Holidays for Piano and Strings

Do you have a pianist playing with your string orchestra?  If so, you know that they are often the unheralded “glue” that holds the harmonic structure of the group together.  Isn’t it time that they got their share of the spotlight?

Renowned conductor Leonard Slatkin thinks so!  When his son, the pianist in a school string orchestra, mentioned to his father that he never got featured on anything, his famous father got busy and wrote a series of fresh, creative, non-traditional arrangements of holiday carols for solo piano and string orchestra.  They were such a hit at his son’s school, that he decided to publish them.  Now they are available to the public in two volumes so that school pianists around the world can finally get their time in the sun!

Listen to a sample online–click on the “ear with notes” icon.  If you like what you hear, order yours today!

If you don’t already have an account with Stanton’s Sheet Music, one can be set up in minutes to your board of education, music boosters, orchestra activity account or school credit card.  Orders to your personal Visa, Mastercard or Discover card are also welcome.  Call 1-800-42-MUSIC, order online or FAX your order to 614-224-5929.

HOLIDAYS FOR PIANO AND STRINGS Volume 1
Arranged by Leonard Slatkin
Contents: Carol of the Kings; Silent Night; The Twelve Days of Christmas; Veni, Veni, Emmanuel; Moonlight Carol; The First Noel; God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; O Come all Ye Faithful; Pat-a-Fum and Deck the Halls with Joy.
Conductor – Violin 1  – Violin 2 – Violin 3 (Viola T. C.) – Viola – Cello – Bass -Solo Piano – Percussion

HOLIDAYS FOR PIANO AND STRINGS Volume 2
Arranged by Leonard Slatkin
Contents: Of Kings, Saints and Pigs; The Angels Sing; Three Kings, Three Ships; O holy night; A Czech Christmas; The Watchmen at Coventry; festival of Lights; Christmas Lights; a Holiday Trio; Jingle Bells and Pastorale (from Messiah – strings only)
Conductor – Violin 1  – Violin 2 – Violin 3 (Viola T. C.) -Viola – Cello – Bass – Solo Piano – Percussion

Are You Prepared for Christmas Eve Services?

Are you singing for your church’s Christmas Eve services this December?  Every year, we get panicked phone calls and visits from customers around the 23rd of December, desperately in need of a piece IMMEDIATELY!  Don’t let that be you!  Now is a good time to double-check your music files and make sure that you have all the pieces you need in the appropriate key.  Some of the most popular pieces sung at Christmas Eve services are Gesu Bambino, Mary, Did You Know? and Cantique de Noel (O Holy Night).  We’re happy to help you find less common or hard-to-find repertoire for your Christmas services, and we can also give you some suggestions if you’re just not sure what to sing!  Just give us a call at 1-800-426-8742, or drop us an email.

And for all you procrastinators out there, Stanton’s will be open on Christmas Eve!

Choral Resources by Tim Seelig

Conductor Dr. Timothy Seelig is perhaps best-known for his 20 year tenure as director of the Turtle Creek Chorale.  Now retired from that position (but still an active guest conductor throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe), he has imparted much of his wisdom and experience in a series of books.  Tim’s entertaining yet practical approach to the voice and to the choir is easy to read, enlightening, informational, and often laugh-out-loud funny!

His first book, The Perfect Blend, is a collection of over 100 warm-up exercises, including photos, rehearsal and programming tips, and “things they didn’t teach you in school.”  The accompanying DVD shows the exercises in action.

Tim followed up with The Perfect Rehearsal, a resource to help maximize your rehearsal time to the fullest.  Written as if taking a trip, Tim gives you refreshing, informative and entertaining new ways to plan and execute your rehearsals.  A DVD is available for this resource as well.

The Perfect Choral Workbook explores all the “other” jobs a choral conductor must tackle.  Subtitled “Everything You Need to Organize Your Choral Program,” there are over 50 forms and lists on the included CD-ROM with printable files that will assist you with a range of tasks from making sure you are in the right place, to possessing the necessary tools, and to cultivating magic in your music program.

Tim Seelig’s Quick Fixes asks the question, “What do you do when the choir starts the repertoire and all of the beautiful singing heard during warm-ups goes out the window?”  With this resource, you can quickly identify the symptom in the index, read the plan of treatment and immediately fix the problem…right on the spot!

For our readers in New York, make sure to check out Dr. Seelig’s sessions at the upcoming NYSSMA Winter Conference (December 3-6 in Rochester, NY).  A dynamic clinician with lots of information to offer you, his sessions are not to be missed!  And after the session, stop by the Stanton’s booth in the exhibit hall to pick up your own copy of the resources he discusses. 

For more choral conducting resources, please contact us!

Stanton’s takes pizza seriously!

This past Tuesday afternoon, the Stanton’s staff catered in a dozen pizzas from Johnny’s, one of our favorite local pizza places. We don’t need an excuse to eat, but we felt it was necessary to take a break from our hectic fall routine of phone calls, picking orders, stocking shelves and the daily chores of the business to say thanks to the Stanton’s staff for pulling us through the first three months of our busy season. Johnny’s specialty is their sausage and mushroom pizza, loaded to the max with ingredients. We have been extremely busy this fall, and it was nice to take a small break and sit down and share lunch together. So here’s to one of our most successful August/September/October seasons, and here’s to Johnny’s–one of our favorite southside pizza joints!

“Solfege Suites” by Ken Berg

Composer and educator Ken Berg’s Solfege Suites are a perfect way to introduce musical concepts to young singers. The names give away the character of each piece, but the truly fabulous part is that the text is all solfege syllables. Besides teaching solfege, form and other musical elements, these selections also stand alone as performance pieces. Galop from Solfege Suite #1 is our best-seller from the series. Full of accelerating excitement and teaching opportunities, it’s a perfect concert closer. Solfege Suite #1 also includes March and Bolero, and Solfege Suite #2 contains Mazurka, Chaconne and Gavotte.

For more concert suggestions for young choirs, please contact us!

“What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

As a retail store open to the public, Stanton’s is often the source for some  “humorous but true” musical stories.  So to poke some good-natured fun, here’s a new batch of funnies that really happened over the phone!

We got a phone call from a frustrated young customer.  “I can’t find Suzuki violin books on your website!”
Our clerk asked, “What are you typing in?”
“Suzuki Violin Book One,” he replied.
“That’s actually too much information.  Just type in Suzuki,” he was instructed.
“Okay – uh, how do you spell Suzuki?”
Hmmm – wonder why he couldn’t find it in the first place!

An enthusiastic customer called and announced, “We are opening a brand new school next fall and would like to get on your mailing list for promotions!”
We were happy to oblige.  “Sure!  What is the address of the new school?” the Stanton’s employee asked.
“Oh – it doesn’t have one yet – it’s just now being built!”
Alrighty then – we’ll be sure to send you lots of promotional material…(?)

Some other head-scratching phone conversations…
Stanton’s employee, “May I help you?”
Customer, “Yes – I got a call that some music that I ordered had come in…”
Stanton’s employee, “Yes…?”
Customer, “So, is it in?”
(And you called why?)

Stanton’s employee, “And who shall we send this to the attention of?
Customer, “Me!”
(Sigh!)

Customer, “I just heard this choral work on the radio about five minutes ago – the last part goes like this – la, la, la…” Customer proceeds to sing, then asks, ” What’s the name of it?”

We get a lot of calls like that, but the craziest was the customer who asked if we recognized a particular tune, and–he didn’t just sing it to us–he played it on his accordion that he just happened to have strapped on when he made the phone call!  Wow!

We could write a book – or at least a blog!

New Choices for Concert Band

Now that marching band season is over (except for playoffs and state marching band finals), it’s time to plan for the upcoming concert season and Stanton’s has you covered!

Are you looking for a required piece for next year’s OMEA Adjudicated Event?  Visit the Large Group Contest section of Stanton’s Listening Library to hear recordings of this year’s required selections!

Want to know what the best new selections for concert band are this year?  Visit the Top Choices for Young Band (Gr. 0.5-2.5) and Top Choices for Advanced Band (Gr. 3+) sections of the Stanton’s website to view, listen to, and read about the best new music for 2009-2010!

Have you misplaced your publisher promotions or want to make your own selections from among the many new titles this year?  Visit the Current Publisher Promotions box on the right-hand side of Stanton’s Concert Band listening page to hear ALL of this year’s new titles from each publisher!

Don’t forget to listen to the Concert Band Featured titles on the left-hand side of the Concert Band listening page.  These are the top 4 titles for concert band this year as picked by Stanton’s instrumental staff and are sure to please!  (They are Christmas titles now, but will change to the top 4 concert selections soon, so check back often!!)

Lastly, don’t forget to order your new concert selections and adjudication titles and scores from Stanton’s:  www.stantons.com or 1-800-42-MUSIC and have a great concert season!

What is “Broadway Junior?”

“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.

New Jazz Arranging Book!

It has been some time in the making but at long last the much touted book by authors Mike Tomaro and John Wilson is available for purchase.

Instrumental Jazz Arranging consists of a systematic presentation of the essential techniques and materials of jazz arranging. Authors Mike Tomaro and John Wilson draw upon 50+ years of combined teaching experience to bring you a book that addresses all of the basic needs for beginning arrangers. Topics include counterpoint/linear writing, jazz harmony, compositional techniques, and orchestration. All topics serve to address issues concerned with true arranging in great detail. The book may be used in both individual and classroom instructional situations. The accompanying CDs – 170 tracks in all! – include many of the examples in the book, plus templates for assignments formatted for Finale®.

Available from Stanton’s Sheet Music, the book sells for $49.95 and would make a great gift for that aspiring jazz arranger you know. Call us today at 800 42-MUSIC or email to jazz@stantons.com.

Celebrating the Musical Heritage of John Ness Beck

Choral composer and arranger John Ness Beck was born on November 11, 1930 in Warren, Ohio.  After graduating from Warren High School in 1948, he enrolled at The Ohio State University.  In 1952 he graduated from Ohio State with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees with a major in English.  After working for a year in Student Union activities at the State College of Washington, he spent two years in the U.S. Army.  During this time, he became increasingly involved in arranging for various musical groups.  After his discharge from military service, he returned to Ohio State and completed Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts degrees in music with composition as his major.

John was a faculty member of The Ohio State University School of Music for seven years, teaching harmony and theory.  He left the university to become owner and manager of The University Music House, a retail sheet music store in Columbus.  In this capacity, he was able to observe the business side of the music industry, gaining insight into the complexities of music publishing and merchandising.  As his compositions found their way into print and popularity, he joined forces in 1972 with John Tatgenhorst in the creation of Beckenhorst Press.  His reputation as a composer and his experience as a choral director soon led to an increasing demand for appearances as guest conductor and lecturer at various music clinics and festivals throughout the country.  John has left a wonderful legacy of music to be enjoyed by all.

The musical heritage of John Ness Beck is well-known here in the central Ohio area, but those of you in other areas around the country may not be as familiar with his vast catalogue of work.  If you’re still looking for pieces for December concerts, check out his Lullaby or Where is the Child?  Some other long-time favorites are Canticle of Praise, Benediction, and Consecration.  Solo singers will find many options in the collections Sacred Songs of John Ness Beck and Hymn Settings of John Ness Beck.

Contact us for more information.