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!

Happy 2010!

Just relax, kick back and enjoy your day…Stanton’s will be open again tomorrow!

Stanton’s is your partner in music education

Stanton’s got a call a few days ago from a long-time customer who teaches at an inner city school.  She has been teaching for almost forty years, and her students, despite being from an underprivileged area always win top honors at festivals and adjudications.  One of the reasons for their success is her choice of music.  She scours Stanton’s mailed promotions of Top Choices and e-mails and calls our staff to get recommendations and opinions on the music that she chooses.  She has a limited budget, so she wants to get the absolute best music that will be useable for years to come so that she doesn’t waste her valuable funds.  She works hard at finding just the right music and her efforts pay off: her ensembles are the shining stars of their urban environment and students clamor for the chance to play in her groups!

The reason for her recent phone call was to vent her frustration with her fellow teachers.  Her city’s school system doles out about the same amount of money to every school – and it’s not a lot.  The local music store in her area was recently taken over by a larger store from Chicago and for their “Grand Re-Opening” they were offering a large selection of music at a 75% discount.  Out of curiosity (since she had already spent her budget at Stanton’s) she went to see what they had to offer.  It was clear to her that the hugely discounted music was all the dregs from the Chicago store that hadn’t sold because it wasn’t that great to begin with.  She noticed that all the great titles that she had purchased based on Stanton’s recommendations were not among the big sale items.  She realized that the store was just trying to get rid of their junk by offering it at a huge discount.
Her dismay came with the realization that her fellow teachers were thrilled with the chance to get so much music with their meager budget.  They could get $1600.00 worth of music for their $400.00 purchase order.  They were leaving the store loaded with boxes of music that they would probably be disappointed with – but boy, they had a lot of it!  They had done no research on any of it, didn’t see if a place like Stanton’s had recommended it – it was just cheap and they were going to get as much of it as they could.  She couldn’t have been more disappointed in her fellow teachers. They were interested only in quantity not quality.
Acheiving success as a music teacher means putting extra effort into choosing your repertoire. Stanton’s has understood this from their inception in August of 1960.  Mr. and Mrs. Stanton were both school music teachers who were frustrated with trying to find quality music for their students.  They decided to start a music store that would review the music that was published each year and pick the absolute cream-of-the-crop to recommend to teachers so that their customers would have top quality choir, band and orchestra music that could be relied on for a successful school year.
When Jim Strouse took over the business in the late 70’s he kept the same philosophy, and when he passed on the reins to his son, Eric, the vision remained the same.  Stanton’s has prospered because of this approach and has grown into a national leader in retail sheet music.  Our customers can always count on getting A-1 recommendations from the Stanton’s staff, which can only help their music programs improve. As you reflect on the first half of your school year and get ready for 2010, we hope you’ll consider working with Stanton’s.  For almost fifty years, Stanton’s has lived by the credo: “By helping our customers to be successful, we will be successful.”  Thanks to our customers for proving that to be true!

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.

Merry Christmas!

Stanton’s Sheet Music wishes you and your family a warm and happy holiday! Set the mood with this Bing Crosby classic:

The Most Well-Known Christmas Song

Silent Night is the most widely translated, most well-know Christmas song the world over!

“The original lyric for the song in German, Stille Nacht, was written by Joseph Mohr and  the melody was composed by Franz X. Gruber. The carol was first performed 191 years ago on 24 December 1818 at the St. Nicholas church in Oberndorf, Austria. Since then the Christmas song has achieved world wide appeal and it is said that there are over 300 translations of the song in the world.” (from http://www.silentnight.web.za/)

To learn more about this beloved carol, check out The Stille Nacht Association for a very thorough history, Silent Night Web for translations in 139 languages, or Stanton’s website for a variety of arrangements for every combination of instruments and voice.

We’re probably “preaching to the choir,” but…

Is anyone else out there bugged by the lack of coverage for arts events on the nightly news?  There is so much sensationalism and emphasis on the negative that a lot of people won’t even watch the news to avoid becoming depressed.  Another pet peeve is the amount of time they spend talking about the weather!  Television stations probably have to justify the expense of all their radar equipment by giving five minutes of air time to the weather, which can be summed up in about thirty seconds – what happened today, what to expect for tomorrow and what the rest of the week could possibly look like.  How about an e-mail/letter-writing campaign to local TV stations asking them to cut back on the unnecessary time it takes to cover the weather and fill that time with coverage of the arts: announcing upcoming concerts, plays and art shows; doing reviews of local concerts, plays, movies and exhibitions; offering profiles of local school or professional music, drama or art programs; having interviews with musicians, artists and actors around the vicinity. We’re not talking about a fluff piece at the end of the broadcast, but a scheduled time during each news period to talk about the arts in the area. They give sports a huge hunk of air time – how about the arts? Let’s let our voices be heard–tell your local stations what you think.  Let’s give the arts their due!

Last-Minute Gift Solution!

“‘Tis the Season” for gift-giving and gift certificates at Stanton’s!
Don’t know what to buy for that musical person in your life–consider buying a gift certificate from Stanton’s. You’ll be glad to know that when you purchase a gift certificate at Stanton’s, it will never expire. People always love to receive gift certificates and your teacher, choir director or student will be able to put it to good use! Contact us at 1-800-42-MUSIC to discuss payment and shipping options.

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!

Happy Hanukkah!

The celebration of Hanukkah began last night–set the mood with this prayerful song performed by Marty Goetz.

For suggestions on choral music for Hanukkah, check our previous blog.