Help…I Need a Sub!

If you are a General/Elementary Music teacher who wonders what you will ever do if you need a substitute at some point–worry no more! We have some good answers for you. One of the best resource books we have found is Alfred’s Publishing’s “The Music Substitute Sourcebook”. This book has everything you will need to confidently put your class in the hands of a substitute. It tells in detail what you will need to have ready for the substitute (for example: it suggests that a daily schedule be set up with students’ names, duties, class roster, seating charts, etc. and keep a copy of this  on file in the school office).  This book goes on to list suggestions that are easy for the sub. to follow and activities to jump start the students for a fun day of learning.  There are two levels of this book – K-3 and 4-8.

Another good substitute resource book is Heritage Music Press’ “The Ultimate Substitute Teacher’s Music Resource Guide”.  This book contains puzzles, games and activities that are very clever and easy for the students to do and they will be learning as they are having fun.

The best thing about these books is that the substitute does not have to be a music genius. Any substitute can take over  the class with these step by step guides. These are excellent choices for you and your substitute teacher.

For more information please call us at 1-800-42-MUSIC or visit us via e-mail or our website.

A-caroling we go…

December is upon us, and soon many groups of singers will be heading out into the frosty air to share the holiday gift of song.  Even with limited rehearsal time, you’re sure to find something for your group in one of these collections:

The new SATB collection Sing a Merry Christmas by John Leavitt is perfect for many performance occasions.  The tasteful and creative arrangements exemplify Leavitt’s choral expertise.  Whether you’re caroling door-to-door or looking for tasteful a cappella arrangements for your concert, this is a sure-fire winner. 

The Christmas Caroling Songbook contains 50 well-known carols arranged for any combination of voices.  Ideal for holiday sing-alongs, community or family get-togethers, or house-to-house singing, this collection makes it simple to have a successful caroling experience.

For younger groups, the 3-part mixed collection A-Caroling We Go is a perfect choice.  Ten carol favorites are arranged in easy-to-sing a cappella settings, each with a special choral introduction and coda.  Also available for SSA voices.

Contact us for more choral collections for Christmas!

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.

Piano Methods

Piano teachers, would you like to find a great selection of the most used and best known piano methods available in the market today?  Alphabetically from Aaron to Thompson, check out Stanton’s Sheet Music for a  complete listing of our offerings.

Thompson’s Modern Course for the Piano, beginning with the primer, called “Teaching Little Fingers to Play”,  and continuing to a level five, is still one of the top selling methods in the USA.  The Teaching Little Fingers to Play book has been updated, and has many new supplementary books.  The Grades 1-5 have new supplementary books also. Some include popular music and there is a new set of Christmas books for each level. Check it all out at stantons.com!

Alfred’s Basic Piano Library is a comprehensive method that begins at the primer level and continues to level six.  Each level includes the Lesson, Technic, Theory, and Recital books. Supplementary books include classical solos and popular songbooks at most of the levels. The popular music books are called “Top Hits”  from movies and Broadway, with several songs included in each book.

The Alfred  Adult All-In-One Course continues to level 3. Each book contains lesson pages and some theory and technique pages. Each of the course books are self-contained, and there are supplementary books of popular and sacred songs to go along with each level. “Great Hits” start at level one and go through level three.  Titles in those books include movie and Braodway hits, such as ”Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” “Yesterday,” “Hello Dolly,” “My Heart Will Go On,” and more.  The Sacred Piano Books are on level 1 and 2, and contain about 40 familiar hymns in each book.

Bastien Piano Basics begins at the primer level and goes to level 4. Each level includes the lesson book (called “Piano”), Technique, Performance and Theory books.   There are 2 series of Christmas books, one called “Popular Christmas” and another called “Christmas Favorites” that match the levels of the lesson books.

 Bastien’s “Piano for Adults” has a level one and two. This is another self-contained course, with the basics all between 2 covers, but there are supplementary books for this course as well.  “Easy Piano Classics” has 159 pages of favorites such as “Fur Elise,” MacDowell’s “To a Wild Rose” and several Bach Minuets. “Favorite Melodies the World Over” has 2 books, at levels one and two.  They have a fun blend of tunes: singalong favorites, Christmas songs, classics, patriotic songs and hymns are included.

The Faber and Faber Piano Adventures continue to a level 6. Each level includes Lesson, Theory, Technique and Artistry, and Performance books.  This series emphasizes reading, both reading notes and reading intervals. The multi-key approach is well thought out and is easy for students to grasp.

The Adult  Piano Adventures from Faber and Faber is finally back in print!  Both levels one and two have been reissued. The strengths of the approach used in the children’s methods have been used in the adult method. The material is logically laid out for easy comprhension. The level one book can be bought with a CD, which plays examples of the songs in the book.

One of the most-used series of  early piano technique books is the Schaum Fingerpower series. The series begins at the primer level and continues to level 6.  It remains one of the few series that start at such an early level and continue to an advanced level.  For early reading and finger coordination, Fingerpower is hard to beat!   Legato playing and triads are introduced in the primer level. As the books progress, the student learns scales, arpeggios, broken chords, minor and major chords. Fingerpower can be used with any piano teaching series.

For a more complete list of the piano methods we carry, visit our website.

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

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!

“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!

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.