News & Views Thursday, June 20, 2013

“Broadway Junior” is a series of popular Broadway musicals designed to meet the needs of young performers through the ninth grade. Author-approved and condensed to approximately 70 minutes, they preserve the spirit and essence of the original while eliminating elaborate production elements. The “Getting to Know” (G2K) series offers the same type of condensed productions, but is specific to the musicals of Rogers and Hammerstein. There is also the “MTI Disney’s Kids” series, which contains Disney family favorites shortened to 30 minutes and easy enough for elementary students. All three of these product lines are available from Hal Leonard publishing.

What makes these products especially unique is that you get all the performance materials and the performance rights for one set price. The resources included also allow you to cut spending in other areas of production: a full accompaniment CD is included so you don’t have to hire a live pit, a choreography DVD stands in for a professional choreographer, etc. There are also many audition and planning materials available for free on broadwayjr.com.

Here’s how the ordering process works: You place your order with Stanton’s Sheet Music by phone, web, email or fax. We then pass your information along to Hal Leonard, who will fax a licensing agreement to your school. Once you complete, sign and return that contract, your performance kit is shipped directly to you from Hal Leonard’s warehouse. As long as you return the contract in a timely manner, you usually receive the kit about a week after you place your order with Stanton’s.

Broadway Jr., Disney’s Kids and G2K ShowKits are available for purchase only by elementary, middle and junior high schools (grades K-9). Other groups—high schools, camps, community and children’s theatres, religious organizations—must contact MTI or R & H Theatricals to inquire about traditional licensing. (Read our musical licensing blog to find out more.) To determine whether your organization qualifies, please contact us for more information.

Warming Up with Rounds
by Catherine DeLanoy

Choral rounds have been used for recreational singing for hundreds of years and are effective tools for your students to understand harmony, expand their vocal ranges, and experience a choral sound that is easily accessible to them. Music educators can satisfy state and national music standards with a carefully crafted choral curriculum, bringing choir back into the daily classroom schedule. By using rounds as warm-ups, you can teach vocal technique, music theory, application, appreciation, and history, as well as increase your singers’ understanding of scales, intervals, modes, dynamics, and terminology. Each round in this collection has instructions on the musical focus and implementation of the song. Additional comments from experienced author and music educator Catherine DeLanoy give insight into the historical background or practical tips for a successful performance. Several rounds were intentionally included for adolescent boys with a limited range. Warming Up with Rounds includes both familiar and rare rounds that are easy and challenging, as well as serious and fun. Music teachers and their students will enjoy discovering the secrets that choral rounds offer and ultimately feel a great sense of accomplishment when they make beautiful, harmonious music together.

For more valuable choral resources, visit our website or contact us!

Involve your youngest singers in worship this spring with one of these great anthems for children’s choirs!

I Can Do All Things
True to his fun and quirky style, Mark Burrows has fashioned a creatively interactive song with a fantastic scriptural message that children will love singing! Clapping, dancing, laughing and more express how we can do anything through Christ. Have fun with your choir as you learn and play through this song!

Somebody’s Knockin’
Ken Berg has set this spiritual with great fun and amusement, including stomping and clapping to represent the “knockin’ at the door.” The accompaniment sounds complicated, but is actually quite accessible for the average pianist. The composer has included optional notes in various spots to allow the director to choose the best range to fit the ability of the choir.

Rejoice, the King is Coming!
This stately anthem for Palm Sunday offers the flexibility of use with choirs of children, youth, and adults or a solo cantor with choirs. Opening with an optional processional, choirs have the chance to sing antiphonally as a fanfare-like piano accompaniment and optional finger cymbals support the singing. An easy descant near the end of the piece also gives young choirs the opportunity to sing two parts easily and successfully.

Brighter Than Snow
New to the Augsburg Fortress catalog, Ruth Elaine Schram is not a new name to the music world. Comfortable at writing in all genres, she creates an exquisite setting of Psalm 51 with a new text adaptation “Brighter Than Snow.” This piece will work equally well for children’s choir, women’s voices, or mixed voices.

Welcome Easter Morning
A spirited piece in 2/2 meter, this Easter anthem calls the “global congregation” to sing together the joyful alleluias of Christ’s resurrection. A sparkling piano accompaniment highlights the charming melody that’s easy to learn and fun to sing. A clever flute part at the end of the anthem weaves in short, familiar phrases of “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.”

The Joy of Part Singing
“The Joy of Part Singing” is a resource that will help children’s choirs experience greater success in part-singing through short, accessible warm-ups, vocal exercises, rhythm chants, echo songs, mini-descants, and rounds. While some of these exercises are for rehearsal only, others may be shared in worship or in concert settings. Everything presented in the book was born out of the author’s own need as a conductor of children’s choirs. Even if your choir is currently working towards solidifying a beautiful, unison sound, these activities will help singers build the foundation for singing in multiple parts in the future.

Want more suggestions from Stanton’s?  Contact our choral department at 1-800-426-8742!

In addition to your sheet music, textbooks and instruments, there are those little “extras” that really enhance your teaching and make your classroom a great learning environment! Don’t forget to order these items from Stanton’s when you place your regular music order:

Erasable Music Lap Boards
You’ll find numerous uses for this handy teaching aid! Two staves are printed on one side for teaching musical notation; the other side is blank and may be used for drawing rhythms, musical symbols, terminology and just plain fun! Lap boards measure 12″ x 16″ and come in a package of 10.

Kodály Hand Signs Posters
Singers are sure to remember the Curwen Kodály Hand Signs with this great visual set of 8 posters. The Hand Signs are each shown on a separate attractive full-color 8-1/2″ x 11″ laminated poster for a multitude of uses and visual display options.

Meet the Instruments Poster Set
Explore the many sights and sounds of the symphony orchestra and band! Makes your student’s experiences with the sight and sound of each instrument simple, uncomplicated, and at the same time, dramatic and colorful. The 25 full-color posters on sturdy artboard (14′ x 22′) picture the instruments singly and in family groups. An informative text is printed in an accompanying booklet and on the back of each poster.

For more great ideas for your classroom, contact Stanton’s by email or call 1-800-426-8742.

Do you need help creating exciting choreography for your choir? If so, you’ll want to join the thousands of choral directors across the country that have discovered Alfred Publishing’s popular movement DVDs! Featuring the creative talents of Sally K. Albrecht and Andy Beck, these DVDs are a quick and easy way to add simple yet effective choreography to your concerts to your concerts. Perfect for elementary, middle school, or high school choirs, each DVD features movement suggestions for about 12 Alfred choral titles.

The newest DVD in the series is Lift Me Up!, which features such choral arrangements as “Green Eggs and Ham,” “Moses and Daniel,” “A Pocketful of Rhymes,” “Super Santa!” and “Sparklejollytwinklejingley.” Here’s a preview:

Previously released DVDs from Alfred include: Showbiz!, Danza!, Follow Me to the Top!, Hooray for Hollywood!, In the Spotlight!, On with the Show!, On the Stage!, Put on a Show!, Razzamatazz!, Showtime!, Step by Step and That’s Entertainment! Check out them all for great choreography ideas, or contact us for more information.

“Creating Artistry Through Movement in the Maturing Male Voice” is an amazing choral resource that demonstrates how movement while singing helps to harness the natural kinesthetic learning processes in males. Featuring the acclaimed St. Mary’s International School Varsity Ensemble, conducted by Randy Stenson, the DVD includes warm-ups and exercises to improve tone, intonation, phrasing articulation, special vocal effects, head voice and vocal agility. Through these exercises, the singer develops his own individualized shaping gesture, which leads to improved musicality during rehearsal, versatility and expressiveness. The companion book includes the notated exercises, additional instructional material, suggested seating charts, learning strategies and much more.

For more DVD resources to enhance your teaching, check out the DVD portion of our website or contact us for suggestions!

John Jacobson – one of America’s best-loved musical personalities – is known for sharing his passion, humor and insights with students and teachers, helping them to revitalize and re-energize. Now John brings you “The Artist Within Me,” a collection of 366 short essays – one for each day of the year, including Leap Year – to help educators rediscover the fervor and creativity that brought them into teaching in the first place, and inspire the artist that stirs within! Through the readings in this beautifully designed daily companion, a teacher will reawaken the mind, spirit and body to the connection between one’s personal art and the art of teaching, tapping the restorative power of creativity in nourishing the soul.

For more inspirational resources for music educators, please contact us!

“The Snowman” is a children’s book without words by English author Raymond Briggs, published in 1978. An animated film was produced in 1982 with words and music by Howard Blake. The film has won awards in the U.S. and Britain. When it was aired for the for the first time on  December 26, 1982 in Britain, it was an instant hit, especially the song “Walking in the Air.”  It has been an annual hit ever since.

Through Hal Leonard, an easy piano book including the illustrations, story and the music is available.  Maybe you would like to play the music for your youngsters, or one of your older children would like to play for younger siblings or friends.  A general music teacher in an elementary school could use this for younger grade level children.  Get your copy of this delightful story soon!

For more information about this book or other holiday music, please call us at 1-800-42-MUSIC, email us at keyboard@stantons.com, or view our website.

On Friday morning, August 10, local piano teachers congregated at Stanton’s for a clinic led by Jennifer Linn from Hal Leonard.  She presented her newly released Journey Through the Classics series.

This is a set of four books arranged by level of difficulty to be used to present original piano literature to students.  These pieces were written by piano composers/teachers  for their own students.  They span a range of time from Pachelbel’s  “Sarabande”, to Jennifer Linn’s own “Classic Minuet”.   A lot of careful thought has gone into this series of delightful books, and they can be easily used alongside the student’s piano method to introduce the classics from the easiest compositions to the intermediate masterworks, such as “Fur Elise”  and  “Spinning Song”.

JOURNEY THROUGH THE CLASSICS with Jennifer Linn

Friday, August 10, 2012
9 am – 12:30 pm (registration at 8:30)

Once students have progressed beyond their first few method books, how do you weave classical music into their journey? This workshop will introduce you to “Journey Through the Classics,” the new 4-volume piano repertoire series edited by Jennifer Linn, designed to lead students effortlessly from the easiest classics to the intermediate masterworks. Also featuring new releases from the G. Schirmer Performance editions, Hal Leonard Student Piano Library, Eugenie Rocherolle Series and more!

Come and meet the clinician, Jennifer Linn.  She is a multi-talented pianist, teacher, composer, arranger and clinician. She is the Manager for Educational Piano for Hal Leonard Corporation as well as an editor and recording artist for the G. Schirmer Performance Editions. She has much experience in teaching private as well as group piano students and is an active member of MTNA. Come and enjoy this morning in which you can meet other piano teachers and learn new techniques and materials to improve your piano studio.

Stanton’s Sheet Music
330 South 4th St
Columbus, OH 43123

For more details, please email the keyboard department, or call 1-800-426-8742, ex. 3.

Join us August 1-4 for four days of new music reading sessions and workshops, jam-packed with great new publications and teaching tips to get you ready for the new school year!

ELEMENTARY GENERAL MUSIC CLINIC
Wednesday 8/1/2012, 9:00 am-12:30 pm

JOHN JACOBSON WORKSHOP
Thursday 8/2/2012, 9:00 am-4:00 pm

JOY OF SINGING
Friday 8/3/2012, 9:00 am-4:00 pm

STANTON’S SUPER SESSION
Saturday 8/4/2012, 9:00 am-4:00 pm

Pre-registration is now closed, but there’s still plenty of spots available for those who wish to register at the door for each event! Contact us at choral@stantons.com or 1-800-426-8742 for more details.

At Stanton’s Sheet Music, we vicariously help teach your students with you! It’s true…We look through hundreds of new titles every summer and choose the select few that we would use if we were teaching.  These are the titles we share with you in our promotions on-line and in the mail.

So if you are thinking:
“Why should I spend my time looking at Stanton’s promotions?”
It’s because:
• Stanton’s Staff has already spent hours looking at and listening to hundreds of new titles.
• They have picked pieces at all levels that they would use if they were teaching.
• Their aim is to make your life easier and to help you succeed.

And if you are thinking:
“Why is Stanton’s Staff qualified to make these recommendations?”
It’s because:
• Stanton’s Staff is made up of college-trained musicians.
• Some of them have taught in the public schools and many teach privately.
• They know what has proven to be successful for Stanton’s customers over the years.

And if you are thinking:
“Why did Stanton’s Staff pick these particular pieces to recommend to me?”
It’s because:
Stanton’s only selects pieces that they believe are
• The most educationally valid
• The best sounding
• The most highly programmable

So if you are thinking:
“I can’t go wrong with Stanton’s Choices!”
It’s because:
• You’re right!

From a first-year teacher whose instruments were stolen before entering his building, to a teacher who received “hate mail” before her first day, to a teacher whose sensitivity, flexibility and insight gained her the respect of her ensemble in only weeks, “The Music Teacher’s First Year,” a collection of true stories from first-year teachers, is a delightful description of their real world. In addition, each chapter includes discussion questions for pre-service and young teachers as they prepare for their teaching future.

Are YOU just beginning your career as a music educator?  Let Stanton’s help!  Take advantage of our summer clinics; use our 21-Day Trial program to peruse music for your ensembles; check out our YouTube channel for repertoire suggestions from our staff, as well as nationally-known clinicians; like Stanton’s on Facebook for daily updates; and, of course, continue to read our blog to keep abreast of happenings in the music education world!

“Tubby the Tuba,” written by Paul Tripp and illustrated by Henry Cole, is the timeless story of a tuba who wants to play the melody.

This lovely book includes a CD of the accompanying music. This wonderful children’s story is over 60 years old, and it is still a top seller.  Music teachers buy it for their classrooms, parents buy it for young children, friends of parents-to-be buy it as a shower gift.  Customers pick it up from the counter and look through the book, recounting fond childhood memories of “Tubby the Tuba.”

If you don’t own this book and recording, if you or the kids wore your old copy out, or if you are a new elementary music teacher, this book and recording are for you!  For other sheet music books and music story books, feel free to contact us at 1-800-42-MUSIC or email us at greatservice@stantons.com.

Summer is here (finally!)… You’ve wrapped up your end-of-the-year concerts and lessons and you’re enjoying some well-earned time off. Here at Stanton’s, we’re gearing up for our summer workshop series! Yes, it can be hard to think about starting up a new school year, and we hear lots of excuses…ahem, I mean reasons…as to why people want to skip out on attending a summer workshop this year:

“It’s summertime! I don’t want to think about work.”
We hear ya. Summer sunshine…sandy beaches…grilling out on the patio…spending time with family and friends… These are all worthwhile summertime pursuits. But think about it – spending just one day at a Stanton’s workshop this summer can give you repertoire and teaching ideas for your entire school year! By devoting a few hours to work with us in the summer, you could free up evenings and weekends during the year so that you can: A) spend more time with your family and friends, B) work on that novel or symphony you’ve been meaning to write, or C) regain your sanity from spending all day with those rowdy kids!

“I can find everything I need to know on the internet/in a catalog.”
The internet is a wonderful tool in finding new music for your ensembles and classrooms – it helped you find this blog, right? Stanton’s Listening Library contains thousands of recordings to help you find the perfect piece of repertoire, many items on our newly redesigned main website have sample pages you can view, and our Digital Delivery website allows you to find and print music immediately. But…none of those benefits outweighs the value of holding a new piece of music in your hands and experiencing it for the first time as your students do. At Stanton’s summer clinics and reading sessions, you can identify music your students will love to sing and find resources and repertoire to teach important musical concepts. NOTHING compares to looking at the entire piece and singing it with a group – THAT’S how you know if it will work for you! No 30-second sample recording or three-sentence catalog write-up can do that.

“I have such a small budget. Why learn about new music that I can’t afford?”
You’re not alone. Music budgets are shrinking across the country, and our clinicians know that you need to make every penny count. We’ve got ideas for affordable costuming and set design for your elementary musicals. We’ve got budget-stretching, reproducible choral collections with lots of repertoire options. And best of all, we’ve got many other teachers at our clinics so you can meet and share ideas that really, truly work in the classroom with each other! You could meet someone with great ideas for nurturing a successful booster group, or someone with tips for garnering community support and sponsorship, or someone with suggestions for marketing your program to your school board. Colleagues and peers in the education field are one of your greatest resources – join us and take advantage of that!

We also know that many schools won’t reimburse teachers for your registration fees, and it’s always painful to shell out your hard-earned money. To help with this issue, Stanton’s is offering a $25 gift certificate to new attendees who qualify; contact us for more details. And talk to your tax guy – workshop fees for teacher enrichment and continuing education may be tax deductible.

“I live in Pennsylvania/Kentucky/Illinois/Anytown, U.S.A. It’s too far for me to drive to Columbus.”
We often have a pair of wonderful music teachers from CANADA who come to our clinics here in Ohio! Make it really worth your while by attending multiple workshops during “School Choral Week 2012.” Bring the family! Workshops each day are completed by 4 p.m., so you have the evening to explore all that Central Ohio has to offer. The Stanton’s staff can recommend our favorite local restaurants, movie theaters, and cultural hot-spots for you to visit – the cooler summer evenings are perfect for a trip to the Ohio State Fair (open July 25-August 5 2012); maybe your spouse can take the kids to COSI or the Columbus Zoo while you’re enjoying your workshop during the day; the Columbus Metroparks are great for hiking or sunset picnics; or check out the CAPA Summer Movie Series at the historic Ohio Theatre.

I’ve been teaching for 10/20/30 years. I know what I’m doing and I don’t need help.”
It’s true – experience can breed wisdom. But we find that the wisest teachers know that in order to keep students engaged they need to refresh, renew and revamp their teaching every single year! Keep your teaching style fresh and innovative by getting new ideas from our nationally-known, experienced, expert clinicians. Yes, there are probably great resources already in your library that work as well today as they did 30 years ago – but we’d venture a guess that there are just as many things that now seem dated and over-used. Mixing in new titles with the old standards keeps your lessons and concerts interesting for your students and – just as importantly – for YOU!

“I’m a first-year teacher. I have no idea WHAT I need yet!”
Stanton’s workshops are perfect for you! The first thing a beginning teacher needs is a strong support system around them – start building that support system by joining the dedicated community of teachers who know the benefits of attending our workshops. You may not have heard your choirs or met your classes yet, but by arming yourself with information and repertoire ideas you’re ready to face whatever challenges await you. PLANNING is your best defense against the dreaded feeling of being overwhelmed by all the “newness” of starting your teaching career. Also, by developing a relationship with Stanton’s, you’ll have US on your side! We’re staffed with veteran teachers and college-trained musicians, so we’ve got your back!

So stop making excuses! Check out our previous posts on Stanton’s Elementary General Music Clinic, the Joy of Singing, the John Jacobson Workshop, and Stanton’s Super Session, and register today for Stanton’s summer workshops! We also have sessions available for instrumental teachers, church musicians, pianists and college and community choir directors; contact us for more info.