraries. 

Click the following links for a comprehensive listing of all Alry flute solo and ensemble works in the Stanton’s catalog; to visit the OMEA flute solo and ensemble lists; to visit the OMEA woodwind ensemble lists.

G. Schirmer has just released Otakar Sevcik’s “The School of Violin Technics, Parts 1-4, Op. 1″ in one complete volume, previously only available as separate editions.  Each volume focuses on different excersises - Part 1: Exercises in First Position, Part 2: Exercises in Second to Seventh Positions, Part 3: Shifting (Changing of Position) and Part 4: Exercises in Double Stops – all very important exercises for developing violinists.

Who was Otakar Sevcik?
Sevcik’s career began in 1870 as concertmaster of the Mozarteum concerts in Salzburg, where he also taught. After 1873, he was concertmaster at the Prague Interim (Provisional) Theatre Ring Theatre in Vienna. From 1875 to 1892 he was professor of violin at the music school of the Russian Music Society in Kiev, at the same time appearing frequently as soloist. In 1892 he became head of the violin department at the Prague Conservatory, where he remained until 1906. He then taught privately in Pisek. In 1909, he became director of the Violin Department at the Vienna Music Academy, until 1918, when at the end of World War I his nationality forced him to leave his position. He returned to the Prague Conservatory, where he stayed until 1921. He afterwards travelled in the United States and Great Britain as a teacher.

For more instrumental teaching resources, please contact Stanton’s instrumental department.