Sacred Choral Reading Session THIS SATURDAY!

Make your plans for the weekend; the Stanton’s Sacred Choral Clinic is THIS SATURDAY January 9th, 2010! This popular annual clinic features new choral publications for Lent, Easter and beyond. The clinic will be held in its usual place at the Battelle Fine Arts Center at Otterbein College in Westerville, OH.

 Attending this clinic is a fantastic way for you to choose new church anthems for your choir by hearing the music read live at the clinic. This January’s clinicians will be Stanton’s own Judy Henry and president emeritus Jim Strouse.

Please feel free to contact Stanton’s at 1-800-42-MUSIC and speak with choral staff member for the details of the event, no pre-registration is necessary for this event. We look forward to seeing you at 8:30 for coffee and doughnuts followed by a wonderful morning of singing!

2010 JECO Intercollegiate Jazz Ensemble

The Jazz Education Connection of Ohio (JECO) has completed the audition process and selected the members of the 2010 JECO Intercollegiate Jazz Ensemble. The Jazz Ensemble is chosen in a blind audition by prominent Ohio jazz educators.

The 2010 Intercollegiate Jazz Ensemble will perform at the 2010 OMEA State Convention in Cincinnati, Jan. 28-30, 2010. JECO is extremely excited to have Dr. David Morgan of Youngstown State University directing the ensemble. This is always an outstanding band made up of the best college jazz talent in the state.

The members of the band this year are:

Philip Hilger – lead alto, University of Cincinnati CCM
Dan White – 2nd alto, The Ohio State University
Joe Graziosi  - 1st tenor, The Ohio State University
Jack Finucane – 2nd tenor, University of Cincinnati CCM
Hayden Huffman – bari, Denison University

Matt Hansen – lead trpt, Ohio University
Kyle Granville – 2nd trpt, Capital University
Rick Moose – 3rd trpt, Youngstown State University
Dave Garner – 4th trpt, Youngstown State University

David Gonzalez – lead trombone, Ohio University
Dominic Marino – 2nd trombone, University of Cincinnati CCM
Adam Machaskee – 3rd trombone, University of Cincinnati CCM
James Slike – bass trombone, Ashland University

William Flynn – guitar, Capital University
Allen Braman – piano, University of Cincinnati CCM
Mike Forfia – bass, University of Akron
Zachary Compston -drums, Capital University

The performance will be on Friday evening, Jan 29, 2010 at 9:30pm in the Hyatt Atrium at the OMEA Convention in Cincinnati, OH.

Recharge Your Batteries

    Education is a challenging profession, and those in music education realize that teaching music is no different.  Too often the day-to-day details (duties, grades, PO requests, bus forms, permission slips, etc.), in other words, all of the regular responsibilities that have nothing to do with music, or even teaching, can be draining.  When this occurs, it is helpful to revisit why this profession and this particular subject are so important to us, and to hear some stories to make you realize that you are not alone – it’s not just your students, your teaching, or your program experiencing particular problems or challenges.

Two of the best educators, clinicians, and authors to help us get back on track are Dr. Peter Loel Boonshaft and Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser.  If you have ever attended one of their clinics, you know that they will have you rolling on the floor with laughter, and remind you why you want to be a music teacher.  Through true-to-life anecdotes, by challenging mindsets, and suggesting innovative teaching strategies, these two will make you feel better, give you some practical classroom ideas and help you to rediscover your motivation and inspire you to be your very best!  With the Christmas break upon us, wouldn’t this be the ideal time to recharge YOUR batteries?

Dr. Boonshaft’s writings include Teaching Music with Passion, Teaching Music with Purpose, and Teaching Music with Promise.  Be sure to catch him at the 2010 OMEA Professional Conference in Cincinnati, OH January 28-30! 

Dr. Lautzenheiser’s writings include The Art of Successful Teaching, The Joy of Inspired Teaching, Music Advocacy and Student Leadership, and Everyday Wisdom for Inspired Teaching.  A distillation of his student leadership clinics (Leadership, Vision, Commitment, Action) is also available for use with your students (of course, this is nothing like being there in-person!).

All of these items are available from Stanton’s.  Feel free to call (1-800-426-8742), e-mail (greatservice@stantons.com), or just click on the links above to get recharged!

January Sacred Choral Reading Session!

Once again, we are coming up on the Stanton’s Sacred Choral Clinic, January 9th, 2010, featuring new choral publications for Lent, Easter and beyond. The clinic will be held in its usual place at the Battelle Fine Arts Center at Otterbein College in Westerville, OH. Attending this clinic is a fantastic way for you to choose new church anthems for your choir by hearing the music read live at the clinic. This January’s clinicians will be Stanton’s own Judy Henry and president emeritus Jim Strouse. Please feel free to contact Stanton’s at 1-800-42-MUSIC and speak with choral staff member for the details of the event. We look forward to seeing you at 8:30 for coffee and doughnuts followed by a wonderful morning of singing!

SACRED ORGAN READING CLINIC

SACRED ORGAN READING CLINIC-JANUARY 16, 2010

Please join us for our first Stanton’s Sheet Music sponsored Sacred Organ Reading Clinic.  Brian Johnson, organist at Broad Street United Methodist Church, will be the clinician/organist for the clinic.  The best in recent organ music, as well as older “gems,” will be highlighted from various publishers like Morningstar, Lorenz, Concordia, Augsburg and others.  General use folios as well as those for Lent, Easter and Pentecost will be featured.  Difficulty levels will range from intermediate to advanced.   

 Place: Broad Street United Methodist Church, 501 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215

Time: Pre-registration-8:30 a.m.  Clinic-9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Cost:  $10.00

Please contact the Keyboard staff at Stanton’s if you have any questions. 

Stanton’s telephone number: 614-224-4257 extension 3 (keyboard)

Email: keyboard@stantons.com

NY or Bust!

Stanton’s is packing up and heading to Rochester for the NYSSMA Conference December 3rd-6th—look for us in the exhibition hall if you’re going to be there too! We’ll be bringing lots of sheet music of all kinds for you to browse and purchase, as well as several of our helpful and educated staff members to answer whatever questions you may have.
If you’re already a Stanton’s customer, stop by and say hello so that we can put faces with names. Or, if you’ve never shopped with us, please come by our booth and allow us to give you the full “Stanton’s experience!”
For more information about all of our planned traveling this winter, check our previous blog.

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!

This Weekend: The 8th Annual “New Music Reading Band Clinic”

It’s a busy, busy time for our band department this week as they prepare for the “Wind Band Invitational” being held at Capital University this coming weekend, Nov. 13 & 14, which includes a new music reading session for high school and middle school band directors.  Registration begins this Friday morning at 7:00, with the Honor Band seating auditions starting at 8:00.  The first reading session will be the “Director’s Reading Band#1,” directed by James Swearingen, Barry Kopetz and Jeff Keller.  After the students have auditioned and seating assignments have been made, the bands will be in rehearsals throughout the remainder of the morning. The first reading band will start its performance at 1:30. 

Throughout the two day event, there will be three reading sessions performed by the All Ohio High School Reading Band, as well as performances by Judi Guegold’s Crestview Middle School and William Thomas’s Lakota East High School bands.  Friday evening’s concert will feature the Capital University Symphonic Winds and Capital University Wind Symphony. Each band will have a presentation of new concert band literture that has been choosen specifically for the clinic. 

This extremely popular clinic weekend is especially helpful for 1st and 2nd year teachers, allowing participants to have a “hands on” experience with the latest and best new music. The featured composer/director this year is Ray Cramer, famed musician, band pedagogue and director emeritus of Indiana University.  This weekend is great for brushing up on your secondary instrument skills playing in the Directors’ Reading Band (bring your own instrument) or sitting back in the auditorium and listening to all of the newly released music being performed. For more details please feel free to contact a Stanton’s represenative or visit the clinics website.

On the Road: New York, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky!

Stanton’s Sheet Music is coming to YOU! Stanton’s will be on the road this winter attending several conventions outside the state of Ohio.

Our first stop will be in Rochester, New York, December 3-5th for the NYSSMA Convention. We are extremely excited about going back to this show for the 5th time! We are eager to see some of our favorite customers and, of course, meet new educators who we’ll be able to help. We are bringing a full selection of sheet music for Solo & Ensemble, Choral, Elementary Music, Concert Band, Jazz and Orchestra, along with some of the newest publications for music educators and college music majors. You shouldn’t have trouble finding us–we’ll be under the big blue Stanton’s balloon flying in the exhibition hall. If you are already familiar with Stanton’s, or have been reading our blog regularly, you may have learned that the Stanton’s staff loves traditions. We can’t visit Rochester without having our traditional night out at the Dinosaur—a well-known restaurant with a reputation for excellent barbecue. The Dinosaur’s bar-like interior will be crowded with everyone from musicians/educators from the convention to urban professionals and leathered bikers—all mingling in waiting for a table. It’s always worth the wait because the food is fantastic and the portions are huge. We’re hoping that all of our NYSSMA crew—new and returning—will love the Dinosaur and have a great time in Rochester!

After hosting our annual January Church Choral Reading Session on Saturday, January 9th, the next stop on the winter tour will be our inaugural trip to Grand Rapids for the Michigan Music Conference, January 21st-23rd. We are thrilled to finally be adding Michigan to our roster; we have talked about attending this convention ever since this event moved from a college campus to a convention center. We have been so pleased to be of help to music educators in the state of Michigan, and we look forward to seeing those customers face-to-face. Once again, we’ll be bringing a wide variety of music publications and resources for music educators and college majors. Since this convention is a new experience for the Stanton’s crew this year, we are open to suggestions as to what to do and where to eat. We’re sure that the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel has a nice restaurant or two, but are there other fun and exciting places to dine out in the downtown Grand Rapids area?

We are keeping our fingers crossed hoping for good traveling weather. We know the trip back from Rochester can be a little nerve racking with all of the lake effect snow hitting us on route 90 (we’ve “white-knuckled” our way back home at 2:30 in the morning more than once), but we are also hoping for good weather going to and from Grand Rapids with the snow off Lake Michigan in January. Wish us luck!

Of course, Stanton’s busy schedule doesn’t stop there. After we attend the Michigan Music Conference, Stanton’s travels to Cincinnati the very next week for OMEA, then on to Louisville, Kentucky for the KMEA convention the week after that. That’s three in a row—back to back to back! Then we still have a few small February run-outs to the Morehead Band Clinic and the ACDA Central Division Conference in Cincinnati before we can settle back into our normal routine. Keeping busy on the road is not only a fun way for the staff to get out and meet new people, but also makes the dark, chilly months seem to speed by more quickly. Come out and see us sometime this winter, and if you’d like Stanton’s to come to YOUR state convention next year, let us hear about it!

Stanton’s attends OMEA General Music Mini-Conference

This past Friday, Stanton’s Sheet Music was a participating exhibitor at the 2^nd annual OMEA General Music Mini-Conference held at Capital University.  The conference was well attended with over 100 participants, and five different vendors had booths set up in the lobby for educators to peruse.

The same event last year was held in Streetsboro, Ohio, but moved to Columbus to be more centrally located.  This year’s conference focused on Orff-Schulwerk methods and featured Brian Crisp and Alice Hammel as clinicians throughout the day.  The Stanton’s booth consisted of Orff-Schulwerk materials, children’s musicals, texts, song collections, games and much more. We wish to thank David Adamson for asking us to participant in the conference and look forward to next year’s clinic!